We have recently been very fortunate to have my father visit us here in Taiwan. Being an unconventional sort of dad he arrived in Taiwan in a very unconventional way. Aboard his home, lifestyle and well traveled 32 foot yacht Leprena II.
Currently based in the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea he didn’t hesitate to up-anchor and sail the 5500 odd kms to visit us. [Read more →]
For the last few years the streets of Kaohsiung have been a mess with construction of the two-line underground MRT. Last Sunday the 14th of September the East-West Orange line opened for passengers to finally finish the mammoth project. Since we live close by the Daliao end terminal of the Orange line this will be a huge boon for us. It currently takes over an hour to reach Siziwan near the harbour. The Orange line takes about 25 minutes to complete the 14 stations along the 14 km route.
It is true that if the Communists had any sort of a navy in 1949 the history of Taiwan would have been very different indeed. When the Nationalists arrived in Taiwan they spent the first 20 years fortifying the nation for an impending communist invasion.
When I first arrived in 1989 Taiwan had just lifted martial law. Air raid drills were still common and the military had a very strong presence. You would often see movements of army vehicles and troops and there was a continual coastal watch. I remember being moved off the beach one evening by a couple of soldiers as well as being cautioned, though not badly, for taking photos of the Kaohsiung harbour entrance.
We live on the western edge of the plains of the Goaping river. We are a good 4 kilometres from the current river course. The plains have been long tamed by levees and are irrigated by water from the river year round. The tops of the levees are at least 20 metres from the river bed and are two kilometres apart. The main river bed itself varies in width but closest to us it is 200 metres wide at least.
A large part of the land between the levees is used for orchards and other agricultural use. But there is a small patch on the western side just north of the Wanda bridge that has a model racing car track. Most weekends you can find a few enthusiasts racing their cars. However, last weekend there was a championship race with a large number of cars in 2 divisions racing it out for all the prestige that model car racing has to offer.
Back in the late 80’s and 90’s Kaohsiung harbour ranked the third busiest container port in the world. In 1989 I remember being able to count 20 to 30 ships at anchor off Chichin island awaiting entry to the harbour.
Today much of the manufacturing of Taiwan has moved to China and Kaohsiung has dropped rank to sixth busiest. Though total containers have increased over the years, Kaohsiung harbour today does not have the same hustle and bustle feel as it had back in 89.
Being the resourceful and industrious people they are, it is hardly surprising that the “ex-shipping container” can be seen all over the Kaohsiung country side. Of course this is not anything particularly unique to Kaohsiung or Taiwan. It is simply the prevalence of the twenty foot equivalent units (TEU) that make them so striking as you wander around.
Now I am not a demographer, an academic or a politician. But the observation I make here should be obvious to all of those professions here in Taiwan.
Wandering around Kaohsiung I have seen that many universities are undertaking construction. This at a time they are struggling to fill courses and the population demographic for future students is looking grim.
The recently opened Dream Mall in Kaohsiung has allowed this city to claim having the largest shopping mall in Taiwan and probably the largest in Asia.
It contains 9 floors of speciality shops, restaurants, a cinema complex, an entertain complex and to top it all off, a roof top fun park with a giant Ferris wheel.
