Kaohsiung 高雄, Taiwan Trip (Day 1)

17th November 2014, Monday

Christmas Season in Changi Airport

Yeah..going Taiwan for the 2nd time and this time going to be a long 16 days journey. And this time round, had booked the air tickets after quitting my new job at a super crappy company (don't even know why they can survive for so long). Had decided to go along with Jetstar airline as they were having sales on the air tickets, $361 for a round trip to Taiwan. The departure time was 1.15 am but had received a SMS from the airline company, saying the flight had been delayed until 4.15 am due to operational requirements (i think this is pretty common for Jetstar airline). But i still went to the airport at around 9 plus as it will be too late for my dad to drive me there anyway.

Once i reached the airport, i went up to KFC on the 2nd level in T1 and waited for my friend. She came around 10 plus and we just sat there and waited for the check-in time. I even got a call from Jetstar staff, telling me there is a delay on the flight and asked me whether wants to change my flight to a later flight which is at around 7 plus in the morning. We waited from KFC until another restaurant called Ruyi downstairs, in the end, my friend just lied on the chairs and tried to take a nap....hahhaa...i was just loitering around to pass time. Waited until 2.30am, which was 2 hours before the fight, there is still no check-in counter number displayed on the board. Told my friend to wake up and go see the counters row just in case as there should be display on the counter number by now. Noticed there were already people queuing when we reached the counter and i also overheard the counters were already opened earlier and a lot of people had already checked in. There were a group of gals in front of us, saying that they tried checking in using the self check-in machines, the system had prompted them that the flight had already left....gave them a fright...LOL.....

HSR Train Tickets to Zuoying

And so, we checked in our luggage and went ahead to the gate. It was a long walk to the gate, as usual, so we just took our time to walk to the gate...heheehe...Finally, we were able to fly off to Taiwan!! The flight journey took us around 4 hours plus and we just tried to sleep on the plane (behind us were 2 younger kids, 1 of them keep crying once she was awake and the other 1 was just making whining sounds), we reached Taoyuan International Airport at around 8 am plus or later. Once landed, we found our way to take the bus to the high speed rail station. It was at the lower level and there were different counters to buy bus tickets to different location. Need to see the schedule and buy the tickets from the correct counter, we went to the wrong counter at first..hehehe....So we bought our bus tickets to the HSR station, which costs NT$30 each and the ride was around 15 mins or so. It was raining too in Taoyuan and feeling cold. We went in to buy our train tickets to Kaohsiung (Zuoying) first, NT$1335 each as it was the last station. After getting the tickets, we went to get mcd for breakfast as there is still some time (hungry from the flight too).

Zuoying Metro Station

We waited for around 15 mins and had our hashbrowns while waiting, the train came and we boarded. The seats space was spacious, we even can squeeze our luggage in with no problem. We had our breakfast once the train moved out, the pancakes i bought was cold cold and hard...not nice to eat...sadz...My friend slept on the train when i just looked at the window...It was about noon time when we reach Zuoying and once we came out from the gate, there were many cab drivers asking whether we are going to Kending. I told them no, we are going to Kaohsiung city. Funny, 1 cab driver even told us to go Kending and stay there and not to go Kaohsiung city as there is nothing to do there and was trying to get us to change to go Kending instead. Anyway i just brushed them away and went to the visitors information counter to ask on how we can get to our hotel. So we made our way down to the metro station and bought our single journey coins (still the same as the first time i went taipei)...

Glass Art on the ceiling of Dome

We took the metro until Formosa Boulevard Station and alighted, the Dome of Light is in this station. This station is the interchange station between the 2 metro lines (red and orange lines) and in the center of the station, there are colorful glasses built with art designs. It was pretty but the station is very hot and we are already sweating..hehee...so we just went up to the streets after asking the security guard on the hotel direction. And then, we just pulled our luggage and tried to find our hotel on the street, luckily is just a straight road before i saw the hotel signboard ahead. The hotel is quite small, and our room wasn't ready when we arrived. The lady was telling us maybe need another 15 or 20 mins to get it ready. So we rested in the lobby for awhile and when we had decided to leave our luggage and go out first, the staff told us our room is ready. So we went up to our room instead. The room was not very big but somehow the toilet looked bigger than the room itself., even have a bathroom. i even found a condom pack provided on the table...kekeke....Then we just rested in the room, until we feel like going out again..We went down and had turned into a small road near the hotel, noticed there were 2 stalls, 1 selling rice and 1 selling red tea milk.

