No identifiers, and if you look on street view, it’s totally blurred out. I guess the entrance is next to Yusheng Elementary School, but it’s hard to tell (actually yeah there seems to be a double security gate setup there. There’s a 4-character sign after it but I can’t make it out.) One might suspect some connection to the NSB up on the hill, but visible parts of those buildings aren’t blurred. I checked some nearby military installations and they aren’t either. I happened to see it from up on Zhishanyan, all was quiet for the holiday I guess. Just curious
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Look like they have an olympic size lap swimming pool.
Note: The first Google Maps picture I pulled up showed Chinese characters next to the pool and very clear lap lanes.
Maybe there is a secret underground tunnel up the hill to the very nearby National Security Bureau
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Pretty sure it’s the headquarters of the Military Intelligence Bureau (國防部軍事情報局). Funny, I was wondering why there was a plaque about Dai Li (Chiang Kai Shek’s right-hand man and intelligence chief from the China days) on the “Yunong Reading Room” up on Zhishanyan, and there actually is a connection, maybe. “Yunong” is one of his names and another nearby elementary school and street are also named after him. I guess the headquarters predates all that.
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Which reminds me about Drunkland nearby. I always forget about it when I’m in the area mostly because it’s just drive by and no reason to stop around there for anything.
Anyone been?
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Sounds great!
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In that corner of Zhishan, I am partial to Caffé Ruelle (巷子咖啡).
Zhishan Garden looks quite nice, though I have never been.
Guy
I will check it out!
Do you mean 至善園 or 芝山巖？
It has the look of a school.
Ahh, it’s apparently the former.
Guy
Have you been to 芝山巖 (Zhishanyan)?
As with the other garden, no.
Do you recommend it?
Guy
It’s not bad for a walk on a weekday. There’s an old temple, some history from the Japanese and post-war eras, pathways. They put up some nice walkways, walking along the Shuangxi through there to Tienmu is nice.
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Zhishanyan is one of the oldest areas in Taipei. Six thousand years ago, Taipei was a large lake, and Zhishanyan was one of three islands in the lake. The other two being present-day Yuanshan and Treasure Hill. The Ketagalan people settled here some 600 years ago. There’s also an archeological site you can visit.
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Great pictures. Looks like there was already a Japanese military installation of some kind where the current military intelligence base is. No, they say it was a Shinto shrine.
I was told a while ago it was a military training base for some of the intelligence guys by someone who (allegedly) worked in the big green National Security Building at the bottom of YangDe Blvd.
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Lots of wealthy people living around there. I’ve seen Bentleys, McLarens, Rolls and other supercars there.