Taiwan Trip 2015 (台灣30天環島記) - Day 9: Kaohsiung 高雄 (TK Hostel 高雄台客棧, Dragon &Tiger Pagodas 龍虎塔, Lotus Pond 蓮池潭, Huada Milk Tea 樺達奶茶)
Once a city boy, always a city boy. After spending the past one week admiring beautiful landscapes all over the east coast of Taiwan, I started to get a bit bored and longed for the concrete jungles and the hustle and bustle of the city. Thus after a good nights sleep, I took one of the early express trains right to the 2nd biggest city of Taiwan - Kaohsiung (高雄).
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| Beautiful deco at Taitung Train Station |
The train station itself was huge and I immediately felt relieve seeing all the congestion of people pacing around with buildings more than 5 stories high everywhere. The weather here was also much warmer to my delight, compared to Taitung and I can take off my down jacket. Since I was pretty hungry I just entered the nearest restaurant available -Mc Donald's. Now unlike Malaysia, McD in Taiwan do not have a Value Meal so all their sets starts cost more than NTD 70. And with so many other burger shops around, it's no wonder why McD is not that popular. And being Malaysian, it was quite painful finishing the fries with a very limited supply of sauce. There was no chilli sauce available, only tomato ketchup. Even then, they don't give out a lot and I had to specifically request for 3 packs. Oh well, it's still a bit to leave the Malaysian out of me haha.
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| Mc Chicken Set NTD 89 |
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| The icon of Formosa MRT |
After lunch I then headed to my hostel which was located really nearby the Formosa Boulevard MRT station. The location here is great as it is the interchange between the two MRT lines in Kaohsiung. For this one night, I decided to pamper myself a bit so I booked a single room all for myself at TK Hostel. The hostel is actually located in one of the floors of a high rise building and there were no signboards displayed, kinda dodgy at first but it was really comfy when I checked in.
The private room wasn't exactly private. It's just a 2 person dorm all to myself. And this room is actually sharing an air-conditioner with the adjacent room so there's an opening where the AC sits hence it is not really private at all lol. Anyway I didn't really mind. Upon settling down, I then took out all my laundry and dumped it in the washing machine (F.O.C yay!) and then just lazed on the bed for the whole afternoon. After travelling none stop for the whole week, along with the injury, I was getting quite exhausted so this was my rest day.
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| Cozy dorm bed |
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| Main area |
After having a good afternoon's rest I then left the hostel and started my visiting of the day, or rather night. I took a train down to Zuo Ying station and hope to take a bus to visit the Lotus Lake, instead of walking for 1-2km. Unfortunately the bus made a huge detour basically turning in and out of the whole Zuo Ying district before finally dropping me off. Guess I should have just walked or grabbed a bicycle.
The last time I was here at Lotus Lake was about 10 years ago when I first came to Taiwan with my family on a tour. That was during the time. At night the whole scene is quite different with all the pretty lights being lit up throughout the bridge as well as the iconic Dragon and Tiger Pagoda.
Unfortunately it was past the visiting hours so all the entrances were already closed and I only can admire the view from outside haha. Personally I feel it is more beautiful here at night compared to the day and it sets a good mood for a romantic stroll along the lake as well.
From the lake I then made my way back to the main road to walk back towards Zuoying train station to head back towards Kaohsiung. The Christmas decorations were still not torn down haha.
There was also this really cool and futuristic overhead bridge where pedestrians and cyclists alike can travel from opposites sides of the wide road without braving through the traffic. It took about 15-20 minutes walk before I finally found the back exit of Zuoying train station and headed back.
I did consult my Taiwanese friend on the must-trys in Kaohsiung, so she recommended a few places. One of them was Hua Da Milk Tea, which is one of the oldest shop selling Pearl Milk Tea and the likes at the southern region. I went to the original shop nearby the exit of Yanchengpu Station (鹽埕埔站) but they do have branches everywhere around in Taiwan. It certainly tasted really nice and fragrant. No harm trying if you are around the area.
Directions:
GPS coordinates:120.285877, 22.6234942
高雄捷運鹽埕埔站２號出口：往右轉入新樂街→直行過光榮街，右手邊即可見。
高雄捷運鹽埕埔站２號出口：往右轉入新樂街→直行過光榮街，右手邊即可見。
As it was past 9pm by the time I got my drink, most of the eateries were closed except for some back-alley stalls and pricey restaurants. In the end I went back to McD again LOL. That's a personal record for me: McD twice in a day.
- Day 9 end -
Previous: Day 8: Taitung 台東 (Lu Ye 鹿野, Sanxiantai [Terrace of the three Immortals] 三仙台, Dulan @ Night)
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