Day 1, part 1 (10 Oct 2010) – Arrival in Taipei, Xi Men Ding
Day 1, part 2 (10 Oct 2010) – Taipei: CityInn Hotel Plus
Day 1, part 3 (10 Oct 2010) – Taipei: Xinyi

Day 2, part 1 (11 Oct 2010) – Jingtong
Day 2, part 2 (11 Oct 2010) – Pingxi
Day 2, part 3 (11 Oct 2010) – Taipei: Miramar Shopping Mall, Shilin Night Market

Day 3 (12 Oct 2010) – Alishan

Day 4, part 1 (13 Oct 2010) – Alishan, Yushan
Day 4, part 2 (13 Oct 2010) – Alishan: Shermuh station
Day 4, part 3 (13 Oct 2010) – Kaohsiung: Dream Mall, Sanduo Shopping District

Day 5, part 1 (14 Oct 2010) – Kaohsiung: Lotus Lake
Day 5, part 2 (14 Oct 2010) – Kaohsiung: Lotus Lake
Day 5, part 3 (14 Oct 2010) – Kaohsiung: New Juejiang Shopping Area, Cijin, Love River

Day 6, part 1 (15 Oct 2010) – Tainan: Fort Provintia
Day 6, part 2 (15 Oct 2010) – Tainan: Confucian Temple
Day 6, part 3 (15 Oct 2010) – Tainan: Anping Tree House, Tait & Company, Siaobei Cheng Kung night market

Day 7 (16 Oct 2010) – Taipei: Guang Hua Computer Market
Day 8 (17 Oct 2010) – Taipei: Girls Generation Concert, Taipei Flora Expo Concert

The concert was held at Taipei Arena (1st time that we went there~) and it was at a walking distance from the Nanjing East Road metro station. There were no directions from the station but we headed the  correct way by following some people who looked like they were going for the concert too.

It starts at 15:00 and we went there early to collect our tickets from the counter for international reservations. The place was full of people dressed in pink – the color of Girls Generation! There were also the usual vendors selling lightsticks, etc, and the authorities chasing them off.

After that, we went into a nearby shopping mall to escape the heat and had lunch at a Hi Sushi – the sushi was quite good.

Back to the Taipei Arena, we bought pink lightsticks before we entered the venue. But they didn’t light up when we broke them!! Got cheated~~

At the concert entrance, we were given the lyrics to the song Complete, for us to sing along. The security folks were very strict about no photography in the venue, even before the concert started. They were very sharp and once they spotted anyone with cameras, they went over to give a warning!

At each seat, there was a pink tape and we were supposed to hold 1 end and throw it out towards the stage towards the stage when the song “Oh” ends so that there will be pink streamers everywhere. (G threw the whole roll out instead… )

Although I don’t really listen to their songs, I did enjoy the stage set-up and design. SNSD sang their hit songs like “Gee”, “Genie” and “Oh!”. They performed a total of 36 songs and had special appearances from SUPER JUNIOR’s Leeteuk and Donghae. The fans were extremely enthusiastic throughout the concert!!!!

After the concert, we went to Taipei City Hall Square for the 2010 Taipei Flora Expo Concert!

Mayday~~ it was a long time since I heard them sing live!! Glad we happen to be there for this concert! Couldn’t take good photos because we were standing quite far back. There were also other artistes like S.H.E and Jay Chou.

S.H.E. ~

Jay Chou! His jacket is strange!!

That’s the end for this trip as we made our way home the next day~~

I love Taiwan!

Then, we took the HSR back to Taipei. This time round, we are staying at Neijiang Hotel at Xi Men Ding. Argh, no photos again – we really need to remind ourselves to take photos even though it is uninteresting! Anyway, the room was just a very simple and basic, the rate is easy on the pocket!

We didn’t do much today, visited the Guang Hua Computer Market and went to Eslite bookstore.

Anping Tree House (安平樹屋) was a warehouse for Tait & Company and the Japan Salt Company. When the salt industry declined after World War II, the building fell into disrepair and the banyan trees took over. Thereafter, designers transformed it into a tourist destination by building  staircases and viewing platforms that can take you up into the trees.

