Kaohsiung – Lotus Lake

On our first full day in Kaohsiung, we visited Lotus Lake, which is located near the Zuoying THSR station. I thought it was a delightful trip, although we weren’t entirely used to the weather yet. It was also a bit cloudy that day.

We started at the Dragon-Tiger Pavilion and worked our way down to the Confucius Temple.

Unfortunately, the Dragon-Tiger Pavilion was under renovation. For good luck, you are supposed to enter the dragon and exit the tiger.

A view of the Dragon-Tiger Pavilion from the Wuli Pavilion.

Here we approach the Spring Autumn Pavilion and the Wuli Pavilion on the pier.

The Spring Autumn Pavilion consists of two towers surrounding a statue of Guanyin on top of a dragon.

Turtles in the pool where the dragon sits.

We saw this Chinese version of the fortune teller in a box that you often see at American carnivals. We had to try it. You put $NT10 in the machine and think of your question really hard.

Then this lady comes out and drops your fortune that is rolled up in a tube in the slot.

Apparently you are supposed to pick a topic for your fortune, and the paper you get is organized by topic. My aunt read my fortune and said it was good. Of course, every single fortune you get in this machine is good.

We entered the dragon, which goes into a tunnel where the walls are garishly painted with Chinese gods. Inside there were piles of religious books that were free of charge. There was even a comic book version. I should have took one just for fun, but the heat was getting in the way of my thinking.

Qiming Temple and the Spring Autumn Pavilion from the Wuli Pier

Inside the Wuli Pavilion on the water – you can see the Beiji Xuantian Shang Di Pavilion

A picture of the painted walls inside the Wuli Pavilion

The next stop around the lake was the Beiji Xuantian Shang Di Pavilion, which has a large painted statue of the Emperor of the Dark Heaven. We were getting really hot at this point, so we didn’t stay long.

My uncle was telling me the story of the Emperor of the Dark Heaven (Xuantian Shang Di), which is a very interesting tale. From what I can understand and what I remember, the Emperor of the Dark Heaven was once an ordinary butcher. He felt repentant for killing so many pigs, however, that he did good deeds to make up for it the rest of his life. When he died he was raised to the status of a god for his good deeds. At some point he was given a sword or maybe just a scabbard, which he used to banish the monster kings from the human world, which are represented by the snake and turtle under his feet. This god is able to control the elements, especially fire. I think I messed up the story a little there, so I am open to any corrections.

Our last stop at Lotus Lake was the Confucius Temple, which was the most impressive part of Lotus Lake, in my opinion. The Confucius Temple is one of Taiwan’s largest, and is an impressive complex of buildings. It is hard to describe so I will just post pictures.

On Sundays, people gather on the grounds to dance with each other.

A side gate

Gate to the central temple complex

The Confucius Temple on Lotus Lake

Inside the Confucius Temple

View from Temple toward the entrance from which we came

Another picture of the Temple complex

All in all we really enjoyed this trip. Although some parts of the pavilions were rather garish and cheesy (like the fortune teller), it was a fun morning to poke around the different temples and pavilions. Charles and I especially liked the Confucius Temple, which was not cheesy at all.

Kaohsiung – Sightseeing

Despite its status as Taiwan’s second city, there are some interesting places to explore in Kaohsiung in terms of sightseeing. You can stroll along the banks of the Love River (Ai He), window shop at the well represented big departments stores that include Hansen (next to the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel), Da Li / Isetan, and Da Tong / President, hike the trails and see the pagoda at Cheng Ching Lake, and eat at the Liu He 2nd Street night market. In the outskirts of the city, Lotus Lake is a small lake surrounded by temples that is fun to explore, including a magnificent Confucius Temple. In addition, the Foguangshan Buddhist monastery is not far and is a worthwhile visit if you are interested in Buddhism and exploring the grand temple complex. Plus, if you want to see rhesus monkeys, there are lots at Shoushan Nature Reserve.

