Day 10: Lunch at the Fisherman's Wharf, Kaohsiung...

~ 23rd April 2014 ~

It wasn't easy to find a proper place for lunch at the Port of Kaohsiung. We were thinking of looking for some food at the Fisherman's Wharf but looks like that place only comes alive at night as the whole place was just like Straits Quay with most of the places serving alcoholic beverages. They were mainly closed during the day and will only be running for business at dusk.

Then, we finally walked to a cafe opened for business. Of course, the place was almost packed to the brim. It's no Chinese food but more to Western delight. The four of us were seated comfortably and we have good laugh at I-don't-remember-any-of-our-conversation-. 

We were at the Crystal Coffee House thus, it's rather obvious that they serve coffee but none of us took coffee. Mi mama loves coffee and our sudden tour guide do take coffee. My travel buddy and I, we're from the same boat, we don't drink coffee but we would rather go for juice or some chocolate drink.

I don't remember which one I had for lunch but I was pretty sure that I had that tall glass of orange juice and mi mama had the set without cheese. The rest was history, the food was long gone from our system.

We were already full but we just wanted to try out the cheesecakes. They looked rather tempting and we were greatly tempted. Not bad at all...

No matter what, both of us had the best time in our lives. We're always making beautiful memories whenever we're together. Can't wait to meet her soon. Love ya, pal~!

The port is overlooking the sea with ships entering and going. What else is there at the port. Nothing new here as I'm staying in an island with our own port. The sea was as smelly as our sea.

Day 10: What to do at Banana Pier in Kaohsiung...

~ 23rd March 2014 ~

This is one place you might not find anything interesting. There are many event halls suitable for the locals. Tourists like us have no use for such halls but there's a store selling all sorts of stuff there. Go in and get something to munch for the fun of spending money. That's why you go for holidays, right? To spend money.

Grab anything with fanciful packaging. That's why companies spend a lot of money on packaging to attract customers. If the packaging is too simple, it won't be able to attract those first time buyers. But some snacks with fancy packaging might taste like shit while those with shitty packaging might taste the total opposite.

If you don't feel like buying anything, being stingy and all, like me, just go snap a photo with the arse.

The travel buddy got herself a comb of banana. I wonder where's the banana now... back home in China or the Land of Oz...

There this stage for Johnnie Walker outside the building. I have heard of Johnnie Walker from Astro but sad to say, I'm very outdated with the entertainment world as I have no interest in such stuff. But yeah, it was there. Fullstop.

Day 10: Should You Visit the Pier-2 Arts Center in Kaohsiung?

~ 23rd March 2014 ~

After walking across Takao Railway Museum, you will start seeing these big giants decorated in senseless wordings. It's creative but I don't know what are they called.

We were not at the heart of the Art's Centre yet but we were almost there. It was actually along the way but in the end we didn't make it there. We entertained our rumbling stomach instead, hunting for a place to dine in. So is it a must-go place? The answer depends on your liking. If you are one artsy person, then go. If you feel that it's a waste of time, then don't. If I have the extra time in hand, yes, I would be spending a few hours there.

Those warehouses that were abandoned were used up as arts' studio like what we have in Penang where the old Hin bus depot was put to good use to showcase these young artists talent. It's not all about drawings only. There were some warehouses used as platforms to perform the musicians' gigs. 

If you happen to be there already, just go... if not you will end up like me regretting about not going... *wailing*

Day 10: Takao Railway Museum...

~ 23rd March 2014 ~

Take the MRT to the first stop known as Sizihwan (西子灣). I don't remember how far we had to walk there and I think we missed out on a lot of good places for sight-seeing. Blame it all on our lack of knowledge regarding Kaohsiung. I still regretted that we didn't stay there longer. The more I look at our photos, the more I regretted for concentrating too much on Taipei. More research should have been done on Kaohsiung instead of Taipei. Can just totally forget about Taipei.

The railway museum was kinda famous from what I read. But the moment I saw the train heads of yester-years, they looked just like our train heads from Keretapi Tanah Melayu Berhad. For those Malaysians who have never taken a ride on our old 'choo choo' train, then of course one would be delighted to see old train heads at Takao. The only stark difference between our local train heads and Takao's train heads on exhibit was that the language used was different. Duh... ours used the Malay language while the ones in Takao has Chinese words printed on it. We made a quick walk across the museum and I took only a few photos. The railway did not just end there. The whole place has been turned into an eye-catching spring field.

Takao Railway Museum was where I fall in love with hibiscus. I am willing to be a hibiscus collector now but I totally have no idea where to get those hibiscus from. Not much train head photos I will show here but I will show you every hibiscus that I managed to capture. We ended up spending a lot of time at the railway museum, looking at bright and colourful flowers.

I have the exact same species of this double-layered hibiscus but bright yellow in colour. I love pink but the pink hibiscus that I have in the garden is a dirty shade of pink.

This is my precious' favourite shade of pink... light and gentle... I want this as well... I want all the hibiscus in the world~!!!

I have exactly this yellow hibiscus with a red heart in the middle. I used to have the striking pink ones but because I put those two together, I think the yellow hibiscus cursed the pink hibiscus to death. The pink one died due to loss in competition. 

 I want this as well... multiple-layered hibiscus.... awww.... where can I get this in Penang?

Orange is beautiful.... whoever says that going to a railway museum is boring? One can learn a lot from the blooming flowers in spring. So, this place is not to be missed at all.