There are also  information displays about various flora in the area.

Tait & Company was established in 1867 and was one of the five main foreign trading firms in Anping. The building has been made into a mini-museum, featuring an exhibition of early life in Taiwan around the time of the Dutch.

The second floor is a wax museum… we didn’t know that photography was not allowed until a staff informed us (the sign was so inconspicuous!)

After hiding in the convenience store to cool down, we walked to Anping Old Fort / Fort Zeelandia (安平古堡) that was across the road. However, we decided not to enter. Now, thinking back, I wished we had visited it! When we were there, it was so hot that it made us feel uninterested in visiting places!

Nearby, there’s a small street selling foodstuffs and this stall was selling the biggest takoyaki I’ve ever seen! It took a long time to cook it and I did buy one to try – it tasted just average and there was so much of it!

We also tried the famous Chou’s shrimp roll (周氏蝦捲) - quite yummy!

After that, we took a bus back to Tainan station. From there we cabbed to Siaobei Cheng Kung night market (小北夜市), which was opened on that day. It occupied a rather large area and there were many stalls selling clothings, accessories, etc. and numerous games available. There’s not much food though…

We tried playing the game where you throw loops over the toys that you want. At first, we were aiming for the big toys further in the back but we got realistic and aimed for those in front.

And G got these for us…kekeke. We could even exchange one that we looped for another similar item instead.

We also played at a game that used mahjong tiles and you were supposed to get a certain number of matching tiles to win toys. No luck at that for us!

Back to Taipei tomorrow!

Upon entering the restaurant, you can see a cooking area where the noodles and some other food are served from. We were served a complimentary egg with our order of the noodles! So nice of them~ The noodles itself was rather normal so I’m not sure why this restaurant is so famous.

Our next destination was the Confucian Temple (孔子廟), located another 400m away. The temple was built in 1665.

This is the Entrance for Morality Training (入德之門), which leads to the Edification Hall (明倫堂).

The Edificaton Hall was used for the study of Confucian classics in the 17th – 19th century.

The calligraphy in the main hall is a copy of the handwriting of a famous Chinese calligrapher of the 13th century. The text is from “The Great Learning”, one of the Confucian  “Four Books”, to encourage scholars with the fine characteristics and virtues.

The Gate of Rites (禮門).

This old Banyan tree has been a symbol of the Tainan Confucian Temple since many centuries. However, it is withering and efforts are in progress to rescue and restore this tree using natural methods.

Layout of the Confucian Temple (click for bigger view). We didn’t enter the Ta Cheng Palace area – it didn’t seem very interesting and there’s an admission charge.

Across from the temple is the Pan Gao Stone Arch (泮宮石坊) which was built in 1749 and once served as an entrance to the temple. It is now the entrance to Fuzhong Street,

Nearby is an interesting cafe – Narrow Door Cafe (窄門咖啡) – named because it’s entrance is via a tiny alley between 2 buildings! We had to wait for a couple to exit before we could enter and they were spending a long time taking photos in the alley!!

Looking out from inside the 1-person-wide alley.

Flight of steps leading up to the cafe…

We went up to the cafe but after sitting down for awhile, we decided to leave because we were feeling very warm since the place was not air-conditioned!

Next will the final post in Tainan - Anping Tree House and Tait  & Company.

Our accommodation was at Premier Hotel – within walking distance from the train station but not exactly very near and we spent some time trying to locate the hotel. I remembered the pavement was not flat and it was rather troublesome to be pulling our luggage and finding the hotel. And, the weather was just as hot as the past 2 days we spent in Kaohsiung!

Fort Provintia / Chihkan Tower (赤崁樓) was our 1st destination since it was located nearest from our hotel (~700m). It was built in 1653 by the Dutch during their colonization of Taiwan.

This statue depicts a scene from the Dutch surrender to Koxinga forces

There were many students visiting this historical place and this was also where we saw the fish food dispenser (in the form of a huge fish) and recognize it for what it is!

A fountain of a fish sprouting water…

This is the Sea God Temple.

I like to take photos of interesting lamps…kekeke.

Pretty view of the garden and main entrance from the Sea God Temple.

