Kaohsiung City

I decided to check out another city this weekend so I jumped on a speed train to Kaohsiung City on the south side of Taiwan. It's about a 5 hour drive but the speed train made it there in 1.5 hours. Yay speed trains. It's a cool place with nicer weather than Taipei and probably nicer people but I was only there for a weekend so that statement is based on my limited experience and what others who live there have told me about both cities.

I stayed at the Angels' Backpacker Hostel near the Formosa Boulevard station. It was cheap and had a very centralized location.

I checked out a few local bars that cater to westerners. These were the Brickyard Pub, Brickyard Beer Garden and Lighthouse Bar & Grill. I actually ended up going to Brickyard Pub each night I was in Kaohsiung and met a great group of cool people.

Besides the bars, I went by the Kaohsiung Museum of History, the Dream Mall, Lotus Pond and the Love River. You can take a ferry to Cijin Island and visit the Cihou Lighthouse.

Amazing pork and rice at a restaurant down the street from my hostel.

Pier 2 Art Center, which is a strip with local street art.

Just in case you didn't know, don't drive off the cliff.

I walked up to the old British Consulate and looked at the museum. There is a lot of history in Kaohsiung and a great view of the city from the consulate.

After a long day of walking around I found this awesome dumpling place so I parked myself there and cleaned them out. This place became a regular late night visit for me.

The Rueifong Night Market was a must.

Brains, anyone?

If Taipei is the NYC of Taiwan than Kaohsiung is the Los Angeles. It is a big industrial city that is more spread out than Taipei and more laid back. It has great weather and the cost of living is much cheaper than Taipei. I'm paying NT $14,000 per month for my small room in a 5 bedroom apartment and am sharing a bathroom. I meet multiple people who have their own 1 bedroom apartment and are paying NT $5,000/month in Kaohsiung. It seems that most of the foreigners in both Kaohsiung and Taipei teach English because it is a relatively easy job to get and to do but your money goes so much further in Kaohsiung.

I still haven't figured this out yet but people put the toilet paper in the trash can next to the toilet instead of inside the toilet.