Taiwan is more than Taipei

"Wang Ye" in full makeup at the opening of the Donggang King Boat Festival

Like some other bloggers I know, I am getting tired of stories about Taiwan or Taiwan travel listicles that were written by someone who either flew in, spent three days in Taipei and had a Sun Moon Lake overnight, or who lives in Taipei but doesn't care that much about the rest of Taiwan. (I once read an blog post by, I dunno, somebody, saying that Taipei expats never seem to leave Taipei. I was annoyed by that - I leave Taipei all the time! - but I can see where one might get the impression that the Taipei expat community isn't interested in exploring the rest of the country).

Anyway, why does it always have to be hot springs, a few Taipei hot spots, maybe Sun Moon Lake and Taroko if you're lucky, and "theme restaurants"? Maybe these days Kenting will figure in on these "itineraries". I'm sick of it too. While I could recommend a few great hot springs and I've even been to that toilet restaurant (verdict: mediocre. Were you surprised?), I feel like one could do a much better job talking about great places in Taiwan than "Taipei 101 and this lake I hear about in the mountains". Not Taipei, Taiwan. 

So, in no particular order and with no particular rhyme or reason, here are some of my favorite places in Taiwan. With links, mostly to my blog, because I'm nothing if not self-promoting.

Southeast Pingdong County and East of Kending

This has to have been one of my favorite trips in Taiwan that was not an outlying island. The area around Gangzai and south toward the east end of Kending is gorgeous. There are people who go to Gangzai, a little strip of a town along the thin road down the coast that peters out a few kilometers to the south, just to enjoy a Taiwan without convenience stores. I actually like convenience stores, but I also appreciate the quiet rural peace of towns like this.

From here, if you have a car, you can drive around sand dunes (or just walk on the beach), drive up to some grasslands with great views of the mountains and sea, listen to waves make rain sounds on a pebble beach to the north, hike to the ruins of an aboriginal village, hike along the coast to a shipweck and be within a short drive of some of Kending's best coastal scenery and beaches. Plus, it means you can see the beauty of Kending without ever going to Kending town. Win-win, because Kending town sucks butt. Loud, crowded, dirty tourist trap with a crappy crowded beach and literally nothing to recommend it.

As a confirmed driving-hater, I can say that the driving isn't even that hard, I was okay with it.

Tainan

Downtown Tainan

I'll wait on a link in the heading until I blog my latest Tainan adventures,  as recently I managed to visit Tainan not once, but twice in the span of a few months. However, I'd been there several times before, though not with as good photographic results.

Tainan is the city of my heart. It's where Brendan and I decided to start dating and was one of my first (successful) forays outside of Taipei when I was still fresh off the plane in 2006-2007. If I could do my job there - I can't - and it had better public transportation, or really any public transportation, I would move there.

I love it not only for the huge variety of temples of all sizes, backgrounds and ages, but also for it's laid-back urban vibe. It's a city, but not a frenetic one (I'd say "like Taipei" but I actually think Taipei is pretty laid-back too). I love it for the many varieties of ice cream and shaved ice available to cool yourself in the tropical heat, I love its "we're as hip as Taipei, or maybe even hipper" cafes and its nascent young, artsy vibe. I love eating fresh fruit ice cream in a melon at Taicheng Fruit Store and drinking coffee at Narrow Door and Taikoo. I love Tainan shrimp roll rice. I love Tainan's pro-independence politics.

I could chill in Tainan forever. 

Yunlin County

I don't have links yet as I haven't blogged our Yunlin trip, so here are some from my friend over at Synapticism. You won't find a more traditional-yet-almost-completely-uncommercialized place than Yunlin County and its assorted towns. If you want to see where your Taiwanese friends' grandparents all come from, check it out.

Yunlin is another good place to chill, without any major must-sees except, perhaps, Beigang's Chaotian temple. I liked the old-school flavor of Beigang, enjoyed the unique "old street" buildings in Xiluo, whose old street hasn't become too commercialized yet, and finding (more than one!) funky cafe in Douliu as well as a temple to both a Daoist god (I think Guan Di) and Confucius and a truly uncommercialized old street. We didn't get to stay in Huwei but I would be interested to go back - the downtown area looks bustling, with some interesting old architecture, and there's a puppet museum. You could spend about half a day in any given town - more if you are content to explore for half a day and spend the rest of it in a cafe chilling out until dinner, which I generally am - and although there may be a long wait for a bus, transit between the towns is otherwise fairly quick and easy. Downtowns are pretty compact, you only need independent transport if you want to get way out into the countryside, which is a plus.

