The Smoking Dogs to Taiwan

Day 4_The Smoking Dogs to Orchid Island and Taitung

2009-08-11T04:37:00.001-07:00

Pretty busy morning, a quick breakfast and then we ad to go refresh ourselves in the cold pool indicated by the local met the previous day. Check out the video, it is better than words. We then took some picture of the traditional boat and of flying fishes drying on a stick. After bringing back the bicycles, we went to the first restaurant for a simple plate of noodle. The braver of us went for Pin Tan Tofu, even if Delphine and Gael already tried it before and in fact love it. But it was too much for Alex.

After lunch we only had few hours to spend before taking the boat back to Taiwan. The less tired of us spend some time on a traditional construction made of wood which stand in front of every family house and in front of some administrative buildings and where people like to have a nap, playing local chest, tchat etc…We could therefore discuss with some local (James being our translator, thanks James!!). Our questions were oriented towards the local belief since the construction was built in front of a church. Besides Christianity, the other belief of locals is Sea and Sky gods. They also cherish flying fishes and are afraid of ghosts. Consequently people do not go into the mountain at night and do not really appreciate howls (called doodoo hoo !) which are linked to death for locals.

Our trip ended up by leaving the Island few hours before a Typhoon may hit it. And once on Taiwan we choose to take the night train to go back to Keelung faster avoiding too much trouble a Typhoon can bring.

Day 3_The Smoking Dogs to Orchid Island

2009-08-11T04:36:00.002-07:00

After a simple but deeply appreciate breakfast offered by our host (Aiii : aunt), James proposed us to go to the foundation again and ask for wearing the traditional Yami clothes. We first went to the foundation and visit their museum. Lots of things are exposed there, unfortunately the information provided are all in Chinese. It was however interesting to see the figurines, and diverse object used by the locals… our game was to try to figure out why they were used for and get some information later on asking to local people. Once the visit of the museum accomplished we went for the Cloth challenge. The rent for the clothes is really cheap and you can go outside and take picture all around the foundation. They also keep in good condition a traditional house. Therefore, each of the two couples suit up and hang around the foundation, making brief pause into the conserved traditional house for a picture session. It was a good sensation to feel how local people appreciate the fact that foreigner tried their traditional clothes. The latter are still wear conservative Yami who are still leaving in the traditional house and by all people during celebration such as the flying fish festival.

After filling up our batteries with some simple but tasty meal, the smoking dog took again their bike for a ride down south of the Island were a pool of sea water was waiting for them to snorkel inside. The place, located a bit before the Dragon Head Rock was filled with plenty of colorful fishes and even see snake. However our investigation of the snorkeling site was limited to a restricted area due to waves smashing the shore and leaving lots of bubble downstream of the pool. Gael had a quick look there and observed between two waves lots of colorful corals. His deeper investigation and the premise he had from it left room for a deeper exploration of Orchid Island shore.

A friend of Gael, met during lunch time, was working on the Island as a snorkeling guide for summer vacation. He met us in the pool and advised us to go on the eastern part of the island were the sea condition was more quiet. James also mentioned a cold water pool on that side. Of course the smoking dog had to find that place. Pretty easy task, but what an amazing system for the marine biologists that composed the team. In deed, in such place the salty water from the sea mix with cold water from the land. It was amazing to see with their own eyes the mixing between two water masses. To talk simply it resulted into a cloudy water layer from the surface to a certain depth (still shallow) where only the denser salty water lays. Another interesting thing was that plenty of young fishes from diverse species lived there.

The afternoon ended with the visit of the traditional village of Yeyin. We met there a local lady who showed us her parent’s house and provided us lots of informations concerning the Yami culture. We have to be thankful to our dear friend Cecilia for translating almost every sentences of our guide (Thanks Tiny, not only for that but also for all the other things you helped us for, your kindness and energy). We both of them, we discovered how women are important and considered in the Yami culture (Not only French are “romantic” ah ah !) and that flying fish are considered as Gods and therefore deserve preculiar treatment such as a specific plate . Gael was amazed by the physical conditions of the Yami and we learned that family between each other train by sparring between members of families wearing warrior clothes. A last but not least point is that one Yami start to build his house, all members of the village ill come give him a hand. And this is just an example how these people are altruist.

