After two nights in Tainan, off we were for Kaohsiung! Kaohsiung is just one stop away via HSR and the journey takes around half an hour.
As there weren't so many people, we managed to get seated tickets over-the-counter. I cannot remember how much the tickets were but they were definitely not as expensive as the ones from Taipei, which in its defense was a 9-stop ride to get to Tainan.
Also, the Kaohsiung HSR Station is called Zuoying :) I had to check so many websites and ask Mary to confirm, because I did not want to buy tickets to the wrong place lol
Just one stop away!
The Taiwan High Speed Rail (HSR) made traveling within Taiwan really fast and easy
We arrived at Zuoying HSR Station and took the Metro to the famous Formosa Boulevard station (美丽岛捷运站), which was where our Airbnb was located near to. Our Airbnb host, Mr. Jiang, actually came to pick us up from Exit 11 and walked us to our apartment! It was really helpful of him because he made sure we got out at Exit 11- as it had escalators. The other Exits (Exit 1 was the nearest to the apartment) had no escalators or lifts :|
Our Airbnb apartment turned out to be fairly good; location was excellent, although the apartment and the building were a bit worn. The host told us not to throw tissue in the toilet bowl, which is something I really do not like about Taiwan, but apparently back in March 2017, the government has already taken large initiatives to combat that bad behavior, starting with public spaces mostly. Its a long story but back in the day, sewage systems in Taiwan were narrow and not well-built, so they would get stuck very easily when people chucked things in them, and the Taiwanese grew up and got used to NOT throwing tissues in the toilet bowl but in a rubbish bin next to the toilet bowl. There are still rubbish bins in every single public toilet in Taiwan, but people (I hope) are changing their behaviors now and are flushing their waste tissues. If you were wondering-- YES, they did (and some still do) put their Number 2 used toilet paper in the rubbish bin INSTEAD of flushing it. I can't imagine the stench, but I have a habit of holding my breath and breathing through my mouth when I go to any public toilet.
They actually have signs that TELL you to flush your used tissue (!!!):
I have also included the rubbish bin in this picture....
But understandably, the older generation is taking up this new revolution much more slowly and adapting much less, especially in towns and cities outside of Taipei. This toilet etiquette got a lot better when we eventually got to Taipei.
Anyway, moving on, our Airbnb apartment was in a great location because right downstairs was the Liu He Night Market (六合夜市):
Taiwan is famous for their night markets. Everyday at around 6PM, vendors and stall owners will start setting up their stalls selling all kinds of things ranging from street food (better known as 小吃) which roughly translates to small-bites, and is a Taiwanese culture of eating. They are purposely made and sold in small-portions as snacks, which works great because that means you can try more things! Trust me, there are so much food in the night markets of Taiwan that I think we only ate 10% of them because we've such small appetites and we didn't know what they were or didn't know how to order... lol. We spent a lot of time at Liu He Night Market because we literally lived above it. Liu He Night Market happens to be one of the more famous and happening ones in Kaohsiung.
We didn't have dinner at the night market on our first night though! We figured we had many more days there and that we could always go there after dinner, so we went to have our first Taiwanese Hot Pot experience! You know how they say Taiwan is the home for hotpot, and we do so love our hotpot :)
We checked online and I found the Tripod King (鼎王麻辣鍋) which had a lot of positive reviews, and it was less than 15 minutes walk from where we stayed. I later found out that it is one of the most famous hotpot places in Taiwan, with more than 9 outlets, with 4 in Taipei alone.
We managed to walk in without any reservations- yay! Read online that it is really hard to even get reservations, but perhaps this is the case for Taipei branches? But to be safe, book ahead!
It was a very spacious and pretty place. Felt a little like a spa!
We always have the prawn paste in Ice Bar Shabu Shabu back in Brunei, so we had to try this fish & shrimp paste!
Beef slices
Hotpot restaurants in Taiwan come with free flow of rice which you can take from the spread laid out on the counter. We didn't know this and that was why I ordered the noodles which you can see from the pictures above O_O
It was a really good first Taiwanese hotpot experience. The ambiance was great, staff were friendly and most importantly, food was really good! I would definitely go back again if I had the chance. Prices were fair, we spent a little less than BND100 for a large portion of food and multiple refills of soup base.
We didn't have dinner at the night market on our first night though! We figured we had many more days there and that we could always go there after dinner, so we went to have our first Taiwanese Hot Pot experience! You know how they say Taiwan is the home for hotpot, and we do so love our hotpot :)
We checked online and I found the Tripod King (鼎王麻辣鍋) which had a lot of positive reviews, and it was less than 15 minutes walk from where we stayed. I later found out that it is one of the most famous hotpot places in Taiwan, with more than 9 outlets, with 4 in Taipei alone.
We managed to walk in without any reservations- yay! Read online that it is really hard to even get reservations, but perhaps this is the case for Taipei branches? But to be safe, book ahead!
There are two options for the soup base- the Pickled Cabbage (酸菜汤) and Mala (麻辣汤). As we are less on the wild side of the spicy life, we opted for the Pickled Cabbage soup. The soup itself came with cabbage and pork bits in it- yum!
Ordering was a breeze because the menu had pictures and came in English too.
Hotpot restaurants in Taiwan come with free flow of rice which you can take from the spread laid out on the counter. We didn't know this and that was why I ordered the noodles which you can see from the pictures above O_O
It was a really good first Taiwanese hotpot experience. The ambiance was great, staff were friendly and most importantly, food was really good! I would definitely go back again if I had the chance. Prices were fair, we spent a little less than BND100 for a large portion of food and multiple refills of soup base.
Tripod King Hot Pot Kaohsiung
No. 16, Qixian 2nd Road, Xinxing District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 800
+886 7 286 2557
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