Entree Kibbles

Thursday, December 11, 2025

Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (龍虎塔) - They Were Closed Though @ Kaohsiung City in Taiwan

(Visited in January 2025)

Searching online for attractions at Kaohsiung City, there's one place that's always mentioned; the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas (龍虎塔), and I was excited to be finally checking them out!

Facing the pagodas would be the Chiji Temple (左營城邑慈濟宮) which honored the Poh Seng Tai Tay (保生大帝), also known as a the God of Medicine. Do also take pictures of the gigantic door gods that were protected with plastic cases.

Now back to the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas; honestly, the seven-floor pagodas would not have attracted much attention. The eye-opener would have to be the two humongous creatures in front of the pagodas!

Before that, let's pay homage to the stone turtle. Oh wait, that could be a pixiu. Sometimes, hard to differentiate but this has a shell. So i stand corrected.

Stepping closer! Can't wait to climb up the pagodas!

Mallards in the water!

Nearest to us was a male, given its green head.

Instead of a straight path leading to the pagodas, we were made to walk zig zag! Darn, I wouldn't have complained that much if the temperature was 10 degrees celcius. It was around 25 and the heat was unbearable!

Those were big mouths for the dragon and tiger, and something was amiss. I have watched enough YouTube to know that the key activity for the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas was to go into the dragon head, and exit from the tiger, for good luck!

However, both mouths were shuttered with a notice, in Chinese.

Both pagodas, plus the mouths, were closed for renovation!

Didn't stop us from taking photographs though.

Here's the gaping dragon mouth!

Body for the dragon was a bit stunted though... Oh well, this was built back in 1976 and back then, maybe the technology could only do so much....

Tiger would be more realistic. Now I know why the route was to exit from the tiger's lair, because it would seem as if you are escaping from the tiger, whereas going in appeared as if one was eaten up by the ferocious feline!

Goofing around the tiger's mouth.

As if to dare it to eat us!

Took a picture of the inner mouth of the tiger. Guess it would be a vibrant journey filled with Chinese folk legends and fables. Damn, I so wanted to check it out.

Closer look of the eyes for both dragon and tiger.

Guess they would light up at night.

While I was already quite sad that I am unable to check out the inner workings of the "stomachs" of both tiger and dragon, it's even more saddening that the pagodas were closed too! :(

Lotus Pond has more than just the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas. There's also an impressive pavilion known as 五里亭, the Spring and Autumn Pavilions, and a towering statue of a Chinese god.

The translated message that one should go down the dragon's throat and exit from the tiger's mouth in order to reduce bad luck and correspondingly increase one's good luck.

Last few photographs of the Dragon and Tiger Pagodas, identified by the smaller statues of dragon, and tiger above their main signages. Next time; I shall visit next time!

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Address

No. 9, Liantan Rd, Zuoying District,

Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

Map

As above.

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)

Tuesday, December 09, 2025

Choongman Chicken Silom - Korean Fried Chicken @ Bangkok in Thailand

In the land of good food, it's quite a contradiction that we would be going for Korean fried chicken at Choongman Chicken Silom, when the main and sole indulgence should have been Thai cuisine!

While I am a believer of Google Maps review, the expectation had waned in recent years. For this Korean eatery, the review score was 4.7 from over 800 reviewers but the number of customers within can be counted using two hands, and it's during the peak dinner period.

But the promotion of one for one asahi beer was too hard to resist, and my brother in law was craving for ice cold beer! I am nonchalant about it, so long it's cold enough to temper Bangkok's heat and humidity.

Banchan - otherwise known as the side dishes were better than they looked. The kimchi was spicy yet fresh, and the radish was crunchy, albeit on the sweeter side, which I personally prefer.

Asahi Beer - thirst quenching although not as cold as my brother in law would love. For that, I would strongly recommend the extra cold hite beer from REPLYK1988 in Singapore instead!

Samgyetang - hot and humid, yet we ordered this! Nevertheless, the surprise was that the portion was tiny. Not an issue as smaller portions mean more opportunity to eat other stuff. C'mon, we were in Bangkok where street food prevails!

Chicken given was not even half a chicken, but the meat was tender. The soup itself was darn flavourful, albeit consistency was thickened; to the extent, I would say it felt like porridge! Thanks to the air-conditioning in the eatery, this tasted real shiok!

Squid Ring - the promising visuals betrayed the truth; aside from being rubbery, there was zilch notion of any seafoody squidiness to the taste! Disappointing.

Snow Onion Fried Chicken - said to be the signature dish of Choongman Chicken, it "was topped with sliced onions and drizzled with a secret white sauce". Now, anything with onions would have secured my immediate attention!

I would best describe the "toppings" as sour cream and onions and yes, super appetising just like eating sour cream and onions potato chips, but switched the chips with fried chicken! Batter was heavy, typical of Korean fried chicken, and not cloying! Chicken was boneless (default), making it so much easy to eat!

Spicy Yangnyeom Fried Chicken - choosing boneless again although there were options for drumettes or joint wings. A bit too spicy for my liking, and I can feel my head sweating, plus some numbing on my lips...

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Would love to return for the Samgyetang and Snow Onion Fried Chicken! Choongman Chicken has actually multiple stores across the globe, including Vietnam and Malaysia; closest to Singapore would be its branch at Bukit Indah!

Address