Taiwan Day 6 - Hualien to Kenting

Today we traveled from Hualien to Kenting via rail and bus.

Brad & I decided to get breakfast out, rather than eat at the hotel, as yesterdays breakfast buffet was quite lame. We found a little shop – I had some stir-fried noodles with bits of meat in it while Brad had what I would call a breakfast burrito. It was a crepe filled with 1 egg and a bit of ham. Soy sauce and hot sauce helped to provide the flavor. Since the portions were so small, I ordered one of what Brad had and he orderd some kind of rice starch cake that was lightly fried and cut into cubes. You can imagine how bad our prior breakfast was by the fact that what we had today was very good. To drink we had beverages from – you guessed it, 7/11! I had a Coffee Latte that came in a small milk type carton that was heated in the microwave and Brad had a Cafe Mocha that he drank cold.

We walked with our luggage – Brad with his back-pack, me pulling my suitcase through the streets to the train station. 

The train ride was 4 hours – I think for me it was the longest I've ever been on a train. Not for Brad as he has done 26 hours in mainland China.

We arrived in Fang Liao, a tiny spit of a town, used the bathroom at the train station to refresh and walked about half a block to find the bus station. We hadn't eaten since breakfast and it was now about 4pm. We were about to look for a 7/11 to grab a cold drink and a snack, but the bus was on the corner and some guy started yelling something to Brad to hurry us up. Brand confirmed that it was the bus to Kenting so we quickly bought our tickets and hopped on the bus.

The ride took about and hour and a half. What was interesting to me was that while we were on the train, we were first heading south down the east coast of Taiwan. About 45 minutes b4 the end of the train ride the train turned west and enter a tunnel to go through the mountains. The tunnel was at least 30 miles long!! Once on the other side we actually had to head north to Fang Liao. While the east cost was a beautiful clear day, the west coast weather pattern coming off the mountains was quite different. It was cloudy, and extremely humid. The body of water off the western coast is the Taiwan Strait.

We arrived in Kenting to find what I would characterize as summer resort honky tonk. Kenting is near the most southern tip of Taiwan. Lots of little shops selling flip flops, t-shirts and bracelets, key-rings, henna tattoos, etc. 

Stands were being set up that sell food – the usual stuff – ice cream, grilled meats and other animal parts – it was the first time I have seen pig intestines stuffed with whole scallions. 

Also saw duck parts, dumplings, stinky tofu (that's what it's called, I'm not making it up). Since this is a beach resort they had lots of seafood available – crabs, lobsters, fish, fish parts – yum.

We found our hotel – turns out it's a surf shop that you walk through and then go up stairs to the rooms. 

Some surfer dude owns the place with his wife. He showed us our room and told us to relax a bit and then get some food.  We took his advice and went in search of real food. We found a Thai restaurant and had a good meal – papaya salad, green curry with chickeb and Thai Noodles (pad thai). Washed it down with some beers and we were ready to go. We need some cash so we went to – you guessed it – 7/11 – to use the ATM. Picked up $15,000 - this is an expensive resort town!! Actually it cost $US 470. We figure that should be enough for a few days – we plan to rent motor scooters tomorrow. We had to pay cash for the room – 2 nights for $3,000 – about $US47 per night.

Our room is quite unique. There are 2 beds – both directly on the floor. 

The bathroom, according to Brad, it typically Asian, as it doesn't have a separate shower – it has a shower nozzel located between the toilet and the sink, with a drain in the floor. I guess everything gets a bit wet when you shower, I'll find that out later.

We walked the strip, checking out the sights and people. Lots of young people. We discussed it and we've decided that the Asian kids are generally more innocent that their American counterparts. These were college aged kids playing carney games and buying cheesy souvenirs. We wanted to find a bar to sit and relax and have a few beers. Most of the bars were clubs that had entertainment with a cover charge – one may even have been a burlesque show. We found a restaurant with seats outside, ordered a pitcher of beer for $300 ($US 9.50) and watched the people walk by.

After a few drinks we had an appetite to try some of the street food. I went right for a bag of dumplings – Beijing Style. Brad, living in Beijing doesn't get much seafood and has been craving it so he ordered up some shrimp. Served with the heads and shells on but seasoned with salt and garlic and I don't know what but they were delicious. One of the stands served what could be translated as wild pig – so we assume it was wild boar. Grilled, sliced and served with raw onions – very tasty. I ended the night with a chocolate soft serve ice cream cone. We're in the room watching tv and quite comfortable. Tomorrow is another day....