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Sunday, February 13, 2005
Leaving Kaohsiung (after I learned to spell it!)
Yup, woke up this beautiful sunny morning and decided a week in Kaohsiung is long enough.
I've finally learned to spell the name of the town, so it is time to head out and see what else there is to see.
So far, I've spent less than I would have thought, so I'm going to treat myself to a couple of days in Kenting.
There is little likelyhood of ever finding a job there because it is a resort town and primarily caters to tourists. If there were work in Kenting the foreigners would definately be fighting for it, as this is the beautiful beach area that sports beaches that are actually clean.
I was going to head down early this morning, but it turns out the buses for Kenting run every 10 minutes 24 hours a day. At 300 NT ($12) it's about half of what I've been paying for a hotel room until now. I'm thinking that warrants me staying around Kaoshiung to get a few errands done where I know the lay of the land before I head down south. I was feeling pretty ill yesterday so I didn't do too much. I just got up, wandered down to the local church, shared in their potluck and met some new people. Then returned to the hotel and pretty much slept for the rest of the day.
I've done quite a handful of other things since I last posted here. I thought I'd find a new cafe, but it seems that each one has slightly different annoying technical problems. This one has MSN and Yahoo (the last one didn't) but for some reason it won't let me log into my shaw account - no email for another day it seems! Anyway, I made it to the beach and watched the sunset there. I climbed up to the lighthouse on top of the mountains on the coast and watched the boats off-shore. I also caught a ferry to a little island Chichen (http://taiwan.wcn.com.tw/en/kaohsiung/chichin.shtml) that is part of Kaohsiung and watched the shipping lane there for a while. The big boats are amazing! I watched the "Eternal Grace" heading out to sea. I was surprised by how many boats were anchored off-shore waiting for their chance at port.
Friday, I went to Lotus Lake and enjoyed the street fair there before seeing the old gate and wall of the city. Built more than 300 years ago, it is in amazingly good shape. Sadly even for what they call a "first class" tourist attraction there is an amazing amount of litter. Littering is illegal here, but there seems to be no concept of public trash cans. It might be why everytime you buy a drink it comes in a plastic sack. Maybe the concept is that you carry it with you until you find somewhere to dump it. I've this nasty habit of carrying it with me until I buy another drink and then giving my trash to the clerk at the stand. It seems to work, and keeps me hydrated!
Lotus lake is a bit of a misnomer, maybe because it was winter there were a few sorry lotuses and some dead fish to view. Big crowds filled the market and I was more or less eager to get out of the area after a couple of hours. http://taiwan.wcn.com.tw/en/kaohsiung/lotus.shtml
Oh, being a tall person here is great. While waiting for a ferry I was wondering why I could see everything so clearly. There was a massive abount of people waiting for the ferry but because I'm literally head and shoulders above most of the population, the view for me is usually pretty good. I was amazed at how many people and scooters for a ferry that leaves every ten minutes. I must admit after all the ferry sinking stories I had heard in the news that I was a little afraid to ride the thing across the harbour. You could feel the ocean waves rocking the craft... it was exhillerating but frightening at the same time. The bad thing about being head and shoulders taller is the complex it will give you. All the women here are tiny! Finding clothes that are a medium in Canada requires me to be a large and in some cases EXTRA large. Not good for the ego. (Link to size chart: http://w4.kcg.gov.tw/~english/index.php?strurl1=living&strurl=living06.htm )
Interesting Taiwan Links: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Gulf/1507/#David
My time is almost up at the cafe. (Hugs to all) I'm eagerly awaiting Tuesday so I can mail all the cards that I've written. My writing fingers have been busy!
Love from me.
T. Destiny
I've finally learned to spell the name of the town, so it is time to head out and see what else there is to see.
So far, I've spent less than I would have thought, so I'm going to treat myself to a couple of days in Kenting.
There is little likelyhood of ever finding a job there because it is a resort town and primarily caters to tourists. If there were work in Kenting the foreigners would definately be fighting for it, as this is the beautiful beach area that sports beaches that are actually clean.
I was going to head down early this morning, but it turns out the buses for Kenting run every 10 minutes 24 hours a day. At 300 NT ($12) it's about half of what I've been paying for a hotel room until now. I'm thinking that warrants me staying around Kaoshiung to get a few errands done where I know the lay of the land before I head down south. I was feeling pretty ill yesterday so I didn't do too much. I just got up, wandered down to the local church, shared in their potluck and met some new people. Then returned to the hotel and pretty much slept for the rest of the day.
I've done quite a handful of other things since I last posted here. I thought I'd find a new cafe, but it seems that each one has slightly different annoying technical problems. This one has MSN and Yahoo (the last one didn't) but for some reason it won't let me log into my shaw account - no email for another day it seems! Anyway, I made it to the beach and watched the sunset there. I climbed up to the lighthouse on top of the mountains on the coast and watched the boats off-shore. I also caught a ferry to a little island Chichen (http://taiwan.wcn.com.tw/en/kaohsiung/chichin.shtml) that is part of Kaohsiung and watched the shipping lane there for a while. The big boats are amazing! I watched the "Eternal Grace" heading out to sea. I was surprised by how many boats were anchored off-shore waiting for their chance at port.
Friday, I went to Lotus Lake and enjoyed the street fair there before seeing the old gate and wall of the city. Built more than 300 years ago, it is in amazingly good shape. Sadly even for what they call a "first class" tourist attraction there is an amazing amount of litter. Littering is illegal here, but there seems to be no concept of public trash cans. It might be why everytime you buy a drink it comes in a plastic sack. Maybe the concept is that you carry it with you until you find somewhere to dump it. I've this nasty habit of carrying it with me until I buy another drink and then giving my trash to the clerk at the stand. It seems to work, and keeps me hydrated!
Lotus lake is a bit of a misnomer, maybe because it was winter there were a few sorry lotuses and some dead fish to view. Big crowds filled the market and I was more or less eager to get out of the area after a couple of hours. http://taiwan.wcn.com.tw/en/kaohsiung/lotus.shtml
Oh, being a tall person here is great. While waiting for a ferry I was wondering why I could see everything so clearly. There was a massive abount of people waiting for the ferry but because I'm literally head and shoulders above most of the population, the view for me is usually pretty good. I was amazed at how many people and scooters for a ferry that leaves every ten minutes. I must admit after all the ferry sinking stories I had heard in the news that I was a little afraid to ride the thing across the harbour. You could feel the ocean waves rocking the craft... it was exhillerating but frightening at the same time. The bad thing about being head and shoulders taller is the complex it will give you. All the women here are tiny! Finding clothes that are a medium in Canada requires me to be a large and in some cases EXTRA large. Not good for the ego. (Link to size chart: http://w4.kcg.gov.tw/~english/index.php?strurl1=living&strurl=living06.htm )
Interesting Taiwan Links: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Gulf/1507/#David
My time is almost up at the cafe. (Hugs to all) I'm eagerly awaiting Tuesday so I can mail all the cards that I've written. My writing fingers have been busy!
Love from me.
T. Destiny
Posted by T. Destiny in Taiwan at 11:49 AM 
