Kenting!

This past weekend I had the choice opportunity to get the heck out of town and enjoy myself in the incredibly cool beach town on the southern most tip of Taiwan: Kenting. Did I mention that it was pretty much awesome?

Jess, Megan and I got up at the crack of dawn (5:30 am) to catch a train to Kaohshung, and then took a taxi down to the lovely town. Well, I should say, the normally lovely town. During the winter it is common for typhoon like winds to gust out of the mountains and assault the town. And let me tell you the wind was strong enough to knock over someone's scooter (not from personal experience, I assure you).

We got a pretty sweet deal with a hotel the first night and had remarkably comfy beds. We also took advantage of the local eateries, and did not eat one single Chinese food dish! It was heavenly. The Thai food down there definitely satisfied my cravings.

Unfortunately it was kinda cold and rainy, and reminded me of our time on Green Island. The beach was so windy that the sand would blow and would feel like needles were piercing my skin. I had sand stuck to my scalp for three days, even though I rigorously shampooed it.

We were joined on Saturday by our fellow teachers, Jake and Rachelle, and hit up the National Park where we were chased by monkeys because we were disturbing their territory. Wasn't our fault that the paved trail went right through their territory. We also hit up some local hot springs, and froze our bums off on the ride home.

At night the main street turns into a huge night market full of different stands and vendors, and bungee jumping--go figure. We strolled around a bit, and then hit the hay.

Sunday we went to church in a nearby town, and then hit up some of the sights from "Cape No. 7," a really cool Taiwanese movie set in Kenting. After that we took a seemingly wild goose chase through the country side trying to find this hidden beach. And in the end we did find it. While there we ran into this group from Taichung, and took some group pictures. As Americans, people really do treat us like celebrities and always want their pictures taken with us.

The trip was complete, and it was wonderful!