KENTING - day one 4.5

Here is a map of the south tip of Taiwan. Kenting is almost at the very tip. 

 We rode the HSR (bullet train) to Kaohsiung, which took only 1.5 hours. If we rode the regular train it would take at least 5 hours! When we arrived in Kaohsiung we took a cab to our resort. For the first night, we stayed at a beautiful, yet Asian flashy/cheesy resort. The hotel is called Swan Lake Villa Resort in South Bay area (see map). Right when our cab turned into the driveway, we all giggled - the entrance has white swan sculptures, an American and Taiwan flag, and a bunch of other random flamboyant sculptures. Anyhow, our hotel room was very nice. We booked a lake villa, so we had a balcony that overlooked the algae-filled lake and swans. We had a plasma TV and a spa tub. We got a pretty good deal, too. Our hotel, however, was kinda in the middle of nowhere. Although it was near the beach, but not close enough. We had to walk about a mile down the street to get to the ocean. 

We had planned to stay two nights in Kenting, but we booked only one night at this resort. So after we checked in, we went hotel shopping on Nanwan Road. We came across a gorgeous 5-star hotel that had a Moroccan theme. It looked sooo luxurious, and of course it was $300US per night. So, we moved on and settled on a cute, cozy bed-and-breakfast type hotel further down the street. We were five minutes late to book an ocean view room, but our room essentially had an ocean view anyway. After booking our hotel room, we headed to the beach. It was pretty crowded even though the sky was very gray, and it even started to drizzle. There were a bunch of tractor ATV-type vehicles on the sand, that we wondered if they were for us to drive around :p But actually, they were there to drag jet-skii's into the sea!

After walking back to our hotel, we chilled at the pool. There are three pools: a regular swimming pool, a spring water pool with a waterfall, and a red-colored spa which is red because of some wood element they put in. For dinner, I wanted to go to Kenting Night Market, but it was 6-7 miles away. Taking a cab there was out of the question since the cabs there don't go by the meter to go to Kenting St. It would cost 300NT one way! So, Lu and I waited at the bus station for 10 minutes, and no buses came by. So, we just ate at a restaurant near our hotel called Bermuda Restaurant, which served good Taiwanese food.

the view from our balcony at night

cool lighting in our room