Glory Pier (光榮碼頭) led an online poll conducted by Internet portal Yam.com for the top 10 tourist hotspots in Greater Kaohsiung.
The poll was voted on by 110,000 netizens, with Glory Pier receiving 7,431 votes, the Pier 2 Arts Center (高雄駁二藝術特區) coming in second with 7,231 and the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center coming in third with nearly 7,000 votes, Yam.com said.
Originally named Pier No. 13, the Glory Pier was renamed when the military started using it as supply post for soldiers stationed on Kinmen and Matsu.
After its retirement from military use in 2005, the city government built a 500m-long path along the pier, turning it into a new scenic site with a view of the bay.
The pier rocketed to renewed fame after the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant yellow Rubber Duck was unveiled at the pier during the Mid-Autumn Festival last month.
Meanwhile, the Pier 2 Arts Center, just a short distance from the Glory Pier, was originally an old warehouse the city government decided to remodel into a center for artistic creativity.
In recent years it has been a important site for artists in southern Taiwan to show their works.
The E-Da World Mall, known for its New Year’s firework displays, which some say rivals the annual display put by Taipei 101, ranked fourth, while the Chiahsien District (甲仙), which was ravaged by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, came in at fifth place after the release of a documentary film — A Bridge over Troubled Water (拔一條河).
The district has recently experienced an influx of tourists who have been touched by the film about the area and how it coped with the ravages of Morakot.
Kaohsiung Metro’s Formosa Boulevard Station, which houses the world’s largest public glass art work — the Dome of Light — ranked sixth, according to the poll.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday briefed her party’s Central Standing Committee regarding her scheduled visit to the US between Monday next week and June 16, saying that her purpose would be to persuade the US that the Republic of China (ROC) Constitution was a “one China” constitution that would foster stable and peaceful cross-strait relations. The ROC Constitution is the most important defense for all Taiwanese citizens, as it upholds our democracy and has contributed to our robust economy, which aligns with international and US interests, she said. “We would not be troublemakers and drag the US under,”