Our trip to Kenting, Taiwan's paradise

Kenting is the most southern part of Taiwan

Baby, do you remember that hot day, when we took the cab near the Kaohsiung HRS and headed to Kenting National Park? Oh boy, it was really a hot day. Lucky for us, that we took a cab, which was so comfortable and the driver drove very pleasantly. Do you remember, when you said I needn't take photos of the sun's beautiful reflection on the sea, because later, when we reach our beach, I can take more photos and see the beautiful sunset? Well, I was right, wasn't I? Because later that day we didn't see the sunset, we were so tired and laid on bed in our room. I'm happy I took these pics and the one above is my favorite.

Our beach at dawn. People were leaving, when we arrived.

You were so curious about the water and we soon took a brief swim. It was very lovely.

Those damn jetski riders annoyed people by splashing them with water.

It was soon evening and we headed to the Kenting town night market.

Do you remember the dish we had? It was huge, overpriced and not so yummy like here in Banciao. But we were hungry, we finished it to the last bit.

And then we went back to our room and laid on bed, took a rest...

Do you remember, when we watched New Moon? It's the first time I saw Edward and Bella sucking blood from a dead deer squeaking for help. Poor deer, didn't make it...

The next day started very well, we had a yummy breakfast, but you told me the story, why you don't eat bacon ham. That was pretty horrid, but guess what? More bacon ham for me, hehe.

The road was inviting. We rented a scooter and I changed into a Taiwanese that day.

We had a glimpse of the beach, but we decided to go to the most southern point of Taiwan. The scooter made me nervous and seeing that uncle laying on the road, while people surrounded him, didn't help either. My fear of riding scooters made me moody. I trusted you my life on that motorcycle and we made it. Your driving skill is excellent, thank you so much for smooth ride. In the end I'm happy that we took that ride and saw that amazing place.

Here's a map of Eluanpi, the place we went to. Click on photo to enlarge.

We were greeted by a scary sign. Lucky for us, no snake crossed our path... but bugs did.

The rocks we saw used to be below the sea many many years ago, you told me.

We've reached one of the two big pavilions with the amazing view of the southern Taiwanese sea. I will never forget how happy you were, when you saw that magnificent display.

The blue was dazzling and mystified us. We took many photos that day, more like I took them. But that's because I felt the magic of that spot and wanted to keep it. I'm keeping it here, in my heart now.

The kissing rocks. They were not the only one kissing here.

Later, when we left for another pavilion, I took a photo of this bug. Little did I know that one of his relatives will attack me.

It happened here: I tried to take a nice photo and something started buzzing around my back, hitting my neck. I started to wave my hands like crazy and run towards you. I wonder how come you didn't laugh in that moment? I guess you were worried more than amused, but when you saw that nothing bit me, you had to chuckle inside.

We returned to the famous Lighthouse at Eluanpi.

A bunch of Mainland Chinese gathered around every spot.

The view on the sea below from the lighthouse.

We were heading back to our room and you didn't hesitate to pose for me, my lovely driver.

We made few stops along the way, to see this beautiful beach.

This part is protected with a fence, nobody is allowed to swim here, which is great.

The part nearby is full of tourists snapping photos... This couple was cute.

A famous rock, this time not surrounded by Chinese, but by Westerners.

Back at our beach. The tractors were a kind of a turn-off, but hey, this is Taiwan and if you can make good business at the beach, you'll cover it with jet skis and tractors: Taiwan boleh ;-)

We didn't swim that day, just returned to our lovely bed and breakfast, where we packed our things and took a breather. It was so hot that day, we had no choice but to relax under the aircon and wait for our taxi to arrive and bring us back to Kaohsiung.

Soon back in Kaohsiung, it was that tall building, that screwed up our plans. We walked around the big city for two hours to find it... But you know what? I don't regret it at all. We had a great walk and the most important thing is, I was with you.

Kenting and Kaohsiung were ours in those two days. It was our first trip, where we stayed over night and it's really my best Taiwan trip so far. Thank you for showing me the beautiful Southern Taiwan. I hope when I return there in the future, you will be by my side again. Thank you.

[Kaohsiung][Taiwan][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Love River 愛河, the spine of Kaohsiung

The river, that flows through Kaohsiung

The Soaring Dragon Fish statue near the Love River.

