What Remains of Taipei Air Station?

This aerial view of Taipei Air Station was taken in 1975.

During the past couple of months, I've ridden the MRT (subway) to the old site of Taipei Air Station a number of times to look around. Every time I walked the streets in and around the area I discovered something new.

I took many photographs of the buildings and area. Each day, back on the MRT and returned home to down load the pictures into my computer and review them for posting to this Blog.

It became a difficult undertaking to go through all of the photos and come up with a few to post on the Blog which showed the buildings as they look today. It seemed impossible to present the area as it looks today in a few photos.

As I was watching a video on You Tube, it occurred to me that I could really show Taipei Air Station just as it is today, if I used You Tube. Everyone else was posting all kinds of video, why not me? I decided to take a video and see how it looked.

During a trip to Keelung the next day, I took video of the old port area. Many of you were in Keelung to pickup your POVs after they arrived from the Oakland. I remember my trip to Keelung in January 1966 to pickup my 1965 Mustang.

When I returned home from Keelung that evening, I downloaded the video onto my laptop and reviewed it. It looked pretty good. I decided to up-load it onto You Tube. I was already a member of You Tube by virtue of having this Blog Account. It took just about 5 hours to up-load the Keelung video to You Tube using ADSL from Taipei. Here is the Video of Keelung Harbor area, which was very close to the Keelung Main Railroad Station.

The rest is history... When I saw the quality of the video I had taken in Keelung, I was convinced that a Video Tour of Taipei Air Station would be my next project.

Today, in the series of videos listed below, I want to take you on a visual tour in and around the remaining buildings of Taipei Air Station.

Many who visited or were stationed at TAS in the mid 1970s and later will remember these buildings.

The buildings that remain today are here because they were returned to National Taiwan University (NTU) sometime after we closed-up shop in Taiwan.

As I remember, Taipei Air Station was originally constructed on farm land belonging either to the Agriculture Department of NTU or the Taiwan Department of Agriculture.

NTU has bulldozed some of our old buildings, constructed new buildings and some of our old TAS structures are still in use by NTU. One is being used as a Children's Nursery and School.

These 4 videos cover what's left of TAS. Not much remains, but our hand is still seen today in these structures, particularly in the old Chapel, which is now some type of Arts building.

I hope you enjoy these videos. If you worked at TAS from the mid 1970s on, you will recognize the buildings.

If you would like me to take videos of other spots in Taipei, please add a comment below.

I will also take video of other cities as I visit them and will try to find what's left of other sites and bases, BUT, I need to hear from you, pointing out the spots you would like to see again. If you could give me the coordinates on Google Earth I can probably find the site.

It has been my pleasure to present these videos for each of you who read my Blog.

I'm having the time of my life walking the streets and trying to explain what you're seeing on these videos. I know I have made some verbal errors in the films, please excuse my mistakes.

Here we go - Taipei Air Station as it looks in the Summer of 2010:

Video of the club and barber shop, we look outside and inside the building....

Video of the old 327th AD Headquarters Building, I walk up three floors and down a couple of halls to see what's there today.....

Video from the 10th Floor of the School of Business Management, looking out the west window

Video from the 10th Floor of the same building, looking northwest.

Four video's totaling about 30 minutes, viewing the old area as it looks today.

I'll be looking for your comments and ideas for more videos.

Tsi Gen -

Walk Down the Old Haggler's Row Street

Double Click on this and all photos for better view.
This map shows the route of the videos I took of Ximending,

All photographs below are courtesy of Shu Linkou Web Site

Earlier this month I rode the MRT =Taipei subway to Ximending and walked down the east side of the street that once contained the old "Haggler's Row" of buildings. Most of us ventured into Ximending at one time or another to visit the movie houses, shop in the stores or just sight-see. During my days in Taipei, Ximending was the "hot spot" of town.

This photograph was taken on the west side of Haggler's Row, in the rear of the buildings, looking south east.

The long stretch of buildings in front, going off left to right, including the railroad tracks were taken down and the road was widened.

The railroad tracks were put underground, along with the MRT tracks and Ximending MRT Station, which is very large.

Looking north toward the north gate and the old American Embassy.

Looking South. The new Chien Sheng Theater is seen on the left side of this photo.

Another view looking north, the First Department Store is the tall building on the right hand side of the street as well as the Chien Sheng Theater.

There are 3 videos in my walk, you can see where I began filming and where video 2 & 3 picked-up and ended by opening the Google Earth Map, the first picture on this page.

I hope you enjoy your walk down the old Haggler's Row Street.


Video # 1 starts here.

Video # 2 starts here.

Video # 3 starts here.

BE SURE TO CRANK UP THE VOLUME ON YOUR SPEAKERS.

