Day 8 (travel though flooding from Kending to Tainan)

It had rained all night and was still raining when we woke up in the morning. This weather was not beach weather. There isn't anything for us to do inside in Kending, so we decided go leave early in the morning for Tainan. We phoned our Taiwanese friends to ask them to call the beach house owners for us to tell them that we were ready to go early. We'd like the owners to pick us and our luggage up, take us to beach house number one, and for them to call for a taxi for us to Kaohsiung. We didn't want to mess around with waiting for a bus when it was raining so hard.

Then we learned that the days and days of heavy rains were causing problems.  There was flooding and some mudslides.  The Pingtung Bus company was not running because of flooding.  It would be difficult to find a taxi driver that wanted to drive all the way to Kaohsiung because of the flooding.  Alternate routes would have to be taken.  This is not a good situation.  The hotel owners had several conversations with our Taiwanese friends as they figured out what to do with us.  The owners picked us and our luggage up to check out and take us to breakfast.  At first they said they found a taxi to take us to the a train station, but we weren't sure how far north they were taking us.  Then we were getting a van.  Our cell phones were out of minutes.  Kevin ran to the 7-eleven to buy more minutes for his phone.  The van pulls up and is ready to go.  I explain to the van driver "Baba... 7-eleven" and point in that direction.  He knows he's missing Kevin and drives down the block to pick him up.  We don't see him between the beach house and 7-eleven.  I tell Hannah to stay right there, I'm getting Daddy.  I hop out of the van, leave it open and pray that they don't take off with all of my stuff and my daughter.  Thankfully Kevin's right inside and had just finished buying more minutes.  We load up into the van not knowing where we were headed, but that we were headed north.



Once again, we were so thankful to have smart phones!  The GPS told us where we were, and we could see where train stations were on the map.  It was a long trip in pouring down rain.  We saw flooding in fields and rivers, but our roads were clear.  Kevin and I both googled for news on the flooding and we were both concerned.  We saw that we were going a different longer route north, around the east side of Pingtung, and back to Kaohsiung.  The driver was headed for our friends' apartment near the Kaohsiung HSR station and dropped us off right at the door.  Our friends had classes canceled for the day due to the flooding.  We picked up a suitcase we left there and had a taxi take us a couple of blocks to the train station.  Walking with a stroller with a four year old, two big heavy suitcases, and large backpack is hard... but doing it in the rain is no fun. Totally worth $4 to have a taxi drive our bags a couple of blocks right to the station.  We bought slow train tickets to Tainan because there was no reason to take the HSR such a short distance.  We later learned that the HSR line between Kaohsiung and Tainan had closed at that time due to the flooding!

I had forgotten that we had luggage problems last time at the Tainan train station.  There are bunches of steps and no elevators.  Kevin and I had problems hauling heavy suitcases, and thankfully had nice strangers offer to help us lost looking white Americans traveling with way too much stuff and a baby... and again this time with a four year old in a stroller.  Thanks again for southern Taiwanese hospitality!

This time we stayed at the Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Tainan.  It was very comparable to the Tayih Landis in Tainan, but conveniently located right next to the train station in a walkable distance with luggage.  Oh right, that is if you can get your heavy luggage up and down the stairs to get out of the train station.
















We shopped at the adjoining mall and picked up a few things we needed at nearby shops.



Now I know what men feel like when their wives/girlfriendssend them out to buy feminine products!  Tee hee hee! 

 

Kevin and I both weren't so impressed with the dinner buffet at the hotel restaurant.  We went back to our rooms, everyone had bubble baths in the huge tub, and easily fell asleep.  I was surprised with how at ease we felt the night before picking up Hudson.  We were so nervous and excited the night before getting Hannah that we both hardly slept.  This time around we're thrilled to welcome our son, know there's no way we can know what to expect from him, but that we can handle whatever comes our way.