HSR to Kaohsiung
( Thursday April 25.) We got up at 6 am to take the high speed train that runs along the west coast of the island. We wanted to start out early and have breakfast at the station. Our train was to leave at 10 am. The Taipei train station was very crowded and news cameras were all around our gate. After awhile we found out that our train and several others had been cancelled. We had prepaid hotel reservations and return train tickets for Sunday and would not only have lost money at these places but would also have to change all our plans if we could not get out of Taipei. Plan 2: We bought tickets for the local train going south. Our 2 hour HSR train ride changed to a 5 hour local train ride. This meant we would have less time for sightseeing but would still be able to see Kaohsiung, San Antonio's sister city. Breakfast turned into brunch at the station. After we ate our Burger King egg sandwiches, we bought salty and sweet pastry for our trip and went to wait for our train. When we got to the boarding gates we discovered that the high speed was running again. We exchanged our earlier tickets (for the cancelled train), got tickets for the next high speed out, and were back on a better schedule, arriving earlier in Kaohsiung and having more time for sightseeing. At a later date we can exchange or return the unused slower train tickets. There may be a short trip to a closer area in our future. We traveled south at a train speed averaging about 300 km/hr. or about 200 mph. From Taipei to Kaohsiung is 245 miles and we covered the trip in about 80 minutes.
(Note about why the trains were not running: Apparently it was the first time that so many trains had to be cancelled. There was a problem with the signals somewhere. )
A good website on the history of the high speed in Taiwan can be found at:
http://www.tealit.com/hsr.htm.
Arriving in Kaohsiung, we took a taxi to our hotel. The R and R Hotel was not far from the station and we arrived a little early for our check in. The hotel is like a amall boutique hotel, nautical theme, seven floors, 7 or 8 rooms per floor, very clean and spacious rooms, for the equivalent US rate of $60 per night. This was a very good deal that included breakfast for both days we were there. After a short nap break, we went out for dinner to a place called Smoky Joe's. With Tex-mex on the menu and kicker music in the background, it was as if we were back in San Antonio.
Pictures of the hotel:
lobby |
Restaurant |
Friday April 26
Breakfast in Kaohsiung was the best western style breakfast we've had in Taiwan! We were served: fresh orange juice, bread fresh from a bread maker, scrambled eggs, bacon, and sausage, garnished with sliced peaches,tomato,and bell peppers. This was followed with a bowl of vanilla custard with mango juice and a goblet of fresh grapes. A side buffet offered various teas, coffee, and corn chowder soup.
Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan. It is also the sister city to my city, San Antonio, Texas. First impression was that things were a little slower paced here than in Taipei. At least the traffic gave that impression. There were not as many cars and the traffic moved a little slower.
After breakfast we took a taxi to Lotus Pond. There are more than twenty temples surrounding the man-made lake. Although renovations were being done on some of them, there were still too many temples to actually spend a lot of time exploring. We did walk through several pagodas and through the belly of the dragon. This was supposed to bring good luck. Unfortunately we went backward from back to front so I am not too sure about the good luck.
Picture below shows the inside of the dragon. |
Walking through the belly of the dragon. |
a very large temple located at Lotus Pond |
From the lake we took a taxi to the ferry landing and took a ferry to the island of Cijin. The short ferry ride gives a good view of the harbor and city skyline. I understand that the island is also connected to the mainland by a tunnel that runs under the harbor. The island was the original settlement for the city. It was easy to walk from one end of the island to the other after we got off the ferry. Food and souvenir vendors line the streets along with bicycle driven rickshaws offering to take you on a tour of the island.
Harbor view of Kaohsiung |
Main street Cijin |
View of the harbor |
Cijin Lighthouse |
Returning to Kaohsiung, our next stop was the Dome of Light in Formosa Station, the largest glass work in the world. Designed by Italian artist Narcissus Quagliata, it is 30 meters in diameter and covers an area of 2,180 square meters. It is made up of over 4000 glass panels.
From this station we took the subway to Central Park and chose a restaurant overlooking the park for our dinner. We sat outside at the Good Man Cafe and had short ribs hotpot, lemongrass lamb, and Hawaiian pizza for dinner along with a pitcher of fruit tea. Then we took a cab back the hotel.
Saturday April 27
Saturday morning we took a commuter train north. This time we traveled on the east side of the island and decided to make at least one overnight stop before we got back to Taipei.
At one of the stops (Kuanshan) there was a lady selling box lunches. For NTD 60 (1.80 US) you got a small box made out of balsa wood stuffed full of a variety of foods. Vegetables, spiced ginger, half a tea egg, tofu, rice, and thin slices of meat and sausage made a pleasant meal on our train to Hualien.
Also of interest: Toilets on the train are unisex and Taiwanese style. Men have separate urinals.
We spent the night in Hualien at the Fairy Tale Motel, a little out of the way place but just as well kept and clean as the R and R in Kaohsiung, but more expensive due to its resort status ($120) . Our room had a private patio, a Jacuzzi bath, and a beautiful view of the beach and Pacific Ocean. We had take-out dinner from the local Pizza Hut in our lovely patio and just relaxed.
Lunch in the station |
The commuter train the following morning was crowded with Chinese tourists we assumed were coming from Taroko Canyon, the local attraction. We had no choice for seats and had to stand for about an hour until they got off in Yilan.. In Yilan we had an hour wait and decided to do a 7-11 brunch in the station. We had corn chowder, seafood chowder, ham and cheese on a bun and a noodles plate.
The next train was a lot more comfortable. We had reserved seats and traveled through some very pretty terrain. Mountains jutting out into the sea, tunnels, riverbeds with small waterfalls, temples, cemeteries built on the mountainsides, and small towns right alongside the railroad tracks. We passed along some areas that, if we had had more time, would have made good places to visit: Huotong, Rueifand, Badu, and Qidu were a few of the names I saw along the way. Being a Sunday, the train filled up with tourists heading back to Taipei after a weekend by the ocean.
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