A Weekend in Kenting
December Summer Vacation
The Penghu winter is definitely here, and while I’m assured that we are getting a mild version compared to last year, it still isn’t exactly enjoyable. The endless beach days and clear skies are gone, and we’ve traded greens and blues for browns and grays. Catie, Iz, Neal and I decided to take a weekend to enjoy a little bit of that summer weather we are missing. Pingtung county (屏東縣), and especially the Kenting (墾丁) area, are known for staying warmer all year round. We settled on this last weekend and come Friday afternoon, took off for the southern mainland.
Touching down in Kaohsiung, Neal and I took the MRT to meet Catie, who had taken Friday off in order to spend more time on the mainland. We convened at a ramen restaurant near the high speed rail station (高鐵站) before meeting Iz there when her flight got in. Our taxi driver to the station offered us advice about how to get down the Kenting and warmly welcomed us to Kaohsiung. Finally all together, we found our bus which would take us directly to Nanwan (南灣), where we were staying.
The bus down was wonderfully unremarkable. Neal and I talked for almost half of the trip about nothing in particular. As the lights of Pingtung county flashed by, we popped our earbuds in and relaxed as the driver charted us southward. All told, we spent a little over two hours on the bus, but I struggled to make sense of how far we had traveled without any visual cues. We passed through the city of Hengchun (恆春), its main street lined with flashing neon lights, before disembarking at Nanwan. Stepping off onto the curb, I was transported back to my first days in Penghu. The air was hot and humid, but a cool sea breeze offered some relief.
The four of us quickly found a scooter rental place. The boss was friendly enough and the scooters seemed great, but I did have to hand over my Colorado license as collateral. As Neal and I tested our new rides, Iz and Catie found the hotel we had booked. There, the host showed us to our room, explained when breakfast was served and jokingly chastised us for taking the first scooter deal we found. She assured us that she could have found us a much better deal, which I don’t doubt. But we were all satisfied, and more than anything exhausted. We slept soon after checking in.
In the morning, after a made-to-order breakfast from our host, we left on our scooters and headed south towards the heart of Kenting National Park, Taiwan’s oldest park. We passed sand-rimmed bays filled with water sports equipment that I can only assume is in high demand during the busier summer months. We scootered by rock outcroppings and through the town of Kenting, stopping along the way to admire beaches and tide pools. Above us, the morning cloud cover slowly burned off or blew out to sea. At Shadao Ecological Preserve (砂島生態保護區), we ventured down into exposed coral outcroppings and rock formations. The ocean gave its best effort to recreate the Penghu blues we’ve become used to, but came just short. Underfoot, hermit crabs scuttled between the rocks.
In no rush, we motored our way to Cape Eluanbi (鵝鑾鼻), the southernmost point on the island of Taiwan and the part of our scooter loop I was most interested in. In addition to the southernmost point there is a lighthouse that stands on a bluff overlooking the Bashi Channel and the Luzon Strait. We paid the entrance fee to the parking lot and took a meandering walk down to the point where we could see waves crashing on the rocky shore. A stone sculpture anoints this place as the southernmost in Taiwan – I thought it resembled the island itself. My friends thought I was crazy. We walked back through the jungle and up the hill to the lighthouse.
Eluanbi Lighthouse (鵝鑾鼻燈塔) sits squarely on a rise that offers a view of the ocean in 3 directions. Approaching from below, its white form stands out against the blue sky and drifting clouds passing over Kenting. In many ways, Eluanbi lighthouse reminded me of Penghu’s 漁翁島燈塔, with its central tower surrounded by walls and small auxiliary offices in a courtyard. These aspected were familiar to me. The moat outside the walls, the turrets at the four corners and gunports along the walls were not.
On March 12, 1867, the American merchant ship Rover wrecked off the coast of Cape Eluanbi, falling victim to the strong currents and shallow reefs that had doomed other ships before it. The surviving crew washed up on shore where all but one was killed by the local indigenous tribe as revenge for previous killings by foreigners. An American expedition was dispatched as a punitive measure against the tribe responsible for the killings. The Rover incident was one of several events that became the impetus for the construction of Eluanbi Lighthouse on the cape, which was under Qing control at the time. Local resistance to increased Qing presence was sustained throughout the construction and early operation of the tower, which started in 1881. Eluanbi Lighthouse’s fort-like construction has survived to today despite damage during the Sino-Japanese War and World War II.
