Wai'Ao Beach, East coast Taiwan

This past Saturday I finally did something I longed to, I took a train and went to the beach. It was a 2 hour ride in a local train. I was super excited when I got to the platform, I had just made it early and on time, the train took 10 min more and then I was on my way, thankfully and I don’t even know how because this train was packed with people! Do you know those “stuffers” they have in Japan? it seemed like we needed those too, and desperately. I managed to stuff myself into the steel can nevertheless. It was like this for the first 40 min of the journey, longest of my life; I was sweating, there was a baby crying and people that smelled like they’ve been dead for a week. All I could think at this point was that I better enjoyed myself at the beach if I was taking all this trouble. Eventually, we got to a popular stop and people loaded off the train, I could breathe again! So I took a seat and continued talking to my new friends, we had heat-bonded as we were so close and almost fainting. They were going to a beach that was a couple of stations before mine called Fulong Beach, and they were in for the food, I might have to do some research on that. A few moments later they alighted the train and waved goodbye. This was it! Only four stations to go, and then I saw it. The ocean. I couldn’t stop smiling, and people were looking at me funny, I didn’t care.

As I finally arrived at the station, all I saw was a very old looking structure and the main road which I had to cross to be able to get to the dock. I smelled a salty breeze and took in as much as I could, I have missed this for far too long. I looked around and located the Drifters Pizza Pub, which is where I’d planned to have my supper. I walked down the dock and found a way to descend. My toes were sandy and my dress was off, bathing suit and nothing else, the sun felt good. I walked the shoreline down south towards where most of the people were but decided I’d settle in the most secluded area. I kept walking and as I did I saw people jumping off a nearby hill with parachutes, took a mental note to do that once I return. There was nothing going on where the crowd was except a group of men playing drums made off plastic buckets. Nothing there for me, so I went back.

I had place my belongings between a Russian family and an old Asian couple. I intended to lay a bit under the sunlight but I couldn’t resist it any longer than five minutes, I headed straight for the waves taking hat and sunglasses off. There were loads of people taking photos and doing photoshoots, nothing looked too professional, so it was just in the common Asian way, selfie sticks and peace signs everywhere. Seeing this I thought of a time when people went to the beach and not a single electronic gadget was seen, okay, maybe just mothers occasionally snapping photos of their kids with the cameras that used film paper. People were simply enjoying nature at its fullest. Seeing all this flashy metal only made me think of how a beautiful beach scene was being polluted by sneaker wearing teenagers who came for selfies of all things. They took a few snaps and left...

I played like a child in the waves until the sun was coming down, time for pizza! I had not anticipated the lack of beach showers so I ended up washing off myself in a very public feet washing stool, there wasn’t many people around but one has to do what needs to be done. I pretty much crunched down the faucet and let the sand come off. As I was still in my bathing suit I had to go back to the station and decided I’d change clothes in their bathrooms, I had to play it smart, pee was everywhere from the squatting toilet, but I managed to get myself cleaned up. At this point I was starting to sweat from all the action in confined space, and when I got to the pub all I wanted was a beer. I ordered and the kind bartender was sympathetic to how hot it was and handed the coldest bottle on the fridge. I was beyond grateful and for the following moments I just drifted in thought, enjoying my beer and the music. As I finished drinking the beer I ordered my pizza. It was divine. I stayed at the bar until I had to catch the last train and come back to the city, I started making conversation with the local foreigners and asking about their life on the beach and they told me all about the relaxed everyday scene with surf and loads of good live music. I also met an awesome lady from New Zealand that had been living in Taiwan for about 7 years, when I asked how come she told me she sold everything she owned for love and came here. Then she proceeded to tell me why that would suck. After a lot of swearing about this man, lets call him Tom, she congratulated me on going on adventures on my own and took her leave. A friend picked her up in a loud motorcycle, and she waved and yelled her goodbyes as they set off. This was the most awesome scene performed by an old lady that I've ever witnessed. Time went by quickly and it was time for me to head back home, with leftover pizza and a happy mind I took the 2 hour train back to Taipei, gone was my Saturday.