Kaoshiung 高雄 - In and around

Kaoshiung City gets my thumbs-up. In my own opinion, she is way ahead of capital city Taipei in terms of city planning and cleanliness. The pedestrian walkways are well-light, well-paved with clear directional signs (at least this is so at the main tourist streets). Vehicular traffic is a lot more orderly than elsewhere in Taiwan which I've seen thus far. Aesthetics also seem to rank higher in this city. You notice that in the specially designed street signs, lamp-posts, pavements, etc. Even the subway station is a piece of art on its own. I always love a beautiful city.

Formosa Boulevard Station

One of the bridges over Love River 爱河 - an enchanting part of the city.

The right side of the river (in this picture) comes alive at night with buskers, live music performances and eateries. 

Such a befitting sculpture

These quirky ones are outside a movie museum at the Love River

There are many interesting sights in the outskirts of the city which could take a couple of days to explore. They are mostly accessible by public buses, but we decided to hire a taxi and spent a good whole day exploring some of these places.

Fo Guang Shan 佛光山：

佛光山 － the largest buddhist monastery in Taiwan

 

Qi Shan Old Town 旗山老街：

旗山老街 - for old houses and traditional street food 

A quaint little train station at 旗山 which is no longer in use

An odd looking building across the train station

Meinong Village 美浓村：

美浓 - known for their handcrafted paper umbrellas

Try your hands (or feet) at some traditional childhood games

Cijin 旗津：

When night fell, we took a ferry across to Cijin Island

Ferry Terminal building on the side of Cijin

It's a walk back in time on Cijin. Lots of old-time street fair and games.

The Ma-Tzu Temple on Cijin

Trains of Alishan 阿里山

We arrived at Alishan National Scenic Area (阿里山国家风景区) in a minivan crammed with seven other passengers. Again, thanks to Typhoon Morakot and some sticky bureaucratic issues, the famed Alishan Forest Railway (between Chiayi and Alishan) was shut. However, once up on Alishan, the narrow-guage lines were operating between Alishan Station (阿里山), Shenmu Station (神木) and Zhushan Station (祝山).

Here're some pictures of the narrow-guage railway originally constructed in 1912 for the purpose of logging.

Mom posing with the very handsome locomotive

An all-wood interior adds charm to the train 
running from Shenmu to Alishan

Suggested by our guesthouse host, we trekked
from Alishan to Shenmu and took the train back

Alishan Station. The trains in this photo run between
Alishan and Zhushan for the sunrise tours.

CingJing Veterans Farm

The only way to explore 清境农场 is by foot, and the best is of course to start from the top and walk down. Like I'd said in the earlier post, this is kind of a tourist trap. But the scenery and crisp fresh air are nonetheless a great respite. Here're some shots I took with my canon 550D and a humble 18-55mm kit lens.

星光流域 @ Cingjing Veterans Farm

First and foremost, Cingjing Veterans Farm is not a farm. It is a scenic area at 1750 above sea-level with various tourist projects such as the Green Green Grassland, Small Swiss Garden, a recreation centre for tourists, etc. Some people might label this place a "tourist trap". I will not refute that claim, even though I personally enjoyed the one night stay at Cingjing Farm. And the kudos go to the fabulous guesthouse we stayed at - 星光流域 <http://sunping.nantou.com.tw/?ptype=info>. I made reservation for this guesthouse online after researching the huge array of accommodation in Cingjing Farm. I finally settled for this one because it is situated higher up and away from the 'hustle and bustle' of the area. In fact, they are located within an old village called Bo Wang Xin Cun <博望新村> But the biggest draw of 星光流域 has to be their rooms.

Main building of 星光流域 that houses the reception and dining area

Our room sleeps four. The mezzanine level has a king size bed.
Note: no heater up here - gets pretty cold in the winter

View of the ground floor from the mezzanine. It has a plushier bed with heating.

The houses along 博望新村 

I highly recommend this guesthouse to anyone who wants to soak in the tranquility of Cingjing Farm after a tiring day of sightseeing. At NT3200 per night, this was a bit of a splurge for us. But given the great hospitality of the hosts (a young couple) plus the sumptuous dinner and breakfast (included in listed price), I felt it was worth every single cent.

Photo Journal: Jiji集集-Shuili水里-Checheng車埕

Today, we hired the same taxi to bring us on a day tour outside Sun Moon Lake. For NT3000, he brought us around the main sights in 集集，水里 and 車埕.

Jiji 集集:

武昌宮 was preserved in its half-collapsed state after the 9-21 earthquake. The entire ground floor of this temple crumbled under the massive quake but the deity statue surprisingly remained intact.

The Jiji Train Station is a must-see for any visit to Jiji Town 

A very nostalgic station

The original Jiji train station, built during the Japanese colonial period, was destroyed during the 9-21 earthquake.  The current station building is closely modeled after the original one.

Unfortunately, train service was suspended during our visit due to extensive 
maintenance and repair works following the destructive Typhoon Morakot

Shuili 水里:

Nothing much interested us in Shuili until we spotted this stream as we passed through town

Our taxi pulled over and we treaded down the rocks to get closer. It was a pleasantly cool dip for the feet.

It felt so good just sitting on the rocks with the cool breeze and running water, I couldn't bear to leave.

Checheng 車埕:

We spent a good half day exploring the entire Checheng on foot. What used to be a logging town is now a popular destination for tourists. We followed this path to enter the old village in search for lunch.

Saw this cute mural along the way into the village. Coincidentally, the shop name in the picture was the same as the place we had lunch!

車埕小飯店 - the place to get authentic 木桶便當. 

We opted for our food to be served without the traditional wooden buckets. 
The food tasted great nonetheless.

The servings were generous and this was easily the 
best lunch I've had so far in Taiwan 

After lunch, we strolled through the alleys in and around the old village

Turning out from the village, we came to the Checheng Train Station

A coal or water tank for engines to refill perhaps? It only reminded me of scenes from "Thomas and Friends". Wished my nephew (the biggest fan of "T&F") was there to enlighten me.

We visited the lovely logging museum and art gallery with exquisite wood carvings

The logging museum is built at the site of an old logging factory.