Anyway, watch this space - I'll be doing a longer post on this very soon.

Lishan (and the Central Cross-Island drive from Hehuan Mountain)

The abandoned church in Lishan

This is one of my favorite places in Taiwan. There is not that much to do in Lishan itself - though exploring the abandoned church and the old Lishan Hotel (which I understand may have been finally renovated and reopened?) will give you a reason to get out and just enjoy the views. Or, you could just walk around and enjoy the views! This is a trip you will want a car for, or some way of obtaining independent transportation. With it, you can visit Fushoushan and Wuling farms during the day, and then drink tea outside back in Lishan town as the sun sets (if you get a good honestay or hotel, that is). If you can score a ride to Fushoushan, after exploring up there it's not hard to hike back down to town and, again, the views are breathtaking. It's a fantastic place to go to just relax, with clean air and some of the most stunning mountain scenery in the country. If you're thinking "I want to hang out in the mountains, but still be able to walk to a few restaurants and places to buy essentials", Lishan is for you.

The drive to Lishan from Hehuan Mountain

In fact, the North Cross-Island is pretty rad, too

I don't have a lot of photos from the first trip, as I was more concerned with making sure Emily (who was driving) knew where she was going. So, most of those pics are from our drive the next day down the east coast. My second trip concentrated on Lalashan and Shangbaling, not the whole highway. But, the drive is lovely and in many places, wild. You end up in the same place that the Central Cross-Island drops you off if you take the Yilan route (there is also a Hualien route, which I have not done). Some of the driving, along one-car-at-a-time roads clinging to mountainsides, can be a bit intense, but it's absolutely worth it. Daxi, Fuxing and Xiao Wulai, with its lovely little waterfall and - more interestingly, hike to the lovely little waterfall - are also good places to stop. Yes, I've been to Cihu - I took my in-laws there, which I think my history buff father-in-law enjoyed - but never blogged about it.

The point? Between Daxi, Cihu, Fuxing, Xiao Wulai, Shangbaling and, at the other end, Mingchih Forest Recreation Area, you'll be pleasantly surprised by all there is to see and do along the highway. Or, just drive along and enjoy the mountain views.

Puli

Poor Puli. First the earthquake, and now it just doesn't get that much love from international tourists. If people go there at all it's to catch a bus to Sun Moon Lake. But Puli saved my butt during a particularly horrid Chinese New Year camping trip: see link above, also, don't try to camp in the mountains of Taiwan on Chinese New Year. You can thank me later for that bit of advice. For that, I will always be grateful. The Shaoxing wine brewery is interesting enough, I liked making a little paper fan at the paper factory, I still have the tray I bought at the lacquer makers', and if you're not into that sort of tourist-trail 'handicrafts and local goods' stuff, rent a bike, get out of town and enjoy the views as the Central Mountain Range rises from the plain. Also, within a short drive is the "where is that?" town of Caotun. I can't say there's that much to do in Caotun, but there is one very cool temple that looks like a medicine gourd (慈德宫) perched on a hill out of town. It's way more interesting than the - in my opinion - creepy-seeming Zhongtai monastery. 

The medicine gourd temple in Caotun (草屯慈德宫)

The drive from Chihshang (East Rift Valley) to Taidong (the east coast)

This is actually an expat favorite, but still never makes it into those "Top Ten Things In Taipei That I Am Going To Pretend Are Representative of Taiwan" lists. Chihshang itself is lovely, if a bit full of local tourists because some famous commercials and movies were shot there. Nevermind, it's beautiful and worth a stop. It's in the heart of the East Rift Valley - which, gorgeous! - with views of bright green rice fields giving way to dark green mountains on both sides. Check it out, have a coffee at Lavazza - interesting, seeing as the town is famous for Lavazza competitor Mr. Brown's commercials, talk about a missed marketing opportunity - and head up over the eastern mountains to the coast.

After a soporific drive through bucolic tropical beauty, with a stop to see some Formosan macaques which may or may not take over your car, you'll be greeted with Hawaii-like views of the sea as you hit the coast at Donghe. Stop for a break at the cafe above Jinzun beach (and absolutely do take the stairs down to the near-deserted beach, though I'm not sure I'd recommend swimming) but otherwise enjoy the Hawaii-Five-O drive down to Taidong. There are a few other places you can stop at on the way, including the expat enclave of Dulan. We didn't stay long, but we did pick up some locally-brewed beer for later.

