As if Alishan wasn’t enough beautiful nature for one weekend, the next morning I was on my way to Kenting with the rest of TUSA on a two-day trip.

The first place we stopped was Crying Lake, which was in an aboriginal village.  In order to get to Crying Lake, however, you first needed to walk through a meadow.  I felt like I stepped out of Taiwan and into a jungle.  If you were a tourist and came here first, you would probably think that the entire island of Taiwan was completely unindustrialized.  I forgot all about the city as soon as I stepped into this landscape.  It was so green.  Vibrant green, too.  I would be okay living in a little house somewhere nearby for the rest of time, void of stress, technology, school.  I think I could write a second Walden here.

Then there was a gigantic spider that everyone was afraid to walk under:

And a pretty butterfly:

How has nature managed to create these masterpieces?

After lunch, a woman from the aboriginal tribe took us on a very narrow path through a field of tall grass.  I, personally, had no idea where we were heading.  Once she reached a very wobbly bridge of wooden planks hanging over a stream, she started chanting words in a language unknown to me.  Before I knew it, everyone was taking off their shoes, crossing the rickety bridge, and following the aboriginal woman carrying grass over her head in a seemingly random direction, heading in loops with turns every now and then at her whim.

The ground’s surface was matted with thick grass, but underneath was full of water.  Mud began seeping over my toes as I cautiously stepped from one spot to another, hoping I wouldn’t find a hole in the matted grass.  Many people fell through and got covered in mud.  We were walking on a waterbed, and every step was a gamble on how solid the ground there would be.  Any particular step could have ruptured the surface, and we’d be standing knee-deep in muddy water.  Once we all made it over the bridge, we chanted and danced, replicating the way the aboriginal woman did it, holding hands with our arms crossed over our bodies.

Given that I thought we were walking back to the bus when we headed over, this was a lot more fun than I expected.  On the way back over the bridge the woman threw water over our feet, and we headed to the bus, for real.  I was a little busy walking in mud for this part, so photo credit to Ryan Mandado for the first two photos and Jessica Miller for the next six.  Thanks, Ryan and Jessica!

Our next stop was the hotel.  We dropped off our things and met back in the lobby to head to the beach and the night market on the street just outside it.  Though the water was too rough to swim in, we were still able to get the experience of swimming by just standing where the water met the sand.  The waves crashed in with such force that we ended up getting just as soaked as if we had gone in anyway.  The sunset was one out of a painting, or a jigsaw puzzle.

 

Everyone walked down the street lined with shops and food stands, swapping different things they had bought.  I nabbed some fried mushrooms from Kristina, and some noodles from Carina.  And, of course, I hit up my favorite stands.  Sweet potato fries coated in plum sugar, mango milk, and a banana pancake drizzled with milk and chocolate.  We came across some really funny things on this street.  One being, the decoration at the banana pancake stand:

Two being, this sign for a hotel, which makes absolutely no sense.

I basically passed out right after taking a shower, and I was off to another day of outdoor activities.  The first place we stopped was the Chuhuo Special Scenic Area, where the ground emits natural gas, and sometimes fires spawn.  I think people were a little disappointed when the schedule called it “Fire of Hell” and there were just a few little fires blocked off by a chain fence.  But geologically, this was an incredible place.  And personally, I didn’t expect some hell fire to be shooting out of the ground.  I thought it was pretty neat.

Then we went to Mobitou Park.  What a spectacular view.  The water reflected sparking specs of sunlight, and against the jagged rocks, it was a sight to see.  How beautiful.

  

We stopped for lunch on Henchuan Old Street, and I got beef fried rice with green peppers, and a lemon tea with jelly at the bottom.  Typing it now, it seems like something that would be for sale in a shop on Neopets.  Luckily, it wasn’t virtual, or thousands of neopoints, but rather, physically tangible and less than one American dollar.  Lucky me.  Soon we were off to Houbi Lake to ride in a glass-bottom submarine.

   

We were filed into a yellow submarine, where the top half was above water, and the bottom half was below water.  Underneath the boat, there were benches with windows to see out.  Fish shimmied in and out of coral as bubbles raced past our windows.

The sky was so blue.  The water was so blue.

    

Though the boat rocked a lot, it was totally worth it to see the sea life.  To cut down on dizziness, a lot of us went to the top of the boat after we drove away from the fish.  What a great day to be outside.  I couldn’t be happier to be here.

And finally, we were off to the item on the itinerary that I think all of TUSA was looking forward to: snorkeling.  We got off the bus, changed into our swimsuits, and then worked our way into full length, black bodysuits.  Next we were given black water shoes, which were more like boots.  They had a zipper that went up past the ankle.  And then we were given life vests with exactly five buckles.  Three over the chest, and two connecting straps under each leg.  With our snorkel goggles and air tubes, we all looked like extras in a futuristic movie.

They took us to the beach in groups.  My van was pretty much the sketchiest car ever.  He drove with the trunk open, the windshield wipers on (it wasn’t raining), and a third of us were sitting on a wooden plank supported by the other two rows of seats.  I had the pleasure of sitting on the wooden plank on the way there and back.  Our car discussion was about how we felt like we were in a military vehicle and we were on a mission, about to go to war.  But really, we were just about to go look at fish.  We weren’t being dramatic at all.

 

In groups, we went into the wading area.  A guide gave us a tutorial on how to snorkel.  Then he had us get into small groups, grab onto the life vest in front of us, and just float in the water.  He dragged our group over areas highly populated with coral and colorful fish.  A lot of us joked about how the fish were only such striking colors because we were right next to a nuclear power plant.  But really, the colors of the fish were incredible.  I wish I could have taken photos underwater.  Some fish were neon green and purple, others, electric blue.  It was an experience that really made me appreciate what nature’s created.  Having the fish swim right under my body as I floated overhead, I felt like I was one with the environment.  I wish I could have stayed there even longer, but I knew we had to get back to Tainan.

On the bus ride home, I started a chain reaction of taking sunset pictures.  Once I took a photo, everyone started pointing their cameras out the bus window.  But I just couldn’t help it.  It was too brilliant not to.