The old Guide raised his arm and shouted at me "You OK?" I nodded. But in reality, I wasn't exactly O.K. That's for sure. My ears and nose were still fighting the water. I didn't know how to swim and I was floating on the mildly oscillating blue waters of the Pacific Ocean. It was windy since the day before, which had postponed the snorkeling activity by a day in our vacation at Ludao. I looked at my partner. She was comfortably floating around, with her head below the sea level. Then I looked at the horizon. It was blue. I looked at the other side. The guide had pulled us quite far from the shore. "You OK?" I made the hand gesture to him. I don't think I had a choice to respond anything else in that situation. I couldn't even nod at him this time. Shouting was out of the equation, as the snorkeling gear filled my mouth. I kept on sucking as much air as I could from the pipe. I took another plunge in. It was a blue World. A pair of bro...

Ludao, a small volcanic island off the south east coast of Taiwan, has managed to snuggle up in my list of favorite places visited.  Commonly known as Green Island of Taiwan, Ludao is a hidden paradise presenting mind blowing snorkeling and scuba diving locations,   a lighthouse, a saltwater hot spring and a deer park. There are hiking trails as well, through lush green hills, leading to pavilions at varied elevations to witness the blue Pacific Ocean. The island can be reached either by flight or by ferry service from Taitung . Because of it's remote nature, reaching Ludao is not very easy. It was a long journey from Nangang district in Taipei to Taitung, in the south of Taiwan. We took the ferry from Taitung and reached Nanliao harbor  of Ludao at around 3:30 pm  on 13th October, 2019. The once-a-day flight from Taitung remains in air only for 15 minutes, but tickets are limited. The ferry service is more frequent and good, ho...