We decided to go on from Green Island to Kaohsiung since it was only a four hour train ride there as opposed to the longer train ride back to Taoyuan. Also my father had read a lot about Kaohsiung and was super excited to go there. So I booked us a room, booked us train tickets, and off we went.
The one bad thing about our trip to Kaohsiung was that I did not book an express train... ooooops. It ended up stopping every 20 minutes or so for at least five minutes, or more, at each stop. It was really annoying and we probably could've gotten there a lot faster but it was definitely a lesson learnt.
So we arrive in Kaohsiung and the hotel we booked at picked us up from the KMRT station. The staff at the hotel was super nice, even though they barely spoke any English, they were always trying. We didn't realize when we booked our hotel, but it was right beside Love River. Which is one of the main things we wanted to see in Kaohsiung. It was beautiful at night and we spent our night walking by the river and eating at a seafood restaurant close by.
The next day we checked out of the hotel, left our luggage there and off we went. First we went to Dream Mall. It is, apparently, the biggest mall in Southeast Asia and my mother wanted to do some shopping. It was a lot of fun and really big. While we were there, we went on a ferris wheel on the top of the building. People call it the Kaohsiung Eye, similar to the London Eye. It offered a really cool look at the city of Kaohsiung.
Next we went back to the hotel, picked our luggage up, and headed to Lotus Lake. We really wanted to see the Confucius Temple, along with the Lake itself. However the Confucius Temple was closed for renovations. So we made our way down the Lake and saw some beautiful temples and some great views of Kaohsiung.
After Lotus Lake, we were off to the High Speed Rail Station to come back to Taoyuan. Our travelling around Taiwan was finished and my parents still had a few more days left. We spent the rest of them relaxing after our long week of travelling, going to Taipei to see Taipei 101, and taking them to a nearby town called Yingge which is known for its pottery.
The South of Taiwan was amazing. So beautiful. The beaches were beautiful. The people were so nice and Spring Scream was amazing. Instead of talking about our time in the South in chronological order, I am going to talk about all the different places separately.
Our hostel wasn't right in Kenting, it was actually on Nanwan Beach which was fine with us because we loved being a walk away from a beach. Our hostel had such a surfer/party atmosphere, it was really great. They made us breakfast there everyday and they had the cutest dogs who were always around. We didn't have a private room at this hostel so all that was left was the dorm option which was okay with us. We weren't expecting anything special but we were shocked to find out that three of us were expected to all share, really, one bed. And one person was supposed to sleep on the top bunk next to someone random. Lucky for us we were travelling in a group of four so the four of us just split the bottom bunk, it was more than big enough. But I couldn't imagine what it would have been like if I was travelling alone and was told I had to sleep with someone I didn't know.
The beach in Nanwan was beautiful. It was always packed, and there was so much to do on the beach. You could rent a jet ski, or pay to have a jet ski pull you around on a tube but we just enjoyed the water. For 300 NT ($10), we rented a beach umbrella for the whole day. On one of our days there, it had rained a lot the night before so by the time we had gotten to the beach, the waves were massive. We all had an amazing time that day, even Shawn who usually doesn't even like to touch the water.
Going into Kenting was definitely an experience. The traffic was crazy and horrible all at the same time. The restaurants were so expensive and so were the shops. And yet I still had an amazing time. The atmosphere in Kenting is so carefree, it really just felt like I was on an all inclusive resort. While the food was expensive, it was also very good. We ate at Amy's Cucina and their hawaiian pizza was amazing. There were also so many food stalls. I was shocked to see deep fried Oreos in Taipei but in Kenting, there is at least 10 different stalls selling deep fried Oreos.
The final part of our trip was Spring Scream. Where they held the music festival was beautiful. And it was so much fun being there. Even though I didn't understand any of the music, it was such an awesome experience. So many young Taiwanese people and foreigners all in one place. The food stalls there were also amazing. We went for the make your own frozen yogurt every single day haha. I am so glad we decided to get the tickets and go to Spring Scream, it was definitely worth the money.
So ends our time in the South of Taiwan. We headed back to Taoyuan via bus and then the HSR and spent our last couple days with Shawn and Tarisha here.
Woke up early and flew off to Hualien. Literally. We could've taken a train but it would've taken 5 times as long and it wasn't that expensive to fly. So off we went. A half hour later, we had arrived in Hualien and headed to our hostel. Since we arrived at around 2PM, we decided to save Taroko Gorge for the next day and explore the city of Hualien. We grabbed a taxi, got dropped off in downtown Hualien and went walking. We ran into a beautiful Buddhist temple that was holding a ceremony right after we arrived and we stayed to watch for a bit at their request. It was very interesting to see.
As we continued on our way, we did a little shopping and then found the seaside. There were beautiful views of Hualien so we stayed there for awhile to admire the view and of course take a bunch of pictures. Looking at the pictures now, it still doesn't feel real how beautiful everything was.
Our first night in Hualien ended with a visit to the night market. The food was great, Rick and I finally got to try coffin bread (toast that is filled with your choice of filling), and we were definitely pleased with how amazing it was. While Tarisha and Shawn ventured far past what they are used to eating back home in Canada and got... pizza!
Our second day in Hualien was devoted to Taroko Gorge. The pictures speak for themselves. So beautiful and I can't wait to return with my parents, WHEN THEY COME IN JUNE!
After our long and amazing day in Taroko Gorge, we were headed to Kenting the very next day. My mistake was not booking a train beforehand. So when I went to book one that night, there were no more seats. There was standing room but an eight hour train ride standing was not what any of us had in mind. We ended up flying back to Taipei, and taking the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung and from there a two hour bus to Kenting. Finally, we had arrived in the South.
