Kaohsiung, Day Three - Love River and Cijin Island

After a full day, I was looking forward to catching a ferry from Love Pier at sunset to get to Cijin Island for its seafood. The sea breeze later in the day felt cool against my skin after another typical hot and humid Taiwanese day. The sunset was beautiful.

Boats at the pier

Sunset, loving the colours.

Beautiful multicoloured reflection on the glass towers.

A temple at Cijin Island.

Glorious seafood.

I was a bit nervous about this dish. It's pufferfish skin, eaten in the same way as sashimi. It tasted chewy and "non-poisonous". I'm also still alive and kicking so I guess they've prepared the dish well!

Bought a bag of these - they're shellfish cooked in a spicy sauce - whilst walking along the beach at Cijin Island at night. Tricky little things to eat.

Adorable one-year-old Kevin. It was his first trip to Cijin Island!

Kaohsiung, Day Three - of Towers, Some History, Shaved Ice and Aerial Views.

No trip to Kaohsiung is complete without visiting the Tuxtex Towers, except that I realise these towers are better known as the "85 Tower" amongst the locals as it has 85 stories.

At 347.6 metres tall, the building was the tallest in Taiwan before the completion of Taipei 101. They spent NT$10 billion building this tower using 58,000 tons of reinforced steel and high performance concrete. The elevators at the tower are the third-fastest in the world and can travel from the first to the 75th floor in 43 seconds at speeds of 600 metres per minute.

I took this photo of the tower at sunset on top of another tower ;)

Riding the third fastest elevator in the world!

View of Kaohsiung from Tuxtex Towers

Huge history regarding an uprising in the south of Taiwan on the 28th February 1947.  Having been liberated from the Japanese, the Taiwanese people in the South were still being marginalised by the government of the day and an uprising was triggered by a simple case of tobacco smuggling. This goes some way in explaining why Kaohsiung is often the political mirror image of Taipei. I have a piece in the works at the moment on this, so watch this space.

There was an exhibition at the Kaohsiung Museum on the Taiwanese rites of passage, from birth, to adulthood to marriage. Here you can see a model bride and groom in traditional dress.

Paul took me to this shop that's famous for their shaved ice. It's called something like "Poh poh ping". At the risk of sounding like a retard, I'm assuming it translates to "grandmother's ice"? The illustration of a happy grandmother helps... 

My shaved ice, with fruit. A welcome diversion in the hot and humid Taiwanese summer.

Then we drove to the top of a hill in Kaohsiung for another view of the city. This is the harbour - loving the blues and greens.

Kaohsiung, Day Three - Ghost Festival

I've always had a fascination with the supernatural. As I grow more skeptical with age, it was somewhat of a 're-education' as to how much the supernatural play a real part in certain cultures. Celebrated on the 15th night of the 7th Lunar Month, the Hungry Ghost Festival demarcates the ghost month, where spirits of the deceased are believed to be released from Heaven and Hell's gates into the world of the living. Offerings are made to the deceased to ease their suffering, and in Taiwan, it is common to burn paper money for the dead.

I woke up in the morning to sounds of chatter from outside, and realised that this was very much a family affair. My host's extended family had come to visit, and it was nice meeting the rest of the family, including Grandpa Ou's brothers and Grandma Ou's sister. Grandma Ou put together a feast for their ancestors, which was subsequently devoured as part of lunch. I wasn't complaining, for sure!

I did manage to take a video of one year old Kevin praying to the ancestors, but for some reason can't find it - I really hope I hadn't accidentally deleted it, but will upload when I find it. In the mean time, here are some photos of the morning.

A small offering in the kitchen. Paul says it is for the smaller deities. Just thinking of it reminds me of Dr. Seuss' "a person is a person, no matter how small." In this case however, I guess a deity is a deity, no matter how small!

Food and rice wine at the altar. There was roast pork, roast duck, roast chicken, some fruits etc. 

More offerings outside the home.

I love this attempt at trying to capture a photo of everyone ;)

Kaohsiung, Day Two - Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Art and Liuhe Night Market

Firstly, my humble apologies for being slack with blogging. I've been travelling lots and haven't always been privy to good internet connection, so I will be blogging retrospectively from here on out.

