Orchid Island 蘭嶼

Just got back from Orchid Island (蘭嶼) one of Taiwan’s islands. It has been a long 3 days but we just had to see everything we could so there wouldn’t be a need to go back once we saw everything. We went with one of Lana’s friend Yi Ping that is a native Taiwanese. We stayed in Taipei June 24th the night before we left because we thought it would be easier to travel to the subway station (MRT) to get to the airport to take us to the island and meet her friend at the Taipei  domestic airport.

We flew from Taipei to Taitung(台東) on June 25th where there was nothing we could walk to so, taking a taxi was the best option and was really fun to see the sites. We had a 4 hour layover so we negotiated a price with a nice taxi driver to take us around to see Taitung. But before we got on the plane I saw chicken feet sticking out of this lady’s bag that was going to fly on the same plane as us but it turns out that it wasn’t just the feet but 2 whole dead chickens that were fresh. Next was to board the plane to Orchid Island  however, that plane has been the smallest I have ever flown on since it only fit 25 people at maximum.

After we got to Orchid Island and put our suitcases in the hostel we were off on an adventure to find a famous church that was on the island and turned out to be beautiful. Then we went back to the place the program we booked with was and had dinner and were going to look for owls and flowers that only bloom at night. The next day (June 26th) we went snorkeling and saw some colorful fish and coral.

Then after we ate lunch we went to climb one of the mountains on Orchid Island which then I could see all parts of the island. Where we found this abandoned building that was really amazing. After climbing the mountain the director of the program with which we were staying took us around the island and let us take pictures of the different spots.

The last day (June 27^th) we were on the island we found out that it was the earliest place people could see the sunrise in Taiwan which was beautiful. But on our way back we tried to take the road through the mountain that we came to watch the sunrise but she turned down the wrong way, which we knew because there were too many pigs that were wandering the road. When she got to the end of the road she realized it was the wrong road and asked a native of the island to help her back down the road because Yi Ping got stuck. 

Once we got back after having a nap because we got up early it was time to pack up and leave the hostel and go visit the museum of Orchid Island before leaving. After the museum we were ready to board what looked like our same plane that we came on to go to Taitung then we had a 2 hour layover waiting to board our next plane to go to Taipei. Once we got to Taipei we bought our bus tickets to go back to Taichung and finally we could rest from traveling. It is one trip I will never forget.