During my biannualish summer escape from Australia’s deathly heatwaves (only to return to one… 🙄), I had the chance to visit the wonderful island country of Taiwan.
Aware of my capable skills of planning itineraries (see Japan 2016), my mum asked me to plan this family trip. While it's great that mum had faith in me, I thought it was best for us (read: my parents) to just join a guided tour with the folks at Vietravel. This way, I wouldn't be burdened with their enjoyment or fitness... Furthermore, we've gone through them for many tours thus far, so why stop now. So join me over six days and five nights, as we begin my first ever Taiwan trip - starting with our two nights in Kaohsiung.
Cue some crappy air travel and we finally found ourselves in the ever developing port city. Situated in the southern regions of Taiwan, it is the third most populous city and offers a diverse range of touristic wonders. I say repeatedly, and will continue to say, I barely scratched the surface of each and every place I visited. What I cover is only a fraction of what's available and desires many return trips.
Having arrived from Vietnam, the difference in countries when stepping out into Taiwan was night and day. Skies were... less grey, people followed proper road etiquette (you can actually hear sounds of cars and not just horns), streets were cleaner... it goes on. To me, Taiwan felt like a refined version of Vietnam. Don't get me wrong though, Vietnam's still great (Taiwan #1 tho).
Though we had a tour guide from Vietnam, we were also accompanied by another guide – a local who knew both Chinese and Vietnamese, whose vast knowledge about each great place and various ins and outs made the trip more authentic.
Travelling around in our large coach, fitted with Wi-Fi, we reached our first attraction: Love River (愛河). Bringing it back to the traffic culture for a bit, I just have to gush about the equal sharing of scooter/bikes and automobiles - it's fantastic! hint hint Vietnam
Coming back to the river, it wasn't anything spectacular. The river itself and the sights along it were so uninteresting it had me thinking that the River Torrens wasn't so bad. More importantly, my feelings of love... they remained the same, if not worse off. What a gip
After that brisk visit, we stopped by our accommodation at the surprisingly appreciable City Suites Hotel. As it had been so long since I stayed in a hotel room, I could've passed as a country bumpkin given how giddy my reaction to seeing our room was (it was pretty nice). And dearest breakfast buffets, how I’ve missed you so.
As fascinated as I was with my suite, I was more intrigued by where this hotel complex was found. Right by a port, the whole pier district was sprawling with art in a variety of forms. The area it encompassed was quite vast and the art itself was amazing (more so the painted murals). But I'm getting ahead of myself here. I wouldn't come to explore the place until later in the night. For now, it was a short break to "rest" before dinner pfft like I need that. Instead, I opted to get a sneak peak into what was to come.
Notice the untethered trams? Completely battery powered. Freakin' awesome
Thanks to the lost time in transit, the day zipped by and dinnertime was right at our doorsteps. Over this series of entries, I generally won’t shed much light on my mealtime experiences. Mainly because I feel as though the mass-produced banquets primarily offered generic meals and aren’t entirely representative of what a meal might be for my solo travels. That... and I chowed down without giving it a second thought. Generally, the meals were satisfactory and ranged from fantastic to slightly craptastic.
Post dinner, we visited the Liuhe Night Market (六合夜市), because who can deny more foood. This market wasn’t big or anything, but you were definitely spoilt for choice to stave off any nightly cravings. The short stretch of road was lined by a sea of stalls on each side, and a fair bit of foot traffic coming through it. Though it's not entirely a market for food, as some stalls offered souvenirs or your standard fare of items.
yeah! I love Tokyo, Taiwan
Savouring the market scene, we slowly toured down each side and carefully considered what worthy delicacy would grace the spare space I left for it. From fragrant smells charming you in to pungent spells repulsing you away. Fresh produce to fried abuse. There was so much choice, and you know how I am with so much choice.
Of course, I went with the option steeped in high cholesterol and what resulted was this delicious “hot dog” (大腸包小腸 lit. translated to small sausage in big sausage). Acting as the bun was a sticky rice sausage, which was cut to fit the delicious Chinese sausage. Then came the toppings. I went for the complete package of: ginger, green onions, garlic and a special soy sauce. I loved it.
As I mentioned before, there was a pungent smell amidst the amazing aromas. This belonged to none other than the “stinky" tofu. Frankly, the people who repulse at the smell are weak. It isn’t that bad, addicting even. At this certain stall, there were two types: thin fry-like sticks in a cup and cubed pieces in a small bowl. While the tofu fries had a dipping sauce, the blocks were doused in sauce and crammed with toppings. Okay... onto the taste. For starters, the smell doesn’t reflect upon its flavour in any way. However, that doesn't disregard its mediocrity. They were like low budget chips; its dry texture had me dehydrated and its flavour was meh.
soz, lady
Needing a drink to wash it all down, it was an obvious choice to go for some of that OG bubble tea. Again, choice wasn't an issue, not with dozens of shops dotted around the market. However, we opted for 50嵐(Lan), as recommended by our local guide. Now, the guide had said that the bubz in Taiwan aren’t that sweet and allow for the aroma of tea to come through more. That said, I still had high hopes for the desirable drink. I mean we’re talking about the origins of bubble tea here, how can I not? And of course, I was let down. Don't get me wrong, it’s still good… it just needed more of that diabetes factor.
Liuhe marked the conclusion of our first night in Taiwan. That is… going by the tour’s schedule. Going by my schedule, the night was still young. Emptier than my bank account, the streets were more vacant than a rundown motel. Even during the day, I found the area to be sparsely populated. With my brother, we wandered on and on throughout the night. Surprisingly, we managed to cover a lot of distance in an incredibly short amount of time; it was uncanny how much we discovered in those couple of hours. Being out there, admiring the sights and scenes in peace and quiet, I couldn’t ask for any more.
Note that I did say that the district was bustling with art, but the lighting conditions sucked and a lot of the art didn't warrant a picture or existence, if we're being honest.
Amazing legibility. Why can’t our street signs be like that?
ahem... umm yeah... "art"
After a long night of joyous discovery, I returned to my room to bask in the wonders of Taiwan’s internet. Getting (down)speeds at least fifty times faster than I do here, you bet I was getting my money’s worth.
It’s only been half a day, but I was already in love with Taiwan. Thank you for reading and join me next time for Part 2 of this Kaohsiung leg.