Last Saturday, 12/21/13, I went down to the opposite side of the country. A friend and I took the High Speed Rail 高鐵 which travels at ~180mph, and it took us 1.5 hours to get down there.
I had planned out an itinerary based around one subway stop, the Xiziwhan Station 西子灣.
It wasn’t raining. It was a bit sunny, then mostly cloudy of the day. The spoiled Southern Californians rejoiced at cloudy weather. We had endured two weeks straight of rain in Taipei. Humbled SoCal cats.
We first went to Pier 2 駁而 and walked around the harbor. We then went into a small town and ate some curry lunch. Food prices were cheaper here than in Taipei. Most people also spoke Taiwanese, which I really appreciated. Felt much more home-y.
Afterward, we walked through an outdoor food market and bought some fruits. I still don’t know what they’re called, not in Mandarin nor English. Just know they tasted good.
Next came the West Bay area, with a gorgeous view of green ocean water, windiness, and two cliffs. We then scaled several flights of stairs and emerged on top of the old British Consulate 打狗英國領事館. Offices on the top floor, and the prison on the bottom floor. A lot of history, but I didn’t read through the pamphlet or the signs to absorb it all.
The entrance of the British Consulate, after we had finished touring. I only started taking pictures at this part of the day. I was trying the “absorb everything, rather than taking an abundance of photos and not appreciating the moment.”
Afterward, we briefly walked through Sun Yat-sen University, 中山大學, which I later found out was my cousin’s alma mater. Nick, you went to a wonderful looking university in a beautiful place.
We then took a taxi to Shoushan Mountain aka Mountain Mountain 壽山.
Wild monkeys everywhere. Sitting on benches. Running around the streets. Walking by us, not further than one foot away. These guys didn’t care about us at all.
Literally the Crispin and Andy of monkey massagers.
That little dude seriously DGAF.
媽媽還有徳徳.
After that, we went to the Martyr’s Shrine 忠烈祠, which was a temple built symbolizing the Japanese occupation of Taiwan back then. We also had a view of the Kaohsiung skyline.
Kaohsiung is beautiful. I didn’t realize how expensive the high speed rail was. $109 round trip. I could fly from Long Beach to Oakland for cheaper. I’ll book ahead of time in the future when I visit my cousin Gina.
When we got back to Taipei in the night, you guessed it. Rain. I hate the rain.
Andy Cheng 