Formosan Rock Macaque (Kaohsiung Monkeys) | 台灣高雄獼猴

Formosan Rock Macaque are the only native primates living in Taiwan. This species of monkey is only found in Taiwan. They are often found in Kaohsiung, Taiwan at Chai Mountain (柴山), which is commonly refereed to as "Monkey Mountain by local forefingers who don't speak Chinese).

台灣獼猴是外台灣唯一的靈長類動物，這隻動物只在台灣找到的，高雄市鼓山區柴山上是常常看到的地點，不會說國語的外國人常常叫這個地方猴子山。

This is definitely one of the coolest places to visit in Kaohsiung. I will be enjoying myself taking pictures of the monkeys in one area, take my eye away from my camera and notice two or three sitting at my feet.

對我來說這是高雄一定要去的地方，我正在拍照的時候往往有一些猴子來坐在我的腳旁邊，讓我嚇一跳。

Often you will see many infant monkeys nursing or playing wildly with the other young monkeys in the trees.

也常常看到小猴子跟著媽媽在一起，母乳喂養的孩子，或是在樹上玩。

This is one of my favorite places to go because you're in the city one moment and the next your on a mountain full of monkeys looking at the ocean.

這是很特別的地方，有一刻你在城裡然後在山上一邊看猴子一邊看海邊的那一刻。





How to Get There? 怎麼去?



If you plan on visiting, I would suggest going to the park next to the Kaohsiung City Zoo, laid out in the map above. You can enter at the first location marked, then start hiking up the trail where the red marker on the map is located. Within a couple minutes into this trail you will often see many monkeys.

怎麼去呢? 我推薦你去高雄市壽山動物園旁邊的公園，看上面的地圖，第一個標記是公園的入口，第二個標記是小道入口，那裏常常看到很多猴子。

Things to Look Out For. 注意!

The monkeys in general will not bother you unless they think you have a tasty treat, then they will fight you for it. I suggest if you go to visit them not to bring any drinks, food or plastic bags.

去的話要小心，不要帶飲食或塑料袋，牠們無疑偷你的東西。

There is a zoo near this location, and you can often see the monkeys sneaking into the cages of the other animals and stealing their food.

猴子常常進去附近的動物園偷動物的食物。

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formosan_rock_macaque
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoushan_%28Kaohsiung%29

來源:
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A3%BD%E5%B1%B1_(%E9%AB%98%E9%9B%84%E5%B8%82)#%E5%8B%95%E7%89%A9%E5%88%86%E4%BD%88
https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%8F%B0%E7%81%A3%E7%8D%BC%E7%8C%B4

Explore Kaohsiung: Formosa Boulevard

Formosa Boulevard

Formosa Boulevard (美麗島站) is Kaohsiung's main MRT station. It is named after the Formosa Boulevard Project, which aimed at remodeling Jhongshan Road (中山路) to prepare for the 2009 World Games (which was for sports not contested in the Olympics).



There are two MRT lines that meet here. The Orange line which runs West-East and the Red line which runs North-South. You can transfer to the next line in a matter of a couple of minutes. At this station you can exit on any street corner on the intersection of Jhongshan (中山路) and Jhongjheng (中正路).

Dome of Light

Within the Formosa Boulevard Station is a massive beautiful art piece called the Dome of Light. The Dome of Light was created by Narcissus Quigliata. It is the largest public art display made out of individual pieces of colored glass (Source).



The pieces were shipped from Germany and took about 4 years to complete. It has a 30 meter diameter and covers a area of 660 square meters (2165ft). The art is symbolic of the 4 stages of life. Water representing The Womb of Life; Earth representing prosperity and growth; Light for the creative spirit; and Fire to illustrate destruction and rebirth.

Moving to Taiwan

We have official moved to Taiwan! We flew out on August 2nd and arrived August 4th, celebrating our two year anniversary in the San Francisco Airport (8/3). The flight from San Francisco to Taipei took around 14 hours. It was a very tiring few days of travel.



After we arrived in Taiwan we met our Taiwanese friend, Nikki, who is studying at Moody. She allowed us to stay in here home and to show us around her neighborhood and reminisce about the places and food we missed that we haven't had since the last time we were in Taiwan.

We then decided to take the High Speed Rail (HSR) to Kaohsiung. Its about $25 more a person then a bus or a train. However it only took us one hour and a half verses a six hour trip! The train is a straight shot with quick stops along the way that travels over one hundred miles an hour.

We met up with Kim in Kaohsiung, who is another Taiwanese girl studying at Moody. Her family brought us to our new apartment which she rented for us. She also took the time to get our phones, internet and transportation needs all squared away. Having her here has helped the process a ton compared to if we had to figure out how to do all these things ourselves. A lot of these things would be impossible to do without a Taiwanese signature also.

Its so crazy being back in Taiwan. We feel very excited, nervous, scared, and relaxed. It's hard to explain the feeling. We really feel at home in Taiwan but are also so far away from everything that is normal to us.