Welcome to the Happy Panda Campground at Baisha Bay in beautful Kenting, Taiwan. Yesterday five of us took a taxi for a day trip to the southern tip of Taiwan. Last weekend some friends drove down and it took about two and a half hours. With this taxi driver it took less than two. Lee was very brave and sat in the front seat while I cringed in the back.

It was an absolutely beautiful day. Really hot, of course, but at the beach who cares!

It's not a big beach but it had everything we wanted. The waves were the biggest I've ever been in, which isn't really saying much since most of my beach time has been in New England, but they were big enough to be a little scary and a ton of fun. It's so odd to get into ocean water that's about 84 degrees. It feels a little cool since the air temperature was in the 90's but it certainly isn't bracing like I'm used to!

We rented beach umbrellas and staked out our little piece of beach close to the little drink cart. They had water, coke and Taiwan beer. You can guess what Lee had.

At the entrance to the beach was where all the beach amenities were: a bar, food carts, shops, showers. (I could have done without the Michael Bolton music.)

This is where we had lunch...

Really good pizza! Made by an American expat livin' the dream.

The film director, Ang Lee, is from this area and was inspired by the Kenting area for his film Life of Pi. I don't think the movie was filmed here but you can still take a picture of Richard Parker and the lifeboat.

Here I am before my skin turned completely pink. We may come back here for Thanksgiving break. Yes, we have Thanksgiving break. The school every now and then reminds us that their name includes the word American and even though 95% of the students don't celebrate Thanksgiving we still get the four-day weekend. So this seems like a really nice place to be while we miss you all!