Kending Part 1

I have a lot to write about my trip to Kending (Kenting) last weekend, but my schedule is busy so I will start with a short post now and continue later. I made last minute plans to go to Kending National Park Friday through Sunday with my friend Nicole. Kending is the resort town on the Southern tip of Taiwan - a popular destination for beachgoers and surfers. Besides beautiful weather and beaches, Kending is home to some stunning mountains and cliffs. Though it is a resort town, and the most prominent one in Taiwan, you would be amazed how little Kending has been built up. All the hotels and tourist shops are restricted to one main drag. Most of the land is protected once you get a half mile inland due to the National Park.

Kending is that yellow star

Nicole grew up in Tainan and is very familiar with the area in and around Kending. She also has a car, so it only took us about 2.5 hours to get to our destination. She looked for campgrounds online before we left, and the place we settled on turned out to be a beautiful, isolated field in the hills between the mountains and the sea. Also, we had the whole field to ourselves except for one tent far on the other side. Oh ya, it cost us a total of $3 a night to stay there. The beach was a 2 minute drive south and we were right near the road that leads up to the mountains.

A shot of the sunrise Saturday morning from our "camp site".

We went exploring Saturday morning around the campground. I almost walked into this guy, the biggest spider I've ever seen, save tarantulas. It was the size of Nicole's open hand.

Upon my first encounter with a mountain crab, I thought he was very, very lost. Nope, these guys just live around streams - I had no idea. (Kending has "normal" crabs at the beach, too)

Not too far from the field was a small house with these cages out front. Nicole informs me that the habitants must be training these messenger pigeons for competition. She has an uncle that does the same. The pigeons are sent off to some predetermined (distant, I presume) destination and have to race each other there and back.

This is in the campground. I was all ready to pose in front of this sweet-looking driftwood and flower arrangement when I noticed a big lizard standing next to me. Well, the lizard wasn't big by Kending standards it turns out. I saw lots and lots of them over the weekend.

Another view from the campground.

This was a pathetic attempt on my part to do the "stick your hand out and take your own picture." The little spot of blue in the top-right corner is the ocean that was supposed to comprise the whole background... It's a good picture of Nicole at least. This picture was taken on our arduous bicycle trip up the mountain to go hiking in one of the scenic parks. We rented bikes Saturday morning and decided to go up the mountain before hitting the beaches. I'll continue the next post with our montain hike. Zai jien :)