I was kidnapped by turtles and woke up at a Lil Jon concert.

What the weekend. It started bright and early Saturday morning as we set off for Turtle Island, which is a nature reserve off the coast of Yilan County. We have seen the island from a number of different vantage points on shore and were excited for the trip. It turned out to be one of the most long and arduous trips of which you could possibly conceive.

After a half hour boat ride to the island, we arrived and set off to climb the mountain. 1706 steps. The combination of dehydration, a lack of sleep, a choppy boat ride over, greasy breakfast and tequila from the night before all combined to create a perfect storm in my stomach such that every 50 to 75 steps I made Nell stop to make sure I didn't throw up. Still, we kept pushing and finally made it to the top! Views were incredible -- crystal blue water punctuated in the distance by a dark, mountainous horizon.

After our trek up the mountain we wandered around the island's lake and climbed back on board a boat for what we hoped would take us back to shore. Eight of us had made arrangements to take a bus to Taipei in the evening, and as time wore on our hopes of making the bus grew thinner and thinner. Little did we know that we were boarding the boat of doom.

Things started to go wrong when, about ten minutes in, the first passenger fell. A girl started vom-ing and we all got a chill of what the future held for us. As the boat bobbed up and down on huge ocean waves, we tried to find comfortable places, but still, five of sixteen of us ended up throwing up. Most of the rest of us also had some degree of sea sickness, as the boat trekked further and further out into the ocean, looking for the seemingly non-existent dolphins. By the time we expected to head back to shore, we pulled into a harbor, only to discover that it was the harbor at Turtle Island and that we had to pick up even more passengers before making the half hour journey to shore. By that point it was 430...the time our bus departed Yilan. When we finally arrived on shore, there was a definite sigh of relief, but we still had to get our acts together to make it to the concert in Taipei.

Saturday Part II: We took taxis back to Yilan, showered and dressed, and made it on an 830 bus. It takes about an hour and a half to make it to Taipei, so we were pressed for time as we wanted to be at this club, Luxy, by 1020 but no later than 1100 (there was supposed to be free admission before 1100). With some serious mobilizing, we were able to find the hostel, check in, put on our dresses, hail cabs and make it to the club by 1045.

Last weekend we had found a poster advertising Luxy's 5th anniversary party, which featured the American rapper, Lil Jon. None of us expected much of the concert, but it actually turned out to be a great concert and awesome night. After some pregaming at 7-11 (drinks in the club are very expensive, so a lot of people get beer or liquor there and drink outside before heading to the club), we went back to the club. By the time Lil Jon came on stage, we managed to elbow our way to the third row of the club -- close enough for his hype man to pour vodka and crunk juice all over my dress and to catch a sweaty towel that Lil Jon threw into the crowd. This might sound like a mundane account, but it was actually a great concert night!

The next morning we checked out of the hostel and headed to find some Mexican food at Amigos. The food was not bad for Taiwan, but we are realizing that our standards for Mexican food have fallen drastically since our arrival. Basically, any refried beans are good refried beans! After lunch, Britt, Paige and Mary went shopping in Ximen and Brett and I tried to go to the Museum of Contemporary Art, but ran out of time. Instead, we ran into this street artist who painted "Taiwanese stories." His pictures were actually quite beautiful, and at only 100NT a piece, quite a deal. He was also a great old man to talk to, sharing story after story, and despite professing to have poor English, we were able to touch on everything from American politics to the Chinese zodiac. And now I have two lovely paintings of flowers and mice for the living room!