Doing Absolutely Nothing In Kenting
"3500NT and I'd take you to Kenting," a man said as he approached us. We had just stepped out of the Kaoshiung train station, luggage in hand, completely worn out, our Swedish companions carrying packed-to-the-brim backpacks—prime targets for an idle driver. Cigarette in hand, he pushed, "the bus would only be slightly cheaper, considering that there’s five of you, and it would take a couple hours longer." It didn’t take us long to surrender our address. "That is a lot further than the main station. I’d have to charge you 4000NT.” With our carry-ons seemingly getting heavier by the minute, we were clearly at his mercy. Times like these you let go and put your faith in humanity.
We arrived at Hotel de Plus in the late afternoon. The sound of the wind deafening, our hair dancing in all directions. Ocean waves slammed violently to shore with an imposing smell of sea salt. Despite all that, it felt calming. We had arrived at what seemed like an untainted place where nature prevail and men, respectful of his mother.
The facade of Hotel de Plus littered with windows of varying sizes and positions, granting its inhabitants views of the ocean.
There is little commerce on the hotel’s mountainous surroundings except for a 'convenience' store (someone’s home) with sparse supplies. We stocked up on Taiwanese instant noodles and took the liberty to ignore the expiry dates.
At nightfall, the total darkness in the vicinity brought out the brightest of what seemed like a thousand stars. Sitting outside, everything else had faded and I remembered just how small we truly are.
Breakfast: deviled eggs, fresh bread and fruits, washed down with Calpis and some freshly dripped coffee.
Breakfast conversations on Swedish and Singaporean oddball news, culture and traditions
The owner of Hotel de Plus on the space and Kenting.
"I am a movie art director. Sometimes, when I am filming, I stay in other countries. I enjoy the local culture and finding cool things. When I come back to my hotel, I stay with my family and my dogs. I look around and see what can be improved. The environment, field, rooms, lobby, restaurant. I fix the broken things, organise the service staff and renew the decoration. We always try to think new ideas, fun events and cool artist to collaborate with. I spend most of my time looking for good ideas and clever design to make my film and hotel more interesting."
"We are four friends who met while filming. When we make movies, we need to find a lot of furniture and decoration that are hard to find in Taiwan. We also build a lot scenes and the furniture are thrown away after filming. We then decided to build a stylish building that would maintain the furniture forever. We started by looking for a nice spot. We designed the building with our sense of beauty.
These people make Hotel de Plus possible: the artistic director, furniture designer, interior designer, photographers, graphic designer, musicians, creative cuisine chef, dessert king, bartender, artists, craftsmen, storyteller, wood experts, cleaning ninjas and poets."
"What we want is to create a surprisingly feeling. More than that, we try to be friendly, generous, tolerant. We enjoy smart humour. We combine our personality with soulful kitchen meals, friendly service, casual space and beautiful landscape as we want guests to feel close to mother nature and enjoy its beauty."
"For long-term residents, Kenting is a paradise. People seldom judge you by how much money you make or what you wear. You can be yourself. Over time, you will start to care about the things that you use, and generate less garbage. You don't waste resources and truly love the people around you who become family.
It can also be a surfer's paradise. People hang by the beach, go to the night market, witness unique plants and animals, go snorkeling or scuba-diving. Anyone here are enjoy wide views without tall buildings. At night, simply look up the sky to see the stars, or watch the beautiful sunrise and sunset. Go to the mountains, go bird watching, or visit an aboriginal village. There is a great variety of landscape and ecology, from the coast to the mountains, waterfalls, stalactite caves, coral reefs, coastal desert, coastal forests, tropical fish, and wild animals."
"The goat reggae bar in Hengchun always have live music and independent bands playing.
Saturday flea market in Hengchun does donations for stray dogs.
Do local eco tours, take a walk in old coral land or unique nature area.
Watch Migrating Birds in action in Manzhou county."
"When I stay at our hotel, I always meet interesting people and we become new friends. We can chat and listen to their story, We talk about movies, music, art, and the things we like. Some will end up working with us on new projects. We always welcome new ideas."
