On the afternoon of 12/30/06, Cathy and I walked in the area around Taipei 101 to see who was more photogenic (she won by a landslide). There is a small area of old military housings a short walk from 101 that we stumbled upon by accident a couple months ago.
Despite being prime real estate, crews were working on the interior to preserve and not to destroy.
Built in 1928 by Hong Dezhong when Taiwan was under Japanese rule, the Mansion of Glory (Fu Long Tang) is located in Caotun in Nantou County. The renovations of the site appear to be almost complete with the exception of the wall which surrounds the estate.
An increased number of hours at work combined with taking a Mandarin language class weekday mornings has made it difficult to find time to throw pictures online from my weekend adventures around Taiwan.
The last major activity during my week off was a tour of some of Tainan’s historical sites. Our first destination was the Anping Artillery Fort which was found as we were in the process of getting lost in Tainan.
After we visited the Aquarium, long prior to the arrival of Typhoon Kaemi, we went to Kenting National Park which is the oldest and southernmost park in Taiwan. The northern section of the park has large mountains:
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Fort San Domingo was originally a wooden structure built by the Spanish in Danshui in 1629. The wooden fort lasted merely until 1636 when local people burned it down in retaliation to taxes imposed by the Spanish colonists. In 1637 the fort was rebuilt using stone. In 1642 the Dutch took over the fort after the expulsion of the Spanish. The fort was called Hongmao by the locals in reference to the red hair of the Dutch occupiers. The fort served as the British Consulate in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries [source].
Over the weekend, I visited the beautiful Lin Family Mansion and Garden in Banchiao City, Taipei County. Below are pictures accompanied by a brief history of the mansion as supplied by site’s English-language brochure:
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