Kaohsiung

Parade

Had a three day weekend at the end of February and decided to take the opportunity to see more of the island. Heading down south to Kaohsiung, took the afternoon train, arriving at night. Directions given to us were straight from a beginners’ English book:

“When you exit the Kaiyuan MRT station, turn right and walk a couple of blocks. Turn left, and walk one block, then turn right and walk until you see the hostel on your right hand side.”

Google Maps didn’t give any sound advice either, so we thought we’d just wing it. When we got to Kaiyuan Station, there were several exits. We took the one suggested by Google. We walked and walked and walked and found a huge night market (turned out to be the most famous night market in Kaohsiung). Decided to turn around and try a different direction, but couldn’t decipher what was considered “a block.”

An older man saw our confusion, took us into his house, and allowed us to use the phone. The hostel owner agreed to pick us up at Dream Mall—South East Asia’s biggest mall, supposedly. We were surprised to find an American behind the wheel and mentioned that perhaps, since he speaks English and all, should add some nouns and adjectives to the directions, such as “walk towards the GIANT FERRIS WHEEL of Dream Mall!”

After getting settled into the hostel we set out trying to find food and had to walk back to the night market, over a mile away. Ate pizza and enjoyed ice cream served in plastic pink toilet bowls. Crashed when we got back, only to be awoken by a swarm of mosquitoes that had been feasting on Matt. To the hostel owner’s credit, he went out to get us mosquito repellent and coils, but his dogs had separation issues and howled throughout the night.

Got up the next morning and hit Mr. Donut at Dream Mall then to Lotus Pond, which can only be described as a temple theme park. Gaudy rules here. But it is a nice few miles’ walk around the pond. We stopped for lunch at a pizza place where we ate duck pizza and for desert, chocolate banana pizza topped with cheese (imagine our surprise). Headed to Dream Mall for some pork cutlet where we were surrounded by people wearing plastic gloves while eating whole chickens or ham hocks. Later ventured up to try out the Dream Mall Ferris Wheel, which is really small and expensive so instead took photos with a random Teddy Roosevelt statue (resembling Robin Williams) tucked away in a corner.

Sunday, headed to an island just off the harbor of Kaohsiung. The weather was warm, and the tourists were flocking. Walked up the mountain to the lighthouse and the remnants of a fort where we were warned against “Striding” then contemplated swimming at the beach, but couldn’t bring ourselves to take off our shoes on the littered beach, let alone swim in the black water.

Got a frozen banana for lunch, sat down to enjoy the Vietnamese Irish coffee only to be kicked off of the chairs to make room for a parade. Was more interested in the people bowing before the procession and police pulling them back, rather than the actual parade. Spent the rest of the evening enjoying downtown Kaoshiung. Caught the very late train back to Changhua and then a taxi to Hemei.