Day 11: Orchid Island Surrounding the Island—Night View
Today's plan is to charter a car to Hualien, settle down temporarily, and go to Tailuge tomorrow. But when I set off in the morning, I realized that due to the long distance, I had to book a car one day in advance. When we went out after 9 o'clock, all the cars that could be chartered had already left.
The only way we can choose now is to rent a car to go to the train station, and then slowly reverse to Hualien. It was easy to find the train at the train station. After getting on the train, my wife was thinking about going to Lanyu Island. She planned to buy a ferry ticket in Taichung and go there first. Fortunately, I have also done my homework. From the map, it is obvious that Kenting is closer to Lanyu. At this time we made a wise decision, got out of the car, and looked for a boat to go to Lanyu.
The place where we got off happened to be at the homestay we stayed in Nanwan. Fortunately, we knew the way, so we found a small travel agency nearby to help us contact the boat ticket. The owner of the travel agency is very kind. She can’t make money in our way of travel, but she made a lot of phone calls and made contact clearly from the beginning to the end. She also helped find a local taxi to take us to the pier. Thank you so much up. I feel that there is a strong local feeling everywhere here, where the Chinese orthodoxy is located.
The two-hour boat ride was very comfortable, and the first-class cabin on the boat was very air-conditioned. If you had nothing to do, you could go to the deck to see the clear sea. From time to time, flying fish flitted across the sea in the distance, which was full of life. My wife said that she saw shark fins wandering on the water, which I really didn't find.
After landing, we were dumbfounded. It turned out that the pier was built in a desolate part of the island, far away from the hotel, we did not book in advance, and from Ctrip, it was already full. We had to find a car at the pier to find a hotel, but we didn't see any public transport except motorcycles. Moreover, renting a motorcycle requires an international driver's license. We didn't do our homework well and never thought about it. I heard from the person at the car rental shop that a mainland tourist got into an accident a few months ago driving without a license. It was so troublesome that people without an international driver's license dare not rent it anymore.
There is only one 711 convenience store by the pier that is open 24 hours, where you can eat and shop, and there is nothing else. Residents on the island are very idle. They only do business for a while from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm every day, and spend the rest of the time basking in the sun and sleeping. We have nowhere to go here, is the journey over again?
It’s hard work that pays off. After chatting with each shop, a bluetooth boss who chewed betel lang asked us, is it okay to drive a car? The daily fare is equivalent to more than 500 yuan, which is about four times that of a motorcycle. But the three of us have to rent two motorcycles, one car is enough, and we can also carry luggage. Although it is more expensive, there is no better choice. As he said that, he drove the car, it was an old Mitsubishi, fortunately it was an automatic transmission. We tried it and it was not bad, so we embarked on the ordinary road around the island. Anyway, thank you boss!
The island is surrounded by a circle of roads, and the road around the island is more than 40 kilometers. The scenes we walked along the way were the same as in Han Han's movies, crossing mountains and seas, mountains and rivers returning along the way, and the willows are dark and the flowers are bright. When I walked to the back of the island, I felt that it was much more lively. It turns out that there are still many local hotels and B&Bs, but the locals are too lazy to post them on the Internet. I will talk about this later.
We want to watch the sunrise. It is said that Dongqing here is the most suitable place, and it is also the most prosperous place on the island. We looked at several and were not satisfied. To say that most of the hotels and B&Bs on the island are not very hygienic and expensive. The locals don't like to clean up, and several rooms have obvious musty smell when entering. Local reservations are rarely made through Ctrip, mainly through several European and American websites such as BOOKING. I feel that it is best to have a look at the houses here before renting them. If they are booked, they cannot be refunded, and it will be uncomfortable to live in.
I didn't find a suitable one in Dongqingzhuan, so I went back to the Yeyin tribe I passed by just now. After comparing the two, we settled down in a large hotel. The owners are a kind old couple, a perfect combination of the Han nationality and the local Dawu nationality. They are hardworking and enjoy themselves, and the house is very clean. They also have a house in Taipei, and they go back and forth between the two sides for vacation every year.
After arriving at the hotel, it was very interesting to listen to the boss talking. He asked us which bed to live in at night, and the bed that we couldn't live in would not be cleaned up. Yesterday's guests have left, and the unoccupied rooms are not cleaned up tonight, it's too tiring to clean up.
When we were unpacking, a 5cm long Xiaoqiang climbed down from the bathroom door, which scared my wife to death. Although I stomped it to death and washed it away, I was somewhat worried about its brothers and sisters visiting when I was sleeping.
The night view at night is the biggest surprise, my wife found it while doing homework, give it a thumbs up!
