Taiwan's Deep South

In Taitung, where I returned by ferry from my little adventure on Green Island, I opted for a day of R&R. The small town of Taitung, it seems, is no stranger to rest nor relaxation. There was nothing going on. I couldn't even find a night market for a bite to eat, which was bizarre. This, however, made it a perfect place to chill for a day, wander a bit, read a fiction book, and plan the next few days of my life. Plus, the hostel I found was adorable and the owner was extremely welcoming, helpful, generous and had that really peaceful aura about him, which made my stay lovely.

After walking up a little hill for a nice view of the city and ocean, I came down into a park filled with hundreds if not thousands of decorated paper air balloon lanterns.

I later learned that the annual Taiwan Hot Air Balloon Festival is held in Taitung every July. It is probably the most (perhaps only) exciting thing that ever happens in the area. Either way, walking through the endless rows of colorful balloons was so wonderfully relaxing! I spent the better chunk of an hour strolling through the park, admiring the unique works of art and taking a million pictures before heading to the windy, black sand beach to get lost in Dan Brown's Deception Point.

Feeling refreshed, I caught a train and a bus down to the southernmost town of Taiwan, Kenting. Kenting is known primarily for its beaches, but there is plenty more to see and do. I met a guy on the bus who knew of cheap hostel ($10/night is as cheap as it gets in Taiwan) so I went with him to check into a dorm, then we grabbed a beer at 7-Eleven and headed to the beach (a thirty second walk) just in time to catch the sunset and make friends with a group of German and Austrian study abroad students.

The next morning I rolled out of bed and grabbed a milk tea and some hard boiled eggs from 7-Eleven and headed to the National Forest entrance gate to see if any of the group still wanted to meet up. I was doubtful, considering we made the decision to go to the park before we started scouring the streets until the wee hours the previous night in search for a good place to drink that didn't involve strippers of questionalbe gender (unsuccessfully, I might add, but we still managed to have fun). Anyway, I gave it about five minutes, then walked the three miles up the hill into the National Forest solo.

First monkey sighting! I think he was acting as doorman, welcoming everyone to the area.

The paths through the entire park are well maintained, well marked, and surrounded by a tropical, unique, and beautiful forest growing on coral tablelands that were, over time, pushed up from the ocean floor.

Let me take a moment to introduce you to the 'rice triangle.' This is one of the many 7-Eleven delicacies offered throughout the country and is a staple among budget travelers like myself. This easy-to-pack snack costs about 70 cents and consists of white rice smushed around some protein and wrapped in a durable sheet of seaweed.

I selected the tuna kind for my rest stop on this particular day, as it is one of my favorite flavors. The pork also isn't bad. I don't recommend the shrimp.

Part of what makes Kenting National Forest special is the diverse ecosystem. There are coral formations, limestone caves, tropical plants, lakes, waterfalls, and many species of animal, although I only saw monkey and squirrel.

Yay, big caves!

The Banyan trees are especially cool to see because of how they grow. They drop their roots down from their branches as vines that eventually touch the ground and grow into new trunks, meaning that it's possible that all the trunks in this picture came from a single seed. Magical.

A few more pics.

I explored the park for a few hours then headed back to town for a nap, some street market food, and drinks with the spring break group.

We found a truck that the guy in the rasta peace shirt converted into a bar. The search for drink specials ended here, with buckets of goodness!

He set up tables and chairs for us on the side of the road. On a bridge.

We spent the next day just chilling on the beach and topped it off with a bonfire later that night.

(Jack's photo)

Although Kenting was fun and I had a great time with all my new friends, they headed back to Kaohsiung for school and I was getting bored of being in such a touristy area. The only thing I could think to do that involved staying in the warm south, but getting out of town was to rent a bicycle and see where it would take me.

So that's what I did. There was a rental place next to my hostel where I got set up with a small bicycle at $8/day. I strapped my bag on, checked my map, bought some snacks, and headed down the coastline to the east.

The ride was beautiful despite the wind. The roads were hilly in places, but overall I had a lovely trek to my first destination, a tiny surfer beach town only 25km away.

I rested on the beach, munching on a rice triangle and reading for a little while before I ventured into town (town meaning one street inhabited for about a quarter mile) to look for accommodation. I got settled and met this really cool local surfer girl who told me she would rent me a board tomorrow if I wanted to go surfing. Yes definitely!!

