Part 1 - Vanny's Taiwan Travels - Food & Hotel - Kaohsiung -

I recently went to Taiwan with my hubby for our wedding photoshoot as well as to throw a small wedding lunch for my relatives in Taiwan. As much as I've been to Taiwan quite a bit, the only place I've been to was always Taipei since that's where my relatives live. This trip, we split first half to Kaohsiung and second half to Taipei. And since its our first time to Kaohsiung, I've decided to do a blog post on my recent trip to Taiwan - mostly just pictures of food you can find in Taiwan as well as the accommodation I lived.

Day 1 Checked-in to Icon Hotel - one of the recommended hotels by the wedding photography company, which was relatively near their outlet. Hubby picked this hotel as it looked modern & clean on pictures. And even thou it was not walking distant to the outlet, there were some other shopping areas close by. That weekend (i.e. end March/ early April) in Taiwan was a long holiday - "Qing Ming Jie" (aka "tomb-sweeping day" in Mandarin), its a traditional Chinese festival which is widely celebrated in Taiwan. Check-in was late - 3pm, overall hotel was clean & comfortable to live in; recommend.

We added breakfast to our stay. Breakfast was served as a set, with f/f drinks, soup, and simple desserts like Green Tea Jelly & Custard Pudding. Healthy mix of fruits, veggies, and carbs to start the day right.

As Kaohsiung is less of a bustling city compared to Taipei, shopping area here was alot lesser & smaller. Think most people who come to Kaohsiung visit other cultural/touristy places (see here) but due to the lack of time we had we just did free-n-easy all through the trip. 

Outside one of their bigger departmental shopping malls: Hanshin (http://www.hanshin.com.tw/).

Walking around we noticed quite a few cafes around Kaohsiung. Sat down for a cuppa to rest our feet. Had to post this satisfying-to-look-at photo of my Chocolate Sauce Mocha. I told my hubby if I ever open a cafe in Taiwan, I'd need to give customers the option of ordering with skim milk. It seems like majority of the cafes here do not serve skinnies - tsk.

When you visit Taiwan, night markets are not to be missed! Here are some foods we had at Liuhe Night Market. (Clockwise from top left) Pepper cakes (胡椒餅), Fresh Oyster, Traditional Bean Curd Dessert (with red bean & peanut topping, taro (yam) soup base), and Garlic Crayfish. The garlic was yum-tastic!!

Just Liuhe at a glance.

Day 2 The next day before our gown fitting, we quickly had lunch at a local food store nearby for some local delicacies. This is also a must-try: Braised pork rice (滷肉飯).

One thing I like about eating in Taiwan; they serve small portions so you could order a few sides to try. Unlike in Singapore, where everything comes in a massive portion. 

Day 3 So this was at the end of our 13-hour photoshoot session, chio (aka pretty in Hokkien dialect) right? Makeup does wonders.. Hubs says I look like a celeb in this photo... I said he married 2 different wives. Hahahaha. Anyway I'll do up a separate post on the wedding photoshoot later on. ; )

For me whenever I visit Taiwan, Spicy hotpot (麻辣火鍋) or Mala Hotpot is a must!! Just nice to end our long day of photo-shooting. FYI, that cube-looking thing you see in the bottom right of the picture above is duck blood. As unappealing as it looks or sounds like, its quite tasty.. has a slightly firmer texture than tofu and a savoury taste that goes very well with the spicy soup.

Day 4 On the last afternoon of our stay in Kaohiung, we had lunch in a random fast food-like joint. He had Pork Cutlet rice and I had my fav Beef Tendon Noodles.

Ey, the Beef Noodles were rather disappointing thou. Maybe my Mom makes much tastier ones and Im so spoilt when it comes to this dish. : (

At least the Century Egg Tofu was decent.

10 minutes of cab ride away was the pier where we took a ferry across to Cijin Island - it was literally like a minute or two away, super close by!

We rented an electronic bike for 2 hours to ride and tour the island. There was this little market place selling dried good. Great place to buy little snacks for your family and friends.

And of course, the purpose of our trip down to Cijin Island - Seafood feast!!!

Seafood here was cheap, though I wouldn't say was the best or freshest. For spare time I would say go for it, rent a bike and spend the evening here. Hubs and I haven't had good quality couple time since we had Fayth. This was a great opportunity for catch up on lost time.

So as promised, a short & yummy post, and I'll do another post for part-2 travels in Taipei. See you soon! ; ) 

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Cheers and stay tuned for more. ; )