Hsinchu County

Children at Pasta'ai in Hsinchu county

I have a lot of links for Hsinchu, so have a look:

Pasta'ai in 2008 and 2010 (including a visit to the house of Zhang Xue-liang 張學良)

Beipu

Lion's Head Mountain

Hukou Old Street

Beipu has become something of a tourist stop, but Pasta'ai, if you can finagle the dates for the biennial Saisiyat aboriginal harvest festival, is still a very local thing. As long as you are respectful and friendly and willing to drink a crapton of millet wine, foreign guests are welcome. That said, it's not nearly as commercialized (or really commercialized at all) as its sister festival in Nanzhuang. Don't forget Zhang Xueliang's house and a worthwhile hike over Lion's Head Mountain. The temple on the Miaoli end gets all the press, but I actually liked the old Japanese baroque temple on the mountain itself.

Hukou is, well, an old street. But it's a quiet one, without the same-old-same-old souvenir shops that plague Sanxia, Jinshan, Shenkeng and Daxi. It's pretty far out of town and bus service is sporadic, so you will want to either drive or arrange taxis. Being folks who dislike driving, we did the latter. 

A Japanese-era temple on a creepy, foggy day on Lion's Head Mountain in Hsinchu

Hsinchu city is also worth your time, with some interesting historical sites, good food, a city god temple and the absolutely amazing - not really in a good way - temple to late mass murderer, brutal dictator and all around asshat Chiang Kai-shek, which has got to be one of the most mind-blowing historical things I've seen in Taiwan. Not because the temple itself is particularly special, but for what it represents.

Long and short of it? There's a lot to do in Hsinchu. 

Kaohsiung and Donggang

Brendan lookin' sexxxxxxy in the Batman room of a love hotel in Kaohsiung

The Dome of Light at Formosa Boulevard station

I cannot believe I've been to Kaohsiung city at least three times and yet never really blogged much about the city itself. (Edit: here you go!)

That said, enjoy this post about the Batman room at the Eden Exotic Love Hotel in Kaohsiung.

Anyway, I was there for a weekend last month so I'll be fixing that soon. Yes, there are all the things you've heard about: Pier 2, wandering around Hamasen, the British Consulate at Takao (I like to go for the views, that's about it really), Cijin Island, Chaishan and its monkeys, Lotus Lake, Love River, the sugar refinery (which is now a family-friendly tourist spot), Liuhe Night Market. With the exception of the night market, all of this stuff is fine - well, the sugar refinery was a bit bland - and I enjoy it too. By all means, go. Especially Cijin Island, which has great seafood and a fun ferry ride to get you there. I am also a fan of the Dome of Light in Formosa Boulevard station, and in a hallway just off of it, a man who makes sterling silver flower pendants, rings and other charms.

But I like Kaohsiung for its great coffee and food scene, including some fantastic hangouts like Beast (try the sweet potato and cheese quesadillas and Cambridge Cucumber 'mojito'), Reve Coffee and Sojourner Cafe, great burgers at Zzyzx, Takao Beer, a particular cafe on Chaishan that I enjoy, and tons of great local food. I like that it has an MRT so I don't have to taxi everywhere, as I won't rent a car in such a large city. I like Ruifeng Night Market, crowded with locals but almost unknown to tourists. I like hanging out with my friend Sasha in Dashe and eating a whole chicken, gorgeously cooked before walking up Guanyin Mountain.

I'm including Donggang in here because it's a perfect day trip from Kaohsiung. I haven't been to the nearby aquarium, but I can heartily recommend dinner at the harbor (best seafood in Taiwan without going to the outlying islands), Donglong Temple and its magnificent golden gate, a quick walk down the old street, and - again if you can figure out the dates - its King Boat Festival, held every three years, which is worth visiting both at the beginning and the end. Quite possibly the best cultural festival in Taiwan. I wrote my first ever published nonfiction story about it, and you should definitely buy the anthology in which it appears.

Another good choice near Kaohsiung? Meinong. Pretty on-the-tourist-trail, but nice.

