[TW; 2013] CNY Travels | Kaohsiung

DESTINATION 4: KAOHSIUNG
DAY1

#1 Taichung HSR > Kaohsiung HSR
Took HSR to Kaohsiung

$790/ adults, 44mins ride

Tried the HSR's bento. Delicious!

#2 Kaohsiung HSR > Sanduo Station > PonPonWoo (棚棚屋)
Check in to a hostel called PonPonWoo.

This is my very first time staying in a hostel and it is not that bad as i thought so.

棚棚屋, https://www.facebook.com/ponponwoo, NT$1700 for the wooden tent/night

As it was the first few days of cny so there was an increment in the prices. There are 2 types of tent; cloth tent ("single room") and wooden tent ("double room"). The interesting thing was sleeping in tent at an indoor room; it was not stuffy at all instead quite cooling.

But the toilets and tv area are all common areas, not suitable for people who like to have privacy. They have washing machine and dryer in the hostel. I have to comment that the toilets are many times cleaner than my school hostel. Highly recommended for people who like to go for a different kind of stay-out.

I did not take much photos... if you are interested and like to know more how the whole hostel look like, you can watch this youtube video.

The lady owner was quite nice, she gave us a map and explained some places of interest for us.

#3 Hostel > Japanese Restaurant
Headed to a Japanese Restaurant just below the hostel.

We had to grind the sesame seeds in this special bowl for the making of sauce.

Japanese Steamboat and Lobster salad.

The whole meal, 3 set meals with a few side dishes costed around S$60~70? Pretty cheap.

#4 Japanese Restaurant > Liuhe Night Market

 

The most beautiful Metro Station in the world.

 

The great-oh Liuhe Night Market. Yes, opens on the first day of CNY.

Ate lots of stuffs. My mum just kept ordering and ordering everywhere we go.

And we ended the day 1 at kaohsiung at Liuhe NM.


DAY2
#1 Hostel > Cijin Island > Cijin Seafood Street
Next day we decided to head to Cijin Island!
Took the metro to Sizihwan (西子灣) Station and just followed the crowd to the ferry terminal.

There are signs hanging along the streets and because of the cny crowds there were even police to direct the crowd. Walked around 10~15mins. Lots of bicycle shops and food stalls along the journey.

Queued for 20~30mins due to the super pack crowd. The ferry interval was super short, just a few minutes difference.

NT$15 for adults, NT$12 for students, NT$8 for children/ride. Payment by coins or metro card. Ferry ride 5~10mins.

TIP: If you to save a bit of money, rent a bicycle from the shops on the way to the ferry terminal. The price was NT$100 for one whole day. Then you can board the ferry for free! Anyway you will need to rent a bicycle to travel around Cijin and the bicycle rental is much higher over at Cijin.

One of the main streets of Cijin Island...

The famous-old temple over at Cijin...

Had lunch over there... all the seafood priced at NT$100 per plate.

Free flow of rice. This lunch costed less than S$50.

#2 Cijin Seafood Street > Cijin Windmill Park

There is a stretch of food stalls after the Seafood Street. A night market in the day time!

We decided to rent a family bike and cycle to the Windmill Park... The places we passed by.

Finally after 20~30mins of slow cycling... Cijin Windmill Park!

#3 Cijin Windmill Park > Cijin Seafood Street > Cijin Ferry Terminal
After that we cycled back to return our bike, it was pretty late so we decided not to cycle to the lighthouse (such a pity!).

We were hungry so we went to eat at those food stalls near Seafood Street.

蚵仔煎!

Some fusion food of taiwanese and korean. We ordered the mix type, and there was rice cakes, sweet&sour vegetables and etc. Not that bad. And there was quite a long queue for this.

Fried Banana? Not that bad too!

#4 Cijin Terminal > New Jyuejiang Shopping Area (新堀江商圈) > Sanduo Station

So crowded! We just walked around and shopped for a few clothes.

And we had this crazy idea of walking back from Central Park Station to Sanduo Station.
So we started walking... and it took 30~40mins. If we took the metro it will only take 10mins.

Hungry after the whole crazy idea. So we had dinner a street across our hostel. Yes, food again.
And we ended day2 with a satisfied stomach!


DAY3

#1 Hostel > Sanduo Shopping District

Went breakfast at MY 21 CENTURY fast food restaurant. Fried chicken and pizza in the late morning.

We had to wear gloves to eat the chicken. So interesting!

#2 Sanduo Shopping District > Dream Mall
Next stop, Dream Mall.

Exit at Exit1 for the Free Shutter Bus.

Long queue for the Shuttle Bus cause it was cny. Taxis were offering NT$100/cab to Dream Mall.

Im not sure whether it was because of cny, but the shutter bus drop off and pick up points are a street across of the mall. 2years ago it was just right beside the mall. So we had to cross the road.

Some places to visit at Dream Mall. Especially Doraemon Store for my sister; they had this cny goodie bag for NT$1000 and there were alot of Doraemon merchandises in the bag. And we did some instant lucky draw and won pricey stuffs like Doraemon watch.

Hmm... lunch. The queue was invisible as they gave out vibrator instead of numbers so we had no idea how many people was infront of us. Waited very long for the food. And the food we bought in Dream Mall are actually more expensive than other shopping centres selling the same food.

The famous hello-kitty ferries wheel at the rooftop of the mall.

#3 Dream Mall > Lotus Pond
Took the metro to Zuoying Station.

Exit at Exit 2.

Took a bus, bus301 to Lotus Pond. There was another bus heading to Lotus Pond, 紅51 (RED51). As we went without preparing, there was actually a one-day package around the Lotus Pond, unlimited bus rides for a reasonable cost. Anyway we did not know where to alight, no guidebook or whatsoever to help us, so I asked the grandfather sitting next to me where to alight for lotus pond. He was like "follow me! (in chinese)", when we alighted he kept turning back to ensure that we are following him or crossing the road safely. Such a cute grandfather.

This was what I saw when I alighted the bus.

So if you are heading to Lotus Pond, dont panic that you will miss the stop, the Lotus Pond stop is quite prominent. Just press the bus bell when you see this 2 tower.

Map of the Lotus Pond. Super large area to cover!

The dragon & tiger tower.

Some pretty scenery of Lotus Pond.

Ice Cream for my sister!

There was a 'night market' over there. A lots of food and random kind of stalls. And there was this stall where the man was displaying his supernatural powers; interesting!

#4 Lotus Pond > Ruifeng Night Market

After which I insisted of leaving as I want to go Rueifong Night Market. Cause during the previous trip I did not make it for that Night Market.

We tried to figure out our way out from the 'night market' and onto a random street. Luckily we found the bus stop of bus301 that will passby 巨蛋站 (Kaohsiung Arena Station).

bus301, Bus Route, around 20~30mins bus ride

Rueifong Night Market! (cries) I'm finally here!

But the crowd was horrible! So crowded!

But we did manage to squeeze in and had 2 sets of steamboat for NT$150 each.

My sister bought this piggy egg cake with some flavouring within it, which was so yummy!

And we ended the day at the shopping mall, Hanshin Arena, which is near Rueifong NM.


DAY3

Next day we had breakfast at my favourite hangout place for breakfast in kaohsiung which is this soya milk stall on lingya street(?).

After that we're ready to head to Taipei!

EXTRA!!

This is a picture I took from the metro station. (click to enlarge) The rough guide which metro station to alight for all the possible place of interest in Kaohsiung.
*Note for Lotus Pond, it is also possible to alight at Zuoying station and travel to there.

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