Taiwan Railroading - Back in the Day

Loren Aandahl has spent a good part of his free time traveling around the island photographing its railways.

Why is this so special?  Loren arrived on Taiwan in 1954, a 1-year old boy and left Hsinchu after graduating from high school at Morrison Academy in Taichung, 16 years later, in 1970.

Loren grew up in Taiwan, spoke the language and knew his way around.  Loren's childhood years here were during the period of martial law and just about everything was "off limits" for photographs, including trains.
 
Loren took hundreds of photographs during his high school years and he recently published a book with the best of those photos. 

You may remember Loren from some earlier postings on our Web pages.  Please read the Aandahl Family story and see the beautiful photographs of their life in Taiwan. Click HERE

You might enjoy watching an interview with a television reporter concerning his book. It's a really informative interview.  Watch it HERE

HERE is a Taiwan newspaper article on Loren's book.

If you would like to order a copy of Loren's book, and you reside in the USA,  please send a check for $45.00 (includes shipping) to Loren Aandahl,  2121 Drew Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN  55416. 

HSA East and West Compounds - Closing Again!

I believe it was sometime in the early spring of 2009 when I first heard of the Taipei Floral Exposition. I was scratching my head, I understood the words, but a FLORAL Exposition?

It took a few months for the public relations folks to get their first videos up on You Tube to show us what was planned. It was an enormous undertaking.

The heavy 8 foot high steel fencing quickly went up along Chung Shan North Road, stretching from just south of the Keelung River Bridge down the hill on both sides of the street, until they touched Minzu Road.  The construction was beginning in the old HSA Compounds.

I know most of you folks who read my blog are aware of what happened to the HSA compounds after we departed.  They sat idle for a few years.  What should have happened, what you and I hoped for, didn't.  (Here's my loose explanation of what then occurred.)

The government, I assume Taipei City, cleared both sides of the street.  In the East Compound, they opened a large park and a museum.  In the West Compound a football (Soccer) stadium was constructed.  Just north of the West Compound, the whole area was cleared (including the old MAAG O'Club) all the way north to the Police Station. A park area was also planted on that large acreage.

I visited the east side park many times.  It stretched from just north of the old hotel on the corner of Minzu Road all the way up the hill until it ran into the new Museum.  The parks were nice. The stadium was used, but seemed in need of repair.

Through the past 2 years or so, I have walked the sidewalks on both sides of Chung Shan North Road many, many times. What do they call guys like me, sidewalk supertendants? Heck, I have never seen a Floral Expo, I was interested in watching it come up, unfortunately, the 8 foot fence was too high to see over. I would stick my camera over look around and snap a picture now and then, but it was a mess until a week or so before the opening.

One day last fall, the fencing began to come down and before we knew it, the Expo opened.

I guess the biggest surprise was seeing the US Flag posted on one of the Expo buildings prior to the opening.  It sat right along the south side of the East Compound, fronting Chun Shan North Road. I had a couple of Blog posts on our US Expo building. The flag was displayed on the sides of our Expo building at the very top, easy for all to see. Many a heart has felt a tingle seeing our beautiful flag standing tall once again in Taiwan.   

I've said all this to tell you that the time has come, to once again close down the old HSA Compounds.  It's kind of like our lives, we flower, show and  pass.

But soon, new life will appear on our old stomping grounds, on Ilha Formosa.

Long live this wonderful country..... TAIWAN........

Please take a few minutes to read the above article from the China Post HERE

Take a peek at the photo in today's Taipei Times showing the crowd at the  Floral Expo yesterday.

ADDED:  The local newscast this evening showed some of the 140 plus Food Carts serving food to visitors at the Floral Expo today.  

No food vendor carts had been allowed inside the Floral Expo areas until today.

This old fellow is preparing a nice looking wrap sandwich.  That stove is mounted on a wheeled cart.

  


And here's dish of greens, beans and probably some type of fish.  


Are you hungry for one of these.. or maybe a hot bowl of noodles in a wonderful soup base.