We finished our day by a traditional diner. This one was even more appreciated considering the hard condition the smoking dogs had to face to come back to the guesthouse. A strong wind was blowing and it was hard to move forward. The diner was composed by i) Octopus with green pepper, ii)Dry flying fish with papaya salad, sweet potatoes and taro, iii) mushroom that can only be found in the Taro field after raining, iv) a soup of local vegetables with ginseng and eggs, v)a pork and tofu dish and some white rice. It was really tasty especially the flying fish with the rice covered with the mushroom. Both sweet potatoes and Taro were delicious and so different from those one can find in Taiwan.

A night, while enjoying the moon light, we encountered a local and around some beers exchanged a bit with him. It was an interesting meeting which inter alia leaded to the discovery of a close pool to be investigated the following morning.

Day 2_The Smoking Dogs to Orchid Island

2009-08-11T04:36:00.001-07:00

When the alarm clock rang at 4 AM, it was a bit hard but as Gael like to say “No pain, no gain!!”. We therefore push ourselves and get ready to ride to Fukang Harbor. The weather forecast was not favorable and we were afraid that we couldn’t reach Orchid Island. Fortunately, even though the sea was rough the waves were not big enough for the boat to stay in the harbor. And we went for a three hours of shaky cruise to Lanyu. It was a long trip but once we got closer to the Island we realized that it worth it. From the first sight, you can easily guess that this island has a lot of natural landscapes to offer. We were even more pleased to arrived when we saw our dear friend James waiting for us at the harbour. He was the one calling the day before saying that he wasn’t sure that each of us would not be able to reach the island, the four of us by boat and him by plane, because of the weather conditions. Nature was kind with us and allows each of us to meet on this gorgeous island of her. After checking in our guesthouse, hold by a very welcoming couple, James brought us to a foundation where you can rent some bicycles. After a quick lunch of noodle in a traditional restaurant of the Island and a short nap, we started our exploration of the Island. James wanted to bring us to a wonderland, the meteorological station located in the mountain. A long way with sharp slopes, girls could hardly finish the trail, it was a good challenge for the smoking dogs guys. Once again it came up to their mind Gael’s favorite sentence, no pain no gain. Believe it or not it was extremely hard but the reward was huge: a wonderful view of the entire southern part of the Island as well as the east ad west sea shore (cf pictures). After several minutes of admiration and few minutes of craziness (cf video), the team rode their bike again to go down the mountain and go back to the west side. Were the smoking dog tired ? Not at all, they kept on their cycling session and rode down south to Grass Land. This place was very nice, we saw a big volcanic rock formation which has been called the Elder rock (cf picture), and hang around with some lan mei mei (goats). On our way back home we could have appreciate another spectacle offered by mother earth a gorgeous sun set filling the sky with a mixture of blue and pink colors above a slightly agitated tropical sea (picture). We finished our day with a classical meal in a restaurant that also offers traditional meal which was ordered for the following day.

Day 1_The Smoking Dogs to Chihpen

2009-08-11T04:35:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the trip the Smoking Dogs were split on each side of Taiwan. Delphine was in Keelung while Alex and Gael were in Kenting. In early morning Delphine took the train from Rueifang to Chihpen station; Alex and Gael coming with Cecilia took their scooter direction Chihpen. Everyone arrived on time and the Smoking Dogs’ trip really started.

Our first objective was to find some local food since it was almost 1 pm and each one of us was starving. We stopped by just at the entrance of Chihpen were several people were “begging” us to have a look at the menu they offer. We tasted some local vegetables with some special beef and an additional plate of spicy Tofu with white rice. Once filled, we went for our second mission: find a place to sleep for the night. The one we choose had a nice view on the canyon (i.e. Songquan Hotel) was relatively correct if you don’t expect too much : only 1 000 NT for a double room it was fair enough. The bad surprise was that there was no real freshwater water in the bathroom but water from the cold hot spring with a strong sulphur smell.