The Love River or Ai River (愛河) is the spine of Kaohsiung. It flows through downtown and provides a very nice environment for the citizens (or Gaoxiongies as I call them). The views from the various bridges are amazing and you can see them on many postcards. I really enjoyed taking photos here. I probably took the best ones of the whole trip along this river, but I just couldn't bear the heat at that time, that's why I didn't snap many, I had to sit down and take a rest. My girlfriend and I were so tired, because we were already walking for many hours. The Love River was a nice break from the whole extensive tour and the magical images gave us a boost to continue walking and sightseeing. We went on to the Lotus Lake after this, I guess we just loved to see water that day.

Let me share some photos with you:

The Soaring Dragon Fish statue is 25m tall, weights 30 tons and it's made of stainless steel.

The Love River, the way I saw it for the first time. The Soaring Dragon Fish is just near by.

A nice promenade along the river.

The woman on the left is the current mayor of Kaohsiung Chen Chu.

After sitting for a while, we decided to walk along the river.

The Ambassador hotel Kaohsiung is just near by. Impressive.

We wanted to cross that bridge to come to the other side, to Yancheng.

The Tuntex Sky Tower in the back, the Soaring Dragon Fish statue in the middle.

The tall landmark building on the left is Kaohsiung Twin Tower, 142m tall.

The view from this bridge is one of my favorite views of Kaohsiung. This is really a spot, where you can see the most beautiful part of this city, the magical skyline with some of the finest buildings. The Love River is a must see part of Kaohsiung, don't miss it.

My KAOHSIUNG Tour - NEXT: Museum of History>>

[My KAOHSIUNG page][My TAIWAN page][All photos by MKL, 2010]

Trip to Kaohsiung: Zhongshan road

This is what we saw on one of Kaohsiung's main avenues

Our Kaohsiung Tour 2010 started at the main railway station and continued along the very long Zhongshan road, one of Kaohsiung's avenues. It took us nearly 2 hours (together with a breakfast break) to arrive at the famous Tuntex Sky Tower, where we decided to take a break and have some coffee and cake in a small café. It was a great walk, because we started at 6am, when the weather was very pleasant. And the walking felt great, because we were sitting on a train for 6h. The only problem was a lack of sleep, that train was slow and bumpy. I highly recommend you to pay for the much faster high-speed train, in case you want to go to Kaohsiung from Taipei (will only take around 1.5h).

Let me show you some photos from Kaohsiung in the morning:

The famous Tuntex Sky Tower as seen from the Kaohsiung Railway Station.

The Zhongshan road and Tuntex Sky Tower again.

The old inoperative railway station built during Japanese times and the new one above.

Kaohsiung at around 6am in the morning. Empty, but slowly waking up.

Cisian 1st road. As you can see the roads are long and wide in Kaohsiung.

They sell snake meat here, too. Read my snake blood in Taipei post>>

We didn't eat snake, but chose a stall that sells typical Kaohsiung breakfast.

Pork with rice, oyster soup and an omelette. Simple and yummy.

After our small breakfast pause, we continued to walk along the Zhongshan road:

We went down to see the famous Formosa Boulevard station.

This part of the station was designed by an Italian designer. More about it here>>

A popular night market, empty during the morning.

Taiwanese and their scooters... a love story, hehe. Read more about scooters here>>

Xin Fu-Hwa residential building caught our attention. More info and photos here>>

A temple along the way captured my eyes, while my girlfriend took a rest.

Zhongcheng road, another long avenue.

Ta Lee Plaza Star Place department store, amazing architecture.

A small day market, where old people buy fruits and veggies.

Hanshin Department Store & Grand Hi-Lai Hotel in the back.

Hanshin Department Store & Grand Hi-Lai Hotel close-up, 186m.

And then we finally saw it from close: The famous Tuntex Sky Tower!

But before we started taking photos of the awesome skyscraper, we went into a small café called CROWN & FANCY, where we had a drink and a snack. The place is very cool, I like the layout. At first we were the only two visitors, but then a foreigner and a local girl sat next to us and this guy was talking and talking in Mandarin endlessly, which annoyed me a little.

This cake was delicious. Thank you, baby, for making my Kaohsiung trip so sweet.

My KAOHSIUNG Tour - NEXT: Tuntex Sky Tower>>

[My KAOHSIUNG page][TAIWAN page][Tall buildings Info][All photos by MKL, 2010]