The next day we all got up around 9:00 AM and went to KFC to redeem the free breakfast coupons that the hotel had provided us for staying with them. Unlike the U.S., KFC in Taiwan has many more options other than fried chicken. For example, I got Mexican sausage porridge and red tea for breakfast and, surprisingly, it actually wasn’t bad.
Our breakfast.
Afterwards we walked back to our hotel and packed up our belongings to check out by 11:00 AM. Luckily, the hotel agreed to watch our luggage for the day so we wouldn’t have to lug everything around the whole day. That day my friends decided to go snorkeling at a popular snorkeling area called Houbihu. Since I had already snorkeled before in Penghu and Thailand though, I decided to save some money and lie out on the beach instead. Fortunately the weather had improved significantly from the previous day and there was actually sunlight to enjoy! Very happily, I lay out in the sun and just relaxed. A few hours later, my friends finished up snorkeling and joined me at the beach. Unfortunately we were short on time and had to leave the beach pretty early to catch our High Speed Rail at 9:30 PM that night. We caught a taxi started our return trip to Taipei. Interestingly enough, I noticed that the highways around that area of Taiwan bore a striking resemblance to the freeways in the United States. At first I felt a little homesick, but then I realized that I only had a little over two weeks left in Taiwan before I had to leave and quickly snapped out of it. When we got back to Zuoyin, we ran to grab a quick dinner and then went back to the rail station to wait for our train. Just two hours later I found myself back in Taipei grabbing my luggage and heading back to the dorms. Overall Kenting was a great trip and a great experience that left me appreciating the eclectic spots that Taiwan has to explore.
We lived in Rich Hotel, it was not the best, but it was alright.
Over the Dragon Boat Festival weekend, my friends and I went on a two day excursion to Kenting. The Dragon Boat Festival features dragon boat races held in honor of the poet Qu Yuan who, according to legend, drowned himself in protest after being slandered by envious officials in 280 BC. As it was a long weekend, Kenting (which is already a popular vacationing spot in Taiwan), was even busier than usual. After calling literally almost fifty different hotels, and after being told that each hotel was “ke man,” or “at capacity” in Chinese, I luckily was able to find a fairly priced hotel room for me and my friends.
In order to catch the first High Speed Rail, or “gaotie,” (the fastest train in Taiwan), we had to get up at 5:30 AM to leave the dorms by 6:00 AM. We caught our train just in time and essentially slept for the entire train ride there. We arrived to a city called Zuoyin in a little less than two hours and, from there, took a taxi the rest of the way. Another two hours later and we finally reached Kenting. Unfortunately though, as soon as we got dropped off in front of our hotel, we were met with gloomy weather and unexpected rain. While we were definitely quite disappointed with the weather, we were nonetheless determined to enjoy the little time that we had there. We checked in, dropped our luggage off, and set out to explore the city.
Our first stop was lunch. After debating on which restaurant to go to, we finally decided on an interesting looking Thai restaurant about a block away from a hotel. The food was relatively pretty good, but a little overpriced in my opinion. Afterwards we explored more of the area around the hotel, did some shopping, and then headed back over to our hotel to change. Despite the weather (although it did stop raining!), we changed into our bathing suits and headed for the closest beach. I, along with another one of my friends, decided to lie out on the beach relax. The remaining crew set out to explore the rest of the beach and took a dip in the water. While the day itself was a little chilly, the beach was surprisingly crowded with kids playing left and right. After staying for about two hours, it started to rain again and we took it as a sign that we should probably leave.
We had fried noodle dish, coconut chicken, and papaya salad. They're all very yummy!
This is Xiaowan, it is a really small bay.
While walking back to our hotel, we made a detour and stopped at a nice little plaza area. We got some Starbucks and ice cream, hung out for a bit, and then headed back to our hotel. As soon as we got back to our hotel, we started watching some TV and ended up taking an unplanned nap for a couple of hours. Next thing I knew, I awoke to my friend telling that it was already 8:00 PM and that we should go out and walk around the night market. I woke up, got ready, and we all headed out.
Kenting Road was really crowded. The picture in the middle is a famous bun shop that's opened by a celebrity in Taiwan, the buns were really delicious. And we saw fireworks on our way back to the hotel, I think it was for the Dragon Boat Festival holiday.
While some of the busiest night markets in Taipei already leave me feeling pretty overwhelmed, nothing could have prepared me for how busy and crowded Kenting’s night market was that night. I think that it was the combination of Kenting already being a popular tourist destination, paired with the fact that it was Dragon Boat Festival, that resulted in a street jam packed full of strolling pedestrians all eager to take a look at what local vendors were selling, as well as a steady stream of cars desperately trying to make their way down the busy street. Whatever it was though, the night market was the busiest night market that I had ever seen.
A skewer of deep fried custard, a box of fried squid, a bag of fried crab, a flakey crepe with peanut butter and butter cream, fruity frozen yogurt, a few bags of souvenirs, and five hours later, I found myself tired, stuffed with food, and very satisfied with the night’s happenings. I headed back to the hotel, showered, and went straight to bed content with my trip so far.
I was engraving my friends' key chains. Look! They're all so cute!
Our breakfast.
We lived in Rich Hotel, it was not the best, but it was alright.
A cool looking restaurant in Kenting.
