Day 5 in Taiwan: Are you a ferroequinologist?

We’ll be spending today and the next few days in Kenting, the southernmost part of Taiwan. Kind of a meta-vacation.

Kenting

We woke up early and headed to good ol’ Taipei Main Station, which is an intersection for the MRT and the trains. When we got there, it turns out they have two train systems: the normal trains or the TRA and the high speed trains or the HSR.

Taiwan Railway

High Speed Railway

The plan was to take the HSR to Zuoying station, which is in the southern part of Taiwan. Then, we would take a bus for 2 hours to Kenting, which is pretty much the southern tip of Taiwan.

HSR

The HSR was surprisingly nice, really clean and lots of leg room.

Inside the HSR

Seats at the HSR

As the name implies, the HSR is fast. Even though Taiwan is tiny, we went from the north end to the south end in about an hour or so.

Zuoying station reminded me a lot of the nicer train stations in Europe: open glass design, lots of space, and even the ubiquitous Relay stores.

Zuoying Station

Our plan was to ride the bus to Kenting, but we were approached by this taxi driver who convinced us to take his taxi van to Kenting… and we did. Not much to say about the drive, as I slept through most of it.

He dropped us off in front of the Kenting national park, where we would be staying. The buildings were designed to emulate the look of buildings in older times. Surprisingly cool-looking, actually.

Kenting Lodgings

We checked in at the visitor center, which is more of an Information Desk with tables outside. But, this area (and only this area) has Wi-Fi, so I’m actually sitting here now, writing this.

Tables at the Information Desk

Our rooms were in the same style as the rest of the buildings, at least the outside did, anyway.

Outside of our room

The inside was… small, with five beds, a bathroom, TV, and not much else. Our room also has a very green wall.

Inside of our room

We went to go check out a nearby beach. Even in the winter, the water was fairly nice. Not quite swimming nice, but nice nonetheless. Took our shoes off and went walking along the beach. Also got my jeans wet and was not too happy about that.

Beach at Kenting

We got back and ate the lodge-provided dinner. It was pretty good, or that might just be because I was starving at the time.

Dinner

Tomorrow we’re going to be doing the tourist thing and seeing the sights around Kenting. I may or may not be able to write tomorrow, but we’ll see.

Here’s an interesting sign at the Zuoying station:

Just look at it.