Kaohsiung, day 2

I intended to wake up at 8:30am, but still ended up sleeping in until 10:30. Well thats my idea of sleeping in, heh. Once everyone was wakey wakey, we went to Cijin island （旗津） via ferry. Cost, a mere $15 ($12 with student rate). Once we got there, we were all hungry. So we headed to the seafood market (Fisherman's Wharf) which is just a short walk away. We ate lunch at one of the famous seafood restaurants along the street. Most of the restaurants just have a long shelf of ice lined with freshly caught fish and shellfish. You just pick what you want out front, then head in and seat yourself as they cook it for you. I added some deep fried oysters which happen to be the favorite of the table in my opinion :). Afterwards we rented 2 bikes and a 4 seater bike/car aka a flintstone-mobile LOL. We rode up and down the shore and ate some ice cream floats at a store next to the beach. We rented it the bikes for two hours, and before we knew it, it as time to turn back. So we headed back into town to return them. Afterwards we immediately went to a shaved ice place for some R&R and dessert. To our surprise, every shaved ice place was crowded as it was a hot day. Once we found a seat and enjoyed our snow ice, we headed back to the 85 building/condo to pick up our stuff and head to the bullet-train station (高鐵).

Kaohsiung

Today I went to Kaohsiung with Yuki, Lucy and friends (Christine, Grace, Hatuyen). We got there around 12pm and immediately checked in and ate at a local Thai restaurant. It's called Thai Town. There are several in Taipei, but I never got the chance to eat there. Heard that it was good, and it was in fact pretty good. The thai chicken and these Thai pancakes were very Thai flavored! basically spicy, sweet, sour and lemongrassy flavored at the same time. I never seen these fried Thai pancakes before, except in Taiwan, so maybe it's a Taiwan/Thai fusion creation. Never the less, crispy and flavorful. The bill will run a little high, but overall very enjoyable. Afterwards we went to the Kaohsiung famous Dream Mall. It's the only large mall in Kaohsiung, but it's typical of any large mall in Taiwan. Large, lots of name brand stores, great architecture. Nice place to hang around, enjoy the A/C, and walk around. Shopping though, I can stay in Taipei and get it done. Fro Dinner we went to the local night market. RuiFeng Night Market (瑞豐夜市)! There was tons of unique food I have never seen in Taipei like battered and deep fried king oyster mushrooms, which I tried last time I was here. Still love them. But I was also introduced to Kaohsiungs version of the coffin bread, deep fried cheese dumplings, thai style boneless chicken steak, spicy fried boneless chicken on a stick, stuffed chicken legs, hot dog wrapped in bread wrapped in a chicken, HK style baked rice and last but not least, deep fried giant squid arms. The night market was so crowded it's like it has it's own health measure. If you eat too much and your too fat, you can't fit through the crowds to get food. Once you go on a diet, you'll be thin enough to fit through, just to get fat again. It's a vicious cycle haha! Word of help for other visitors, while there, they sell 2 day unlimited MRT passes for $230NT each. I also finally used up my last shot on the agfa 400 35mm roll so I can finally get it processed. Time to try out the Ilford Delta Pro 3200 roll. I also didn't bring my digital, so no photos :(.

Kaohsiung, part 2

On Sunday we headed over to the Zuoying Lotus pond. Well actually it wasn't sunday, but I forgot the order I visited it since I'm writing this on Tuesday. The lotus pond was a cool sight to see. There are all these temples along the water with elaborate animal and buddha statues. One really really big buddha. A pair of animals, tiger and dragon, large enough to for you to walk through. If your visiting Kaohsiung, this is a definite stop. And while your using the MRT trains, stop by some of the famous stations that exibit art. Like the dome of lights at the Formosa Blvd station and the Central Park station courtyard.
While talking to some of the other people we met at our hostel, they suggested Shousan mountain (壽山). This mountain is known to have many macaque monkeys that are very familiar with humans and get very close. They even heckle with tourists for food. So keep your wallets and food close and secure. We got to the mountain and found it to be much more unpaved and steeper than we thought. Towards the peek, it was pretty much climbing, not hiking. Worst of all, we didn't see any monkeys, which was the whole point. Perhaps we got the wrong trail.
This trail was very narrow, dangerous, steep and we only saw a few people along the way. Not very easy going and touristy. We climbed it for about 2 hours and I was sweating buckets. After getting back down the mountain, we headed over to the Kaohsiung fisherman's warf for lunch. They have alot of nice and reasonable priced restaurants along the waterfront. We chose a greek restaurant since it was the first one open at that late of a lunch hour. After that, we headed over to the Former British Consulate at Takao. It too, like the lighthouse, has a great view of the harbour, but from the opposite side. It's apparently a very popular place to be as it was busy with visiters and mainland China tour groups. There's a large cafe in the courtyard out back and offers a stunning view. We stayed there to watch the sunset over the pacific ocean (or South China Sea). And with the sunset, I conclude this day's blog. See you next time.

Kaohsiung

So this weekend I headed down to Kaohsiung. I took the Taiwan High Speed Rail (高铁) to Hsinchu to meet up with Lucy, Hatuyen and Kurt, then head down to Kaohsiung. In total the ride is about 2 hours. Taipei to Kaohsiung is almost the entire length of the island. But it is the full length of the rail from the first stop (Taipei) to the last (Kaohsiung). Tickets were kind of expensive, by Taiwan standards, at $3000 NTD round trip. On our first day there, we went to Cihou beach. There were many bodyboarders there. I wonder if the waves are big enough to surf in the early morning hours. Kaohsiung also has a ferry to carry you accross the harbour. It's a nice ride for only $15 NTD. We also stopped by the lighthouse. Up in the hills and on the edge of a cliff, it has an excellent view of the city. After that we went to the famous Liuhe night market. It was definitly big, but most of the stalls served the same food. Most the stalls were food and there are limited store fronts and not many clothing merchants. It's one long and wide street. So overall not that great compared to what I get around here in Taipei. It does have one redeaming factor. They have breaded and fried King Oyster Mushroom (杏鮑菇). So it's crispy on the outside like fried chicken. The in 杏鮑菇 Taipei is still good but the oil just heats it up, it doesn't have that cripy skin that breading gives. After the night market we headed to Tuntex sky tower observation deck. Another disappointment. You can't go outside, the windows were dirty and there isn't much to see other than the view. We ended the evening with a boat ride down the love river. It's a nice slow 30 seat boat ride down the river illuminated by riverside cafes and lights on bridges. It's a relaxing boat ride with a speaking tour guide. So it's not a romantic boat ride as the "Love" river would imply. But the riverside bars, cafes, dining spots would be better for a more personnal time between friends than a 30 seat boat ride. See you Sunday.