Dec. 26: Kaohsuing

On the final day of our trip we saw a few sights in Kaohsuing before taking the high speed rail back to Taipei. We toured through one of the larger department stores called Dream Mall. It had a ferris wheel on top of the mall but we didn't end up riding it.

Inside of the empty stadium

We also visited one of the larger stadiums in Taiwan that happens to be located in Kaohsuing.  It holds about 40,000 people so it was pretty underwhelming compared to the Horseshoe or even the Big House. It is pretty new and was built for some kind of Asian collegiate track tournament or something like that last year. Now, it isn't really used that much, it justs there empty except for the field sprinklers. However, because of the name the stadium was given in Chinese a lot of the people in the area thought it was built for the Olympics and were happy to have it built.

Outside the stadium. It was a little windy and chilly.

Because we had to catch the high speed rail train, we ate a quick lunch at a Japanese fast food place called Mos Burger. Looking at the pictures as we ordered, I was skeptical to say the least. Then I tried one of their sandwiches and it was delicious. The one I got had teriyaki beef, onions, and lettuce. But the coolest part was instead of a normal bun the meat is placed between a bun made of rice.

After experiencing the ease of traveling on Taiwan's high speed rail, I really wish we had something like this at home. The drive from Taipei to Kaohsuing usually takes three hours in optimal traffic conditions but usually a lot longer because of the congestion on Taiwanese highways. On the high speed rail the trip is only an hour and a half and you don't have to worry about traffic or directions or anything. You can just enjoy the scenery.

High speed rail trains