Today, I got out of school at noon, leaving me ample time to show Dan
and Danny the sights, such as they are. Still not enough time to see
everything, unfortunately--not even I have seen everything yet, and I've
lived here for two months so far--but at least we got to most of the
staples.
1.) Cijin Island. This happened yesterday.
2.)
Chialing's noodle shop. This also happened yesterday. And also today.
Because she's just that amazing, and her food is just that delicious. We
couldn't stay away; I firmly believe that no one who tries her food
could possibly feel any different. She even had rice and green bean
noodles for Dan. She's amazing.
3.) Wu Pao-chun bakery. It's kind of a big deal--beat out pastry chefs from around the world with its French bread--and
it just so happens to be roughly 6 blocks from my apartment. We bought a
loaf of red wine and dried berry bread (can't remember the kind of
berry, which is embarrassing but true), still warm, and brought it back
to the apartment for a sample, where both Dan and Danny declared it to
be the best bread they had ever tasted. The statement "I could eat only
this bread for the rest of my life" was definitely used.
We then hopped a Kaohsiung Cultural tour bus (itself an
adventure, between figuring out where it was, fighting off a
betel-nut-chewing cabbie who wanted to take us instead, and listening to
the tour guides alternately try to explain things in halting
English--maybe once or twice--and speaking in rapid-fire Chinese), and
set out for the higher coastal area; that is...
4.) The Former British Consulate. Easily one of my favorite
places in Kaohsiung, it was used in roughly the 1860s and it sits atop a
hill which can see the entire city on one side, the lighthouse on
another, the whole broad stretch of coastline on a third, and the lush
greenery of ZhongShan on the last. All complemented by a constant light
breeze, and set to the backdrop of a charming brick building with huge
arches and white-painted wood doors. Lovely.
5.) 國立中山大學 (ZhongShanDaShue)
After a leisurely stroll after the passing bus, which somehow
succeeded, we discovered that it only took us the very short distance to
the bottom of the university's sprawling campus. We (and by we I mean
I) decided we simply must climb to the top, which had gorgeous
views--including the one which is currently the background on this blog.
On the way we saw lots of foreign students, lots of feral dogs, a
terrifyingly large spider, lots of great views, and disappointingly few
monkeys (read: none). Seriously, though, this mountain is gorgeous; in
my view, no trip to Kaohsiung is complete without it.
6.) Thailand Burma Restaurant. It's 3 blocks from my apartment. It's the best Thai you've ever tasted. Enough said.
7.) Kaohsiung 85 Sky Tower. I've posted about this before--2nd
tallest building in Taiwan, 13th tallest building in the world. Still
has its uber-awkward Tokyo photographers exhibit. Still a cool place to
visit, though, with fantastic views of, well, everything.
Other moments of note today: I randomly met another American on
my way to school! A guy pulled up to me and said "hello," and I turned,
expecting it to be a Taiwanese person practicing their English. We both
did double-takes. Turns out, he though I was his co-worker at the cram
school down the street from Han-min. We got stopped at 5 lights in a
row, so we got to have a nice little conversation! Gotta love random moments like that.
Also, I was the navigator in taxis to and from Kaohsiung 85. And
both times, the cab driver knew what I was saying. Chinese lessons ftw.
Well this has been one of my most random, rambling blogs, the
apparently straightforward formatting notwithstanding. But hey, at least
it covers all the staples!
No comments:
Post a Comment