Yesterday I decided I was going to take a day trip to Kaohsiung and finally ride the high speed rail (HSR). Making reservations and paying for the ticket on line was a snap. The hardest part of the entire trip was having the dormitory guard call a taxi and telling them where I wanted to go. I should always add extra time for getting to the station, even though the guard is very, very friendly and laughs at my attempts to communicate! The Taoyuan HSR station is out in the middle of nowhere...halfway between Taoyuan City and the Taoyuan International Airport (formerly known as the CKS International Airport). It is a gorgeous building, and there are excellent bus connections to the city and the airport, but the taxi cabs are faster....even though they always tend to take the long way when my round eyes and "blonde" hair are in the back seat. The trip to Kaohsiung took only about 1 1/2 hours. The train is really very nice, and the signs and announcements are always done in English. I felt like I should buckle up when I found my reserved seat. The ride is fast, and surprisingly smooth as the train only makes very limited stops between Taipei and Kaohsiung. The high speed train runs like clock-work, something the airlines cannot do. I stopped at the information desk in Zuoying to ask them to write Museum of Fine Arts in Mandarin for the trip into town, and Zuoying HSR Station for the return trip, something I have learned to do for the cab drivers. I thought Kaohsiung was a very lovely city. I did not expect it to be so, based on the industrial complex and port work housed there. The museum is a beautiful new building in a city park, and I enjoyed all the special exhibits (although I would have liked to have seen more of their permanent collection). One especially good one featured Josef Albers from the Brauhaus group in Germany who ended up at Yale and Harvard. The museum advertised a restaurant on its website and in its printed literature...alas, another TM, as the restaurant had disappeared long ago. I walked through the park to the snack shop at the side of the lake located in the park. I had a mango frappe and homemade sweet potato chips while I people- and animal-watched, then headed back to the HSR station. I was home by 5...just a day tripper who had a great time looking out the window all the way down and back. South central Taiwan had a lot of farming going on...tree farms (of all kinds), vegetables and fruits, and, of course, lots of rice fields in all stages of growth. This afternoon the farmers were burning off their fields. At first, I thought they were burning offerings, but the burn came from many different stages of rice growing fields. The atmosphere looked as if the ghosts of the ancestors were lingering over the fields and valleys of the farming areas. I was surprised that much air pollution was allowed. I observed temples of all sizes and shapes, some magnificently painted and cared for, others that were small sites in the fields. There were also burial plots nestled into the hills where the ancestors could enjoy a beautiful and peaceful view in their afterlife. I have to say the typical house that I saw was all solid concrete "blocks" layered one on top of the other...3-4 floors with nondescript windows. I could only assume the lack of architectural variety was due to the constant threat of monsoons and earthquakes. Every now and then, you would see beautiful homes or new high rises that seemed to incorporate new and colorful designs. Most homes reminded me of old Singapore block homes..not many changes since back in the day. My pictures are REALLY bad, but I was a very happy day tripper...
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