We checked out of the cheap hotel on Saturday morning and starting walking down the street to look for a bus to take us down to Kenting. We kind of stuck out from the locals as were carrying all of our gear, so we were quickly approached by several people asking where we were going and if we needed a ride. An older lady finally guided us toward a VW Van that was heading down to Kenting for only $300 NT. Later we found out it was a whole family that were in the van. 2 older ladies were eating beetle nuts and laughing for the 2 hour drive down to Kenting. At times, we figured they were laughing at us foreigners in the back.

The van dropped us off at a scooter rental business. There we rented a scooter for 2 days for $600 NT - about $20 CDN. After a quick lesson from the guy on how to start the thing (hey I’ve never been on one in my life) I took it for a quick test run. Actually backtracking a little, Amanda made me take in on a test run as she was scared to get on it with me. Something about me never driving one in my life made her a little hesitant. I took it down the street to fill it up for $100 NT - $3 CDN.

On a side note, gas is super cheap in Taiwan. People from the dorm say they fill up their scooter every 2nd week or so for $150 NT and they drive it everyday. It’s probably a little more for cars, but personally, I wouldn’t want to drive a car in Taiwan.

We packed all of our gear onto the scooter and somehow managed to start driving with everything. Amanda guided us for a 20 min scooter ride to the Baisha campground. When we strolled in the campground was deserted. A man quickly approached us and we asked if we could stay for the night. We paid him $300 NT for the night. We set up our tent and then took a walk on the beach right beside the campground collecting shells and just enjoying the cleaner air.

Before it got dark, we took the 20 min scooter ride back to the main Kenting town to grab some dinner. Since Amanda had been here before, she wanted to go back to a Mexican restaurant they had visited before. We ordered nachos and quesadillas. We asked for extra sour cream and they kind of looked as us funny. Sour cream is hard to come by in Taiwan and so Amanda ordered more of it when she could.

We walked around the market for a bit and then headed back to the campground. Like home it gets dark just after 5 pm, so we spent the rest of the night drinking beer, playing cards, and doing crosswords.

This became a little long, so part 2 from Kenting will come later…