The journey to Taichung 

Christine and I woke up early we showered and got organised, wrote in our journals and then did our Duolingo. The others had not risen, so we headed out to have some breakfast at, Gan Mai Alley, the restaurant from yesterday morning. We ate some dumplings, omelet and another steamed bread hamburger. We then back tracked to the accomodation only to find everyone except for scotty were still asleep. 

The High Speed Rail (HSR)

Scotty had risen and was doing some meditation. Christine called a few times to raise the others so that they could come and let us up in the elevator. Cassian and Nicole got organised and we headed off to find the high speed rail. It was actually really easy to locate and buy the tickets. The train was spacious and comfortable. We were sitting in the non reserved section and there was plenty of room. 

Rainbow Village

We arrived at the station after about an hour of travel and caught a taxi out to the rainbow village. Alas the rainbow village was closed when we arrived, having said that we were able to take photographs of the outside of the buildings and I put the camera over the top of the gate and filmed inside a bit. We thought that the accomodation was close to the train station, so we figured out how to use the bus system and caught a bus to the train station. This bus ride deserves a mention because I am pretty sure that the lady driving the bus was a formula one driver who was moonlighting as a bus driver, in that this was the fastest most furious bus ride we had ever experienced. We arrived back at the train station on no time. We collected our bearings and then started walking, and walking, and walking. It was hot and Google maps kept changing it’s mind on which direction to go in. People were starting to wear thin and with the benefit of hind sight we probably should have caught an Uber. 

The accomodation

Just as we were about to do that, we were finally successful in locating the accomodation. Now the outside of the accomodation was a bit concerning but inside was spacious and clean. Christine had done another spectacular job in selecting a 4 bedroom place with a small kitchen, a good bathroom and plenty of living space. We showered, had siestas and then went in search of food. Now the way we had walked from the train station to the accomodation had taken us past every mechanic shop and small factory in every back alley in Taichung, so we had a rather dysmorphic view of Taichung as an industrial workshop.

Christine ran a search and found an Italian place nearby. We wandered down and went past a more shopping and retail type environment. It would later come to pass that these shops and entertainment buildings extended for km’s. The Italian place was nice we ate some fettuccine, chicken soup and a margarita pizza. The bloke running the place was from Malaysia so he could speak English, Mandarin and Malay. We had a conversation with him him in Mandarin and English. After our lunch we went back to have a siesta. Cassian, Nicole and Scotty had all gone out exploring.

Fengxia Night Market

In the evening we decided to try the bus again to make our way to the Fengxia night market. We quickly located the stop and a lady who saw us attempting to decipher the bus route helped us to catch the right bus. She also got us to download an app that tracked the bus in real time and let you know when it was actually going to arrive. She came back a number of times to make sure that we got on the right bus. She spoke to the driver to let him know where we wanted to get off. He didn’t let us know, and we weren’t quick enough with the app, so we overshot the stop by a km or so. We walked back into civilisation and to the markets that we had seen from the window of the bus as we whizzed past.  Once again the bus driver was fairly moving, not as fast as the lady this morning, but having said that he wasn’t messing around. As we drove, we passed loads of shops and attractions of all varieties. The Fengxia Night Market was not as big as the last couple of markets that we had been to, but it was still worth the visit. 

We picked up a could of bao zi and wandered around the market. We also managed to track down a charging cable for Christine’s phone. We met up with Scotty out the front of the market and made our way to the university bus stop to catch the 79 bus back to our accomodation. I asked one of the University security guards for directions and he helped us to locate the stop. Christine used the app that we been recommended earlier and we knew exactly when the bus was going to arrive. We kept a close watch on the stops and got off at the correct stop. 

Day 6

Mt Bagua Great Buddha Statue

We got up early and ordered an Uber to take us to the Mt Bagua Great Buddha Statue. The Uber was quick efficient and air conditioned, but not as much fun as the wild bus rides. The driver dropped us to the park and we quickly located the giant buddha statue. We started the drone and found that the settings had changed and the image was over exposed on the normal setting, it was later come to pass that we had selected some type of professional setting where you could play around with all sorts of different colour and exposure settings, but we didn’t know this and in the heat of battle we figured that the drone had done something weird in one of the updates, and we couldn’t work out how to correct it on the fly. We did however work out that the pre set settings were still working just fine and we could use those. 