We didn’t really follow a sightseeing itinerary since I was more interested in seeing family while we were in Kaohsiung. However, we did manage to squeeze in a tour of Lotus Lake, a drive by Cheng Ching Lake, a look at the San Feng Gong temple and enjoyed the air conditioned havens that the department stores represented.

Todd from the Daily Bubble Tea did a nice post on Kaohsiung a while ago. He visited a lot of places that I didn’t cover, so for the sake of visitors who are thinking of going to Kaohsiung, I am linking his post here.

Here’s a bigger version of the map. Click here!

The series of posts on Kaohsiung are linked below:

Kaohsiung – Lotus Lake

Kaohsiung – Shopping Mall

Kaohsiung – A Local Temple

Kaohsiung – Old School Taiwan

NEW!  Kaohsiung – Night Markets

Kaohsiung – Old School Taiwan

We started our visit to Taiwan in Kaohsiung (Gao Xiong), where we have lots of family.  The Kaohsiung airport was a breeze; our luggage was delivered quickly and customs and immigration were a nonevent.  Best of all, there were no lines!

Kaohsiung is the second city of Taiwan, often in the shadow of the glitzy capital city of Taipei.  In addition to being the second largest city in Taiwan (and one of the largest container ports in the world), Kaohsiung is also the stronghold of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), aka the pro-independence green party.  The primary language spoken here is Taiwanese.  When mandarin is spoken, it is heavily accented by Taiwanese.  Kaohsiung is often overlooked because it’s not as tourist friendly for Westerners.  English is not as prevalent as in Northern Taiwan, and there are not as many tourist attractions.  However, coming to see this city will give visitors a glimpse into a completely different, more intense view of Taiwan. 

When I think of Kaohsiung, my mind brings up fond memories of summers spent with my extended family as a child.  Thus, a lot of our visit in this city consisted of visiting memories.  We did some sightseeing too, but that will be in the next post.

Liu He 2nd Street

Morning Market

My Favorite Bawan Stand

Bawan (Taiwanese for Rou Wan, or directly translated as Meat Ball), a Taiwanese delicacy and popular street food, is a ball of steamed rice dough usually stuffed with meat, mushrooms, and bamboo shoots.  Sometimes there is also garlic involved, and there are regional variations to this dish.  This is my favorite Taiwanese food, and oh my goodness it was good.  So good I had it two days in a row.  Charles also thought it was delicious, and said it was the best thing he had in Taiwan in terms of food.

Here is a freshly made batch of bawan.

My soon to be devoured Bawan in sauce.

A pretty apartment building.

Next: Sightseeing in Kaohsiung

Halo 3 Premiere

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! 

Since today is the worldwide premiere of Halo 3, I thought it would be appropriate to post these pictures I took while in Taiwan.  It seems that Halo 3 was much anticipated in Taiwan, since these displays were up on Friday and Saturday.

Here is the Halo 3 display in the underground mall at Taipei main station.

 

When we passed by the next day, a group of Halo 3 dancing girls were there too.  I love the guys behind them who are just as enthusiastic in their dancing.

There were also three stages set up on the street level outside Taipei main station, near the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi shopping mall that were also Halo 3 related.  Since it was raining pretty hard, I didn’t get a picture.

And, for the other gaming geeks out there, here is an ad for the World of Warcraft in Taiwan.  We saw this, of all places, on a random street in Lukang.

Cold Treats for the Hot Weather

Despite having been there before, nothing quite prepared me for the heat and humidity in Taiwan. The shock to Charles’ system was even worse. Imagine the hottest, most humid day in DC or in Chicago and add more humidity, more smog, and no air conditioning. That’s how it feels to step outside in Taiwan in September. The funny thing is that the Taiwanese residents seem to think that September is on the cooler side. We saw many people walking around in long pants and long sleeves! After the typhoon, people were wearing jackets.

