A Little Piece of Heaven! Part 2 (Green Island)

We woke up bright and early (5 AM) on Sunday morning to watch the sunrise! We heard that watching the sunrise at the hot springs was awesome, so we decided to do that.

But it was rainy and cloudy that morning because of Typhoon Megi heading towards the Philippines, (which is relatively close to Green Island). So we didn't quite get to watch the sunrise. But as it became lighter, we realized what a magnificent little place we were located at!

The surroundings were beautiful! We had a little black hill on one side with the beautiful contrasting green growing on it (You can see a little bit of the hill in the picture above). We had the rocky shore of the ocean in front of us with huge waves crashing against the rocks. We had more black, rocky mountains on the other side of us, but in the distance.

This is the natural part of the hot springs! They were closed while we were there (because of the huge waves), but we could walk up to them and see how beautiful they were! The hot springs that we swam in, in the pictures above, had the water pumped in from the natural hot springs below.

These hot springs are one of only three salt water hot springs in the world! They were amazingly beautiful and relaxing! I loved it!

See that pool of water in the background... well that's part of the hot springs too.

After a couple of hours at the hot springs soaking up the beauty and the water, we went back to our hotel and ate breakfast and got ready for the day.

Before we left our hotel for one last time, we had to visit our little friend, the pet deer, I mentioned we visited in the last post.

He was a beautiful and sad little creature! He was tied up and had a tiny cage to sleep in.

Our next stop was the Little Great Wall! The view from the top was amazing!


This was on the way up the Little Great Wall! Haishenping Bay! Look at the cool arch in the rock on the right hand side of the picture!


On the way up! I loved this little hike!

On the way up the Little Great Wall looking to the left!

This is looking to the right at the top of the wall! What a magnificent view! It was breathtaking!


On the scooter! Tricia drove most of the time, but I did drive for a little bit too :) It was fun! Depending on where I live when I get home, I would consider getting a scooter as my mode of transportation!

I don't even know how to describe the beauty of the next place we went! It was lovely, beautiful, breathtaking, magnificent! Those words don't even do it justice. The next 10 pictures are from the same place. Notice the diversity of the scenery!

Black mountains with contrasting green growing on it! Green grass in the valley with an occasional patch of purple wild flowers!

Waterfall on the mountain and grass almost as tall as me!

Rocky shore and the rock island!

A natural arch!

Me!

I have no words to describe!

Ocean waves crashing against the rocky shore!

A little river of water a long the way!

Notice the animals grazing in the field :)

This is near the place in the above pictures! We got pretty dang close to the shore.

Look at the wave crashing against the rock in the background!

Some ancient ruins! Youzihu! I think they were once houses of some aboriginals that lived on the island! What a beautiful location!

Youzihu!

Our next stop was the Green Island Prison! That was a fascinating place! It was once a political prison during the White Terror! If you want to learn more about it click here.

The phones really worked! I was the prisoner, Tricia was my visitor :)

The Taiwanese flag in the prison.

That writing on the mountain says "Exterminate the Communists, Restore the Country." This is right outside the prison.

Here are just a few of the hundreds of prisoners who were locked up in the prison!

Can you tell which people are real and which are not?!

That is a wax figurine! They were amazingly realistic! Looking at them from a distance, I totally thought they were real and kept on having to remind myself that they are not real.

This room showed the living quarters of some of the prisoners. It was pretty cramped in there.

Some lived in worst conditions. Like in an 8x8 padded cell with one little window near the top of the room.

Here's an up close picture of one of the wax figures! The details were intricate!

I learned a lot from this little museum. It was fascinating to learn a little more about Taiwanese history.

After the wax museum, we went to the lighthouse! It was beautiful! We walked around the beach there and searched through the coral and shells that had washed up on shore.


Me in front of the beautiful lighthouse!

The lighthouse was our last stop before we got on the ferry back to mainland Taiwan. This picture was taken at the beginning of our ferry trip from hell.

