First, a picture I took from the plane window on our short flight from Taipei to Kaohsiung; August 1, 2008.
A view of downtown Kaohsiung by the Love River; August 2, 2008.
One of the subway stations. Kaohsiung's subway is brand new, and a line going by our apartment is due to open in September.
Sizhiwan Bay, near Dr. Sun Yat-Sen University. View from the former British Consulate at "Takao" (the former colonial name of Kaohsiung). It was cloudy and I was using my grainy phone camera-- don't be fooled, Kaohsiung is a city with very clean and clear skies, unlike its cross-strait counterparts; August 8, 2008.
A view from the Cultural Center, which is a block from our apartment. If you can see the Converse store in the distance, that's our block; August 1, 2008.
Finally, some pictures from our trip to Qijin (Cijin) island, which is a 20 minute bus and 20 minute ferry from where we live; August 3 (or 4?), 2008.
Kaohsiung city skyline from Qijin light house
Me on the beach at Qijin
I had never seen black sand before. It's not dirty, it's just black.
People gather for a cultural performance by the beach at sunset. Note the palm trees... who knew I was coming to a tropical island for my year abroad?
I have so much to say that I don't know where to start, but hopefully these pictures can entertain you until I choose my next must-publish post.
Also, I realize I haven't used Chinese in a while. Don't worry. It will return soon.
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2 comments:
It's funny, because the first shot from teh plane looks very kind of primitive and mysterious (fog and jungle, etc), but as soon as you see the next picture you realize that there has been a tremendous amount of growth - like Kaohsiung is newly built (or has just become very prosperous). I'm not getting the same dirty-with-age feeling that you get from shots or london or rome, and most definitely not the dirty-with-people feeling that you get from NY or Tokyo or the other modern cities. I might be completely wrong and Kaohsiung has been around forever, BUT I did promise to leave a long post and these are my impressions.
PS I'm glad you finally made it to the beach!
Does "Love River" translate to "Ai Jiang"? It's very pretty. :)
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