Beaches and Sunburns

This weekend was a blast. We left at nine am and arrived at Kenting around noon. Kenting is at the southern most tip of Taiwan, and is scattered with beaches and tourists.

We arrived at our hotel, this strange building across from the beach, and unpacked. It was a nice room for what we paid. Every wall had a window, so if you opened all the curtains up there was a view of the beach and the surrounding land. There was one funny thing about the room though: we weren't allowed to wear our shoes in the room. Maybe that isn't strange to everyone, but it is to me. I can understand having that rule at someone's house, but a no shoes in the hotel room policy is just weird. We are there to relax, who cares about shoes?

Here are some pictures of the view outside our balcony.









After we unpacked and had some lunch, we got back on the bus and drove around the tip of Taiwan for a little while. It was beautiful but a little frustrating. It was so hot outside and all we wanted to do was jump in the water, but we had to continue on the little tour we were on.

Below are some pictures of the first stop we made. We got out at a small docking area with really clear water, and some giant wave breakers.
The second stop we made was at a small market that had a bunch of crap for sale. Every booth had pretty much the same things for sale, crystal balls, big hats, jewelry, and shoes. Right beside the shops was a park that we walked through for a while. Once again, very pretty, but very hot.
We went back into town after walking around the park. The plan was to rent two-person bicycles to drive in and out of town with. I don't think anybody was excited about this. It took a while to get the bikes, so I walked around with Matt and Ryan and took some more pictures.









At last, the Taiwan students got the bikes. They took a truck full of the guys to go pick them up and ride them back to the hotel. The rest of us drove back to the hotel in cars.


It took a long time for the guys to get back to the hotel, and when they came peddling down the hill I couldn't stop laughing. The bicycles were not what I expected, so seeing them combined with the guys miserable faces was entertaining.

Finally, after everyone got back, we went swimming. The water was great, the beach was ok. There were a lot f people out there trying to sell waver runner rides, so therefore there were a lot of wave runners sitting around on the beach.

We swam till dark, then went back to the hotel and cooked out in the parking lot. Great night.

On Saturday we got up early and went back out onto the beach. I think there is no ozone left in the area we were in, because I got cooked by the time we got out. We had a lot of fun in the process though. We all went for a ride on the "banana float". It fit five people and the Taiwanese men drove us around on their wave runners and flipped us off occasionally.

Later that night we went to the more touristy area of Kenting and had a big group dinner then walked around Kenting's version of a night market.

This was a good trip not only because of the beach, but because we got to know the Taiwan students a little better. They were really fun to hang out with.

Later the group split off and some stayed in town at a dance club. I went back with some others and we drove over the mountain and star gazed for an hour. The moon was pretty large, and it was reflecting over the ocean, and the stars were bright. It was nice to be out of the smog for a while. I even got to see a shooting star!

Today we got up, packed, and said goodbye to the beach. Before we left we had some lunch at a place that was immediately terrifying. Looking around before we sat down I saw huge tables full of people and strange food. There were huge bowls of soup with unknown foods floating in them, and plates of food that were unidentifiable. Once we sat down, we were locked in. Food started coming at us from every angle in five minute increments. All we could do was sit there and try it all.

It turned out to be pretty good too! The fish (pictured above, which by the way I thought looked the most sketchy) turned out to be one of the things I liked the most.