> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.taiwanquest.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Huandao Day 10 - URL: https://www.taiwanquest.com/huandao-chiayi-to-tainan/ - Published: 2024-01-17T15:53:57.000Z - Updated: 2025-01-19T05:03:19.000Z - Description: Getting salty between Chiayi and Tainan… - Author: Zhen-Kang | Distance | 130 km | | ---------------------- | ------- | | Ride time (with stops) | 6 hours | | Singing grandpas | 2 | **On my second-to-last day of huandao, I had two grandpas sing for me, I had two religious experiences, I narrowly avoided a snake, I was chased by dogs, and I climbed a mountain of salt.** Tomorrow’s gonna be underwhelming… ![Five scooters parked outside Chiayi Park. The park comprises flat grassy areas and many tall trees, with some palms nearer to the camera.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/scooters-outside-chiayi-park-taiwan.jpg) I started my day with a walk through Chiayi Park. An elderly man invited me to sit with him under a pagoda. He was a friendly guy who spoke perfect English. After an enjoyable chat, he offered to sing for me(!). I only grasped the gist of the song; something about missing the woman he loves. I asked if he sang it to his wife, and he said they sing it together. Then as I got up to leave, he asked if he could pray for me. And so, despite not being religious, I stood in Chiayi Park, head bowed, as this stranger prayed for my safe onward journey. ![Sun-Shooting Tower in Chiayi. The tower is cylindrical in shape, 12 stories tall, with a sunburst-shaped concrete base.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sun-shooting-tower-chiayi-taiwan.jpg) In the middle of Chiayi Park is the 12-story Sun-Shooting Tower, named after the ‘sun-shooting’ legend of the Pingpu Indigenous People (平埔族群). In the legend, the world originally had two suns, but excess heat caused crops to be perpetually dry. So a group of three warriors shot down one of the suns, thus creating a more balanced climate. The design of the tower references many details from this legend. ![Internal view of Sun-Shooting Tower in Chiayi Park, looking up from the first floor through the hollow core to the top of the building, approximately 10 stories higher.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sun-shooting-tower-hollow-interior.jpg) The hollow interior references a crack in a sacred Pingpu tree. ![The cafe on level 11 of Sun-Shooting Tower in Chiayi. The city can be seen through large windows, and in the foreground a void space has been covered by a net, off which are hanging hundreds of colorful cards with wishes written on them.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/shooting-sun-tower-cafe-11f.jpg) The elevator stopped at a gallery on level 10\. I took the stairs to this cafe on level 11. ![Close up of a sign next to a window, which says ‘Throwing objects is prohibited.’](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/throwing-objects-is-prohibited-sign-in-shooting-sun-tower.jpg) I wondered how problematic this must’ve been, to prompt these signs next to every window. ![View across Chiayi City, Taiwan. The treetops of Chiayi Park are in the foreground. In the distance is a sports stadium, high rise buildings, and more buildings leading to the horizon.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/view-west-from-chiayi-shooting-sun-tower.jpg) I walked up a second flight of stairs to the open-air observation deck on level 12\. This is the west-facing view across Chiayi City. It feels like a comfortable, laid-back city. (Earlier, I’d run this hypothesis past the singing grandpa, and he agreed.) ![A large pile of salt on the far side of a carpark. The sale pile is maybe 2 stories tall and behind a low fence. In front of the fence are two human-size cartoonish sculptures of mouse-like creatures in love.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/budai-salt-hill-taiwan.jpg) I rode towards the coast for around an hour, before stopping at a 7-Eleven for lunch. Just around the corner was this giant pile of salt. It’s not as random as it may seem: this had been a famous salt-making area from the 1600s through to 2002\. The salt was left behind when the factories closed. ![Long exposure of a glass building in the shape of a high-heel shoe, surrounded by a shallow pond.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/high-heel-church-taiwan.jpg) Nearby, I stopped at a more-intentioned landmark: the High Heel Church. It’s an 18-meter-tall building made with 320 pieces of blue glass, commonly used for weddings. My mind went to [Priscilla, Queen of the Desert](https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/2759-the-adventures-of-priscilla-queen-of-the-desert)—but the design actually symbolizes an element of Taiwanese wedding culture: Traditionally, the bride wears high heels while walking on some tiles. Any that break are discarded, symbolizing the end of past misfortunes, ahead of a blissful married life. ![The interior of the High Heel Church – it’s a large space without furniture and decorations hanging from the glass ceiling. At the front of the space is a floor-to-ceiling photograph of the High Heel Church.