So after an early dinner and a good night's sleep with an entire dorm to myself, I got up early the next morning to try to catch a sunrise. Too cloudy. So I waited until about 8am, gave surf chick Doris a call and met her at the shop.

Now, my surfing experience is minimal (I've gone maybe a half dozen times in the last decade) but I figured I at least knew enough to catch a wave. Doris pointed to an area off the beach where she thought I would be the most successful and I followed her advice, paddling out into the sea. I usually watch other surfers to see where they are catching waves and learn from them, but this is low season and there was not another soul in the water. After a few failed attempts at catching some waves, I decided they were too small where I was, so I paddled over to where the big waves were crashing. This, I might add, is exactly where Doris told me not to go because the waves would be too strong, but it's where I saw the guys surfing yesterday afternoon, so I figured I could manage. Haha. Yeah, I ended up "washing-machined" a number of times until I pretty much got washed up to shore, fatigued, panting, and sore. I wasn't quite ready to give up though, so I waded back out, threw myself onto the board, and paddled as hard as I could, ducking under waves, going up over waves, but mostly just getting pushed back and pummeled by them. It was exhausting and I was swallowing a lot of salt water. After what seemed like an eternity of fighting the waves, I looked back towards shore to see how far I'd progressed. I was overwhelmingly disappointed to see that I had gotten nowhere. So sad. I finally decided that today wasn't the day and trudged back to the surf shop, head hanging, forcing myself to be satisfied with the half a wave I caught towards the beginning. Better luck next time.

I hopped back on the bike and started heading west, inland, in search of food, nice scenery, the opposite coast, and a new place to stay.

I pedaled and pedaled through farmland, villages, towns, and coastline. I stopped in Hengchun, a historical walled city, for some deep fried street food and a hazelnut bubble tea before continuing on to the coast. I wanted to visit the Marine Biology Museum/Aquarium but the entrance fee didn't seem worth it ($15) and the sidewalk patrolman wouldn't let me park my bike next to a tree, so I bounced.

I rode through a few more small costal villages looking for a hostel, but couldn't find anything. Looking at the map, the time, and the route, I started to realize that my only option may be to go all the way back to Kenting. The wind was getting really strong and my legs were getting tired and my bum was getting sore. I wished I'd had a tent I could pitch. Then I reminded myself that bitching, even to myself, would not solve anything and I pressed on. I stopped several places along a beach town a few km before Kenting and asked about accommodation. Every hostel was charging at least $20/night and the campground was charging even more! I couldn't believe it. $16 for a campsite and an additional $16 to rent a tent for the night. Ridiculous.

I took the opportunity to stop at a 7-Eleven (a place I never though I would hold so near and dear to my heart) to slam a water and devour a rice triangle, giving me just enough energy to carry on back to Kenting. I was struggling, to say the least.

I was riding directly into the wind. At one point, a gust came so strong it literally stopped my bike, causing me to turn the front tire just enough for the wind to push the entire bike sideways before toppling it over as I jumped off. I can only assume oncoming cars were laughing at me. I was less than a mile from Kenting (sorry I keep switching between miles and kilometers; everything is in km here, but I know most of my readers think in miles, so y'all get to deal with both now). I let the gust diminish and carried on. I sighed with relief as I pulled into the town I knew so well. I went directly to my old hostel, knowing there would be plenty of empty beds. Well, technically I was right...

But it was closed!!! What the hell, I though. It was open two days ago! Hostels don't just close. Well, apparently in Taiwan they do. Luckily, their wifi was still on, so I sat on the step and did a quick search for the location of another cheap hostel I'd heard about. Lucky for me, it was only about 200 meters down the road and they had a bed available! Hallelujah.

By that point, my hunger was bigger than my filth, so I first went to the street market and satisfied my appetite with an egg and cheese wrap and two beers. I then indulged in a hot shower and hit the mattress. That day, I had gotten up for sunrise, taken an hour and a half brutal beating by the Pacific ocean, then biked 65 windy, hilly km (40 miles). Claiming I slept hard that night would be an understatement. Time to start working my way north again. I'll leave you with one more lantern pic :)