Kenting 墾丁

Moon Festival was my only day off school this whole semester.  We all went to Kenting, in the southern tip of Taiwan.  Kenting was just gorgeous, tropical and on the ocean (Pacific).  Gerald cancelled our Tuesday afternoon meeting and we left after our morning classes.  We travelled by local train, High Speed Rail, and taxi.  Five hours later, we had arrived.  We dropped our stuff off at our hostel and went to rent some scooters.

Pre-departure - Oh so excited!
Erin, Kristi, Devin, Laura, Lien, Me, Whitney, Katy, Libby, Allison

HSR Station in Xinwuri

Ticket to ride
Erin, Me, Libby, Kristi, Devin, Whitney

Taxi van

Fill 'er up!

This was my first time staying about a hostel.  We stayed at one owned by a Canadian man who runs a dive company.  It was a nice place, as far as hostels go.  Our room was tiny, and 9 of us slept on two double bunk-beds. The showers were warm, which I can't say about Berhan.  (I am usually forced to endure cold showers at home in Fengyuan.)  


Scooters provide so much freedom.  I was a driver again, and Kristi my passenger.  We rode around the coast and stopped to play at the beach for a little while.  I just can't get over how beautiful Taiwan is, especially the southern coast.  We ate dinner at Smokey Joe's.  I thoroughly enjoyed the Tex-Mex food.  We visited the night market, and there were so many cool souvenirs, but I always feel like I will find something better later.  I do believe that pictures are the best souvenirs.  I did buy some fresh mango.  And I don't know if I have just been mango-deprived lately, but this was the best tasting mango I have ever had in Taiwan.

Me and Kristi

The first of many jumping pictures.  Some get more air than others.
Kristi, Libby, Me, Lien, Allison

Whitney, Erin, Me, Kristi

Yum!
Libby, Laura, Kristi, Devin, Erin, Me, Whitney

Yo tengo un sombrero!

As we were leaving the night market, my scooter felt funny and I realized that I had a flat tire.  I tried to drive on it to make it to the beach, my scooter started to get really squirrelly.  The back tire started to fish-tail a bit.  That was kind of scary, so we decided to pull over.  Allison went to ask the man at 7-11 for some help, or to use their phone.  The Taiwanese are a people who will go out of their way to help you.  It is so nice.  Within 30 minutes, a man had arrived and was fixing the tire.  They only charged me 100NT (a little over $3).  Not bad!  We made it to the beach and had a grand time walking in the water, chatting, and playing with sparklers (provided by Allison).

I got a sad for my scooter.

Devin, Lien, Me, Whitney, Libby, Allison, Erin, Laura

It was getting late, so we headed back to the hostel... and got lost.  We circled around several times before we called John, the hostel owner, to come show us the way.  We didn't get to bed until after 1:00 am, and were up by 4:30 am to see the sunrise over the ocean.  We drove up into the mountain near the coast and stopped onthe side of the road so that we wouldn't miss it.  Pictures don't even capture how spectacular it was.  I wish that it would have lasted forever.  Whitney pointed out that it is such a great priceless (literally) entertainment, and how amazing that we have a sunrise everyday.  I should get up early more often.  

Chasing the Sunrise

Me and Kristi

Laura, Erin, Libby, Me, Kristi, Whitney, Lien

Jumping for Joy!
Allison, Erin, Me, Katy, Whitney, Kristi, Lien

Before journeying back into town, we visited the Southern-most tip of Taiwan in Eluanbi, looking out on the Bashih Channel.  I found what entertainment I could with the cement sculpture landmark.

Ponder the meaning of...
Me, Laura, Kristi

Allison, Lien, Kristi, Me, Whitney, Libby, Katy, Laura, Erin

Scooter #1
Katy and Whitney

Scooter #2
Laura (the scooter fiend) and Lien

Scooter #3
Me and Kristi

Scooter #4
Libby and Allison

We spent the rest of the morning at Baisha Beach, a secluded little spot.  The sand was white and the ocean sparkling green-blue.  This was the warmest ocean I have been to.  It took no getting used to the water.  It was so much fun to play in the water and walk barefoot in the sand.  I battled the waves and tried to body surf until I choked on enough seawater for the day.  Thank goodness for showers!  I was so sandy everywhere, I could hardly stand it.

Pathway to Baishi Beach

Me and Kristi

Mmm!  Coconut!

Allison, Libby, Laura, Whitney, Devin, Me, Erin, Kristi, Katy, Lien

All ten!
Devin, Erin, Katy, Libby, Meg, Whitney, Laura, Lien, Kristi, Allison

Allison, Me, Whitney, Kristi, and Lien jumping!

The day before, as we were driving, I noticed a place to ride horses.  So, I quickly got ready and went there by myself, while everyone else was showering and getting ready.  Times like these, are when I wish I could speak Chinese.  I accomplished my goal of getting myself on a horse, by saying, "Wo yao chi ma."  However the discussion about cost and how long to ride were very unclear to me.  It ended up that I paid 100NT to ride once around a large arena.  It's okay though, because I was happy to be on a horse.  That is something I really missed.  Totally worth it.

This horse was huge.  Its back stood higher that the top of my head.

When I came back, we all left to eat lunch at the Surf Shack, a burger place owned by another Canadian man who surfs.  Who would have thought?  The food was good and I finally got to have mango papaya smoothie.  The bing-sha lady near our home has been out of mangos for quite some time now.  Yummy!

Our last destination in Kenting was the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium.  It was huge.  There were lots of fishies and some dolphins, penguins, puffins, turtles, sharks, etc.  Very cool.

Me and Kristi

Lion Fish

I do not know why there are horses on top of this Starbucks.

I was so exhausted on the way home.  And slept on the entire taxi ride and half of the train ride.  I woke up a few times to Whitney laying her head on my shoulder.  Hehe!  I am not going to lie: I almost cried a little on the way home.  Kenting was such a fun trip!