– By Pickles & Passionfruit
1.5 DAYS, 2 BEATER BIKES & 1000°
Thought it was time to explore Taiwan’s 2nd most populated city, Kaoshiung pronounced Gow-she-ong, Gāoxióng. It’s a 2 hour drive south, easy breezy which is what we could use more of because it was freaking hot outside.
We booked a room at the Kindness Hotel (which is a chain). Tossed our beater bikes and an overnight bag in the van and hit the road. We like to wing it on trips like this… just see where things take us. Which was straight to street dumplings and shaved mango ice at 高雄婆婆冰. Dumpling location. Mango Ice location.
Our hangry was smothered!
We biked around, very slowly because it was 1,000 degrees
That is only a slight exaggeration. We pedaled over to the Pier 2 Art Center. This was once an abandoned warehouse zone along the harbour, which has since been revitalized by artists. It’s a great area to lollygag by bike or foot.
In Mandarin, jiǎo tà chē literally translates to “feet step vehicle”… A bicycle!
Day 2
Oh, please don’t be as hot as day 1… and it was. We grabbed our sunbrella and hopped on our beater bikes again. We got the 411 from the bartender at Bottoms Up Saloon, that Lotus Lake was the place to check out, so that’s where we went.
THE BARTENDER WAS SPOT ON and her margarita was quite good
Lotus Lake is a small, but mighty lake. It’s ringed with a bike path and stunningly colorful temples and pagodas. There are even water sports like wake boarding and Blob X to cool your jets.
Did I mention how hot is was?
We are so doing this on our next trip…
TIME FOR AC & ART
At this point we need some AC so we head to the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts. It’s an impressive 4 story collection of mostly modern Taiwanese paintings, calligraphy and sculptures. Open Tuesday-Sunday from 9:30am to 5:30pm (closed on Mondays) and free admission.
We wrap up this tour with noodles at King’s Uen-Jou Wonton 金溫州餛飩大王.
We figure any place in an alley with a long line is bound to be delicious. It did not disappoint.
Oh yum and design heaven.