Kenting’s ‘Spring Scream’ is the highest profile music festival in Taiwan. So, along with Erin and a few friends we winged our way down south to the sunshine – thankfully free of the stifling humidity that plagues Taipei.

I am doing a little experiment using Google Maps to log the positions of where I am going. Click the link below for a birds-eye view. Sadly, there is not much data for Taiwan yet, but it’s ok. I am hopeing at some point in the future it will be optimised for tasks just like this!

Kenting From Space

Wings

Happy Babe City – and how

The place that we were staying was a real delight. The unfortunately titled ‘Kenting Youth Activity Centre’ was constructed to resemble an old Chinese village, and the results are very elegant indeed. A rare sight in Taiwan. And a very nice surprise on arrival to realise it matched the pictures on the internet!

Doorway to Heaven

A room with a view

Thoughtful detailing makes exploring the place a pleasure

WOW – I fell in love with some of the crafted ceiling buttresses

The festival itself was a pretty small affair. The live music mainly comprised of Taiwanese bands I had not heard of (and I do know some good ones), Japanese imports thrashing their axes, and some token white guys that probably wahsed up from the LA scene. Of more interest was the dance music – mainly because my friend Sean (DJ SL) was spinning on both nights. This of course also guaranteed free admission, which I am rarely to snub.

The crowd was from all over Taiwan, and much more free wheeling than what I am used to in Taipei, which is often rather sterile with too much emphasis placed on style rather than musical substance. Some very amusing conversations to be sure.

“You’ll never guess who I had in my cab the other day” – a London taxi lives its days out in the sun

… while Erin poses in front of the festival’s primary posing machine

A very nice touch – during the heat of the concert, a dragon arrives to shake its thing in the middle of the show. Fantastic.

Of course, no party would be complete without an after party. We found a really lovely one on the beach near to Sean’s place frequented with groups of people making fires and enjoying the sea breeze. People were setting off fireworks at the shore and it really was a beautiful scene – the musical backdrop provided by a group of vegetarians with guitars and violin.

While staring at the stars, I realise that they are singing The Beatles’ ‘Hey Hude’ and of course I start to sing along quietly. When the chorus arrived, I realised that most people on the beach were doing the same thing … a most incredible feeling. Folk Karaoke? Who cares – one of the most touching moments in Taiwan this year.

Palm Beach

After Party

Two days of partying left us a bit sore, but still the flight home on Monday morning brought with it the realisation that we were leaving the perfect summer sea breeze of Kenting and returning to almost certain thunder storm or humidity. We guessed correctly, as the captain announced that we needed to circle Taipei because of poor visibility and hard rain coming in to land.

The next thing that happened came as rather a surprise, with more than a little delayed shock. The bright flash and dull thump I could instantly recognise. Lightening had struck our plane! The pilot informed we were to land at Chiang Kai Shek. TaoYuan. One hour from Taipei. A nervous landing and there we were, stuck on the tarmac with the pilot admitting that nobody knew what to do. Finally, we disembarked and Sean woke up – disbelieving the whole story!

There was clearly no space at the civilian terminal, since we wer ushered into the holding pen at the Coast Guard building. 45 party goers walking into a room with an equal number of armed guards with dogs made for some very nervous looking faces!

The postscript was the discovery that the lightening strike had been featured in the news! So, it’s official! I got struck by lightening. It certainly explains the X-Ray vision.

Military bags