VIS-À-VIS the more popular capital of Taipei in
the north, Kaohsiung in the south makes Taiwan’s no-less-significant other.
Aye, the more significant one. A quick jaunt
to the Republic of China’s foremost Harbour City this weekend past – ease, comfort,
and pleasure courtesy of Philippines AirAsia on flight, the Kaohsiung Tourism
Bureau on land – more than enough to convince this one who’s had a surfeit of Taipei.
Or, maybe it’s just the rose-colored glasses of first impressions.
Still, Kaohsiung impresses, and how!
A fixture in just about every Asian city, the
night market is taken to an impossible high at Kaohsiung’s Ruifeng. Food,
glorious food, in all its delectable varieties draw in an undulating tide of
humanity through its aisles, nooks, and crannies. No other night market in all
the Asian cities I’ve been to can compare to Ruifeng. Don’t believe me, come
and feel it for yourself.
Temples and shrines, another Asian constant, don’t
simply impress but impact their sacred presence around Lotus Pond – a lake, for
its sheer breadth – that, to me, easily makes Kaohsiung’s most popular destination.
Confucius Temple, reputedly the largest of its kind in the whole of Taiwan,
lies serenely at one corner of the pond. A tree-canopied path along the banks leads
to a series of temples – the Pei Chi Pavilion lorded over by Daoist deity Xuan
Wu, the Spring and Autumn Pavilion with the goddess of mercy Guanyin riding a
dragon at its entrance, and the most interesting twin-towered Dragon and Tiger
Pagodas where it is said to be good luck to enter through the first and exit through
the second. Instant recall here of that Bruce Lee starrer deemed as one of the
greatest martial arts films of all time.
Across the road stands in subdued majesty Chi Ming Palace, arguably the
most spectacular temple by Lotus Pond. Aye, why lotus? The sacred
plant with its mystical flower abounds there, duh.
Far from the pond but richer in spiritual ambiance is Fo Guang Shan
Monastery, the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan and home too to one of the
largest charity organizations in ROC. 
A welcoming hall – replete with restaurants and shops, a Starbucks too –
opens up to an expansive square flanked on either side by eight Chinese pagodas
– representing the Eightfold Path? – and statues of Buddha’s loved ones and foremost
disciples leading to a memorial hall which houses several shrines, premier
among them the Jade Buddha Shrines where enshrined reputedly tooth relics of
Gautama Buddha. Om mani padme hum…
Atop the memorial hall is what is said to be the highest seated bronze Buddha
in the world, looking benignly at all who comes hither.
A trip back in time to schooling in the olden days
in China is Fongyi Academy of old red brick construction, complete with
classrooms and a square where student and teachers are depicted in animated
statues (dolls?), plus a small shrine, and a kiosk serving Taiwan’s wonderful
milk tea.
A short trip down history is provided by the Cihou
Fort that once guarded the harbor topped by a lighthouse whence a panoramic
view of the city unfolds.
Then, there’s the Dashu Old Railway Bridge, Asia’s
longest at the time of its completion in 1913, now a hot spot for photography.
Art’s sake
As in culture, Kaohsiung is a veritable art trove too. Nowhere is this
most manifest than, most aptly, in the National Kaohsiung
Center for the Arts – an artwork in itself: its roof inspired by the flowing
canopy of banyan trees in the area but at this time evoking a manta ray or even
a space ship. Completed in 2018, the center houses an opera house, a concert
hall, a playhouse, a recital hall and an outdoor theater seamlessly linking the
building to a park.
Art alive, up and about! pervades Pier 2 – the row
of old unused warehouses repurposed to art galleries, boutique shops, diners
and bars, with Kaohsiung Warehouse 2 as flagship. Interactive exhibitions and records
of its historic past are housed at the Hamasen
Museum of Taiwan Railway, even as its top draw is
Hamasen Pier 2 line railway ride – on a mini-train!
Kaohsiung’s penchant for repurposing disused
things found expression too in the Ten-Drum Ciaotou Creative Park. Once a sugar
central – not unlike our Pasudeco in the City of San Fernando – the place is
now a center of culture and the arts where performs a Grammy Award-winning drum
and percussion band. A drumming workshop is offered to visitors before they are
ushered in to a concert hall.
One for the Guinness record or maybe Ripley’s is
1300 Only Porcelain – a fine-dining restaurant entirely interiored and decorated
with porcelain down to its plates and platters, bowls, cups and glasses.
Adjacent to it is a showroom of porcelain art with price tags running to
millions in NT$.
At luxurious E-Da Royal Hotel, the top draws are
the themed-rooms – debutante, Jurassic, pirate. In some way extensions of the eponymous
amusement park adjacent to the hotel.
At the Suzuka Circuit Park, the adrenaline rush of
speed and spin with karting, bump cars, spinning rides, and Ferris wheel and a
trolley too.
Long in adventure, steeped in culture and the
arts, Kaohsiung is not, by any measure, wanting in romance too.
Central to Kaohsiung, in geography as well as in sentimentality,
is the Love River. A daytime cruise on board a solar-powered boat only stirred
the imagination to a nighttime ride on gondolas, passed the twinkling lights on
trees, the sound of music and the smell of coffee and wine of the cafes along
the banks. With the one you love.
Aye, more than enough reason to come back.
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