Sunday, November 27, 2005
Back from Taiwan
Last week (ok, it's a few weeks ago now, but I am post dating this blog), I was in Taiwan for my grandpa's birthday celebration. His birthday isn't actually in November, but my parents (the celebration organizer) decided Thanksgiving week would work better for people from US because it's cheaper to fly and easier to get vacation.My grandpa is 95 years old. He doesn't speak much anymore, has a hard time walking, and spits out most of what he eats. However, his spirit still remains fairly high... a major improvement over the time I visited him in August when he was suffering from intestinal problems that required major surgery.
Back to the main story... We traveled by bus as a group from Taipei (the name translates directly to Taiwan-North) all the way down to Kenting - the southern most tip of Taiwan. We stayed in Chateau Beach Resort the entire 3 days, which is a good idea because grandpa's limited mobility makes it difficult if we have to move every night. The beach resort is a nice facility with sea-side rooms facing the Taiwan Straight, clean (but not elegant) dining areas, and beautiful swimming and spa area. Their customer service, on the other hand, is a bit sub-par for a high-end resort. The worst part of the trip was the weather. Apparently, there was a typhoon (a Pacific version of hurricane) just south of Taiwan so the weather was extremely windy and chilly. 
Fortunately, it wasn't a wet storm so we were able to do outdoor things without getting too wet. Also, the weather did clear up on the last day, thus allowing me to go swim in the sea.Highlights of the trip are:
- Visit to ChiShan (sp?)- the banana land where my grandpa was once a principal of an elementary school AND where grandma's sister still lives in their home unchanged for over 60 years.
- Early morning bike rides in Kenting - cold, windy, slow, but fun
- Visit to Kenting lighthouse - the southern most point of Taiwan
Visit to Kenting aquarium- A tour on a semi-submerged boat to view underwater reef life - cool, but the waters were a bit too dark because of the cloudy weather
- Visit to Be-tou-chou (sp?) - the 2nd southern most point of Taiwan
- Visit to the Kenting National Park
Oh yeah, you should visit Luke's blogs for his thoughts and pictures (you might need to scroll through a few pages...).