The burning of the King Boat in Donggang

Spirit Mediums in Donggang

The mountains above the Yilan coast

The Taoyuan Grasslands above the Yilan coastline

...including Yuemeikeng in Jiaoxi (I couldn't make this a favorite considering what happened the second time we went).

There are several hiking trails up here - Yuemeikeng, Caoling Old Trail, Wankengtou and the Taoyuan grasslands (accessible from Caoling Old Trail), and Paoma (Running Horse) Old Trail to name a few. The views? Spectacular. Ever wondered what it was like to walk along a ridge of seaside cliffs with rolling hills to one side and a sheer drop to the waves below at the other? Well, this is it. Probably my biggest "don't miss" set of hiking trails in the entire country.

Yuemeikeng waterfall in Yilan - tragically beautiful

Keelung

No, really, I love hanging out in Keelung. From Heping Island to Miaokou Night Market to the Fairy Cave Temple to Ghost Month, I always enjoy a reason to pass through this - to be honest - kinda grotty town. It's still got the old red light district "welcome sailors!" feeling, it's a bit rough around the edges (okay, at times very rough around the edges) and packed with pachinko parlors, but that's what makes it interesting.

Also, a great stopping-off point from trips to Jiufen and Jinguashi (which are nice, but packed with tourists - for good reason) and my favorite hot springs in Jinshan (in the old Japanese governor-general's hot spring getaway on the coast). Also, a good place to eat after a half day hike up Xiaotzukeng to Jiufen. 

Orchid Island

Goats on Orchid Island

A traditional boat on Orchid Island

I don't think I have to sell you on Orchid Island (Lanyu) but I'll try anyway. Lanyu is unlike anywhere else in Taiwan. The locals don't put much stock in a cash economy - in that I saw locals freely using the services of their neighbors' businesses without paying because it all comes back eventually - though as an outsider you'll have to pay. Where kids run around and are supervised by whomever happens to be nearby, including when they run into the ocean. Where people paint traditional fishing boats by the side of the road. The language sounds more like an offshoot of Tagalog than anything you'll hear on Taiwan's mainland. It's one of the few places in Taiwan where you can speak Chinese to locals, but it will feel most definitely like two non-native speakers communicating. It's a place where you can completely and utterly chill out, a tiny (but sadly beachless) Hawaii with good snorkeling and out-of-this-world seafood (try the flying fish barbecue with a pitcher of ice cold Taiwan Beer). It's easy to drive or scooter around as there is one road (two if you count the one that runs up the middle of the island and connects at two different ends of the circle road).

I don't mean to exoticize it that much, I just want to make really clear that Orchid Island is not only nothing like anything you'll find elsewhere, it's also nothing like you'll find in Taiwan proper. It is unique. Don't miss it. 

Matsu

Qinbi, an old stone village, now a nexus of homestay's, on Matsu's northern island of Beigan

Being hard to get to due to near-constant fog that tends to ground flights, and its relative distance from Taiwan, most tourists give Matsu a miss. This is a mistake. I don't know what I was doing with my life before I discovered lao jiu mian (thin noodles with seafood cooked in a broth flavored with aged local wine). "Juguang Hamburgers", a sort of sesame-covered bread filled with a seafood filling that appears to be mainly chopped oyster remains one of my favorite foods. The old stone villages and winding paths through granite cliffs and dry, but humid coastlines evokes the Greek Isles or Turkey (in fact the houses reminded me very strongly of older settlements in Turkey). We stayed in Taiwan and yet felt like we'd taken a foreign vacation. 

Kinmen

One of my fondest memories of traveling in Taiwan with Brendan was taking off in a car one morning from our homestay on the outskirts of Jincheng with a map that showed the location of every known Wind Lion God statue in Kinmen, and simply driving around to find them (while stopping to enjoy interesting sites we found on the way, which were numerous). Jincheng itself is a wonderful city to wander around, but you don't really get to know Kinmen until you hop in a car and explore its smaller towns, and get a sense of its history - as well as how the major events of history in Asia have shaped it. All the way from the ruined farmhouses, old towns and "foreign mansions" (洋樓) to the Battle of Guningtou to a sad statue of Chiang Kai-shek in a town traffic circle flanked on each side by election posters, at least one for the major opposition party. Mass Murderer, Late Dictator and All-Around Asshat Chiang would be rolling in his grave, and I am happy to know that.

I know I've listed three sets of outlying islands now, and I'd actually like to list Penghu too, but I went in my first year in Taiwan, didn't know much about traveling in Taiwan, and don't remember much either. I'll have to go back, see if I can do a better job of it, and perhaps add it to this list later.

