A Little Sun in Kending

Three down, four more to go...

With Tony's third semester behind him we decided to take a little trip down to the south of Taiwan. It took a 4 hour train ride, followed by a 2.5 hour bus ride, but we finally made it to the tropical paradise of Kending! The town really does have an "island" feel not found in Taipei city. Despite the rain, we spent a somewhat relaxing 4 days, 3 nights together watching movies on TV, playing Yahtzee, and eating the most Mexicanish food we've eaten since our last trip to California. No matter what, it's always nice to get away for a few days and we're hoping the next time we get to Kending the sun will be a bit more friendly.

Our accommodation had it's own beach... which, unfortunately, was closed for swimming. Places in Taiwan have got a lot of rules... here Tony's pointing out that you're not allowed to take away living things "such as oral"... we're pretty sure they mean "coral" but it's always funny!

Since our beach was closed, we walked along the coast to the next resort which happened to have these fantastic hammocks. Twenty minutes in a hammock makes for a real holiday, regardless of the weather.

On Day 2 we borrowed the bikes from our accommodation and took a little trip down to the next beach. We were trucking along quite nicely till Tony got stopped by a campaign sign. What about the rules for this kind of thing?

We made it safely to the beach where we went for a little swim - it's always refreshing to be in salt water! Living in NZ has taken the desire for sunbathing out of both of us, but I did somewhat envy this guy who obviously doesn't worry about skin cancer, skin discoloration or lines around his eyes... oh what a holiday!

On Day 3 we decided to rent a motorscooter to go exploring. Just as we paid the guy and put on our helmets it started bucketing down with rain!!! I think Tony's face here captures the moment quite well!

No worries... as soon as there was a break in the rain, we rushed over to the nearest convenience store to pick up rain jackets which kept us dry from the rain... however these "humidity suits" make you feel like it's raining from the inside out sometimes.

Thankfully there was a long break in the rain so we went on a beautiful walk through the Kending National Park's Nature Center. During the walk we were thankful for the cloud cover. Once we made it to the top of the hill we were thankful for the wooden cover as the clouds decided they'd held on long enough.

As part of our rainy day entertainment we played a game of Yahtzee under the pavillion. It was my day... for those of you who play... I rolled a Yahtzee of 6's on my last roll which clinched my victory!!!

All in all we had a great time together... don't think this scooter has had this much weight in a while... but hey, it did alright! Although it was fun for a holiday... I'm glad we decided not to buy a scooter for life in Taipei... much more complicated in the city!