Kenting and Jialeshui and Frisbee

This weekend ended up being very complicated. The plan was to drive down to Jialeshui and Kenting for Piper's birthday. First though the girls got invited to prom. Piper as the exotic blonde got invited by the BMOC. She agreed to go if they found a date for Syd. Syd wasn't so exotic in Taiwan(although I'm sure the situation would have been reversed if they were in Iceland) and she also towered over all her classmates but they found a freshman who agreed to invite her. So, we arranged for a taxi van to pick us up at home  late Thursday evening, drive us out to I-Shou to pick up the girls and then drive down to Jialeshui.  The girls looked amazing in their prom dresses and Piper's date was heartbroken that she had to leave(more on that later).  The drive to Jialeshui was in a huge rainstorm and Jake and I both thought we were all going to die. The driver was driving very fast in the dark on a two lane road and seemed to be having some problems with his wipers. His solution was to stop every so often and squirt dish soap on the windshield. Don't see how that helped. Nevertheless we made it to Jialeshui after midnight but alive where we stayed in a little B&B for surfers.

Jialeshui is a little village perched above a beach with a surf break. It was a bit cold and rainy and the beach was pretty much deserted. We spent the day playing on the beach while the Millers drove up and down the coast looking for good surfing.

Later that Friday Sydney and I had to leave and catch a ride all the way back to Kaohsiung as she was scheduled to play in an ultimate frisbee tournament the next day. Margaret, Nick, and the Millers stayed behind and visited some hot springs and the beaches with plans to meet us the next evening in Kenting. It was still very rainy but Syd and I made it back to Kaohsiung and to the tournament the next day. She only got to play in a few games because the rest of the tournament was wiped out by the rain. You can play ultimate in the rain but in the end this was more like playing while standing under a fire hose. Too bad because I think they could have won the tournament. Her team had some players from the national team and having a 5'10" girl to catch the disk in the end zone helps. One unique thing about Taiwanese ultimate, at the end of the game the teams line up and bow to each other.

Saturday afternoon we went back to the ultimate tournament but once it was clear it was rained out we headed back to Kenting. We met back up in Kenting with Margaret, Nick, and the Millers at Smokey Joe's, a Kenting institution. It was pouring rain this time in Kenting but the full spring break vibe was in effect. The roads were packed with people and there were stands selling food and alcohol all along the road. We even ran into Piper's prom date who had apparently made the trip to Kenting with his friends in hopes of seeing her once again. We spent the rest of Sunday and Monday wandering around Kenting although very little beach time due to the rain.