Day One Kenting

Hi everyone! its a been a while since weve had any real stories to tell and we apologize to those who check the site regularly. we havent really been doing much aside of working. however, this past weekend we were able to scrape together some vacation time and go on our first out of town taiwan adventure. we went to kenting, a cool little beach down in a tropical climate and probably the biggest vacation spot in the country. we didnt do as much as we couldve but we did enough and still enjoyed the time we spent there. even though it took a lot longer than expected, the trip to get there was a pretty decent way to start the trip off. we made our way south via the Taiwan high speed rail. it travels at some insane speed and got us pretty far south in under two hours. when i first heard about the train i was under the impression that it extended the whole way through the country. this is not the case. it actually only takes you most of the way there, only to leave you to fend for yourself the rest of the way. luckily outside of the train station cabbies and bus drivers hover around like vultures and aggressively come at you spittin out prices and travel estimates giving you a numer of options. we opted for the bus which i might have regretted due to the time had the driver not hooked us up.

what happened was, when we decided to make the trip, i figured we didnt need to make any reservations anywhere and we"d be able to stroll on through and walk into a hotel or B&B and buy a room for a few nights, which under normal everyday circumstances wouldnt be a problem. however my, laid back, just wing it, no-plan, adventurous travleing character almost had us sleeping on the beach with hermit crabs and skin-ripping sand storms (more on those later). we decided to travel to the biggest vacation spot in the country on what is the equivalent to Taiwans independence day. needless to say we werent the only ones to wanted to catch some R&R on the beach that weekend...

the bus driver asked me where we were satying and after hearing our plans, or lack there of, he told me he'd take us to a spot that was decent and pretty cheap. cool! so he dropped us off at a scooter rental shop.

the thing about kenting is that every business on the main strip is a store front property with apartments above, which of course the owners rent out to visitors. and this is exactly what we had. it wasnt bad though, a double room for about $1500 ($50 U.S.) with a little tea nook and a large flat screen television. good deal.

after checking into the room we decided to catch a glimpse of the night market scene in the vacation spot and get some dinner at a local restaurant. with many choices ranging from westernized to thai restaurants we chose the latter. neither of us had ever eaten thai food but ive heard it was really good so what the hell. the we saw the menus which were nothing short of what i expected; spicy meats, vegetables and strange cultural blends. we ordered a couple of chicken dishes but what would this story be without a weird food experience? because i wanted to keep our viewers entertained, i decided to order some fried frog legs as an appetizer. not too big a deal since im sure we can find'em back home if really wanted them. i wont lie they werent bad. tasted like chicken, a little different considering it spent its life in a swamp, but bland chicken. after dinner we walked around for a little bit and retired to our room for the night.

the next morning we woke up with all intentions of doing nothing but beach loungin all day. kenting has a few different beaches to see, but in order to get to them you need a scooter. to get a scooter, you need an international drivers license (at least this was the case for this holiday weekend), which of course i dont have. which left me in a rutt and desperate to get any kind of motorized transportation for the two of us. so after rejection from our inn-keper, and denial at another shop, i finally found some wheels. rollin down the street on some tens, we were ridin' diirty on a battery powered, pedal-option mo-ped that only went 30 km/h and needed a new battery charge 3x a day. i was so bad ass tough it was silly. with our new hot-wheels and a tiny bottle of sunblock (sp f20) we were on our way to settin the scene for the next Corona billboard.

we spent the day burning skin on a couple of the beaches and doin a little salt-water swimming until dark. it was a good day aside from the sand blasts mentioned earlier. i felt like paint on the side of a house when the wind kicked up. the wind blows sand against your skin so harshly itll make you curse the gods. come to think of it, im not so sure if i got sunburned or the sand just blasted the top layer of skin off my body...

after the beach we ventured out to the streets for a little bit again. this time the holiday crowd had made its presence known in the little beach town. the streets were swarmed with all kinds; taiwanese, american, canadian, and whoever else might inhabit this little pacific island. We had a good first day.

Pics day one

Sail Rock, we went snorkeling around the rock.

Frog legs
High speed train- inside
High speed train- outside

Day one pics

We found a hermit crab
Hmm... I wonder where he can't reach.