I'm not even sure where to begin. First I'll just say that Typhoon Megi was heading toward the Philippines, which is pretty much directly south of Taiwan! And although the typhoon did not hit Taiwan at all, we still felt the effects of it on our ferry ride.

This was out the window of the ferry during the ride. On a clear, calm day, you should be able to see in the distance. There were at least 20 foot waves. We rolled side to side and up and down. I thought we were going to tip over and sink. Seriously! I was scared. I can't even really describe the experience in words.

I honestly feared for my life. I had a lot on my mind on this ferry ride. I thought of the song "Jesus, Savior Pilot Me." I thought about my family. I thought about what I would do if the boat did tip over. I thought about a lot of things, but mainly I just prayed. I prayed hard. I wondered if anyone happened to be up in America and was praying for me at that time too.

Thankfully though, we made it back to mainland Taiwan safely! I said many prayers of thanks that day! The Lord was watching over us!

When we got back to Taitung to catch the train back to Changhua, there were no seats left on either of the trains we needed to get back home. So we stood up and sat on the ground for the two-hour train ride to Kaohsiung. Then I had a seat for about 45 minutes on the train from Kaohsiung to Changhua, then I sat on the floor the next 2-1/2 hours.

I actually didn't mind it! It just added more to the adventure of our trip!

Green Island really was a little piece of heaven! I loved every minute of it, even the scary parts (looking back on it). I love nature and I love adventure!

I am 26...

for 10 more minutes....
How can I be this old?! ;)

A Little Piece of Heaven! (Green Island)

Green Island is a little piece of heaven on earth! Karyn, Kailey and I caught a train to Kaohsiung on Friday night and spent the night at the same hostel we stayed at before there. Then early Saturday morning, we met up with Tricia and we got on a train to Taitung, where we waited for the ferry to take us to Green Island!

This is on the ferry to Green Island! That is the main island of Taiwan in the background. It took us about an hour to get from the main land of Taiwan to Green Island. The seas were a bit rough on the way there, but not nearly as rough on the way back (which I will tell you about in my next post).

Tricia booked a package deal for us before we left which included scooter rentals, a hotel for a night, snorkeling and a night tour. We picked up our scooters and waited for about 20 minutes to get gas (because there was only one gas station on the island and many people from our ferry also had scooters which they had to fill up.)

We dropped our stuff off at the hotel and then headed back to get ready for snorkeling! Yes I went snorkeling :) I was scared at first, but I did it! Once we got into the water, I was so glad I did! It was beautiful!

There were so many fish. They were so many different colors! There were purple, white, red, orange, green, blue, and black fish. Some were vibrant colors and some dull, but still beautiful nonetheless :) Some had long noses; some were big, some were small.

The coral was amazing! We even saw a huge 400-year old mushroom-shaped coral.

This was after the snorkeling expedition! I did not get any pictures with my camera with all of the gear we had on, but some of my roommates got pictures. It was quite the sight to see.

We wore full body wet suits, water shoes, life jackets, and snorkel goggles. And when we were on the water, they had a rope with a bunch of life rings on them which we had to hold on to and put our feet behind us while a worker pulled us out to the sea. Honestly, it was amazing and I think it was the best way for me to go snorkeling for the first time :)

After snorkeling we got a little snack and ate outside and saw this plane coming in for a landing! I like this picture!

Read the sign. It made me laugh when I read them, particularly the third one down :) Apparently they've had a problem with that or something.

Some beautiful clouds and light!

This is under the bridge in the picture above! Look at that green against the black hill!

After we went snorkeling, we went for a little drive and stopped at the place with the bridge in the two pictures above. We explored a bit and then went back to where we were earlier to witness this beautiful sunset!

Look at how amazing the clouds and colors are!

This picture and the next two pictures are a panoramic view! I wanted to show the difference in the clouds and colors depending on where you looked.

Isn't it beautiful?! I loved it!

When I see things like this, it just confirms to me that there is a God, who loves us and knows us and carefully created this earth for us.

