Southern Area, Taiwan
April & May 2018
After spending several weeks exploring the East, we continued our journey by train around Taiwan to the Southern area of the island.
See video and photos below highlighting our days in the Southern area of Taiwan. To see all images of this location click the link at the bottom of this post or go to our gallery.
Kenting, Taiwan and Nearby Attractions
Kenting is a relatively small and very touristy town located along the Southern Coast of Taiwan. While the town and it’s surrounding attractions can be busy and crowded, it is still a fun place to visit and is worth spending a few days.
Big Bay beach area in Kenting at low tide. This beach was a few minutes walk from our accommodation.
Panorama view from the balcony at our accommodation.
Some local entertainment. We stepped onto our 3rd floor patio to see where the noise was coming from…This kid was performing a little sunroof style karaoke with only the music from his phone (which we couldn’t hear). He was singing quite loud. He appeared to be in his own little world singing to his “many fans” which in reality was a single local dog watching him from a nearby lawn. When his friends returned, they were all laughing as he pointed to the dog who appeared to be enjoying his show. Oh yeah, and, of course, there was us on the balcony – when he finally noticed we were watching him, he yelled “Number One!!” with his hand in the air. His singing was NOT good, but the whole event was quite humorous to witness from our viewpoint above. See video.
“VW Like” Hello Kitty van painted to resemble a Volkswagen. We’ve seen many of them all over Taiwan, but they seemed to be especially popular here in Kenting.
We called this the row of “my little kitty” rental scooters because the fronts of the scooters appear to have smiling “cat like” faces.
Another “VW Like” van. This one is a portable bar which is part of the Kenting night market located along the main street. The dog in the photo belonged with bar too.
Rick waiting for our wood-fired pizza from the road side mobile restaurant.
Crazy to see a wood-fired oven on the back of a truck.
Here’s our wood-fired pizza. It was surprisingly very good.
Night view of the main street in Kenting and also where the night market happens each night. On weekends the night market is packed and crazy with street vendors lining each side of the street for over a mile. The street is crowded with people walking from vendor to vendor all while the cars and buses continue to drive along the roadway. There is a smaller, scaled back version of the night market on the weekdays.
Sheding Nature Park in Kenting National Forest
Rick waiting for the heading to Sheding Nature Park for a day of hiking.
View of the coast from the Kenting National Forest Botanical Garden entrance.
Rick and Alisa with the Kenting coastline in the background. This is where the bus dropped us off for our day hike around Sheding Nature Park (about 1 km from here).
Rick and our friend, JingTing, walking through the Minor Gorge at Sheding Nature Park.
Rick and Alisa getting ready to walk through the Major Gorge at Sheding Nature Park.
One of many large Banyan trees in the park.
Panorama from one of the lookouts in Sheding Nature Park looking toward the Southernmost point in Taiwan.
Sail Rock (aka Nixon Rock because the rock resembles his profile)
Panorama of Sail Rock from a distance.
Slightly closer view of Sail Rock.
Locals fishing near Sail Rock.
Eluanbi Lighthouse
Eluanbi Lighthouse was built in 1882 with a moat, cannons, and a surrounding wall. Soldiers were stationed there to guard it making it one of the few fortified lighthouses in the world. It was heavily bombed during WWII and is the most powerful lighthouse in all of Taiwan.
Eluanbi Lighthouse from inside its wall.
Closer view of Eluanbi Lighthouse.
View of the top of Eluanbi Lighthouse.
Southernmost Point in Taiwan
The Southernmost Point in Taiwan is very near to the Eluanbi Lighthouse. This marker point is literally the most southern tip of Taiwan and was surprisingly one of the busier Taiwan attractions we’ve visited. There were tons of people snapping selfies and posing for way too many photos. These people were NOT the “polite take their photos and move out of the way” type. We had to wait and wait and wait… before the area cleared for a few seconds. Enough for us to snap 2 or 3 photos at most. Kind of crazy as there isn’t much here other than the sign and a concrete marker point.
The Southernmost marker point statue.
Rick in front of the Southernmost marker point statue.
Video – Kenting (Southern), Taiwan.
Kaohsiung (Southern), Taiwan
Kaohsiung, the second largest city in Taiwan, has a large port system, many skyscrapers (including the 85 Sky Tower), high-end shopping malls, and a variety of both walking and bicycle paths throughout the city and along the Love River. There’s also an interesting “artsy” area along the waterfront where you’ll find large sculptures, wall murals, museums, food, and some good people watching for entertainment.