What was the next mission? Finding the hidden waterfall of course! On the way to Chihpen Forest Recreation Area, we saw an indication of the popular “White Jade Waterfall” but it was not the one we were looking for. We eared about a beautiful isolated waterfall close to the Forest Recreation Area. Following Delphine’s insight, we finally found that beautiful waterfall isolated from any anthropogenic pollution (cf picture). We spent sometime there appreciating the beauty of mother earth.

Being close to Taitung we went there to enjoy the famous fruits this town has to offer. In central Taitung, there is a lively fruit street (shuiguo jie, cf picture). Of course we bought some pineapples, mangoes, dragon fruit and papaya. No need to go especially in this street to buy the most famous fruit of Taitung called the “Buddha’s fruit” since it can by bought in several shops along the main road (Nb 9) to Chihpen. Few sushis were enough to complete our diner and we went back to the source of wisdom (Chihpen) for a hotspring session at the Dongtair Hot Spring pool. What a pleasure to relax before going to sleep for only few hours since the boat will be pretty early in the morning tomorrow.

Road trip day III : From Taitung to Kenting

2009-08-08T01:40:00.000-07:00

And there they went for the last leg of their trip. They traveled along a gorgeous road (n11) which submerged our two riders with plenty of magnificient landscape. But eager to reach Kenting as fast as possible (so that they were sure to find a hotel) only one brake next to a beach was done.

To finally reach Kenting in the afternoon and start looking for a hotel. They were lucky to find one with a room with two beds since lots of hotel were full. The view from the room was not that good but our guys room was close to a bar which sells nice belgium beer and they were both close to a beach and the main street of Kenting.

Road trip day II : Towards Taitung (afternoon)

2009-08-07T22:34:00.000-07:00

The afternoon was once again about ridding along the coast to reach Taitung by night. On the way, the guys made two brief stop to keep a track of the gorgeous landscape they were offered.

There was the beach of Bull Mountain

And the one of Ciji... Gael's favorite !!

North of Taitung our ridders had to take a real brake, they took the opportunity to pass by the Platform of the three Immortals to relax there. The series of arched bridges than span the shallow water off the coast line leaded our guys to a small island were they relaxed and enjoy the view.

The day ended in a brief diner and finding a hotel in Taitung in order to rest and be ready for the last part of their trip.

Road trip day II : Tarako Gorge (morning)

2009-08-07T20:49:00.001-07:00

On the second day of their road trip Alex and Gael chose to spend their morning visiting the Taroko Gorge. The idea was to go first deep into the gorge and come back making brief stops to see the different sights. They first targeted the Tienhsiang Pagoda and temple.

They then went downstream back to Taroko and stopping at every sights they founded interesting.

Road trip day I : from Keelung to Hualien

2009-08-07T20:10:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday 28th of July, Alex and Gael started their road trip to go down to Kentin. The first step of their trip was to reach Hualien in an afternoon. The smoking dogs put their helmet on and initiate their trip !

After about one hour of ride, Alex and Gael reached Ilan and make a brief stop to visit a temple.

On the way our guys needed several small breaks which were also required to take a picture of the great landscapes that mother nature offered them.

Once Hualien reached the plan changed a bit and our dogs psuh a bit further t visit the Taroko. They arrived in a more or less good state (check out Alex face.. a real rider !!) and very tired. They goal was therefore to find a place to sleep and to eat which was not so difficult for the former but the latter a bit more. Arriving around 8PM most of the shop were closed but one was still open and Alex and Gael could have refiled their batteries.

