It was nearly lunch when our ship entered Kaohsiung Port, and I used to be completely unprepared. Boats zig and zag throughout the harbor, a small white lighthouse towering over its waters. Alongside town’s skyline, a hexagonal constructing geometrically stood out, greeting us guests a heat welcome. And me, I used to be scrambling all around the ship, attempting to get to the Resorts World One prime deck from my room in time for a greater view of Kaohsiung Metropolis.
BOOK A CRUISE
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| THE RESORTS WORLD ONE CRUISE SHIP DOCKED IN KAOHSIUNG HARBOR |
Earlier than the rest, I like to recommend reserving your Resorts World One cruise by way of Andrea Manzano, Resorts World Cruises’ Senior Gross sales Supervisor, at andrea.manzano@rwcruises.com. She will be able to direct you to promos and advise concerning your cruise dates.
DOCKING AT KAOHSIUNG PORT
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| KAOHSIUNG HARBOR |
From Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, it took an in a single day crusing throughout the South China Sea to Taiwan’s Kaohsiung Harbor. We departed Hong Kong simply earlier than 5 within the afternoon and arrived at Taiwan a couple of minutes previous ten within the morning the following day.
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| RESORTS WORLD ONE CRUISE SHIP |
The very first thing that obtained my consideration was the small lighthouse atop a hill on the harbor mouth, little did I do know that we’d be climbing that later that afternoon.
RESORTS WORLD ONE SHORE EXCURSION
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| SOME OF RESORTS WORLD ONE’S SHORE EXCURSION TO KAOHSIUNG |
There are literally a couple of Kaohsiung shore tour itineraries being supplied on Resorts World One, relying on the day of arrival and schedule. These are reserved on a first-come-first-served foundation, so e book early—ideally proper after boarding the ship. Additionally, remember to purchase a stamped copy of your passport from the crew the night time earlier than you go, you’ll be needing this to go previous the immigration.
Kaohsiung Discovery Tour With Night time Market – HKD 450.00
Scenic Chijin Island Kaohsiung Tour – HKD 430.00
Kaohsiung Highlights – HKD 480.00
The Better of Tainan – HKD 500.00
Be My Visitor @ My Pineapple Farm – HKD 680.00
Kaohsiung Buying & Connoisseur Tour – HKD 620.00
We took the Scenic Chijin Island Kaohsiung Tour, an eight-hour guided tour with lunch included. Completely not unhealthy for HKD 430.00 per particular person.
A tip when doing the Kaohsiung shore tour, remember to deliver an umbrella (in case you have), a hat, arm heaters, further shirt, and many water. For the reason that tour falls on noontime, anticipate it to be actually sizzling. Properly, all of us anticipated it to be sizzling, however none of us considered bringing any of these issues. I’m telling you upfront.
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| KAOHSIUNG SHORE EXCURSION ITINERARY |
For individuals who need to save on shore tour charges, you possibly can truly disembark from the ship and discover the vacation spot DIY. Simply remember to be again on the ship earlier than the departure time. One of many issues you are able to do is definitely e book excursions by way of on-line journey businesses like Klook, and redeem it as you disembark.
In case you’re curious, and I confirmed this with Resorts World Cruises, late passengers will actually be left behind, and their paperwork endorsed to the port agent for dealing with. So, there. Be. Again. On. Time.
LUNCH AT BANANA PIER
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| OUR TOY TRAIN RIDE IN KAOHSIUNG |
The primary order of enterprise upon disembarking on the port was lunch. And to get there, we rode a toy practice.
Lunch was on the close by Banana Pier, a sixties-era port warehouse transformed right into a restaurant complicated. Our information defined the title, regarding us that the world used to import nothing however bananas to Japan. However our lunch wasn’t gonna be bananas. No sir, we’ll have seafood, thanks very a lot.
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| LUNCH AT KAOHSIUNG’S BANANA PIER |
We took to a banquet corridor on the second ground with spherical tables full with a lazy susans typical of Chinese language eating places. And shortly it was crammed by plates of fish roes, seaweeds, strips of Hainanese rooster, shrimp noodles, mushroom rooster soup, veggies, breaded pork cutlets, and one of the best one for me, spicy Szechuan shrimp. All these had been paired with Taiwanese sticky rice blended with dried shrimp, lotus roots, and seeds. Scrumptious.
