Kaohsiung Getaway

Over the 228 holiday weekend, I traveled with a group of friends to Kaohsiung.  “Another vacation?!?” you say?  “Is that all you do?  Just travel around having fun and seeing the world?”

Yes.

We took the High Speed Rail from Taipei to Kaohsiung, at opposite ends of the island.  The HSR is an amazing modern marvel!  A distance of about 185 miles was covered in only 2 hours!  And that was on the “slow” HSR train.  On the way back home, the “fast” train shot us home in an hour and a half!  Bullet trains are the way to travel.

When we arrived at the MRT (subway) station near our hostel, we were welcomed to Kaohsiung by the Dome of Light.  Amazing what you can find underground sometimes.... 

Dome of Light

Formosa Boulevard MRT Station in Kaohsiung

After a dinner of street food from the Liuhe Night Market, we headed over to Fisherman’s Wharf for some fresh air and a couple Taiwan Pijius.  That means ‘beers’.  :)

Xie xie

The next morning, we went off in search of breakfast.  Somewhere between the coffee and the noodles, we found ourselves in the middle of an earthquake!  Now, I’ve felt a few tremors living here in Taiwan, but this was crazy!  People, tables, and chairs were rumbling around, and you could hear the earthquake.  I started to feel seasick.  We found out later that it registered around 5.9 on the ol’ Richter Scale.  Best part?  The lady working at the restaurant went right on making tea during the whole thing.

Now certified earthquake survivors, we remembered that life is short and we’d better make the most of it.  We packed a lot of living into the rest of the day!

Our first stop was Lotus Pond.  We could have easily spent the entire day here, walking around the pond and many temples and pagodas.  At the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, the custom is to “enter the dragon and exit the tiger” for good luck. 

Dragon and Tiger Pagodas

Enter the Dragon

Exit the Tiger

Oh, hello.

Next up were the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, which are dedicated to Kuan Kung, the God of War.  The lanterns were beautiful, and very un-war-like.  

Spring and Autumn Pavilions 

I love lanterns!

We also visited the statue of Xuantian Shang-di, the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, and guardian of the north.  Long name, big feet. 

Xuantian Shang-di

Very Dark Heaven-ly

Lastly, we stepped into the Temple of Enlightenment, which is the biggest temple by far.  Sometimes I feel like, after a while, all the temples start to look the same, but this one had some pretty awesome ceiling art. 

The phoenix and dragon theme was heavily represented at Lotus Pond

Ceiling painting

Ooo lala, fancy gold ceilings 

After realizing that we were too tired to walk to our next sight-seeing stop, we hopped in a couple cabs and rode in style over to Longcyuan Temple.  Now, I know I just said that all the temples are the same and I’m totally bored with them, but this temple really had an effect on me!  I think it was the flags and Buddhist chanting, but maybe it was the elevation.....

I mean.... just look at this!

The sound of the flags flapping in the wind was so peaceful!

The plan was to pick up a trail here at the Temple and walk around the Chaishan Nature Reserve to look for macaque monkeys.  But we were tired.  And we saw a couple monkeys on top of the bathroom.  So.... that counts. 

Just chillin

Back at the hostel, some decided to take a nap, but I was still on a “live life to the fullest / sleep when you’re dead” high from surviving that earthquake.  So, the rest of us journeyed back down to the harbor to take the ferry out to Cijin Island.  

Aboard the ferry to Cijin Island 

Kaohsiung at night from Cijin Island in the harbor

Back on the main island, we met up with the rest of the group to check out Love River.  So romantic!  Not really, but it was a cool river walk.  

Love River

Side note:  At dinner, the restaurant boasted many Western-style dishes.  We ordered the nachos for the table because, well, why wouldn’t you?  I am starting to believe more and more each day that my true reason for coming to Taiwan is to somehow spread the joy of Mexican food to this part of the world.  These “nachos” would not even be allowed  to be labeled as such in the States.  Bowl of tortilla chips. Cup of salsa. Cup of ranch.  Cup of honey mustard.  Tasty.  Not nachos.  End of rant.

The next morning, our group scattered to different parts of the island.  Some went to Kenting, which will certainly be the topic of a future blog here on SamanthaInFormosa, but not today.  I stayed with the rest in Kaohsiung to see what else the city had to offer.  We started at the Pier 2 Art District.  As we walked from the MRT station to the pier, we all commented on the traffic and its superiority over the sometimes-scary situation in Taipei.  The sun was shining, the air was less polluted, and the scooters weren’t constantly threatening to run me down.  I was really enjoying Kaohsiung!

