Thursday November 7, 2024

An easy ride to Kaohsiung today.  Although it was our first boring day of cycling.  We didn’t follow Cycle Route 1, there were not many alternative routes that were scenic. There was one section of road that was factory, after factory, after factory. About 15 kms of heavy industry, the roads were not too busy, but after a while you could really feel the pollution in the air. You could smell it and taste it in every breath. I can understand why most Taiwanese scooter riders where masks.

It was not a very scenic ride. However, we did have time to take a photo of the High Speed Railway station as we came into Kaohsiung.

Eventually we got to the outskirts of Kaohsiung and discovered a giant buddha like statue.

We stopped to take photos and saw a series of temples and figures on the other side of a small lake.

Ralf was in “find the hotel mode”, which means he was focused on the route. The temples on the other side of the small lake looked interesting and I suggested we go and have a look. We had lots of time to find our hotel and google would reroute us. We took a pedestrian bridge across Lotus Pond.

When we got to the other side of Lotus Pond we discovered a series of large and small temples. I watched the bikes while Ralf went to look at the Big Guy – the Big Guy was Emperor Erxuan. We are not sure what he did to deserve this huge edifice, but it must have been something big. You can actually go inside the Big guy and there are lots of wall paintings. On the way across the small bridge there are statues half of them are men and the other half women.

The other interesting edifice was a dragon. Again you could go inside through the dragons body and here were pictures and icons throughout the tunnel.

There were a lot of dead fish in the lake. There were municipal workers getting them out with a large net. Ralf (using google translate) asked what had happened to them. The supervisor indicated that it could be a virus or the weather conditions (typhoon or atmospheric).  The older worker indicated it was climate change.

We found our hotel after negotiating the busy city of Kaohsiung. The staff are very helpful. The room smelled as if someone had been smoking, so we asked for a different room. There were non available as they were expecting a bus load of pensioners later. They aired the room, while we waited downstairs. It did smell better when we got back in and the sheets and bed were clean.

After showering we headed out to find something to eat. We crossed the street from our hotel and the street was wall to wall clothing stores. Ralf got a really good night shot of these umbrellas.

We decided on hotpot for dinner, which was a bit of a disaster for me. I had ordered chicken and it was awful, I could not recognise what part of the chicken the meat was from. I did get one piece of leg, which I generally do not like. There were lots of other mystery objects in the broth as well. I asked if any of it came from shellfish, as I am allergic. No, they said, but there were some very fishy tasting stuff, which I put to one side. I ended up having cabbage and bok choy chicken soup with noodles. Ralf had ordered lamb and he enjoyed his. It’s an adventure. I think I will try and stick to vegetarian food.

Ralf went to take photos of the umbrellas and all of the stores were closed at 7:30. However, this angel was lighting the street.

Again, not a very exciting day, so not much to write home about.