07.04 - Day 10 - Taipei to Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Taipei to Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Temperature - Min 18, Max 27
14,938 steps
After fumbling about with the Taiwan train website last night I wake at 6:30 a.m. to walk to the main station relieved to be able to collect six one way tickets to Kaohsiung for later in the morning.
We allow almost as much time as the train ride itself to get ourselves to the station after a final long breakfast at Just Sleep. Once waiting for the train, I spy some of the train line Bento boxes that have made their way from Japan so we load up on three at 120 TWD a pop.
Bang on 11:31am our long sleek train pulls away covering the 350kms with three stops in 94 minutes. The smoothness of the ride is almost anti-climactic - only if you try and look at close features out of the window do you start to feel the near 300 kilometers per hour speed.
I end up next to a chatty estate agent / real estate agent / realtor from Portland Oregon (always with the state name checked) bemoaning Trump's latest antics of currently bombing Iran, as he and his wife consider moving back to Taiwan. The others play cards, read and eat hearty Bento boxes.
There seems to be no period when the scenery is just greenery; this West Coast is spreading population, tall houses and factories alongside rice fields. Zuoying is the end of the line but not quite our journey, requiring five stops on the metro to Kaohsiung Main station. Another grid based city layout has a final five minutes on foot down a main artery, the tall K85 Sky Tower at the end in the distance.
Our resting place though is Joho Hotel, all browns and blacks where Just Sleep in Taipei was beige slacks and long blue aprons. The rooms are not quite ready, instead we get ushered to the dining area on level 2 for some snacks, juices and coffees that are available 1:00pm till 9:00pm. Plus the cooked afternoon tea 3:00pm till 7:00pm including wine 6:00pm till 7:00pm.
After dropping our bags in our room on level 11 (only five rooms per floor), Mema and Pawpaw opt for an initial rest in the hotel, whilst Kate, Sienna, Seb and I Kate catch an Uber to the National Science and Technology Museum.
Inside the imposing grey box of a building, we’re rushed to the 3:20pm and last showing of the day of a 3D movie on display space exploration. It references the Artemis project which is well timed as Artemis 2 is currently passing behind the moon
In the 300 seat cinema there were two other people which rather sets the tone for the rest of the museum - we're often alone in this cavernous place, be it in the science activities / compressed air basketball / agility reflexes or history of clothing or science of cooking or dream transport. As the clock passes 5pm there is a slight panic we might get locked in and no one would know. It's a good museum though for Sienna and Seb.
Another Uber brings us home in the rain the ten minutes. Turns out Mema and Pawpaw had gone for a stroll finding turtles in Central Park and were caught in a deluge. All is made up for though with the extended afternoon tea - chunks of fried pork and vegetables eventually substituting dinner.
Kate ventures out for a full load of laundry - I put up in the hotel room the spiders web of string to hang the clothes. Pawpaw and I do venture to a night market nearby - the street closed to traffic every night from 5:00pm to 2:00am. Some fried prawns and an egg and chive omelette later and we're all asleep well before the market is finished.