At the fort, you can see nine sets of stone turtles carrying plates. These were made in Qing Dynasty and were removed from elsewhere to be located here. Legend has it that the stone turtle is one of the dragon’s nine sons and it shifted into a turtle because it loved to endure heavy objects.

There is also a Stone Horse with a broken leg. There’s an interesting legend behind it – the stone horse’s leg was broken by farmers because it shape-shifted into a goblin at night and destroyed the farm. We couldn’t really figure out which is the broken leg…

It was probably this back leg, since we observed that there’s a line of crack?

The legend in detail…

This is a Dutch Well relic. According to the accompanying plaque, it was rumored that there was a tunnel under this well connecting Chihkan Tower and Anping Fort. However, this was put to rest after it was excavated and proved to be simply a well providing water to those who lived within the fort!

The Wunchang Pavilion is a 2-storey pavilion dedicated to Wun Chang God of Education. Students come here to pray before examinations.

This is a figure of the God of Literature – the figure holds a writing brush in the right hand and a ink cup on the left, with one foot on the head of a huge legendary sea tortoise and the other foot kicking starts. This symbolizes the attainment of the top position in examinations.

The numerous prayers, presumably from students.

Another pretty lantern!

Remains of the bastion of Fort Provintia.

This is the Peng Hu School constructed by Sheng Shou Qian, the magistrate of Taiwan in 1886. The only remains are a part of the door, with a tablet that was written by himself, stating the name of the building.

Standing at the entrance of the souvenir shop to enjoy the air-conditioning!

Here’s the layout of the fort.

Till next post~

After that, we went to New Juejiang Shopping Area and found an Ireland’s Potato outlet there~ My favorite fries! The decor of this outlet has a cosy feel to it.

The fork even had a little heart cut-out, cute! And I think this photo is cute…hahaha.

Then towards the evening, we made our way to Cijin (旗津). There were several seafood restaurants but we didn’t try because I wasn’t quite sure how to order.

This is the Tianhou Temple.

And, we continued walking to the beach. I like this photo of 2 coconut trees that I took!

keke, and I took many photos of the setting sun! I’m cropped the 1st one and set it as my iPhone lock screen wallpaper…

We walked to a further area and a tiny pink hemisphere was what’s left of the setting sun.

From the beach, we followed a path that we think leads up to the Cihou Lighthouse. It took about 20mins walk, I think. We walked briskly despite our tiredness because the area was quite deserted and we weren’t exactly sure whether it was the correct direction. I didn’t want to be still there when it gets too dark!

Took this photo along the way as we looked out and over the city. The tall building on the right is the Tuntex Sky Tower(高雄85大楼).

We reached the Cihou Lighthouse but it was closed and we couldn’t even see the lighthouse exterior from where we were!

By this time, it was getting dark and so, we made our way down. I was a bit freaked coz of the darkness (dimly lit paths) and I saw a rat too! Luckily, I had my portable torch with me. We took another path down because while going up, I saw 2 persons going up from that path instead of the one we took. Glad that it meant a shorter time for us to get back into civilization, yay~

After that, we decided to go see the Love River (爱河) since it’s an icon of Kaohsiung! More walking But alas, it was quite boring – perhaps we were not visiting the correct area or at the right time??

You can see Tuntex Sky Tower(高雄85大楼) here too.

Next up, we went to see the Dome of Light (光之穹頂), at the Formosa Boulevard Station, which was created by renowned artist Narcissus Quagliata. It takes up a huge area and we couldn’t photograph it in its entirety. It does make for pretty photos with its myriad of colors!

Our final destination for Kaohsiung is the famous Liouhe Night Market (六合夜市), located at a walking distance from the Formosa Boulevard Station. We didn’t take any photos again! I think we were both tired and the night market was pretty crowded too, so it would be difficult to take nice photos.

Anyway, we bought food and walked back to our hotel. Today was really tiring coz we walked a lot (and the heat~).

I ate this delicious oyster cake (胖胖蚵仔包) from the night market. It was really yummy, must-try!!! There are many oysters and even an egg inside! I found a somewhat plastic-looking picture of it here. I would go there to buy it again if this was not our last night here, keke.

