Taiwan, Day 8: Heading South

On day 8 we started our journey south to meet up with Anderson and begin the ACA (Anderson Coalition of America) invasion of Taiwan. We headed out at around 10:00AM, stopped by the OK! Mart and got water, stopped by this food vendor for breakfast, and jumped on the MRT and headed to Taipei Main Station. The public transportation here is pretty gnarly. It starts out with the buses, which will take you anywhere it's just slow, then you have the MRT (which takes you to these places), the regular trains, and then the mighty HSR (High Speed Rail) which travels at 300kmph down the western coast.

We bought tickets for Zuoying (which is located north of Kaohsiung and currently the last stop on the train) for 1980NT$ each. We arrived in 90 minutes and bargained with a taxi driver to take us the remainder of the way. We met up with Anderson and took our stuff back to his abode. He got an extra scooter for the weekend so that Tammy and I could follow him around. We immediately jumped on them and I learned by doing. Having never ridden on or driven a scooter... I did remarkably well the first time and by the second day I was a pro.

Unfortunately, Tammy left her camera at home so we didn't get video or pictures of the *MASSIVE* waves at the beach the first night or the dinner we had. A little back story... Anderson and I have kayaked into the ocean during a tropical storm, so the fact that we were body surfing during a typhoon... shouldn't surprise anyone. Yes, that is correct, we were body surfing during a typhoon. Anderson took the worst of it, but we both suffered bloody legs.

Dinner was really good. We went to Huobihu Fishing Port for dinner and had tuna, salmon, marlin, and one other type of sashimi, fried oysters, a clam dish, swordfish, a shrimp dish, and a soup that was made with leftover parts of the fish.

These turtles were as crazy as those Koi fish. This was the Spring Autumn Pavilion in Zuoying.

Qiming Temple in Zuoying.

The Spring Autumn Pavilion in Zuoying.

The National Museum of Marine Biology & Aquarium. Where we met Anderson.

Lunch in Zuoying. The breads here are crazy. They put all kinds of stuff in/on them. This one had ham, cheese, raisins, nuts, and other stuff.

Zuoying's old city wall. It is one of the best preserved city walls in Taiwan. It is mostly made out of dead coral.

Zuoying district street.

The Tiger part of the Dragon Tiger Pavilion. For good luck you enter the dragon's mouth and exit the tiger's mouth.

The shop I bought my crazy bread, not to be confused with crazy bread.

Another temple in Zuoying. I didn't get the name.

Our car on the HSR.

Breakfast on the way to southern Taiwan. A variation on a BBQ pork bun.

On the way to the HSR.

Dragon Tiger Pavilion.