And I know it's a tourist favorite, but I've gotta say I love Lugang. I really do. 

I love the old Ding family home (丁家老宅) with its coffee shop in a side hall. I love the old buildings on Zhongshan Road. I love the old street and its cafes in restored houses. I love the festivals at the Matsu temple. I love the old Longshan Temple at the other end of town. I love fried oysters. Hate me if you must, but I love Lugang and I am not afraid to admit it. 

A woman becomes a spirit medium in Lugang

At a cafe in Lugang

Postcards from Hamasen

 After several months of being too busy and lazy (and just plain lacking the energy thanks to work problems and worries over family illness), in the past few weeks I've started trying to rejuvenate and recoup my old zeal for going places and trying new things.

I know that sounds horribly cliche, but really, I had been in a slump of not doing much, not going out much, for the first half of the year - punctuated only by our trip to Sri Lanka.

I've begun to lift myself out of it - which is why you're seeing so many posts (some of them backlogged from weeks past) on doing stuff in, around and outside of Taipei.

A few weeks ago, when I had a free HSR ticket to Kaohsiung for work, I wrote a post about spending the night in a Batman-themed room at a love motel. Well, the next day we stuck around Kaohsiung, and I feel like our ramblings around the older part of the city - Hamasen (now called Xiziwan or 西子灣, the last stop on the east-west MRT) and then up Chaishan - were also worth a picture-based blog post.



 First of all, Hamasen may retain its traditional architecture, but it's actually changed a lot in the past decade or so. It's become a favorite spot for a day trip - second only to Pier 2 in local and tourist popularity (and of course there's always the Love River, Dome of Light, Qijin Island, Lotus Lake and the 85 Building and the overrated Sanduo Shopping District) - with "famous" shaved ice shops, restaurants and cafes near the waterfront and ferry terminal. There's even a giant, hideous Hello Kitty store (like really hideous, like so horrible that Brendan said if I went in - and I didn't - he would wait outside. Across the street. Possibly around the corner).

I just liked this guy's orange cowboy hat.

I have a student from Hamasen - he grew up in a house very close to the ferry terminal. "Damn tourists," he always says. "It used to be a quiet fishing village. Now it's like Danshui."

This guy's tempura was great. In fact, usually this kind of tempura is better in southern Taiwan than in Taipei. I can't tell you where his stand is (but it's on the road somewhere between the MRT station and the ferry terminal)...if you see him, however, go ahead and get his tempura. I highly recommend it.

My student: "Damn tourists! There used to be really good, famous food stands. They were famous because their food was so delicious. Now, I went back to those places, and they weren't as good, because the tourists don't know. Damn tourists!"




I like this photo because it's of a building that I think most people - especially expats - dismiss as an eyesore. I don't see it that way - I like the curve, and the style is retro. I think it's a cool reminder of midcentury Taiwan, decades past.



Chen Chu is the enormously popular mayor of Kaohsiung. Most Taiwanese politicians have a cartoon avatar, but her cartoon is by far the most famous, possibly even more than Ma Ying-jiu's (which is kind of terrifying). Even Chiang Kai-shek has one, which makes him look like a benevolent bobblehead.

Every Chinese New Year, Chen Chu's people give out spring scrolls - the red calligraphy scrolls you see on doors that call for good luck, health and prosperity in the coming year - adorned with her avatar doing something cute vis-a-vis that year's Chinese Zodiac animal. This year's is snake, as you can see. I try to collect them and hang them up in Taipei to annoy my neighbors a little (my immediate neighbors think she's great, though, which I like).





Old Japanese era shophouses give Hamasen its distinctive character, especially as they haven't yet been turned into shops on an Old Street selling the same old toys and food (although I like the toys and food, I have to admit). Hamasen as you see it today was mostly built up by the Japanese, and as such the buildings, road planning and infrastructure has a vaguely Japanese feel about it. In fact, Kaohsiung's entire layout, with its wider roads and often vintage buildings, have something of the stamp of Japan on them.






Hamasen's famous shaved ice shops - at the one pictured at top (which features, prominently, the Chinese word for fuck) you can get shaved ice bowls big enough for up to 5-6 people, depending on your appetite.

My student: "Damn shaved ice restaurants. All the tourists go there, then they take the ferry and create traffic problems with the crowds. I hate it. Damn tourists!"

