Surfing at Ilan (Spring Break Part I)

     Taiwan is such a wonderful place for trying new things and for new beginnings. I guess you can guess what one of those things are by the title of this post, right? You guessed it! SURFING! Surfing in Taiwan is actually pretty cheap, but it can't be done everywhere for in some places of course the waves are smaller and bigger than others. Ilan doesn't have big waves, but it was a suitable place for a beginner like me. Before surfing I had to get to my hostel the night before in order to spend a whole day being able to surf and play with me friends! So, the adventure starts.

Arrving at Rising Sun Surf Inn at 11 o'clock

     It's Wednesday afternoon, and I finish my class around 3:20, but I never actually left for Ilan until around 5 o'clock for I had to go back to my dorm and pack for my trip. I would spend two nights in Ilan and two days and one night at Hualien. After leaving at 5 o'clock I end up arriving at the hostel "Rising Sun Surf Inn" at 11 o'clock. It took me a long time for Hsinchu is at the West, while Ilan is at the East. To make matters more difficult for me, in between these two cities is a giant mountain pass that you can't really get through with every means of transportation. So, what I ended up doing was going from the west, up north to Taipei, and then southeast to Ilan County. Now, I really enjoyed my trip to the city for I started being able to live like a real Taiwanese. I never called for a cab like every foreigner here does. I ended up taking the two buses, walked for awhile, and then took two trains. Wasn't I great? That's how the Taiwanese do! Well, (truth be told) I did cheat a little. See, I was afraid that I would take the wrong routes, so I ended up using my GPS on my phone to tell me where I needed to go. But, I only did use it twice, so it's not that bad... I was travelling by myself, and everything was in Chinese so a little help was needed... ☺ By the time I arrived at the hostel, I was welcomed with open arms! There I was able to meet up with my three wonderful and beautiful French friends.

Before the surfing... don't we look ready?

 

 Next day, (finally) was the day for surfing! I think I will just upload a couple pictures so you guys won't have to read so much... because I am starting to write a lot now. Out of the four of us, only one knew how to surf. So there we are on the right being taught the techniques needed for surfing. Below, we are all on our way to start surfing. The water was pretty cold but thank goodness for the wet suits.
  Below is my friend Dymalie and I trying to just stay on our board for the first hour of surfing. Surfing was so much harder than I had expected it to be, but it was entirely fun! By the end of the day, I was able to balance quite fine on the board. I wasn't able to surf standing up, but granted I can surf on my knees. That's something!

  We didn't end up spending the whole day surfing though. We also played two rounds of volleyball (cough, that my friend and I ended up winning at...) and also an one on one game soccer game where I had taught my friend that females dominate males in this game. He was pretty good and a worthy opponent though!

Volleyball game - my partner had a bad shoulder but he still played well

   
  So that was it for my surfing adventure, but I don't expect it to be over. Far from it. I am actually hoping to go back soon for more surfing. It's cheap, and one of my friends is planning on surfing some more too. I hope that by the time I have to go back to America, I will be able to surf standing up.

Left the next morning to Hualien where another adventure was waiting for us