Up With the Sun

Day 4 of our scooter adventure began and ended with the sun.

It's not often that an Ohioan girl has the opportunity to see the sun rise over the Pacific, so when the opportunity comes, you have to take it. 

Before leaving Taitung, we made several stops.

A fish market...

That was a smelly experience. Our second stop was not as odorous, but much louder.

Taiwan has a very active air force. Several fighter jets began maneuvers starting at 7am.  

Today's journey took us to the very southern tip of the island. We chose little traveled route, used often by the cyclist and not cars. 

This is a very rural area of Taiwan, mostly untouched by the recent boon of tourism.

At lunch time, we stumbled upon a secluded beach.

A small village was located to the side of this beach. An unadorned restaurant overlooked the scenery. With such an off the beat location, I wondered how the establishment could stay in business. We decided to stop for lunch. We ended being there for over three hours!

A village family made their living giving four wheeler and jeep tours through these sand dunes.

The shop owner invited us to stay and enjoy the beach and the view. With water this inviting, how could we resist?

 Which brings me to the life lesson for the day: If you stumble upon a beautiful beach and no one is in the water, there is probably a reason. 

In this case, the water is full of jellyfish.

Poor Grace. I had just started into the water when I saw Grace jump and yell out. A rather large jelly fish had wrapped its tentacles around her arm! I made a quick and hasty exit from the water! The next day her arm was swollen and painful!

This is what the injury looked like several days later! Needless to say, we quickly abandoned the water. That didn't stop us, however, from enjoying the view. The shop owner encouraged us to sit outside in the shade. She even brought us fruit and steamed peanuts. 

I think I had a big piece of fruit in my mouth which accounts for my unhappy looking face!

Our last stop of the day was at a very familiar spot. The south eastern tip of Taiwan boasts amazing views of the Pacific. It never gets old.

But, once again we stumbled upon something new. A filming crew was in the process o shooting a scene!

In the scene, the actor was to either fall or jump from a cliff. We watched as they set up pads below this drop off. The actor asked for more hands to hold his landing pad. Evidently, he didn't want to fall any farther than what was planned.

There was a lot of activity, and while we waited, we never did get to see the actual filming. We needed to get going because a special treat awaited us in Kenting.

Abbi and her two friends, Maggie and Liz, were waiting for us to have dinner with them! They were enjoying a mini beach vacation of their own.

Despite the jellyfish, this was another great day of exploring the beauty of God's creation here in Taiwan!