No trip to Kaohsiung is complete without a trip to Love River or Ai He (爱河). The river is of great cultural significance to the city and plays an important role in its economy and tourism. It has become so symbolic of the city, most visitors have it down as a must-visit.
The river used to be called Kaohsiung River. According to our river cruise guide, a storm damaged a sign board along the river with only the words ‘love’ and ‘river’ left. A journalist saw it and mistaken the river’s name as Love River and the name stuck. In reality, the actual origin of the name is unresolved with many stories told about Love River. There is also a macabre side to the name with occasional love-suicides. Years ago, it was heavily polluted. What we are seeing today is the result of concerted effort in cleaning the river.
A popular way to enjoy the views along the river is to take an evening river cruise. Tickets for the boat tour can be purchased from this ticket booth, which is across the road from Ambassador Hotel. Each ticket cost NT150. I did not see any listing of cruise timings at the counter but was instead verbally informed of the next trip.
The solar-powered boats are clean and spacious in seating arrangements. With the boat being less a third full, I was luckily to get a front row seat just behind our lady skipper, with good view of the river.
The sightseeing cruise commentary by the guide is in Mandarin while Japanese translation is provided by a pre-recorded video shown on a flat screen TV at the front of the boat.
Our guide rattled off memorised scripts of commentary on buildings along the river and their architecture at a lively speed matching that of the vessel we were travelling in. At times though, he went so fast I could not hardly catch up with what he was saying. Guests who could not understand Mandarin or Japanese will unfortunately be only taking a leisure ride and enjoying the scenic river.
Kaohsiung City Music Hall, designed to resemble a pianoforte, and Kaohsiung District Courts, design inspired by balance scales, were 2 of the buildings that were described in detail. Throughout the short duration, I was busy identifying the buildings in the commentary and thus very few photos were taken.
Keep a look out for this statue of Chinese mythical dragon fish creature, Ao (鳌), which is now one of the more recognisable landmark along Love River.
The boat tour around lasted 20 mins. Visitors who are much taken with the romantic atmosphere can go on with another cruise along the river, this time in a gondola. Prices at NT200 per adult and NT100 per child. I gave that a pass, preferring instead to have a stroll.
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Read about my trip itinerary and the places visited in Taiwan – City of Kaohsiung Itinerary 2018 .
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Getting There:
– Take MRT-Orange Line to MRT O4 City Council Station.
– From exit no. 2 walk around 10 minutes along Zhongzheng 4th Road (中正四路）towards Hedong Road (河东路).