Taitung (Day 9): Hello, Pacific Ocean

March 9, 2016

Firstly, Happy Birthday Mom! We love and miss you. Wish we could have spent the day with you.

Today was our last morning in Kaohsiung.  We called it an early night yesterday and didn’t get to walk along the Love River, so that was our plan for the morning.  We planned to catch the 12:40pm train to Taitung, a small city on the east coast of Taiwan.

On our walk down to the Love River, we stumbled upon a breakfast place that had a long line (out the door, if they had a door).  Long line ups have proven to be the most trustworthy source on our trip, so this was a good sign.  It looked like their specialities were steamed buns filled with pork and cabbage (it had it’s own separate line) and sao bing (layered flakey flatbread).  When we got there, the kitchen was trying their best to keep up with demands of the line.

We ordered a sao bing with egg and one with a Chinese doughnut. After we ate, we got into the other line and got two steamed buns to save for lunch later on the train. In hindsight, we should’ve eaten these buns right away when they were fresh and juicy.  You could tell that they would’ve been amazing if we had them fresh, oh well, next time! (Tim: They were still good when we had them on the train, just probably not as good as they could have been)

Scrambled egg and pastry bread (25 NT = $1 CAD)
Scrambled egg and pastry bread (25 NT = $1 CAD)
Delicious steamed buns (15 NT = $0.60 CAD). These trays were cleared quickly, most people ordered 10 buns at a time.
Delicious steamed buns (15 NT = $0.60 CAD). These trays were cleared quickly, most people ordered 10 buns at a time.
After the crowds died down
After the crowds died down

After a satisfying breakfast, we continued our walk to the river.  We passed by a baseball field that had multiple posters of the Taiwanese movie, “Kano”.  The movie is based on a true story about a Taiwanese baseball team that goes to the championship tournament in Japan in the 1930s. Tim and I had watched the movie in Vancouver a year ago when they were touring the movie in North America.

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As we past by the field, we saw the Korean flag and a flag that said “Doosan Bears Spring Training”.  The team was having spring training practice, so we stood there watching the practice for a bit. The Doosan Bears are a professional Korean baseball team from Seoul. It’s funny that they’re a professional team, we saw half the team running along the river after but some were totally slacking and some were even just walking, so we thought they weren’t a professional team.

Doosan Bears practicing
Doosan Bears practicing
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Other spectators

It was about 10:30am when we finally made it to the Love River, and it was already about 28 degrees in Kaohsiung. At least it was overcast or else it would’ve been more uncomfortable. Walking alongside the river and seeing some of the taller buildings against the water reminded me of Chicago.  Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s “second city” after all.

While walking along the Love River, we spot some slacking Doosan Bears.
While walking along the Love River, we spot some slacking Doosan Bears.

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Walking along the river was nice and peaceful
Our love river selfie. We should've pulled out a selfie stick for this
Our love river selfie. We should’ve pulled out a selfie stick for this
Tim literally stops to smell/take pictures of the flowers
Tim literally stops to smell/take pictures of the flowers
Miracle flowers
Miracle flowers

After a sweaty walk back to the hotel, we picked up our bags and headed to catch our train to Taitung.  The train was about a 2.5 hour ride (~175 km away).  As usual, I fell asleep on the train.  The train chairs are comfortable because they recline quite far back, which makes sleeping on the train a bit better! When I woke up, I looked out the window and all I saw was green, then I turned to the right and I saw the Pacific Ocean. It’s too bad it was overcast and very windy out.

View from the other side of the train
View from the other side of the train
Mountainous greenery
Mountainous greenery

We arrived in Taitung to Tim’s aunt and cousin waiting for us at the train station.  They took us on a quick tour of some of the Taitung sights and brought us to the B&B we would be staying at.  The host is a very friendly Burmese woman who moved to Taiwan for university and ended up staying here.  Her place is very nice and super clean, cleaner than the last hotel we stayed at.

