Glory Pier (光榮碼頭) led an online poll conducted by Internet portal Yam.com for the top 10 tourist hotspots in Greater Kaohsiung.
The poll was voted on by 110,000 netizens, with Glory Pier receiving 7,431 votes, the Pier 2 Arts Center (高雄駁二藝術特區) coming in second with 7,231 and the Fo Guang Shan Buddha Memorial Center coming in third with nearly 7,000 votes, Yam.com said.
Originally named Pier No. 13, the Glory Pier was renamed when the military started using it as supply post for soldiers stationed on Kinmen and Matsu.
After its retirement from military use in 2005, the city government built a 500m-long path along the pier, turning it into a new scenic site with a view of the bay.
The pier rocketed to renewed fame after the Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman’s giant yellow Rubber Duck was unveiled at the pier during the Mid-Autumn Festival last month.
Meanwhile, the Pier 2 Arts Center, just a short distance from the Glory Pier, was originally an old warehouse the city government decided to remodel into a center for artistic creativity.
In recent years it has been a important site for artists in southern Taiwan to show their works.
The E-Da World Mall, known for its New Year’s firework displays, which some say rivals the annual display put by Taipei 101, ranked fourth, while the Chiahsien District (甲仙), which was ravaged by Typhoon Morakot in 2009, came in at fifth place after the release of a documentary film — A Bridge over Troubled Water (拔一條河).
The district has recently experienced an influx of tourists who have been touched by the film about the area and how it coped with the ravages of Morakot.
Kaohsiung Metro’s Formosa Boulevard Station, which houses the world’s largest public glass art work — the Dome of Light — ranked sixth, according to the poll.
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