Kaohsiung is a fun city to visit in Taiwan for a few days. Here are some of the activities we did while visiting.
Hello from Kaohsiung, Taiwan! I’m currently visiting Mr. JOC’s family and my whole family is here to attend his brother’s wedding this weekend. I want to share some pictures of my trip so far since we’ve been here for the past several days. Some of these pictures were shared on my Instagram.
Breakfast in Taiwan
Taiwan street vendor breakfast is amazing. There are so many breakfast shops and vendors on the streets open in the morning. Typically, you see a line of office workers arriving on their motorcycle to pick up their breakfast on the way to their work.
The foods are inexpensive compared to the US standard (about US $5 to feed the entire family!), and there are many kinds of breakfast to choose from. Some include fried potstickers, scallion pancakes, steamed buns (my favorite is one with stir fried vegetable filling (菜包)), baked sesame seed coated cakes, egg pancakes, and my favorite Taiwanese-style club sandwich! Don’t forget to pick up milk tea or soy milk made fresh. Every day I look forward to waking up in the morning to go get breakfast while I’m in Taiwan.
Food in Taiwan
If you come to Taiwan, you must visit Din Tai Fung. Kaohsiung, the 2nd largest city in Taiwan where we are staying, finally opened a branch last year. My all-time favorite item on the menu is Crab Xiao Long Bao. I think this is one of the best food in the world, soft tender crab and meat filling soaked in a savory broth and wrapped in very thin skin. The broth is super hot so don’t try to swallow in 1 bite. Break the dumpling skin first to drink the soup and enjoy it with some vinegar and ginger. I am getting hungry just thinking about it.
There are several dishes that Mr. JOC likes to eat when we’re in Taiwan. These salty rice cake served with warm thick soy gravy on top (picture on the bottom left) is one of them (not my favorite though. shhh!). I like the noodle soup called Dan Zai Mien which is a popular noodle originated in Tainan (台南), the city north of Kaohsiung. And when you’re in a tropical country, shaved ice (with mango and mango ice cream) is a must-have!
Sightseeing in Kaohsiung
There are a few places we like to visit when we’re in Kaohsiung. Dragon Tiger Pagodas (龍虎塔) is a fun place to visit with children. They are twin pagoda towers with a dragon and tiger at the bottom, and you enter the tower from the mouth of the dragon or tiger. The 7-storytowers have a double spiral staircase, one each for ascending and descending visitors, and have a 360 degree view at the deck from each level. From the deck, you can see many temples, Spring and Autumn Pavilions (春秋閣), the Confucian Temple (孔廟), and the Lotus Lake.
Kaohsiung Lantern Festival
This was my 2nd time seeing Kaohsiung Lantern Festival and the opening fireworks were quite spectacular. We parked the car under the Ambassador Hotel and saw the fireworks right outside the hotel. The kids were so excited as this was probably the closest they have been to fireworks. However, I was quite disappointmented as there weren’t too many lantern displays compared to the Lantern Festival I saw 9 years ago.
What We’ve Been Doing in Kaohsiung
My personal highlight of the past few days was to get to meet my Aussie food blogger friend, Daisy of Never Too Sweet. Who would imagine that two people – one living in Melbourne, the other in San Francisco – see each other in Kaohsiung, Taiwan?! We didn’t even realize that we could be in the same place until Daisy saw my Instagram. She is exactly how I imagined, super sweet and nice! We had a lovely chat over afternoon tea in Grand Hi Lai Hotel.
My daughter will be a flower girl at my brother in law’s wedding and she’s so excited! Kids also loved spending time with their grandpa in his hospital. The kids (and I) are having fun seeing interesting things on the street such as ducks being dried before being baked. Mr. JOC and I like to go to foot/whole body massage at night after kids go to sleep. When you’re in Taiwan, try the famous foot massage! It’s quite painful but you feel really good after. There are motorcycles everywhere and once in a while you see a family of 4 riding on one motorcycle!
I hope you enjoy these photos. If you want to read a little bit more about our Taiwan Trip 2012, click here.
Hope you stay in touch with me on Instagram for all the latest updates from Taiwan!
Taiwan looks like so much fun.would love to visit the place sometime. The first photograph is just awesome 🙂
Thank you for sharing your Taiwan holiday photographs! You are so lucky to meet a blogging friend. The message sounds like something I’d love too! Have fun!
