Taiwan: Day Two

We began Day Two by venturing out on our own to grab some coffee and explore the neighborhood. Below is a picture of our street in Kaohsiung.

Chad had taken us to a 7-11 convenience store the day before, so we knew where we were headed for our morning coffee. It was a nice 20 minute walk but we were pretty anxious the whole time, wondering whether we were going to be successful with our purchase. Once we arrived, though, we were able to point to a picture of what we wanted, which helped the transaction immensely. We then said "ma fa nee" (which roughly translates to "please") and held up one finger. In Taiwan, we quickly learned the "little wins," like getting the coffee you want, were very satisfying and made up for the constant confusion and inherent loneliness a language barrier creates.

Returning to Chad & May's as victors, with our coffees in hand, we took a slight detour through the neighboring Kaohsiung Fine Arts Museum park-like grounds, which are beautiful. We received a glimpse of daily life in Kaohsiung via these excursions through the park. We encountered a large group of elderly people line dancing (which May said was a daily event, to help keep the elderly active and socialized) and others also on their morning constitutionals.

Once we got back to Chad & May's, we all went out to breakfast and then went to explore Lotus Pond, a small lake (or large pond) situated just north of Chad & May's. There were a number of pagoda-style buildings and temple-like structures on the pond and a boardwalk connecting them.
 After Lotus Pond we had some lunch and then headed to a street market popular with the younger generation. This was our first encounter with Net, a store similar to Gap in The States. We also learned the phrase "ma ma ka no" which all the store keepers would sing, emphasizing the "ka" and elongating the "no." It roughly translates to "stop and look."

After the market we went to Love River, which flows through Kaohsiung. The Love River cruise is a popular attraction for both tourists and locals and can get quite crowded. But, we were able to get right on the boat with very little wait. Plus, the boat had an English translation for the tour, so we weren't lost the entire time.
 

After Love River we walked into the city for dinner and had our first experience with Taiwan Beer, a light lager typically served in a large bottle and then shared with the table. Getting a drink in Taiwan is elusive, for some reason (we're still unclear on this) the culture does not appear to rely on the drink for good times, but when it was available we enjoyed grabbing a bottle with our meal.

After dinner we headed back to Chad & May's place. Our itinerary had us leaving Kaohsiung the next day on our first overnight trip. We had decided to take the Kenting Express bus the next morning, rather than ride with Chad & May and the kids, so we spent the rest of the evening strategizing our approach with Chad. These strategy sessions would prove very helpful throughout our trip.