First Bike Tour of Kaohsiung

I biked just under 20 kilometers today!  Woohoo!  Behind is a bit sore but much better than I expected.  One of the teachers at the school where I'm teaching, Jen, took 5 of us around the city and showed us the amazing bike trail that takes us along the Love River and along the harbor. It's hard to stop and take pictures when you are following someone but now that I know the way, I'll be taking and posting pictures in the future.  Access to the trail is literally 1 minute from my apartment so it's a perfect way for me to get to a small shopping area and to the water.

After biking for a while, we stopped at this little shop for Mango Ice, which is basically a big bowl of shaved ice topped with a scoop of mango ice cream and a whole chopped up mango (see #1 in the picture).  The serving is HUGE and I never thought I'd finish it but it was delicious and I did.  It was so hot today that the ice made a big difference in cooling us down.

While sitting outside, Jen pointed out the ferry terminal and told us there is a ferry every few minutes that takes you to an island in the harbor.  The ride is only a few minutes long and costs 50 cents.  We rolled our bikes on board and headed across the harbor to this crazy island that is completely touristy and has rickshaws and food everywhere.  Again, I'll be going back to take more pictures.

 Our view when we got on board the ferry.

 The harbor area is busy and colorful.

 The view of Kaohsiung downtown from the ferry.

The island is called Cijin Island and it's a place you could spend an entire day.  It's like going to spend the day at Old Orchard Beach where there is food, drink, tourist stuff and the ocean.  Except, as you can see, Cijin is a bit more exotic. 

We rode through the town where there is seafood being sold everywhere (raw fish and shellfish along with cooked seafood like cuttlefish) and headed toward the ocean.  I was so happy to see the ocean and the big waves crashing along the shore.  I missed it.  Here the water is incredibly warm so it doesn't cool you off like the ocean in Maine but it was beautiful.  The temperatures is in the 90's today and the humidity makes it feel like 105.

You can see a ship that is beached in the distance of this shot.

It's hard to tell from these photos but there are dozens of cargo ships everywhere. This is where you can tell that Kaohsiung is such a huge shipping port.

If you'd like to read more about Cijin Island and Kaohsiung Harbor, here's a website you can check out.  http://travelkaohsiung.com/places-to-go/attractions/cijin-island/

I can't wait to go out again and head a different direction on the trails.  There are miles and miles of them all around Kaohsiung and many more are being built.  I'm excited!