Kaohsiung is Taiwan's second biggest city and most southern. From Tainan it's only 30 minutes by train (if you get the fastest one), so we often go down there on the weekend. It also has one of the biggest ports in Asia, and that area is actually quite interesting to look around.
We took the MRT to Xiziwan (or Sizihwan as they spell it), and directly opposite the station entrance is a place to rent bicycles for 100NT a day. They give you a map with cycle route which is handy. We headed towards the docks, to where there's a nice cycle path along a disused railway, and passes through an area called the Pier 2 Art District.
We'd been here before to attend a gig by Taiwan's biggest metal band Chthonic (Joël reviewed it on his other blog here) but this time had more time to wander around. The area is made up of old warehouses which have been turned into gallery spaces, studios and so on, which sculptures and murals dotted around. Identical statues of a fat man and fat woman have been put along the railway, and it seems are regularly painted with new designs by different artists.
When we were there last there were several exhibitions by visual arts students, and the previous time one small gallery had one based around cartoon characters such as Tofu Oyaku, so they change quite frequently. Nestled amongst all the galleries, looking like one itself as it too is housed in an old warehouse decorated with murals of workers, as the Kaohsiung Museum of Labour. As it was just after May Day, they had a special exhibition, which was very nicely laid out, and would probably have been very interesting if it had anything other than the headings translated into English.
From there you can head towards the Love River, which has a cycle path free of scooters, and some cafés and bars, though in the evening it can get crowded. Before you reach the river is the Love Pier from where you can get a ferry to Qijin Island. As well as fresh seafood the island has a lighthouse by an old Chinese fort on a hill overlooking the island, which is fun to wander around. There's also an OK beach and a good cycle path with views along the cliff.
Further along there should be views of the port but we didn't get that far. You can see the giant container ships from the cliff top though, and from the "Wind Park", one of those typically Taiwanese areas set up with colourful little statues for kids to play on, windmills to be the backdrop to your photos, a grassy area to fly kites on (despite the signs saying no kites) and some snack stall. Another ferry takes you to near where you rent the bicycles, so you don't have to ride all the way round again.
Not far from there is Shoushan, also known as Monkey Mountain, a big hill covered in forest that contains a zoo and of course monkeys. If you have food, they might be aggressive, but when we went they were very calm and fluffy, not like the dirty aggressive ones in India. There may be a bus that goes there but we got a bit lost when we tried, so it might be easiest to take a taxi or go by scooter as we eventually did.
The bus we thought was taking us there actually took us around the foot of the mountain, past the university and up along the cliff. There you can find lots of nice little cafés overlooking the sea. Some even claim to have scones! The best time to go is on an afternoon when there's a typhoon approaching but the rain hasn't reached land yet, so you can watch the waves crashing on to the rocks below with a moody dark sky as backdrop. You can even imagine you can see the eye of the approaching storm, a dark column going down to the water… Just make sure you have a rain coat, and if you're going by bus check when the last one leaves.
Joël's photos of Kaohsiung can be found here.
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