Im a little late in writing this up, what with this week being all crazy, New Zealand-style. After my day in HK, I spent the following weekend in Kaohsiung with Alex and his girlfirend Joy. Taiwan really isnt my speed, but I had a great time riding around the city on the back oh a moped (in the rain!), eating all kinds of insanely tasty meals, spending time with a friend I hadnt seen since February, and just generally being somewhere new.

Saturday Alex took me to Cheng Ching Lake, a large lake in the city not too far from where he lives. Because it began to rain, we didnt get to walk around as much as we would have liked, but what I saw I really liked. Most of the photos I took came out kinda meh, lacking in colour. After playing around in Lightroom, applying preset filters, they turned out looking like early 20th century Chinese snapshots. At least to me, anyway!

Also at the Lake (which you had to pay to get into, oddly enough), was an aquarium in an old nuclear bunker belonging to Chiang Kai-shek. Nothing grand, it was more like 2 corridors with medium-sized fish tanks containing all sorts of marine life. Beautiful fish, coral, massive crab/lobster being (not sure what it was), a shark even. Sadly, some of the tanks were inadequately sized for the creatures within, one looked rather distressed, all folded up inside the tank. It just wasnt big enough :(

After the Lake, we met up with Joy for a very tasty Vietnamese lunch. So good! Later we went to Dream Mall, a 12-floor shopping mall that had an entire parking lot just for mopeds. Didnt buy anything, but was fun to look around.

Saturday night we met up with Leanne and Michelle, two of Alex’s coworkers for dinner, then headed out to another coworker’s place for a house party. It figures that I travel all the way to Asia, and end up at a guy from Western New York’s apartment.

Sunday was still rainy, so after yet another tasty meal (really, Joy took us to the most yummy places to eat. If there is one thing I absolutely loved about Kaohsiung, it was the food), we went to the movies to see the new Bond movie. Theatres in Taiwan are pretty much the same as here, with the notable exception of assigned seating. When you buy your tickets, you get to pick where you want to sit. I ended up having the exact perfect location (for me): smack dab in the center, about a half a dozen rows up. The movie was great (although Joy fell asleep!), I liked it WAY more than the last one. Good fun, great popcorn flick.

After the movies, we headed up to one of the city’s night markets. One surprising treat was the artwork at Formosa Station. With the World Games coming to Kaohsiung in 2009, the city recently built a brand new subway system … quite a nice change from the craptacularness of Toronto’s. Formosa is covered in brilliant, illuminated paintings. Almost like stained glass, the foyer positively glows. Completely enchanting, Alex had to drag me away after spending a good 10-15 minutes of picture taking.

Because of the rain, the night market wasnt as busy as usual, and was missing about half of its stalls. All the same, there was plenty to see: fish and fruit mongors, cheap trickets, souvenirs, lots and lots of food. We ended up having steamed dumplings at this little side stall. While not my favourite type (that would be shrimp), it was still delicious and I was more than happy to sit and eat about twenty of them!

We pretty much called it a night after that. I had to get up early the next day to catch my flight back to Hong Kong, and I needed to repack my suitcases. My overall impression of the city is that it is very busy, and kind of grey (although that could have just been the weather), but that the people who live there are generous and friendly.

I dont speak Chinese other than to say “hello”, “thank you” and “good bye”, but thankfully we had Joy to communicate for us (Joy, btw, is a total sweetie, even sending me off to New Zealand with a new travel coffee mug to replace the one I left in Toronto).

After my visit, Ive gained a real appreciation for people who move to completely foreign countries. I was only there one weekend, but I could see how it would be hard to live there, not being able to read or speak Chinese. With the exception of the subways (which I suspect only has English because of the upcoming Games), English is not used anywhere that I could see.

Thanks guys! Alex, will see you in a few months in Aus =)

PS: More pictures can are here.

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