Day 2: Kao Hsiung via the MRT
After a satisfying breakfast at the hotel (included in rooms’ prices) and ready for a day of MRT travel, we headed to Formosa Boulevard Station and got our iPasses for 250NT (100NT non-refundable card price, 150NT for the day pass) – It works just like our Ezlink so you could just top-up value in the card and use it on public transport throughout Taiwan.
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| Entrance to Formosa Boulevard Station (right next to Liu He Night Market) |
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| Designated photo-spot of the station |
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| iPass Purchase Information |
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| MRT Platform |
First stop: Takao Railway Museum
Located right at the exit of C01 Sizihwan Station, the Railway Museum houses the very first railway station in Kaohsiung which stopped its service only in 2008. It’s a very small museum, but you can take pictures with the trains parked on the railway. It also features the Station Master’s work room and consists of several display sets of train tickets from past to present (you could also don the Station Master’s uniform to take pictures!). They also provide many commemorative stamps that you could use to ink paper/booklets. We figured that there was going to be several other places with collectible stamps so we actually got a book specially for it at NT50 from the museum, LOL.. Oh, and you know what the best thing is? – Its free admission. :D
After our short stay at the museum, we decided to head to Zuoying Station for lunch (the family didn’t want to walk around as it was warm day).
Second stop: Lunch @ Zuoying Station Mall
Just
like Takashimaya, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store located just next to
Zuoying HSR Station sells almost everything possible – food, apparels,
footwear, beddings, kitchenware etc., etc. We ultimately decided on having
Korean as it looked interesting (though I, personally, didn’t enjoy my ramyum
with both kimchi & cheese). By the time we were done with the meals and our
brief look around the mall, it was already 15:00.
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| Kid's heaven at the mall |
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| HSR train tracks... LOL |
To make our time in Kaohsiung worthwhile, we decided to head to Ciao Tou Sugar Refinery that was also right next to its own station (R22A Ciao Tou Sugar Refinery Station).
Third Stop: Ciao Tou
Sugar Refinery
I
was honestly expecting it to be a factory with guided tours illustrating the
process of refining sugar (I mean… it’s a sugar refinery right?!) but I had
obviously not done my research and was quite mistaken. Right after exiting the
station, we spotted a bicycle rental shop (closes at 17:30) that offers rental
services of either the 4-seater electric cart or the normal 2-wheeler bicycle
(the person operating the electric cart must have a driver’s license). Having a
2-year-old child with us meant we had to get a cart but since we had 5 adults,
I got to go solo on a bike.
It
was like a mini town with pit stops around (touristy stores, food, museum etc)
but unfortunately, since we got there only at 16:00, many of them were already
closed. It was fun cycling around despite the heavy motorcycle/car traffic
around which makes a little dangerous.
Last Stop for the day:
the Port back at C01 Sizihwan Station
“How
could I leave Kaohsiung without seeing their port?!” that was me feeling rather
upset that my family didn’t want to walk around Sizihwan in the morning as it
actually has its fair share of things to see.
Not wanting to leave the place with regrets, I was prepared to visit the port on my own – till my sister decided to tag along as my mum was worried about me going alone. Well, thankfully she came along because we hilariously missed the intersection that we were supposed to turn (to go to the port) and landed up in the school compound of Sun Yat Sun’s University *facepalm moment*.
Not wanting to leave the place with regrets, I was prepared to visit the port on my own – till my sister decided to tag along as my mum was worried about me going alone. Well, thankfully she came along because we hilariously missed the intersection that we were supposed to turn (to go to the port) and landed up in the school compound of Sun Yat Sun’s University *facepalm moment*.
Despite the
misadventure, we still found the port (though we could hardly see anything
since it was already night), and I personally enjoyed walking out of the
university’s main entrance feeling like I visited a place that I’ve only ever
read in books because of the long driveway out that overlooks the port.
On the way back to the station, we found a dessert shop and
took a break from all that walking.
Next post: Day 3: Kaohsiung -> Taichung
