Go with Henry: Luodong - Discovering rural Taiwan

Monday, 20 December 2004

Luodong - Discovering rural Taiwan

English Teacher in Taiwan

Luodong

September 2003 – December 2004

Background

In June of 2003, I accepted my first ever TEFL teaching job in Taipei, Taiwan with Jump Start English. They picked me up at the airport in a black 500 class Mercedes and took me to a hotel, where I slept most of the day due to jet lag. It was summer in Taiwan, meaning hot, humid and sticky.

I started my TEFL career by doing a summer camp in Taipei. When I started a month later with regular classes, the school wanted us to teach diphthongs and inflected endings, complicated Grammar concepts, to 3 and 4-year-olds. Needless to say, it did not go so well and I decided to move on to another school.

I found a language centre, called Koala Educational Institute, in Luodong, a couple of hours away from Taipei by train, on the East coast of Taiwan. I relocated to Luodong in October of 2003 and taught ESL to Primary school children and Kindergarten kids early mornings and evenings.

During the day, I either took my scooter, or my bicycle, and explored Luodong. I had a 50 cc Honda scooter, with which I travelled everywhere, even Ilan mountains and to Taipei, taking pics along the coastal drive.

I made good friends with Chris from New Zealand, Elma from South Africa and Sandy from Romania, and we travelled all across the East Coast on our times off, sometimes by train, other times with our scooters.

Main street - Luodong

The cycling tour

In July of 2004, I was one of 5 expat cyclists from 5 different nationalities to cycle approximately 1000 km around the coast of Taiwan, in a circular route from Taipei back to Taipei. We raised funds for the Red Heart Foundation of Taiwan.

The tour took about 11 days across the industrial coastal Western plane of Taiwan and back to Taipei across mountain ranges of eastern Taiwan. I had Bronchitis for most of the tour, but managed to complete the long ride.

I changed teaching jobs at the end of the tour and worked for Cathy’s American school as an ESL teacher for High school kids, where I stayed until December of 2004, before I accepted a TEFL position in Zhongshan on the Chinese mainland.

Taiwan is indeed one of the highlights of my TEFL career across many countries. It is ‘little America’ on a tropical island, with all the modern amenities, yet with a natural beauty that was ripe for exploration. I particularly enjoyed my scooter rides and all my visits to natural hot springs.

Luodong street scenery

About Taiwan

Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a state in East Asia. Its neighbours include China (officially the People's Republic of China, PRC) to the west, Japan to the northeast, and the Philippines to the south.

Taiwan is the most populous state that is not a member of the United Nations, and also possesses the largest economy of any state outside of the UN. Taiwan is the 22nd-largest economy in the world, and its high-tech industry plays a key role in the global economy.

It is ranked highly in terms of freedom of the press, healthcare, public education, economic freedom, and human development. The country benefits from a highly skilled workforce and is among the most highly educated countries in the world with one of the highest percentages of its citizens holding a tertiary education degree (Wikipedia).

Current Status

The PRC has consistently claimed sovereignty over Taiwan. It asserts that the ROC is no longer in legitimate existence. Under its One-China Policy the PRC refused diplomatic relations with any country that recognizes the ROC.

Today only a few smaller nations recognize the ROC as the sole legal representative of China, but many other states maintain unofficial ties through representative offices and institutions that function as de facto embassies and consulates.

Although Taiwan is fully self-governing, most international organizations in which the PRC participates either refuse to grant membership to Taiwan or allow it to participate only as a non-state actor.

Internally, the major division in politics is between the aspirations of eventual Chinese unification or Taiwanese independence.

The PRC has threatened the use of military force in response to any formal declaration of independence by Taiwan or if PRC leaders decide that peaceful unification is no longer possible (Wikipedia).

View of park

About Luodong

Luodong Township is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan and is located on Lanyang Plain. It is the smallest township in the county.

Its name derives from the Kavalan word rutung, meaning "monkey", referring to a large population of monkeys there a half-century ago. It covers an area of 11.34 square kilometers and as of 2014, it had a population of about 72,000 people.

It has a large, landscaped sports park and a large night market - Luodong Night Market - containing many varieties of local food, such as scallion pancakes.

Luodong has an excellent natural environment, and is close to both urban Yilan and Su'ao Township, popular for its cold and hot springs (Wikipedia).

My home

View of Luodong from my apartment

Apartment interior

Chris and Elma visiting me in my second apartment

Tuzi, my pet rabbit looking for a snack

Downtown Luodong

Luodong street

Night market street - Luodong

Luodong train station

Bicycle shop- Luodong

Scenery near my apartment - Luodong

Elma at a restaurant in Luodong

At an Italian restaurant - Luodong

Luodong street near Sports park

Tony's shwarma shop in Luodong where I regularly bought Lebanese shwarma's

With Tony and Chris

Luodong Sports Park

Luodong Sports Park is a large park in Luodong, Yilan County, Taiwan. The park covers 47 hectares of land and it includes a range of facilities for sport including basketball and a swimming pool.

The park is divided into four sections that include; forest area, sport area, waterscapes, and other landscapes (Wikipedia).