It was difficult to get used to the weather, and took a day or two to not instantly sweat whenever we walked outside. When I say get used to the weather, I mean before we realized the importance of balancing outside sightseeing with inside air conditioning appreciation at shopping malls and museums. I can’t believe that most Taiwanese residents don’t use air conditioning. Even before the typhoon, which actually cooled things down quite a bit, it was really really really really really hot and humid. Then it was rainy and humid. Really rainy. No wonder the island is so green with vegetation!

One positive side effect of the heat is that Taiwan is a great place to find all kinds of cool drinks and cold snacks. In addition, this kind of weather, though punishing for humans, is wonderful for growing fruit and tea. The Taiwanese often say that the fruit here is sweeter and more abundant than anywhere else in the world. Mango, guava, papaya, dragonfruit, starfruit, custard fruit, Asian pear, lychee, and longan are everywhere, just to name a few.

Below are some cut dragonfruit and fresh longans. Delicious and fresh! Unfortunately for me, lychees, my favorite fruit, were out of season.

Iced tea is its own category here, with options from pearl milk tea to red tea to green tea to oolong tea to mint tea. The bubble tea phenomenon that is sweeping the Chinatowns of the U.S. originated in Taiwan.

The cold drink options in Taiwan are endless, as evidenced by the water and tea section in the local convenience store (the one with the half smiley face).

Lucky for me, in Kaohsiung my aunt knew all the best (and cleanest) places to buy food. This stand on a side street off Liuho 2nd Street in Kaohsiung sells a great grass jelly mint tea.

Like many drink stands in Taiwan, the mint tea is sealed with plastic on top. Since sanitation can be an issue at street stands, this is a welcome measure. You just poke your straw through the top anywhere. However, I think putting your sealed drink in an additional plastic bag as they also do here is a little over the top. The only reason I can think of why they do this is because of the condensation.

Cold treats are also available everywhere. The stand pictured below sells various red bean, green bean, taro, gelatin, and fruit ice drinks. We had some and it was yummy! This stand is located in Kaohsiung on one of the side streets behind the <name to be filled in> temple.

The best street stand cold treat, in my opinion, is Tzua Bing, or shaved ice. We had some every other day, and it is YUMMY! Each stand will have at least 6 toppings for you to choose from, including red bean, taro, green bean, taro, fruit, milk, and syrups. We stopped at one in Kaohsiung, but I forgot to take a picture. I was too busy eating!

Here is a picture of a tzua bing stand I found in the food court in the basement of Taipei 101. This particular dish is special because it features “snowflake” ice, or shaved frozen milk. It was delicious! Later I will wax poetic about the wonderful food court at Taipei 101, but that deserves its own post.

Snowflake Shaved Ice with milk and red bean topping.

I wish I could have one of these right now!

Back from Taiwan!

We are back from an exciting week in Taiwan! The good news is that we got to see lots of relatives, reconnect with friends, and see a Taiwan I haven’t seen in over a decade. The food was even better than I remember. The bad news is that Typhoon Wipha basically ruined all of our sightseeing plans for the week. This typhoon closed the stock market, schools, and businesses in the northern half of Taiwan before moving off to the coast of China where it was downgraded to a tropical storm. While the typhoon itself only lasted a day or two in Taiwan, it sent torrential rains that lasted for days. We were unable to make it to either Taroko Gorge or Jiufen, the two places I was most looking forward to sightsee. We did get to see Kaohsiung, Taipei, Yuanlin, and Lukang, however, and yes, I took lots of pictures!

Most importantly for my readers is that I have lots of fodder for blogging purposes, so stay tuned! In the meantime, I will leave you with this photograph of a wonderful traditional Taiwanese family meal we had while we were in Yuanlin.

