Sunny Kenting

On Friday we took the highspeed rail, THSR, to the beach town of Kenting on the southern coast of Taiwan. The THSR was great - very clean and a quick trip down south given that the train travels at 180 mph. So nice to get out of cold, rainy Taipei for a few days. We stayed at the Chateau Beach Resort in a building that was once a property of Chiang Kai-Shek, former ruler of Taiwan.

The hotel is right on the beach and although there were a lot of people out sitting under ther umbrellas and kids playing in the sand, no one was laying out on the beach other than me as Taiwanese tend to stay out the sun. In addition, bathing suits tend to be modest, with a lot of women in shorts and tankini-like tops as opposed to one piece swimsuits or bikinis.

Kenting has a very busy night market, with tons of stalls selling fruit, different types of tofu, seafood, sandals, and assorted trinkets. There was a lot of Latin music playing although I have yet to see a person of Latin descent anywhere in Taiwan. Kenting is right next to a national park which features a large botanical garden. We did some hiking in the park, but unforunately never made it to the botanical garden.

Now we are back in Taipei and no suprise, it's wet and cold. Looking forward to the end of winter.