Taiwan #4 - The Heart of Asia: Kaohsiung

Day 5

Continuing from previous posts (1, 2, 3) of my Taiwan trip, we took a bus down south to Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is the 2nd most populous city in Taiwan, after Taipei & is the island largest industrial centre. Halfway, we stopped at Hakka village in Meinong for visit & had authentic Hakka lunch meal. This small community village allows you to experience the richness of Hakka culture & way of life.

At Hakka village entrance

Next is to Fo Guang Shan Monastery, the most popular tourist attraction in Kaohsiung. This centre is affiliated to Fo Guang Shan & is the largest monastery in Taiwan. Founded by Master Hsing Yun in 1967, this Buddhist movement since, has expanded rapidly throughout the world with its humanistic Buddhist teachings. The monastery covers more than 100 hectares & opened to public since 2011. You just need to be impressed with the building structures, sculptures & drawings with  detailed information given to each of them. One will need more than a day to fully explore the place & read all teachings signs, erected all over the place.

Majestic statue of Buddha & His disciples

Majestic pavilions with the large Buddha statue erected

The layout of whole area, covering over 100 hectares

We checked into E-Da Royal Hotel. This 5-star hotel is located within the vicinity of the E-Da World, an integrated park consists of an indoor & outdoor theme parks, outlet malls, university & even international school. It is the largest tourist resort in Taiwan & hosted many international events. Spent the whole evening, taking on the rides in the outdoor theme park & window shopping at the premium outlet mall. A must-ride in this theme park is the Taiwan Formosa ride. This indoor ride offers you a bird-eye view of all the natural attractions in the whole of Taiwan, providing the up/down movements as if you are flying on a paraglide. Another notable mention is the "Booster". This ride brings you up in the air in & making a 360 degrees (a few turns actually) turn up in the air. A first timer bounds to have his/her voice cracks for screaming out in fear throughout the ride.

The "Booster" ride. Two words: Terrifying excitement

Colourful ferris wheel at night

As mentioned in previous posts, we had dinner with Dad's long lost cousins & other relatives in Taipei. This time, with another bigger sets of cousins & relatives based in Kaohsiung. Apparently, some cousins of mine are already of grandparents status. It was a happy & emotional reunion for Dad & us, being able to see so many of them making efforts to meet us on a weekday night.

Definitely the biggest round table I've seen so far. Great for reunion purpose

The Kaohsiung gang. Seriously, I still don't know where is their standing in the family tree, just call them long-lost relatives from Dad's side...:p

Day 6 & 7

The next day was a full day tour of Kaohsiung city attractions. First stop was the Lotus Lake, located at the centre of the town. This scenic lake is well noted for its profusion of temples with the Confucius temple at the north edge & in the south, the Dragon & Tiger Pagodas and the Spring & Autumn Pavillions.

Papaya milk tea. A must-try in Taiwan if you're a milk tea fan



The pagodas in Lotus Lake

The pavilion with Guan Yu (Lord Guan)'s statue behind

Next, we took a short ferry ride to the Qijin island. This island is known by locals (not really well known by foreign tourists yet) for its seafood industry & slowly turning into a tourist attraction. Has seafood lunch along its famoud Qijin Seafood street. Spent the afternoon in the New Juejiang shopping street & the night, strolling along Love River after dinner. With the vibrant skylights, sightseeing cruise & riverbanks activities, the scene at night along the river was a sight to behold, taking after Beijing's Silk River or Bangkok's Chao Phraya river style.

Seafood on display for steamboat meal in Qijin Seafood Street

Leaving Qijin island on a ferry

New Juejiang shopping street

Night light at Love River

For the last day, we went to the largest mall in Kaohsiung, Dream Mall for lunch before departing for Kuala Lumpur. With fun loving people & fun loving, helpful local guide Jin Lee coupled with good food & attractive places as well, this is truly an enjoyable & memorable trip. Definitely wont be the last time I will be visiting Taiwan, for there are plenty more places yet to be explored & plenty more foods yet to be tasted. Hot springs next perhaps...