No-bicycle Day

May 1st, we enjoyed sightseeing in Kenting National Park 墾丁国家公園

I had made a plan to go cycling in Kenting National Park, the southernmost National Park in Taiwan.

However, the weather forecast said we would have heavy rain, and a heavy shower had already started since last night intermittently. We were discussing for a moment and finally gave up cycling and went to the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium 国立海洋生物博物館 by bus for kids.

9:30 am The bus station

We walked to Paoli (Baoli ) 保里 bus stop and waiting with a Taiwanese Family who was also going to the aquarium there.
10 minutes later, we found we should go to another stop to the aquarium.
We walked with the family to the right stop, and then a man proposed to drive us to the aquarium, but I refused. The family was hesitated first but eventually rode on his car.
(I remember I had been proposed by unlicensed taxi drivers twice at the Taoyuan Airport and Kaohsiung. I don’t know it is common or not in Taiwan.)
Soon later we got on the bus to the aquarium.

10:00AM The aquarium

The aquarium, 国立海洋生物博物館 was huge and has lots of well designed exhibitions. We enjoyed there for one and a half hour and had lunch at the cafe.

14:00 Hengchun 恒春 town

Then we went to Hengchun 恒春 central area for sightseeing and to get meal because we didn’t want to go out for dinner in a heavy rain
The rain was heavy, and we could not find any taxi in front of the aquarium, but we could get on the bus to Hengchun.

After got off the bus, I went to Hengchun Tourist Information Center 恒春遊客服務中心 and asked sightseeing spot in 恒春 and the map of the town, and to call taxis one hour later.
The staff and a man in the center (I didn’t know who he was ) called taxi companies, but no taxi was available because of heavy rain.

I checked the bus time schedule on the bus terminal station next to the center and started walking holding cups of bubble tea.珍珠奶茶

The town center of Hengchun 恒春 was surrounded by old Fortress constructed in the 1870s.
We walked from the South Gate to the East Gate which was well preserved and reconstructed.

The top of the fortress didn’t have a handrail on one edge, Walling on it was a little bit scary.

Then we return to the bus terminal. Three curious aunties including me went shopping for the evening meal.

We enjoyed shopping and I became a poor Chinese-Japanese interpreter.

Kimurin, my friend and kids can’t eat spicy food, so she ordered me to ask whether the food was spicy or not, I often asked “辣吗？不要辣,” but almost all Taiwanese food is not spicy. (and not salty)

After shopping, we got on a local bus to Baoli （Paoli) 保里, before that the staff of the bus terminal told the bus driver we can’t understand Chinese well. It was helpful.

We ate dinner at the condo. It was a good rest day.

We stayed the condo remote from the town center. It was excellent condo, but I think I should have stayed at the inn in the city center to have dinner/ buy food conveniently.

But I enjoyed this kind of new experience. I’ve been studying Chinese for 20 months and hear/speak only basic Chinese. To study more I will enjoy more definitely.