Back from our 4days trip to Chihpen and Orchid Island

2009-08-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Here we are, back to Keelung after our 4 days trip...We took the night train last nigth and barely slept. Need some time to upload the videos and summary of each day trip to get the funding from the Tourism Taiwan Office. Then, we will update this blog.
See U later

Birthday Party on yacht

2009-07-29T08:12:00.000-07:00

We went to Danshuei for a walk. In the evening, we join some friends to the fisherman's harbor to participate to a surprise birthday party of a friend. What a surprise for our friend when all of us shouted "happy birthday" hidden inside the yacht. It was a amazin funny party. It was so cool to navigate on the Danshuei estuary. We spent all night dancing and laughing. We all keep nice memories of this event and people we met.

We spend last sunday in Taipei and its county. We went to National Taiwan University where a lot of fans had gathered and even wore the costume of manga's characters.

Gael and Alex to Kaoshiung

2009-07-29T07:49:00.000-07:00

Gaël and Alex went to Kaoshiung to watch the Jujitsu at the World Games. They took tome to enjoy some nice places. They joined a friend in the evening, spent the night over there and came back the day after.

Still visiting the North East Coast

2009-07-25T03:51:00.000-07:00

Gaël & Alex continued the visit of the North East Coast of Taiwan by scooter.

Visiting some friends in Taipei

2009-07-19T16:59:00.000-07:00

The next step to Alex was to discover the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
We met one of our friend in Ximen, to have lunch all together. Then, we went to visit the "Chiang Kai Chek Memorial" and the "Sun Yat Sen Memorial" Halls, before joining some friends in a pub to relax a bit.

One of the new experiences in Taiwan is the "Snake Alley Night Market" close to Longshan Temple; a market where you can eat snakes, crocodile, bee larvae, mouses, frogs, turtles and so on. Actually, our Taiwanese friends we met in a pub, never went there and they were eager to join us and participate to Alex's next experience : the snake meal set ! The meal set is composed of glasses of snake blood, snake venom, alcohol and a snake meat soup. One of the waitress kindly explained us how to drink these beverages...Because there is a procedure to handle before starting. I would not explain the procedure here (hope you will go to try by yourself) but it make easier to drink them all. Despite Alex's disgust, he did finish the meal.

"Bon appétit" bien sûr !!!!

Alex's Arrival in Taiwan

2009-07-18T18:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Alex arrived at noon at Taoyuan Airport! He was quite tired because he did not sleep all along that long trip from France. We try to maintain him awake by hanging around Keelung. In the late afternoon, Gaël and Alex snorkeled 10 km far from Keelung; Alex was amazed to watch so much tropical fish close to the shore. Then, we went to Chiofen to eat some traditional food and appreciate the sunset and the magnificent landscape from the mountain. Alex successfully stayed awake till 20:00 evening before falling on the bed of our guest room.

One of the 50 teams selected

2009-07-13T03:46:00.000-07:00

GREAT !!!! We were selected for the first part of the contest!!!
Thanks everyone for your support, votes, comments, clicks on the website of the game as well as for sharing our links with your relatives and friends!

We owe you this victory !!

Indeed, we need to do some small things to get that money such as uploading , every day of our trip, a video and a text of 200 words... But we guess it will be easy.

Anyway, we invite you to keep the link underneath, if you wish to continue to support us and to follow our adventures on the East Coast of Taiwan from August 2d to 5th:
http://www.taiwanbesttrip.net/group/the-smoking-dogs/intro/group-introduction-of-the-smoking-dogs?lang=en

THE TRIP

2009-06-30T18:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight 23:59:59, local time for Taiwan, the first part of the game closed. We are waiting for the results that will be announced on July 10th.
Thanks to you, we are confident for the first part of this game. On July 1th:
- 9201 votes (maybe the jury will not consider these votes because people has used some computing programs to vote days and nights, for example some teams have 64 000 votes while only 14 comments....insane, right?
- 246 comments on our profile !!!!!!
- more than 808 watchers on our introductory video, that makes our video the 5th most watched of this contest!!!!!!!!!

