In Search of Adventure in Kaohsiung pt II

I woke up from my deep and blissful slumber bright and early (around 10:30am) Sunday morning to the smell of some good ol' traditional (un-photographed) Taiwanese breakfast. After the meal and just as Perry and I were discussing our plan of action for the day, he got a phone call from one of his rock climbing buddies. A mere 5 minutes later, we were out the door, gear in hand.

We took a ride on the scooter through some familiar roads, back up 壽山 (shou shan), except this time, we stopped at couple of badminton courts that we passed about halfway up the mountain the day before. As I would soon find out, our ACTUAL destination was in the woods BEHIND the courts, what looked like a small canyon blasted through the mountain, with a giant slab of concrete suspended between the rock faces.


I've done a little bit of rock climbing here and there at Lake Wauberg, Gator Nights, and the Gainesville rock gym. While it was still a blast to climb at those locations, they were all artificial routes. It didn't feel real enough! So, when I saw that we'd be climbing actual natural rock, I was super excited. Upon closer inspection, though, I noticed something a little off...


This wasn't rock! It was CORAL! As you might imagine, it wreaked some crazy havoc on soft, delicate hands. It was absolutely no problem for most of the more experienced climbers like "Equator" or the guy wearing the Rescue team shirt. Regardless, razor sharp rocks or not, I was determined to see if I had what it takes to climb my way out of a small gorge. Mostly, the answer is no, BUT if I play my cards right and choose the right path, I suppose I wouldn't necessarily fall to my death.


A few hours, swollen forearms, and chafed fingers later, Perry and I were ready to call it a day. Of rock climbing, anyway. Before I could end my first trip back to the south in... I don't know how long... I had to take a trip back out to my dad's hometown. 旗津 (qijin), the poor little island off the coast of 高雄 (gaoxiong aka Kaohsiung) was practically my home away from home during my childhood visits to Taiwan. And how do we get to that island? By ferry! Which, looked MUCH nicer since the last time I took it.


Everything came rushing back to me as I stepped off the ferry. Left. I remembered living off to the left of the ferry station. So we headed off in that direction. Doop de doo we went, only moments later, we arrived at place vaguely familiar... yet... SOMETHING wasn't quite right... I called up my grandfather to confirm the location, and, sure as the sun sets in the west, we were there. Only, the 4 story house filled with countless memories had been reduced to nothing more than a shanty house!


With nothing much else to see in this part of town, we decided to trot towards the other side of the island, which has had a makeover of its own! The rocky beaches of old had been replaced by imported black, volcanic sand. Also, some nice fountains and pavilions where people can hide from the blistering summer sun probably play a pretty large role in the boom of tourism on the island. Actually, all of this had already been added by the last time I was there, but, the people really weren't.


There's hardly any argument that the tourists are there now, and where there are people, there's good food! Finally, there was something in Taiwan that Perry hadn't tried, so we had to grab a bag of spicy little snails! I got to try something new, too! I've seen them around, but I never had a chance to eat bird eggs. It's ambiguous what kind of birds the eggs are from, but they're small, and GOOOOD.


With food in hand, we were ready to take a walk. We picked a direction and went with it. That's just the way we roll. Before long, we saw a couple of signs pointing at an old fort and lighthouse, so we headed on up. By the time we got up to the fort, the sun had already set, and the fort wasn't particularly well lit. To add insult to injury, the lighthouse was closed off to tourists! We DID, however, get a spectacular view of the island from top of the hill.


Alas, it was just about time to get back home, but not before I grabbed another culinary first. These, I actually only recently saw on the Travel & Living channel on TV. Tiny, bite-sized soft shell crabs, battered up, deep fried, salted, and garnished with basil and garlic. Mmmmmm...


Then, back on the "mainland," Perry introduced me to a third first! I've had 剉冰 (cuabing, shaved ice) before, and I've also had 雪花冰 (xuehua bing) a smoother type of shaved ice made from milk, but this shop was famous for their flavored ice. Since it was strawberry season, I only thought it logical to get me some strawberry ice! Basically, it's a frozen block of strawberry milk with layers upon layers shaved off and then topped with sweet strawberries, melon, and 芭樂 (bala, guava). SOOOO good!


We finally capped off the night with a couple of the attending nurses who work at the hospital that Perry lives in. Nini and Anas (sp? on both counts...) brought us out to a little Indonesian grocery-store-turned-night-karaoke-club, where we got some awesome tempeh to bring back to the hospital to munch on.


After a relaxing chat and midnight snack of tempeh, and then later some spicy-ass fish, made by Perry and Nini, we were about ready to turn in. After all, Perry and the nurses had to work the next day. As for me, I would sleep in, grab lunch with Perry, finish packing, and be on my way back to Taoyuan on the Aloha busline mentioned in the previous post!

For more pictures, here's another slideshow for your enjoyment!