I came to Kaoshiung to visit a customer’s factory in 2012. This was my second time visiting Taiwan’s southern most city. My first time to Kaoshiung was actually more than 20 years ago when I was doing my National Service and we had our R&R in the city. With the completion of the High Speed Rail (HSR) line, it only takes 1.5 hrs by bullet train from Taoyuan to Kaoshiung. Previously, travellers would have to take a long distance bus or domestic flight.
All flights to Taipei actually land at Taoyuan International Airport. From the airport, I took the shuttle bus to Taoyuan HSR station. The bus ride is only 5 minutes and costs NT$30. After reaching the HSR station, I had to queued up to buy my train ticket to Kaoshiung (NT$1,445 for reserved seat). Service was fast and friendly and soon I was aboard the train and whizzing off at 250km/h.
The HSR station in Kaoshiung is named Zuoying station. I took a taxi from the station to my hotel, Howard Plaza, which was centrally located near downtown Kaoshiung. By the time I checked in it was already after dark. After freshening up, I took a 10 minute walk to the nearby Liuhe Night Market for dinner. In Taiwan, night markets are well known for good street food and shopping.
Liuhe night market was once the ‘in place’ but has been upstaged by Ruifeng night market in the north side of Kaoshiung. In the day time it’s a normal street, but in the evenings the street is blocked to traffic and the stalls come alive. Liuhe night market consists of 1 main street which has mostly food stalls on both sides. For those of you who prefer shopping, then Ruifeng is a better choice.
After filling my tummy and satisfying my hunger pangs, it was time to explore what Liuhe had to offer. As it is mainly 1 street of around 500m , you can cover it in half an hour or less. But if you want to savor everything, then it an hour or more is recommended.
It was a short but interesting walk through Liuhe. The stalls are mostly selling street food with a lot of emphasis on seafood due to Kaoshiung being a seaport city. And my regret was that I was too full from my beef noodles and not able to try out all the delicious stuff in front of me. I was also not able to spend 1 more night here as I was moving out to Hsinchu the next day for another meeting.
Beyond the Little Red Dot 