Stay in Kaohsiung for a day, second biggest city in Taiwan, a busy commercial place. Didn’t see much interesting sites on internet search before arrival.
Surprisingly found on local tourist pamphlet 3 new sites that sounded very attractive. So we ended the south west Taiwan trip on a high note, great eating in Tainan and good sites in Kaohsiung.
Cijin Island 旗津島
A very short ferry ride to this long thin island off the harbour of Kaohsiung, for a relaxing atmosphere and some seafood. A big dry goods market selling dried fish, skin, squid, seaweed and knife.
Interesting display of seafood available to serve in the restaurants. Tried mullet stomach, shark skin and a local green.
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| 山蘇菜 |
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| 台灣絲瓜 |
Art 2 Pier Open art center
A large area and former warehouses, with a lot of giant installations outside, and some exhibitions inside.
Joined
a Light exhibition, a theme in each room, a combination of attractive lighting effects with movement, voice, fragrance etc,. Very special,
unique and memorable effects that I will remember for a long time.
The 3 super interesting sites are:
1. Wei Wu Mi Mi Village International mural festival 衛武營迷迷村
What
a way to renovate and add colour to an old quarter! Over 135 murals
designed by international graffiti artists. Amazing effect and very good
artworks.
2. 鳳儀書院
Built 200 years ago, the best preserved
Qing Dynasty style school. It had been lived in for many years and
finally renovated into the formal style. There is very detail
description of the works involved in the renovation and the history of the area.
Most
fascinating is the life size human sculpture to show case the uses of
different areas. The facial expressions are so cute and the presentation
interesting and of quality. Free to take photos with the sculptures.
3. 逍遙園
This
is a villa built nearly a 100 years ago by a Japanese explorer and keen
gardener as a winter escape from Japan. Right in the middle of
Kaohsiung commercial centre, being used after 2nd world war as army
family dormitory until strong request from the art circle to preserve
the building. It was renovated in the old building techniques with advice from Japanese
specialist.
The background of the owner is well presented, the
design theme explained and renovation work well documented. I like most
the 4 ‘energy’ pillars in the building.
