Kaohsuing, Taiwan - Street Food Paradise - 05/03/2026

Li Ho from Kaohsiung, Taiwan

When we were booking this trip, we had a three-day window with nothing planned.

Jen saw a cheap flight to a Taiwanese city called Kaohsiung (pronounced Gow - Shong), and we thought, why not. Neither of us had been to Taiwan before, so let’s check it out.

Anyway, no travel story is complete without some fuckery afoot!!

For anyone who’s been to Manila airport, they would know that there are three separate terminals where international flights can depart. We flew back to Manila from Coron and got into Terminal One. We then waited for the Terminal Shuttle to take us to Terminal Three, but they have to wait so that they actually run every 15 minutes. It doesn’t matter if there are 20 people waiting; oh no, they wait 15 minutes.

Long story short. We got a taxi to Terminal Three, and missed our flight!!!!

After some vigorous swearing, cursing all and sundry, some coffee and then finally calming down, we rebooked a flight (not a cheap one) for the next day, booked some luggage into storage and found a crappy hotel that was near the airport.

We then grabbed a Grab - like Uber and drove to Crackton, a.k.a. The airport workers' village, where our digs for the night were. 

Man, this was a sketchy hood, but we got in, had dinner on the roof and then tried to sleep as 24-hour construction was happening outside of the window. Who says world travel isn't glamorous?

Nek morning, up at sparra’s off to Terminal Three and on the big bird to Kaohsiung. No worries!!

We got through customs, got the red line train to the light rail (green line)  and couldn’t pay with our cards. What to do, as I only had a 1000 NTD note. Some very kind and generous Taiwanese dude in a metal shirt came and paid for our fare with a 50 NTD coin (about $2.50 AUD!) What a dude! An old friend of mine, Michelle, had lived in Taiwan with her family, and she told me that the people were super-friendly and went out of their way to help tourists. This was clearly the case, and this set the tone for the next three days as the people of Kaohsiung were so friendly and welcoming.

We checked into our cute little room with a raised bed platform and a wet room and went in search of Taiwanese food. Across the road from our place and up half a block was a locals-only beef noodle soup joint that only sold about 8 different dishes. It was packed the entire three days that we were there, and the food was incredible.

Beef noodle soup, that we shared, cost $140 NTD - about $7 AUD and condiments - soy, vinegar, chilli, fresh garlic - were on all tables. The noodle had the best flavour, hands down, of any noodle that I’ve ever tried, and the broth was spot on.

Since we were masters of the Kaohsiung rail system, we decided to jump back on and head to the Ruifeng Street Night Markets to eat some more delicacies. Over the next hour, we shared:

• Crispy green onion pancake

• Watermelon juice

• Pork and coriander dumplings

• Fried chicken breast - from Angel’s - world-class

Author's note - The only downside to this trip is that my ears are fucked again. I've had antibiotics, drops, scrapers etc... but they are still blocked. If I look tired or like I'm in pain, it's because I am. I'm half deaf and apart from freid delicacies, I'm also living on painkillers! Anyway enjoy these vids:

All up, it came to about $360 NTD - $18 AUD, and it was absolutely incredible. We rolled home and slept like lords.

Day 2 saw us up and at ‘em before a shite little fruit and coffee breaky at the 7/11 before we met David, our Dutch tour guide for our bike tour. 

He was a great young bloke, and over the next few hours we pedalled over 18 km on U-Bikes, not e-bikes!! (These were normal bikes, and we had a pretty good ride on mostly flat streets and bike paths.) We saw:

• Confucius Temple

• Lianchitan (Lotus Pond)

• Spring and Autumn Pavilions

• Dragon and Tiger Pavilions

• Temple for Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism.

• Goddess of Mercy Pavilions.

• Pier 2 Art District

• Love Pier Aquatic District - where the buildings represent different aquatic elements. Whalesharks, dolphins, whales, coral, rays and the piece de resistance - the Kaohsiung Music Hall that represents a breaking wave - though personally I prefer the Sydney Opera House.

Phew, what a morning.

David was a font of knowledge, and his bike tour was awesome. Not only did we learn about the geography of the city, but also a lot about the art, history and politics.

I learnt that Taiwan is also called the Republic of China, not the People’s Republic of China, as that is mainland China. Taiwan is separate, proud and autonomous. They have a good relationship with Japan, and the majority of their trade - including nearly all cars - is with Japan. Chinese stuff is pretty much banned, and industry is - you guessed it - Made in Taiwan. Even though they speak Taiwanese (Chinese), they are proud of their cuisine, heritage and culture.

Pretty cool, and they are all pretty chilled too.

Chinese tourism is outlawed, and if they ever invade, all of the Taiwanese software, financial records and digital infrastructure has self-destruct software written into it! That means they lose everything, but China gets nothing. China know this, and it is a pretty good sword for the Taiwanese people to hold over their (own) heads. I guess.

After that, we went back for another shot at the beef noodle soup - spot on again - but we paired it with cucumber salad too. Fantastic. An afternoon kipper saw us fresh to tackle another night market - this time, Liuhe Street Night Market.

This was one long street full of vendors, and we had a fair crack again:

• Fried sweet potato balls

• Pineapple and honey iced tea

• Pork and chive dumplings

• Charred pork belly bites

• Egg and pork fried rice.

Again, all up under $500 NTD - $25 AUD.

The next day, we were due to fly back to Manila at 7 pm. We got the light rail to the Dream Mall, had some tucker and went to the movies. Crime 101 with Chris Hemsworth, Halle Berry and Mark Ruffalo was a slow burn, L.A. crime flick that was pretty good, as was the double flavoured popcorn - caramel and salt cream!!

All up, Kaohsiung was great. It was the safest place I think I’ve ever been, the people, transport, food, culture and cost of living were all on point. It makes me want to visit Taipei now, and we think that Taiwan is definitely on our travel radar in the future.

Cheers, dear readers, until next time from your hearing impaired Asian correspondent!