Taiwan - Khaosiung

The last city of my month-long trip was Khaosiung, the biggest city in Southern Taiwan, and the second largest city in Taiwan.  I finally was able to get some time away from cheerful girl (OK, I know I’m being mean, but she really started getting on my nerves).  I spent my three days exploring by myself in Khaosiung.  After arriving at my hostel and getting settled in, I ventured out and walked towards the bay, which was only a block or two away.  I ended up walking into a relatively new art district.  This area used to be a train depot, and I’m guessing it was a very run-down area before it was renovated.  Painted on the sides of buildings were beautiful, colorful murals.  Some of the buildings’ interiors had been converted to art exhibition halls, coffee shops, and restaurants.  The rest were on their way to being converted.  Additionally, there were sculptures sporadically placed throughout the area, food stands, and a huge open field of grass and tulips with the train tracks still intact.  Hundreds of people were having picnics, flying kites, taking pictures, and merely enjoying the beautiful weather.  It was around that time that I made my way back to the hostel, because the sun was on its way down.

The following day, I went to a city park area appropriately called “Monkey Mountain”.  This was a mountain populated with – you guessed it – monkeys.  The hostel employee told me to watch my valuables and food, because the monkeys were known to grab anything shiny or anything they could eat.  The monkeys that I saw were actually very relaxed and were weary of my getting too close to humans.  There were multiple paths up and down the mountain, which made for both a variety of scenery, as well as an easy time getting lost.  After Monkey Mountain, I tried walking to Lotus Pond.  From the map, it looked like it was walkable.  After walking for 30-40 minutes, I stopped at a bus station and asked which bus to take.  A man, who I really believe had the best possible intentions, put me on a bus which took me the complete opposite way.  I got off at a spot I was familiar with (the main train station), and asked the information desk there.  Soon after, I was waiting for the correct bus and eventually made it to my destination.  BUT!  Not before making a fool of myself and pressing the emergency stop button instead of the normal stop button.  The bus driver sounded as if he was rather displeased with choice of buttons, so I quickly exited the bus without further fanfare.  Unfortunately, after all that work, the pond wasn’t all it was cracked up to be.  I had read that there were multiple delectable food options in the area, but I didn’t really see any restaurants that particularly stood out.  Furthermore, the pond had some gaudy structures that were surely for canoodling couples.

The next day, I took a ferry to an island, Qijin, just off the coast.  I had rented a city bike and rode it from the subway station next to my hostel to the ferry.  I took the bike with me on the ferry.  The island has an incredibly long beach, which had bike paths along it.  It was wonderfully abandoned while I was there in the middle of the week.  Only a few people were scattered about.  It was wonderfully peaceful to be so alone with my thoughts with the ocean right next to me.  It was a great way to essentially end my month-long trip. 

The next day, I took a train back to Taipei.  Beside a mini-trip out to get a couple magazines for my flight the next day, I spent the entire rainy day inside relaxing.