photos

David's Photo Page > Taiwan Trip: Kaohsiung

Taiwan Trip: Kaohsiung

December 22, 2001

The next morning, we took a 45-minute flight from Taipei to Kaohsiung, a city in the southern part of Taiwan. Helen's parents live there, so they picked us up at the airport. That afternoon we visited Helen's old middle school and took a look around. We also spent some time at Cheng Ching Lake, which has pretty scenery and a surprisingly good aquarium. The aquarium is located in a bunker that used to be a nuclear fallout shelter for former president Chiang Kai-shek.

On the flight to Kaohsiung, we caught sight of Yushan, Taiwan's highest mountain.

After arriving, we went to the top of the Tuntex Building which is the tallest building in Taiwan right now at 1140 feet (two taller ones are under construction, one in Taipei, one in Kaohsiung). It's also the 8th tallest building in the world which is pretty amazing considering that Taiwan is prone to earthquakes. Here are some photos from the top.

Koahsiung is mostly known as an industrial/port city which is visible here.

Saint Dominic's (道明中學) where Helen went to middle school (this is the portion of it which is a high school). It's a boarding school run by Catholic missionaries.

Since it was almost Christmas, a nativity scene was on display.

There are some nice gardens on the grounds.

One of the buildings.

Helen standing at the front of the schoolyard, where teachers would normally make announcements.

The middle school portion of the schoolyard.

More of the grounds.

They even have a fish pond.

Cheng Ching Lake is a pretty nice place with a lot of nice park area. The apartments where Helen's parents live is on the lake, so they get a nice view and easy access to the area. In addition to the aquarium in the bunker of former President Chiang, the grounds has a house where he used to live, shown here.

Helen in front of the house.

Looking across the lake, we can see the apartments where Helen's parents live. It's the tallest building in the middle. As you can see, it was overcast that day.

There is a path along the lake. A tower is faintly visible in the distance. Below are some pictures of us going to the top of the tower.

Helen's parents.

The Grand Hotel of Kaohsiung is also adjacent to the lake. It's the sister hotel of the Grand Hotel of Taipei, shown in an earlier gallery.

The sign says "No fishing."

That's a big fish.

This is the entrance to the nine-corner bridge (九曲橋). It's hard to capture all nine corners in a photo, but it's basically just composed of 9 right-angled segments.

A clearer shot of the bridge. The apartments are visible in the distance.

The Grand Hotel.

The tower that was visible before.

A picture from the top, observing Helen's parents waiting for us.

A view back towards the city.

A golf course on the other side.