At all of the shops, you can ask for markers and write on the walls - or bring your own colored markers or white-out pens. All of the shops are about the same, although some are more "famous" than others. I recommend in-season fruit ices, and matcha tofu ice (the shop pictured immediately above has a matcha tofu with mango and condensed milk ice that is delicious).



We also had very good cold Korean noodles. I strongly recommend the place - 韓月冷麵王 on 濱海一路57號, a short walk from the ferry terminal and shaved ice shops.

We passed these two women, as well - one was clearly amused by the foreigners. Wish I'd gotten a clearer photo.



Here's another building people may be wont to dismiss, but I like. It's plain, but there's clearly some history there, and it's more attractive than a lot of modern buildings. Could stand a lick of paint, maybe (but not to be tiled over)!






...just a few random things you may see hanging from windows and doors.

Then we made our way to the British Consulate (英國領事館, or 打狗領事館, Dagou being the old name for Kaohsiung). You can easily take Bus #99 to the entrance, which is not far at all - if you wanted to you could probably even walk it. Great views across the harbor, but you'll have to walk up several flights of stairs. Once there, you get a splendid view of Kaohsiung harbor, the old consulate building, a lighthouse on a rock enscarpment and the bay.

Tickets cost NT30 each, but you get the money back as a discount if you buy anything at the coffeeshop or gift shops - it's a way to generate revenue at the shops, I suppose.



There's a BigTom coffeeshop up here with a shaded courtyard and great views (the best views have no shade though). We saw a cute lizard as we sipped iced coffee under the trees after the hot climb. In fact, it was our first stop, before we even explored the consulate. To be fair, we'd been there before several years ago.






My student: "I know that view! When I was a boy, the consulate was not open. It was just some old building. Nobody cared about that. Actually, it was closed, but if you are a local you know the ways to go up there. So I would go up there, and I used to take a pee from that side. It was very nice! I had a nice view, sunny day, a nice breeze, taking a nice pee on the hill. I could even see all the ships coming and going in Kaohsiung Harbor. It was very refreshing. You can imagine!"

Other student: "Maybe you could wave to the ships and say 'Welcome to Taiwan'!"

Me: "Well, I can't take a nice pee like that, so I can't imagine. But maybe you could have a contest with your friends to see if you can hit the ships."

Student: "Yes, we would do that!"

Check out these "Chinese People" as imagined by Dutch colonists.

There is a small temple just near the consulate.

Windows in the consulate have been changed to colored glass for
pretty light effects.

From the consulate we took a taxi up Chaishan, past National Sun Yat-Sen University (中大). Chaishan is famous for its views over the bay, rocky shore and monkeys!

Monkeys are my favorite animal - well, monkeys and cats, and I like dogs too, and foxes are cool, and I also quite like birds that can talk and weird-looking fish - I like to joke it's because my Chinese Zodiac sign is monkey (so is Brendan's). So whenever there's a chance to see monkeys, I take it!

The taxi stopped so we could see a few monkeys, and then dropped us off at a famous coffeeshop on the shore.

No, he's not jumping off.

You wouldn't know that Chaishan Road - the main road up the mountain - is full of cafes taking advantage of the ocean views, if you didn't know the area pretty well.

We went to Hai Jiao (Cape) Coffee & Tea - 海角咖啡 at #103 Chaishan Road, which has basic juices, coffees, teas and smoothies, and a small array of food. We had Thai lemon fish for dinner, which was pretty good. The calamansi lemon juice is nice and sour. The view is great if you can get a good seat, and you can watch the sunset from the rocks just beyond the parking lot.

It's down a steep hill - best to drive, but you can take Bus #99 to get close enough, or take a taxi, get his card and call him to pick you up later.

Another friend recommended 海岸咖啡, a cafe at #31 Chaishan Road, famous for its big mugs of ramen. Also worth checking out.





Then we watched the sun set over the bay, had our dinner and called the taxi to come take us back to the MRT, from which we returned to HSR Zuoying Station and Taipei.

We were sad to go - one day is too short to cavort around Kaohsiung, even if you've already been. A couple of beers on Love River and a good local dinner would've been nice, or a nightcap somewhere with a good view, but we had to head back to our hectic lives in cloudy, rainy Taipei.

Too bad.

Next time I guess.