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/interior-of-high-heel-church-taiwan.jpg) The High Heel Church accommodates 100 people. After grandpa prayed for me earlier, going to church was my second religious experience of the day. ![A 1-meter-on snake curled on the road in the sun. In the distance, a car is approaching.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/snake-on-the-road-in-taiwan.jpg) It’s just as well he prayed for me, too: later I narrowly avoided this meter-long snake on the road. It’s first wild snake I’ve seen, in Taiwan or anywhere else. ![The Tree of Life sculpture on the Tainan salt flats. The sculpture looks like a very large fan, split in the middle to allow people to walk through. The fan has cut-out shapes that give it the appearance of a tree. It is far from the camera, but perhaps 10 or 15 meters tall and twice as wide.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/tainan-tree-of-life-salt-flats-sculpture.jpg) I then visited this iconic sculpture—the Tree of Life (生命之樹)—in the middle of the Tainan salt flats. There were two groups ahead of me as I walked the 600-meter-long path to reach it. As we were arriving, a man in the first group ripped off his shirt and started striking bodybuilder poses, while another guy pulled out a professional camera. It was like a two-person flash mob. Myself and the second group of people were all a bit like ‘WTF?!’ Later, another WTF moment happened as I returned to my scooter: I met a second friendly grandpa—a retired English teacher from Tainan—who also offered to sing for me. In German. ![Qigu Salt Mountain just ahead of sunset. The salt mountain is 6 stories tall and has a walkway up two sides. The walkway has guide ropes strung between metal poles. Near the top of the salt mountain is a sculpture that includes the words ‘TAINAN 400’.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/qigu-salt-mountain-with-people-on-top.jpg) Sticking with the salt theme, my next stop was Qigu Salt Mountain (七股鹽山)—a more dramatic salt pile than the one I saw earlier. It’s around six stories tall, and covers a hectare. The salt has compacted and hardened over the decades, bizarrely making Qigu Salt Mountain the highest point of ‘land’ in this part of Taiwan. ![A sign labeled ‘Precautions when Climbing Salt Mountain’, with eight rules listed. Steps caved into the mountain are visible behind.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/qigu-salt-mountain-safety-sign.jpg) I was amused by two of the instructions for visitors: “As Salt Mountain is the property of Taiyen, removing salt from it is in violation of the law”, and “Please refrain from throwing salt for fun”. I don’t remember the last time I threw salt for fun. ![Steps carved into Qigu salt mountain with people carefully descending.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/climbing-salt-mountain.jpg) The slippery climb to the top took a couple of minutes. ![View from the top of Qigu Salt Mountain. There are two people standing on the top. The ground is a dirty gray where people have stood, but the rest of the salt mountain is white. The Tainan salt flats stretch out in the distance.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/top-of-qigu-salt-mountain.jpg) Soon enough, [I knocked the bastard off](https://www.outsideonline.com/adventure-travel/destinations/asia/man-who-knocked-bastard/). ![Guosheng Port Lighthouse, a skeletal metal structure rising from sand dunes, with the sea visible to the left.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/guosheng-port-lighthouse-taiwan.jpg) Just ahead of sunset, my last stop was Guosheng Port Lighthouse (國聖港燈塔)—at the western-most point of Taiwan. During my huandao, I’ve now visited Taiwan’s northern-, eastern-, southern-, and western-most points (and lighthouses). ![Sun setting over the Strait of Taiwan with a beach in the foreground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/5e/e3/5ee3f160-68a0-49ef-af6f-ec70abc1d13e/content/images/2024/01/sunset-at-western-most-point-of-taiwan-1.jpg) Here’s the sun setting on my second-to-last day of huandao. It looks peaceful, but minutes after taking this photo, I was chased by stray dogs on my way to Tainan City. --- ### Day 10 soundtrack 1. **Drum Tower** ([Podcast](https://www.economist.com/audio/podcasts/drum-tower)) 2. **Ryan Adams – Heatwave** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/heatwave/1722275615)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/7rHobpFFOUBekYAMIxbfsg)) 3. **The Knife – Deep Cuts** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/deep-cuts/89501668)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/58VeC1LO2OjyHXsjtI306m)) 4. **Lucinda Williams – Live @ The Fillmore** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/live-at-the-fillmore/1444141810)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/2dBhddxjpfiux8vYCJmsHZ)) 5. **Breaks Co-Op – The Sound Inside** ([Apple Music](https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-sound-inside/1320254197)) ([Spotify](https://open.spotify.com/album/0PLHfEY4DWjvNxVCQ7rQnq)) --- ### Dashcam timelapse [youtu.be/2-qvYP6BTCM](https://youtu.be/2-qvYP6BTCM) ---