Cycle Mountain, Cycle Sea - Part III

Kending (Kenting) is sometimes described as Taiwan's little Thailand. That being the case, I have to say that if Thailand is also like a big traffic jam in the middle of a night market, maybe I'll skip it. Being the Lunar New Year, it was a total gong show. Here are some pictures that conveniently ignore that fact.

Actually, it wasn't that bad. The weather was good, and most of the tourists stayed off the beaches and in the market (which consisted of stalls on the side of the highway).

In Taiwanese culture, death by drowning - along with being murdered or committing suicide - is one of the worst ways to go. People who succumb to such a horrible fate are doomed to wander as a hungry ghost in some kind of earthly purgatory. Suffice it to say Taiwanese people generally don't really like water. Getting a sun tan isn't good either (more to come on this later), so most people spend their time on the beach fully clothed sitting under umbrellas.

Most of the southern coastline is covered in this beautiful petrified coral. My co-worker Robert had to spend a couple nights in the hospital over Chinese New Year after he was thrown up against some of this stuff while surfing on the south-east coast. Ouch.

To be honest, most of these pictures were taken last year when I visited KenDing with my parents in early April. The sky was clearer, so the light was perfect. The second one really was taken this time though.