Our Night in the Batcave

I know, I know, I've become an unreliable blogger. Eventually that will end - I hope it'll be soon. For now...sorry!

But I am working on a longer blog post featuring thoughts from other women in Taiwan; I've just been lazy about adding quotes and hitting "Publish".

For now, please enjoy these wonderful photos from our night in Kaohsiung's famous "Batman Room" in the Eden Exoticism Hotel.

Some info:

Eden Hotel
(some English info)
#1685 Yucheng Rd., Gushan Dist. Kaohsiung
高雄市鼓山區裕誠路1685號 - about 1.5 km from MRT Aozhidi near the north end of Kaohsiung (NT150 or so from HSR Zuoying Station, depending on traffic and time of day, 24-hour restaurants nearby and they have room service)
(07)974-0888 - ask for the "Batman Room" (#315), or 蝙蝠俠的房間




Ignore the prices listed - we got this place from 8pm-10am with free (mediocre, but edible) breakfast for NT$3600, or about USD$120, and I called the night before. This is a straight-up love hotel, with decorated suites in a variety of, eh, tastes...some more tasteful than others. Don't even ask me about the wall decal of the anthropomorphic, curvaceous tiger lady in the Jungle Room. It's better that you see for yourself, or that you just don't know.

You can watch TV on the LCD screen set into the cut-out bat here (there's another TV behind glass mounted near the jacuzzi). Good selection of free hot and cold drinks. All channels, including some you didn't want to know existed.



Batman is everywhere in this room - on mirrors, as cut-outs, on posters, behind the bed, as curtain-like decorations, on the ceiling. It's really something.

It was great, because I didn't tell Brendan I was booking this room - which I heard about from a link a friend posted on Facebook. I just booked it and let him see for himself.

"Clearly you booked a love motel," he said as he walked in (he arrived in Kaohsiung long after I did as I was down there in the morning for business). There is a discreet parking spot with garage door for every room, you see, and that just screams "love motel".

...and then he walked in, and his face went from

:-)

to

O_O

to

OoO

to

 (((o(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)o)))

...it was really amazing to see.



What I loved were the details. Somebody clearly put a lot of thought into this room - from the bat cut-outs to the etched-glass bats to the bat toys and decoration to the die-cut bats adorning the desk and front of the bed (and that lovely velveteen Batman headboard) to the drop-ceiling and wall mood-lit Batman scenes. And it was comfortable and clean.



...there was even a replica Batmobile...well...it was made of plywood with one velveteen bench seat, but still. I am sure someone has gotten busy in there. Brendan made sure to sit in there and move his hands like he was driving and go "vroom vroom!" just for the hell of it. This is why I married him.




...by the way, the chair next to the Batmobile? Yeah. They say that's a massage chair. It isn't. Brendan still sat there checking his e-mail.



Some of the decorations, um, I'm not sure "Batman" would necessarily put them in his Batcave.





Especially the ones over the jacuzzi, behind the TV.



...and as you may note, the jacuzzi is open, so only share this room with friends if you are really tight, like "it's OK to see each other naked" tight. The toilet is also open. It's in another room but there's no door, only a metal bead "curtain" that obscures nothing. I guess some people are into that sort of thing?

One of my friends said "I should book this room and let my kids stay there. They'd love it!"

"You may want to hide the toiletries."



"It's OK, their reading isn't the best!"

(The condoms are "Love Cats" brand from Malaysia. I think they're trying to imply something like two happy kittens with a cartoon heart or whatever, but all I can picture are two randy cats in an alley screeching at 2am. No thanks).

Also, Batman is quite the fan of silk flowers:





...just, trust me on the chair.

As I waited for Brendan to arrive, I took a fantastic jacuzzi bath in the really swank bath area, and watched Iron Man (the first one) on the glass-encased TV. I had grabbed a beer from 7-11 so I was all set to go. Iron Man has some funny moments, so at one point I guffawed - and choked on my beer. Obviously I was fine, but it got me thinking: what would the news media say if a foreigner (say, me) were found dead in a jacuzzi from choking on beer in a Batman-themed love hotel room?

Worst way to go...or best way to go??



Brendan: "I am sure the Taipei Times would report most of the details."

Jenna: "Apple Daily would draw a cartoon showing the scene of the accident."

Brendan: "I think we both know it's inevitable that you're going to end up in the gossip section of a newspaper that routinely prints cartoons of the previous day's horrific murder on the front page."