Right next to the Kaohsiung Airport! Hippo butts (‘pigu’ in Mandarin). There’s so much innnteresting foliage in Taiwan I went a big crazy with the photos.
You thought it was a rock but it was a very cleverly disguised speaker!What fun texture is that? Hippo skin
Had a nice conversation with a Czech guy who was selling cake. This was a fine night market with lots of treats and I got some new summertime socks too!
These grapes covered in a candy glaze were fantastic! Definitely recommend
Woahhhh! Driving in Taiwan is a bit scary – mostly because of all the scooters! But I got roped into it. TRIAL BY FIRE!
The bank: If it doesn’t say ‘no parking’ – it’s parking!
Foreign traffic directions are fascinating to me!
Good Morning! This is the place we got a lot of our breakfasts from when we were in quarantine hotel
Customized scooter for the outdoorsy type
I haven’t been to Mos Burger since I was in Japan in 2019! Good to be back! And…this one sells produce? In case you want extra tomato I guess! For some reason they were playing “White Christmas” – in February!
Fascinating toothpastes!
So during the quarantine period I developed a severe stabbing pain in my back whenever I shifted my body while laying down. It didn’t seem to be going away so we went to the hospital to make sure it wasn’t anything serious. They put us in a little room off to the side, and they had to bring a mobile x-ray machine in because during quarantine I wasn’t allowed in the general hospital halls or areas. They scanned me, but apparently the x-rays didn’t turn out because I was too chonky. Not sure how that works but that was what was explained to me! So the doctor just gave me a bunch of pills and said I could come back for an MRI in 2 weeks, but by then we would no longer be in Kaohsiung so we just went ahead with our travel plans and I suffered through the pain. Seems whenever I travel there’s always some problem – when I was in Japan it was frozen shoulder. We paid them some money and then I was off to try to manage the paperwork for my travel insurance. Fun fun stuff!
My first subway trip in Taiwan! From the Houyi station to Pier 2, where we saw lots of weird art!
Of course there’s 7-11 kiosks in the station, and they had my favourite, chocolate covered grape gummies!
Near Pier 2 there’s a book store called Eslite which is kind of like Taiwanese Chapters. I bought some Traveler’s Notebook products and unbeknownst to me at the time, there was a promotion – we got 2 free beers!
Yes. At the book store.
Many cool things were seen
There was a food market area, and yet you weren’t supposed to take off your mask or eat the food they were selling. So confusing!A military presence!A tiny lighthouse!
As the sun went down we were treated to the light show. Here’s the Music Museum pre-dusk and at night. One of these is not my photo, can you guess which one?
At dusk we took a tram to the Lingya District (not far)
We met with my wife’s older sister and her family at the Canadian restaurant called Yaletown Bistro! We got the typical Canadian fare – poutine, Montreal smoked meat sandwich, and of course a Nanaimo bar! The owner is from Vancouver and was super friendly.
After that, we went home and distributed our gifts from Canada to the family.
Quarantine is over! It’s warmish outside! Kaohsiung is a noisy place! Finally I get to be outside in Taiwan during the day!
Outside Mom’s apartment.
First thing on the docket is to get a haircut. Pro tip: if you’re white, don’t go to this place
Not a great haircut, but you might see a corgi
I walked around and found my first street food – which was a drink – I got guava and yakult (yogurt), delicious.
Got to see our quarantine hotel from the outside. One of the things I looked at every day was the 9×9 stationary store across the street. This photo is from the door of that store. I bought pens!!
Royal Hotel – we spent 2 weeks trapped inside here watching the doves cavort in that tree.
Typical Kaohsiung street views – notice the abundance of scooters. Because of the pandemic, whenever you went into a business you were supposed to scan a QR code for the purposes of tracking any spread. Naturally me and my phone took forever to do this.
If this restaurant was open when I was nearby, I would have tried it.
Residents in Kaohsiung don’t have lawns, so they do what they can by having gardens in planters out front! Also check out the crazy trees!
AFTERNOON: ANPING OLD STREET, Tainan
Wife’s sister’s friend drove us 50 minutes North to Tainan City for the lantern festival. During the afternoon we walked about and found some fun places in Anping Old Street, including Miaoshou temple, a crazy soft serve ice cream shop, and some place with fun crustacean mascots.
Scooters are ubiquitous, and of course they have a scooter sharing programI picked up this cap from the market, which you will see me wear for the rest of the trip!
Sadly, the lantern festival was called due to rain, so at dusk we travelled to Ba-Wei hot pot/ginger duck restaurant on Anping Road where we met some of Erica’s old friends who luckily speak English!
The Anping Canal, unless I’m mistaken
Unfortunately comfortable seating is a rarity at these kinds of restaurants, as you can see the stools are tiny. I had hurt my back somehow during the flight and/or quarantine hotel and I had to stand up periodically to manage the pain.
A great first day out and about! By the way, if you come across these – they’re delicious. It’s like what if bubble gum ramune was an ice cream!
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