weekend getaway

Last week was the 4-week mark of our marriage – it’s hard to believe that we’ve already been married a month! But on the other hand, since so much has happened in these 4+ weeks, it feels like we’ve been married for forever.

To celebrate our “luniversary” and the finish of B’s first month of med school summer classes, we took a weekend getaway to Kending. It was so fun to be able to hop in our car (which has been affectionately dubbed Lance) and drive the 2.5ish hours to the beachy southern coast (with a GPS of course—the roads are nearly impossible to navigate in Taiwan, to the foreigner).

I love the part on the drive down where one can suddenly see the ocean running parallel to the road. God blessed us with a lovely sunset scene where we stopped by the side of the road to take a picture!

Had to get a pic of our trusty Lance

We stayed at the Formost, one of the more “budget” hotels in Kending but passable in terms of cleanliness. To the Westerner, it might seem a bit grungy at first, with the musty smell and the old mosquito-net-like drapery over the bed, plus the small bathroom that also doubled as a shower. But B said it was a step up from our own home, since the A/C didn’t clunk and the bathroom tiling was updated and clean. I appreciated his positivity.

Our room for 2 nights

Excited to grub at the nightmarket, we searched for favorites among the stands, and found new ones too. I think my favorite find that night were the sweet potato fries.

The next morning we hit White Sands Beach, which was actually about a 15 minute drive from where we were staying. It is probably one of the nicest beaches at Kending, and people can even camp there! Their outdoor bathroom/shower facilities were new and clean, too. 

Picnic/food booth/bar/resting area

Hello, beach!

 After the beach we decided to explore a bit so we drove around to the East coast (it only took 20 minutes or so) to look for good hiking spots. Unfortunately typhoon Tembin hit the eastern shores pretty badly and we passed evidence of landslides and the beaches were full of debris. 

More adventurous people looking at the debris and the muddied waters

 But we were able to visit the southernmost tip of Taiwan, and see the lighthouse that guarded its shores. 

At the Southernmost tip!

Lighthouse at Erluanbi

Even though torn up by landslides, the panorama of the Eastern coast was beautiful

Right behind us is a huge cliff-like dropoff!

 The rest of our time there was basically a repetition of the same activities to varying degrees. It was such a fun, relaxing trip to get away from daily life and enjoy the beauties of God’s creation. Can’t wait to go back again!

This was SO GOOD. Ice cream inside two pancake-like cakes!