Seeing the Eluanbi Lighthouse had been a goal of mine since coming to Taiwan and was certainly a highlight for me on this trip. Aside from the tower's interesting history, it also is the most powerful lighthouse in Taiwan. Needless to say, I enjoyed our time visiting it. We spent a good amount of time in the courtyard before exploring a bit more of the park. We all peed in the southernmost toilet in Taiwan (!!) and then left the park for a much needed boba break and small lunch in the town of Kenting. Refueled and refreshed, we headed up the east side of the cape in the beautiful afternoon weather.
I won’t bore you with the details of this drive after already boring you with the history of the lighthouse. Suffice it to say that the views up the coast were incredible. With the sun overhead and the wind blowing off the sea, we cruised along the shore. We stopped at bluffs overlooking the ocean. We bought coconuts from a man in a truck decorated with faux-missiles. You know, all of your usual national park activities.
We returned to Hengchun, where we got drinks and snacks at a cafe that was inside of a ruined building (?). Sounds strange, and it was, but it was also delicious. From there, we wandered the old streets of Hengchun and visited the old West and South Gate of the city, which are still standing. Along the way, shops and vendors demanded our attention, as did a local post office box made famous in Taiwan’s highest grossing movie, Cape No. 7 (海角七號). Regrettably, none of us have seen it, so I can’t tell you what it’s famous for, only that it is and so of course we went to go see it.
A quick break at a fruit vendor to purchase some wax apples (蓮霧) (a Kenting speciality), sugar apples (釋迦) and oranges was our last stop in Hengchun before we headed out of the city to catch the sunset over the Taiwan Strait. In Maobitou park (貓鼻頭), overlooking Cape Eluanbi and the setting sun, we devoured a day’s serving of fruit in 20 minutes. I liked the wax apples, though not as much as the sugar apples that reminded me of my time in Taitung. Standing there, my hands covered in fruit juice, I received many concerned looks from Taiwanese visitors. I reflected on what has surely been one of my favorite days in Taiwan. There is a simple, primitive pleasure in eating fruit with your hands under the setting sun. I recommend it.
That night, after a delicious Italian dinner, we visited a local bar and listened to some live music before heading to bed. In the morning, we were treated to breakfast again and then took the bus back up to Kaohsiung to catch our flight. We were back in Penghu by early afternoon, sad to have left but glad to be back home.
Anyone who knows me can easily understand why this trip stands out – a national park, quality time with my best friends, a lighthouse, lots of walking, fresh fruit, etc. All of these things would be in the Matt Slade Good Time Playbook if such a tome existed. And yet as important as all of these are, none of them are what has made this last weekend in Kenting so special.
This weekend was the most excited and confident I have felt using Chinese since arriving in Taiwan, and probably my life as a whole. Across our entire trip, I felt like my Chinese skills served me in ways they had not before. I was able to talk with our Kaohsiung taxi driver and understand his tips on how to get down to Kenting. I could decipher what the scooter boss was saying when he told me about the prices for the scooters and what I would need to do to rent them. Talking with our hotel host was easy and fun and gave us new ideas about what to see on our day in the park. At each stage of our journey, I was able to understand and be understood in gratifying ways that made all this work seem worth it.
It is hard to recognize any progress that I am making in Chinese when everyday I hear a thousand words I don’t know. The more I learn, the more I become aware of my own inadequacies and all the vocabulary I lack. Everyday that I learn new vocab I feel like I also have to relearn tones and characters that I think I should know – two steps forward and one step backward, in other words. Taking classes is helping, as is talking with my coworkers in Chinese when I get the chance. But I am nothing if not impatient.
These days, I seem to oscillate between two extremes. At times, I am crushed by the sheer scope of what I don’t know – at others, I feel like I’m on top of the world and anything is possible. I know that I need to find a happy medium of being excited to learn while being realistic about the work it will take, but that is easier said than done.
All of this made our time in Kenting affirming in a way that I did not anticipate. I didn’t expect to converse with the Kaohsiung taxi driver, the scooter boss, or even the hotel host. In each instance, conversation simply began and I was able to roll with it. For me, that counts as success. I’ve returned from this weekend with a renewed sense of purpose towards Chinese and a bit of a tan. I’m happy with that.
Talk soon,
Matt
