This past weekend was a great one. It was my first so-called "vacation" in Taiwan, and it brought me, and 3 friends from Vancouver (CS, LC, SC) to the Southern-most tip of Taiwan: Kenting (墾丁).

I took Friday afternoon off, and we took a 5 hour train ride to Kaohsiung (高雄) where we switched to a 2.5 hour bus ride to our hotel (Howard Hotel).

The first night was taken a little easy, just a quick walk over to the 7-eleven for a meal. After breakfast on Day Two, we made a quick decision on transportation means -- car rental wouldn't be worthwhile, didn't have a scooter license, didn't see any taxis -- so we rented bikes: two regular bikes and one tandem. It turned out to be the right choice (although scooters would have been hella fun), and we managed to hit quite a few spots. Most rewarding was the 3 minute downhill, which had followed a 45 minute uphill climb. The sight of the day was definitely 龍磐公園 (Dragon Rock Park), an astonishing view perched upon a high cliff overlooking the Pacific. Also fun was standing near the edge for pictures while getting blown by the strong winds. That night, we walked along Kenting Street, played some little games to win prizes, ate tall ice cream cones, and bought a few souvenirs.

Day Three, we bought tickets for the Kenting Street Car (墾丁街車), a shuttle bus that follows a predetermined path, picking up and dropping off passengers at the main attractions/sights. Here, we picked a few worthy stops, including a nice beach, and saw what we could. The bus itself was a bit of a pain, because it left us waiting for much longer than its scheduled arrivals... but that aside, it was another great day, with even better weather than the first. The site of the day was 貓鼻頭 (Cat Nose Head), another great view from a cliff, even better than from 龍磐公園, and allowed us to walk down to the sea. My camera got some great pictures from this place.

Later that night, because of seat availability, I took an earlier train back from Kaohsiung, while the other three took the next train. Turns out, although being on a 5 hour train ride alone, I was the lucky one. I slept most of the ride, while they had to deal with some guy puking in the seat behind. Ick. We got home around 5am on Monday, and I went to work around 2pm. L&S stayed an extra day, while CS headed off to Korea for the remainder of his business trip.

With three digital cameras snapping away, we managed over 1GB of images and movies over the weekend. Great memories. Thanks guys!