Every ten or eleven years a couple of holidays line up in a favorable position in September and Japan is treated to “Silver Week”. We were not going to let the occasion pass without a trip, and thanks to my company schedule I was able to take two days off from work to get nine days off in total. What a deal!
Having been to other parts of Taiwan we were curious about Kaohsiung (called “Takao” in Japanese). We had enjoyed nearby Tainan with Yoshi a while back, and we were curious about the city. Also Air Asia has a direct flight from Osaka, so we bought some tickets.
It had been a long time since we’ve flown Air Asia. It is a low cost carrier and they really made sure that the seats were uncomfortable and tightly squeezed together. I was unlucky to have people in front of me recline their seats on both legs of the trip, but with the low price the airline knows that few will complain. We can put up with just about anything for a three hour cheap flight.
We were impressed with Kaohsiung’s airport – it felt pretty new and it was a breeze to pass through. There was a train station on the subway line right there, so getting to the center of the city was a matter of a short train ride. The ticket gates accepted a credit card tap, so great for out-of-towners.
I was pretty surprised to see just how big of a city it was. Wide streets, plenty of train stations on the subway and a big looping light rail system – everything you would expect from a big city. One thing that bothered me throughout the trip was there seemed to be less people around than you’d expect for a city that size. Trains were never full, stations were big and had huge platforms but only a handful of people waiting to ride. City streets were wide promenades but few people were on them. It felt safe and comfortable walking around, but just an odd sense of emptiness that haunted me.
We enjoyed the unique architecture of the city – from the modern to the artistic to the traditional. There are a lot of interesting buildings to see, by day and by night. We took an early evening cruise on the river to see some buildings from the water, and a tour group of Koreans were the only other passengers, so we heard the Korean explanations by their tour guide as we floated along.
One of our main sightseeing goals was the twin pagodas built on the water. One had a giant dragon head as the entrance, the other a giant tiger. We got up early to beat the rush but as it turned out we were the only people there. We spent a sweaty morning walking around the lakeside enjoying the temples and views of the city across the lake, but we rarely saw other people sightseeing like us.
We also enjoyed walking on the waterfront through an artist enclave, full of unique artistic installations. There were warehouses nearby that had been converted to artist workshops, and some stylish restaurants and office buildings as well. We visited a huge exhibition center to check out the building and sort of crashed a youth conference – we saw big groups of young people throughout our stay.
It was apparently the rainy season in Taiwan, and we did run into a little rain one night, but for the most part it was slightly cloudy and humid which felt like what you’d expect for a tropical destination. Kuniko had brought an umbrella but we really only used it once.
Of course the main thing for us was the food. Kuniko had saved a ton of restaurants on her map and we did our best to eat as many kinds of foods as possible. Dry noodles, beef noodles, dim sum, salted egg buns from Din Tai Fung, Taiwan-style shaved ice, mangos, and countless wontons and dumplings. The food was great, and things were pretty reasonable. We needed to use cash as usually we were eating on the streets and in the night markets, it felt odd that cashless systems hadn’t made it here yet.
We were also greatly impressed by how kind the local people were to us. People smiled and waved, shop staff did their best to understand our orders (or gestures), and our lack of Chinese language skills didn’t seem to bother anyone. While trying to order some noodles in one restaurant the proprietor of the juice shop next door came over and bailed us out, and then came by later and gave us some free juices to enjoy with our food, telling us “No money, no money!”
We stayed at a very comfortable hotel that was not far from Formosa Boulevard, the station at the intersection of the two subway lines. The hotel staff were also very friendly and accommodating. They offered free breakfast and afternoon tea, but we were unable to take advantage of them most days as we were packing our stomachs with local dishes.
After three days in Kaohsiung we were sorry to leave, but we are not so far away. It is comforting to know that so much great Chinese food is close by.
