Fu Long Beach

I had the most amazing weekend. Normally I would try to be modest about it, but in this case, it is not even worth it. Be jealous.

It didn't start out so hot. Saturday morning, I woke up early, and I was exhausted. I still hadn't heard back from my friend Jan after sending him a couple of texts inviting him to the beach the night before. I assumed he was dead. I had to meet my friend Claire at the main train station (which is essentially a zoo) at 10, meaning that I had to get my ass into gear rather early so that I could be a functioning human by the time I had to interact with other people.

When I got to the train station, I figured out that it was just me and Claire going, so we bought some tickets on the next train, and headed out. It was only two dollars for an hour and a half train ride: not too shabby, if I do say so myself. We had to stand the whole way, because there weren't actually enough seats for everyone, and the air conditioning definitely could have been better, I am not going to lie. I don't know if you have smelled a bunch of Chinese people with no air conditioning, but it is not a beautiful thing, let me tell you.

Once we got there, it was only a five minute walk to the beach, but it was hot, and absolutely perfect beach weather. Bring on the awesome day. We got some food at a local restaurant for lunch, before deciding to hit the beach.

We saw the beach, and naturally, walked in that direction, before we figured out that we would have to go a different way. But it was beautiful once we got there. The sand was perfect, the water was clear. We had to walk through a small river to get to the beach, because I think that we went a wrong way. Not the main road, anyway. But we got to the right place eventually. And we rented a tent for 7 dollars for the whole day, and jumped straight into the water. That is the life right there, let me tell you.

We stayed in the water for about an hour, just talking, and enjoying the eaves and the sand and the salt. It was beautiful. 20 minutes on the beach, and then back into the water for 20. I am never living in a cold place again.

In the end, we hadn't quite timed our departure very well. We were very close to not making the right train, because Claire had to be back at a certain time, and she wanted to get her deposit back from the guy who rented them (who was the meanest man ever. He took our money, and then told us to get the F*** out.) She ran to get back her deposit, and with 10 minutes to spare, I raced back to the station to get us some tickets on the train. I am happy to report that we made it, with two minutes to spare. And unbeknownst to us, we had gotten a ticket on the faster train, with airconditioning. And no seats. But this time, it only took an hour to get back to Taibei. Not too shabby!

We grabbed some dinner at the main station, and some awesome mochi dessert, and I headed back to my room to crash. What can I say, a long day in the salt and the sun takes it out of you.