Ahhhhh, things are good in Taiwan...

Both Taiwan food photos from the Internet, not the Floral Expo.

Rouge Spring, Rouge April

ROUGE SPRING, ROUGE APRIL

 
     What strikes us on these early April days in Taipei?  What causes the sky to shimmer like a burnished dream, and the sun to peek out early in the morning and linger later, with the day being loath to go for the shortening time when the sun comes out again?  It is the season of the year.

     For it is springtime and it is April and even though a chill is on the distant hills the color in the evening sky spells beauty in the hours.   The colors of sunset red upon the breathing ocean swells turn to brilliant orange and finally blushes into pink feathers upon the clouds.

     The soft winds play upon the days and hours, surging and fluttering the way a harp would play, but there is no sound, only the melody.  It is then, the rhythm of spring that old folks recognize and which makes them smile with memories and with joy.

     It is the young people who must know it is spring in Taipei, for it is the season of the young.  To them nothing brings joy to the heart like the coming of spring.  Those who might be blind throughout the long and weary year are like to open their eyes then, and the sunrise takes them while they  are after being charmed by the tiny, virgin flowers stretching hands up between the stones toward where the birds twitter upon the boughs of the trees.

     This is the time when the young people, a little younger than the old and a little older than the very young begin to preen and prance and the young girls become apt to blush and stammer over every “good morning” which is given to them.  And then young men do talk in loud voices and flex their muscles while they walk stiff-legged and swaggering down the street.  And they make great show of trimming the winters’ growth of fuzz from their chins with small scissors, explaining seriously that to shave makes the beard grow faster and clipping stunts the growth.

     Which may be true, but no matter how they clip, there somehow always remains a mustache which is vaguely reminiscent of so many Clark Gables or the like.  And even with the younger males there is much standing on hands and riding of bicycles with the feet on the handlebars – or some other dangerous stunt which is designed to impress the fluttering hearts of the demure female admirers.

     And these are often wont to watch in admiration only to toss their noses into the air and walk away if they think that someone is watching.  And it is this that causes no end of broken hearts, to say nothing of various other sundry bruises and hurt as the little roosters try to out crow one another.

     And we, the older and wiser ones, are happy with the season which has come like a blanket of fragrance over Taipei, for springtime is truly in the air these days.  Even the days of rain and wind carry the overpowering sweetness of the bursting buds of green trees from Grass Mountain.  

     And we can sympathize with the restless dogs who ramble from their comfortable winter spots to walk the streets for a chance after chasing some stray rabbit which instinct tells them may be hopping down Chung Shan Road.  For he says to himself, it is a time for fun for a dog who has not had such a chase for the whole winter long.

     And we are suddenly joined by the little birds who twitter in the trees and we wonder what brought them here in this rouge April.  And we can imagine them somewhere in the south muttering:

     “A wonderful place this, sure and comfortable with the green trees – but wife, do you recall the little boys in Taipei who try to catch us and the silly cats as well, and how happy everything was?  Shall we go back there for a spell of summer, woman? Our wings are stretching strong this day so lets away!”

     So spring is here.  Rogue spring and rogue April.  Another spring to wrap into our memory book with all the other springtime’s we have known.

COPYRIGHT 1955 BY JOE BROOKS
Reprinted with permission

**********************************************************************************************

Joe Brooks writes of Taipei as it was in the mid 1950s when this article was written.   

Find more information about Joe Brooks and this series of articles HERE

Mama and the Kids are on the way to Taiwan

With all that is happening in Japan, many military folks are electing to put their families on flights out of the country.

Seems you can pretty much send the family anyplace you are comfortable with. This rule is correct;  the family talks it over and decides where they want to go, back home or to a location closer to Japan.  Taipei is not quite a 4 hour flight from Tokyo.

You can read the latest evacuation news from Japan in the Pacific Edition of Stars and Stripes.

I decided to look at the possibility of heading for Taiwan under the "Voluntary Evacuation" program.