That's the travel buddy. I'm not sure whether she loves flowers or not... will ask her the next round I see her. I don't remember both of us ever discuss about flowers.

My favourite shade of red~! I'm actually okay with any bright colours but this is so unique. I need a bigger garden. Maybe I need to redo my garden.

Day 10: The Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard...

~ 23rd March 2014 ~

I've done my homework on the places that I wanted to visit when we were in Kaohsiung. I was adamant to see the Dome of Light at one of the MRT stations. It's the station at R10, the Formosan Boulevard station. The name itself is of upper class and when we arrived at the station, it was really mesmerizing. It's so colourful and brightly lighted up but we did not go into the station. We just admired the place from the entrance because we did not want to swipe our MRT card lest we ran out of cash again.

The man in charge was kind enough to remove the barricades that were standing in the way. I was of course, in a snapping frenzy as we were rushing to go off to another place. I can spend hours standing in one place just to take photos.

Malaysia, can we have this? I have confidence that our people are creative enough to make this happen in Kualu Lumpur Sentral :D I wish to see this soon in our country. No, we're not copycats. Maybe we can do better than this.

Day 10: Let the Journey in Kaohsiung Begin~!

~ 23rd April 2014 ~

Finally, finally... I'm writing on our day 10. What an improvement... *bravo to myself* Seriously regretted for staying in Taipei for too many days. Should have stayed in Kaohsiung for at least three or four days... *heartbroken*

Breakfast was included with our minsu but we have to walk to the cafe. They served breakfast but we were not suppose to simply grab anything we like. I would prefer those buns but sad to say... we could only have those already waiting for us.

I was almost in tears seeing that my soy bean milk was served in bowls instead of a tall glass with ice cubes. The weather was so hot yet the Taiwanese adored hot drinks. There was no ice cubes to be found. I did try for ice cubes. It's scalding hot and not drinkable but they have tongues made of heat-proof material. They can just lap up the whole bowl and I left mine untouched.

And they spoil our roti canai... that was so NOT roti canai... Never mind, I'm on holiday... I can go without food...

Our journey began with a thousand steps. I don't remember this place... but I know obviously we were on foot instead of in a car ride. Nice view...

We finally arrived at the train station. Nice building... Penang, when can we have this? Will the mammoth plan be approved?

Patty did the buying of the tickets while we just looked on. I think I only know how to use a machine that's fully operating in Malay Language or English. Any Chinese characters made me feel inferior. I don't even know how to top up the train card. Anyway, we didn't buy any day pass because we were just going to make it one way. Sounds like we're not planning to come back :o)

I'm going somewhere along those lines. I've done my research on Kaohsiung. That's why I really regretted not staying over for another extra few days. Dislike Taipei to the max~!

Day 9: Why One Should Dine in Ikki Japanese Restaurant...

~ 22nd March 2014 ~

We were hungry. We needed food and we were walking around in Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung is a big county and I had no idea where I was if I was holding a compass and also a map. We just told Patty, our sudden customized tour guide that we needed really good food. Our Kaohsiung tour guide made the best choice ever~! Please remove all the night markets plan and enjoy fantastic meals in Taiwan. If you need superb night market food, please come to Penang Island. 

We hopped into a yellow cab and Patty directed the driver to drop us in front of Ikki, a Japanese restaurant. I have no idea what sort of place is this but as long as the restaurant accepts credit card and will serve us with tables and chairs, we're going in~! In we went and we got ourselves a table just by the window. The best part was there have English menu so I do not need a translator to tell me what kinda dish is being served and how they are prepared.

While waiting, the long lost friends have a good time together. Our table was one of international citizenship, Malaysians, Taiwanese and Chinese with half of the feet planted in Australia. Excuse the terrible lighting for the photo. The place is of upper class value so the lighting is somewhat dim, not suitable for photography but good for a romantic dinner. The price of each person is fixed. It's sort of an ala-carte buffet. We don't care about the price actually. As we tell ourselves, we're wealthy people poor in cash.

One should not miss dining in Ikki when one is in Taiwan. Other places you may forget to go, but when one misses Ikki, one missed out a big chunk of the holiday. When our food arrived right under our nose, we went 'ooh-ing and aah-ing'. The food was creatively served and even if a piece of meat should cost only RM2, with the way they served, anybody would be willing to fork out RM20 for one small piece of meat. That's why I said we did not care about how much we had to pay. We felt that with a few thousand NT$ for four person is worth every cent.

For the first time, I'm baring it all of what we ate in Ikki. If we were to stay in Kaohsiung for a few more days, I wouldn't mind dining in Ikki for every meal.

My travel buddy was too hungry to even look up. Shes afraid we would rob her of her food. You couldn't imagine just how happy we were.

Dishes in Ikki were not just creatively served but the taste was exquisite. I've not tasted such fine Japanese cuisine before. Just wait till we go to Japan next. For now, I would say that Melbourne and Taiwan serve really fine Japanese cuisine. 

Oh, restaurants in Penang should follow after Ikki. Prepare a nice box for the ladies to put their handbags and shove the bag under the feet. No one would crawl to your feet to steal your bags unless for some desperate humans. But in high class restaurants, I doubt that there would be anyone crawling on all fours just to get to someone's handbag. There's nothing much in a lady's handbag actually. You will find used tissue, some empty wrappers of nuts or sweets, maybe a bottle of water and crumpled receipts.