Taipei Air Station - 1966 - - - " What you have in the end are memories"......... Photo Courtesy of Richard Reesh.

Monday, October 17, 2011

October Visit to Green Lake (Pitan)

Yesterday, the first cool breezes of fall arrived in Taipei (72 degrees), time to really enjoy a walk.
It was a bit overcast, but a wonderful day to visit the river area south of Taipei.
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We headed out on the Taipei Metro for Green Lake. One exit opens a few yards from the river.
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The photo below, was sent to me by a wonderful lady who spent two years in Taipei in the very early 1950s running an office on Chun Shan North Road for a civilian trading company.
Back then it was also a splendid looking river, and relatively clean.  Maybe that's why folks visited Green Lake, to enjoy the clean water.  The rivers in Taipei were very very polluted back in the day.
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  I did not walk the bridges yesterday, but one would assume this suspension bridge was replaced sometime between 1952 and 2011.

Above photograph courtesy of Alice Winans circa 1952.



First view after exiting Xindian Taipei Metro station.  New suspension bridge on upper left.
Lots of different peddle/paddle boats for rent.

I walked back to a sidewalk running along the river bank and proceeded southward.
Yesterday, Monday, not many visitors were around.
A few kayaks passed on the river as I walked south.
Looking back north toward the three bridges.  The bike trail and tourist area stops a short distance behind me.
I continued walking north, here I'm just under cement pillar bridge, suspension bridge in distance.
I just about missed this carving.  It was cut into the stone bridge support.
The plaque says something about not committing suicide, to remember your mother, and what she did for you.  It is my understanding that many have jumped to their death from these bridges in past years.
The northern most bridge at Green Lake today.  Notice the spillways, which act as a small dam to help form the lake area.
Back on the bike ways that follow the Xindian river. Looking back toward Green Lake, the Metro Station exit is in the first very tall brown building that faces the river.





















Last look at the Green Lake area of the Xindian River.  

From here the bike path runs north (to my back) eventually passing the Grand Hotel and onward along the Keelung River. You can also cross the river at various bridges and bike along the Danshui River.  
Of course, some can't bike, you can also walk or run along these same paths, they are wide, many  times having more than one large wide patch.

Hope you enjoyed your visit today.  Taiwan is beautiful.  May God Bless this country!

Comments, questions, or whatever, please comment below or email me.

Tsi Gen....


3 comments:

titojohn said...

Kent, Thanks for the pictures. The place is much differnt looking than what I remember when visiting there in the early 60's, much more urbanized. The pictures brought back many happy memories of my times visiting there back in the day.
John Quinn

新聞老鳥 said...

In 1st photo, there are four square boards hanging on the side of the suspension bridge. Each board carries one Chinese word on it. Altogether, four Chinese are 「反共抗俄」.

「反」means「anti, or against」

「共」means「Communists」

「抗」means「resist or withstand」.

「俄」means「Russia」.

I think that's not only Taiwan but alson American troops stationed in Taiwan were doing in that great times.

Poagao said...

I live here today, across the bridge. The bridge was replaced with a two-lane version after the old photo at the top of the post was taken, when traffic was allowed on the bridge, carts, etc. The two lane version had the lanes separated by a kind of cage. Then in the 1990's that was replaced by the current bridge, which is one-lane but closed to traffic, with lighter elements and more prone to swaying.