Kaohsiung (高雄), the second largest city in Taiwan, was the fourth major city I visited in Taiwan. It’s basically a large boring city, with some attractions thrown in. Fun fact: Kaohsiung used be known as Takau (打狗 – literally, beating the dog). I want to be a fly on the wall at the city hall meeting where they decided to change that name.
Tag Archives: temples
Travelogue: Tainan
Tainan (臺南, literally south Taiwan) is the old capital of Taiwan, and is full of history, so I stopped by for a couple of days to see the sights.
Travelogue: Alishan
Alishan (阿里山), or Mount Ali, is one of Taiwan’s most renowned tourist destinations. It’s not Taiwan’s only mountain (Taiwan is full of mountains), and it’s not the highest (that’s Yushan, or Jade Mountain), but it’s the most accessible, and arguably the most beautiful. Hence, I made Alishan my first stop when touring Taiwan, with a pit stop in Chiayi, the nearest major city, before venturing to visit this beautiful mountain.
Travelogue: Penang
For my first stop in Malaysia, I stayed for some time in Georgetown, the capital of Penang. As the northwestern-most state of Malaysia, Georgetown is right next to Thailand, and quite accessible once I left Thailand. As a UNESCO world heritage city, Georgetown has a lot of history!
But the real reason why I stayed more than a day in Penang, is that it is the hawker food capital of Malaysia! While staying at an amazing guesthouse near Chinatown, I discovered this huge hawker center near the guesthouse, and resolved to stay until I had eaten every single food at the hawker center.
I stayed here for an entire week. When you can get two or three delicious dishes for about $3 USD, it’s hard to walk away.