DAY 2 - 23/06 KAOSHIUNG

DAY 2 - KAOSHIUNG

Day 2 saw us up and early for breakfast at the hotel. Urhmmm....taiwan style porridge for breakfast, not really for me cos the condiments for the porridge are not very 'me'. So i just grabbed some toasted bread and coffee and hoped to find something else to munch along the way.

Our first stop was to the Kaoshiung Railway Station to buy train tickets for tomorrow's ride to Hualien and onwards to Taipei. The train (自强号) ticket costed us each: from Kaoshiung to Hualien was NT718 (abt Sin$33.55), and from Hualien to Taipei was NT445 (abt sin$20.79).

With that settled, we bought a separate train ticket (this time is their so called MRT ) at NT15 (abt $in$0.70) to Zoying 左营station for the start of our 'very hot' sight seeings...hahahahaha. The MRT carriage is very clean, very much like our MRT...so the short ride was comfortable and us behaving very much like tourists....hahahaha

Zoying 左营station is where we got off to go to 莲池潭our first place of interest to visit. At the station, we met a super friendly 'ticket conductor' who offered us directions to destination.

One look and he knew we were tourists. I asked him back for my train ticket stubs for momento purpose and he readily offered to stamp the stubs with the 左营 logo. HAHAHA, and not only that, he even offered to be our cameraman and took some pictures for us at the train platform. in the end, he also became a part of our photo. Thank you, sir!
The long walk to 莲池潭 was no joke at all under the SUPER HOT sun! Sweat,sweat,sweat and more Sweat! Not much scenery to see during the walk, unless you want to consider The Kaoshiung American School, a broken down army truck, a flat top tree, humongous water melons to be some 'views' to offer....NAH!

Finally upon reaching our destination, wah...got scenery to see liao....As the name mentioned : 莲池潭, is a natural lake and that once provided water for the nearby farms.
Around 莲池潭, we visited these places of interest:

春秋阁 ：民国42 年建造的中国宫殿式楼阁，是为了纪念武圣关公而建 but both pagoda tower were under major re-construction when we were there, so couldnt take shots of the interiors.
Well, can only refer to my travel guide for pictures, i guessed..Sigh!

OK, next : 五里亭：三层的亭阁 and linked to 春秋阁through a meandering bridge across the lake. Super windy here and Lydia's mum's hat actually flew off into the lake..alamak! bon voyage, hat! We didnt know that water in this lake is shallow cos until we saw white storks standing on the water only half submerged. At first we thought : 'WAH..the storks all got 轻功 is it? can stand on water some more...'

Hahahaha 'laughed die me' ....... 笑死我！

Temples are abundance in this area in all sizes, and this one is one of the most magnificent looking one, which is just across the street from 五里亭.

启明堂 ：三层大殿，每 年 农历4月14日开堂记念日和6 月24 日关帝诞辰时便有很多进香 的人潮. As you can see from this photo, on a regular weekday,

it was hardly crowded.

As the sun rose higher over our heads at noon, the more 'dehydrated' we got...

And, as if our complaints were heard...*TINK TINK* a mobile dessert stall appeared before our eyes!!! YES! YES! YES!

Wah, shioker man....although ice kacang or chendol would be great!
Well, beggers cant be choosers at this point of ' life & death'... hahahaha....

While enjoying our 'cooling' effects, i noticed a fat cab driver hanging around very close to us...I knew he was waiting for our 'business' . Our initial plan was to go to 西子湾风景区 which was like a seaside kinda of thingy... But the dessert stall owner dissuaded us from going saying that place is passe liao..she suggested we go to DREAM MALL 梦时代 instead. According to her, it is the "IN' thing in Kaoshiung now.... Opened only in May this year, it is a mega mall that housed a ferris wheel on its roof top...Hmmmmm, this we gotta see since she said until 'got dragon got phoenix' - translate to hokkien dah!

So, the fat taxi driver got business liao...he even helped us 'radio' for another cab to send us all there..