It is time for us to introduce you the plan of our trip:

Day 1 : We will go to Chipen, known for its therapeutic hot springs. Hopefully, we will show you what and how is a hotspring and we will bath there for few hours. Probably before going to the hotspring, we will found out where is the famous wild hidden waterfall. We will go the Taitung to find a cheap but nice hotel as well as a nice night market to refill energy.

Day 2 : We will take a ferry-boat to Orchid Island. During this three hours of navigation from Fukang Harbor (close to Taitung) to Orchid Island, we hope watching some cetaceans especially dolphins. Arriving on Orchid Island, the owner of the hotel will pick us from the harbor to Yuren. There, we will rent bicycles, the most ecological and healthy means of transportation. We will wait for a friend who regularly lives on the island. He will introduce us to some local people and the most primitive aboriginal people, the Yamis. We will introduce their culture, habits (farming and fishing), food, typical house and boats etc... Then, we will enjoy the peaceful sunset from the rocky shore of Orchid Island.

Day 3 : In the morning, we hope to find a local diver to show us the best place to enjoy the underwater coral reefs. In the afternoon, we will start the 50km island tour. During this tour, we will stop to craggy cliffs, waterfalls and deep caves. We will found the most magnificent sites to take pictures and look at the volcanic formations named Dragon Head, Kiss and Virgin Rocks.

Day 4 : We will take a tour again in the morning. In the afternoon, we will check out the "Si Kang Chai art studio" to discover the sculptures and paintings of local people and the "Three sisters" to look at the woven bracelets, woodcarvings. In the late afternoon, we will take the ferry-boat back to Fukang Harbor and then go back to North Taiwan.

5 days before the closing of the contest first part

2009-06-24T19:19:00.001-07:00

The game is not finished yet !

So please keep on watching and sharing our video on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4688qPvqEU&feature=channel_page and voting on our profile http://www.taiwanbesttrip.net/group/the-smoking-dogs/intro/group-introduction-of-the-smoking-dogs?lang=en

Thanks to all of you !!!!
Cheers,

NEWS HEADLINE of "Taiwan Mag"

2009-06-23T00:26:00.000-07:00

Waouhh! Today we make the headline of "Taiwan Mag" (click here to watch that)
Thanks to "Taiwan Mag" for supporting us !

THAT TRIP IS GOING TO BE LEGEN.....wait for it......DARY !!!!!

VIDEO ONLINE

2009-06-21T07:59:00.000-07:00

So now the video is online on our blog or here.
Watch it !
If you really enjoy it, just share the link with your friends, share the link on your Facebook, My Space, LiveSpace, orkut,Bebo, Hi5, Twitter, Digg, Skyrock ...

The Team Members

2009-06-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

Alexandre alias "Le Munch":
- 28 years old,
- tall,
- athletic,
- friendly,
- funny,
- adventurer,
- perfectionist,
- single.

Gaël alias "Baaag":
- 27 years old,
- athletic,
- friendly,
- funny,
- adventurer,
- perfectionist.

Delphine alias "Tsulangel":
- 28 years old,
- funny,
- adventurer,
- brave
- blond,
- "casse-pieds"

Thanks to all relatives, friends and anonymous voting for us every day

2009-06-15T23:53:00.000-07:00

Special dedication to all of you !!! Thanks to your support (vote and comments) in this contest !!!

Opening Blog for Taiwan Trip

2009-06-15T00:31:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, it's Gaël, Alexandre and Delphine from FRANCE alias "The Smoking Dogs". This summer, at the occasion of Alexandre's first visit in Taiwan, we will discover the East coast of FORMOSA. We planned to visit the most preserved Taiwanese environments.
Discoveries of the Nature's beauty and the aboriginal culture are the main ingredients of our trip.
We will share with you the adventures of " The Smoking Dog" through pictures, videos and comments on this website. We are sure you will enjoy it!

Remember to increase of chances to win the contest, click there, VOTE for us and leave any COMMENTS !