I’m moving to Kaohsiung this August with my wife, who grew up there. We will be living in a house that has been provided for us by my brother-in-law, who lives with my Mother-in-law on the other side of town.
I’ve never been to Taiwan before, and I’ve been trying to prepare myself for the move by asking a lot of questions and reading posts on this website.
I’ve been trying to get a sense of what Kaohsiung and the surroundings are like, but have it expressed in terms that I can relate to. My wife and inlaws have lived there all of their lives, but seem unable to answer my questions about the local geography to my satisfaction. For example, I ask what the address of the new house is, and the answer comes back, “what do you need that for?” I reply that In addition to having a place that my family and friends can send mail to, I want to get a sense of how long it would take to get from there to various points of interest around town. For example, I’ve asked my wife how far it is from her mom’s house in Hsiaokiang(?) to the beach or to some quiet place outside of town to walk or hike, and the answer is “I don’t know”, or " I’ve never been to the beach".
Could some of you local Kaohsiungians (yikes) or other locals from the South please help me out?
If you are married to a Taiwanese gal, I’m surprised you have not already discovered that these questions are culturally redundant. Most Taiwanese don’t really measure things the way we do…especially city grids and locations.
And foget about linking addresses with distance between. It doesn’t work that way. My address is 47, the house directly across is 58. You can drive down a road where all the addresses are making sense and then they change by 114 numbers up or down, and you discover you’re on the wrong side of the street and have to back peddle two blocks. Most of the time landmarks are much better for finding your way.
Many of the questions you normally ask others to orientate yourself with a new place, you will just come up empty. I know more about my town than my girlfriend, who has lived here all her life. She couldn’t tell me how to get somewhere until I told her where I have been. Then she’ll say: “Yeah, it’s just down the street from there…” or some such thing.
Don’t sweat it. Let it be an adventure when you arrive. 
Yes,
Thanks for the reply.
What you say already has some resonance. My wife is a student here in the UK, and has been writing her thesis over the past year. She’s perfectly content to stay at home for days on end, while I bug out if I don’t get out of the house or out of town for a few hours each day. I know far more about Colchester and this part of Essex county after being here for one year than she knows from living here for five!
I guess I have a fear about being trapped in a hot polluted city living a sedentary lifestyle, and I’m not getting any reassurance that there might be places to go to escape from it without driving for hours and hours. So what’s to see and do in Kaohsiung and nearby areas?
Once you get here, stop by one or two of the larger hotels and get yourself a map of Koasiung. That should list what’s to see and where to go, as well as a list of places to eat. There are also a couple of big grassy parks, the love riverand a zoo in the city…but be prepared, it is a hot pace…bring deoderant.
Ifyou don’t have a car/scooter take the bus around the city a few times. That helped me get used to Taipei years ago.
Oh BTW, your wife not knowing anything about where she lives is pretty normal. Many Taiwanese are localized in their own small neighborhoods and if they don’t drive their own car, they really don’t know where anything is…but they may know the bus that takes you there! 
Good luck.
And … jd, don’t forget it’s only about 2 hours to Kenting, they have a monkey hill in kaoshiung, a Belgian beer importer 
and several other things like a few musea (science musuem).
Oh … before I forget a lot of holes in the street, where they are diggin’ for the new MRT system 
I also understand his question very well, believe me as I say that Chinese/Taiwanese rarely give a straight answer.
And an address is very important so you’re able to at least situate the part of town your in.
The month is August? Man that’s the hottest time of year, and maybe a Typhone ot 2-3 from July to October.
So…welcome to Taiwan
The mountains are not far away either, once you manage to buy/borow or steal a car, you will find that you are in a spot, which can turn very beautiful, once you start to get out of the city.
For instance, when I arrived in Yangmei 5 years ago, I wanted to get out and see a bit around.
I first listened to my x-so, and that took us in any direction but the one, I wanted to go. I then bought a good map. (good maps are in chinese here, sorry). with the map, I was able to go anywhere, and I really found out that my little town here is well situated for going to the sea, mountains and wherever.
However, my premier advice is not to ask your SO abou directions, I would never trust any attempt at explanations or directions given to me by an average Taiwanese woman.
[quote=“Mr He”]
However, my premier advice is not to ask your SO abou directions, I would never trust any attempt at explanations or directions given to me by an average Taiwanese woman.[/quote]
I’d agree with that but I’d take it a step further. I’ve seldom had any luck asking anyone in Taiwan where places are. People often know that such a place a place does, in fact, exist. But few can tell you how to get there. Whenever I ask Taiwanese which way is north, south, east or west I get a look as though I’d just asked them to split the atom. For me, that’s always been the most fundamental part of getting around.