Return to Taiwan in 2011 - UPDATED

We are thinking about sponsoring a 10-14 day tour of Taiwan in 2011.

We would spend a few days in Taipei on arrival. Give everyone an opportunity to see the old sites in the Taipei area.

Then travel down island to see Haualien, Taroko Gorge, Taitung, Oluanpi, Kenting, Kaohsiung, Tainan, Taichung, Sun Moon Lake and back to Taipei for a day before leaving for our homes.

If there is interest in a visit to Tainan AB and CCK AB it could possibly be arranged.

If you are interested in a trip let us know how many would be in your party, couples or singles, so we can work with some numbers and come up with a firmer cost factor.

We are all getting older and there may never be another opportunity to relive our fond memories of our times spent in Taiwan.

Next year will be the 100th year anniversary of the Republic of China. The big celebration will occur on 10 October 2011, 'Double Ten Day.'

The trip excluding air fare to and from Taiwan will run around $100-150 US per person per day, ball park and will include Hotel and bus transportation and guide.

The only out of pocket expense will be food, souvenirs and miscellaneous. Food will probably run somewhere around $30-40 US per day per person.

The final cost will be determined once we have a somewhat indication of how many we are working with. Cost will be reduced for couples.

If we go forward with this, the time frame will be in November 2011. This is the best weather in Taiwan as the Typhoon season is over, temperatures and humidity have dropped, much more comfortable weather. The 4th of July 2010, Taipei had a record high of 102.5 with humidity of 95%. You will definitely suffer in that type of weather.

Let us know your feelings on returning to Taiwan with us in November 2011.

Our trip last September was great, you can't imagine the stories that flowed throughout the trip and the laughter and joy it brought to our hearts, not to mention the fun of it all. A bunch of old folks walking around and just enjoying the sights and sounds, reliving the old days and having a great time with others that were in Taiwan themselves.

Can you come with us?

UPDATE - 4 August 2010----

We have received questions regarding spending a few more days in Taiwan before, or after our trip dates..

Certainly you are welcome to spend time in Taiwan or you may want to visit other Asian cities before or after our trip. We can arrange for you to stay at our Taipei hotel for those extra days if you would like. The free "Tourist Visa" you receive at the airport on arrival in Taiwan is good for 30 days.

In addition to our around the island itinerary, we hope to visit the old Club 63 for dinner one of the evenings we are in Taipei. We had dinner at the old club on our 2009 trip and everyone enjoyed visiting the old club again. Today, it is a beautiful and modern club serving the International Business Community.

Leave a Comment below, or email us at TaipeiAirStation@yahoo.com.

From Taipei, Tsi Gen......

Chung Shan N. Road & Nanking E. Road

This Google Earth View shows the route of the video.
Click on the photos for a larger view

A mid 1960's view of Nanking and Chung Shan Roads.
This is looking north on Chung Shan toward HSA and the Grand Hotel.

I visited the area on 6 July 2010 and took a short video of what the corner looks like today. Click HERE to watch the video.

After crossing the street, I walked north on Chung Shan toward the old official residence of the U.S. Ambassador. As I was walking through the residence, my video card filled and the film comes to an abrupt ending. There was not much more to see. I will follow up with another video of the residence at a later date.

If you have some place in mind you'd like to see, email me - TaipeiAirStation@yahoo.com

Note: When the video begins, move it to full screen view and up the quality to 480p, this way you have the largest screen with the highest quality view of the video.

Also, push your audio slider to full blast if you would like to hear my comments, there is a lot of street noise.

Tsi Gen from Taipei.....

Visiting the old "MND" Building

A new photo of what we used to call the Ministry of National Defense"MND" building. In the early years, many of our folks worked in this building.

The building is now the Presidential Office Building.

By chance, an article in the newspaper made reference to a new web site coming on-line for the Presidential Office. I visited the site and noticed that an "Open House" was scheduled for Saturday, 3 July 2010.

I headed out after breakfast on the MRT for National Taiwan University Hospital station which is the stop closest to the old MND building.

Saturday was a clear fresh day, the sun was hot, the skies just about clear and a great day to take everyone along on my walk to the Open House.

My video begins just outside the old National Taiwan University "NTU"
Hospital MRT station in the 228 Peace Park, called Central Park back in the day.

I could not take video inside of the MND Building, only still photos, so the walk from the park to the entrance of the building is all I have. But, it's worth watching, you get a feel for the area today, and it will certainly bring back memories.

Click here for the Walk to the MND Building Video.

A couple of notes, push up the video resolution on You Tube to 480p, which gives you a larger and clearer picture, and crank up your audio slider to easily listen to my commentary as we walk along the streets...

These folks operate like the airport, everything out of your pockets and walk through the metal detector before you are allowed to make your way around the building and into the front central entrance. I understand security and the vigilant measures.

