Birthday trip to Kenting

This weekend, 7 of us decided to take a mini-holiday to Kenting. Friday night, we decided that my birthday coupled with the end of the terrible week warranted a vacation. And everyone knows that spontaneous vacations are the best! :)


Kenting is "Taiwan's tropical playground," located on the southern tip of the island. It has a national park with hiking through tropical forests as well as beautiful beaches, one of which boasts a coral reef. Four of us left early Saturday morning, taking the two-hour bus south. Even the scenery from the bus was amazing with palm tree forests (I have never seen entire forests of palm trees), the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. Many things we passed I was not sure what they were, such as large groupings of square bodies of water enclosed with stone walls. Each had a watermill churning in the middle, and our best guess was that they were fish farms (?). Three other people had school-related activities in the afternoon, so they did not join us until the evening. However, they also are staying an extra day. Carol and I both had to be back in Kaohsiung by this morning for the first day of school. Some of us adults have real jobs and cannot be frolicking on weekdays lol. :) This will be more funny when you hear what my job is actually like.

Kenting was just so wonderful - a much needed break and get-away. We went cycling, swam in the beach (you should have seen the stares we attracted being the only four westerners in the midst of dozens of super skinny Asians - Carol and I call ourselves Amazon Queens) and splashed around volcanic rocks (I was so in awe of the volcanic rocks that I mindlessly wished out-loud that I could live on a volcanic island... It might take a while to live that one down), went to the night market, hiked through the national forest and saw lots of tropical trees (we even had a guide who went around with us, the only westerners in the park, to point out different kinds of trees and wildlife - he was amazing). Sunday was a simply amazing day. After hiking in the morning (before it got too hot), we returned to our hotel where I took a 20 minute nap while some people showered, went to lunch at a Thai restaurant (one of my favorite cuisines, in case you didn't know), returned to the hotel where I took another 20 minute nap while we waited for our shuttle, and then went to the beach where we went snorkeling! The best kinds of days include lots of physical exertion, great food, lots of naps and beautiful scenery!



The coral reef in Kenting is beautiful. I had never been "for-real" snorkeling before (only fake snorkeling where you use the gear but are in ordinary ocean-water, so you don't see anything), so it was an incredible experience. I felt like I was living in Nemo's world! We even saw Scarface!! I followed him around for a bit, until I lost him in a hole... There were beautiful electric blue fish (I wonder if they glow in the dark) and pretty rainbow colored ones. The coral itself was very interesting to study. There are so many different types of coral, and it was so cool to realize that it is all alive and not just dead rocks!

Our snorkeling experience was kind of hysterical. And it was an "experience." I am not too sure how many westerners they get out there - not many... We arrive in the van, and are greeted by three guys who will be our "coaches." [Sidenote, the indigenous Taiwanese people are beautiful - much more similar to Pacific islanders than East Asians]. They are very excited to meet all of us, and then one of the guys indicates that I look the most "American." In case you thought he meant my blond hair, he then elaborates that I have a "very nice body," and does the accompanying hand motions! Oh yes. He did. And then Kristin tells him it's my birthday, at which point he breaks out singing "happy birthday" in English to me! I was definitely bright red by this point... Oh my. Me with my American body at a Taiwanese beach. Clearly a highlight for them.

Having birthdays does have its perks though. In addition to the van ride to and from the beach, wet suits, snorkel gear and snorkel time which we all got for the bargain price of 12 American dollars each, they threw in free rides with them on their jet ski in honor of my birthday. It was pretty awesome. :) We also did this ride where two of us sat in an inner-tube tied to the jet ski, and then one of them would whip us around, trying to flip us out of the tube into the ocean. So - much - fun.

It was a beautiful weekend, and much needed after last week. It was so wonderful to be away from Kaohsiung, to be completely mindless and to just relax and have fun.

Bekah and I at the night market with our new sunglasses and my new beaded necklace!