This trip going to Kaohsiung and Taichung was back in 2013, before I started travel blogging, so I didn’t write many details about the trips. However, I will share with you my pictures in those places.
What I do remember is that both places were actually quite rural, well not completely rural but definitely didn’t feel urbanized / city like. Everything there was so cheap! In order to survive in Taiwan though, you would definitely need to know some mandarin. But definitely it was a really cheap trip – flight, accommodation, food, transportation, nothing there was expensive. Maybe I’ll save more money spending my weekends in Kaohsiung instead haha.
Kaohsiung
Some random restaurant nearby our accommodation.
I believe this is a plate of intestines.
Then we went to the Ruifeng Night Market, the most popular night market in Kaohsiung.
As you can see from the two photos, it was [PACKED].
This was a local Taiwanese beef noodle shop we went to. It’s actually really, really, really good. Highly recommend to go here to eat. Probably like less than USD 3 per bowl.
Then we went to the Qijing Ferry Gushan Station to ride the ferry.
Yes, these are motorcycles on the ferry. There were actually a lot of people riding motorcycles on the ferry.
For some reason, this reminds me of the Pumpkin Carriage in Cinderella.
We also rented some motorcycles ourselves and drove around the island. Super fun.
Taichung
You can take railway trains to go from one city to another. From Kaohsiung, we took the railway to get to Taichung. You can learn more about Taiwan Railways by clicking here.
I love eating these oysters!!! So amazing. Well I’m a big raw oyster fan so… yeah.
Final Remarks
But yeah, when I went to Taipei before, I was surprised how rural it was… I thought it’d be as urbanized and busy as Hong Kong. Needless to say, I of course kept my expectations lower for Kaohsiung and Taichung as they are even less city-like than Taipei. But yeah, it still feels very country side, which is a good thing, and there is still many local Taiwanese shops here and there, as compared to Hong Kong everything is about brands and franchises now. Like said, it’s easy to get around, you may be able to get by with English but definitely going there with someone who speaks mandarin would be much better. Also, everything there is amazingly cheap.
I’ll try to find more information and make this post more informative once I can find more information about these places / things of attractions. If you can contribute your knowledge as well and want to share it with other people, feel free to contact me and let me know! I will give you credit.
Now time for some Taiwanese beef noodles.