– Sandy

Some Travel Tips for Flying

While flying gets us to our destinations faster than any other way, most people don’t relish being squeezed into narrow seats next to inconsiderate fellow passengers breathing canned air.  However, as many travelers know, a little planning goes a long way toward a smoother trip.  Below I have compiled some basic tips to maximize your peace and comfort and make the best of air travel.  Some of these are obvious, but for the sake of completeness I have included them.  Long haul flights, like the 21 hour flight we are doing soon (14 hour flight, then 2.5 hour layover, then 4 hour flight), deserve special consideration and preparation!

– Pick the best seat available on your flight.  Look up your reservation on your airline’s website.  Airlines usually provide the type of aircraft and what kind of food service to expect.  Armed with this information, you can then go to www.seatguru.com and look up your seat.  This great website displays the location of your seat, tells you where the bathrooms are, and includes comments about legroom, computer power ports, and other important information.  If you are seated in a poor seat, request a seat change.  Nowadays you can usually just change your seating assignment online, or if that doesn’t work, ask when you check into your flight.

– If possible, don’t check your bags and pack light.  This is, of course, not possible for some trips and is difficult for people with lots of liquid/gels/lotions.  However, with lines everywhere and the security situation these days, not having to wait in line to check your bag or pick it up is a serious time saver.  For people like myself that have lots of toiletries, you can get little plastic jars from Art stores (used for paint pigments) that are spill-proof and stick them into your plastic zip top bag.  For business trips, this is a must.

– Get comfortable.  With more travelers than ever these days, there are a TON of travel products out there that are designed to make travel a little less miserable.  The number 1 item for those that want to sleep on their flights is to get the ubiquitous neck pillow.  They are several kinds out there, from the type that inflate to ones with beads to super fancy tempurpedic pillows that also double as back support.  Also, bringing your own is more sanitary because at least you know where your pillow has been.

– Bring entertainment and snacks.  This is obvious but worth mentioning.  For the long hauls, there are lots of travel size games out there that minimize space and maximize fun.  Travel Scrabble, chinese checkers, playing cards are just a few examples.  Books obviously.  An ipod or equivalent can do double duty playing music and discouraging chatty neighbors.

– Maximize your laptop usage.  Look up wireless access availability at the airports beforehand.  This is pretty straight forward – just google your airport’s website.  For in seat laptop usage, you can buy a power adapter for airplanes.  Don’t forget to make sure that your assigned seat has a power port.  With a laptop, you do not have to be a slave to the airline’s entertainment choices.  Instead, you can watch the DVDs that you bring, play games, or catch up on your work.  Several airlines are looking into adding internet on flights, but none have yet.  This is definitely something to look forward to!

– Check out your airline meal in advance.  Then you can decide if you should bring your own food or not.  Again, first check your reservation online to determine if a meal will be served or not, and whether you have to pay for it.  Then go to www.airlinemeals.net.  This fun website features pictures taken by passengers of their airline food.  You can look the meals up by airline.

– Got a layover?  Explore the airport and surroundings.  This will take a little extra research, but if your layover is over 3 hours it is probably worth it.  Google your airport’s name with the word “layover” and see what pops up.  A great example is this definitive website on layovers at Narita:  http://www.mgnewman.com/narita/index.html.  Actually the mall in Narita is pretty good for an airport mall.  If you are thinking of leaving the airport, however, make sure you know the exit and entry requirements.

– Get an upgrade!  Just kidding.  Well sort of.  If you can afford it, many say this is worth the price for long-haul flights.  Having never sat in anything other than economy (or First Class on Southwest Airlines), I can’t tell if it’s worth it or not.  But I would love to one day sit in this part of the airplane. 

And the last tip is… please have your ID and boarding pass ready at the security gate and don’t clog up the lines at the security checkpoints!!! 

More places to see in Taiwan

Given our limited time, we had to forgo visiting many places we wish we had time to see in Taiwan. If time allowed, we would also visit these places:

Tainan (my biggest regret, but I have been there twice before)
Sun Moon Lake (at the Lalu no less, gee I wonder why we are not going)
Kenting
Yeliu/Yeliou and generally more of the North and Northeast National Scenic Areas
Alishan
Yangmingshan
and more…

Instead, I will leave you with a few photos and links to find out more about these places.