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| THIS ROUND’S WINNER IS THE SZECHUAN SHRIMP |
Every dish is ready on a big plate which is shared to everybody on the desk. Since we’re touring as one huge group, there’s no drawback in sharing the meals inside ourselves. In case you’re touring as a pair or as a household, you possibly can truly request to be seated individually and also you’ll be served the identical dishes proportionate to your group dimension.
CIJIN ISLAND
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| CUTE SNOOPY FERRY TO CIJIN ISLAND |
A Snoopy-themed ferry carried us to our first vacation spot, Cijin Island. The journey took about one track lengthy, and we had been quickly disembarking on a sleepy city. It by some means jogged my memory of the Korean sequence, Hometown Cha Cha Cha. It simply has that sluggish and chill vibe that just about everybody was telling everybody how they wish to keep in a single day and expertise Cijin for an prolonged time period.
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| CIJIN ISLAND’S CUTE CATBUS BIKE FOR TOURIST | CIJIN ISLAND FENCE |
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| THE BEAUTIFUL CIJIN FERRY PORT |
KAOHSIUNG LIGHTHOUSE
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| HIKING UP TO CIHOU MOUNTAIN |
And shortly, we had been all heading in the direction of the hill the place the l noticed the lighthouse earlier aboard Resorts World One. It seems, it isn’t a hill, however a full-fledged mountain, Cihou Mountain to be precise. And constructed round it are ramped pathways that make climbing it a breeze.
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| THE KAOHSIUNG LIGHTHOUSE OR CIHOU LIGHTHOUSE |
The Cihou Lighthouse or Kaohsiung Lighthouse stands on the mountain’s peak. And being situated on such, the tower itself will not be that prime, being solely about 15.2 meters tall. It was constructed by the Chinese language in 1883 and was renovated by the Japanese in 1916 when Taiwan was below the dependency of Japan, including the octagonal tower it now stands on.
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| A CAFE ON TOP OF CIHOU MOUNTAIN OVERLOOKING THE CITY |
The construction beneath the tower has now been transformed right into a museum and a café—Shoreline Espresso & Roasters, which has al fresco seats that overlooks Cijin Island.
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| THE CIHOU LIGTHOUSE IS ONE OF KAOHSIUNG’S ICON |
From the world across the lighthouse one can see the entire of Kaohsiung Harbor and the jumble of homes alongside Cijin Island. Northwards, we noticed locals spending their afternoon on the close by Cijin Seaside.
CIHOU FORT
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| REMNANTS OF CIHOU FORT ON TOP OF CIHOU MOUNTAIN |
On the south aspect of Cihou Mountain lies the ruins of Cihou Fort. This was the doorway to the mountain, which was first fortified in 1720 by the Qing Empire, and modernized in 1874 as coastal protection towards the Japanese.
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| CIHOU FORT IS ALSO KNOWN AS CIHOU BATTERY |
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| A VIEW OF CIJIN FROM CIHOU FORT |
There’s not a lot to see now, aside from hollowed-out halls and the primary gate, however the view from the highest of the ruins of the encircling space is breathtaking.
CIJIN BEACH
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| CIJIN BLACK SAND BEACH |
And proper on the foot of Cihou Mountain, our path crossed with Cijin Islands’ black sand seashore. The seashore’s grayish black sand is extra harking back to these in Batangas than say, true black sand seashores like on the Vigan Mindoro Seaside.
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| CIJIN MARKER ALONG THE BEACH |
We noticed plenty of locals alongside the shore and the shallower components of the water. Swimming, it appears, isn’t actually advisable on these components as a consequence of sturdy waves and rip tides. This seashore is ideal for browsing although.
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| FATE/GRAND ORDER SAND SCULTURE AT CIJIN BLACK SAND TOY FESTIVAL |
Whereas strolling, we chanced upon bigger than life Destiny/Grand Order anime sand sculptures alongside its very broad shore. We’re in luck, our journey coincided with the bi-annual Cijin Black Sand Toy Competition, the place gigantic sand sculptures are displayed on the seashore.
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| TENTACLES OF THE HEART BY IYO KACAW |
There have been additionally everlasting artwork installations alongside Cijin Seaside, just like the Tentacles Of The Coronary heart by Taiwanese artist Iyo Kacaw.
CIJIN OLD STREET
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| THE CIJIN OLD STREET |
In tangent to the seashore is Cijin Previous Avenue. It connects the seashore straight by means of to Cijin Port, and thru all 4 hundred meters of this are avenue meals stalls and eating places. The very best meals to strive are, in fact, seafood. An enormous serving to of bao bing or shaved ice dessert can be refreshing, particularly after mountaineering up Cihou Mountain.
