Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 11: Kenting 墾丁(Surfing lessons with Ah Fei Surfing School 阿飛衝浪旅店 @ South Beach, Houbihu 后壁湖 [控控海產店 @ 恆春區漁會], Maobitou 貓鼻頭, Baishawan Beach 白沙灣, Chuhuo Special Scenic Area 出火特別景觀區)
Today, or rather yesterday, I signed up for my very first lesson of surfing at Ah Fei's Surfing School which was located at Nanwan 南灣 beach. Since it was a winter and a low season, I paid the group rate (NTD 1500) but got a 1 on 1 lesson with the trainer, which would normally be priced at NTD 2200. So at 8.30am the van from the school picked me up in front of my hotel and brought me to the premise. There I changed into the wet suit, which was quite tricky to fit myself in, picked up my surfboard and headed to the beach!
The beach was not exactly at the door step so it took quite a bit of effort to carry to surfboard which was not that light. By the time I reached I think I was already slightly exhausted and the toll of travelling half of the Taiwan island had started to kick in lol. Before I was allowed to actually surf, my coach taught me the basics first: how to swim on the board, how to jump, and how to break the waves. I tried my best to absorb as much information as possible. Once the theory part was done. I had to practice jumping on to the board repeatedly for 10-15 minutes, and boy that was quite a toll on my body as I tried (and trying everyday throughout my trip), not to aggravate the injury on my ankle. The sand which kept getting into the wounds on my palm wasn't helping either.
By the time I was good to go inside the water I think my energy levels had dropped by 50% lol. And speaking of the water, the waves were getting bigger and bigger every minute. Even my coach acknowledged that but somehow still brought me to this beach when there was a shallower beach with smaller waves else where =/. You know the waters are not for newbies when seasoned surfers can be seen gliding around and then you are the only one in the way. As I started to swim into the ocean, I finally realised how difficult it was to actually swim in the open sea. My hands started to turn limp and became jelly-like even just after a short distance. My coach asked me whether I knew how to swim, but only in the swimming pool. And then he said swimming pool and the big open sea is same one la. LOL ok. As if there were waves and strong currents in the pool. What made matters worst was my feet couldn't even reach the sea-bed!
Anyway, as I reached quite far out where the waters were much smoother my coach then prepped me for my first surf. Once the right wave came he then gave me the signal to start surfing and hop on the surf board. Well, easier said than done. I was too hesitant most of the time and didn’t jumped up fast enough and ended up losing my balance, thus falling into sea and then got whacked nicely back to the shore by the subsequent waves behind.. It was then I realised how painful it was to be hit by big waves and I couldn’t imagine how much scarier a tsunami would be. The waves were one thing. Since the surf board was tied to my leg I was also hit by it several times as I fumble around in the waters. There were also rocks nearby the shore and I was quite afraid of landing into one of those. And to make matters worse, getting out of the sea was no easy feat either as the strong currents always tried to pull me back every single. By the time I could reach the sandy areas I was already really tired. This process was repeated several times and I already had the intention to just give up and go home.
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| My surfing coach and I |
Somehow, when it was almost time for the session to end, I
mustered all my remaining strength to swim out again. This time I told myself,
no matter what, I have to jump on the board when the wave came, and so I did.
The timing was excellent as I managed to stand on the board and glide all the
way back to the shore without falling off. Wow. I was ecstatic. I finally
managed to do it! My coach complimented me as well as I rode on one of the
bigger waves and it was certainly not an easy feat. This whole session turned
out to be a really good mental (& endurance & strength) training for
myself. I guess the old cliché still goes. If you don’t give up and give it all
you have, you will definitely achieve success, somehow. And after that I just
collapsed on the beach.
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| Ride of the day |
We then departed back to the shop and then I changed back to
my dry clothes, with a free bottle of Coke as a reward. After resting for
awhile in the hotel, I then proceeded to continue exploring the rest of
Kenting. This time I opted to rent an electric scooter instead of taking the
bus. So after surveying a few shops I opted for one that gave me the best deal.