Corona Billboard

First day pics

Holiday crowd filling the streets
Mike thinks he is a bad ass on the little bicycle
Taken at 20km/h
Watching the sun set
Giant black spider #2

Kenting Part Two

Because our lame excuse for a scooter only took us so far before we had to turn back, we were limited to what we could do and see in the Kenting national park area. we wanted to do some kind of activity or tourist attraction, so the next morning we decided to go snorkeling. For those of you who know Erin, this was a HUGE step for her because she has an overwhelming fear of all things ocean. Being the super gal that she is, she looked that fear right in the face and spit at it. After suiting up head to toe in diving gear (you would’ve thought she was going on an expedition to explore the lost treasures of the titanic) she zipped up the wet suit, strapped on the mask, and bit down on the snorkel while slowly inching her way into the unthinkable. After a few minutes of panic and adjusting to her surroundings my girl became one with the water and was swimming like the creatures beneath. After about an hour of scooping out all kindsa crazy colored fish, sea snakes, sea urchins and enormous coral rock formations we finally got out of the water and got some lunch. At this point I should disclose that I shouldve gotten the wet suit as well because as we were getting out of the water a wave pushed me into some kind of rock with exotic plants growing out of it. One of these plants didn’t like to be bothered and stung me as I brushed up against it, leaving a burning sensation running through my lower back as a exited the water.
After lunch we pretty much spent the rest of the day exploring the areas surrounding kenting. We cruised through the winding roads to natural rock formations, the southernmost tip of Taiwan, a few mountain ranges and a ranch (where I fed some baby bulls). Originally we were going to stay until Sunday but we decided that day to leave Saturday night and get home to sleep all day Sunday. So around 6 o’clock we grabbed the bags out of the scooter renting bed and no-breakfast and hailed a cab back to the high-speed train.

Kenting Pics Day two

Mike feeding the baby bulls
Mike's battle wounds
My awesome snorkeling suit
Nerd
This is where we went snorkeling

Kenting Day two

Emperor Mike
Emperor Mike's wench
Kenting Beach
Taiwanese pose, cruising through the mountains
Baby bull

Kenting Day Two

Looking out from Frog Rock
Frog Rock.. I don't see the Frog
Walking on the trails of Frog Rock
Mike in a cave
View from Frog Rock

Toilets-Erin

I had the lovely experience of trying to use one of Taiwan's toilets the other day (usually they have a Taiwan toilet and a toilet that you can sit down on, this place didn't). The toilet is pictured below. I had to meet Patty that day to do stuff for my ARC (alien residence card) after I was done teaching. I decided to stop somewhere and get something to eat before I met her. After I was done with my meal nature was calling and I had to rush to answer. I got up and went to go into the bathroom. I closed the door and turned around to see what looked like a hole in the ground surrounded by porcelain. I searched around the room for something similar to the toilets that I am used to or at least something I could sit down on....nothing. I thought to myself, "what I am supposed to do with this thing"? I stood there for a good 2 minutes just staring at the hole, standing over it in different positions not knowing what to do. I had to go so bad so I decided to give it a shot. I pulled my nice dress pants down and squatted over it and rested my hands on the part of the porcelain that comes up so I was facing away from it. It is not as easy as it sounds with your pants around your ankles trying to squat and not fall into the porcelain hole. Needless to say I failed the task. I got pee all over my pants and had to stop in the middle of peeing and then try to stand up straight without falling. I tried to clean myself up as much as I could because I still had to meet Patty. I pulled up my stinky, damp pants and left the Taiwan toilet that defeated me. I told Patty the embarrassing story and she thought it was so funny. She also told me that where I put my hands is where you are supposed face. The part that sticks up out of the ground is supposed to act like a sheild for your pee. Well that made me even more grossed out to know that I had my hands on the place where people's pee lands!!! Even after she explained to me how to use the damn thing I still don't understand especially if you are wearing pants or shorts. It might be possible to do if you are wearing a skirt but I don't see how you avoid getting pee on your pants. Maybe you have to take your pants all the way off, I don't know. All I know from now on to just hold it until I can find something where I can sit on.

Toilet pics

Ummm.... where do I sit?