About a day ago it started raining hard. I mean hard. We're trying not to let us stop us from enjoying the trip though and we're still doing everything as planned. We're toward the southern tip of Taiwan now, which is like the surf spot -- kinda reminds me of a more Asian Huntington Beach.
Last night we stayed at a hotel near the hot springs, so naturally we had a hot springs-fed pool at our hotel. there was a cool side and a hot side -- and i do mean hot! it felt good though and the sulfer smell didn't even bother us.
Today we visited Kenting National Forsest and Park at the very southern tip, which is home to Asia's largest lighthouse! A long time ago an American vessel (typical) rammed into the coral reef offshore and everyone aboard landed on shore. unfortunately the aboriginies who inhabited this part of the island killed everyone but the Chinese cook. So anyway, the US pursuaded Japan (who occupied Taiwan at this time) to build a lighthouse, so the Japanese bought the land from the aboriginies and then turned the area into a lighthouse/fortress to protect from aborginies! first of its kind!
It was later bombed and destroyed in WWII, but later restored. So we had two hours to walk about the lush green park area and rocky, dramatic beach in the stormy wind and rain. Since we weren't sure when we'd ever be back here we made the best of it and travelled along the paths and saw some amazing scenery -- this is very beautiful area, my favorite of the trip so far!
The trees are filled with those screaming locust beetle creatures and they must be mating or something because they are screeching like crazy. there have to be thousands of them! the greenery is so think they cut out little passageways and tunnels for you to walk through, so even though it's raining we're covered by the plantlife, but we're surrounded by the screaming insects -- they were as loud as a fire alarm in some places - it was amazing! saw some interesting creatures like beetles the size of VW beetles and salamanders and some really interesting birds. when i made it to the shoreline the wind was so strong it was hard to take a picture because i kept getting blown off balance! and there's a nifty boardwalk the length of the shoreline that i walked on .... which is way more dangerous than it sounds since there's not handrail and the wind was so violent! but the view was worth it and i hope my photos do it justice.
i ducked into a souvenir shop to dry off and regroup and noticed a beautiful red coral necklace. i asked the woman how much and she offered it to me for $400 U.S. I politely declined and decided to try the woman outside the shop, who was selling her wares under a sheet of plastic on a blanket outside. surely she should be hard up for any sale! but she also offered it to me for $400, saying it was real coral! real coral!
she then asked me to write down my price on her pad and paper. always one to bargain, i wrote down $10. she was totally offended and grabbed the pen and paper from my hands and sent me on my way! as i walked down the hill i heard her offer it to me for $200, but i knew there were other bargains to be had. i later bought the same necklace from a woman who threw in the matching earrings for $11 total. A lady a few stands down then sold me the matching bracelet for another $3. so i think everything turned out well in the end.