And then we got to the Art District -- I was in love!  

From destruction comes beauty?

The expo was stocked full with these man/woman themed statue things

Graffiti art!

Wishing tree

More graffiti art

My coworker Anna had told me about the huge bowls of mango shaved ice you can buy in Kaohsiung, so of course that was on my to-do list for the city.  I’ve had many instances where my complete lack of Chinese language skills has affected my ability to get what I want or need, but it had been a while since it was this extreme.  I was just about ready to give up..... but I really wanted that mango ice.

Me: (standing around staring at the menu, entirely in Chinese) Ni hao. Wo yao nage.  “Hello, I want that.”  (I pointed to a picture of a mondo bowl of mango shaved ice.)

Restaurant Lady: (She obviously knew about as much English as I know Chinese, but for the sake of the story, and because this is my blog and I can do whatever I want, I’ll translate her Chinese and gestures into English) Hello, please fill out this order form.

Me: Oh, it’s all in Chinese.  I can barely speak Chinese and certainly can’t read it.  I want that bowl in the picture.

Lady: Ok, just fill in the order form.

Me:  Hmmmm, still can’t read it.  Can I just point to what I want?  That usually works for me....

Lady:  You want that?  Are you sure?  It’s big.  Do you want the big one or the small one? 

Me: Yes, I want that.  I have 3 friends to share it with.

Lady: Ok, cool.  Just fill in this order form.

Me:  (Deep breath)  I’ll be right back.

At this point, I was ready to give up.  Pointing always works!  Luckily, the Restaurant Lady recruited another patron who spoke more English to help me.  Ah, Taiwan, always so helpful!

Me: I want that big bowl of shaved ice.

Helpful Girl: You want that?

Me: Yes.

Girl:  What do you want?

Me:  Umm, I want that big bowl of shaved ice.

Girl:  It has fruit on it.

Me: I know. I want that one. In the picture.

Girl: Do you want the big one or the small one?

Me: The big one. I want the big one in the picture.

Girl: Do you want ice?

Me: Yes, I want mango shaved ice.

Girl:  Do you want white ice or regular ice?

Me: Wow, how can there possibly be this many questions about a bowl of mango shaved ice?  I want whatever is in that picture.  Or in that bowl right there on that table that the other people are eating.  I want to eat that.

Girl: Oh, you want the same thing as this picture right here?

Me: (Sigh) Yes, that is what I want.

It was AAAAALLLLLLLLLLL worth it!  Check out this little bowl of heaven!

Worth the effort

Rejuvenated by our delicious bowl of shaved ice, we hiked up to the British Consulate at Takou.  The cherry blossom trees were in bloom, and there were great views of the harbor.  I kinda want to live there. 

British Consulate at Takou

View of Kaohsiung harbor

I could live here. Easy.

Thanks to my Lonely Planet Guide, I knew where to go for a relaxing and delightful dinner.  We took a cab up and down some winding roads over to a small fishing village right on the shore.  The cabbie dropped us off partway down and pointed us in the general direction of the restaurant.  Apparently the remainder of the roads were too steep, winding, and narrow.  It made for a beautiful and quaint walk, though.  We arrived at Escape 41 and chose a seat out on the patio (in February!!) to watch the sunset.  We ordered beers and appetizers and took in the view.  At some point, the sun slipped behind a cloud or perhaps a layer of that Taiwan haze that seems to be ever-present, and the sunset abruptly disappeared before completion.  But we were not irked -- we had the best pizza in all of Taiwan to console us!  

View from our table

Last bit of sunset

Escape 41

Exhausted and buzzing with the thrill of living life to the fullest in Kaohsiung, most of us turned in early and slept like rocks.  Our weekend in the south of Taiwan was sensational, and it made me wonder: is there a career that involves ALWAYS being on vacation?  Because I think I’d be pretty good at it.

Taiwan Lantern Festival

The Chinese Lantern Festival is held on the 15th day of the first month of the lunar year.  This year, it fell on February 6th.  Chinese New Year was officially January 23rd (remember.... I went to the Philippines???), and 15 days later is February 6th.  That’s your math lesson for today.

Here in Taiwan, the national festival is celebrated for two weeks in a different city each year.  This year, it was in Lugang, a city in Changhua County.  Lucky for me, I have a couple friends living in Changhua!

After a short bus ride from Changhua to Lugang, my friends and I walked around the (very) crowded streets of Lugang, decorated with lanterns like nobody’s business.  

