Our Yangmingshan Apartment, Taipei, Taiwan, 1968-69

There was fresh air, lower heat and humidity, cool winters and views that were sometimes astounding.

Having an apartment within the Grass Mountain community was a treat. There weren't that many of them available.

We latched onto a broker who showed us ours and the deal was approved by the housing authority in the West Compound.

We moved into the place in August of 1968, and left in August of 1969.







Sometimes a good picture is accidentally taken. Given that our camera was a fixed-lense Kodak, this picture still looks good. Here you see the DaHeng Road community in Yangmingshan.

Taken from the main road going to the Grass Mountain work site, this photo is one of my favorites. Our apartment building is the one that is the third one from the far left end.





With the help of Google Earth, this is the best picture that could be gotten from the new road. The DaHeng Road community is still visible.

Most of the good views were in the 1960s, when the roads were shaky and the peril was greater.



Guess which apartment was ours?

LTC Scott Ellinger took the time to shoot this photo in 2011. Our old apartment is the black one on the third floor with the closed-in balcony.

LTC Ellinger also used a little photo magic to place then and now pictures side-by-side.

Here is the view from our balcony at the end of DaHeng Road, looking toward the main road.

Back in 1968-69, many military families lived here as well as diplomats and the staff from AFNT after it relocated to Yangmingshan. 

A gate protects DaHeng Road today. 
Our old apartment is not in view. 

Mr. Chen again provides an excellent photo of the DaHeng Road community. The apartment would be to the left of this picture.

There weren't too many multi-story buildings here during our tour of duty.

It took some doing when first trying to find the place. Our lease read "Ta Heng Road." Fooling around with the spelling finally got this view.

Frankly we were surprised that the apartments were still standing. The electrical, water, plumbing and sewage methods were pretty basic.

The Landis Resort is just north of the entrance to DaHeng.

Initially, the incorrect apartment building was circled.

We then found some other pictures which confirmed the exact building.

There is a huge drop-off behind the apartment complex. A large ceramic pipe was used to gather all the water and sewage coming from the complex and deposit it over and down the hill.

The light green house across from us had a huge circular concrete drive with a fountain in the middle and a well-manicured golf hole.

To give you some perspective of where we lived  relative to the Yangmingshan community, look about .5 miles north to the former Grass Mountain Hostel.

Just .3 miles south of us is the main entrance to the Chinese Culture University.

Back in 1968, it was the Chinese Culture College, and it was a relatively small commuter school. The buses ran on time.

Again, there is a straight line from DaHeng Road to the Grass Mountain work site. The line is .7 miles long.

To drive this distance would be about 1.5 miles