Our Travel from Shizhuo to Kaohsiung and lunch at the Hanshin Arena

30 March 2024

After 3 days in Shizhuo, our next destination is Kaohsiung city, located in the southern part of Taiwan. I had booked three nights at the H2O Kaohsiung Hotel because it is highly rated and located close to the Zuoying HSR Station and Xin Zuoying TRA Station. The hotel also provides free shuttle service to and from the HSR Station.

When planning the itinerary, I had considered 3 options to travel from the Siang Ting B&B in Shizhuo to our hotel in Kaohsiung.

Option 1: Travel by public bus from Shizhuo to Chiayi HSR Station, cost 260 TWD. The earliest bus from Shizhuo to Chiayi HSR Station (#7329) is at 11.22 AM. ETA 12.56 hr. Thereafter take the 30 minutes ride by high speed train (cost 410 TWD) to Kaohsiung where our hotel provides free pickup and transfer.  Arrival in Kaohsiung at about 13.30 hr.

 
Option 2: Travel by public bus from Shizhuo to the Chiayi TRA Station. Earliest Bus is #7302 at 9.10 AM. ETA 10.45 AM. Take the next local train to Xin ZuoYing Station with approximately 1hr 30 mins travel time. Then take a short taxi ride to our hotel located in the Zuoying area. Arrival in Kaohsiung at about 12.30 hr.

Option 3: Book a taxi to pick us up from our B&B in Shizhuo to the Chiayi HSR Station. We could specify the pickup time. Estimated travel time is between 70 to 90 minutes and cost 2200 TWD. Thereafter, take the 30 minutes ride by high speed train (cost 410 TWD) to Kaohsiung where our hotel provides free pickup and transfer.  

After our experience with the crowded public bus from Shizhuo to Alishan and back to Shizhuo on Day 2, we decided on Option 3. Although it is the most expensive option, I think the cost is reasonable since the driver must come all the way to Shizhuo from Chiayi to pick us. With this option, we need not worry about travelling with suitcases on public buses or worry about the risk of not able to board the crowded bus during the peak cherry blossom season in Alishan. We also do not need to trouble our B&B host to drive us to the bus stop in Shizhuo although they are happy to do that. With option 3, we also get to arrive at our hotel in Kaohsiung much earlier.

The taxi came promptly at 9.30 AM and we arrived at the HSR Station in 70 minutes. Because the hotel provides free pickup service from the HSR Station and requires the timing for the pickup one day in advance, I also decided to pre-book our HSR tickets on Klook. In addition, we get the 20% discount tickets from Klook. 

We had ample time to collect our train tickets and took the 30 minutes ride into Kaohsiung’s Zuoying HSR Station as planned.

We took the HSR train from Chiayi to Zuoying HSR Station in Kaohsiung.

We arrived at Kaohsiung slightly after noon. The representative from the H2O Hotel was on the HSR train platform to meet us.      

He was dressed in a silver suit with long coat-tails and took care of our suitcases.

He led us to the car park where we were driven to the H2O hotel.

We followed him to the HSR Station’s car park where we were driven to the hotel in a spacious, air-conditioned SUV. Cold towels were provided after we boarded the SUV. The journey took about 15 minutes.

We stayed in the H2O Hotel Kaohsiung for the next 3 days.

At the hotel, another staff with similar silvery dress carefully placed a floor board next to the car for us to alight comfortably. We left our luggage in their good hands and proceeded to the hotel lobby.

View from the hotel’s lobby.

Arty decoration at the lobby.

The hotel lobby was at the 20th floor. As our room was not ready, we left our luggage with the hotel and took a short 10 minutes walk to the Hanshin Arena for lunch. Hanshin Arena is a large shopping mall located in the Zuoying district of Kaohsiung.

There is a Lego fair at the Hanshin Arena and we bought a Lego Monster Truck set for our grandson who loves toy cars.

Awesome car model made from Lego bricks.

There are many restaurants in the Hanshin Arena and it was quite crowded on weekends. Most restaurants had long queues. We picked a Korean BBQ restaurant (可瑞安) that served quite good food and with seats available.

  Korean BBQ with delicious side dishes for 318 TWD.

  The food is cooked on a hot copper plate similar to the Thai style mookata.

Our plan after lunch as to explore the Lotus Pond Scenic Area that is located nearby. We took a short taxi ride to our next destination, the Confucius Temple located in the northern part of the Lotus Pond Scenic Area.

Next post: Exploring the Lotus Pond Scenic Area.