Our Trip to Singapo--er, Kenting, in Southern Taiwan

Yep. It's true. Most countries, including Singapore, don't let you into their country if your passport expires in six months or less. And Taiwan, like most countries, won't let you leave their country within six months of that expiration date. Nope, 5 months is not "close enough." You probably already knew this handy little international travel rule. Last weekend, Chels and I learned it the expensive way--at the airport ticket counter 2hrs before our plane departed for Singapore. My passport will expire in February, and there was nothing we could do about it at the ticket counter. All packed up--and psyched up--with nowhere to go, we couldn't just hang out in Taipei all weekend. So to salvage some of our weekend vacation expectations, we headed to the beachiest part of the island: Kenting. It's a place that's been on our Taiwan hit list for a while now, so it seemed like a good chance to make the 6-8 hr trip down-island. And despite the cloudy weather, it did prove to be a good little get-away. (Singapore will just have to wait until November.)


There's also a great aquarium in the area. Huge displays. Huge fish. We had a great time--the penguins alone were worth the price of admission.


We also did a little hiking, if you want to call it that. Nothing too strenuous. But we were able to see some critters--including some wild goats and a water buffalo...

Mountain goat or tree goat?
(Above: he's actually standing on a rock surrounded by trees.)
And of course, what domestic trip would be complete without a little night market action?