2006-10-27 – Day 4 – Kaoshiung – Taichung
Kaoshiung (高雄)
0900 Our first stop of the day whilst still in Kaoshiung was Spring and Autumn Pavilion (春秋é˜). Here, there are three different pagodas that we visited (Long Hu, Guan Yin, Xiong Di Gong).
1000 Our next stop was to visit a fresh water cultivated pearl factory. Had to sit through a short video and explaination of how consuming pearl powder is beneficial to complexion. It was all rather interesting but again another expensive luxury item 
1230 Fo Guang Shan (佛光山) was definitely a more interesting place to visit as we opted for a short climb up the slopes while some other members chose to take the golf buggy up. Definitely well worth the effort since the view of Buddha was breath taking. It was also Fo Guang Shan’s 40th anniversary, made me wonder how they constructed all this 40 years ago! We also visited another temple with 3 Buddha’s inside that was very grand and spacious.
1400 We hit the freeway as we left Fo Guang Shan for our next destination.
Taichung (å°ä¸)
1645 Chi Lin Fong Hot Spring (麒麟峰温泉) was our very first hot spring! There were a couple of mild 35°C baths but the one that really kept my attention was the 40°C bath… In the cool weather, it was a godsend to soak one’s tired body into it. In our excitement at the public bath, we forgot to take photos and in the end ended up with only photos of the exterior and 2 eggs cooked in the hot spring
1845 We had a chance to visit another night market called Fong Jia Night Market (逢甲夜市). As usual, things were beginning to look the same to us at the night markets so it was a quick walk around. There was a lot of activity and would be interesting to visit the smaller lanes if we had more time. Walking along one of the roads brought us to a snack I first had 3 years ago when I first visited Taipei.. Hot Potatoes mashed up and served in its skin with toppings of your choice. It was definitely great to try it again
2100 Our hotel was right next to a shopping centre and so being night birds that we were, we headed right over to have a look. Everything’s pretty much the same as Singapore except that it was much larger and definitely pretty empty, guess the week day night had a lot to do with it. Had a quick shop for supplies at Carrefour and it was time to get some snooze time.