I had to get up well before sunrise the next day to meet with an old friend who was also playing client role on this trip at the airport. He, along with his bandmates flew in from San Fran to play a few gigs in Taiwan and that was why I was there, to document their shows and their tour around Taiwan.
It was an expected 6 hours drive down south to Kenting, the very most southern part of Taiwan for their first show. The drive down was alright, I reckon cos we were all sleeping most of the time. We made a stop halfway through for late lunch and toilet break, and the rest stop took me by complete surprise! It's not like how our NKVE's rest stop is at all, it felt like we were inside a mall.
The rest of the journey was pretty alright, the highways in Taiwan are pretty damn good I have to say. Clean and at most part it is elevated, so scenery ain't too shabby either. Then at one point, there was slight traffic and naturally we all wanted to know why, and well, sad to say on our first day in Taiwan, we saw a dead body! Yikes! That's right. I couldn't bring myself to look at it though, turned my head away but looked out for the car which threw the victim onto the road. It was pretty numbing for all of us, I think it was all our first time seeing a dead body on the road. For some reason, the police didn't cover the body, I sure hope it's cos they didn't have body bags not just cause they don't cover them in Taiwan, because we did see the policemen laying out cones and measuring distances. I thought the first thing one would do is to cover up the body. Anyway....... let's move on from morbidness.
It felt like the WHOLE of Taiwan was under a spell of grey that weekend. Seriously, the clouds from Taiwan right up to Kenting looked all grey the whole way through. I imagine that's what it must feel like being in London? Heh. Our hotel in Kenting was pretty decent, though we spent like an hour just to get to our hotel because of the traffic. Mind you, that very weekend, the whole of Taiwan was on a break, Spring Break that is. I swear it felt like the whole of Taiwan was in Kenting that weekend. They had rave parties, foam parties and all sorts of parties. Streets were packed to the brim!!
Street food was everywhere! There were beer girls even! I kinda imagine it to be like Cancun/Miami spring break only this is in Taiwan. Flashy cars, scantily clad girls. You name it, they had it! It was kind of an experience for me, specially when I had no expectations of Taiwan. But wow, Kenting sure did take me by pleasant surprise!
We went to Spring Scream right after we checked-in the hotel cos the boys were playing that night itself. Spring Scream is an annual indie music festival in Kenting, Taiwan. It's usually a weekend event, but this year it seems that performances even started as early as Wednesday.
It's a by the seaside event, nestled in the trees. Some would call it a hippie like event, I call it a perfect place for an event.
It wasn't too big, it felt intimate and somewhat just right.
There's also a campsite for those who didn't want to pay for the hotels that weekend (three times the price that weekend). I remember seeing a guy in just a loin cloth, I kid you not, a loin cloth. I guess you could call it a hippie like fest. Heh.
Of course the best part is discovering new music!! The girls on the left are known as 依錚依靜 (Yi-Cheng Yi-Ching), they're identical twins. Check them out here! Then there was this other female vocalist who really drew me in, she goes by the name of Frandé. Also this other band, which somewhat had a glam/pop/rock vibe, I don't know what genre it is lah ok, but their tunes were catchy and that's Red Flower. If you have the time and don't mind some Mandarin tunes, make sure you give them a listen alright? Oh and not forgetting my friend's band of course!! Hah! Dream Rush! An American band singing Mandarin songs, what the what?! Yea, so the vocalist is Singaporean, guitarist is Malaysian, drummer is from Hong Kong and the bassist and other guitarist are Americans, talk about an international band eh?
And that my friends, is a wrap up of my weekend at Spring Scream, Kenting!
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