Day 18: Rain!

I haven’t dealt with much rain so far in my trip… until today. For Taiwan, which has had a relatively dry summer so far, the rain was quite welcoming, bringing in cooler air, and a more refreshing atmosphere. The rain in the morning was a light drizzle, but the rain and wind strengthened by the time we reached Erluanbi, the southernmost point of Taiwan. With everyone holding umbrellas or wearing rain ponchos, we walked through a short trail to the area’s iconic lighthouse, facing southward where the Taiwan Strait and Pacific Ocean meet. Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed due to rain, but we were able to see the view from Erluanbi and snap a few pictures before heading back to the bus early.

Erluanbi Light House

Leaving Kenting: It's famous beach, in the rain.

We began a two and a half hour drive up to Meinong, an area known for its Hakka population. The Hakka people have a distinct culture and language, and make up about fifteen percent of Taiwan’s population. We were supposed to stop at Meinong for an experience of Hakka culture after lunch in the area, but halfway through lunch, a downpour started with no end in sight. Even a short dash to the bus from the restaurant was enough to get soaked, and with the nature of our tour around Meinong focussed on outdoor activities, our cultural activities were cancelled and we headed to the “Dream Mall” in Kaohsiung. 

Kaohsiung is Taiwan’s second largest city, after Taipei. We had spent the last five days staying in smaller towns and driving on mountainous roads; now, we were greeted with multilane highways and skyscrapers. Dream Mall, which opened in 2007, is Taiwan’s largest shopping mall, with stores spread across four connected buildings, a designated floor for Japanese stores and an area for Korean food, and a Ferris wheel on the rooftop, though we didn’t explore the top due to heavy rain.

There were some open areas between the buildings in the mall complex. Regularly, there would be a lot more people, but of course, rain keeps them in the stores. 

The complex has nine floors, plus the rooftop and two basement floors – a haven for shoppers. Unfortunately (or fortunately?), I’m not much of a spender, and with shortened and cancelled events at Erluanbi and Meinong, we were given five hours to explore the mall.

One store among many many others (wikipedia says 2300 stores and services). There's a computer directory that allows you to search for the shop you're looking for. yay Roots!

I ended up watching Inception, due to great reviews via Facebook status. I’m not much of a movie person, much less a film critic, so I won’t comment much on the movie, but I can say that I fail to see its amazingness. The movie was filmed well, and based on interesting concepts, but the ideas were simple enough and not really mind-blowing. It was nice to see a movie in Taiwan though, to see if the experience was any different: the seats are assigned, and food is obviously much, much, much cheaper. The movie cost us $250 NT per person (around eight dollars Canadian), though the add-on for popcorn and a drink was only $70 NT (just over two dollars, but I didn’t get it anyways). The movie was in English, though subtitles in traditional Chinese were provided.

Late in the evening, we were bussed to our hotel, near Kaohsiung’s downtown. We weren’t very close to a night market, so we decided to give our night market experiences a break, but we did manage to explore the nearby areas. The hotel is nice though, and I look forward to a good night’s sleep.