First Impressions: Where Is Everyone?

As the second most populous city in Taiwan, I was expecting it to be quite similar to Taipei in terms of pace and crowds.  When I arrived into Kaoshiung at 4:50pm on a Tuesday afternoon, I was shocked at what was there to greet me.

 

Absolutely nothing and no one!  This is a picture of Formosa Boulevard Metro Station, the only interchange station on the Kaoshiung MRT line.  These pictures were taken around 6pm, or as any other place around the world knows it – rush hour.  I couldn’t believe how dead this station was, especially since this was supposed to be the second largest city in Taiwan.  This pretty much foreshadowed our entire Kaoshiung stay.  Everywhere we went was much less crowded than Taipei (or any other Asian city I’ve ever been to). 

Later on that night, we took the MRT again around 8:30pm or 9:00pm and this was probably the most crowded I ever saw any Kaoshiung subway.