That’s all for Kaohsiung and next will be Tainan~

Here’s the walkway to the Wuli Pavilion… (that didn’t looked very interesting anyway )

The Spring and Autumn Pavilions (春秋閣) were completed in 1951 and dedicated to Kuan Kung, the God of War. (Notice me hiding in the pavilion?)

In front of the pavilions is a statue of Kuanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, riding a dragon. According to legend, Kuanyin appeared above the clouds riding on a dragon, signifying that believers must erect an image depicting this event between “pavilions of summer and autumn”.

There’s a bird with meditation beads… what’s the significance?

Located next to the pond, at the pavilions, is a fish food vending machine. We realized this when we saw a similar machine later in Tainan, keke.

Across the road from the Spring and Autumn Pavilions is the Temple of Enlightenment.

As we walked along the Lotus Lake, we passed groups of elderly sitting in the shade of trees and chatting with one another. A small lotus pond along the way…

After walking for 300m, we reached the Polar God of Mystic Heaven… Yet again, G went ahead to take a close-up photo while I loitered at the entrance area and took refuge in shaded areas, kekeke.

In the distance, we could see Cho-Tze,Chin-Shuei Temple (清水宮).

Next destination is the Confucius Temple, which was 600m away.

Upon reaching the temple, we found that the temple grounds were practically devoid of any visitors. So, G walked around taking unobstructed photos while I was waiting in a shaded area – people kept looking at me, probably thinking why I was simply standing there and doing nothing for some time!

A plaque depicting dragons, along the steps.

I like this lantern~

After the visit, we wanted to find a bus-stop to take a bus back but we got a bit lost and didn’t see any bus-stops around! So, we decided to walk to the MRT  station instead.

After getting directions, I think we walked about 1.5km before we reached Zuoying station. I remembered the person mentioned it was quite far to walk but this was the nearest station.

It was really really hot and most of the time, there was no shade. I used an umbrella but still it was a bit too much to bear. Definitely not fun walking around drenched in perspiration…

Here’s the approach to the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. The sun was relentless and I was sorely missing the cool weather in Alishan~

Visitors are supposed to enter via the Dragon Pagoda and exit from the Tiger Pagoda as this symbolizes turning bad luck to good fortune!

Within the Dragon… Not that I could understand but the paintings within the Dragon and Tiger depict China’s 24 most obedient sons as well as scenes of heaven and hell.

G convinced me to climb to the top of the Dragon Pagoda given that we will not climb the Tiger Pagoda. It was not a difficult climb  (just  7 storeys) but in this heat, I was definitely not a good travel buddy! Views as we went up…

In the distance is the Polar God of Mystic Heaven and the Wuli Pavilion.

We could also see the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, which we visited next.

Parting shot of the Dragon Pagoda, as we crossed over to the Tiger Pagoda.

More paintings within the Tiger…

Exiting from the Tiger’s mouth~

I think that the Dragon is more attractive because it has more colors and looks more intricate than the Tiger.

We had decided to take the slower TRA train instead of the HSR to Zuoying because that is where the Alishan bus stops. So, we didn’t have to walk the considerable distance to take the BRT shuttle bus to the HSR station~ Moreover, our hotel is located at a walking distance from Kaohsiung station. It was just 40minutes slower and of course, slightly cheaper.

After alighting from the bus, we rushed to get tickets for the next train departing to Chiayi which was leaving in just a few minutes. Glad that we made it in time because the following train was 1h later!

My first impression of Kaohsiung – HOT!!!

We walked to Kindness hotel (康橋商旅高雄站前雄中館) which was just a few minutes from the train station once we figured out the direction (right-side after exiting the station). Should have taken some photos of the room – it was pretty much a standard hotel room and the room rate includes free buffet-style breakfast.

Next was Dream Mall which felt like a deserted shopping mall to me. It was quite large but not very interesting… And, in the evening we went to Sanduo Shopping District (三多商圈). Nothing of particular interest and we ended up at Starbucks for drink. The heat was taking its toll on me and I was happy to simply go into any buildings to enjoy air-conditioned comfort.

(No photos at all for today!! )