Kenting

It had been nearly 2 years since we had gone to Kenting so with Allen’s parents here for two weeks we decided it was high time to do the trip again. On Easter Sunday after church we headed from Taipei (very northern section of Taiwan) to Kenting, a town on Taiwan’s very southern tip. Allen drove the whole 6 hours in a stick shift van, no cruise control, and one rest stop. He was thankful that Kirstie hasn’t begun potty training yet because that would have added another hour to the drive.

The Idols
In several places along the drive we saw large monasteries and temples. Some had enormous statues of Budda. One we saw was 132 ft. tall, dwarfing King Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. At one point Kirstie pointed out the window and said, “There’s Jesus.” It hurt to hear her say that because she was actually pointing to a statue of Budda. When I told her that it wasn’t Jesus, it was Budda, she said, “That’s Budda. Who’s that?” I explained the best I could for a two year old to understand, but in the end the magnitude of the abomination left me speechless. Then when we reached the smaller towns I saw countless god rooms with their red lights and god shelves. Many times the front rooms facing the street were dedicated to the family’s gods. It was almost like the family was making their honor obvious to the spirits so that they would leave them alone.

The Hotel
We chose a hotel that came with recommendation from other missionaries. They gave us a discount because we are missionaries, and Allen’s parents got a discount on their room for being retired. Our room was about 30 dollars/night. Staying in a hotel in Taiwan is a bit of a culture adjustment in itself, though we are very accustomed to it by now and didn’t even bother bringing an air mattress to put on top of the rock solid bed. We chose a Japanese style room where the mattresses are placed on a raised floor. The hotel was a good option not only because of the discount, but also because it was clean, right in the middle of the night market, and provided McDonalds breakfast certificates every morning. We were also pleasantly surprised with a plate of fresh watermelon one evening.

The Beach
Though it wasn’t quite the weather we were hoping to have it was probably for the best because even with cloud covering all day our winter white skin did turn a little red in places. We rented an umbrella and beach chairs and took enough food so that we didn’t have to leave the beach. Kirstie loved swimming in the ocean though sometimes she did get a little annoyed having to constantly push our hands away and tell us, “by myself, by myself.” When she got too cold to stay in the water she enjoyed playing in the sand and going on walks with Papa and Nai Nai. Katelin enjoyed napping to the sound of the waves.

Allen, Kirtie, and Linda (Nai Nai)

Cherry and Katelin

Kirstie and Dennis (Papa)

Scuba Diving
One day our team mate, Chad, took the MRT, high speed train, and bus down from Taipei so that he and Allen could go scuba diving together. Allen said their first dive was amazing. The biggest thing that surprised him was the amount of coral that they saw and being surrounded by big schools of fish that didn’t seem to mind their presence. The second dive spot was a little disappointing because the sand was turned up too much to see anything so they ended up doing a compass navigation dive. Allen’s dad even got to try out scuba diving. He was only about three feet under but it was enough to give him a thrill and desire to do it again. (Allen’s first diving experience was in a swimming pool and that was enough to get him hooked.)

The Aquarium
Before we made the trip back we decided to visit the aquarium. It always leaves me with a feeling of awe seeing the huge tanks (the largest was 52ft tall) and a picture of God’s creative genius inside.