The protagonist of the night view is Mr. Xiao Su. Everyone sits on the steps by the side of the road and sits in several rows to listen to him talk about folk customs. Teacher Xiao Su received systematic training as soon as he heard it, and he talked about it section by section.
What's interesting here is that people have different names at different stages. After having children, the husband changed his surname to Xia Man, the wife changed his surname to Xi Nan, and then his name was changed to the child's name.
There are 6 tribes on the small island. Although the indigenous population is only a thousand or so, ethnic vendettas often occurred in the past. In order to have an advantage in the battle, every family is proud of having more boys, so the local young and strong men have a higher status. However, in recent years, priests have come to every tribe, which has played a very good role in enlightenment, and now ethnic vendettas have basically disappeared.
Flying fish is the best local product. We bought a fried flying fish on the way to the night view. One taste is like wild fish, with natural aroma, you will never get tired of eating it. Every time the flying fish season comes, men go out to fish in groups. If you are lucky, if you set off in the evening, a small boat can catch more than 200 catties in 4 to 5 hours.
The focus of today's night viewing is a kind of little owl. Xiao Su said that this is the most precious animal here, and there are very few existing ones. You can only see it when you are lucky. The main reason for the small number is that this kind of animal is too hypocritical. Before mating, they have been in love for more than a year. Many factors will cause them to break up. The appearance of the little owl tonight needs his call. He can imitate the calls of the male owl and the female owl vividly.
Afterwards, Xiaosu took out the basket and showed various local crabs and a kind of kissing fish. It is said that this kind of fish is a way for local girls to express their love. They hang this colorful fish at the door of their house. The bigger the fish, the more they will become. The brighter it is, the more it can show the ingenuity of girls, and the more it can be favored by boys.
We listened to Mr. Xiao Su's talk on the side of the road for more than an hour, and our interest was fully aroused. When the order was given, dozens of people formed a long convoy and set off.
The first stop was to see sea snakes by the sea. It is said that the toxicity of this white and black sea snake ranks among the top five in the world, almost at the level of blood sealing the throat. Xiao Su waited by the coral pit for a while, then caught one, holding the snake tail, carefully avoiding the attack of the snake head, showing it to everyone and giving a lecture. After the lecture, ask everyone, whoever dares to take it can try it. I was eager to try: "In case there is an antidote for biting?". "No". "Then what should I do if I accidentally bite you?" He laughed at himself: "I do this, I can't help it, I just bite!" Looking at his words, he was just trying to scare people, but under the persuasion of his wife and daughter Next, I didn't dare to take it after all.
The second stop we drilled into the forest. The first animal is a hermit crab. It is a renter. The one I saw was lucky and found a conch shell to be its home. Xiao Su said that due to the increase in garbage left by tourists, some crabs use old cups and broken cans to take care of themselves. They also dug out many such photos from their mobile phones, which makes people uncomfortable. The second animal was a small white snail, and the third was a stick insect almost identical to a twig. For these small animals, Xiao Su feels very caring, and warns everyone not to do anything except take pictures. As we walked deeper and deeper into the forest, Xiao Su imitated the cry of the little owl in front more and more frequently, and suddenly whispered to everyone: "Look, it's on top, don't directly shine on it!" Looking at his fingers, it turned out to be a little owl, as big as an adult's hand, with a light and upright branch, communicating with Xiao Su in his own way, and gently showing it to everyone fly away.
Coming out of the forest, we stargazing together again. It should be a long time since I saw such a clear sky full of stars, and it should be the first time that my daughter has been so close to the sky. He pointed to the sky with a laser pointer, clearly indicating the Big Dipper, Polaris, Jupiter, and the Milky Way across the sky. He used a great app for stargazing - STARWALKER. I have never thought of software with this kind of function before. When I use my mobile phone to shine on the sky and the corresponding constellations, the corresponding outlines will be drawn around these stars, or animals or gods. The constellations in ancient Greek mythology can be Unobstructed. The universe is so big, what we can see is only tens of thousands of light-years, and there is a deeper time and space outside it!
On the way back, it began to rain, watching the moon in the sky appear and disappear in the clouds. When looking from a distance on the island, I feel that the world is very small, and the sky is not far away. The moon is like a lamp hanging in the sky. When hiding in the clouds, beams of light are shot out like a flashlight, illuminating a large circle on the sea surface; when the clouds disperse, beams of light sprinkle obliquely on the sea surface, illuminating the boats on the shore, and in the quiet sea, the boats look like The same color is distinct, without variegated colors, and after looking at it for a long time, I even have hallucinations, as if everything in front of me is within reach, and if you take this curtain away, a new day will follow.
