Day 4 - Road Trip from Taitung to Kaohsiung

Travelling date: 12th December 2018 The road distance from Taitung to Kaohsiung is around 163km and it took about 3 and a half hour if without any stop. We departed from a housing area where we stayed close to 11.30am after filling up our stomach with heavy breakfast that I created from whatever food stock that we brought.

Knowing the difficulties in finding a halal restaurant, we planned ahead to stop for lunch at the 7-Eleven. The 7-E outlet that we cose to stopped was in Fanglio Township which has a clean toilets nearing Kaohsiung. I would really recommended 7-Eleven to those who is not really particular on the food. You can find mostly basic foods such as rice, pasta, bread, fruits, dessert,drinks etc which is good for breakfast, lunch or dinner. And usually it seated next to Petrol station which is so convenience to traveler.

The first destination that we are targeted to visit was the Kaohsiung Mosque. Kaohsiung Mosque is the largest mosque in Kaohsiung and the main gathering site of Muslims within the city. It is situated in Lingya District, the second mosque being built in Taiwan after Taipei Grand Mosque in Taipei. The mosque was constructed in 1990 and open to public in 1992. The 1st floor is dedicated for the male and female dormitories, female prayer room and female activity center. The 2nd floor is the main prayer hall, study center for Arabic language and Islamic culture display room. The 3rd floor is the guest room, youth activity center, office and kitchen. The mosque also features the imam office, administration office, library and ablution area. The Imam and the mosque caretaker were very helpful to us. They showed us the ablution and toilet area. We stayed a bit longer for Asar praying with him. Not many people came for Asar maybe because a lot of people were still working at that time. We met an Indonesian girl who studied in Kaohsiung who is a regular to the mosque as she came for a halal meal. There are a Halal restaurants owned byMuslim people beside the mosque.

After prayer, we quickly adjourned to the largest shopping mall in Kaohsiung, EDA Mall as the priority was to change the currency as we run out of Taiwan Dollar. EDA Mall is actually a resort city and being decorated with Christmas decorations all over as we were there during Christmas time. We chose to have Subway for dinner. Thereafter we looked for money changer and had a brief tour, rather a window shopping. We left the mall shortly after to look for our Air BNB accommodation in Sinsing District. The apartment caretaker was quite nice to show my husband where to park the car. Apparently, the apartment is seated just next to Liuhe Tourist Night Market. Liuhe and Ruifeng night markets are the most famous in Kaohsiung. Syahirah and Nasrul were exploring the night market just the 2 of them as the parent were too tired and ready for bed. That’s pretty much all of what we were doing in Kaohsiung.

For information, Kaohsiung is a massive port city in southern Taiwan. It is a home to many skyscrapers, such as the 248m tall Tuntex Sky Tower that were light up almost every night just like our KL Twin Tower and KL Tower. Beside the skyscrapers the city is known for its diversity of parks, i.e. Love River that was upgraded with walking paths and cafes along its banks, and cruise boats navigating for the tourist. For those who travels to shop, may choose the higher end products from the high end mall just like EDA Mall or medium class shops and a night markets. Since we were on tight budget and the purpose of travel is to record our presence in Taiwan without a need to repeat a trip, a road trip circling the island was more than enough.