Lugang

Lanterns, lanterns, everywhere!

Wonder what the city paid for electricity during the festival...

Lanterns!

2012 is the Year of the Dragon, so most of the lanterns had a dragon theme. 

Dragon lantern 

Mario coin dragon??

Scarier than King Kong

Rarrr

We wandered around town, snaking our way from lantern display to lantern display.  We decided to take a break in a courtyard near the city stadium, so we sat down on some benches.  At just that moment, a fireworks show began -- all around us!  We were right in the middle of the show, with fireworks shooting off from the tops of four building in front of us and to our left and right.  I didn’t know which way to look! 

Kind of blurry, but you get the idea

Next, we headed into the stadium to see the HUGE dragon lantern, the main attraction of the festival.  Thousands of people were packed into the arena to see the dragon light show.  

Our legs and eyes were exhausted from all the walking and millions of lights.  But our journey was not over!  We found our way to the line for the bus back to Changhua..... where we stood for the next two hours!  At least we had a nice view of the deer lantern, in honor of the city of Lugang, which translates to “deer harbor.” 

Oh, deer!

There must have been a million people waiting for the buses to various destinations away from Lugang.  But the lines were quite orderly, and in true Taiwanese laid-back form, no one was angry or outraged at the extended waiting time.  Check out this little clip of the lines moving towards the buses.  Oh, by the way, we had already waited about an hour and a half before we got to this point..... 

Another wonderful adventure in beautiful Taiwan!  

I heart Taiwan! 

Even the dinosaurs agree

Samantha in the Philippines

Here in Taiwan, there is no time off from work for Christmas or New Year’s.  So, we Westerners were all excited to have a week off to observe Chinese New Year.  I packed my (huge) bag and left on a jet plane to the Philippines with five friends. 

Liza, Me, Vanessa, Megan, Conor, Janet

Thanks to Janet and her welcoming family, this trip was one of the best travel experiences I’ve ever had.  Janet’s family picked us up from the airport, treated us to several meals, let us stay in their Manila and Anvaya Cove condos, drove us around the Philippines, and acted as our private guides to many parts of the Philippines!  

We woke up the first morning and headed off to Tagaytay to see Lake Taal and the Taal Volcano.  Taal Volcano erupted most recently in 1911 and has been active since.  There are 47 craters and 35 volcanic cones.  Apparently, it’s one of the world’s deadliest volcanoes.  Cool.  

Lake Taal with Taal Volcano in the background

After a bangka boat ride across Lake Taal, we saddled up on donkeys to trek up the island to the top of the volcano. 

Bangka boat ride on Lake Taal

Donkey ride up to Taal Volcano

Hi-yo, Silver!  Away!

At the top of the ridge, we looked out over the yellow sulfurous lake that lies inside the volcanic crater.  In the crater lake is another island.  Crazy!  We were on an island in the Philippines (which is surrounded by the South China Sea), standing on a volcanic island in a lake, looking out over an island in the crater lake of the volcano.  Did you get all that?  There’s an island in a lake, in a crater of a volcano, in a lake, on an island, in the sea.  Whoa. 

Island in crater lake of Taal Volcano 

Sulfurous crater lake

Sunset on Taal Volcano

View of Lake Taal from Taal Volcano

The next day, we drove up to Subic Bay to stay at Anvaya Cove resort for a few days.  I think we were all in shock at how beautiful the resort was.  There were very few other guests while we were there, so it was almost like a private resort.  Just look at these pictures!! 

Lounging on the beach 

Anvaya Cove

Sunset

Anvaya Cove resort

Yep, that's real.

Pools at Anvaya

To reward ourselves for all our hard traveling, we booked massages at the spa.  Best. Hour. Of. My. Life.  That lady knew what she was doing (although I was more than slightly surprised at just how thorough the massage was....).

On our last morning at Anvaya, we kayaked out into the bay before saying goodbye with a ride on the zip line.  We ate one more delicious and unnecessarily large meal, then checked out and loaded into the car for a 5-hour drive north to Alaminos.

Kayaking with Janet.  (thanks for the picture, Vanessa!)

A trip with this group of friends isn’t truly complete without a ridiculous karaoke session, so it was off to late-night Videoke.  We were excited to have a larger variety of English-language songs to choose from than KTV in Taiwan typically offers.  Frank Sinatra and the Backstreet Boys can get a little old.....

Philippines debut!  (photo credit goes to Janet!)

