31 March 2024
Tainan (台南) is the oldest city in Taiwan and was previously used as the capital city, so it is quite a historical place. Tainan is the part of Taiwan where both Chinese and European settlers first arrived.
Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company as a ruling and trading base during the Dutch colonial rule on the island. In 1662, the Ming loyalist Cheng Cheng-kung (also known as Koxinga by Westerners) drove the Dutch from Taiwan and established his administration in Tainan with Tainan remaining as the capital of the Tungning Kingdom ruled by House of Koxinga until 1683. Later it became the capital of Taiwan Prefecture under the Qing dynasty until 1887.
Afterwards, Japan took over Taiwan and Taipei became more important than Tainan.
Being such a historic place, it is good to include a visit to Tainan in my itinerary. I chose to do a daytrip to Tainan from Kaohsiung since it is less than an hour travel by local trains from Kaohsiung’s Xin Zuoying TRA Station.
Getting to Tainan from Kaohsiung
From our hotel in Kaohsiung, we took a MRT ride from Kaohsiung Arena Station to the Xin Zuoying TRA Station. From there, we took the next Tze-Chiang Limited Express train to Tainan’s TRA Station. We paid for our ride using the Easycard. The train at this time of day on a Sunday was quite crowded. Since we did not have a reserved seat, we had to stand for the entire 30 minutes journey which was not a problem.
Taking the Tze-Chiang Limited Express train from Kaohsiung’s Xin Zuoying TRA Station to Tainan’s TRA Station.
Tainan Station is conveniently located in the city center, where many old temples and sights are. We will end our day near this area after we spend the morning exploring the Anping district.
Taxis are readily available from the taxi stand outside the Tainan TRA Station. We could have taken a public bus (18 TWD per ride but will take about 45 minutes!). I wanted to get to the Anping area by 10 AM, so taking a taxi is the better and faster option for us.
Exploring the historic Anping area in Tainan
Anping is one of the earliest places in Taiwan that serves as a trading port. It was known as “Tayouan” in the past and some claim that is where the name Taiwan originates from. It is often said that the history of Anping is the very history of Taiwan.
My plan for the morning was to see a few historic places in Anping. These include the Anping Old Fort (also known as Fort Zeelandia), Tianhou (Mazu) Temple, Anping Tree House and have lunch plus do some shopping at Anping Old Street (安平老街).
Anping Tianhou Mazu Temple
We arrived at the Anping Tianhou Temple, also known as Mazu Temple, at 10 AM as planned. Mazu is the Goddess of Sea and Patron Deity of fishermen, sailors and any occupations related to the sea.
Like most Chinese temples in Taiwan, the roofs and walls of the temple are well adorned with beautiful figures of dragons.
The insides of the temple are also very exquisite, notably the ceilings and also the dragons carved on the grey stone pillars. Unfortunately to protect the intricate carvings, the lower parts of these pillars were covered in steel mesh.
Even the urns for the incense are decorated with a pair of dragons.
Old Anping Fort
Next to the temple is the Old Anping Fort (安平古堡). This fortress used to be known as Fort Zeelandia was completed in 1634 when this area was initially established by the Dutch East India Company as a ruling and trading base during the Dutch colonial rule on the island.
Photo showing how Anping, with Fort Zeelandia, looked like when Tainan was initially established by the Dutch East India Company as a ruling and trading base during the Dutch colonial rule on the island. This photo was taken at the museum located at the Former Tait & Co. Merchant House that I visited later.
The Old Anping Fort is now a museum. We did not enter the old fort and just viewed it from the outside as we proceed towards the Anping Tree House along the Anping Old Street.
Fortress wall of the Anping Old Fort is still standing.
Marker on the street showing the directions to some historic buildings.
Statue of Cheng Cheng-kung (also known as Koxinga) on our way to the Anping Tree House. My wife who has the same family name as Cheng Cheng-kung (鄭成功) pointing to the word 鄭.
Anping Tree House.
We did not have to go very far to get to the Anping Tree House. We paid for the entrance tickets that includes visit to the former Tait & Co. Merchant House that is now operating as a museum featuring Taiwan’s history.
