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Taitung

So we arrived in Taitung last night at about midnight, after a four hour train journey on a very busy train (I was stood up for most of the time).  But we checked into our hostel (called Gringo's - a hostel geared toward westerners, owed by an American called John) very easily, and our room has everything we need - bath, aircon, bed!

We got given voucher for a club called Amigos (owned by the same guy!), so off we went and enjoyed a few drinks.  We met loads of other westerners and everyone was so friendly - it was so refreshing, because most of the foreigners in Tainan have "integration snobbery" - in other words they don't talk to other foreigners, because they want to appear to be more integrated, and therefore less dependant on familiar western type things.  So we had a great time last night, and rolled in drunk at about 3am!  We even met another Brit (I have only met 3 others, excluding Sally and Scottish Dave that I work with), it was his birthday, and apparently he was woken on the street by a policeman this morning.  We saw him walking the streets in his underwear, in search of a 7-11.  Oh, I do miss Brits, there is something unique about the way they get drunk! 

Then this morning after eating a huge, delicious and cheap bacon sandwich (it was 12 inches long!), we set out to look for some scooters to rent, so we could explore the Taitung area.  We tried everywhere, and nowhere would let us.  You need an international, or Taiwanese driving lisence (well I guess it is the law, its just odd to see people abiding by it!)

Eventually we decided to take the bus to see one of the most beautiful beaches in Taiwan, and after a little searching for the bus station, we found it!  It was very easy we paid our fare, and away we went, and this is what we found:

Long empty yellow sandy beach, with blue sea (Actually the Pacific Ocean!!) with coral reefs at either end.  I went for a paddle, Sally went for a swim!

Moody looking misty mountains behind the beach, providing atmosphere!

Awe inspiring sunset!

On Sunday, we got up early, and went to the sea front in Taitung, and hired some bicycles to cycle around the sea-front forest park there.  It was very nice - all cycle paths and little lakes.  It looked quite Alpine actually.  Sally nearly ran over a big lizard, but it managed to run out of the way just in time!  I got a bit sun-burnt.

After that we went back to the hostel to check out and have lunch.  Then we took a taxi up to the National Museum of Prehistory.  This is the best museum I have seen in Taiwan, and probably the best museum of Archaeology I have seen anywhere in the world.  It was very modern, with fantastic interactive displays.  The museum had excellent ethnographic galleries about Taiwans indiginous Austronesion People (who still live in Taiwan), about the prehistoric people who lived there (near Taitung there is the oldest prehistoric archaeological remains on the Pacific, so I read somewhere...)

The museum is set in very beautiful grounds, and after going around the museum, we saw a drumming display by one of Taiwans Aboriginal groups.