So, this is the DREAM MALL, the so called most happening' mall in Kaoshiung now. My first feel for this mall, was that i thought i have came to Mid Valley Mall in KL..why huh? I guessed the similarity came from its vast surroundings and the size of the mall.

Hmmm...so where is the Ferris Wheel huh?

Waah....... the Ferris Wheel is hugh! And its on the roof top of the mall. Its like a FUN FAIR up there, with stalls selling food n stalls for games etc...

Oooooo! and the smell of the breaded deep fried hot dog coming from the stall next to me was IRRESSistable! Gotta have one....

Eeewww!Smelling it can be so deceiving, the hot dog tasted so-so only....luckily it wasnt expensive, and luckily i was really hungry from not much breakfast this morning.... OTHERWISE!

Hmmmm, inside the mall also so-so only, a mall is still a mall.. The only few shops that caught my eyes in there were: DAISO (yes, DAISO...we also have in S'pore, so wats so special about this one.....NOTHING lor, if u asked me but it seemed a rather popular shop here), BLUE STAR (fashion shop), DAVID'S (figurines shop), Adidas (Beckham was spread across the window display), the Cinemax (just because Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix's standee poster was simply awesome!), the book shop (cant remember the name of it) where i bought stationeries and a TVBS

magazine jus becos 星光帮的杨宗维和萧敬腾were on the magazine cover! Actually i liked Mr 萧 more...

**IMPORTANT: oh, hey WeeLin / Indra, am i infringing any copyright issue by publishing this HP photo here? You are the expert here, let me know ok? Heh heh, my 'source' have replied that it is ok....

We took a short break at a cafe on the basement of the mall to rest our tired feets and to sip tea and coffee and to 'relac' a little. We also tried the famous grilled pig's trotters (aka German style i think) from a push cart stall there...taste yummy but according to Lydia it's not the best compared to those she tasted when she last came to Taiwan. It's ok, i told her cos me not a fan of tee kar (pigs leg in hokkien, opps! sorry..pig's TROTTER)

Well its about time we head back to Kaoshiung Train station cos we have some more places yet to cover. We took the free bus service from outside the mall which will bring us straight there. Will walking the short distance to KS station, we popped in a CD shop to look-see look-see. But my look-see look-see ended up buying 张震岳's best collections and 苏打lyu (green) albums (not available in S'pore). Disappointed that they dont have TANK's latest album.

Our last destination to end the day is to 爱河 yah, its called LOVE RIVER in English...so corny hahahah...

Ay....no photo to see here cos so dark in the night, plus me no skill to shoot night scene. Basically, its a river (obviously!) that you can pay and take the river boat to tour around it. Its very much like our Clarke Quay/Boat Quay except, they have more to just pubs and eateries here. Along the river,you will see Kaoshiung Museum of History, The Music Centre, Kaoshiung City Film Library etc...you will experience all sorts of basking activities...classic example is a cross dressing fat guy in bustier dress, dancing to 蔡依琳的'舞娘'....GOSH, minus his look, his figure, his dress, he is pretty much a good dancer i must say. **APPLAUSE** for his courage!

Ok, with many stomachs chorusing a symphony of protests, we headed out to look for food! Ended up in a local eatery called 发呆or 阿呆 something。。。their homemade noodles were good, so were the condiments. Menu also very 'creatively' interesting...i posted the photos online at snapfish.com too.

After dinner, with still some energy left, we headed for our REALLY REALLY last place for the night..heheheh..seemed like there is no last place at all.....hahahahaha.....

光华夜市 was where we headed for at 三多二路。Pretty much the same as 六合夜市 we went last night, so i didnt really paid much attention to it. Plus so full from the dinner just now, food definitely is not my interest now. Until we spotted this cool blue VESPA....Chris Wee will like this, lets take a photo for him. Yeah!

Back at the hotel, started packing my luggage cos early tomorrow morning we will be taking the train and heading to HUALIEN. I am so bashed tonight...marathon walking, scorching sun, tired feet, smelly tee! Awwww....Eewww!

I have only 2 words for Kaoshiung's weather : I SURRENDER!

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