Tait & Co Trading Company, a British Trading Company, was one of the top 5 trading companies in Anping area. This company's main business was exporting sugar, camphor and tea, while importing opium in the old days.
Former Tait & Co. Merchant House. The 2-storey building, with beautiful western colonial style architecture, has the main stairway in the center.
It was here that I read and learnt more about the history of Anping and Tainan.
History of Anping.
Anping is a key port that serves Taiwan for hundreds of years. It was the junction between the eastern and western worlds.
Behind the former Tait & Co. Merchant House is a large warehouse that has now been over taken by trees. This is the Anping Tree House.
Entrance to the warehouse that is now known as the Anping Tree House.
This place reminds me of the old temples in Angkor, Siem Reap, where banyan trees have taken over the old abandon buildings.
Although it is smaller in scale compared to the Ta Prohm Temple in Siem Reap, it was still fun walking around the place and snapping photos of the roots and stems of the tree engulfing the old building.
There are walkways that allowed us to view the tree house from a different perspective, up high on the roof level.
Before leaving the tree house, we popped into the small building right at the entrance that we missed earlier. Located next to Tait & Co. Merchant House, this building is called the Chu Jiu Ying Memorial Hall (朱玖瑩紀念館) It was the former residence of Chu Jiu Ying, a master of calligraphy. Inside, we could a small exhibition in calligraphy, including a hands-on section for us to try our hand at this art form.
Anping Old Street
By the time we left the Anping Tree House, it was closed to noon. By this time, the shops and stalls along the Anping Old Street are in full swing.
The shopping area is around a couple of roads, namely the Gubao Street and Yanping Street plus the many small alleyways within the area.
View of Gubao Street from the Anping Tree House to Yan Ping Street. The Old Fort is on the right side.
In addition to shops along the streets, there are stalls that sell all sorts of snacks, tea, drinks, street food. There are even game stalls. Basically stalls that are commonly found in Taiwan’s night markets.
One of the snacks we tried.
The puff biscuit is “Full of Air”, no fillings inside. There is some sweet stuff on the inner surface of the crispy shell.
One of the popular snacks to eat or buy is the prawn crackers, a deep-fried snack made from starch and prawn. It is interesting to watch the prawn cracker making machine that shoots out a prawn cracker with a loud bang each time one is made. The vendors offered free samples to try before buying. These taste exactly like the keropok prawn crackers we had back home so we did not buy any.
Having some kiddy fun along Gubao Street.
Outside a popular ice cream shop.
Lunch at Anping Old Street
Chen Oyster Roll (陳家蚵捲) is a very popular restaurant as seen by the long queues in front of the shophouse. This restaurant specialises in oyster dishes and other famous Tainan specialties.
Fortunately the queue moves fast as this place operates like a fast food joint. While queuing, we could fill in an order form with provided pencil so we don’t waste time at the service counter. Handling the form over, the cashier keys in our order, we pay for our food and wait at the side for our food to be prepared and served on trays in double quick time.
We ordered their signature deep fried oyster roll, prawn roll, oyster omelette, green vegetables and the Braised Pork Rice (lu rou fan).
After lunch, we continued down Yanping Street. Here we browse through several shops and bought peanut candied snacks, dried candied fruit snacks and a cold mango shaved ice drink.
Entrance of Yanping Street where the Anping Old Street really starts.
BBQ pork slices stall.
Bought a mango shaved iced drink from this stall.
I loved the colour of these large Taiwanese mangoes.
In addition to dried mango we bought from a dried fruit shop, we also bought this freeze dried strawberries from a street stall.
Exiting Yanping Street, we arrived at Pingsheng Street where we took Bus No 2 to our next destination, the area west of Tainan TRA Station.
Exploring the West Central District of Tainan.
There are some interesting places to see at West Central District such as the Tainan Confucius Temple, Hayashi Dept Store, Snail Alley, Guan Yu temple, Grand Mazu temple, Chikan Tower and Shennong Street.