How fun to get a glimpse into your stay there, especially seeing all the food!
Seeing your photos is making me soooo hungry Nami – I also love TW style club sandwich as well as the steamed buns! I’ve not tried the crab dumpling at DTF before….they only had the truffle one when I was in Taipei last year! Enjoy the rest of the your trip 🙂
Hi Vivienne! Truffle one? I got to try that one next time! Thank you for your comment! Hope you are doing well!
Oh yes! I’ve been taking in all your exciting pics via Instagram. Taiwan is one of those places I hope to visit in the near future. Street food is what I truly love, with it’s abundance in Malaysia. Can’t wait to read more. 🙂
I love it when you share your travels!!! I’m getting to see places I’ll never go and learn about the people, the food and the cultures. Looks like a wonderful trip you’re having and what fun to meet a fellow blogger!
OMG Nami and Daisy! I’ve met Daisy and she’s so sweet and boy can she eat! How she stays so slender I don’t know! It isn’t fair, I tell you.
My daughter-in-law is from Kaohsiung and her mother and brother still live there. I would love to visit there one day.
As I was reading this I was wondering if you knew Daisy was also there. I love the photo of the two of you – you almost look like sisters. How lovely to be able to attend the family wedding and how very special that your daughter is a flower girl; she will feel just like a princess! xx
Oh Nami ~ how your children have grown: I truly did a double-take at the first photo. I love travelling with you: there is always such a spectrum on the places you visit. Obviously beautiful weather in Kaohsiung helped you give us a great composite. And the food picture so appeals . . . wishes, wishes . . . hope you all enjoyed a very happy wedding, especially your very ‘grown up’ daughter!!
Hi Eha! Thank you so much for your kind words, Eha! We enjoyed our trip, but recovery has been tough especially jet lag. =p
This is one of the place in my bucket list, its such a food haven
Nami, the pictures are absolutely fabulous and breathtaking!! And the food….yummmm….but the kite festival looks incredible….I bet people book the hotels months in advance. Your kids are adorable….just like their super Mom who makes the most out of the world bentos.
Hi Nami,
Your post reminded my trip to Taiwan in Dec, 2013. I was there to attend my cousin’s wedding in Taichung.
I missed Din Tai Fung’s Xiaolongbao at most. I also love their “Fried rice” and “Hot and sour soup”.
I always envy people living in the south as they’ve got so many nice and inexpensive food!
I like Taiwanese breakfast as well, but to tell the truth, I prefer Japanese breakfast =P
(maybe I had too much when I grew up.)
Btw it’s winter vacation in US now?
I guess Taiwan (especially in the south) is so much warmer than the US now,
maybe even as warm as New Zealand?!
Hope you enjoy your trip and the nice food in Taiwan!
Hi Niu! School is not off at this time, but we took the kids out of school so that we can attend Mr. JOC’s brother’s wedding this weekend. 🙂 Kaohsiung is warm, it’s been 75F during daytime and night time is cool, but we just need a thin layer of jacket (but local people wear “winter” jackets). Thank you so much for you kind comment! 🙂
thanks for sharing this. I really enjoyed it
Awesome photos, Nami! I’m so jealous…look at all that amazing Taiwanese food. I would definitely not be able to resist all that gluten in Taiwan. =P I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that salty rice cake with gravy… maybe it’s more of a southern Taiwan thing.
That’s so neat you got to see the Lantern Festival – it still looks really festive even though there weren’t that many lanterns. I have yet to experience the festival for myself! It’s so wonderful that your kids get to experience all the wonders of Taiwan also – reminds me of my brother and I when we were little. 🙂
Enjoy the rest of your trip!
Thank you Lillian! You probably know if I write in Chinese character? It’s 碗粿 (Wan Kueh or kuih I think). I think it’s famous in Tainan. I couldn’t really translate well into English name. =P Yeah the kids are lucky to experience so many different things both in Japan and Taiwan and hope they will remember some cultural backgrounds. 🙂
I’m enjoying your Instagram photos from Taiwan and felt like I was travelling along with you especially after reading this post. After all the food you mentioned, my favorite is the Shaved Ice with Mango Ice Cream (no surprise to you, I think!). And the best activity when in Asia is of course, the foot massage. I hear you on that one. Enjoy the vacation and safe travels back to you and your family, Nami! Thanks for sharing 🙂