Threads And Chains

It's been interesting to me how one photo can cause a chain reaction which may take somebody's ideas on and on until an entirely unexpected result occurs. 

It is similar, in some respects, to the "Six Degrees of Separation Theory." We know someone who knows someone else, and so on.

Just by these interrelated contacts, we are six people away from theoretically having contact with everyone else in the world. 

Because of the internet, e-mails, Facebook, Twitter and other inventions and discoveries, a recent look at the theory has lowered the number to 4 or 5 contacts.

Thanks go to Don Wiggins, Scott Ellinger and Larry Barton for providing pictures which comprise this posting. 

Their photos, although not necessarily related, cause the first and last pictures to be drawn together.

Photo courtesy of USTDC.blogspot.com, 09/15/2010

One of Don's contacts provided him with this declassified 1969 satellite photo of the greater Grass Mountain (Yangmingshan) area.

Innocent enough, this photo debunked my thought of where the Grass and Gold Mountain work areas were located.

It also set into motion another man's efforts to clarify the many locations of what we were seeing.



Original PowerPoint slide by Scott Ellinger;

Courtesy USTDC.blogspot.com, 09/19/2010

Army LTC Scott Ellinger took the first picture and ran with it. With his software, he was able to point out the Bank of Taiwan (BOT) housing areas in Grass Mountain.

Notice his Tien Mou area as well as the Navy hospital. 

For me, the "H"  Housing area was the most interesting, since we drove through it several times during our time in Taiwan.

There are 3 posts on this blog regarding 3 housing areas. Time, weather and neglect have tarnished the appearance of 2 areas, but the "H" Housing area is more pleasing to the eye now than it was in 1969.

There are about 20 individual homes in this area.

 

This red line is the turnoff from the main road onto Jianye Road which winds through the Section "H" housing area. You are looking north.

Heading south toward Taipei, we can see the Jianye Road street sign on the upper left.

The gas station is at the same location as it was in 1968.

This is an important intersection for this posting. Jianye Road continues to the left and on to the Taipei European School which can be seen in the background.

Turning right at this intersection puts you onto ZhongYong Road which continues past some more "H" Housing areas.

In 1968, this road continued all the way to the Grass Mountain work complex back gate. That is no longer the case.



Still on ZhongYong Road, we are approaching a guardhouse which is at the entrance of the high rent district.



Turning right will take you to the designated home in this "H" Housing area.

Photo courtesy of Larry Barton

Here we are near the end of the road. This photo almost wasn't posted previously as it was of a couple the Bartons knew.

But, they couldn't remember this couple's last name, so we posted it in case anyone knew their names.

Next comes the thread referred to previously.

Original PowerPoint slide courtesy of Scott Ellinger

LTC Ellinger had a different take on this photo. What interested him was the house.  He found the home as it appears today and matched it to how it looked in 1967.

So, that's how we got from one end of the thread to the other. I think it's cool to say the least.

It's all history, but I really enjoy "then and now" pictures.

Here's a full shot of the house in question.

The house above is circled in pink. It's right next to the drive leading to the cul-de-sac.