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!
What a fun trip… hope you are enjoying all of it. I looks like a great time. 🙂
Oh my! I get very excited to see/read your Taiwan Trip post! I will be heading to Taipei & Taichung this coming April! I went there twice with my partner and we loved it! I haven’t been to Kaoshiung yet, but my second cousin lives there, too! Gorgeous shots of the lantern festival and sorry about the lack of lantern displays, but the fireworks looked amazing and fun enough for your kids to watch though! Congratulations to your daughter – that’s so sweet! Ah these foot massages are hardcore for me, I’m very ticklish! Thank you for sharing these memorable photos! I’ve been meaning to post my Taiwan trips from 2011 and 2012, but too busy to go over them, just because there are loads of photos to enjoy! 🙂 Thank you for inspiring me to post about them, I hope I will share my Taiwan trips with you, Nami x
Nami-san, A fantastic trip and what a fun surprise to run into Daisy. It looks like you were able to get in lots of fun on your trip and the lantern festival looks like something the kids would enjoy. I see the China smog is also in Taiwan too. This last week it has been really bad in Hong Kong too. Take Care, BAM
Awesome pictures Nami! Thank you so much for taking time away to share them with us.
My goodness, Nami! Taiwan looks DELICIOUS! Hope you are having an amazing break. Great photos.
I’ve been enjoying your IG pics and experiencing Taiwan through your eyes. Looks like you and the fam are having lots of fun!
Looks like you are having a great trip, it’s so fun to follow your adventures on Instagram :).
Hi Nami,
Looks like you and your family had an amazing time in Taiwan. =) I’ve tried Din Tai Fung in Arcadia, CA, but I’m sure it’s definitely different than the one in Taiwan. Can’t wait to go to Taiwan one of these days…
I’ve been to Din Tai Fung in Arcadia several times, too. I didn’t mention in the post, but the quality was not comparable! I hope you get to try DTF in Taiwan one day! 🙂
Ahh, I’m going to be in Taiwan in April and I’m going to Kaohsiung for a couple days!!! This post is perfect – I’ve been doing a bunch of research of stuff to do. I can’t wait to see your other posts!!
Same!!!
Julie, let me know if you need any info in Kaohsiung. I (and my husband) might be able to give you some information you need. 🙂 You two are going alone?
Nami, my husband and I will be taking the bullet train from Taipei down to Kaohsiung ourselves for two days! 🙂 I’m going to PM you on FB next week! Thank you so much! xo
Sounds good! Talk to you soon! 🙂
These pictures look gorgeous Nami! We’ve visited Taipei a few years ago but didn’t have a chance to stop by Kaohsiung – it looks so incredible and all the food looks amazing! Sounds like such a wonderful trip, thanks so much for sharing 🙂
What a great story!!
I can’t believe you met Daisy in Taiwan!! She really is so lovely!
All the food looks delicious and so cheap. I think I will have to visit just because I want to eat it all! I will pin this to a travel board now!
What an incredible adventure! Thanks so much for sharing your pictures and experiences, Nami! Looks like you had a fabulous time and I can’t wait to see more!
Congrats on the wedding. Taiwan looks like a very nice place to visit. Your pictures are so so nice. Have a wonderful trip and a happy ever after life for the couple.
Thanks for taking us along (virtually) on your trip! It looks like you had a wonderful time, and the Lantern Festival must have been a fun sight for the kids. Looking at your food pictures is making me crave an Asian-style breakfast. It has surely been a while since I’ve had a great scallion pancake!
Hi Kimmi! Those scallion pancakes were so good that I did go back to get more. I wish I could stay longer and I was actually just thinking how much I miss food in Taiwan… 🙂
Gorgeous photos – looks like you are having a really great time in Taiwan! Enjoy the rest of your holidays, my dear.