Green Island

Green Island is just off the coast on the south east of Taiwan. It's about 45min of boat ride there, which is a surprisingly uncomfortable ride. The island is mostly volcanic rock which gives its dark, almost charcoal look color. The island is thus nick named "Burnt Island". The island is also famous for a few other things. The natural beauty is unbeatable especially within Taiwan. The rocky coast is home to awesome coral reef and snorkeling. The island also houses a prison. Well actually there's a new one which is currently in use, and the older one which is no longer in use. The older one was famous for housing political prisoners back in the days of martial law when all who voiced differently were sent here for brain wash. Therefore, needless to say, it's now a museum.

The island is also home to Taiwanese Plum deer. Actually I don't think they are native to the island, probably brought here and became protected. They do farm these creatures and deer meat is arguably the best of all red meats, they are adorable too!

The seafood is a no-surprise here being an island. However, there is another kind of creature that roam all over the island. They are loud, they don't give yield and are often rude! Scooters! Not just your usual scooters, but old old scooters. These are rentals and the main way of transportation on the island. Since they are super old, they are really loud and really hard to ride. There's also only one gas station on the island, so all these thousands of scooters have to line up for gas at the station, an unique sight to the island. When we first got out scooters, we were told that there's no gas in the tank and we have to fill it up. My suspicion is that the renters pumps out the gas after each return and save them up for their own use. Bastards!

Photo Entry: Taiwan's Little Swiss- Sixty-Stone Mountain Part II

Here's a revisit of the Sixty-Stone mountain during the flower season.

So I got a few more facts straight. The "golden needle" flower refers to the flower before blossom. This is when it is edible. Each flower blossom for one day, which means the edible pre-blossom flower has to be harvested the day before, which means they have to harvest the field every single day during the season. That's really tedious work! So if you did the harvest of the field yesterday, the number of blossoms today will be the ratings of your performance. The more blossom, the worse you are!

That said, there are tons of blossoms on the mountain. It's not because there were many poor pickers, but the government paid the farmers to not harvest the flowers. The blossom bring tourists, which benefits everyone doing business there, and the farmers get paid by the government to not do work. Hey, win-win for everyone!