As for your original questions, Kaohsiung is a pretty easy city to get around in, with your own transportation. I don’t think you’ll want to rely on the public transit there unless you have A LOT of time to kill. After the MRT is finished, it will be much improved (assuming the whole city hasn’t sunk into oblivion) but right now it’s not very convenient.
Kaohsiung has changed a lot…it is MUCH cleaner now than before. I mean now you can see mountains there that before were not visible due to the pollution. You’ll still find it dirtier than what you’re used to, unless you live in a smoke stack, but it’s better and seems to be constantly improving.
Other posters are right about getting out of town. It’s only a couple of hours away from Kenting, Maoli is a short motorcycle ride out of town and even Taidong is only a 3 hour train ride. And, if you feel like you’re going to explode from too much of the city, you can make a quick get away to Chi Chin (sp?) Island. Dirtier than beaches you’ll see in the movies, for sure, but it can be a nice break from the urban jungle.
If you have any questions about the city, feel free to PM me and I hope I can help. Good luck!
[quote=“Mr He”]I would never trust any attempt at explanations or directions given to me by an average Taiwanese woman.[/quote]I think the phrase, “couldn’t find her own ass with both hands and a map” might have been created to describe my wife and her kind. :help: The upside is that if I ever wanted to get rid of her I could basically drive her 100m away from the house, turn her around 3 times and drive away. I’m sure she’d never find her way home.
Colchester is a real place? I thought it was only found in Viz magazine. Billy the Fish plays for Colchester doesn’t he?
I’d insist that your wife give you the exact address, written down in Chinese, before you leave. Get it printed up on sticky labels and give a bunch of them to family members and the like. Makes things much easier if they want to send you things, etc.
As for beaches, there are closer places I believe, but Kending is a a kind of cowboy town beach resort about a 2-hour drive from Kaohsiung. Quiet during the week, busy on the weekend. Hiking and mountains? About an hour or two gets you into rural mountain areas.
Yes, Colchester is a real place. I’m going to have to do some research on Billy the Fish though. Does he play for Colchester United? And the fact that Viz magazine mentions the place is no surprise. Colchester is in Essex after all, innit? It’s one of those sad places that has a wealth of historical architectecture and potential to be a great cultural center, but is held back by the mindless yobs and the provincial mindset of community leaders. The center of town has the largest Norman Castle in the UK, the most complete remains of a Roman walled city in the UK, three miles of riverfront, and an abandoned quay area that goes back to Roman times, but all that anyone seems to want to do with it is build posh riverside housing and an exclusive marina for wealthy toffs… very sad. I’ve been here a year and have been pretty much everywhere in the local area, mostly by bike. It’s a great place to bike because the towns in the UK don’t sprawl into one another the way they do back in the US.
Thanks for all the replies. Thanks TBNose, I appreciate your offer for more local guidance. As I write this, I’m cross-referenceing the piss-poor Taiwan national map that I picked up at the London TECO office. To the Northeast I can see Maolin, which lies in the national scenic area. I can only guess from the primitve shading on this map that it must lie in the foothills? Is there hiking to be had here? If so, how big are these mountains/foothills? What’s your estimate on travel time from the center of the city? Are all Taiwan travel times traffic-dependent?
We already have mom’s old toyota corrolla ready for us when we get there, and are planning to get a second conveyance, probably a scooter, and I’ll have the luxury of a month or two to settle in before I need to go to work. I’m pretty lucky: I’ll have time to familiarize myself with the place and minimize the shock of it all. Living in Britain has made me a wimp in the heat though… I melt.
moderator, please delete
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You’ll have a car? Then you’re sorted. Once you get here you can get pretty detailed roadmaps that will see you right – in Chinese, but all the roads here are numbered as well as named, so its actually kind of a doddle to stay on track once you get used to it. There’s fantastic hiking to be had, from gentle river hikes right up to hairy-legged he-man yomps up to 4,000 meters.
Taidong is over on the east coast, which is a bit more of a drive – over the central mountain range on switchback roads – but once you get there its a different world to the polluted and crowded west coast. Think of the difference between, say, Coventry and deepest Cornwall.
As for heat, well, Kaohsiung is hot – its subtropics after all. I’d suggest that you invest in a bit of that hi-tech super-wicking clothing – dries quickly, wicks the sweat away from the skin.
Come on, how about some photos from some of you folks to give this guy an idea?
That’s brilliant… cheers , mate
I’m double sorted, because I have a nice array of technical clothing from hiking/biking/kayaking back in the states. Sorry to say that I never saw deepest Cornwall in my stay here, but I get your meaning exactly.
Maolin is about an hour from Kaohsiung and it’s pretty easy to find your way out there. Taiwan is a small island, so it’s hard to get very lost. The hills in that area run from a few hundred meters up to about 1,200m on the first ridge, and up to about 2,000m on the one behind that. There aren’t many hiking trails in that area, but it is very pretty.
