Kenting Holiday Hotel

The Kenting Holiday was not our first choice. We are 60 year old travelers with backpacks. We wanted to stay in Kenting in a Bed and Breaksfast but alas we got to the Bed and Breakfast in the dark and no one was there. We hung out for a while and then put on our backpacks and started walking on the highway in the dark. In the distance we saw a 10 story building that look like it might be a hotel. We figured we would go for it. We are glad we did. We checked in with the help of Hogan Chen, the Vice General Manager who lived in the U.S. for 13 years and speaks excellent english. Because of the size of the hotel it caters to larger groups but everyone we met in the hotel was very helpful to us. The room was clean and nice and as one person mentioned the sink was in the shower but we saw this at many of the very nice bnbs that we stayed in. We think it is a Taiwan thing and is actually very pleasant once you get used to it. The hotel is on the highway outside of Kenting. Behind the hotel is the town of Hengchun, a very pleasant walkable town with the remains of the old walls that once circled the city center. It is a working class town, meaning that it isn't overrun with tourists which makes it more interesting. We decided to rent a scooter to explore the area. We didn't get an international drivers license before we came to Taiwan so we were limited to renting electric scooters. That turned out to be very fun. My wife didn't want to drive her own scooter and the hotel only had one person scooters for rent outside so they called another place down the road and arranged for someone to pick us up and take us to a place that rented electric scooters that were powerful enough for two riders. Before riding to Kenting we headed northwest through farm lands out to the coast. It was beautiful. There were hardly any tourists and we had the country roads and coastline to ourselves. It is a bit like a scavenger hunt looking for charging stations on the scooters but that added an extra bit of adventure planning our routes and scouting for power. Some stations would have batteries that you could swap out, others had power cables that you would plug in. The power stations were almost always located in beautiful locations complete with places to eat and hang out on the beach with beautiful views. Where ever possible we stayed on back roads avoiding traffic. Eventually we headed south by scooter into Kenting proper. While beautiful it is also very crowded. We were there in November in the off season. It must be crazy there in the summer. Staying at the Kenting Holiday put us away from the craziness and the scooter gave us the range to explore the south. The breakfast was good and plentiful. The food caters to Taiwanese/Chinese tastes. It was good, just different but that is what we wanted for our adventure, new expriences. For those who have to have wifi in their room. Ask for a room on a floor with wifi. Hogan said that they are just starting to install it. There is wifi also in the lobby. Everyone was very nice. Special thanks to Hogan who stayed up talking with us about Taiwanese culture, history and politics until 1 in the morning. He arranged for a car to take us to the bus station when it was time for us to continue on our adventure and made sure that there was someone in the station who would watch out for us and make sure we got on the right bus. Our first impression was big touristy hotel...not our kind of place. Our initial impression was wrong. The staff is really nice and helpful, the lobby and pool area are beautiful, the rooms are nice with hardwood floors and very comfortable beds, and a location that was perfect for our needs. A special thanks to Hogan. We hope to meet you again.