Most Filipinos visiting Taiwan would instinctively opt for Taipei as their sole destination. That’s quite practical considering most budget airlines only fly to the capital city. Besides, there’s enough to see and do in Taipei not even five full nights there would be perfectly enough.
I visited Taiwan for the first time in August of 2017, and spent an entire week in Taipei. To say I had so much fun (under the sun, literally) would be an understatement.
For my second visit though, I thought I’d go somewhere I have yet to see. And so I explored down south.
The decision to visit Kaohsiung — instead of spending all of my twelve-day holiday exclusively in Taipei — proved to be a great one.
While it may be true that it’s less bustling (less vibrant, if you will) than its more popular brother Taipei, KH showed me wonders I absolutely enjoyed.
The Love River was a perfect spot to just sit and breathe the cool winter breeze on my first night in the city.
For day 2, I had the most relaxing time and an opportunity to witness a stunning sunset on Ciji Island. Biking around the beautiful place while admiring the breathtaking view of the beach felt like a dream.
Seeing pictures of the Lotus Lake while planning my itinerary got me really excited, and the lovely spot in Zouying district certainly didn’t disappoint. The Dragon & Tiger Pagodas, the enormous statue of the God of War, and the lake itself made for a refreshing evening stroll.
Day 4 was a side trip to Tainan – Taiwan’s oldest city. Almost every person I talked to about my plan of spending a day there only had good things to say about the quaint, historic destination.
True enough, Tainan felt and looked nothing like Taipei or Kaohsiung. There was a more pronounced atmosphere of culture and history that was readily noticeable as soon as I got off the train. There was likewise quite a number of elderlies and foreigners (Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indonesians) resting in Tainan Park. One could easily tell that life there is a lot simpler and a bit less fast-paced.
One spot worth mentioning is the famous Anping Old Street, where Tainan’s most festive food and shopping stalls were on a league of its own. There were a handful of Chinese temples all around, too. I had a fantastic time just getting lost in the huge busy crowd and eating to my heart’s content. Tainan’s fried stinky tofu was insanely good!
My last full day started a little late as I wasn’t up until 1:30 PM (dozed off for ten hours!). After grabbing lunch at a Japanese fastfood, I went on to spend the afternoon at the Pier 2 Art Center. The artistic outdoor installations made what used to be an abandoned warehouse station a unique art park. From there, I took the light rail to Dream Mall where I had dinner, then capped the evening at Lihue Night Market for dinner – round two (haha).
Of course no day in any Taiwanese city is complete without a trip to the night market, so you bet I never missed a visit to Ruifeng or Lihue at the end of each day. There were even days I visited both! I shall be dreaming of the unbelievably cheap xiao long bao, savory fried rice, sticky fish nuggets noodle soup, and the smoky takoyaki when I’m back home.
Now on the bullet train on my way back to Taipei, taking with me memories of five wonderful days in Kaoshiung City.
Thank you, KH. I shall be back one day.
Robbie's Random Ramblings 