We did a couple of drony shots at different heights to capture the buddha and the surrounding park. We then decided to try the 360 circle mode. In my infinite wisdom I had decided that the Buddha was the tallest point in the park, and from our position I couldn’t see what was behind it, so I set the drone at a height that I thought would clear everything. We started the 360 and the drone circled the hill and quickly disappeared from view behind the buddha. Now had I been watching the view finder rather than the drone I probably would have picked up that the building behind the buddha was taller than the buddha. I watched the drone go over the top of a spire on a pagoda and then it went behind the buddha and stopped. When I peered into the viewfinder I found that I was looking at some very ornate roof tiles, very close up, so much so that I could see the dust on each one. Thankfully the drone had registered impending doom and had stopped. 

I will admit that I panicked a bit thinking that the drone had crashed and was now sitting on the roof. I tried a couple of thins like pressing the home button, which didn’t do anything. After taking a deep breath I checked the vital signs and found that the drone was still in flight. I took it up over the top of the building and back to us using the view finder to navigate. Had I been thinking clearly I would have tried the 360 at a higher altitude, but I was a bit spooked thinking that I had nearly lost the drone and opted to pack it away for the day instead. I can assure you though that the video of our 180 degree half circle looks fantastic and I am sure that the 360 would have been even better. 

High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung

We ordered up 2 Ubers after working out that the wait for one large Uber was a long one and made our way to the HSR Station. On the way I was able to have a great chat with the Uber driver in Mandarin Chinese. We chatted a bit about our families and the trip that we were taking. 

The Dome of Light

At the station we bought our tickets, a couple of croissants and headed for the platform. We were perfectly on time and boarded our train for Kaohsiung. The trip was smooth and this time I was able to film the speed which clocked in at 290km/h. Less than an hour later we were in Kaohsiung. We figured out how to use the lockers in the train station and went to see the Dome of Light, which is also in the train station.

Our most excellent plan was to collect bikes and ride to the Lotus pond. This plan was quickly foiled when the bikes let us know that we would need to register our Ezy cards before we could use them. We opted to find a restaurant where we could sit down and relax while we attempted to figure out our next steps. We were aiming for a Singapore noodles place but ended up finding a small place that sold pasta, seafood and vegetables called Lao Tao Stick to Delicious Restaurant. The lady who owned the restaurant was really helpful and provided us with internet and let us know the app that we would need to use to hire the bikes for a single use. We chilled ate delicious pasta and set up our phones for the bike hire. Once we were organised we went and unlocked our bikes. We then rode about 9 km through the scorching heat to the Lotus Pond. 

The Lotus Pond

The Lotus Pond is a large set of sculptures and pagodas dotted along the water that you can climb and check out inside. We climbed the structures, took photographs and met up with Cassian and Nicole. We heard all about their adventures while we checked out the structures. There were loads of turtles sun baking a being fed as well as huge schools of fish swimming around in the pond. Once we were done walking around the Lotus Pond we caught a couple of Ubers back to the station. The plan was to to catch the Uber back to the nearest station and ride the train back, this is what Cassian and Nicole did, we had inadvertently entered the station that is close to our accomodation into the Uber app and ended up driving all the way back. Cassian and Nicole arrived long before we did. 

We worked out how to free our bags from the bag lockers and then quickly located the accomodation. Everything worked smoothly and we were able to get into the accomodation and put on a load of washing. We had showers and then headed out in various directions. Scotty, Christine and I made our way over to a Mexican place that was a fair walk from the accomodation. Cassian and Nicole went off to explore along the train line. 

The Ruifeng Night Market

The Loco Mexican restaurant was absolutely delicious and the people were friendly. The lady behind the counter had dated a young bloke from Brisbane so her English was really good. After our Mexican food we wandered back to the train station and out to the Ruifeng Night Market. We were at the Night Market for around 30 – 40 Mins and then caught the train back to the accomodation so that we could get some rest.