Following up on my trip to Kaohsiung. You can read Kaohsiung trip part 1 first, if you want the whole story. I also tell a bit about my trip down there with THSR in my Taiwan High Speed Rail Photos post.

I don't know if this piece of art have a special meaning or name, but it seems to be some sort of tourist attraction here. Makes sense in some way, seeing as Kaohsiung is a city with a very big harbour.

Went on a trip around the port after running into the container-sculpture above. Mark must have prepared well and knows just the places to go to. It's probably mostly because I have a big camera with me this time, but the trip around the port didn't bore me one bit, which is quite amazing. Tourbuses and tourboats especially don't do the trick for me, and this one was even all in Chinese. Perhaps the size of the harbour and ships in it made it worthwhile.

There's the Tuntext Sky Tower in the background.

Drove high-speed train for the first time in my life on 24th of February and brought my DSLR Camera. Here's some of the pictures I took.

First picture taken while travelling the HSR from Taipei to Kaohsiung. Exposure time: 1/400 sec, ISO speed: 200, Aperture: f/2.8. Wtf was I doing?

Second try. ISO changed to 100. Of course it has to be 100, it's in the middle of the day! Exposure is still way too high, but the camera actually managed to capture a somewhat sensical photo. Shutter speed can still get higher. Train is still accelerating at this point.

Shutter speed is now 1/1600 sec. Is damn bright today.

Now at 1/2000 sec. Objects close to the railway are almost clear, so I'm satisfied with this setting. Exposure is still a notch too high, but hard to manage when moving so fast. My Canon 50D can shoot at speeds up to 1/8000 sec, but didn't want to set it that high as I would probably have to increase ISO and thus, make more digital noise. Not that it would be a problem of course.

This picture was taken from the 76th floor of Tuntex Sky Tower, Kaohsiung.

Kaohsiung is like Taipei, a very big, Taiwanese city. It's the second biggest and located in the opposite corner of Taiwan. In Kaohsiung it's hot and there is more space between the buildings. Roads are bigger. If you plan to be in Taiwan during winter, I can strongly recommend Kaohsiung. Taipei is a bit cold right now, actually. In summer though, it's probably a little too hot to feel utterly comfortable in Kaohsiung. You could go to the beach, which is much much better down in the southern part of Taiwan, but Taipei is already a bit uncomfortable hot for most people during summertimes, so personally, I think I'll prefer to stay up here when it gets warmer.

They do have MRT too in Kaohsiung, so getting around wont be a big issue. MRT is a little smaller and slightly different there, but mostly the same experience.

Took the HSR (High Speed Railway) Train to Kaohsiung today. (A train that can reach speeds up to 400km/h. From Japan obviously.) Took over 500 pictures and they're still uploading. I was there all day, so been doing a lot. Hopefully I will remember some of the stories from my trip when looking through some pictures for tomorrow, should I manage to get some time for writing. Today, all I can say is that Kaohsiung is a lovely harbour city. Very big, very hot (it's the southernmost city in Taiwan.) The roads there are much bigger and everything is much easier to see.

Been taking pictures of big buildings like this. I was told that it's the 8th biggest building in the world or so. It's called Tuntex Sky Tower. Also known as Kaohsiung 85 or 85 Skytower, because it has 85 floors and is located in Kaohsiung. (Just like Taipei 101 located in Taipei and having 101 floors.) Tuntex Sky Tower and Taipei 101 is designed by the same architect, actually.
And of course I was inside. There's an amazing view and great food.

Also cruised a bit around in the harbour taking pictures of many different kinds of interesting ships.

Also went to see some monkeys in the mountains. Used a lot of my time there in Kaohsiung climbing up and down to get to their place.

Also managed to snap some photos during dark. It's a beautiful city.

Be back soon and I'll tell you some more about the differences between Taipei. Have pictures of MRT, roads, Engrish, strange stuff, arty architecture, lots of ships with strange names, (even found some Danish ones,) dogs, mountain, monkeys (of course, told you, and I have lots of pictures of those) and I bet probably some more stuff that I'll remember sooner or later.

Ya. I'm not dead. And what an awfully boring title this post has, don't you think?

Since last time I wrote it has become Year of The Tiger. Or year 99 in Taiwan. It's Chinese new year and I've been celebrating it with doing lots of stuff and being all depressed while doing it. Not that the Chinese New Year is depressing. Not in any way. Except that it's usually rainy and cold, from which this New Year didn't make the slighest deviation. Loneliness, that's what you get for not socializing with the other exchange students.

But ya, I'm not dead so whatever. Lets see if I remember anything from the activities.

Oh yeah. I could start out with the red envelopes called 紅包 (Hong2Bao1 - red bag). During the Chinese New Year, which lasts for a few days after the Chinese "New Years Eve", people will be giving out these. The norm is that "adult" family members give out Hongbao to kids and the elderly. Also, companies will usually give away some envelopes to their employees. You'll also see famous people giving away Hongbao to actor kids on television shows during these times.