For NTD 1000, I was able to keep the scooter for the remaining of the day as
well as one half of the next day. The other shop I went charged NTD 700 for one
day. My shop gave The prices should be around this region so don’t get ripped off. After a 5 minute lesson (the scooter's max speed was only 50km/h), and a map of Kenting in my hand I was off. On a side note, the weather today was one of the warmest I've experienced throughout my trip in Taiwan, that I was able to wear my shorts for the first and the last time haha.
Since the whole Kenting peninsula was rather large, I covered the western side today and will be covering the eastern side the next day. My first stop of the day was Houbihu 后壁湖 , which is essentially a marina and a fishing harbour. Here I filled my
tummy to the brim after an energy sapping session of surfing. This is the best
place in Taiwan and probably in the Asian region (never travelled outside of Asia before so no comment on other parts of the world) if you want to eat cheap
and fresh salmon and tuna sashimi.
As
you enter the Hengchun Fishing Building, you will be greeted by
shops on your left and right selling the same stuff – seafood. There was one
particular shop (輝哥生魚片) that seemed really famous with lots of
customers which I chose to ignore lol. Instead I chose the one with the least
customers which was Kong Kong Seafood Shop (控控海產店) haha. I was given a menu to order
my food from after I was sitted. Technically the only cheap stuff here was the
sashimi, NTD 100 for 20 pieces!!!!!! To put things into perspective, 5 pieces
of the sashimi back in Malaysia would definitely cost more than RM20 already.
They can afford to sell it so cheap because the salmon and tunas are swimming
in the Taiwan waters hence they don’t have to import the fish, unlike us. Having
said that, anything other than sashimi I think it’s best to just eat it back in
Malaysia unless you plan to try some seafood not available in the Malaysian
seas.
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| Fresh seafood! |
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| Menu |
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| From the left: tuna, fish eggs, sword fish, salmon |
Initially I ordered one plate
along with a bowl of rice. I was served with 4 different types of sashimi:
salmon (鲑鱼),
tuna (鮪魚),
sword fish (旗魚) and
some fish eggs. As I was enjoying halfway, I then asked the waitress whether I
could order another plate with just tuna and salmon, and to my delight she said
yes! So without a second thought I ordered a second serving. Wahahaha I think
that meal was one of the most enjoyable and satisfying I’ve had throughout the
trip.
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| 10 pieces of salmon + 10 pieces of tuna sashimi! |
After the really hearty meal, I then made my way to the next
stop: Maobitou貓鼻頭.
There were lots of China tourists here as well, and some of them commented that
I was smart to wear shorts because the weather was really warm that day haha.
Anyway, there’s nothing much to see here. Just a cat-looking rock by the shore.
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Cat looking rock |
From there, I made my way towards Bai Sha Wan 白沙灣, the place where Ang Lee shot the movie ‘Life of Pi’ here. The stretch of beach is quite long but the main area was more happening. Here they provide camp sites for visitors to pitch their tents and stay overnight. There are also many shops selling overpriced food and beverages for tourists to just chill. Otherwise, the sand quality is just so-so, comparable to Langkawi. I left after 20 minutes as well.
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| Tent sites |
My last stop of the day was at Chuhuo Special Scenic Area which was nearby Hengchun Township. This unique place has natural gas underground thus you could see the whole area lighted up with fire through the cracks. You can only get to see this sight on a dry season when the cracks underground are clear from water. The whole journey for today was rather smooth as the roads were easy to be navigated with the help of the physical and Google Map.
As night approaches I then hastily made my way back to Kenting Main Street. I was still not used to riding a scooter and on a different side of the road so I wouldn’t want to risk it by exploring until late at night. For dinner I headed for a shop selling ramen and ordered a bowl of pork rib ramen. Not bad. Definitely much better than the street food being sold at the night market out on the Main Street haha.
On my way back to the hotel I bought a bottle of strawberry beer out of curiosity. It cost a whooping NTD 160 for such a small bottle. I was not sure what went wrong with my head but those fruit beer sold in 7-11 tasted about the same at half the price. Also, a special shout out to Taiwanese grapes! I happen to buy one pack of grapes at a supermarket at Hengchun town to try out and it tasted absolutely delicious. And it's cheap as well! NTD 45 for 372 g. They taste exactly like champagne grapes, where the skin is easily peeled off as well. A must try if you are a grape lover.
- Day 11 end-
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