The next morning, we all made a pact not to shower and loaded ourselves back into the car to go shopping for island provisions.  Supplied with a couple gallons of water and 17 pounds of fruit, we hired a boat to take us out to Hundred Islands National Park.  Lucky for us, Janet had ANOTHER family member willing and able to show us the ropes.  Cousin Howie and his “assistants” took care of us for the next two days.

Aboard the outrigger, boating away from the shore, we got our first glimpse of Hundred Islands.  In fact, there are 123 islands (124 at low tide!) in the park.  Of course we didn’t go to all the islands, but take a look at the islands we did see!  

Hundred Islands National Park 

HINP

Check out the mushroom effect!

HINP

Our first adventure was on Marcos Island, where we went cave diving!  Well, we didn’t really dive, but we certainly jumped!  After a short hike up the island, we came into a dark cave with bats flying all around.  With no fear, Conor jumped off the ledge and into the water below.  I was up next, but I was slightly less uninhibited.  Surprise, surprise.  It took me a couple moments of self-talk and a few hesitations before I finally took the leap.  The three seconds between my feet leaving the ledge and my head popping back up from under the water were some of the most terrifying and simultaneously exhilarating of my life.  I immediately wanted to do it again!  The rest of the gang jumped as well, and we all decided to go back to the boat, grab our snorkels, and jump again.  

Liza captured the moment before I jumped!

Next up was more snorkeling, this time in a giant clam bed.  I’ve been snorkeling before, but I’ve never seen such beautiful coral and colorful fish!  Oh yeah, and those giant clams.  Let me tell you, they were big.  The jellyfish were also plentiful, and that put an end to my snorkeling session.

Back on the boat, we headed over to Quezon Island, our home for the evening.  It was like living with the Swiss Family Robinson.  The island has a public picnic area and a little shop where you can buy snacks and drinks.  But we hard-core island hoppers decided to rent out one of the bamboo huts to sleep for the night.  After climbing up a set of carved-rock steps, we came to our private paradise. 

Inside the hut 

Our formal dining room

Home, sweet bamboo hut!

View from the "backyard"

Quezon Island

Public picnic area

View from the hut

This way to the store!

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and drank maybe a few too many beers while watching the sunset.  I decided to swim out from the shore while the sun was going down, and if you have never been IN the ocean as the sun is setting over the horizon, I would highly recommend it.  Breathtaking.  After the sun was down, the stars came out.  At this point I think I had probably drank too many beers and too much tequila-coconut concoction, but I remember laying on the beach, looking up at the sky, and proclaiming, “There are stars BETWEEN the stars!”  You just don’t realize how many stars there are when they are always drowned out by ground light in the city!

As if the twinkling stars above me weren’t enough, the tide rolling in on the beach was also glittering!  Little blue specs of light washed up with every wave.  According to my research, this is caused by either phosphorus or bioluminescence.  I don’t have any pictures, but here’s a video of the phenomenon in Australia.  But the experience we had was much more awesome -- the tide was sparkling! 

The next morning, we woke up with the ocean breeze and set about relaxing and eating illegal giant clam.  Don’t ask where we got it.  No one had a watch.  Cellphones were all dead.  We were on Island Time.  

Some time in the afternoon, we packed our things and set sail for more Hundred Islands sightseeing.  Our first stop was a snorkeling/spelunking adventure in a “secret” cave.  We swam into a cave, fighting the current trying to smash us against the rocks and coral.  Once inside the cave, we stood atop a large rock and watched as bats flew above our heads (and probably pooped on us).  But this was not “secret” enough for our secret cave trip.  We were guided through an even smaller and more dangerous cave passage to a small hole just large enough for a set of broad shoulders to pass through.  Still fighting the current, I popped my head out of the hole and pushed myself out onto the other side of the island.  We had swam UNDER the island!  Crrrrrrrazy!  Swimming around the island to get back to the boat, we did more snorkeling and got stung hundreds of times by tiny jellyfish!

Our final hop was to Governor’s Island.  This island provided magnificent views of the national park.  I was told you can see 70% of the Hundred Islands from the viewpoint.  

Governor's Island 

Hundred Islands National Park

HINP

HINP

Governor's Island in Hundred Islands National Park

A quick shower, a little souvenir shopping, and a six-hour bus ride put us back in Manila for the weekend.  Our last day in the Philippines was Janet’s birthday, which gave us a perfect excuse to celebrate the person who made this entire trip happen!  Without Janet and her amazing family, there’s no way this journey would have been as exceptional was it turned out to be!  Salamat!  

Salamat, Janet!!