A friend of ours, Jenn, took us out last evening for a beautiful view of the city. The skies have cleared a little and we actually got some sun yesterday which meant it was a lovely evening for a drive. First stop, mango ice at the best mango ice place in the city, down by the ferry to Cijin Island. Jenn had taken us there one of the first weekends we were in Kaohsiung, way back ten months ago. Lots of fond memories.

Mango ice is one of the best foods that's unique to Taiwan, as least as far as I know. It could be really popular in other places but I've never seen or heard of it anywhere but here. You can get the ice with lots of other flavors - banana, mixed fruit, even red bean - but when mango is in season there's nothing better. The ice is shaved really thin so it's smooth and silky. They add a little sweetened condensed milk and mango sherbet to the pile of ice and ftresh mango so it's a bowl full of sugary goodness with melt-in-your-mouth chunks of mango. Yum.

Anyway, after our treat we drove up the southern tip of Monkey Mountain to the Martyr's Shrine. We've biked up there many times but always during the day. It's a great view of the city overlooking downtown, the harbor and Cijin Island. It's especially dramatic at night when the air is clear.