I would have been one of the first to put my folks on the plane if I was stationed in Japan.  It's just not worth taking a chance, anything could happen.  Those nuclear plants are already a disaster, what else might happen.

Taiwan Per Diem rates are very sufficient, especially in Taipei. 

Interesting to see how it could work out.

The Beauty of Taiwan

As I was surfing the Internet this morning, I ran across a beautiful flyover video of Taiwan.

The areas seen on this film are only a small part of the grandeur of Taiwan.

Note: If you have High Speed Internet, it's better watch if you:
Start the video, then bump up the view to 720p and click on Full Screen View.
Beautiful background music too!
When the Advertisements begin on the bottom of the screen, just click on the ad's black X.

You might want to consider a trip back to Taiwan this fall.  We have a group of veterans and families who have signed-on and will be returning to Taiwan to join with us as we drive around this island to see the old sights and discover new ones we didn't have time to visit before.

Here's our proposed November 2011 Trip Itinerary, open it HERE.

Another Look at the New CCK Footprint Museum

This past Tuesday I traveled down to Taichung and together with a few other folks, we entered CCK Air Base and made our way to the old Chapel where the new Footstep Museum is housed.

It was a beautiful day, sun shinning with temperatures in the mid 70s. As we drove from the gate toward the old chapel, everyone was looking about, trying to spot old buildings recognizable from the "old days."  Many of the buildings from our days have been taken down, but, there are a number still standing that would inspire your heart to thoughts of past days at CCK, those many years ago..

We passed by the old gasoline station, deserted now, the old BX (Navy Exchange) and buildings in that general area, the O' Club, and the now, rusting water tower.  The base theater, education office and bowling alley, and looking out the window on the left side of our car, the Chapel.

We parked, stepped out of the car, and looked around..  Here we were, standing on, one of the highest points on CCK.

 I felt a tug on my heart strings as I gazed on the Chapel.  So many thoughts ran through my mind; here I was, one of the few Taiwan Veterans who would ever have an opportunity to step  inside a museum dedicated to the folks who served and gave a part of their lives in service at CCK and Taiwan.

 We walked up the sidewalk toward the front door.

An Air Force representative who spoke English was waiting our arrival.  

 This plaque explains the museum

Here are three videos I took at the museum

We left the museum about 3 hours later, drove back through the base, checked-out at the main gate, taking a left turn on the highway as you did so many times, and headed toward downtown Taichung.

We drove to a Tea House Restaurant in Taichung to relax over a light lunch and a time to talk about our visit to CCK.

 We sat inside the restaurant, it was more comfortable.  This was a Tea House Restaurant, the drinks were really tasty.

Here was my snack, hot noodles with bean sprouts, minced pork and mushrooms, it was very good.  Just above the noodle bowl are two Mochi cookies with walnuts. These were my first Mochi cookies, they were fantastic! To the right of the Mochi is a small plate of chicken strips with sauce on the side.  I believe the tall glass just above my orange tea with lime drink is milk tea with red beans.  

Thanks for coming along on our trip to the CCK Footstep Museum.

Please leave your thoughts and questions in a comment below.

Early Days at Kung Kuan Air Base

John Kmetz, who is now living in Indiana, writes about his tour at Kung Kuan AB later CCK AB in the mid 1960s.  You will find some interesting memories of the old days at CCK  just as the base expanded with the arrival of thousands of newly assigned USAF personnel.

I was with the first group of airmen to arrive at Kung Kwan Air Force Base in Tiachung, the name of the base was later changed to Ching Chuan Kang ,when they found out that Kung Kwan meant Air Base, Air Base Air Base did not make sense. While I was there they built most of the permanent structures; barracks, mess hall, etc.

When they built the mess hall and started decorating the inside they bought two large urns to put by the front doors and filled them with sand to use as ash trays. They found out later, when we had a bunch of pissed off civilian KP's made know that these were burial urns.  The translator explained that it would be like them putting caskets by the front door to use as ash trays.

Also one of the new barracks was built was on top of a burial ground area.  The local folks mostly buried their dead in large clay pots.  These pots made perfect cool dens for the snakes which were coming up through the air vents in the crawl spaces under the barracks.

