The Wind Up: Part 1

So a lot has happened since my last post and now which goes to show the amount of events that can get packed into a month.

I’ve been busy traveling, catching up with friends and working. So much so that I’ve neglected the blog. So to keep you in the loop, or rather just for my own writing enjoyment, I’m going to backtrack my stories from last month till now. It’ll probably happen over a few posts.

From mid December Boram returned to Taiwan and it was really nice to have her company, its always super enjoyable. And together we tried to make the most of our last days in Taiwan sampling the local food and the sights we hadn’t seen yet. We both knew that the likelihood of us returning to Taiwan was slim.

Everyday we ate lunch at the same place, enjoying the staple food of Taiwan which is a type of lunch box. That and we were poor and that’s all we could afford. The memories of walking down the cluttered streets for lunch, to the food itself and to the proprietor who always called me “Little Brother” are a somber thought. It doesn’t sound like much but I’m a man who finds pleasure in the small things, the day to day things that could be easily overlooked. And because I did this lunch trip everyday and saw the same people there is a connection to those moments that cannot be undone.

I had recently finished work so we had a lot of time together, so we decided to go traveling. This time we were south bound. After staying a year in Taiwan I had pretty much been everywhere. Everywhere except the south that is. The south of Taiwan is renowned for its beauty and sandy beaches so you can imagine it’s very beautiful in summer months. To bad for us that we were in the middle of winter.

We first went to the second largest city in Taiwan, Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is a little over 3 hours bus trip from my city Taichung. Taichung although not a very appealing city, it’s location makes it easy to travel to other parts of Taiwan because it’s in the middle of the country.

I was very impressed with Kaohsiung, even more so than Taipei. It had all the modern niceties of Taipei, convenience, transport, activities, but with less people and is situated on a port. The nostalgia of sea salt in the air of a port city reminded me of Auckland, home. It was a striking moment, I didn’t realise that something small would have such an emotional pull. I’ve been breathing Asian city air for the past 11 months and to be in an environment where salt laced the air was a good memory indeed, probably boosting my ranking of Kaohsiung.

I was so impressed there that I decided to stay an extra day in the city.

On the first day when we arrived we went to the backpacker to stay. We didn’t book a room or anything like that because I like to travel with no plan and this time having no plan seemed to fail me, all rooms were full. Theres a tour boat that goes up and down the Love River, a river running through Kaohsiung city. And since we were in the area we waited for that and tried to think of our next move. The best idea we had was to find a hotel from the street and stay there.

The boat we were waiting for docked up and we went for a pleasant cruise with another 15 or so people up and down the river while the tour guide was talking about local sights and history associated with the Love River. After the pleasant and incredibly cheap trip we continued our hotel finding mission. We went to one which seemed cheap from the outside but inside it was nothing but. We quickly turned tail and exited again. We were tired, hungry and feeling a little out of luck. So we found someplace to eat and think once more about our next move. We ordered chicken leg and pork from a nearby restaurant and it was the most amazing and perfectly cooked food I have ever tasted in my life, which I would continue to find a very high quality of food in the city.

Over dinner I broke out the Lonely Planet and found a place to stay that was previously overlooked since it was more expensive than the backpackers. However because there were two of us sharing a room, it worked out to be not that much more expensive. We made a reservation for that night and we had some time to kill before we were meant to turn up to the hostel.

Night markets really run through the backbone of Taiwan culture. Bartering, yelling, aromas and just plain weird sights all show a good overview of Chinese psyche . It’s a meeting place for all sorts as they try to sell you their wares. All senses are working over time as you sidestep your way down the market streets.

According to the Lonely Planet, Kaohsiung’s night market was rated highest out of all night markets by other travelers. So this is what we decided to do to kill time. The Kaohsiung market seemed to live up to the hype. Although clothes and styles tend to be the same from market to market, Kaohsiung had a better variety of cuisine including live crayfish, prawns, crabs, and even snakes were on the menu (even though I was curious it would have been past my budget).

After the night market we bordered the subway north towards the accommodation. The owner of the hostel met us on route and took us back to the hostel. It was a normal house with the bedrooms rented out. It was really well kept and even better, it had a comfortable bed.

The owner was a very nice Canadian who had been in Taiwan for eight years teaching. However she didn’t make an effort to learn the language. She said in her defense that she didn’t need to, everyone talked to her in English. This I can understand because most people spoke to me in English as well, but not even making an attempt to learn seems boggling to me. You’re missing out on a whole cultural pivot point which is interesting and one would think essential. She wasn’t alone. In my first Mandarin class there was another Canadian who had been living there for six years and didn’t learn anything either. Strange.

That night we walked around the whole circumference of Lotus Pond, a nearby attraction to the hostel.

The next day we went took a ferry to Cijin island towns just inside Kaohsiung harbor. The ferry loaded passengers as well as scooters in the lower deck. It was only a five minute ride to the other side.

Once on the island we rented some bicycles to go around and see the sights and the beaches. Most of Taiwan is flat which makes biking enjoyable. We went to the island’s lighthouse where we got a nice view of Kaohsiung city. From there we snaked our way around some of the beaches imagining that it would be quite popular in summer months. Maybe a return visit in a better climate is in the cards, but for now we had to make to with cold winds blowing off the seashore.

Other things we did were visit the zoo, which was much more lively and better kept than it’s equivalent in Taipei. But in general I thik the standard of zoos is rather lacking. Another thing we did was ride a ferris wheel that was located on top of a mall. Thats right, on top of a mall. I like ferris wheels, good way to see a city and relaxing at the same time, although Boram was freaking out about how heigh it was. I think Taiwan has the worlds largest ferris wheel, unfortunately I didn’t get to go on it in my time there although I wanted too. I saw it once on my early travels when I had no idea about my orientation so I never found it again.

All in all I really like Kaohsiung, probably because it reminded me of Auckland but it had a certain charm unto its own.

Next time: The south most point of Taiwan.