Yihuality

Happy New Year!!

Happy new year to all of you!!!

I celebrated New Year’s Eve with some friends at the roof top of an apartment quite close to Taipei 101. We had a spectacular view on Taipei 101 and the fireworks. It is definitely worth a visit, colourful and nice too watch, not too long and a little too calm to mark the beginning of a new year properly.
Thanks to Matthias Hertel (his blog: http://myexchangeintaiwan.blogspot.tw) for the wonderful pictures!!

Stay positive,

Yihua.

East Coast Trip - December

In December my boyfriend visited me and we travelled the East Coast together.
We’ve been to Taroko Nationalpark; for me the second time – but this time we rented a scooter (400NTD + 80NTD for fuel) and I saw a lot more than last time! Also I wanted to show the same trails I’ve already been to, it was as amazing as the first time seeing the beautiful scenery. Driving scooter is great fun and you can stop at every spot to have a look at the gorge and the river.

One day we stayed at the pebble beach in Hualien (Chishingtan, 七星潭) searched nice stones and shells in every colour and form making pictures of it and throwing it back into the ocean. The different colours of the stones and the noise the ocean makes when the waves are hitting the pebbles is fascinating and calming. From Hualien Main Station we took a bus to get there – it does not drive very frequently, but we didn’t care and just enjoyed the whole day at the beach.

We also visited Taichung, drove Tandem at the Forest Park and the beach there. The beach is grey and a little sandy. Stray dogs are a little more aggressive here, I guess because it is harder for them to find enough food. People are very friendly as everywhere in Taiwan and interestingly they are a little smaller than people in Taipei. From Taichung we took the East Coast Shuttle Bus and drove to Donghe Bridge (東河橋) and to Sanxiantai (三仙台) experiencing a nice view on the river, fascination stone formations and even more ocean and beaches.

Enjoy the pictures below!

Stay positive,

Yihua.

Taroko Nationalpark - we are not alone!

Our rented Scooter!

One red tree - outstanding!

Butterfly

Where the trees are suddenly missing a huge landslide took place in July.

Perfect dress for the water curtain tunnel! It's amazing to walk through and a head lamp is very comfortable, especially if you like to take picture inside (your camera should be waterproof). The wall of the tunnel is very interesting because of chalk deposits.

Chalk formations on the wall.

Water curtain!

Donghe-Brigde

Chishingtan

Beautiful beach!

Beach pebbles in every colour...

...and many different patterns!

Shells on a shoe and..

...a dead pufferfish washed ashore.

Tandem!

Butterfly in Forest Park

Way to Sanxiantai!

Stairs are included, of course!

Getting pictures of plants growing at some weird point in the middle of stone wall demands some climbing...

... to discover plants can grow everywhere, they are able to..

..to dissolve the nutrients in the stones.

The dimensions are incredible!

Funny stone formations..

..can you see the dog?

Busy December

December was a very busy month, beginning with a field trip, ongoing with the visit and travelling with my boyfriend, enjoying Hot Springs in Wulai and Ending with Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

A new year already started and it is time to tell you what happened and which recommendations I can make! In this post I start with the Field Trip!

Field Geology II – Excursion

In the beginning of the semester I followed the recommendation of a good friend from Taiwan to participate in the course “Field Geology II”. The course contains a four-day-field-trip to Hengchun Peninsula to discover many interesting spots and learning a lot about how the island developed and how it will develop in the future. I am not going to repeat the content about how the Eurasian plate and the Philippine plate collide, which consequences this has. The Field Trip is very straightforward, no free time, quick lunch, and homework every evening after dinner. I despite that strongly recommend participating in the course, even if you think geology might be boring – the places you get to see are not! Analysing stones might not be everybody’s favourite task but the wonderful scenery you could hardly get access to on your own are definitely worth it! Be very careful walking on the stone corals – I fell and it was not nice. My knee was open (nothing severe, but annoying), also my hand and because the corals are so sharp if you falls the gloves you get from the TAs don’t help. It took three weeks to heal properly so best would be: don’t fall. Don’t let anyone stress you – even if the TAs want to hurry (because you are going to an area of the national park not open to ordinary visitors).

I have some pictures to give an impression – many thanks to Yuta Futamura for providing the pictures because I didn’t take my camera with me.

Stay positive,

Yihua.