In an attempt to escape the nasty pollution here in the city we escaped with some friends to the southernmost tip of the island, near the beach town of Kenting. We've been to Kenting a couple of times before, including an overnight last spring, but this was our first time down there this year. What a difference in air quality. Once we drove around the tip of the mountains that form the spine of Taiwan, the pollution dropped three levels, from red, unhealthy for everyone, to green, satisfactory. We were pretty satisfied. I can't wait for the spring winds to arrive and start blowing from south to north and bring Kaohsiung more of that sweet Kenting air.
First we hiked up to a lighthouse that marks the end of the island. Here are Lee and Chris admiring the view back towards the town of Kenting.
One of the displays told the story of a Japanese ship that crashed into the rocks here back in the 1800's. Most of the crew was lost and of the few that made it to shore, all but one was killed by the natives. The Taiwanese were rather inhospitable back then.
The clouds in this photo make it look like the weather is pretty inhospitable too. It was actually a really nice day with a lot of wind and this quick rainstorm that blew through and dropped a few raindrops.
Next we drove around to a lookout on the east side. That's where the Pacific Ocean (rather than the Taiwan Strait on the west coast) stretches out for thousands of miles. The wind felt like it had been picking up speed all the way from Hawaii. We were very careful to keep our steps on the trail so we wouldn't get blown off the cliff.
The view was beautiful. This photo is looking north towards the spot where we hiked in November 2014. That hike was exhausting and one of the most spectacular hikes I've ever been on. It was along the rocky coastline where the huge ship had run aground. This time all of the crew survived. The Taiwanese are much more welcoming now.
Our last stop in Kenting was at the aquarium. It's the best one I've ever been to. (I'd love to get to the Monterey Aquarium, since I've heard that's pretty spectacular too.)
This is the view from the back of the aquarium. If I had a car I'd be driving down here every weekend. It's probably just as well that I'm not contributing so much to the pollution problem.
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