The Holiday Ends

All good things come to an end .... sadly. On the morning of Craig's last full day in Kenting, Craig's Dad took some photos from the balcony of their hotel room.


The view is nice without being spectacular.


You can see the bay with the tiny beach.


And, the hotel swimming pool looks almost as good in the daytime as at night.


Craig's Dad also took some pictures of the long morning walk to the beach through the hotel basement.


It's a huge place.


And the walk takes a while.


On the way back from lunch, Craig found a balloon that was bouncing around just outside the door of the hotel.


So, it was brought back to the hotel room for Craig to play with. But, not long after this photo was taken the balloon met an untimely end, popped by a sharp object on the balcony.


Craig didn't seem to mind too much. He was in good spirits when they went to the beach that afternoon. This was the only day that they went to the beach in the afternoon. Craig's Dad now thinks that was they should have done this more often. The temperature and afternoon sunshine were just about perfect for enjoying the beach. It was a lot nicer than the pool which was only really good on very hot days.


Craig spent most of his time sitting at the water's edge playing with the sand but he did go in the water after Craig's Dad dragged him in.... purely in the interest of Craig having fun, of course.


The next morning, after breakfast Craig and his parents waited in the lobby before taking a bus to the airport. Craig seemed to like these soft toys in the lobby.


Touching soft toys is always better than looking at them.


Another little boy came over to play but Craig backed away very quickly creating an impasse that was never resolved.


back in Taipei a few hours later, Craig's parents were both a bit sad about the holiday ending but Craig seemed to be super-happy to be home. Even doing something as boring as buying nappies was heaps of fun for him. We'll never know why?

Cool Dinner Venue

Since the schedule for the next day was no different to the other days no pictures were taken of Craig's outdoor activities. After his afternoon splash/swim in the pool, Craig had plenty of fun in the bath back in the room.


In the late afternoon, they returned to the overly expensive cafe on the beach for dinner.


The only problem with the cafe was the lack of seating that would allow Craig's parents to tie Craig into his seat. He soon became restless.


The scene in front on the peace was very, very peaceful. The last jetski was being brought in for the day.


And, the last tourists were hanging around near the water's edge watching the sunset.


It's hard to find quiet spots like this in Taiwan.


However, Craig didn't even get close to finishing his dinner. The potential freedom to run around was too tempting.


He spent his time walking around while his boring old parents tried to enjoy a relaxing meal.

Relaxed Living

Craig's Dad must have forgotten to take photos on the second full day of their beachside holiday. The only picture he has of Craig shows the boy relaxing in the sofa chair in the room.


On the next day, Craig and his parents followed their now usual routine which saw them arrive on the beach at the hottest time of day. The advantage of that was that the beach was as close to deserted as it gets all day. Well, at least at the end of the beach that Craig's Dad liked.


There was no-one up the end of the beach where Craig and his parents had put their towels and stuff.


But, Craig needed to be covered in sunscreen lotion. Fortunately, he was quite patient about that.


He stayed close to his Mum while she applied the lotion all over.


On this day, they came back to the beach at lunchtime to eat at an outdoor cafe that belongs to the Caesar Park Hotel.


It's a really nice spot but a bit hot for lunch. (And a bit expensive.)


Once again, Craig and his Dad cooled off in the beautiful pool back at the Howard in the afternoon. They had lots of fun there, as they did every day.

Happy Craig and a Quiet Day in Kenting

During the holiday in Kenting, Craig's routine was just about the same every day. He would wake up around 8:30 - 9:00am and after breakfast he would be on the beach by about 10:00am.


Craig's Dad is actually crouching down in this picture. Craig hasn't been taken out into deep water yet. The water was lovely and cool in the middle of the day.


When walking back to the hotel room, Craig surprised his parents by insisting on helping to carry his bucket and toys.


In the afternoon, Craig was back in the pool for a couple of hours again. This time he found two other little boys to play with. They managed to stand still just long enough for Craig's Dad to take a picture when Craig was leaving.


Dinner that night was at Craig's Dad's favourite place in Kenting, Casa de Margarita.

The management has a very sensible dress rule posted at the entrance.


After dinner, during the walk back to the hotel, Craig insisted on checking on the strength of the rope that was used to block-off a section of the car park.


Since it was still early, Craig went to explore the hotel a little bit.


The view of the pool from upstairs was actually quite nice.


But Craig had been out in the sun quite a lot that day so sleep came early to the little boy in the "Trainee Millionaire" t-shirt.

A Happy Place or Back to Kenting Again

After spending just one day at home, Craig and his parents started out on a trip to beautiful Kenting. They've been there before as described here, and here.

While waiting for their slightly delayed flight at Songshan Airport, Craig played very happily in a children's play area.


It was a very good start to the trip.


Craig didn't even notice the half-hour flight delay and was quite disappointed when Craig's Dad pulled him out of the play area to board the plane.


Fortunately, it is a short flight to Hengchun Airport. Just as fortunately, Craig decided to have an early afternoon nap. Craig's Dad has just realised that there seems to be a lot of pictures of Craig asleep in different hotel beds throughout this blog.


The afternoon was spent splashing about in the Howard Beach Resort Kenting's (that the hotel's full name) wonderful pool.


Craig had a great time splashing about for almost two hours there.


Dinner was at a lounge bar where the chef had to be woken up to begin cooking. That was memorable because Craig was already hungry when they walked into the place. So, the extra wait was not appreciated. All was well once the food arrived.


Back in the hotel room, Craig enjoyed a banana as a pre-bedtime snack.


And he also liked the bath. It was great for sitting in and splashing as much as his little arms would allow.

Home For a Day

Craig seemed to be relieved to be back at home in Taipei. He probably thought that it meant he wouldn't have to get on another airplane for a while. Or, maybe it was just the familiarity of his favourite snacks like ball cakes.


Craig's Mum had to teach one of her math students on the only morning that she had at home. As soon as the lesson was finished Craig came in to help.


It wasn't clear what he wanted to help with. Perhaps he wants to be his Mum's new student.


He still had plenty of tasks for his parents to perform for him. Like helping out when the pen seemed to have run out of ink.


In fact, he was also a little bit sleep deprived after all the flying he'd done the day before but at least he could sleep it off in his own bed.