marmalade.ca » Taiwan http://marmalade.ca Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:03:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Kaohsiung, Taiwan http://marmalade.ca/2010/08/26/kaohsiung-taiwan/ http://marmalade.ca/2010/08/26/kaohsiung-taiwan/#comments Fri, 27 Aug 2010 00:00:34 +0000 Kelly http://marmalade.ca/?p=2683   [ Read More ] Related posts:
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]]> When I purchased my ticket to New Zealand, I learned I could take a side-trip from my stopover city anywhere my airline flew. As I was flying on Cathay Pacific, transferring planes in Hong Kong, I was able to visit Kaohsiung, Taiwan where my friend Alex had been living for the better part of a year. Never having been to Asia before, I was excited to be going somewhere seemingly random and new. The weekend was a lot of fun: Alex’s girlfriend made sure we had lots of tasty food to eat, they showed me around town, and even though the city was experiencing its first rain in months (and it rained for the entire time I was there!) this was all done by scooter. Alex took me to Cheng Ching Lake, the former residence of Chiang Kai-shek, as well as to the largest shopping malls in East Asia (Dream Mall, it has NINE floors, including an underground floor just for scooters! And yes, I know, it’s a mall. But there are only so many things you can do indoors as a tourist in Kaohsiung, a decidedly untouristy city, and this thing is just massive. Plus there’s a giant Toys R Us with stormtrooper helmets, how could I resist?).

Stormtrooper Kelly — Kaohsiung, TaiwanStormtrooper Alex — Kaohsiung, TaiwanStormtrooper Joy — Kaohsiung, TaiwanIMG_0008IMG_0009IMG_0001aMe and Alex in Formosa Station — Kaohsiung, TaiwanFormosa Subway StationIMG_0005aIMG_0006aIMG_0007aFormosa Subway StationKaohsiung, Taiwan at nightIMG_0013IMG_0016IMG_0017IMG_0018IMG_0019IMG_0020IMG_0021Night MarketIMG_4308IMG_4311Chencing LakeIMG_4313Alex!IMG_4315IMG_4316IMG_4317IMG_4318IMG_4320IMG_4323IMG_4324IMG_4325IMG_4327IMG_4328IMG_4332Delicious noodlesIMG_4337Alex and JoyIMG_4340IMG_4341IMG_4342IMG_4347IMG_4348IMG_4350IMG_4352IMG_4354SpriteIMG_4358IMG_4359IMG_4370IMG_4372IMG_4380IMG_4381Steamed dumplingsIMG_4388No food for you!

Being in Kaohsiung was interesting, but I can see how if you dont speak or read Chinese being there can be exhausting. It is not like Hong Kong where English is everywhere and you can move about town easily and not worry about starving or getting lost . I definitely would like to go back to Taiwan some day (maybe when it’s less prone to raining) and explore a bit  of the island, but I would want to either convince a Mandarin-speaking friend to come with me, or better yet, take a basic travellers’ Chinese course before arriving (something I want to do for my eventual trip to mainland China anyway!).

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