Trying to get a picture of all of us and the sunset. It was a little hard to take a self-portrait like this, but it kind of worked ;)

We were pretty hungry after snorkeling and the sunset. The owner of the hotel we were staying at suggested we go to this barbecue buffet place for dinner and so we did! It was pretty awesome! I've never been to a place like this before.

Each table had its own barbecue grill in the middle. No kidding. Live coals and fire. It was buffet style, so we went and chose the meat and vegetables we wanted to grill and grilled them ourselves at our table. You could eat as much or as little as you wanted. It was quite the experience!

Notice that there is a cat under our table ;)

I tried some new foods like some sort of fish, which I kind of liked. I tried rice soaked in pig's blood (which is not as gross as it sounds). Maybe that was it for the exotic foods for me that night, but it was good for me to broaden my food horizons :)

As we were at the restaurant it started pouring. I tell you this because when you are on scooters, it's not so fun to drive in the rain. So we waited it out a bit there. The rain slowed down, which gave us a chance to get back to our hotel which was about 15- 20 minutes away.

But it had rained so hard that it left standing water on the road , which means almost hydroplaning (even though we were going pretty slow) and it started pouring again on our way back. Let's just say that it is hard to see when the rain is pounding into your face. (I wasn't driving at the time, but I was scared, because I couldn't see and I was behind Tricia, so I couldn't imagine how Tricia could see.) Let's just say I was saying a little prayer on that scooter ride back to the hotel. That's all.

Well since it was raining we were not able to go on the night tour that night. But we did go back outside and look at the pet deer near our hotel (seriously, a pet deer). Then we just stayed inside after that. Overall it was a lovely day! I have a lot more pictures to post. Stay tuned for more pictures of a little piece of heaven...

I am Grateful For...

-the internet (allowing me to watch general conference during the week)
-laughter
-the sense-of-humor of my 5As
-rock music (while walking around the track)
-John Lenon's birthday (Karyn made a birthday cake to celebrate) :)
-being able to watch Sunday sessions of general conference at the church
-a living prophet and apostles on the earth
-Luke and Linda speaking more in my 5A class
-the power of prayer
-the fact that many students in my university class are willing to talk :)

These are some things I've written down in my gratitude journal for the past couple of weeks! This is not all, but some of them. Life is good! It is challenging at times, but good!

Attitude is the Key!

Some of these are just paraphrases, but here are some of my favorite thoughts or quotes from Saturday sessions of General Conference.

-Elder David M. McConkie said that what matters most in learning is attitude and what matters most in teaching is attitude! I thought this was especially applicable to me now as I am a teacher in a few different capacities (elementary school, university, and church.) Having a good attitude is so important in teaching and really in anything in life :)

-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said to remember the basic or fundamental principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They are the key to living in harmony with God and man. They are the key to opening the windows of heaven to pour out blessings. Let us simplify our lives!

-Elder Neil L. Andersen said that, "The road to discipleship is not for the spiritual faint of heart." He asked how do we remain true to the Savior? We should become as a little child. Be believing as a little child. Be humble, patient, full of love, and willing to submit to all things which the Lord doth see fit to put upon us.
Don't get offended. Don't be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Keep the commandments of the Lord. As we choose to not be offended or ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will feel the love and approval of the Lord in our lives. Then he quoted "How Firm a Foundation," The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose I will not, I cannot desert to his foes...I'll never, no never... forsake.

-Elder Richard G. Scott said "be grateful that God lets you struggle for a looong time before that answer comes because that wait causes your faith to increase and your character to grow." "Even in your strongest faith, God will not always reward you immediately according to your desires, rather God will respond with what is in His eternal plan best for you."

I've loved all of conference that I have seen so far! I could write about all of the talks, but that would take a long time. I love the peace and comfort I feel when the prophet and apostles speak to us. I know that they are inspired to talk about certain topics. I know that we have a living prophet on the earth today and his name is President Thomas S. Monson. I know that he was called of God and that he receives revelations from the Lord to help us stay on the straight and narrow path back to our Heavenly Father.