Cijin Island (旗津) is an island off of Taiwan (which, as many of you know, is also an island). The last time I came to Cijin Island was about 3 years ago. I rode on a ferry from Kaohsiung’s port and then arrived where the market was (similar to night markets) and we spent most of the time checking out the street vendors and eating.
This time, however, we drove to this small island, but not on a bridge… but through an underground/water tunnel (called Cross Harbor Tunnel). While riding in the tunnel the thought that the sea was right above us kind of freaked me out, but I made it across safely twice (plus people use it all day every day) so I guess I had nothing to be afraid of!
After some research of the island, I learned that Cijin actually used to be connected to the rest of Taiwan at the southern tip. It was in 1975, that this connection was broken to create a second entry point to the Kaohsiung Port. So in a way, it’s almost an ‘artificial island’, and also made me feel safer about the tunnel for some reason.
Anyway, the visit was amazing, Cijin is full of beautiful scenery such as these (click on the pictures to see larger size):
Also, in the same area as this, there are old military forts located around the mountain, some which are still used currently by the Taiwanese military:
In case you were curious about the dog in the picture above, it is one of dozens of wild dogs roaming around this part of the island. They seemed to be pretty safe to be around, so if you ever come to Cijin, don’t be too worried!