My original plan was to visit the following sights on foot starting from the Confucius Temple and ending at Shennong Street where we would have dinner before returning to Kaohsiung. We did not have much time and also energy to see all of them, so we skipped the Confucius Temple and went straight to the Hayashi Departmental Store.
Hayashi Dept Store
(林百貨)
This art deco department store was built in 1932 during the Japanese Colonial Time. It has been so beautifully restored and reopened in 2013 that I think it was worth a visit. This 5 storey building used to be the tallest building in Tainan and the locals once called it “Wu Ceng Lou Zi’ (which literally means five-story building).
Hayashi Department Store. We started our visit with a ride on the antique lift with the dial floor indicator to the fifth floor. The lift could only take 5 persons at a time, so there is short queue to try this lift.
A signboard explains that this elevator made Hayashi famous at that time. It was the first building with such elevator at that time. Operated by elevator girls, the elevator was an attraction for the curious people and if Instagram was available at that time, this would be an Instagram hotspot.
Beautiful mosaic floor inside the lift with the figures 1932, the year this building was completed.
The elevator used to have a capacity for 12 people. To preserve the original track structure, it has been rebuilt to operate with lower capacity and only stops on the ground floor and fifth floor.
From the fifth floor, a flight of stairs leads to a viewing deck on the top floor where there is a gift shop and a Shinto shrine.
There was a plague telling the story of how this building suffered some damage from bombing during WWII, with the damage left unrepaired.
These are large replicas of Hayashi’s signature sweet cake filled with red beans on the roof. The red symbol on top is Hayashi’s logo.
It was really warm on this sunny day so we did not linger on the roof terrace.
It was nice to explore the rest of the air-conditioned department store as it features some unique products on sale, including local beauty products, travel-related products, books and stationery, gifts, and food and snacks on the ground floor.
Snail Alley
The Snail Alley is located within walking distance from the Hayashi Departmental Store. They are just a few small, calm alleys located near the Mingsheng Road and Yongfu Road. Google Map located here.
As the name implies, there are references and symbols of snails to be found all over. There are cafes and even a bookstore located within. It was nice to explore the peaceful and quiet residential area, keep a lookout for the snails and take some photos.
Outside L’ESCARGOT Cafe – even the cafe is named after snails.
Unmanned Matsumoto Book Store in Snail Alley.
An interesting book store at this area is the Matsumoto Book Store. Books and postcards are placed outside with the prices listed. Everything is based on the Japanese honour system. Take what you fancy and place your cash in the small box indicated.
Leaving Snail Alley, we headed northwards towards the Tainan Grand Mazu Temple, Guan Yu temple and Chikan Tower. The three historic sites are located very close together.
Chikan Tower is built by the Dutch in the 17th century and is known as Fort Provintia.
We did not spend much time to explore the above three sites and moved on to look for Shennong Street.
Shennong Street (神農街)
Shennong Street is one of the most preserved historical streets in Tainan, lined with quaint, historic shops & homes.
Pop up stalls along a side alley along Shennong Street selling trinkets, home made art and craft, clothes and even toys cars.
Only about 200 meters long, it does not take much time to walk through but this place is so pretty with lanterns and craft shops.
We took our time to browse through the shops, take street photos and have a coffee break at one of the cafes while waiting for the sun to set and the street lanterns to be lit.
Loved the lanterns decorating the shophouses along this street.
Some of the cafes along this old street are not prominent but “hidden” inside stores selling other products. We found the Time to Coffee Cafe (TTC) located on the second floor of a store selling handicrafts and other stuff. The only clue that there is a cafe inside is a little blackboard at the entrance.
Nicely decorated, homely vibes at the Time to Coffee Cafe.
Taking a “selfie” inside the Time to Coffee Cafe.
The best time to visit Shennong Street is in the evening. As the sky darkens, the street lanterns are lit up.
Our original intention was to have dinner at Shennong Street before returning to Kaohsiung. Unfortunately, we could not find a restaurant to our liking.
We decided to take the train back to Kaohsiung and have dinner near our hotel.
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