Kenting Pics

Traveling in Kenting like a real Taiwan 人

Our trip to Kenting

So as we previously mentioned Malissa and I wasted no time to travel to the beautiful touristy town of Kenting. Feel free to locate it on a map if you'd like. It basically sits on the southern tip of the island and is home to many low cost hostels and hotels for backpackers. A lot of tourists travel to Kenting for the festive atmosphere, beautiful weather and of course the beaches. Finding transportation is simple as buses from Kaohsiung and other cities run to and from Kenting daily. Malissa and I took an afternoon bus there that cost us about $10 usd each. Upon our arrival we tried to rent a scooter so as to expand our area of exploration and found that most places were unwilling to rent us a scooter because Greg didn't have an international drivers license. Yet, due to his charm and language ability he was able to convince an older couple at a random scooter rental place that didn't have many customers to rent us a scooter! :) Good job Greg! haha Final price for 4 hours....$9.36 usd! Quite a bargain. Riding the scooter allowed for Malissa and I to travel up and along the southern coast and catch some beautiful scenery.

Finding a ride to Kenting was a piece of cake...Yet, finding a ride back proved more difficult. We were told to wait at a bus stop, yet the only buses that ever came by were tourist buses and most weren't heading back to Kaohsiung. A taxi driver approached us and said he would take us back home for a few dollars less than the bus fare. The only problem was he wanted us and 3 others to ride in his taxi. He told us to wait for a minute as he found a few more tourists to take back, so Mal and I sat patiently on a bench. He was super slow....We waited for about 20 minutes till I finally told him we were going to look for another way back (malissa was getting tired and bit by misquotes). At that moment another taxi driver came up to us and said he's take us! So we sided with him, which then caused a yelling match in Taiwanese between him and our other cab driver. I didn't catch everything they said, but it was basically how he'd stolen us. At the last minute before we left, our original cab driver found 5 tourists to take back, (which would've left us stranded had we stayed with him) and we rode back with our new cab driver friend. On our way back we had to stop and pick up another couple who had originally reserved the taxi. They were both from Taipei and we're very friendly. Finally after a 3 hour drive (because of having to stop for a bit) Malissa and I arrived back home happy to find our bed. We can now cross #7 Visit Kenting off of our to do list!

We've Arrived!

Well Everyone, Malissa and I have finally found a moment to sit down and get this blog up and running! Here's a brief synopsis of our first 2 weeks in beautiful Taiwan.

We arrived in Kaohsiung after our brief encounters with a nasty Delta counter clerk in SLC and the TSA in LAX. It was a pain getting through since Malissa's ticket said Malissa Levesque yet her passport said Malissa Candland (this was largely in part due to Greg's enthusiasm that Malissa will change her last name). Luckily, China Airlines gave Malissa a fake boarding pass to get around the TSA and then gave her the real one at the gate. Thank you China Airlines! After over 14 hours of flying, we finally arrived at our apartment in Kaohsiung.

After setting our luggage down, we immediately hit the streets. Greg's palate was reunited with a delicious danbing (basically a danbing is a tortilla-like flatbread cooked with an egg and bathed in sweet soy sauce). Great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! We live in a gorgeous apartment on the 14th floor of a brand new apartment complex, with views of the 85-story building (as it is called here) which happens to be the 2nd tallest building in Taiwan and the largest in Kaohsiung. From the west we can also see the ocean and the busy port of Kaohsiung in the distance along with IKEA and Costco. :)

For the first two days we walked around the city and were exhausted by the end of each day. Basically, we fell asleep as soon as we got home, which was around 7:30 and then woke up full of energy at 6 AM the next day! Not really a normal sleeping schedule...especially for Malissa. Then on Sunday we went to Kenting which is the southern tip of Taiwan. After much bargaining we were able to convince a guy to rent us a scooter for $9.50 for 4 hours. It was a treat to ride around and explore the area. More on this trip to come!

May 17th Greg started his internship at AIT Kaohsiung. Since then he has become more and more acquainted with how the Department of Commerce works and some of the many projects that are going on in southern Taiwan. Overall, these past few weeks have been busy, exciting and full of great experiences. Greg can't say enough good things about his branch chief Steve Green, who has been extremely helpful and accommodating.

The Wang and the Jiang family have both come down from Bade to visit Greg and meet Malissa. We had a great time with each of them and travel to Cijin island with the Jiang family for a very Taiwanese seafood lunch. The food was delicious and it was a wonderful experience. It was great to see both of my old friends and Malissa and I plan to travel up to Bade to see them again soon.

We'll be sure to keep you all updated on the latest developments and plan to post some pictures soon too!