Taipei and Kenting

In two days I leave for Korea! It's been a hectic week. I had to go up to Taipei to get my tickets and Korean visa. Taipei is SO immense, I always feel like a rat in a treadmill. Even taking the MRT and Taxis between my destinations was tiring. I was exhausted by the end of the day and, when they told me I had to wait two days to pick up the visa, I decided to just go home (Tainan) so I could sleep during the 5 hour bus ride. A day later, I took another bus back to Taipei. This time I thought I'd play it smart and rent a scooter.

Amazingly, some women (whose shop looked like the inside of a garage filled with garbage and junk) let me rent a scooter with neither a passport or an ARC! All I had on me was my Student ID. It was 700nt, about 20bucks, and the scooter came with just enough gas to make it to the nearest gas station, providing I didn't get lost. I was headed towards Taipei 101 which was lucky, as it's an easy landmark to find and I'd not only forgotten to bring my city map, I also didn't have the addresses of the places I needed to go. It took me about 40 minutes longer to drive across town than it would have taken on the MRT, and embarrassingly, when I got to the Korean Embassy, I realized I didn't even bring the receipt to get my passport back! Luckily they recognized me and it wasn't a big deal. I got my tickets to Korea and to Malaysia, hung out with some friends, and finally went back to Tainan.

In Tainan I renewed my ARC and Taiwan Visa, which were nearly expired. And then, with less than a week before I leave Taiwan, decided to head to Kenting for some R&R. Kenting should be about a 2 or 3 hour drive from Tainan, but it was my first time driving down and it took me nearly 8 hours. I stopped a lot. I had to - driving a scooter long distances is really uncomfortable. The last two hours I got caught in a rainstorm, which made the trip much less pleasant. (The wind will actually push your scooter across the road, you have to be careful to keep in control). Once in Kenting, I broke out my brand new tent and sleeping bag, which I've had for months but never used. I thought it would be an adventure, but it was too hot to sleep very well.

I went swimming and got a good sunburn with some friends, then hit the road home, just in time for another heavy rainstorm.

Next time I'll splurge, go down by train and stay in a hotel.