This post is a series of Posts I will be posting about my recent Trip to Taiwan (on April-May 2018). At this point, I’m thinking of putting post by post by the cities or region I visited on each day. So if I visit more than one city on one day, I will put in a post. The idea is that I hope it can help illustrate the alternatives itineraries to do in a day.
I thought it was about time to visit Taiwan. Many had asked whether I was interested in visiting China, and my answer had been a constant “Not Yet”. China is beautiful, but I wasn’t ready to explore the big main island China, so I went to Taiwan instead. Why? Given a short time, Taiwan is a smaller area that I can treasure in a relatively short time. Based on my research, the Taiwan’s transportations networks are advance, integrated like those in Japan (comparably so), and it has such beautiful landscape on its coastal area and dramatic mountain region. So I decided to visit Taiwan, in a series with Hong Kong and Macau. I will also write about Hong Kong and Macau.
I had only 14 days of holidays, so I thought I will spend 8 days on Taiwan and 6 days in Hong Kong and Macau. But, approximately a month before the trip, AirAsia cancelled the flight From Kuala Lumpur to Kaohsiung on April 26th and there was no replacement flight on the same date. So, I rescheduled the flight on the following day on April 27th . That reduced my plan to only 7 days in Taiwan. I had to delete my plan to visit Wuling Farm and tighten the schedule a little bit. My plan was to explore Taiwan from south to North before flying to Hong Kong from Taipei. So the first city that I visited is Kaohsiung.
Kaohsiung is the second biggest city in Taiwan after Taipei. There were lots of attractions and it’s a hub to go further south to the Kenting National Park in Southern Taiwan. Here’s the place I visited in Kaohsiung.
Table of Contents
Arriving at Kaohsiung International Airport and Getting to the City
My flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kaohsiung was delayed. There was someone seated far in front of me was having serious health condition that caused all flight attendants busy. It took about almost an hour to get medical help hopped onto the plane and took care of the passenger. I arrived at Kaohsiung International Airport around 14:30 pm, an hour late from the original plan.
Kaohsiung International Airport has two terminals: Domestic and International, and it is connected to the local MRT Station. Just follow the direction of the MRT and get down to the B1 level to get to MRT Station.
There are two kinds of Passes used in Taiwan for Public Transportation. They are iPASS and EasyCard. I use the iPass since I read it offers more discounts. I bought it At the Kaohsiung MRT Station. iPASS (and EasyCard) can be used for:
- Taipei Metro
- Taoyuan International Airport MRT
- Kaohsiung Metro
- Buses
- Railway (with a certain condition)
- Store
- Many other services (you can read further here for iPASS, and here for Easycard)
The price is 100 TWD (about IDR 47,000 or USD 3,4) and it doesn’t count the top-up so we need to add more money to it for travel.
Kaohsiung MRT (and MRTs in Taiwan) are very clean and comfortable, the station and the trains have Chinese and English on its signs and directions, so it’s very easy for non-Chinese speaker to understand and navigate around the city.
Where i stayed on Kaohsiung
In Kaohsiung, I chose to stay at Single-Inn Hotel, since it was very close to the Railway Station. From the airport, I rode the MRT to the Formosa boulevard Station, then took a 10 minutes walks to the Hotel. There were two Single-Inn Hotels, and I arrived at the wrong hotel! So please be careful when you stay at Single-Inn in Kaohsiung and make sure you get the address correct.
The hotel was very clean. When i entered the room hallway, no shoes or sandals from outside are allowed. I had to put them in the provided shelf and use hotel’s sandal to walk around the area and in your room. All rooms are for one person and private. All price comes with hot breakfast (so yummy) and the price is very reasonable if you look for a place to stay that close to the station, private bed and breakfast in Kaohsiung.
Pier-2 Art District
After checked in to the hotel, I went to Pier-2 art district. My original plan was to visit Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, but with the delay and everything by the time I was ready to explore, it’s already nearing Museum close out time. So, I decided to explore Pier-2 instead.
Pier-2 art district was originally a warehouse from 1970, that was turned into arts venue, restaurant, art exhibitions centre, galleries, and store. It has some free art exhibitions worth checking out, as well as its vintage art stores. The tag is quite pricey here, but all the goods are worth checking out. I was hunting to take picture with the art piece by the way.
Formosa Boulevard Station
Liuhe Night Market
The night market was very crowded and there was myriad food vendor along the way. If you are a seafood lover, this market is definitely your heaven. Most of the meal offered were seafood, so I stopped at a nearby hotel and asked for a vegetarian restaurant. I was so lucky I could find one after zig-zagged through the market. Too bad I could not sample all the seafood, but I was happy anyway seeing all the goods and foods on the display.
Liuhe night market was the last attraction I visited in Kaohsiung on that day, but I still had one more place to go the next day before going up to Tainan.
Lotus Pond
The following day, I had a tour arranged at 8 am. So, I rushed to the Lotus pond about 6 am in the morning using Uber. And that was the first time ever I use Uber abroad and turned out it was easy and hassle free. The order was using English, the driver had translation app so we both could communicate well. Of course, it was quite pricey compared to public transportation, but it was the only feasible option beside taxi I could think of to get to the Lotus Pond at 6 am in the morning.
I love love love the serenity surround the pond, the morning activities where locals took morning walks, runs, and tai chi on the nearby temples and parks. The main attractions on the pond were Dragon and Tiger Pagodas and Spring and Autumn Pavilions. The bold design of the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas was very inviting and unique. The Dragon and Tiger big Statues opening their mouth where it holds a door to the temple. That, combined with the zig zag entrance and lotus flower surrounds the temple makes the place is one of my favourite temples in Taiwan.
Undoubtedly my exploration in Kaohsiung is one of the greatest-7-days that i spent in Taiwan. I love Taiwanese who were exceptionally friendly, kind, and helpful all at once, i love the weather, i love the integrated transportation, i love the vegetarian meal, i love everything.
Stay tune for my next post! another exploration from Kaohsiung to Tainan Blog is coming up!