White Hotel Kenting

... due to the introduction of the High Speed Rail Line. Just, take the HRT to Zuoying then take bus number 88 to Kenting. If you have the time, there are locations where you can rent scuba diving gear or scuba diving gear. The water is aqua blue in this area, it kind of reminded of the water in Hawaii. Additionally, the beaches in this area are unique in that most of the sand consists of different percentages of ...

... hand look at the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot a few month before - see one of the previous reports. Totally destroyed bridges, suspension bridges with their pillars standing only with their upper part out of the gravel, the cables dangling in the air or ending in the sand. The roads on the mountain slopes are washed away. After several trial and errors which way to take - conditions ...

... in one of the buildings belonging to the Arts Village with a flair of the Hippie period. Then the evening developed unexpectedly:

Once-a-week or once-a-month night market with vendors from near and far. Here we sampled several typical local foods.

Then we visited a temple, which turned out to be Taoist with a special kick, more exactly a Japanese kick. The temple worshipers a ...

... a whole lot. A bit after that we were walking down a path and noticed a family of monkeys right in front of us, and then realized that there were at least 15 or monkeys hanging around on this one little path including a bunch of babies. Further on down the path we discovered two old Taiwanese ladies sitting down very very close to 10 or so monkeys. They were taking turns getting very close to the monkeys and getting them mad and then having stare downs with them, it was an amazing ...

... bamboo. Large white clouds hover over the mountains every day and cool breezes waft down from the hills.

The ocean was a 45-minute drive over a low range of coastal mountains. Along the coast the weather was breezy and clear with a few clouds and strong sunshine. We visited Eight-Fairies Cave on the hope of finding some surf, but the waves were too small. We continued south to a famous park with an 8-arch bridge leading out to a scenic island. We wandered around the ...

... we finished, we drove into the Kenting National Forest Recreation Area and took a little nature walk. The park used to be all under water so there were huge caves and rocks that we walked through "pretending to be fish". It was beautiful and we meandered along the path for about two hours. It is amazing how many Chinese people are out and about during the day, especially elderly people. On the hike that we took the day before, which was ...

... I had signed up for surfing lessons on Saturday morning. I woke up rather cautiously and reluctantly because I have never had much luck with balance and really did not expect to have much success at surfing. However, I figured if there was ever an opportunity to go surfing and be instructed by a professional on how to do it, this would be the chance. We took a cab to a small little surf shop/hostel that is run by local named Afei (Eff-ay). Afei speaks ...

Total Distance: 8 km Today is my departure from Penghu. As my ship is only leaving at four o'clock pm I have some time to kill. After a breakfast, which I got from the receptionist lady in the Youth Hostel, I walk through Makong city and have coffee in the Panda coffee shop. The decision on taking the ship or flying was a tough one. Having fresh memories of my very bad sea sickness on my transshipment from Matsu to Keelung last year I just pray that the ocean ...

... hat, kann sich auch sicher noch an meinen ersten groesseren Trip erinnern). Dieses Mal bin ich mit einer taiwanesischen Freundin, Ruby, gefahren. Ich habe sie vor knapp zwei Monaten kennen gelernt habe, als wir FSJler das erste Mal KTV singen waren, was hier wirklich ganz gross in Mode ist. Da gibt es auf der einen Seite die alten Herren, die im Wohnzimmer stehen, das Mikrofon fest in der Hand und Schlager zum besten geben. Und auf der anderen Seite gibt ...

... riding along on one. I have sand in my hair a wear a pair of shorts and a t-shirt with bare feet. I have escaped the routine and I wear a big **** eating grin on my face. December 24, 2007 Today certianly does not feel like Xmas eve. We woke for a morning surf. Today we moved over to the reef which provided us with some good waves. After a two hour session we headed back to the hostel to eat and nap. After that we rented scooters and cruised ...