Highlights of Kaohsiung | 4everdiscovering

Spending a Weekend in Kaohsiung

Leave your worries in Taipei, hop on the HSR, and head for the sunny south!

After about three months without any vacation, the time finally arrived to have a little break! We had a long weekend quickly approaching, and Emily and I thought we should head south for the New Year’s holiday. Not like the weather has been bad in Taipei; we just thought we could get even more beach days if we headed down to the bottom of the island. There was a group of 5 of us who opted for this weekend away, all excited to finally have a four day work week (I know, life is tough). We bought tickets for the high speed rail (HSR), and after about 1.5 hours, we were as south as the train would go in Kaohsiung. That’s the beauty of Taiwan; it’s such a small island, you can travel the entire length of the country in a couple of hours with the fast train. It makes our weekend getaways a lot more interesting!

With about three full days to spend in Kaohsiung, we found there was always something to do or see. I will give you a little break down of things to do if you only have one day (or stretch it to two). This city is so full of life; there are mountains, beaches, and surprisingly, a lot of western bars if you’re interested in a little self-planned pub crawl (highly recommended). Here are some of the highlights from our trip to Kaohsiung:

1. Climbing Shoushan Mountain a.k.a. Monkey Mountain: On our first morning, we decided to not waste any of our day and headed to Shoushan mountain. Only about a 10 minute walk from our hostel, this mountain did not seize to amaze me. Our friend, Rebecca, had done her research and told us about the monkeys you can see along your hike here. This was a selling point for me. Even though we were told these monkeys were ‘evil’, I was still intrigued. We started our climb in Shoushan by approaching a steep set of stairs, leading to a Buddhist temple. Many people were here on a Saturday morning working out and training on these stairs (I later joined in Monday morning to have a little work out myself. It is a lot harder than it looks to run those stairs).

After deciding not to join the locals, we continued on our hike and stumbled upon a group of older men and women dancing in the forest. We just started to follow the music, and then found ourselves learning how to tango with these people in the middle of the mountain. When in Rome, right? I think they were surprised to see three, young, white women wanting to join their weekend dance lessons. We were the entertainment of the day, and were even invited back the next day to dance some more. We opted against that.

Continuing on (and getting a little lost), we finally reached the Shoushan Zoo. This was a reference point to get to the monkeys. Although we didn’t take the time to enter the zoo, Emily and Mitch did and did not have much positive feedback from it. For a cheap price, they said it was a pretty sad zoo. There were monkeys (potentially evil), but nothing spectacular. We walked past the zoo and found ourselves in the middle of monkey town. At first, we only saw one and were so amazed! After following this monkey for about 5 minutes, we kept on walking to see about 40 more. There was a whole area where the monkeys were resting on the benches, picking at each other for bugs. They were so tame, we could sit right beside them and they wouldn’t move. The baby monkeys were adorable, swinging from the trees and playing with each other. We had about a 30 minute photoshoot, admiring the monkeys and how they were not phased by us humans. Even after we left their little sanctuary, we encountered many more monkeys along our hike. This was exactly what we were looking for, and finally found it!

2. Take a Trip to Cijin Island: After a day of exploring, we decided to kick it into low gear on Sunday, and spend a relaxing New Year's day at the beach. There is an small island close by that has a long, sandy beach for people to visit year round. We made it to the ferry station, and were greeted with a line of hundreds of people trying to make it to Cijin. I guess on a long weekend, we all had the same idea in mind: BEACH. To make our short time worthwhile, we came to the unanimous decision to split on a taxi instead of wait in the long line. With 5 people, it only cost us about $4 each for about a 40 minute ride across the bridge. When we arrived, we grabbed some fresh squid-on-a-stick (thank god for fresh seafood), and headed to the beach. Again, we were able to take a dip in the ocean on January 1st! I am getting spoiled with all of this beautiful weather. I feel bad for everyone getting snowed in at home (but not really).

This island is definitely worth seeing if you are looking for some down time. Along with a gorgeous beach, there are lots of little restaurants and markets you can explore. Rebecca’s friend recommended a nice seafood restaurant we should try, but when we got there, it was over an hour wait to eat. We didn’t mind at first, but then realized the menu was strictly Chinese. If I’m going to pay good money for a nice dinner, I would prefer if I knew what I was ordering! We took a cab home again (the line was equally as long for the ferry to go home), and spent a relaxing night at the hostel. Nothing is wrong with a little R&R once in awhile.

3. Visiting the Dragon Tiger Pagodas: To explore more of the city, we took a little trip to Lotus Lake to see the very touristy, Dragon Tiger Pagodas. This is a great representation of the Kaohsiung culture, and two very intricate temples worth walking through. You enter through the Dragon, and exit through the Tiger (do not try the other way around). In the Asian culture, it is very important to enter and exit through the correct sides; if you don’t, it is bad luck! We don’t need any of that in our lives, so we always obey. There are seven floors in each pagoda, and two staircases (one for ascending, one for descending). The view from the top floor is incredible. We visited around sunset and had a great scene of Lotus Lake. It is a really tranquil area to walk around and take your time exploring the other temples on the lake. I always find the detail in the pagodas and temples the most impressive part. I can’t believe the amount of time and work that goes into the construction of these buildings. I don’t think I will ever get tired of seeing them!

4. See the Dome of Light: Careful, it’s not called the “Doom of Light” (Emily had a little trouble with the words and made it seem a lot more scary than anything). I was expecting big things from this landmark, and was surprised to find it was inside the subway station. We didn’t even have to leave the transit system to see this Dome. At one of the major junctions on the subway line (Formosa Boulevard), the Dome of Light is a lit-up ceiling of the world. There are lots of bright colours and lights; however, it isn’t spectacular. I think I was just expecting a lot more than it was, so I was a little disappointed when I saw it. We even had to google what it looked like to make sure we were in the right spot! But, when all's said and done, we have seen the Dome of Light, and can thank Tripadvisor for their stellar recommendation. LOL.

Our trip to Kaohsiung was well-spent with good company. It is always nice to get out of the city and explore more of the country Emily and I call ‘home’ for the year. There is always something to do in a new city, whether you find mountains to climb, beaches to swim at, or temples to explore. We had the luxury of staying in a great hostel (Legend Hostel), and slept in the most comfy bed I have tried in a long time. That always makes the trip even better! We ate a lot of seafood, and Western food, which is nice every now and then. We tried one restaurant called Smokey Joe’s, where we feasted on appetizers and DELICIOUS ice cream sundaes for dessert. It was so big, it could have been a meal in itself! We spent New Year’s Eve bar hopping along our street, taking various shots at each venue. Although we tried to see fireworks, we watched a Little Mermaid inspired light show instead at midnight to ring in the new year (I’m sure it was more cost-effective). It was definitely strange to celebrate New Year’s in a different time zone. Since we are living 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time, we were in a different year than our friends and family back at home for half a day. That sounds crazy! With all of the new adventures we are experiencing every day, this is just one more story to add to this incredible chapter in our lives.