Late on Monday I got to Kaohsiung and found my hostel. It was in a great location, near the mouth of the Love River and within walking distance of many of the attractions. Kaohsiung, especially in the area near the mouth of the Love River where my hostel was, is perhaps the most attractive city I've seen here. There are small parks along the river, as well as at least one large park nearby, some accessible waterfront by the harbour, and beaches not far away. There are a number of open air cafés, some of which had live music. View from my window, looking down the Love River towards the harbour Looking up the Love River from near the hostel The Love River at night

The World Games were on in the city while I was there. This didn't affect me too much, but there were a lot of obvious foreigners in the city and I felt a little less awkward speaking English than usual. There were also fireworks displays every night (I assume that was for the Games), which we had a good view of from near the hostel, and concerts going on in the evenings. It's possible that some of the nice aspects of Kaohsiung were there only for the Games; I didn't have anything to compare with.

The downside of the area was that the food options were relatively limited, and were mostly western-influenced cafés and pub type places. This meant that I had a harder time finding vegetarian food than before. There were a couple of the usual smaller places, but they tended to be closed when I was looking for food. There was also one larger vegetarian restaurant which I never tried; I assume it was relatively expensive. I think there were some better areas for food elsewhere in the city, including a few night markets, but I didn't look far enough to find them.

Kaohsiung also has a recently constructed MRT system. It is much like Taipei's, but a little flashier, with some fancy stations and touch screen ticket machines. This was nice for getting around, although my hostel was in a good enough location that I did not need it too much. Entrances (the spiky glass things) to a KMRT station on Jhongshan road Inside the Central Park KMRT station

One day I went to old district of Zuoying to see Lotus Lake. Around the lake are several religious displays in the form of pavilions and large statues. I assume these are mostly for (local) tourism, but some are associated with regular temples nearby. One of the displays is the Dragon-Tiger Pavilion, where each animal's mouth is an opening and you are intended to enter through the dragon and leave through the tiger; going the other way is supposed to be bad luck. Lotus Lake I think this was the Dragon-Tiger Pavilion

I also walked out to some of the accessible waterfront by the harbour close to my hostel. The parts I saw were alternately actual harbour (including what seemed to be a military section) and lines of cafés and other food stores. Kaohsiung harbour What looked like military ships in the harbour

From the waterfront I took the ferry over to Cijin island, where there is a beach fronting directly on the ocean. Cijin also has the Cihou battery, an old Qing dynasty fortification designed by British engineers. On the same hill there are also more modern military installations (most or all of which are not in use, I think, but inaccessible), and a lighthouse which was closed when I got there. The ferry to Cijin island The beach on Cijin island Ships out at sea Cihou Battery View of the harbour from near the battery, including the 85 Sky Tower Hill with the battery and lighthouse, seen from across the harbour entrance

Back off Cijin on the other side of the harbour entrance, I walked to the National Sun Yat-Sen University campus. It is less defended than the Donghai University campus, but one of its pedestrian entrances is a tunnel directly through a hill. In the same area is the old British Consulate at Takao (apparently actually a residence rather than the consulate itself). It was a bit overly touristy, but also had a nice view. Looking north along the coast from near Cihou Battery, including the National Sun Yat-Sen University campus An entrance to National Sun Yat-Sen University The old British Consulate at Takao

One day I bussed out to Foguangshan Monastery, about an hour from Kaohsiung. I didn't get a tour here. The monastery has a spread out campus including the main temple and mediation hall, smaller temples, a large Amitabha statue, a museum, and a school. The main hall at Foguangshan Monastery Statue of Amitabha Buddha at Foguangshan Monastery Small statues of Amitabha Buddha (edging the plaza and steps by the big statue) at Foguangshan Monastery

I ended up staying in Kaohsiung a couple more days than planned, because I liked it there. On Saturday the 25th I backtracked to Tainan, which is only about 35-45 minutes away by train. I couldn't get a hostel in Tainan (of the two I located one didn't reply to my email and one was full), so I stayed in a hotel instead. There also wasn't a whole lot I wanted to see in Tainan, and the urban areas don't seem to differ much from other cities (although maybe I just didn't look around enough to find more distinctive parts). There were a lot of temples to see, but by this point I felt I had seen most of what I could at the usual temples without having a guide or taking more time to watch ceremonies. Between not wanting to see much and the added expense of the hotel, I only stayed in Tainan for two nights, and after arriving and working out where to stay I had about a day and a third to explore.

Tainan is the site of the first Dutch settlements in Taiwan, and also the place where Koxinga defeated them and took over their forts. On the first day I visited Chihkan Tower, the site of the old Dutch Fort Provintia. There wasn't much remaining of the original fort besides a small section of wall. The visible buildings are Qing dynasty pavilions, and the site has various historical artifacts and information including Qing dynasty steles and a recent statue of the Dutch surrendering to Koxinga. One of the pavilions at Chihkan Tower, including some of the steles

The next day I walked out to Anping, the old district close to the ocean. The walk took me along a long canal (or possibly river, though it wasn't moving much). There were walkways and trees along the edges, which made it feel a little like the Love River in Kaohsiung. However, the margin was not as extensive and there were not as many shops along the way, so it didn't have the same effect. There was also a short tunnel which led down beside the canal so you could see underwater. The water was so murky that it was only possible to see a couple of inches from the window, although a few fish and other creatures came close enough to see. Walkway along the canal The canal at night Creature seen in the tunnel by the canal

My main stop in Anping was Anping Fort. This is the site of Fort Zeelandia, the first Dutch fort in Tainan. When the fort was built it was on a small island, but it is now attached to the rest of the city. As with Fort Provintia there isn't much remaining of the original fort besides some wall pieces (although there are more here), and there are a number of steles and other historical artifacts of various ages. Here there are also more recent Japanese fortifications. Anping Fort Part of the old wall View from the tower at Anping Fort

Nearby is another Qing dynasty fortification, called the Eternal Golden Castle although the remaining part is just earth and brick walls with one remaining original British-made cannon. I also found what may have been fire ants here. Central field at the Eternal Golden Castle The moat around the Eternal Golden Castle The one original cannon Possible fire ants

Nearby in Anping there is a large park by a harbour. There were many people flying kites here, and stalls selling kites nearby. Part of the waterfront across from the park, near Anping Fort The park on the waterfront Kites in the park Kite sellers near the park

While I was in Tainan I also took advantage of my hotel being located in middle of an electronics selling area to buy a larger SDHC card (16 GB vs 4 GB for the old card) for my laptop, something I've been meaning to do since Taipei. This is mostly because I was running out of space to store photos from the trip. I also bought a card reader (which was a little under 3 CAD) so I could copy from my old SDHC card. SDHC purchases

I left Tainan on Monday the 27th. I had been thinking of trying to spend the night at Little Liouciou Island, where there is apparently a campground that rents tents cheaply. However, after finding the port (near Kaohsiung) and comparing the ferry and train timetables, I concluded that it would not work with my other plans. Instead I went back to Kaohsiung and took the train to Taitung.