After so many years, we girls managed to come together (in spite of our different schedules) for a 10 days trip to Taiwan. Not forgetting our new addition, Ms Sron, who injected her special humour & idiocracies to the trip and who is much more organised & disciplined than the rest of us.
Kenting holds a special place in my memories of beautiful sights & wonderful destination. Its beaches were pretty, it's scenery breathtaking but I think what was particularly beautiful of the place is because of the memories created by friends & warm & caring people whom we girls met. People who were complete strangers to us, but who chose to take the extra step to extend a little extra helping hand to us. Who would have thought it is faster to go from Fangliao to Hualian rather than from Kending to Gaoxiong and then to Hualian, certainly not us girls. Who would have thought of double confirming the departure date of the train tickets after online purchase. Certainly not us girls, who were not very savvy travel planners =p But thank God for sharp people like Lin Shushu & Laoban who offered us alternatives & pointed out our errors in planning. You may argue that they were nice because they are operating a business & are just merely offering good service. But I think service delivered merely because of professionalism & pragmatic reasons can be distinguished from a genuine willingness to care and help another individual from a warm & loving heart.
We engaged the services of Lin Shushu to bring us around Kenting but he was more of a fatherly figure to us rather than a chaffeur. Lin Shushu has 2 daughters but they do not stay with him. I think he misses them terribly. Perhaps caring for us is his way of caring for his 2 daughters. Lin Shushu also likes to share about his relationship with his wife. They met each other much later during the course of their lives. I think what they encountered earlier made them realise how blessed they were to find each other & to be together now. Lin Shushu would tell us of the little tantrums Fan Ah-yi would have but in his usual laid-back and unruffled way he would let her vent her feelings and continue to love her as he always does. He even cheerfully admitted that Fan Ah-yi is his Achilles' heels which I think is very sweet. Lin Shushu also frequently asked us about our love life & even offered pointers on how to choose a good man. Like a father, I think he hopes we can all find a good man and settle down for good.
I wonder is the White Hotel the same after we left? Perhaps. White Hotel would continue to offer their warm & clean accomodations for travellers armed with their excitedly planned itinerary, determined to make the most out of their time in Kending. But I do think, White Hotel is a little different after we left. I think we did leave an imprint in the memories of the folks at White Hotel with our laughters, jokes & our Kororo boardgame. Just as they who have left a imprint of our memories of a good time in Kenting. =]
Before the start of our trip we have planned a rough itinerary of where we wanted to go. From destination A to destination B to destination C and hence forth. But it's what happened at each spot we were during that 10 days, the special people we met and spoke to, who shared their lives, their thoughts with us that made this trip close to my heart.
Before my memories faded away, before new experiences & new people take up space in my consciousness, I shall try to write down as much as possible of what happened during our trip.
=)
Saturday 26 May 2007
Thursday 24 May 2007
Friday 18 May 2007
Thursday 17 May 2007
Wednesday 16 May 2007
Tuesday 15 May 2007
Monday 14 May 2007
Sunday 13 May 2007
Saturday 12 May 2007
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