A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 4 - March 10, 2009)

Today is our last day in Kaohsiung. We did not plan a lot of activities today as we had to pack and check out this afternoon. We just decided to hit the mall and see the famous Hello Kitty ferris wheel in Dream Mall.

As usual, we headed to the R9 Central Park MRT station and took pics again. The building in the background is the Tuntex Sky Tower, the tallest building in the city. Beside it at the right is Talee Star Place, a building that has different glowing colors at night. I tried to take pics of these at night but could not capture them well.

Who would have thought we would chance by some news event on the way? There seem to be a protest on Tibet that day right in front of the R9 station entrance. It was not alarming or scary anyway as it looked like a peaceful protest. There were even kids around about to have a field trip that day.

To get to Dream Mall, the nearest MRT station is R6 Kaisyuan station. From the map though, it looks like it is still quite a long walk from there. Upon exiting through Exit 3, we saw a small coaster bus waiting outside and a guy calling for people to take a ride. Fortunately for us, we learned it was a free shuttle to Dream Mall! 

Upon arrival, you'll notice the place is surrounded by trees and mini-parks. Neat! Dream Mall reminded me of the Greenbelt Mall in Makati. 

The mall is not very wide as Megamall or Mall of Asia in the Philippines, but it is high. It has a total of 11 floors. Inside they have outdoor cafes which are open-air at the center. At the top, particularly the rooftop, there is a mini-amusement park where the Hello Kitty ferris wheel is located.

On our way to the lower floors to get to the food court, we saw this circle that seemed like a small pool from the top. Am not sure if it was supposed to be a fountain.

For lunch, there are a variety of cuisine to choose from. I ordered a large serving of noodle soup with spicy dumplings for NT$99 while Rene ordered a breaded pork chop meal also for around NT$100. I liked my order but Rene's order did not seem very good.

  

Inside the mall, we chanced by another establishment that means another thing in the Philippines. I don't know what Utong means in Taiwan or maybe it's a name but in Filipino that word refers to the nipples.

We then went to the top floor by taking an elevator (I think it's not accessible by escalator). There were very few people around and most were just families with kids. It was not too sunny but it was still difficult to look up at the high Hello Kitty Ferris wheel. After sitting for awhile and taking pics around, we decided to call it a day and went back to the apartment to pack up and leave for the airport.

  

After checking out and locking the apartment, we passed by the Kaohsiung 202 lobby to drop off the key. Before leaving, a young Canadian guy was talking to Rene whom he met a week earlier and we learned he was looking for work there. He was planning to stay there for a month and he already rented a scooter which he said can be rented weekly, monthly depending on you. Well too late for that, we were already about to leave. That would be a good option if you're planning to go around a lot as we did. It would be more economical and convenient. I forgot though the price he quoted.

Going to the airport, we just took the MRT since the exit (exit 6) directly leads to the airport departure area. Upon arrival, a Filipino immediately approached us if we can accommodate their additional baggage for checkin with us. It looks like this is a common occurrence already as I also experienced this on my way here. We were ok with it and later she treated us a drink while waiting for our plane to arrive.

Again the plane was quite spacious. And my husband and I had our row to ourselves around the front. Upon arrival in NAIA3, we took a taxi outside (which are cheaper) not at the arrival area (as the airport taxis are expensive).

Related posts:

A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 3 - March 9, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 2 - March 8, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 1 - March 7, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Preparation)

A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 3 - March 9, 2009)

As usual, we woke up late again. My feet are tired from all the walking and today is going to be another day of walking. We were afraid of taking the bus since most of the writings are in Chinese and not a lot of people understand English. That is why we have been stuck to walking and taking the MRT. Anyway it is a good exercise and it does not hinder me from seeing the sights and going around a new place. 

By now, we have been going in and out of the Central Park MRT station but there are still a lot of spots there to take pictures of. We also tried a different route from our apartment which is actually a shorter walking distance than where we have been used to walking. 

