Koahsiung Adventures - Exploring the Harbor

I arrived at the Grand Hi-Lai Hotel around 12:30 PM on Friday after close to 30 hours of travel from the time I left our Chicago home.  Needless to say I was jet lagged (and remain so as I write this article some 12 days later).

Awakening Saturday morning after getting only 3 hours of sleep, I looked out of my 33rd floor window and discovered that I had a magnificent view of the Koahsiung's port, the largest in Taiwan.

View from my 33rd floor window
Note the rubber duck - hard to miss

And right at the harbor edge, in an area known as Glory Park, was a monstrous yellow rubber duck with, literally, thousands of people already on the concrete quay (9:00 AM).  "I've got go see that" was my first thought.

After unsuccessfully stopping at the concierge to see if they could direct me to the shipyard (see article "Up Close & Personal"), I headed for the duck to see what that was all about.

Side Story: What was clear from the 33rd floor is not so clear from the ground floor so it took me a few minutes to get oriented.  I probably could have asked someone for directions but I tend to be adventurous.

Street by the hotel.  Notice the motor scooters

I finally asked for directions and quickly reached Glory Park, which is only about 3 blocks from the hotel.  Needless to say the Rubber Duck is a big deal.  There were street vendors near the harbor selling every conceivable variation of rubber duck memorabilia - unbelievable.

Street vendors selling rubber duck memorabilia

In the photo below you get a sense of the duck's proportions and the number of people who turned out.  You can see harbor cranes in the background and to the left a line of tents stretching for some distance (actually about a 1/4 mile).  The line of tents housed hundreds of vendors selling all kinds of food - Koahsiung's version of the Taste of Chicago.

3. Crowds experiencing the rubber duck.

After wandering around I learned that the duck was created by Dutch artist Florentjin Hoffman and that it has been making its way around the world sine 2007.  The duck has visited 14 cities in 11 counties including China, the US (Pittsburg), France, Australia, New Zealand and Brazil just to name a few.

Basic statistics.  The inflatable duck is 66 feet high (full dimensions: 86 x 66  x 105), weighs 1,300 pounds and is constructed of more than 200 pieces of PVC.  The artists stated goal is to evoke childhood memories in the adults who view the duck and create memories for kids.  According to local news channel, close to 4 million people visited the duck during it 30 day stay.

http://focustaiwan.tw/news/asoc/201310200014.aspx

I then took a walk along the harbor edge on a path with hundreds of people.  I was unable to walk very fast for two reasons.  One was the number of people and two, was the weather.  It is hot and humid down here ("here" being one degree below the Tropic of Cancer).  90 degrees and 80% humidity with a haze reminiscent of Beijing. At least 5% of the people wear face masks.

My walk along the path took me through an open air art gallery that adjoins the harbor.  For over a 1/2 mile there are outdoor sculptures running along the remains of an abandoned narrow gauge railroad.  There are also indoor displays located in what were abandoned warehouses that align the route.  Like all major cities they have there version of the Chicago cows - two workers, a man and woman, standing side by side. Check out the link below or Google Pier 2 Art Center Kaohsiung for more images.

https://www.google.com.tw/?gws_rd=cr&ei=LJhZUuunC4mhkQXcoYCIBw#q=pier+2+art+center+kaohsiung+images

The walkway eventually lead to an abandoned railroad yard that has been turned into a park.  There are even a few old train cars and locomotives at a small railroad museum.  Sculpture is located throughout the yard.  There are plaques in Chinese that describe scenes from the past. 

 

1903 locomotive

Flatcar with chia pet type sculpture

Outdoor sculpture in a former railroad yard

Surprisingly, Google Earth shows the area as a railroad yard suggesting that the park is a recent creation and that Google Earth is not exactly up to date.

 

My next exploration was the 1/4 mile long line of tents running along the quay south of the duck.  Here I found a double line of tents shoulder to shoulder with a relatively narrow with passageway crowded with vendors, most selling food, and a small carnival with kiddy rides and carnival barkers at the end.  The food was not particularly attractive to me but the locals were definitely partaking.  Interesting smells and wide variety of fare.  Sanitation rules are clearly less stringent than in the US or other places we visited.

Food vendors selling a great variety of Taiwanese fare

Barbecued squid (two stall over they sold fried squid)

Carnival barker selling a variety of products

Street performers elaborately costumed with a substantial crowd

By the way, there were very few western tourists.  Other observations.  Lots of children.  No People's Republic of China one child rule.  Lots of young couples.  Lots of people taking photos.  Clearly a lot of tourists but, again, mostly Asian.

 

My adventure has peaked my interest in Taiwan so looked up Koahsiung and Taiwan on Wikipedia. Definitely worth reading.  Key facts.  Kaohsiung is the second largest city in Taiwan with 2.77 million people.  Reading about it is fascinating and a lot of the history takes place in the 20th century and are events that we have read about over the years.  Most interesting is Taiwan's status as a nation, which according to UN rules it is not.  Most nations do not formally recognize Taiwan.  The People's Republic of China (China) considers it a province.  The Republic of China (Taiwan) considers itself an independent country.  Theoretically, there could be an invasion of Taiwan by the Chinese although this not very likely due to US relations and a 300,000 man army with US built weapons.  (Note: This was the political risk I considered and decided it was not a serious threat.). 

Around 4:00pm I felt tired and decided to take a nap.   The "nap" lasted until 2:30am.  The good news is I slept VERY soundly.  The bad news is it did not cure my jet lag.

Sunday, I walked along the harbor with the goal of finding and exploring Koahsiung Harbor about 2 1/2 miles from the hotel at the west entrance of the main port.  My goals was to see what kind of recreational boating takes place here.  Given the fact that there are 20 shipyards (down from 100 a decade ago) I figured there would be pleasure boating.  This was not the case.

Along the way I saw some interesting sights:

Cruise ship (it was not there on Saturday)

Koahsiung "1st" (designation for a main) road by the cruise port with gate to welcome passengers

Commercial fishing boats along the quay

 

Koahsiung harbor tour boat

Colorful street with lanterns on the way to Koahsiung arbor

There were lots of tour boats in the harbor.  However, none offered tours narrated in English.  Again, this was definitely not a western tourist town.

Interesting Fact: The Port of Kaohsiung is the fourth largest container port in the world and a key to Taiwan's economic development. The Harbor currently has a channel lane of 18 kilometers, available for boats 100,000 tons. There are 97 docks, with a total length of 13 miles.  Recreational boats are not allowed in the port (except for the inlet at the west end called "Koahsiung Harbor").

Another interesting fact.  The Port of Koahsiung was controlled by the Japanese until the end of WWII.  It was heavily bombed by the allies.

Koahsiung Harbor was about a 1/3 of a mile long and about 2 football fields wide.  It dead ends at the north end and has a foot bridge toward to south end.  At the southwest corner across from the ferry dock were 10 slips for private boats.  I later learned from my hosts at Tania that there was almost no recreational boating in Koahsiung.  I also learned that the along the south end of the Cijin island there are 6 miles of white sand beaches that are rarely used by the locals (or, for that matter, anyone else).  Koahsiung does not have a "beach culture."
 

Harbor view looking north

Ferry heading from the dock to Cijin island as another ferry returns
Photo taken from the foot bridge that spans the harbor

Small fishing boats along the quay

Koahsiung Harbor looking south to the foot bridge

Final story.  There are lots of motor scooters in Koahsiung and they drive a bit crazy including on the sidewalk.  Very scary.

Stay tuned for the next Koahsuing adventure where I discuss the Tao temple and a Buddhist Memorial Center.  The center was a mind blower.

Written by Les.