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My friend Huilin, who has a great blog in Chinese , invited me to
join her on a sailing trip with the famous Captain Kao recently. Kao is
an unnusual guy who gave up his job, flew to the United States, bought
a boat, and in 2007 sailed singlehanded across the Pacific Ocean.
Of course, I was mad keen to meet this person! And
the chance to explore one of Taiwan's less well-known corners was
doubly exciting. So I jumped on the High Speed Rail, which whisked me
to the other end of Taiwan at 300kmh, and went to take a look at his boat "Yu
Luh" for myself.
The name Yu Luh means "the path the fool walks," and that pretty much
sums up my relationship with sailing too. We had a great, if rather
slow, sail down the coast from Gaoxiong - dodging the freighters coming
in and out of the harbour - and arrived at Xiao Liuqiu in the late
afternoon.
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After Taipei and Gaoxiong, the two biggest cities, this little coral island was a bit of a culture shock. People swim in the harbour (Yes! It's clean enough!) Nobody wears crash helmets and half of the cars have no number plates. You can rent a scooter and drive round the island in less than an hour. Check out the few beaches, weird rock formations, and old ladies harvesting seaweed.
There is reputed to be one temple per person on the island, and I can believe it. It's a great place to take a break: Quiet, clean, relaxed, and very very beautiful. If you get a chance to go there then take it.
And if you don't get a chance to go, then create one. Kao now makes his living giving sailing lessons and the course includes a trip to Xiao liuqiu. He's open to all suggestions for trips, charters, classes, you name it. You couldn't ask for a more genial host, and Yu Luh is a great little boat. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend, or even a week.
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