We moved from Taipei to Kaohsiung today, via the High Speed Rail, which took 1.5 hrs to make the 300+ km journey between the two cities. I highly recommend this option, as it is extremely comfortable, and the train station is located in the middle of Taipei. The station in Kaohsiung is about a 20 min taxi ride from town.
Once again, we stayed at the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel in Kaohsiung, which was excellent (and it does claim to be the best hotel in Kaohsiung). We have stayed here in our previous visits, but what sweetened the deal this time, was the free upgrade we got to executive rooms, which included a nice sofa set, and a balcony with gym equipment overlooking the Kaohsiung Harbour. The hotel had an excellent gym, with no less than eight treadmill machines, and a pretty decent weights section, complete with stationery bikes and steps machines. They also have a nice pool, but I didn’t go swimming.
One of the nice things about the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel, is the huge Hanshin mall that is located beside it. You can actually go into the mall which is located beside it without setting foot outside. It’s a pretty substantial mall that is around 11 storeys (when you count in the three levels of basement). It definitely worked out for us, as it rained the two days we were there. It was nice to have some food options within shelter. I sampled the dry variation of the Danzi noodles, and the fried oysters at the food court, which was pretty decent, and topped that off with some macaroons and Gongcha.
Well, the main event of the night was having dinner with my dad’s friends, so that was pretty much my day – gym and food.
Executive room in Grand Hi-Lai Hotel
Gym Equipment in the room balcony
Kaohsiung Harbour
Dry version of Danzi Noodles
Fried Oysters
Wanderlust 