Our B&B that we're staying at in Taitung
Our B&B that we’re staying at in Taitung
Pacific Ocean
Hello, Pacific Ocean
Taitung Seashore Park. Hopefully tomorrow won't be overcast and windy
Taitung Seashore Park. Hopefully tomorrow won’t be overcast and windy
Taitung's old railway is now called the Taitung Railway Art Village
Taitung’s old railway is now called the Taitung Railway Art Village

Taitung is the smallest city we’ve been to on this trip. Although it is a lot more rural than the rest of the other cities, I’ve noticed that there are a lot more noticeable backpackers (single white males). In looking at restaurants that were recommended on Trip Advisor, there are a lot of western restaurants for tourists – mainly pizza places. It’s only been just over a week of Taiwanese food, and I’m craving western food already.  We found a compromise of western food and Taiwanese food that was highly rated on Trip Advisor – it was an American fried chicken place run by Taiwanese people.

The restaurant is called Blue Dragonfly.  It’s basically like a local KFC. Tim and I shared a combo. It came with a drumstick, wing, and two “chicken pieces (Tim: Not sure what part of the chicken this was)” and a side of fries (was basically like a sprinkle of fries) and a drink.  We got a slushy (“slash shake” on the menu) that tasted like pina colada.

This combo looks pretty sad. But the chicken and fries were quite good! It also came with a drink (115 NT = $4.70 CAD)
This combo looks pretty sad. But the chicken and fries were quite good! It also came with a drink (115 NT = $4.70 CAD)
Blue Dragonfly
Blue Dragonfly
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Menu.  “French balls” are tater tots

After dinner we walked through the park that was filled with lanterns.  It was so pretty.  There was a mixture of printed lanterns and some that were painted by elementary school aged children (I assume).

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We walked through the park and took our time looking around.  The city is so quiet compared to everywhere else we’ve visited. It’s a nice change of pace.

After our walk, we saw a KFC and went to get an egg tart. I’ve been hearing about KFC’s Portugese egg tarts for a while now and finally got to try it.  It was really good, perfectly flakey crust and warm egg custard. These egg tarts are only available at Asian KFCs. I would highly recommend them.

KFC's Portugese egg tart (28 NT = $1.15 CAD)
KFC’s Portugese egg tart (28 NT = $1.15 CAD)

We took a longer walk back to the apartment and stopped to get some fruit. Taitung is known for their custard apple, so we decided to try one. We also picked up a passionfruit lime drink from a vendor that is downstairs from where we’re staying.  Both were very refreshing and the perfect way to end the day.

Passionfruit lime juice and custard apple
Passionfruit lime juice and custard apple (Drink was 40 NT = $1.65 CAD and the custard apple was 50 NT = $ 2 CAD)
Inside the custard apple
Inside the custard apple. Soft and sweet

Our internet was down so we called the host and she came by and brought us another custard apple! So now we have one for tomorrow.

Tomorrow we’re planning on seeing more of the beach and forest area. The east coast is beautiful with the tall green mountains and the ocean being so close. Hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow (Tim: And if it’s not, it’s out of our control so it’s silly to let it bother us, right Kait?).

Our total number of steps for today was 17,300.

2 thoughts on “Taitung (Day 9): Hello, Pacific Ocean”

  1. Kait! I’ve been loving your blog! I’m soaking in all your experiences! LOL Tim’s side commentary is pretty hilarious too.
    So question for the two of you. I have 2.5 days to kill, would you suggest Tainan or Kaoshuing more? I’m already sending a few days in Taichung….

    Also, what have you guys been using for food suggestions!? I have the CNN site that you mentioned…
    Hope you’re keeping cool!

    1. Hi Amy!

      Thanks! I’m glad you enjoy reading it 🙂
      I personally liked Kaohsiung more, I thought it was a nice city to spend more time in. Tainan has more history and museums though.
      You could do both in 2.5 days, that’s basically what we did. We spent 2 nights in Kaohsiung and then took a day trip out to Tainan from there. And if you’re not planning on going go the history museum, you’ll have more than enough time in Tainan (in my opinion). It’s only about a 30-40 minute train ride between the two cities.
      For food suggestions, we’ve just been googling for the most part and most places we just walked past and try if there’s a lot of people inside.
      For Tainan, I would recommend the noodle place, Tu Hsiao Yueh. And for Kaohsiung, the seafood island (Cijin) was neat, but I think if we looked up the right place to go to it would’ve been helpful, we went into it blindly.

      Hope this help!

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