Tainan is the old capital of Taiwan, and is full of interesting temples and alleys. This city has great atmosphere, and reflects a lot of old Taiwan. Michael Turton has blogged quite a bit on Tainan, including these excellent posts: Dawn to Dusk in Tainan and Temples and Alleys in Tainan.

Sun Moon Lake (Ri Yue Tan) is widely considered one of the most beautiful landscapes in Taiwan. Todd went to Sun Moon Lake as part of a greater trip to Central Taiwan. The Lalu is the only 5-star luxury hotel in Taiwan, and it is sumptuous. If only we could afford the price tag! See pictures of Lalu here.

Sun Moon Lake
Photocredit: Hsu Ming-chao for Taiwan Govt Information Office

Kenting is the southernmost tip of Taiwan and a popular beach resort town. Hanjie posted some pictures here.

Kenting

Yeliu (Yeliou) is on the North Coast of Taiwan, and features some beautiful rock formations on the beach caused by erosion.

Yeliu / Yeliou
Photocredit: Wu Ci-jhang for Taiwan Govt Information Office

Alishan is the home of a historic narrow-gauge rail line that takes passengers up the mountain from rice paddies to evergreen and alpine forests. At the summit, you can gaze across the “sea of clouds” that is reminiscent of the view on the top of Mount Haleakula in Maui.

Alishan
Photocredit: Michael Cannings

Yangmingshan National Park is a popular day trip from Taipei, and features dormant volcanoes, hot-spings and lots of hiking.

Am I forgetting any other great sights?

Where to go, what to see in Taiwan

As I finish up reading all the guidebooks I bought for Taiwan (which, I know is overboard for one trip but this is my hobby), I keep wishing we could stay a few more days so that we can see more of Taiwan. Unfortunately, due to limitations to my vacation time, we can only go for about 1.5 weeks. I plan on going back again, as a lot of my relatives still live in Taiwan, but it will be several years at least.

Here are the places we are planning to visit in Taiwan:

Taipei – 2.5 to 3 days
Jiufen/Jingguashi – 1 day
Hualien/Taroko Gorge – 1 day
Lukang – 0.5 day
Kaohsiung – rest of trip
Night Markets

TAIPEI – Longshan Temple and the surrounding Wanhua district, National Palace Museum, Taipei 101, Ximending

Taipei 101
Photocredit: Alton Thompson under GNU

Longshan Temple
Photocredit: de:Benutzer:HJS65 under GNU

Ximending, Taiwan’s answer to Shibuya (Tokyo, Japan)
Photocredit: Diego Trazzi under GNU

JIUFEN and JINGGUASHI

Jiufen/Chiufen
Photocredit: This image has been released into the public domain by its creator, Kwb.

HUALIEN and TAROKO GORGE
Photocredit: Allen Timothy Chang under GNU

Todd did a great post on his visit to Hualien last year, with some gorgeous pictures.

LUKANG
Photocredit: Flora / Prattflora

Check out Craig’s beautiful 3 part photo series on Lugang.

Kaohsiung – Visiting family, shopping, Ai He

Liu He Night Market
Photocredit: Henry Trotter, 2003

Night Markets – In Kaoshiung, we are definitely going to Liu He 2nd Street Night Market. In Taipei, we are probably going to Shilin Night Market and the one next to Longshan Temple since we will be there already. I want to have the famous Ai Yu (Ay Yuh). I don’t know which night market is the best one in Taipei.

Readers, which night market is your favorite?

Holly has an interesting post about Shida’s night market this week.

We have figured out that we need to eat every two hours in order to try all the food that I want. I know it will be a challenge, but I am willing to sacrifice myself to do that. On Prince Roy‘s recommendation, I will NOT try the egg drop corn soup from McDonald’s, as cool as it sounds that McD’s actually sells this soup.