Beach, Surf, and Snoopy Land

So I've just returned from my week's long vacation in the south of Taiwan. Although the weather here is nice its even hotter and better when you travel 3 hours south. To put things in perspective its almost like travelling from Miami to the Dominican. Anyways the vast majority of my vacation was spent on the beautiful beaches of a small beach/surf town known as Kenting. Kenting is truely an amazing place filled with mountains, beautiful scenery, secluded beaches, and of course Snoopy Land, a popular arcade. During Chinese New Year, people flock to Kenting turning it into a bustling town lined with food vendors, carnival games, and of course fireworks going off everywhere. I had an amazing time and will attempt to recap the highlights of the trip day by day.

Sunday- The plan was to meet up with friends who were coming down from Taipei (the capital of Taiwan) in a city in the south called Kaoshung, and to all stay at friends house we had met during training over night. Unfortuneately my bus got into town 3 hours before the train from Taipei was due to arrive so i had some time to kill. To make matters slightly worse the bus dropped me off on the side of the road leaving me no idea where I was. I decided to explore and came across a small videopoker/arcade spot called Happy Land (not to be confused with Snoopy Land). Taiwan has many such seedy places desguised with cute English names. With some time to kill and no idea where I was, I decided happy land it would have to be.
I ended up playing video poker. I got bored quickly and tried to cash out my 3 dollars only to discover that i was only allowed to use the tokens i had bought in with to redeem prizes ala Chuckie Cheese. I opted for some toothpaste and facewash. Finally the Taipei crew arrived ad we all met up with our friends who we were staying with.

Monday- Our vacation begins! The distance between Kaoshung and Kenting is really only about a 1.5 hour drive but with the traffic would probably take about 5. Rather then wasting time rotting on a bus we decided to rent scooters and drive there. Much of Taiwan is made of concrete, but this trip allowed us to see its beauty. To the left of me were green mountains, and to the right of me was the blue ocean. Also the air was crisp and clean. It was truely a fabulous drive. We ended up doing it in about 4 hours total with stops at 7/11. We arrived in Kenting and found our campsite where we would be spending the first couple days dirt cheap. We set up tents, ate some dinner, and checked out the town which was booming with maddness. We ended up staying on the beach enjoying some beers while watching the firecrackers and setting off some of our own.

Tuesday- Our first full day in Kenting. We are awakened by the sun blaring on our tents around 8am. No biggie, we'll just sleep on the beach. We get to the beach by midmorning, and spend the whole morning lying around and swimming in the Taiwan straight. One of our friends was possibly stung by a jelly fish. This caused some concern but we get managed to get over it quickly. We enjoyed some drinks by the bar, and are at some mexican restuarant. In the afternoon we took another beautiful drive to a beach a couple towns over. This beach had some decent waves and was probably the best spot to go surfing. Unfortuneately it was almost dark at this point so we vowed to return another day. At night, most people were exhausted so me and Avi ventured off on our own, cruising up and down the strip stopping at 7/11 for drinks while setting off some fireworks. Eventually, we got tired, found a chicken wing vendor and headed back to the campsite for bed.

Wednesday- I wake up. My tent is hotter than Bagdad. It must be morning. Yep, its 8 am, the sun is scorching, time to start my day. This morning my skin hurts. Good old sunburn. One of the more interesting ones ive ever had. Sunburn splotches in random places, including my arm pits, due to my failure to apply the sunscrean thoroughly. Oh well not gonna let that ruin my vacation. We got dan-bing for breakfast for the third day in a row which literraly translated means egg biscuit. Best Chinese breakfast ever. I buy probably the greatest towel ever in an attempt to better enjoy the beach. It is meant for 12 year old girls and is amazing. Never have i seen something so fob-ish. It was an instantanious hit. It has about three different shades of pink on it, aswell as an anime girl on it named love-teen. We spend all day and afternoon on the beach, tanning, swimming and sipping on pina coladas. By the way, watching Chinese people attempt to play volleyball is probably the funniest thing I have ever seen. I wish i had a camera. I swear this would have been a you-tube hit. They couldnt get the ball over the net and everyone would get so excited when there was almost a ralley. There was also an overweight guy who was a very enthusiastic scorekeeper. Outrageous unintended comedy. The night was spend once more walking up and down the strip, stopping at 7/11s for cheap beers. Somehow the nightlife in this city wasnt overly great, but the days more than made up for it.

Thursday- We somehoe manage to sleep until 9. The schedule is getting draining, but what can i expect for 5 bucks canadian for 3 nights of camping? We got our morning dan-bing, then Avi Brian Callie and Dave and I decide were ready for a hotel. We check into a decent one and relax the morning away. In the afternoon, Me and Avi head to the surf beach to give surfing a try. We rented boards and headed into the ocean, without a clue as to what we were doing. Being an avid snowboarder, Avi actually managed to stand up on his first try. I guess the two sports are very similar. Although i didnt share his success I did manage to stand up twice in the afternoon which was an absolutely amazing feeling. In my opionion there is almost nothing better than being in the ocean, this coming from a guy who can barely swim, and took 10 years to get his marroon swimming badge. Surfing is infact both tranquil and exciting. You spend a good amount of the time sitting on your board enjoying the calmness of the ocean and then, when you are ready, you can catch a powerful wave that can take you all the way back to shore. Truely amazing. I can not think of a better way to spend a day. I am already planning more surfing trips for weekends for the rest of the year.

The night time was spent travelling up and down the strip again, except this time our final destination would be Snoopy Land, a vidoe arcade dedicated to... well Snoopy . For some reason, Snoopy Is still a legend here, people just cant seem to get enough of him. Other notable characters who havent lost poplarity here: Astroboy, Felix the cat, and Doremon.
We challenged each other to various competitions of strength and skill such as a machine that measured how strong you could punch and basketball, only to be outdone by Taiwanese people who seemed to have spent alot of their time in Snoopy Land mastering the games we were trying out. Watching these guys play these games coulda been a you tube video aswell. We returned to our hotel and actually slept until midmorning which seemed like the longest sleep of my life compared to the camping world.

Friday- Avi, Brian, Callie and David were leaving today so i decided to spend the day with my roommates from Taichung. We went to some hot springs which were alright. One of the pools was so hot that after i got out i felt dizzy, i presume my body being in a state of shock due to the quick vast temperature change . Not to worry mom I am fine. After the hot springs we went to an aquaruim which had some cool stuff in it like exotic colourful fish, a sunken ship, and huge sharks.

For night time we paid a cover and went to the one spot that was supposed to be best in Kenting. It wasnt. In fact it may have been a gay bar...Im still not entirely sure. I also got to hear the pussycat dolls for about the 50th time this trip. Man they are blowing up here. We still ended up staying until they kicked us out. That night I stayed at Polina's (from collage) hotel and the next day we all bussed it back home.

All and all a great trip, and great Chinese New Year