 

  

From R9 station we went to R16 Zuoying station, the nearest station to the man-made Lotus Lake. Going out of the station, we felt a little lost as there were very few people around (like it was in a ghost town) and we literally cannot find any sign leading to Lotus Lake. We saw the Train station though which is a separate railway from the MRT but is just right beside it. From there we walked for quite a bit and saw some signs leading to the Confucius Temple. This is good news, as I know this is just around the vicinity of the lake. After around 15-30 minutes of walking, we finally saw the huge lake. 

We came from MingTan Road (cannot recall anymore how we finally got there) which is just behind the Confucius temple. There were a lot of photo opportunities around the area. The place looked really serene and peaceful. Very few people were around. Unfortunately, the temple is closed. Probably because it is a Monday. I noticed from reading on the internet, that a lot of establishments in Kaohsiung (not sure if it applies for the whole of Taiwan) are closed on Mondays.

A view at the back of the Confucius Temple

 

My husband pretending to climb the Confucius temple gate

After taking some shots near the Confucius temple entrance, we walked around the path of the Lotus Lake. We sat for awhile in one of the benches to rest and again took some pictures of the nice view from that area.

Walking further south of the lake, we saw this huge Taoist god statue (called The Emperor of the Dark Heaven) and went to have a closer look. According to Taoist myth, he defeated the demon king and serves as a reminder that good always defeats evil.

  

We also saw this small lotus pond near the Taoist god statue pavillion entrance. It would look nice for a wallpaper.

 

A bit further south is the Tiger and Dragon pagodas. As they say for good luck, one must enter the Dragon and exit through the Tiger mouth. Rene is tempted to do otherwise, but I convinced him to do the safe way. We don't want to play with fire you know.

 

The walls have nice colorful paintings but we did not check closely if there was some story into it. I did read somewhere that it tells about China's 24 obedient sons and some scenes of heaven and hell.

 

Exiting the Tiger trail, we gave a little donation at the counter and we were given some nice postcards of the place. Afterwards we went up to one of the pagodas which reached up to 6th floor. The way up was all worth it when we saw the view from the top!

  

More views of the pagodas around Lotus Lake 

  

The Tiger and Dragon pagodas, a temple across the street from the pagodas, and some carved artwork on the zigzag bridge

 

The walls of the bridge have some carvings probably telling a story; Above another streetsign that Rene thought was funny 

Before leaving the area, we decided to check out the Old Fongshan wall as well. We sat by one of the benches first to take some rest.

The Old Fongshan wall is just about a block away from the southern edge of the Lotus Lake. I was a bit disappointed though. I was expecting it to be like the old walled city of Intramuros in Manila (which looked an old city by itself) but instead it was just literally a well-preserved wall. We still took some nice pictures though. You can still see the Dragon and Tiger pagodas from afar.

 

On our way to R15 MRT station, we took a late lunch in one of the sidewalk eateries, which was good. Each of us ordered a meal for NT$60 that already consisted of a chicken dish (Fried Salt and Pepper Chicken or Peking Duck), rice, 3 side dishes and an iced tea drink. It was delicious and very filling.

We went back to our apartment to rest for awhile so that we still have the strength to go to the Liouhe Night Market later. On our way back, we took a pic of these contrasting establishments. They are not located beside each other though, in case you were wondering.

A Toys of Lovers store and a nice Catholic cathedral in Kaohsiung city

The night was cold and windy as usual when we headed for the Liouhe Night Market. We went there around 8pm. Tonight we were not planning to shop a lot. Instead, we were planning to to a do lot of eating.

The place was colorful and alive. Although we found the place a bit small compared to other night markets we've been to such as those we found in Bangkok. It looked like it was just one street block so that when we reached the end of the road, we were quite disappointed that this was it. Nevertheless, we found a tasty looking seafood congee at the end of the street and decided to try it out. It is a bit expensive though at NT$90 each. After the congee, we also tried what looked like a lumpia / spring roll at NT$40. We also could not resist trying the strawberry topped strawberry ice cream costing NT$80. I guess we were not quite adventurous enough with the food we tried. Mostly because we cannot converse and read in Chinese.

 

Before going home, Rene also tried out the Taiwan beer which we bought at a nearby convenience store. That capped our 3rd day of touring around Kaohsiung.

Related posts:

A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 4 - March 10, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 2 - March 8, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Day 1 - March 7, 2009)
A few days in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Preparation)