So here are the last bits of my second day in Kaohsiung.

Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts

Pleasantly surprised to find Modigliani being exhibited, though I always thought his bourgeois-hating ways were a little on the extreme side.

Blind people giving massages at the park outside the museum. As they are blind, I was told that this is one of the few occupations available to them. Anyone fancy an open air massage at a public park?

At Liuhe Night Market in Kaohsiung. Frogs lying with their guts open. Vendors say this is fresh - sure it's fresh, a little too "fresh" maybe?!

My host grandmother originated from Tainan, the oldest city in Taiwan - "dan zhai mian" is synonymous with Tainan, and I tried some at this quaint stall at Liuhe Night Market.

Mangoes are in season at the moment, and this was as delicious as it looks. 

 

I was also very excited to see salepi dondurma (turkish ice cream) at Liuhe. The first time I saw salepi dondurma was in the streets of Bangkok. Original salepi dondurma stretches, and does not melt as fast as normal ice cream. It also sticks to the cone. Salepi dondurma and its properties were also discussed at the molecular gastronomy lecture I went to before going to Taiwan. Scientists are trying to replicate salep as harvesting the plant is proving non-sustainable. I found the vendor highly entertaining.

Kaohsiung, Day Two - Temple of Confucius

After a nice stroll along Lotus Lake, we went to visit the Temple of Confucius. It appears that all of Taiwan is peppered with these temples! I daresay that it is only in Taiwan that you can find such a large concentration of Confucian temples, especially after the Cultural Revolution in China wiped out much of Confucian influence.

Bridge to the Temple of Confucius.

The Big Gates.

The shrine to Confucius.

Hallway at the temple.

Sculptures on a wall at the temple, possibly of Confucius' disciples.

I found the prayer board amusing, but you can tell it is very popular from the amount of wishes on the board.

Some backgound on Confucius.

Kaohsiung, Day Two - Lotus Lake

Having thoroughly exhausted Joan and Emily, we stopped for lunch at a local food court where I had some interesting dishes...

Tender braised beef with cabbage and funnily enough, gnocchi.

Emily's favourite - a trio of coagulated pig blood, coagulated duck blood and fish balls. I quickly zoomed for the fish balls, but tried a timid portion of the pig and duck blood. Can't say I'm a fan and it's hard getting past the idea that I am eating blood.

I then proceeded to bug Paul and little Doris. They drove me to Lotus Lake, home to many temples and a beautiful promenade where people have walks and talks by the lake.

Dragon and Tiger Pagoda at Lotus Lake. You enter via the dragon's mouth and exit via the tiger's mouth. Paul says that the Taiwanese believe it is bad to enter the tiger's mouth.

Painting of deities inside the dragon.

Exiting the tiger's mouth, as ordered! Doris and I.

People preparing for the Ghost Festival tomorrow at a temple.

Chinese opera along Lotus Lake.

Men playing chinese chess by Lotus Lake.

Between 1895 and 1945, Taiwan was a dependency of the Japanese empire and Japan intended to turn Taiwan into a model colony. Those plans failed, but in today's Taiwan, you can still see remnants of Japanese influence. Some older Taiwanese still speak Japanese, and appreciate Japanese music, as seen along the shores of Lotus Lake, right by the Chinese opera and loudspeakers blaring Taiwanese music.

Kaohsiung, Day Two - World Games Stadium

After Ciaotou, we caught the MRT to the World Games Stadium. Kaohsiung, as a city, has a very modern and well-connected network of trains. I was very impressed with how easy it is to get from one point to another.

In 2009, Kaohsiung was the host city to the World Games, featuring games that were not contested in the Olympic Games. I could tell that the whole city embraced its part in the games, and its success was a matter of pride to this southern city.

World Games Sign.

Photography of the stadium, taken by Joan's own photography instructor - what coincidence!

RUGBY!

What the medals looked like.

... and just as we were about to leave, Hayley Westenra popped up on the screen. She sang at the opening of the games in Kaohsiung. Talk about a New Zealand connection!