Thanks for reading our Taiwan Travel Series! This week, we’re focusing on Kaohsiung, a city in the South of Taiwan. For more stories on Taiwan, check out Part 1 and Part 2 of eating our way through Taipei; myths on Taiwan; our Christmas experience in Taipei; our trip to Jiu Fen; Beitou Hot Springs; and our favorite: that time our Instagram photo of Kaohsiung’s temples made it into the July issue of Travel and Leisure!
My husband and I are from two different worlds. We’ve come to accept this. I’m a full-fledged ‘Murican who was lucky enough to grow up in a very diverse place. My husband grew up outside the United States. We come from vastly different cultures.
There is, however, one thing that unites us:
Bruce Lee.
See, my dad loves Bruce Lee. Frank’s dad loves Bruce Lee. It’s just one big Bruce Lee-lovin’ family. You’re probably thinking, but who doesn’t love Bruce Lee? That’s a good question and the answer to that is no one. No one doesn’t love Bruce Lee. I mean, come on, he beat up Chuck Norris (where are all the Bruce Lee jokes? Fear of Bruce Lee is called logic?)
Which brings us to Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan. In the city of Koasiung is a man-made body of water called Lotus Lake. There are quite a few temples on the edges of the lake. These temples are bright and colorful and bear a vague resemblance to Disneyland because they’re so bright and cheery. One of those temples is dragon and a tiger and now we know why Bruce Lee had to Enter the Dragon.
Entering the dragon. Bruce Lee was not in there to ninja our face. Phew.How many people can say they actually entered a dragon? I once entered the mouth of a whale on the Pinocchio ride at Disneyland (I then vomited up one whole turkey leg and some funnel cake on the teacups…it was a wild ride). As we entered the mouth of the dragon, we walked down steps. We then slowly made our way outside the mouth of the tiger. And this, folks, is considered good luck. Or good juju. Or some kind of feng shui. I’m not sure, but I think there’s some cosmic goodness in entering the dragon and exiting the tiger.
So colorful.Lotus Lake is lined with other temples. The dragon and tiger pagoda were my favorite and they were attached to seven story-high pagodas. True story, my husband and I had an hour-long conversation about the name of the firecracker resembling this temple at Lotus Lake. After much debate, we decided to defer to Google…and subsequently found out the name of the firecracker is a “Friendship Pagoda.” This solves the mystery of the name of the firecracker… I still don’t know the name of the temple. Nevertheless, from the top of the pagoda is a really pretty view of the lake.
Wow, what a view! These are about a tenth of the actual turtles From the valley of turtles, is the temple adorned by the God of War.There was also the temple of the turtles (actually called the Spring and Autumn Temples). A long pier stretched into the lake leading to a temple at the very edge of it. On the way, there was what can only be explained as the Valley of Turtles. Hundreds of the lacksadaisical reptiles lined the ground (is it possible that turtles breed like rabbits?). The turtles “guard” the temple with the God of War, who still looks just as angry as usual. Overall, there’s thirteen temples and it’s easy to walk around the manmade lake.
Now it’s Your Turn
For travel inspiration, check out our itinerary! To get to Lotus Lake, take the high speed rail from Taipei to Zuoying. Walk out of the train station and you’re there! To get to Kaohsiung, take the nearby subway.
P.S: Don’t concentrate on the finger or you’ll miss the moon in all its heavenly glory. ~Bruce “the man” Lee.
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