Tuesday :: Visit to Kenting
Tuesday morning was REALLY freaking hot. My LEGS were dripping in sweat, gross. We boarded the bus at 9 and I immediately passed out because I'd been up until 3:30 packing. First stop was at a preserved rocky beach.
The porch was made of a bunch of drift wood. It was pretty cool lookin.
We re-boarded the bus and I re-passed out for another hour and then we arrived at the Kenting lighthouse. This is the really big hill walkway to the top of the mountain where the lighthouse was.
Almost to the top of the mountain. I thought this was pretty.
You couldn't exactly get INTO the lighthouse, but you could take pictures pretty close to it.
Looking right from the lighthouse, this is what you saw.
Looking left from the lighthouse, THIS is what you saw.
Us at the lighthouse in Kenting.
Up close and personal
We all frolicked around and took pictures in the grass for about 45 minutes.
Then we went down to an area where the tree-covered mountain turned into a big open field.
There were really cool trees in the field. This one was shaped like a horse, so Kenney demonstrated how to ride a horse.
I really liked THIS tree. It was really fun to climb.
After the lighthouse, we re-boarded the bus and went to the BIG beach here, Kenting. It was very small, actually, but very popular. There weren't many people there and I'd hate to be there on a day when there was. It'd be REALLY crowded. They had seadoos, banana boats and scuba to rent, but we weren't allowed to do any of that.
Another view, slightly more to the left. I just wanted more pictures, haha.
This is me at Kenting. It was really bright so I had on hat and sunglasses, so now you can't see my face at ALL.
This little kid kept walking up to me and Kenney and staring at us and then running away. I actually had no idea that he was in this picture because it was too bright to see my screen when I took it. By the way, Kenney and I were the only people laying down tanning at the beach.
According to the Taiwanese students, this is what you do at the beach. You play with sand like it's snow and throw it at each other. NOT really my idea of fun, haha. This is Ellie, by the way.
There's also very large men and very naked babies at the beach. Haha.
After the beach, we went to the night market. I TRIED STINKY TOFU. I don't know if I've talked about this yet, but stinky tofu is LITERALLY the worst smell I have ever encountered...ever. You can smell it a mile away and it reeks of cow manure or dead people or both. It's just horrible. However, all the Taiwanese students said it was good. They'd say, "I know it's stinky, but I like it." I thought "Hey, let's give a shot." Ian, Matt, Kenney and I got one serving of it, which is two logs on a stick with some sauce on it. Kenney took the first bite which was covered in sauce. He said it wasn't bad.....I now know it's because it was covered in sauce. I took a bite, and my bight had no sauce. The stuff tastes just as it smells. I felt like I was eating cow poop, but I swallowed, smiled and offered my portion to the Taiwanese students that accompanied us.
On the bright side, I did try something that was phenomenally good. Black Milk Tea with a shot of Kahlua served in a bright pink BAG with a black straw and black bow. It was DELICIOUS. We shopped around for about two hours. I bought fruit and a wooden instrument shaped like a frog that makes frog noises. I'm going to give it to Garrett.
We left around 9 and were home by 11. I packed everything up and weighed my suitcase in at 48 pounds (maximum is 50). There was a little party going on by Melanie's room so I joined for about 30 minutes then went to bed around 2.
Wednesday :: Last Day in Taiwan
The last day was a LONG day. We had to be out of the dorms by ten, then it was a sitting and waiting game. We sat in studio from 11 to 5 waiting for the bus to take us to the airport. Shu-Te rented a charter bus so that most of the students could accompany us. Mikey, Meuck, Rosanna and Jessica (and Kai) came to see me off. Nickie and Iris had to go home but we'd said goodbye earlier.
On the last day, I got presents from my group members! Mikey gave my a purple leather keyring holder with my name burnt into the inside. She also wrote a cute little note. Meuck gave me his favorite design book and a Taiwanese movie (with English subtitles) and a nice letter. The day before, Nickie had given me a portable utensils case. It comes with a fork, spoon and chopsticks that are in half and assemble when you're ready to eat. Rosanna and Jessica both gave me little bags and Jessica's had a Taiwan keychain in it. TOUCHDOWN!
My group began to act out my name. Jessica made an "A" for Amanda. Mikey tried to look like a manly man. And Meuck acted out "Dah" which means fight in Chinese. And I look scared, but I didn't mean to, haha.
We took a video of the their acting.
This is a picture of take-off..my last view of Taiwan.
Kaosiung to Taipei took an hour and a half, then Taipei to San Fran took 13 hours. We re-checked our baggage and went through customs again and then flew 4 hours to Atlanta. All flights were shorter than the first time and uneventful. Except..I took a 6-hour muscle relaxer because my back hurt, then 2 hours later, I had free wine with dinner and decided to take 1/4 of Kenney's sleeping pill without thinking. As soon as I swallowed it I realized that it probably wasn't a good idea. But, no worries, I survived and got 17 hours of sleep hahahaa.
When I got off of the plane in Atlanta, there was a big southern lady nicely yelling where to go. She'd said maybe four sentences without taking a breath and then, upon seeing me and my Auburn shirt, yelled "OH! WAR EAGLE! Welcome to Atlanta!" Hahaha. Nice welcome, I'd say.
I got my luggage without trouble and then changed clothes just in time to have Kenney's mom show up and then my parents walked in about ten minutes later. The five of us went to Cracker Barrel!!! It was amazing, except I was really ready for some corn bread and they apparently do not make any in the mornings. We went our separate ways and I uncontrollably fell asleep for another two hours on the drive home. I gave the family their gifts and then went to sit upstairs and uncontrollably fell asleep for another three hours. I woke up for dinner at Mexicali (ironically where we ate the night before I left) where I barely stayed awake. We returned home and I slept from 8:30 PM to 7:20 AM. I'm pretty rested for now, I think.
Thanks for reading, stay tuned for one more post on craft classes!
