Kaohsiung Skyline

The more I travel, the more aware I become of Portugal’s influence on the world.

In Taiwan, for instance, early Portuguese sailors called Taiwan “Ilha Formosa,” meaning “beautiful island.”

Centuries later, this nickname for Taiwan remains, with “Formosa” used to name streets, buildings, businesses, and so on. (Notice the phrase “Formosa Taiwan” in the second photo.)

See the tall building behind us in the first photo, and alone in the third? That’s the 85 Sky Tower. It’s shaped like the Chinese character for “gua,” meaning “tall.” Clever, eh?

Another eye catching site along the harbor is a performance arts building called the Kaohsiung Music Center.

I think you can see how wilted by sun and humidity we were! I could barely keep my eyes open for the photos.Read more