I got up at 8am which is not bad going but under 5 hours of sleep and I left around 9 and got to the train station by taking the subway there. It was 9.50 and I was in the queue and there was a train at 10 and I wasn't sure I could catch it but I got to the front and had to repeat my destination but it turned out I was in the wrong place so I went to HSR area and bought a ticket on the machine. I rushed up to the southbound platform and there was no 10am train so I must be on the wrong platform but there was no time left to find it. I looked at the notice board though and there were 2 trains going to Kaohsiung one at 10.11 and another at 10.21 so I was in the right place. The 10.21 train should arrive first at Kaohsuing and miss a few stops on the way and there were a lot of people getting on the first train so I decided to get the 2nd. The first train left and then lots of people turned up for the 2nd train so it looked busy but when I got on the right non reserved carriage it was ok and I had space. The train was pretty quick but I managed some research planning into Laos and China and was getting close to a possible schedule which I would need for the China visa. We arrived at 12.20 and I went to the subway to get to the hostel. I got out and there was a railway museum so I had a quick look and afterwards headed to the hostel stopping at 2 temples on the way. I got to the hostel around 1pm and nobody was there, the door was locked and the sign gave a number to call which is not so helpful as I didn't have a local sim card. So I went to go to the big temple which is the highlight here but I wasn't sure how to get there so I went to ask at tourist information about 15 minutes away. I walked a different way around the port which was quite nice but I needed the toilet so I went back to the subway as they have them there. The toilet was at the other end of the station however, 170 metres away probably in the direction of where I had just come from. I saw a place that rented bike and itwas 100 dollars for the day but I'd have to return at 7pm. I tried to negotiate but his English was not so good so he took me to another bike shop where it was the same but I could return in the morning at 9am for 150. I thought of walking to the tourist information place to get a bus to the temple as it was 2 hours away by bicycle. In the end as it was 15 minutes walk away I checked out another bike shop and got a basic one gear bike for 50 dollars with an 8pm return time. I decided to see this area today and the temple the next day. I headed to the information place which had modern art out front and turned out to be a ticket office for some art places. hey did however have a toilet I used. After I went to the sea front where there was more installations these ones were big and metal. The sea front came to an end due to construction work so I had to go back and made my way around to a park where there was supposed to be an information board and I couldn't find. I crossed the road to the Kaohsiung museum which was free and had some not good exhibitions on the ground floor but the next floor up had one on Taiwan tourism in the 1930s when they had railways and also on on 228 incident a black spot in their history from the 40s. I left the museum and saw some drummers in the park opposite so I crossed and the memorial to 228 incident was there. I crossed back to another museum on the map but it was a music hall, a lot of places here are written in Chinese characters on maps. The conference centre next to it was empty so I biked back towards the hostel and went to the art in the park place which was hard to access due to construction work. I grabbed some street food which was 40 and 30 dollars for an egg pancake and 5 chicken balls and I went back to the hostel and there was still nobody there even though it was close to 4pm. I opened the window and could reach the door handle but not open it and I could get the keys from the box but none opened the door as it looked like there was an electronic lock and I didn't know the code. I saw some boards games inside including Carcassone and Splendour so I was looking forward to maybe playing some later but for now I left my suitcase there and went through the nearby tunnel to the university which looked quite nice and modern. There was a beach nearby so I parked the bike and had a look and there was a lot of sand but swimming and fishing were not allowed. I managed to walk back through a hotel gate to the bike and then headed up a hill towards viewpoints and temples. The hill had viewpoints and temples including a memorial martyrs temple which was nice. I left there and turned a corner on the bike and the road ahead was blocked but there was a temple on my left so I walked up and it was the martyrs temple I'd just left but I noticed they had writings about events so I had another look around. The place closed at 5pm so I had been lucky to make it on time. I headed downhill and ignored the zoo but came to a really big temple place, it just looked a bit too new to be really impressive somehow but the views were quite good there as well. I left on the road down and crossed the bridge to get to a wetlands where I took the bike over some narrow wooden rope bridges I probably shouldn't have in a wetlands area. It was lacking in wildlife and vegetatian a bit for a wetlands and I tried to get to another park but went the wrong way so just rode back into the city. The sun had set and there were lots of neon lights but not as much as some big cities. The park was quite nice that I came to but it was getting late and I didn't want to leave my suitcase outside in the dark so I made my way back to the hostel where the front door was at least open and I got checked in and given a pack with water as they didn't have a kitchen due to renovations. I also got a key which included a fob for the front door so I could have just entered with the keys I could reach through the window. The board games I had seen earlier were all gone so I asked and he said they were at a board games cafe and when I said I'd like to play he phoned but the guy was on duty and not answering so it was shut today. I went up to the room and chatted briefly to the guy there who was from Taipei and then I headed out and found a cheap shop with some hardware items but not the nuts and bolts I needed for my suitcase. I did buy a SD card reader usb so hopefully this one works. I returned the bike and then found somewhere to eat and got a large portion of rice and pork for 65 dollars. I went back and walked along the dock a bit which was nice with neon lights and looked at the ferry which goes to an island but the last had left for the day. I went back to the hostel and nobody was around, the guy I'd talked to earlier in my room wasn't there so I did internet things on my phone, ate some biscuits, booked hostels and then went to sleep at 11.30
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