I appreciated the opportunity to visit the building. I had walked past the building on the sidewalk a couple of times on my way to the Military Museum and Hero House Military Hotel. On those walks I was cautioned by military guards not to take photographs and I came away with the feeling that I would never get any closer than the sidewalks surrounding the building. The place crawls with security personnel, cameras and vehicles.

I was in Taipei for nearly 3 years during the mid 1960s when you could have just walked-in anytime when in uniform. But, back then, I was always busy and who cared about visiting another office building if you had no reason to be there.

Funny how our priorities change as we age.

Walking up the driveway toward the main entrance where dignitaries are welcomed.

It was exciting to be there this beautiful Saturday in July, and a special honor being afforded the opportunity to enter through the main doors of this beautiful old structure.

Who walked up these carpeted entrance steps in the past?



As you stand in the beautiful grand entrance room, the bust of Dr. Sun Yat-sen peers down onto the grand room and entrance way.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

The Taiwan Heritage Reception Room

The President's Hall. Used for receiving Heads of State and guests.

The WW II. Instrument of Surrender document. Notice some of the signatures.

I looked closely at this document and it appears to be an original. I have no idea how many copies were signed, but I would guess each signatory was given a copy.

Here it is! Formosa is returned to "The Republic of China."
This is only a press release, but there is other materiel in the building saying the same thing.
I'm sure these documents are available other places on the Internet for further review.

Chiang Kai-shek's military hat.

I really like this hat!

There are two court yards in the old building. One contains a pond with "Koi" fish. The fish quickly headed for me when I stuck my head out over the water.

I took video of the beautiful fish.

Oops - NO VIDEO INSIDE THE BUILDING.
I am claiming a technicality...
I was outside the building in the Court Yard....

On the court yard level, most of the rooms contain museum type displays of the building's history and the Republic of China in Taiwan and her leaders.

The displays are crisp, clear and interesting. Some of them had English notes, unfortunately, most were only in Chinese.

I was fortunate to get a photo taken with President Ma who happened to be in the building when I visited.

NOT................. but, the rest of this post is true..........

Of course, please leave your comments or suggestions below,
or email me, TaipeiAirStation@yahoo.com

From Taipei, Sunday, the 4th of July 2010 - Tsi Gen....

Taipei Air Station - What's Left Today?

The Fuji Film logo, green and red signs above, is the approximate area of old Fox Studio seen below.

I spoke with the shop keeper at the Fuji store, she was young and had no knowledge of the old days. I went next door to a jewelry shop and the owner was not familiar with Fox Studio, but he locked up the store and took me to a dentist a few doors north who seemed to remember the old Taipei AS. He told me, "it has all changed." I left it at that, gave him a copy of the Fox Studio photo and went on my way.

This photo courtesy of Rick Ferch - TAS 1964-1965

Looking south on Roosevelt Road, standing in front of Fox Studio.

Fox Studio was where many of us had ID photographs taken for our Identification Cards and Badges. As I remember, getting my photo taken at Fox Studio was the first thing I did in the morning after I arrived at Taipei AS and began in-processing at our personnel office.

I spent a couple of days at National Taiwan University, NTU, this week looking around and taking video and still photos.

In the next few blog posts, I will guide you through the old area, to show you what remains of our presence that once was Taipei Air Station.

The old Taipei Air Station I once knew is gone, nothing remains.

But, our history still has roots in the few buildings still standing of the re-build that took place in the 1970s.

I begin our video look today on Roosevelt Road. I rode the MRT and came up to street level on the right hand side of Roosevelt Road and begin walking south, toward the Circle on Roosevelt Road.

I talk about the road going under the circle on Roosevelt Road, I believe that the only vehicles that can use the underground tunnel are buses, as I noticed a double star painted on the street along with Chinese characters.

Lets begin our walk here on Roosevelt Road.

Continue to the Circle on Roosevelt Road

and then

Move on from Roosevelt Road to the area of the old Barracks and Mess Hall at Taipei AS now a huge parking lot.

Three videos for you to review. I apologize for the sound quality, I took these films with my Canon Power Shot SD700 IS camera.

I suggest you crank up your audio to full blast so you can hear my commentary, it makes viewing more interesting.

Of course, I need your thoughts on what I have incorrectly said and what information I may have left out.

Please leave your remarks below.

If you have ideas for more videos from Taipei, let me know , either by email to Taipeiairstation@yahoo.com or leave a remark below in the comments.

On my next Blog Post, we will look at the area from a 10th story window. Then we'll take a look inside the NCO Club and the Headquarters building.

Tsi Gen.....

Summer at Taipei Air Station

Here is an aerial shot of the barracks and pool circa 1968 time frame.

Our pool sure looks inviting. Ummm....

With the temperature at 91 and climbing, it's summer time in Taipei!