As the oldest city in Taiwan, Tainan has a rich historical and cultural background. The city boasts a slew of museums, temples and reminders of foreign occupation. Our quick day trip could in no way capture the role that this city has played in the development of Taiwan, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
We began with a self-guided walking tour of some of the famous temples in the city center. Our first stop was the Confucius temple, which we found, upon arrival, was under construction. Still, the calm that one feels in the courtyard of a temple was not reduced. We poked around before deciding to skip the temples further south and cut across to Dongyue Temple and City God Temple. Dongyue temple is renowned for it's paintings of hell and torture dolled out by the demon gods who rule the underworld. We figured it would be perfect since it's the Halloween season. But our plans were foiled yet again.
This time, it we ran into a massive celebration. The streets were filled with fireworks, dancers, music, and carvings of deities carried on shoulders. The air crackled and hummed with the scream of fireworks, the screech of music rushing to fill the gaps. Smoke hung thick in the air. We moved along the sidewalk, soaking in the craziness. The procession wove through the street, stopping in front of the temple to...well I'm not sure. Our research couldn't find any specific holiday that this could be associated with, but I'm assuming that the various lion dances, giant god creatures and statues of deities were all in celebration. The rest of the world didn't bat an eye. Scooters and cars whizzed by the revelers and their giant costumes, not even slowing to take a peek.
The next temple on the list was similarly wrapped up in celebration. We snapped a couple of pictures and continued on to the next temple, vying to beat the stream of worshippers there. As we walked through the city, we could hear the parade behind us until the sounds of the drums were lost in the hum of a roundabout.
Back on track, we headed for the Official God of War Temple, the oldest temple in Taiwan dedicated to Guandi, a Han-dynasty general deified as the God of War and patron of warriors. The god in the shrine was fearsome indeed, but I was more taken by the small alters in the back courtyard. A tiny garden, surrounded by deep red walls was the perfect place to take a breath.
Our final stop on the temple tour was the Grand Matsu Temple. It was originally the palace of Ning Jin, the last king of the Ming dynasty. The shrine in the back was originally his bedroom, and a long beam running across the ceiling was where his concubines hanged themselves. Stepping into the dimly lit room, a sense of eerie foreboding saturated the air. We left quickly and found our next source of entertainment: Love Fortunes.
We found a small altar dedicated to the god of love. If you prayed, told him a question you wanted an answer to and threw the divination blocks, he may be benevolent enough to allow you to seek a fortune. You would then throw the blocks three more times and the pattern they created would lead to a fortune. He didn't deign to agree on my first or second attempts, and so, desperately wanting a fortune, I threw the blocks three more times and took my ill-begotten destiny. If my love life suffers, we know which angry, spited, god is behind it.
We grabbed lunch, enjoying a bowl of a local specialty: 担仔面. A bowl of steaming noodles in a sumptuous broth with bean sprouts and beef. After our delicious lunch, we caught a taxi and headed to the Anping Township of Tainan.
The Anping port was a major area of trade starting when the Dutch East India Company settled and created Fort Zeelandia in 1624. Other foreign companies also traded during this time, including Britain and the US. The area also saw the rule of the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the Japanese occupation from 1895 to 1945, the buildings were repurposed for other uses. Now the old warehouses and and trading houses are a tourist attraction.
We visited the old British Tait & Co building, read about some of the history of the place, then visited the main attraction out back: an old warehouse completely overtaken by a banyan tree. After years of being left to spread, the banyan had created a roof over the empty rooms, wallpapered the stone walls with its bark and was making a bid for the Tait & Co. building. It was massive, and a wonder to walk through.
We then visited the site of the original Dutch Fort Zeelandia. It was in Dutch hands for forty years before the Ming Dynasty seized it and renamed the area Anping Township. During the Qing dynasty, the area lost importance as the bay became silted and much of the fort was demolished and gradually abandoned. The fort was rebuilt during Japanese occupation, and now all that remains of the original Dutch influences is a worn wall of red bricks on the southern side.
We poked around for a bit, climbing five flights of stairs to get a panoramic view of the area from the top of the surveillance post. Old military canons were still pointed outward, protecting the relics inside. The bright red brick walls and pathways, stood quietly under banyan trees that had watched over the compound and all its changes for more than 300 years.
Next we embarked on a twenty-five minute walk to the ocean. The route took us through a rather abandoned and remote part of Tainan, but it was worth it to reach the coast, climb out on a bulwark and watch the waves crash under the setting sun.
We managed to snag a taxi back into town, stopped by a mall for dinner, and goofed around until it was time for our train. Without a ticket this time, we sat on the floor and played games for the two hours back to Changhua.
Overall, Tainan is hard to do in a day trip. If you're going to stop by, maybe give it two days. There are many museums and cultural parks that we weren't able to see this time around. But I would say if you're a history buff, or just looking for a new city to explore, this is a neat place to check out.
