Green Island ft. the Pituls

Okay.. I have been slacking lately on the blog but moving on... MY PARENT'S CAME TO TAIWAN. I put ft. the Pituls in the title because maybe the Lococos will come visit us too one day! (Hint.. hint... nudge.. nudge.. wink.. wink......)

SOOO. My parents arrived, they were very tired after their long trip and we still had a couple days of work. So for the first few days, we just did little things with them. Took them to the Taipei Zoo, the Maokong Gondolas. And then we were off to Green Island. Our trip to Green Island started with an eight hour train ride that left at 6AM... such a joy. But the seats were comfortable and I mostly slept. While my mother spent 96% of the train ride taking pictures of what we went past. After the train ride, a taxi ride with a very friendly taxi driver and a pleasant ferry ride (read: extremely rough ferry ride), we were at Green Island!!

We met up with the people we booked our trip through and were taken to our eBikes. Now my mother wasn't sure about these bikes at first and said she would just use it as a normal bike. But by the end of the trip, she was a eBike professional. Weaving around pot holes and bumps in the road. Without the eBikes, Green Island wouldn't have been nearly as enjoyable. While it is a small island (17 km around), there were no taxis at all so walking around the island would not have been an option. The eBikes took us everywhere and were a lot of fun to ride. We had a couple problems with the battery dying but the hostel owners were quick to help us and we were on our way.

Our hostel was also a lot better than I expected. A fellow teacher had told me to expect "rustic," when going into Green Island so my expectations were very low. However, I was pleasantly surprised. The hostel was very clean and very comfortable. Air conditioning and a pretty nice shower. 

Included in our package was snorkeling. My father and Rick were very excited for this part while me and my mother were hesitant. We went out, got our flippers and all our gear, and stayed on land. My mom and I just couldn't get the hang of it so we told the boys to go off on their own and have a good time. Rick says that Green Island was the best snorkeling spot that he has ever been to, he saw so many different kinds of fish. They both loved snorkeling so much that they continued to snorkel four different times on our three days there.

The hot springs at Green Island were another highlight. They are one of the three only natural salt water hot springs in the world. The other two being in Italy and Japan. Rick and I have decided that we want to go to all three. The hot spring down by the beach wasn't open but we still enjoyed the other hot springs. It was beautiful. Nothing like the Beitou hot springs in Taipei which I found kind of dirty and off putting. These were so clean, and just so relaxing. We all had an amazing time.

Finally, the food. Green Island is known for its seafood since it is an island. Some of the seafood we ate was just okay.. some was amazing. We enjoyed eating so much. Every meal was a new adventure, and breakfast was included with the package that we booked! We also ate the best shaved ice that I have ever eaten while we were there. 

Here are some picture highlights of the trip!

The train ride

The ferry ride

Green Island

We booked our package through Green Island Adventures and I would recommend this company to anyone. I was originally worried about the payment method but everything went without a hitch. They made our time on Green Island amazing and without any difficulty. We booked the Relax package and had an amazing time. I cannot say enough good things about this company. We loved our time in Green Island and they are the sole reason why. Here is the link if anyone is interested! http://www.greenislandadventures.com/

From Green Island, we went on to Kaohsiung! Next blog post coming up!