Red Tea Milk Shop

We bought food at the rice stall, had braised pork rice, mee suan and kang kong dish. It was nice but i think the stall is famous for their herbal soups. Later the stall owner came and saw us, she chatted with us, asking where we are from and was talking to me in Mandarian initially, then later she tried to speak with us in English. She told us Singapore is a nice country and she had actually stayed 2 years there. And she also recommended us places to go in Kaohsiung, weird, she also recommended us to go Kending...kekekee....We also saw people keep coming to the other stall to buy red tea milk and is in big bottles. So we decided to buy a cup and tried it, we thanked the lady boss for the food and went to buy the tea. So funny, my friend tried to buy the drink, the stall staff don't understand her, so she called me for help....heheee...The staff was asking me what language was my friend talking, i told her English lor...hahaa. So i got her a cup of red tea milk (red tea with fresh milk) and a piah. I don't normally drink tea, but this tea was nice to drink (not bitter too). We both like it. The staff tried to ask my friend whether was the tea nice when we were about to leave but she asked in Mandarin...hahaha...

Love River

After the lunch, i wanted to go to Lotus Pond but ended up in Love River, which is the main river of Kaohsiung. We had to walk a distance from the metro before we can see the river. There was a group of students doing sailing in the river too, we didn't take the cruise there. We just walked along the river and enjoyed the breeze, looking at people around. It was very peaceful and calm...but still can hear the little vans going around broadcasting for voting supports for their politics candidates as it was Taiwan's election period now (Voting day was on 29/11/2014). There were big groups of supporters for each individual candidate and they are recognized by the area and their number. Anyway, this was what we been seeing for the rest of the days until 29/11. Passed by District Court, Kaohsiung Film Archive (which was closed on Monday), a church and a kindergarten. Walked over to Kaohsiung bridge too. Bought a bamboo rice to try too. So this is how we spent our afternoon, as the day ended quite early, the sun knocked off at around 4 plus and by 5 plus,  the sky was already dark (like our 7 pm). We went Carrerfour to shop for awhile too, can even try on the food before buying. Bought a packet of quail eggs for my friend to try, she doesn't like it....kekeke...Then later we made our way to the hotel (where we got lost on the streets on the way back to the metro station too....kekeke), where i checked with the staff on whether Liu He Night Market was opened today. Then we went up to use the toilet first and rested our feet (sore already from walking), then we walked to Lu He Night Market, which was just at the street behind the hotel.

Famous Papaya Milk Stall

First stall we saw was the fried giant sotong, which was a recommended food and as we walked, there was stalls for smelly tofu and i asked my friend whether she smelled it, as she was not aware of this snack when she was in HK previously. But she said she got nose block, so cannot smell anything (she did managed to smell it on the 3rd day when we went back to the market)....hahaha....Then as we walked further in, there were multiple stalls selling seafood...oysters, lobsters, crabs, clams, etc...and you get to pick the seafood and they will be cooked by using stirred-fried or bbq....they all smell nice and the seafood are big too!! The oysters were really big, even the octopus legs, i don't see that big in SG.We had a whole lobster and a skewer of scallops (6) for NT$1300. Really fresh...nice to eat...Then we walked further down the street, my friend bought a white corn from a stall (only 1 stall selling corns, both yellow and white and alot of people buying too). The cost of the corn was by the weight of the corn, so if you choose a heavy corn, it will cost a bit more. The minimum price was around NT$30. My friend got hers for NT$40, but at least she said it wasn't bad (she still preferred her own PH corn)...hohooho....Then we bought fried chicken (which i don't find it really nice) and fried mushroom (which is really nice). We came across a stall selling papaya milk and there were alot of people queuing for it. And i noticed there were also alot of autographs on the stall signboard. I remembered reading papaya milk was one of the must try food online, so i told my friend to buy it too. I wanted to get mango milk but it wasn't available, so i got 2 papaya milk instead. It was very milky at first, but later it was nice to drink. 1 cup is only NT$50, still cheaper than our fruit juice here. The market was like only 2 streets long as this is one of the small night markets around Kaohsiung.

Doggie doing Yoga

After all the food, we made our way back to the hotel. Saw a pet shop with some funny on the display, so stayed to look at them for a while. The puppies were very cute, one of the doggies even did yoga for us to see..had a good laugh on it. It was bending its head upwards and trying to bite his tail....super funny..it did touched his tail in the end. After the good laugh, we went back to the hotel to rest (had a super long and tired day). And noticed why the toilet looked bigger cos there wasn't a curtain or glass door for the shower/bathtub. So the toilet ended up flooded after our showers...hahhaa...


Hotel Stayed: Holiday Hotel

Places Visited:
Dome of Light
Love River
Lu He Night Market