Kaohsiung residents will soon be able to take boat rides down the Love River, Kaohsiung Mayor Frank Hsieh (
The Kaohsiung City Government's Bureau of Transportation held a trial run yesterday for the new ship, dubbed Cupid, which is one of the 15 tourist boats set to sail on the Love River on Feb. 5, the date of the Lantern Festival.
PHOTO: LIN YA-LI, TAIPEI TIMES
Presiding over the launch ceremony at the Golden River cafe, which included a group of children dressed up as cupids, Hsieh said the 15 ships were built locally and created especially for the Love River.
He said the boats were intended to make the river more romantic and beautiful.
"Drinking a cup of coffee at the river cafe or strolling along the river is not the only way to experience the river's change," Hsieh said.
"Citizens and visitors will be able to enjoy the beautiful scenery by taking a boat, just like visitors to other famous rivers such as the Seine in France and the Rhine in Germany," he said.
The Love River was dredged and rehabilitated in 1999. The Bureau of Transportation announced plans in October to build 15 tourist boats for the river.
The Cupid was completed on Dec. 31 and the other 14 boats were expected to be finished by Jan. 20. The bureau plans to complete the mooring facilities by Jan. 30, an official at the bureau said.
Each boat costs about NT$2.6 million, is capable of accommodating 20 passengers and will feature seats designed for lovers, the bureau official said.
The Cupid is white, symbolizing purity and devotion. The other ships will be painted the seven colors of the rainbow and will be named after famous lovers.
A ceremony to mark the launch of the fleet will be held on Feb. 5, when the ships will cruise the Love River.
The cruise will go along the river about 4km, passing artistic spots such as the Kaohsiung Municipal Archives, Kaohsiung Municipal Museum of History, Music Center, Business Trade Center and Hakka Cultural Museum.
The river, a city landmark, has been a site for lovers since the 1950s. But the river became notorious for its stench and filth when it was polluted by industrial waste in the 1960s as heavy industry expanded.
Previous efforts to rehabilitate the river were unsuccessful.
Albert Lin (林耀文), director of the city government's Department of Information, said the river started to see real change since Hsieh began serving as mayor five years ago.
Lin said their goal is "where the Love River flows, there exists Renaissance," and to make the city more friendly and accessible.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS