Moving clockwise around Taiwan, the next stop was the city of Khaosiung in the South West of the island – an over the top mix of old and new with a good amount of nature thrown in. Khaosiung has it all and I loved it immediately. The “mountain line” train journey from Taitung was also beautiful as it hugs the coast then cuts across inland. The only thing I didn’t like was my choice of budget accommodation which was my own fault – you get what you pay for and £10 a night got me a pod style bed in a dark basement of a building, with a slightly creepy giant teddy bear sitting in the windowless lounge area that nobody used. The lack of windows meant I got dressed for a summery day only to go upstairs to find it pouring down with rain.

Top of my list of things to: visit the circuit of outlandish temples around the Lotus Pond, go for a hike up Monkey Mountain and take the ferry to Cijin Island. The city is connected by monorail around the centre, then local trains and buses but nowhere near as frequently as the northern cities so it can take twice as long as you think. I fitted in a quick visit to the Fine Arts Museum, only to find it was less fine arts and all modern art.

On to the temples – the Lotus Pond is a man made lake, with over 20 incredible and fairly garish temples situated on the 3km cycle and walking paths that surround it. Renting a bike and cycling would probably be the better option. The biggest ones are the Spring and Summer Pavilions, the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas and the Confucian Temple.

My favourite had to be the Dragon and Tiger Temples, which were designed to stand in the lake. These are no ordinary temples – I’m talking about temples where you enter through the mouths of huge dragon and tiger statues, climb up towers 7 stories high, and walk through tunnels connecting the temples to the shore, containing art that apparently tells stories (this went over my head). It’s mental and amazing.

In the evening I headed to the Pier 2 area (recommended by the lady on the bus in Taitung who told me YOLO!). The harbour area is absolutely gorgeous in the evening and the modern buildings are in stark contrast to the temples. I’ve added a lot of photos because they are all different examples of the architecture on show.

One of stars of the show has to be the dolphin shaped pedestrian bridge that is Asia’s longest rotating bridge, horizontally rotating 90 degrees in 3 minutes. Although I didn’t see the Great Harbour Bridge in action, walking across was good enough.

As I walked along the harbour, I came across the massive stadium beaming lights up into the night sky. I wasn’t sure what it was at first but asked a very young student who had stopped me to tell me I was cute (when I politely said he didn’t need to accompany me he graciously said that’s fine we can just be friends).

Things get more modern and more weird the further around the harbour you go. An absolutely massive floating alien like creature awaits. What I didn’t understand was why there was a real life man sitting on the alien and another in the water. Some official looking people were shouting instructions from the harbour, so they weren’t there by mistake. I Googled it later and found out it was not in fact an alien but a giant inflatable “Ultraman” statue floating in Love River Bay. Ultraman being a Japanese superhero character.

After a lot of walking I made it to the Water Drop Teahouse vegetarian restaurant just before closing time at 20.00 where a very smiley and kind nun made me extremely welcome and assured me there was plenty of time so no need to rush my vegetable curry soup.

The next day, having ready about a hike where you can see monkeys, on Monkey Mountain, naturally I had to go. It was a hot day so I saved the location of the start of the trail head, behind a temple around the corner from a 7-11 not that far from the Fine Arts Museum and set off. I saw a man who looked to be in his 70s and clearly dressed to go hiking – full walking gear, boots and poles – and followed him past the numerous signs warning not to take any food inside the forest. I had ironically just finished my banana and in Taiwan there are no rubbish bins. Anywhere. I carried this banana skin around looking fruitlessly for somewhere to throw it until the point of entering the forest when I had to accidentally drop it away from the CCTV. It was either that or take a banana skin into an area known for aggressive monkeys.

Following the old man was a rookie mistake. It turns out there is more than one entrance to the trails and this was not the “easy, signposted route” I was looking for. These are the retired Taiwanese super hikers and this was something I needed a lot more water for and a proper map. Luckily there were two local women who were also on the wrong path so I followed them to get back on track.

You see monkeys everywhere on this mountain and they are the bigger, more intimidating macaw monkey. Signs presented instructions in English that if a monkey was to jump on you, don’t panic or wave or shout. Just carry on calmly and “the monkey will leave”. I absolutely loved seeing families of monkeys eating fruit, grooming each other and hanging out on the side of the trail. A couple of times they might have been following me. These macaws have the intelligence of a 3 year old child and you should not drink water or open your bag infront of them if you don’t want it to be stolen.

The 70 year old pro hikers powered on past making light work of the steps, wearing their sweatbands, carrying their portable speakers and playing their music out loud.

The “boardwalk” trail isn’t actually a boardwalk after you finish the stairs up, rather it’s a stony path. But it’s signposted and there are several rest areas with benches where you can watch monkeys. All in all I spent a couple of hours here and thoroughly enjoyed it. As before you can safely embark on these hikes alone as there are enough people around without it feeling in the least bit crowded.

In the afternoon there was just the right amount of time to catch the short ferry over to Cijin Island. This narrow stretch of land (a sandbar) is only 5 miles long and has a real holiday atmosphere. I loved seeing how all the people on scooters rode on and off the ferry – you just have to look where you’re walking at all times. Cijin Old Street has a long street market filled with that rancid smell of the local speciality “stinky tofu” and due to construction work there is no other option but to go past every single stinky stall.

The palm tree lined black sand Cijin beach that stretches 1.5km is very pretty, too windy to swim but perfect for walking. You just have to dodgy the cutesy tricycles decked out like cartoon creatures that everyone rides like they’ve never ridden a bike before. Imagine strolling along enjoying the view then Mickey Mouse comes hurtling around the corner and there’s nowhere for you to go.

I also climbed the hill up to Cijou Fort which dates back to 1720 when Taiwan was ruled by the Qing Empire of China. There is a beautiful view over Khaosiung Harbour that it was designed to protect. At the top stands the Lighthouse, whose history is also interesting. The harbour was opened to foreign traders in 1863 and it was British engineers who initially built a Chinese style lighthouse in red brick. The Lighthouse was then rebuilt in 1916 during Japanese rule and opened to the public as a historical building in 1985. There is a small museum inside, not much in English but some interesting old photographs of the construction.

In order to get up to the Lighthouse you must walk through the Tunnel of Stars (a wind tunnel through the cliffs decorated in stars and psychedelic art). Again I didn’t know what it actually was until I looked it up but it’s a Japanese era military tunnel. The effect of the wind rushing through from the sea was deafening.

After a busy day I headed to a tiny dirt cheap restaurant with 5 star reviews where the ex-Michelin restaurant chef now cooks up the most delicious vegan stirfries on his outdoor gas flame. He was keen to have a chat and gave me all the free spinach from the buffet before he closed up shop.

I hope this conveys the absolute variety of places, styles and the unexpected sites in Khaosiung. I would definitely return here for a few more days next time. That’s all I had time for before catching an evening train to Tainan as the race to reach Taipei again before the Chinese New Year continued …