Kaohsiung Bike Path along the Love River
The Love River bicycle path.
Rick with “Bravo” the Taiwanese mascot bear along the Love River bicycle path.
Walking around the “Artsy” Waterfront Area
Rick with one of the many large “faceless” worker statues.
More “faceless” worker statues.
Large waterfront sculpture made of shipping containers.
Large painted wall mural on the outside of a building.
Miniature train ride. People pay to sit on top while the train takes them for a ride around the tracks in a small cultural park area.
Another view of the miniature train ride.
Funny and Cute Sightings
One of the many dogs in strollers. This is something we’ve seen all over Taiwan, but it was especially popular here in Kaohsiung.
Another dog being walked around town in a stroller.
This is not the best photo as it’s difficult to capture these type of sightings. Check out the dog riding on the floor board of the scooter. Again, we saw this often with any size dog ranging from the very small all the way up to large. It’s quite the sight seeing dogs sitting like this on scooters as they zoom past, but the dogs all seem to love it!
85 Sky Tower
85 Sky Tower is a 1,240 ft high 85-story skyscraper. It was once Taiwan’s tallest building until the completion of Taipei 101 in 2010. The building has an unusual “prong” design with two separate 39 floor sections which merge into a single tower rising to a spire. This unique design leaves a substantial space below the central part of the tour. The shape was conceived to replicate a Chinese symbol which means “tall”.
View of several city skyscrapers including 85 Sky Tower (in the center).
“Dome of Lights” at the Formosa MRT Station
The Formosa MRT station is known for its “Dome of Light”, the largest glass work in the world. It was designed by an Italian artist and is 30 meters in diameter, covers an area of 2,180 square meters, and is made up of 4,500 glass panels. The dome is beautifully backlit with vibrant colors and is definitely worth a visit.
Panorama of one side of the “Dome of Lights”.
Panorama of the other side of the “Dome of Lights”.
Video – Kaohsiung (Southern), Taiwan.
Tainan (Southern), Taiwan
Tainan, a city on the Southwest coast, is the oldest city in Taiwan and formerly the capital from 1683–1887 under the Qing dynasty. Today it’s known for its centuries-old fortresses and temples.
Eternal Golden Castle
Entrance bridge and gate to the Eternal Golden Castle. The fort was built in 1874 following the Japanese invasion over the killing of shipwrecked fisherman by Taiwanese indigenous villagers. The fort is surrounded by a moat 70 ft wide by 10 ft deep.
Cannons along the South fort wall of the Eternal Golden Castle.
Navy Destroyer Museum
Launched on May 27, 1945 by the U.S. Navy as the USS Sarsfield and participated in WWII. She is 390 ft. long, displaces 3480 tons and has a top speed of 32 knots. Interesting fact: the ship was used to retrieve the Mercury Space Capsules following their launch and earth orbit missions. The ship later participated in the Vietnam war earning one Battle Star. In 1977, the ship was decommissioned by the U.S. Navy and transferred to the Republic of China (Taiwan) and was renamed “Teyang Destroyer”. In 1989, the ship was converted to a missile destroyer but, saw no wartime duty prior to being decommissioned again in 2005.
Anping Tree House
A former Tait & Company trading warehouse used in the 1850’s in the Anping District of Tainan. From 1911 until shortly after WWII the warehouse was owned by various Salt companies. Once the warehouse was abandoned, the banyan tree nearby began to spread its roots and branches around and inside the building. In 2004 the “Anping Tree House” was opened to the public as a tourist attraction following a major renovation to ensure public safety. This is what you see today.
The banyan tree grows right through the roof.
Inside the old warehouse you can see how the tree has grown right over all the walls.
Another view of how the tree has grown all throughout the old warehouse.
Another view of how the tree has taken over.
Panorama of the Anping Tree House roof line.
Fort Zeelandia
Built over 10 years from 1624-1634 by the Dutch East India Trading Co. The fort was primarily built to defend against the indigenous people of Formosa (present day Taiwan) and for overseeing trade. In 1661, the Chinese laid siege to the fortress and after 9 months of fighting, the Dutch surrendered on February 1st, 1662. Very little remains of the original fort. Much of what you see today has been restored.