It is possible to get decent topo maps from one vendor here. You can also get hi-res digital elevation maps and satellite photos from the web.
H:
That sounds really good. I also noticed a couple of places in the general vicintiy called Sandimen and Wutai, that are a little closer to town. Do you have any experience of these?
Also, could you get me more info on the decent topo maps that you mentioned? Are these Chinese-only?
thanks
Sandimen is an aboriginal village up on a spur above Sueimen. It’s a bit of a ‘model village’ if you know what I mean. Wutai is further up the same road, though the road was cut during the heavy rain we had last week. Not sure how bad the damage was. The village itself is nice and the views from up there are great, though you may need a permit to pass beyond Sandimen.
In terms of the drive from Kaohsiung that area is not much different from Maolin. You would probably be running over freeway 10 and then either heading for Chishan and onto Tajin for Maolin or cutting off to Dashu, over the bridge to Jiuru and then onto Sueimen. Traffic will be more of a factor than the distance, though that can be said for most journeys in Taiwan.
If you go even a little further north from Maolin proper you get into Liuguei, Bulao and Baolai. Very pretty also.
Edit: Oh yeah, sorry, the maps… The only decent maps are in Chinese, but honestly, when you see how many different ways Chinese gets transliterated and how useless most of them are, you’ll see it’s just easier in the long run to learn to at least recognize the characters.
This seems to be the source of maps with the best resolution and detail.
The DEMs and satellite imagery you can get from NASA, here.
Thanks again,
That all sounds very appealing, and might make for some good weekend daytrips. I guess that, with the combined factors of traffic and distance, none of thes places are close enough for an after-work early evening trip?
I’m scanning my crap map again, and to the south of Sandimen amd Majia, to the east of Pingdong in Pingdong County, theres’ a large empty green area, whith nothing but a couple of rivers: nearest towns are Taiwu and Laiyi to the west. What’s this area like? anything there to see/explore?
How about the coastline in the Kaohsiung area? Or are places like the Gaoping river estuary and Dapeng national scenic area too shitty-gritty to mention?
This guys web site has many pictures and ideas. He is half way south to Kaosiung. It may jaundice your view of things. Maybe wait until you’ve been here a month or two then it will make you laugh rather than scare you away. users2.ev1.net/~turton/teach_index.html
From what I’ve heard living in Taipei is different from living in the south.
[quote=“plotch”]Thanks again,
That all sounds very appealing, and might make for some good weekend daytrips. I guess that, with the combined factors of traffic and distance, none of thes places are close enough for an after-work early evening trip?
I’m scanning my crap map again, and to the south of Sandimen amd Majia, to the east of Pingdong in Pingdong County, theres’ a large empty green area, whith nothing but a couple of rivers: nearest towns are Taiwu and Laiyi to the west. What’s this area like? anything there to see/explore?
How about the coastline in the Kaohsiung area? Or are places like the Gaoping river estuary and Dapeng national scenic area too shitty-gritty to mention?[/quote]
Pick up a new Taiwan Lonely Planet. At the very least the map will show you what’s nearby.
The 1000 hectare Chaishan Nature Reserve is right on the northwest side of Kaohsiung City. Much of this area has been preserved since Japanese times. Lots of trails and monkies.
However, don’t forget that we are tropical which means it’s dark by 7 even in the middle of summer.
Dapeng Bay is a giant lagoon that is in the process of being turned into a very nice water playground. Good widnsurfing and sea kayaking there. Probably only an hour from Kaohsiung. It’s only recently been opened so not a lot of people (even taiwanese know about it). Little Liu Chiu island, part of Dapeng National Scenic Area is very pretty.
robert1566.fotopic.net/p4490100.html
Here’s people swimming in the river beside the free outdoor hotsprings in Maolin:
robert1566.fotopic.net/p4490006.html
The countryside around Meinong, an hour from Kaohsiung on the way to Maolin. Nice to bike ride through the fields.
robert1566.fotopic.net/p4490072.html
Pindong county:
robert1566.fotopic.net/p4490137.html
By the way, there are two forest reserved on the way to Maolin with more trails and such to explore.
The big open area you mention is pretty much undeveloped, or consisting of small aboriginal communities as far as I know. There is an old trail from Fangliao on the west coast to Dawu (Tawu) on the east. The forest bureau is in the process of rebuilding it. When completed it will make for a 45 kilometre route across the southern part of the island.
Do a google search on these place. Dapeng Bay has it’s own website as does Kaoshiung City and county.
Here’s a few:
tbnsa.gov.tw/user/article.asp?pcode=2&UID=26