Dragon Boat Festival 2012 高雄市龍舟賽

While we were living in Kaohsiung in 2011, before we had started teaching, we were able to check out the annual Dragon Boat Festival at the Love River. We both really enjoyed the experience and blogged all about it... here. So naturally we didn’t have to think twice about whether we should return to KH for the 2012 festival.

As soon as we finished teaching on Friday evening, we caught the HSR from Taichung to KH and met up with our friends, Stanley & Vicky. None of us having yet eaten, we agreed to go to a streetside seafood restaurant for a late night dinner. As is customary when we eat with Stanley and Vicky... there was so much food! We had bittermelon with salty duck egg, fried shrimp with greens, clams, some kind of white fish in a miso sauce, a large bowl of soup, a variety of vegetable dishes and... deep fried fish intestines! I tried the intestines and while I will say they weren’t bad, I must confess, they aren’t my favorite. After dinner, Stanley & Vicky took us to a nearby tea shop where we tried iced green tea with a salted heavy whipped cream and matcha powder garnish.

The following day, I naturally insisted that we had to go to Lao Song Beef Noodles for lunch - one of my favorite beef noodles restaurants in all of Taiwan. After we had eaten, we went for a walk along the Love River and watched some of the Dragon Boat races. Then meeting up with Stanley, he took us to a small cafe where we enjoyed some cold drinks, pastries and croissants, covered with powdered sugar and cream. We then went for a short walk through Central Park where we admired some turtles, fed some ducks, and did a little waddling around ourselves, after all the food we had eaten.

Amanda and I then returned to our hostel (Harbor 60) to freshen up before heading back out to meet Milton and Jenny for a seafood dinner not far from Sizihwan MRT station. For dinner, we had a kind of seafood porridge - a mixture of soup, rice, shrimp and fish, as well as a Taiwanese specialty - oyster omelette. After dinner, the four of us went for a walk at the Love Pier and along the Love River, where we caught the end of the Dragon Boat Races. Not yet done for the evening, Milton & Jenny took us to an all-day Chinese breakfast shop where we sampled a very thick Chinese soy bean milk beverage, a peanut milk beverage, and a kind of Chinese breakfast sandwich (shao bing you tiao) that had you tiao (a type of fried bread) on the inside and then baked-layered-flakey bread on the outside that was covered in sesame seeds. Not something to eat if you are watching your cholesterol, but certainly delicious!!!

If you think our night was done there, you’re sorely mistaken. We later met up again with Stanley and Vicky who also wanted to feed us some late night snacks, and so we ended the evening drinking more tea, eating more night market snacks and watching horror movies at Vicky’s house.

Sunday, our last day in KH, was little different than the rest of our weekend had been... focused on food. Stanley took us to King’s Uen-Jou Wonton for lunch where we had what I can confidently say are the best wontons I’ve ever tasted in my life. Thereafter, saying farewell to Stanley over some afternoon tea and cake at a nice little cafe just off Wufu Rd. close to Yanchengpu MRT station.

It was really nice to catch up with our friends in KH. Even though we came to watch the Dragon Boat races, much of our time revolved around food and restaurants, which we were becoming accustomed in KH to at this point. Not that we’re complaining. We love trying new foods in Taiwan, all in the good company and guidance of our friends.

Seafood Dinner with Stanley & Vicky

Lao Song Beef Noodles Shop - Always Delicious!

Crowds gather for the Dragon Boat Races at the Love River

2012 Kaohsiung Dragon Boat Races 高雄市龍舟賽

Kaohsiung Film Archives

Schnell!!!

Faster!

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Stanley & Amanda with some pastries for an afternoon snack

Undoubtedly the ugliest duck we have ever seen

Seafood dinner with Milton & Jenny

Oyster Omelette - Very famous in Taiwan

Brett, Amanda, Jenny & Milton at the Love Pier

The Last Dragon Boat Race of 2012

The Best Wontons... ever!

Last snack of the weekend, at a teahouse with Stanley

The Love Pier (真愛碼頭)

On the last full day of our holiday in Kaohsiung, Brett and I were excited to have lunch at Stanley’s restaurant, and to be reunited with Vicky who’d just returned from a family vacation in South Korea. After an amazing lunch of pork noodle soup and cold red tea, we set out with Stanley and Vicky to Kaohsiung’s Love Pier. The Love Pier is where parts of the set of the new Taiwanese film, Black and White, have been opened to the public. We opted out of waiting in an hours-long line for a tour of the film’s police station set, and instead walked around outside. It was pretty cool seeing some of the boats and landscapes where the action movie was filmed. After touring around the area, we went to a nearby coffee shop to escape the cold with some hot lattes and waffles. A perfect little afternoon! 

Our friends met up with us again after work that night, and the Black and White fanatic tour culminated with a stop at Coastal, the bar built in the Pier 2 art district especially for the film. It doesn’t have a kitchen, just a liquor license, and it was absolutely packed with people. We shied away from the crowds, but not until Brett and Stanley had each taken dozens of photos. We had burgers and drinks instead at a popular Western-style pub called Bottoms Up on ChengGong 1st Rd.

The next morning we packed up our things and left for Taichung. We were sad to go, but so thankful to our awesome host, Eric, at Harbor 60 Hostel. His is the cleanest, most comfortable hostel we’ve stayed at in Kaohsiung. The facility is beautiful, we were served Chinese tea (“good for the eyes!”) whenever we set foot outside our private room, and it was so nice to return to a clean, quiet environment at the end of each day. The mixed and female dorms are also very bright and clean with a row of lockers in each. There’s also an extra shower adjoining the beautiful and comfortable fourth floor common area. I highly recommend Harbor 60 if you’re planning on staying in Kaohsiung!

Lunch at Stanley's, delicious!

I'm not sure what it's original purpose was, but this was the "South District Police Station" depicted in the movie Black and White.

Vicky and Stanley!

Brett and Amanda

We stopped for some coffee and dessert after the Love Pier.

I think I'm in love... with the waffles.

We tried - and failed - to get into Coastal: a bar that was created for and featured in the movie Black and White. Coastal is located down at Pier 2.