A 399-year-old city of 1.8 million, established by the Dutch, just 30 minutes from Kaohsiung by train…
View from the observation tower at Anping Old Fort, Tainan. Photo: Zhen-Kang.
Tainan is the oldest city in Taiwan. And it feels old. It’s hard to say why—it has some new buildings and plenty of life—but beautiful, dusty, historic pretty-much sums it up.
Think of languid summers. Rocking chairs on a creaking porch. Intriguing second-hand shops. Warm hues, good smells, bad wiring. Banyan trees. Lanterns. Rust. Tainan!
Last week, I joined a friend for a day trip to this special city. We caught a train from Kaohsiung Station to Tainan Station, where we rented a scooter for the day…
We boarded the train at an underground platform at Kaohsiung Station. Around 15km of track through Kaohsiung has been undergrounded and replaced with trees, grass, and cycle paths at ground level. It’s an impressive green corridor through the busiest parts of the city.A man was in one of our allocated seats. My friend showed him our tickets and he moved without issue. (Local protocol allows anyone to take any seat, so long as they’re prepared to move if asked.) The train carriage was very quiet. People spoke softly, and I could barely hear the quintessential train sounds.Thirty minutes later, we were in Tainan. The platform’s open-air wrought-iron structure contrasted sharply with Kaohsiung Station’s designer ceilings and LED lighting.We crossed the road to rent a scooter from one of many rental businesses outside the station. MHC9881 was our ride for the day. It cost NT$200 (NZ$10) for 12 hours, including fuel. The speedo didn’t work but the cellphone holder was excellent.I selected my helmet from the big-head section, and then we were off!First stop was this local breakfast shop, about 15 minutes from the station.I ate this traditional breakfast pastry: a clay oven roll and fried bread stick (燒餅油條). It comprised a slightly sweet, churro-shaped-but-soft bread stick, wrapped in the crispy sesame-flavored clay oven roll. I agreed with the “thank you, it’s delicious” sentiment.The soya milk was hǎo hē (a delicious drink).Next, we parked up……Bought NT$50 (NZ$2.50) tickets from a hole in the wall……And entered the gates to Fort Provintia / Chihkan Tower (赤嵌樓). It was built by Dutch colonists 370 years ago, but destroyed during an earthquake in 1862. It was then rebuilt by a local magistrate in 1886, who envisaged using it as an education space. But it was converted to a military hospital during the Japanese era (1895–1945), before being restored in the second-half of the 20th Century.There were many koi in this pond beneath the tower.Also beneath the tower were these nine “bixi carrying imperial steles”. They were comissioned by the emperor in 1786, after he composed five poems about the governor-general’s suppression of a local rebellion. The bixi are half-dragon, half-tortoise, and especially suited to carrying heavy weights. The steles (standing blocks) on their backs include engravings that translate to “made by the emperor”, plus the emperor’s original five poems. Local legend says there were originally 10 bixi at the fort, but for unknown reasons, one ran away. If I was half-dragon, half-tortoise, I might also have better things to do.We proceeded through this archway and climbed the steps to the tower. Note the group of cyclists on the balcony—one of many tour groups moving through the grounds.Steles, steps, and cyclists.We followed them into the tower……Where the quiet upper level featured models of historic ships.I liked this view out the window.Back downstairs, the cyclists had left so I was able to follow these instructions to “ask for Lord Kui Xing Pencil”. Others were waiting behind me so I didn’t get a photo of the divination blocks—but they’re essentially wooden blocks shaped like segments of an orange. You drop them on the floor and interpret their alignment per the instructions. I was denied a pencil on my first attempt, but good fortune shined on me when I tried again. I’m very happy with my Lord Kui Xing Pencil.This was the divination area. You could also buy wooden tags on which to write wishes (at far right), but my wish for a Lord Kui Xing Pencil had already come true so I didn’t want to be greedy.I saw this beer in the gift shop. Emperor approved. But it was 11:30am so I bought a God of Literature bookmark instead.I also saw but didn’t buy these Girl with a Pearl Earring french fries.We left the gift shop and bought some tea across the road. We were required to order on this touchscreen.It was around 27ºC and very humid. The iced tea was great.Wandering the lanes and alleys, we came across Tainan Grand Matsu Temple. It was fine for us to carry our iced teas inside.A steady stream of people arrived to pray at various points in the temple. They seemed completely unbothered by two outsiders walking around with iced tea. It was a peaceful and inclusive space.Back outside, people were writing wishes on joss paper and burning them for good luck.We explored more side streets……And laneways. Note the tangled cables overhead.Tainan is the food capital of Taiwan. We tried a couple of local dishes for lunch, but both had challenging flavors that were too strong for me to enjoy. This was the first—extremely popular—restaurant we stopped at, where we queued a long time for a table.This was the second dish I tried, at restaurant #2: taro glutinous rice, with super-salty sauce.We then went to the super-famous Pujei Bakery, and queued perhaps 20 or 30 minutes to get inside. It was packed, and we shuffled through selecting items off the shelves, as they were repeatedly replenished fresh from the oven. The smell was incredible. Between us, we bought five loaves of their most famous bread, sharing one as soon as we left the shop.Literally the nicest bread I’ve ever eaten. There are no words.Our next stop was the extraordinary Anping Tree House (安平樹屋). Like the Chihkan Tower, it was just NT$50 (NZ$2.50) to enter. The building had been deserted in the middle of last century. Banyan trees subsequently grew through and around the house. This is an inside room……And here, an exterior wall.Next door, the Tait & Co. Merchant House (1867) housed a museum of trade; charting Taiwan’s economic activity and trade patterns over the past 400 years. My inner econ grad was singing.We took a walk along nearby Anping Old Street, which was quiet on a Monday. We bought some dried mango and dried kiwifruit from the famous Chycutayshing shop. Delicious.Around the corner, we explored Anping Old Fort (Fort Zeelandia / 熱蘭遮城). Also just NT$50 (NZ$2.50) to enter. It built by the Dutch in the 1600s. The original three-story stepped structure, which still stands, was built with bricks imported from Java. (The white tower is a more recent addition.) According to foreignersintaiwan.com: “The Dutch ruled most of Taiwan until 1661 when they were defeated by Ming Loyalists lead by Koxinga. Koxinga sieged fort Zeelandia, for nine months, killing 1,600 of the Dutch people there before they surrendered due to lack of water. The victory at Zeelandia proved to be the end of 38 years of Dutch rule in Taiwan.”A closer look at the restored walls of the fort.On top, there was a museum in this mansion built during the Japanese era (1895–1945)……This canon built during the Qing Dynasty (1636–1912)……And the viewing tower, restored in 1975.We climbed to the top……And enjoyed evening views across the city, through rusted grates adorned with heart-shaped locks. A charming end to a day in beautiful, dusty, historic Tainan.