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| STREET FOOD AT CIJIN OLD STREET |
It appears all cities in Taiwan has outdated streets, a few of these we visited in years previous, like Shifen Previous Avenue and Jiufen Previous Avenue, certainly appears outdated, however Cijin’s appears to haven’t any antiquated constructions alongside its roadway.
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| THE TIANHOU TEMPLE ALONG THE OLD STREET |
What’s has although are outdated worship homes. The road is dwelling to Cijin Tianhou Temple, which was established in 1634, the oldest Matsu—the Goddess of Fishermen—temple in Kaohsiung. Then there’s additionally the Kî-āu Presbyterian Church, which our information stated was the primary Presbyterian Church in Kaohsiung.
PIER-2 ART CENTER
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| OLD WAREHOUSES IN KAOHSIUNG CONVERTED TO SHOPPING HALLS |
Again on mainland Kaohsiung, we began to discover the quite a few deserted warehouses alongside the port that has been superbly remodeled into purchasing halls, eating places, hostels, and even trendy artwork museums.
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| ART MUSEUMS AT KAOHSIUNG PIER-2 |
It’s inspiring how they had been capable of rework one thing as boring and drab as a port warehouse into such fascinating areas, preserving the city’s id and tradition, and revitalizing it on the similar time.
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| FUNNY MOSAIC OF A PEEING BOY | WAREHOUSE NO.2 SHOPPING CENTER |
And alongside these space, quite a few artwork installations may also be discovered, like an enormous Snoopy determine—it appears Kaohsiung has particular fondness for Charles M. Schulz’s beloved canine—robots, sculptures, mosaics, and murals.
GREAT HARBOR BRIDGE
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| THE GREAT HARBOR BRIDGE |
En path to our bus, we handed one other of Kaohsiung’s architectural marvel, the Nice Harbor Bridge. It spans 110 meters in immaculate white colour. The pedestrian cable-stayed bridge has a really dynamic look, maybe reflecting the fluidity and mercurial property of water.
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| A LOOK AT THE BRIDGE’S CENTRAL STRUCTURE |
However in addition to its aesthetic, what actually makes it distinctive is its perform—it rotates horizontally, pivoting on its central tower, to let ships go by means of the water. It’s the one one in every of its variety in Taiwan.
VIGOR KOBO TAIWANESE CAKES
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| VIGOR KOBO TAIWANSES CAKE STORE IN KAOHSIUNG |
By request to our very useful information, Jose, we dropped by a retailer promoting Taiwanese pineapple desserts to deliver again dwelling as pasalubong—however not desserts as birthday desserts cake, however small bite-sized goodies that’s common in Taiwan. And he introduced us to Vigor Kobo, one of the common pineapple cake makers within the nation.
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| PRICEY, BUT REALLY DELICIOUS |
They provide free style for company, and oh my goodness, all the things was extraordinarily scrumptious—from the normal pineapple desserts, mung and crimson bean desserts, to the tremendous delectable taro desserts. If I didn’t get to style it, I wouldn’t have purchased some, as they’re fairly expensive. It’s very a lot price each New Taiwan Greenback spent although.
LIUHE NIGHT MARKET
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| BUSY NIGHT AT THE LIUHE NIGHT MARKET |
And eventually, as night descended, we dropped by the Liuhe Night time Market, one of many extra common night time markets in Taiwan that dates again to the fifties. It stretches for about 300 meters lengthy.
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| STREETFOOD SKEWERS GALORE |
It isn’t as crowded and busy because the night time markets in Taipei, however the meals being hawked right here had been no much less fascinating. There have been a lot of skewered stuff, noodles, and seafood on show, however what obtained my consideration was their Taiwanese Sizzling Canine. It’s truly a mixture of Chinese language Minan sausage sandwiched by a sticky rice sausage—kinda like, a sausage wrapped by one other sausage. It’s a helpful and scrumptious snack, excellent for consuming as I explored extra meals stalls.
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| UNIQUE TAIWANESE HOT DOG |
And certainly, a visit to a Taiwanese metropolis wouldn’t be full with no go to to an evening market, a becoming finish tour our eight-hour shore tour to Kaohsiung Metropolis.
~ THIS TRIP WAS MADE POSSIBLE BY RESORTS WORLD CRUISES. VIEWS & OPINIONS, ALL MINE.