After the medics treated a few personnel for snake bites, they discovered the problem and tore down that barracks and sprayed the area with some type of poison.  I believe that first barracks was an Officer’s barracks. I know the enlisted guys were still living in Quonset huts; there was no air conditioning back then.

I have no pictures.  I took a bunch of movies only to find none of them turned out. I want to say I was there in late 65 possibly early 66. If you can get an exact date as to when US first occupied the base, it would be very close as we were the first ones there. In the early days the base commander had a Motto Cross track built right on the base for guys with their motorcycles. (Ed Note: First Mess Hall was constructed at Kung Kuan by Navy Sea Bees, floors and screened wooden frames for TENTS.  Construction completed 14 May 1965.)

When I was there we had a tent for the mess hall, another for a mail room.  There were very few permanent structures.

I also remember a C130 that was carrying mail and payroll went down on the side of the mountain.  They sent Air Police and volunteers up there to recover the money etc. that was scattered everywhere.  A lot of it was coins that had been in wooden boxes. (Ed Note: I find no record of a C-130 loss in 1966)

We also had a tent for a movie theater.  I still remember the first movie that showed, Billy the Kid Verses Dracula.  It sucked but I think every one on the base went to see it.

I remember when I arrived they told us that we could not spend US money down town.  I had a month of vacation pay along with one regular check waiting for me, which I cashed in for NT Taiwan dollars. Well,  I then found out that I needed real money for the base, so I stood by the window and caught guys coming up to get Taiwanese money and sold it to them.  What a mess. At that time the rate of exchange was 40-1.  I looked like a really rich drug dealer.  A pack of cigarettes cost $40.00 NT down town.

I still remember going in to buy my first pair of shoes in a down town shoe store.  They had hundreds of different styles to pick from, so I picked out a pair I liked, told him size 9 ½.  The man told me to sit down.  He brought out a large piece of white poster board, told me to take my shoes off and stand on the paper.  Then he then took a pencil and traced around both of my feet, as he said, one foot is always different from the other. I was the told to come back in one hour to pick up my new custom made shoes.

It was almost the same with all our clothing, as it was just about the same price to buy a shirt as to take them to the laundry on the base (we did not have washing machines or dryers yet.)  And if you did take them to the laundry, which was run by a Ti family, your clothes came back with a really strong fish smell, as they washed them off base in a stream.  Who knows what else they used that stream was used for.

 I am 64 almost 65 and live right outside Chicago Illinois in Indiana. I was also stationed at good old Rantoul (Chanute) AFB in Illinois for a short time, right by home.  I think in all I was at about 6 different bases. Got out as a Sergeant or Airman First Class as they used to call it, 3 stripes.

When we first arrived in Taipei, 136 of us, they told us they did not know of a base in Taichung that was because; there was not one there yet. They kept us in Taipei at about four different hotels.  I think we were there about a week and a half while they figured out what was going on.  We had some of every one in our group, I was a baker & cook, my buddy was in pest and rodent control.

When we got to Kung Kuan AB it was a tent city except for a few single level barracks

I still remember them evacuating everyone who was not on duty one afternoon.  There was a fully loaded B-52 coming in with no instrumentation, they did not know what was working and what was not, so all of us who were off-duty went down town.

 Later we found out, my buddy from pest rodent went threw the aircraft and found that a rat had chewed threw a wiring cable, cooked himself and all instrumentation.

The only other time most of us where told to leave was when Chiang Kai-shek check came to visit the base. They stationed Air Police on the roofs and all of the barracks had to be empty, so off-duty personnel had to leave the base.

One thing cool was they had an area on base where there were a few Taiwanese soldiers lived.  You had to walk past it to get to the temporary BX we had. Well in a tree they had a pet monkey who loved hats.  There were branches over hanging the path; the monkey got one of my fatigue caps.  He also had an officer’s hat, baseball caps, even Taiwanese soldiers hats. He hung them all over in that tree.