24 Hours in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Going to Taiwan was a dream, so me and my friend Su decided to do a mini-tour of the country over four days. It was a nuts plan but we definitely got a taster for the place. We first started in Kaohsiung, then traveled to Hualian and finishing in the capital Taipei. We only had a night in this city, but we were so glad we fitted it in (the food market swayed us).
Located on the South-West coast of Taiwan, Kaohsiung is the second-largest city on the island after Taipei, with a population of 2.7 million. It was the country’s industrial home and is still the largest port in Taiwan, but there is now a much more modern and urban landscape of parks, edgy cafes, and boutique shops. There are wide streets and a grid pattern layout, so it’s super easy to get your bearings. From the short time we spent here, we kind of got the feeling that the city was quite spread out, and there were clustered areas with markets, shops and restaurants and then lots of green space.
It felt like a mix of China and Japan which makes sense, as Taiwan was handed back from Japan after World War II. I’m going to try and explain it in a nutshell here, but it does sound quite complicated… China is represented by two separate authorities: the Republic of China (referred to as Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China (commonly known as mainland China). The Republic of China (ROC) relocated to Taiwan during the aftermath of WWII, when there was still a lot of fighting happening in China. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) claims that Taiwan is a part of mainland China due to the fact that they believe they won the civil war and are therefore the successor state. The ROC sees things differently though and views the PRC as illegally occupying China. Each Government believes there is only one China and this small island is still to this day up against the entire mainland.
If you read that a couple of times you should get your head around it.
What we did.
There wasn’t a lot of time, so we stuck to the main things not to be missed: a visit to a local food market and a look around the art district. We spent a whole day at Pier 2 Art Centre and didn’t get to see all of it. It’s probably the best-known tourist attraction in the city, and it’s worth a visit for people that are either into their art or not. There are 25 warehouses in total that date back to the 1970s, which have now been turned into galleries, boutique shops, and venues for events. The port was heavily bombed during World War II and you can see the effects of this in some of the structures.
The boutique shops range from bookstores, jewelry, clothes, souvenirs, and tiny cafes. If art galleries don’t do it for you, you can still enjoy the street art and modern installations, as well as all the Instagram moments with the graphics and exposed brick. Away from the quirky warehouses, there’s a lot of green space to house further artwork and not to be missed is the ‘chair structure’.
Address: No. 1 Dayong Rd, Yancheng District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 803 Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday 10 am – 6 pm, Fri to Sun 10 am – 8 pm There’s also a flea market on at the weekends.
Next time, I’d make a stop at the Dragon Tiger Pagodas that are slightly north of the city in the center of the man-made Lotus Pond.
What we ate.
With only one night in the city, we had to try the street food and get as much as we could. The most famous one in Kaosiung is Ruifeng Night Market and was like none I’ve ever been to in Asia. There would be a line of food stalls and then a place where you can get a massage, games, and a wee man doing tattoos all next to one another. It’s located in the Zuoying District, and the place is surrounded by bars and modern shopping malls. We arrived there around 7.30 pm when it was just starting to get busy. There were hardly any tourists; all locals getting their fix of grub, which makes it one of the best markets you can visit in the whole country. If you’re trying to be the picture of health then there’s no point coming to this market of maybe even Taiwan at all; pretty much everything is deep-fried.
Our tactic was to walk around first and get a feel for the place, but we were starving and ended up grabbing the first thing we saw. One of the most famous things to try here is the ‘Angel Chicken Cutlet’. Expect a long line, which did go down quickly though and it was so worth the wait. This was super tasty and quite a big snack. You can pick what flavour you wanted and how spicy but we both just went for the original.
We continued to make the mistake of getting one of everything and getting full really quickly, so we couldn’t try everything we wanted to. One thing that we saw people carrying through the narrow walkways was the ‘Spiral potato’ on a stick. You can get different flavours, which I think it’s just sprinkled before it goes in the machine. We went for cheese and were not disappointed. We were also on the hunt to find the famous Taiwanese ‘sausage in a sausage’ and not knowing what it actually looked like, we saw a tiny old man grilling sausages and thought that must be it. When he handed the cooked snack to us on a stick we realised we had made a grave mistake. Su said it tasted like strands of meat that had been put together in a film. Not ideal. When we got back to the hotel and did some research, what we were looking for was a small sausage wrapped in sticky rice, almost like a larger sausage, kind of like a hot dog.
Address: Yucheng Rd, Zuoying District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 813 Opening Hours: 6.30pm – 11.00pm daily (closed on Mondays and Wednesdays).
What we drank.
For high-quality cocktails, Hush Drinker is the place. Each drink is different and so is the way they are decorated. The bar is not only filled with premium spirits, but also some plants, that are creatively used to go with your drink of choice. There’s no menu here, so the bartender just asks if you like sweet or sour flavours and what your preferred alcohol is. What there is though is a language barrier, so expect to be communicating and making your order through Google translate on his phone. The place also brews their own beer if you’re more into that. It’s a super relaxed atmosphere, we came straight from the night market so there was no need to be all dolled up. Address: No. 11, Wufu 4th Road, Yancheng District, Kaohsiung City Kaohsiung, Taiwan Opening Hours: 7 pm - 2 am daily.
Where we stayed.
One of the main pulls of coming here was to go to Pier2 Art Centre so we found a hotel that was basically opposite it. We stayed at City Suites and from the rest of our travels in Taiwan we found out that small rooms with no windows isn’t unusual at all. It was totally fine for the one night we were there but it did feel a little bit like we were in a dungeon even though our room was on the fourth floor.
How we got around.
After landing in Taiwan we took the High-Speed Rail (HSR) from the airport to Kaohsiung which took just under two hours. We then used Uber to get to the hotel and the Ruifeng Night Market.
The Itinerary.
Day One
Arrive and get settled at the hotel.
Lunch at Gien Jia. Closes at 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm, so make sure you don’t get stuck by this.
Get an Uber to Ruifeng Night Market for dinner. Make sure you get the Angel Chicken Cutlet and the small sausage wrapped in a large sausage.
Day Two
Walk over to Pier 2 Art Centre and spend the day there. Visit the art galleries, shop for jewelry, stationery, and grab lunch at one of the restaurants.
Go back to the hotel to pick up the bags and head to the airport.
