Denied

This morning we decided to sleep in a bit and go out for breakfast rather than eat at the hotel. We found a restaurant that served typical Chinese breakfast for Am, Bernard and Bridget - and across the street a restaurant that served Western breakfast for Harold and Mireille. When we finished, we got some coffee and headed down to Kenting National Park.

While driving up, it looked really empty and we instantly realized it was closed. We thought about hopping the turnstyles to get in, but before we could do anything, we were met at the gate by two park rangers. They informed us that all of the national parks in Taiwan are closed due to the approaching typhoon. Given the sunny skies and hint of wind, we all found it pretty ridiculous. Nevertheless, we had to change our plan, so we headed down to Jialeshui to see if there were any waves (approaching typhoon = big surf).

On the way out to the car, we saw this guy:



actual size!

Yikes.

When we got to Jialeshui, we checked out two surf spots but only one looked halfway decent. We were all hungry at that point, so we decided to get a bite to eat and then hit the beach. During lunch, Bridget and Harold decided that it was way too hot for the beach yet. We agreed to have them drop us off for a couple of hours and then swing back when it cooled down. They were going to check out a small, sheltered water park for Mireille, which was only about 15 mins away. So, we grabbed our stuff, waved goodbye and took the trail down to the beach. We quickly changed, and Bernard had just finished waxing his board and was about to head out, when all of sudden two members of the Coast Guard approached. We already knew what they were going to say.

They politely asked Bernard not to go into the water for safety reasons, due to the typhoon. They also added that he could paddle out if he wanted to, but if he did so they would confiscate his board. After some contemplation, Bernard decided that it wasn't worth it. While the waves were the best he had seen the entire trip (3-5 ft and strong offshore) he really didn't want to lose his board.

Since the beach was technically closed, we were not allowed to go swimming either. Word has it, they will actually arrest you (?) So, we stayed in the white water and cooled off. We continued to play in the water for about another hour or so after Bridget and her family arrived, then the wind picked up and we all headed for the car while being pelted with sand. There was definitely a storm brewing.

Question of the day: If Taiwan has good waves before an approaching typhoon, but you are not allowed in the water, when do you actually surf??

The rest of the night was pretty mellow because most of the island was on lockdown and the rain just kept coming. We went to a "Thai" place next to the hotel for dinner (was not actually Thai, though the sign said otherwise) which was actually really good. After eating our fill, we called it a night and headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow we have a 2-hr drive to Zuoying where we grab the bullet train back up to Taipei - 90 minutes (sure beats 4.5 hours). We have business class tickets so we'll be traveling in style. Hell yeah ;-)

Sorry about the lack of pics in this post - we planned on taking some at the beach before we left, but the whipping sand prevented us from doing so. The rain didn't help either.