Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Anping Tree House Part 1

 

Ancient trees are magical. That's according to me based on my youth time reading list. I have never been bored walking among ancient trees. That is why, I've made my way all the way to the Anping Tree House, just to see a house swallowed by an overgrown banyan tree, with love :)

Here is some official information about the tree house and it's origin. In short, isn't it cool that Taiwanese people can turned a ruined building into a tourist attraction and still charge people to visit it? It makes you wonder, why do some government just know only how to tear down buildings and destroy their heritage....

Basically, the tree house used to be just a house. But through the ages, abandonment and what-not, the jungle has taken over it, not much different from the many abandon houses in Malaysia. But here, you can see the full wonders of the engulfment of the tree. And the cool thing is, you can walk all around, and over the tree house. They have made it very accessible!

For example, since it is an old building, the stairs are probably non-existing or too dangerous to use. But the have these metal staircases installed so that you can walk up to the 2nd storey of the building and have a different view of the tree house! How thoughtful. It wasn't something you can just admire from afar. You can go right inside!

You can also walkthrough walkways and doorways surrounded by tree branches/roots. Warning signs are everywhere to mind your head, mind your steps etc. It wasn't a place you can just walk in dreamily or you are gonna get hurt!

On the 2nd storey, tree branches are also in the path. That is, after all, the nature of a tree, lol. So don't be too busy talking to your friend when you are here, or you will get knocked right out of your skin!

The view from upstairs is just as amazing if not more. It was something you rarely see cause. And here, even on the roof, you can see mother nature taking over. Oh man, suddenly, I think I really need to go visit Angkor Wat one of these days! But first, I'm gonna start with the ruins of Ayutthaya Thailand first! Stay tune! It's gonna be a semi-solo trip to Bangkok in June 2024 if all goes as planned!

Back to Tainan, here is another view from the top looking down. The wooden flooring they have installed on the first floor makes it easier to walk, and blends in with the surrounding. I love the brown and green of the place, and it was such a beautiful day to explore this whimsical site too!

Here above is just one part of the tree house. Anping used to be a salt production area, and there is a connection bridge over some swamp/river/water area that you can go over to to take a look. It is part of the property, and I think it was still work in progress. I'll tell you more about it in my next post!

Leaving you with a mirror image of me at the tree house. The whimsical dial went up a notch at some part of the tree house where they installed mirrors, and also some small exhibition of the tree house. Goes to show how creative you can be to turn something so mundane and lost, into a treasure of your town. Good job Anping!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan, Exploring Anping

Day 2 and I was up early. Needed to find the bus stop to Anping, a town I was going to explore for the day. The bus stop was a bit tricky to find, almost 15mins walk from my hotel. Luckily it was in front of a hospital, so it shouldn't be that hard to find. I recall there was a mantou and soya milk stall nearby. I wanted to try it since there was a constant people buying from it in the morning. I eventually did on my way home :)  Above is a photo of the bus stop, and the bus #2 heading to Anping. I was off on my adventure again!

The bus ride was almost 30mins, and the reason I wanted to come to Anping was to see a beautiful old bayan tree house. After alighting in the middle of nowhere and headed to the wrong direction, I finally came to my senses and found the entrance. I guess not many  people visit this place? Lol. Trust me to find a weird attraction to visit. Above was the entrance, and the ticket booth was attended by an aunty that was in no hurry to go anywhere and wanted to talk to me forever....

And so she sold me a combination ticket! Maybe that was what she wanted to talk to me about? For 210NT, it wasn't a bad deal. It had all the places I wanted to visit anyway, plus a weird out-of-the-way fort which I could get to by bus. Ha! None of that was gonna happen. I was just gonna WALK there!

Anyway, the combination ticket was really quite a good deal. I ended up visiting the 4 main sites, plus I used a discount coupon to visit the Confucious school in Tainan town the next day too. Not only that, I passed the ticket on to my Taipei ex-colleague so that he can use it to bring his family to come visit Tainan! What a deal! We all win in the end!

The thing about combination ticket is, you never knew where you might end up in. So I ended up in the house of Zhu Jiu-Ying, a house of calligraphy from the former elder of Anping. Since I love calligraphy, I spend about 30minutes here admiring the beautiful scrolls of writing, most which I couldn't read. But I did took photos of the two that I could read below! I'm just gonna leave there here for you to admire.

An interesting thing happened at this residence house. I saw what looked like a mango tree outside from the 2nd storey balcony. As I exit the house, I asked an aunty was it a Taiwanese mango tree? And why were they not eating the fruits which I could see scattered all over the ground? Were they not sweet? The aunty answered that they were indeed mangoes. Would I like to try one? She brought me back to the ticket booth, and ask another aunty to get me a mango from the fridge! She handed me one, and ask me to go wash it and eat it behind the garden. Wow! That was not what I was expecting from my conversation! I asked her how do I cut it. She told me to just bite into it.... okay...... I thank her and went to eat my mango. Visitors were starting to arrive, and they saw a weird me eating a mango like a monkey underneath some bayan tree, lol. Thankfully the mango was soft and sweet, and cold! It was so refreshing in the summer heat. I went to thank the aunty, and she told me to come back after my visit to the bayan tree and she will give me more mangoes! Okay...... See, I told you, Tainan aunties are AMAZING!

Off I went to explore the Anping Tree House just behind the residence. There was a cafe there which I went to take a look at excitingly. Sadly, it was closed.....

Finally, arriving at the tree house, it was everything I imagine it to be, if not more! My imagination was quite limited when it comes to tree houses. Above is a nice sign and map of the tree house, with the tree roots just behind in the background. 

I love old trees. And even if paying to come see a house ruin by tree is dumb, it was just magical for me. One of the very first thing I saw, even before reaching the tree house, which eating my mango, was this beautiful love shape sunlight shining thru the roots of the bayan tree. Can you see it? This was a magical place, I just knew it! Will share more in the next few post dedicated to Anping Tree House. But first, a summary of my day in Anping. 

I saw this sign in Anping Town later on. Ha! Where is a sign when you are lost? But basically none of the sign was very helpful. I use my GPS all the way, or ask people along the way.

The aunty at the tree house did gave me a map.  I took a photo of it, and here numbered my path of the day from #1 to #4, #4 being the dumbest place to visit, a solid almost 30-40 minutes walk away in the hot sun! It was call the Golden Palace, but it was neither made of gold, or remotely gold in colour, and it was NOT a palace! It was a fort. And not even a very remarkable fort. But since it's included in my combination ticket, I was determined to visit it even if I have to grumble about it for the rest of my life about it! That was part of the travelling experience! Lol. And yes, the tree house aunty did gave me a bag of 6 mangoes. I didn't want to ask for it when I finished touring the tree house, but she spotted me and waved me over. Handing me a heavy plastic bag full of mangoes, she kept repeating that these were organic mangoes, no pesticide. They might be bruise as they were picked from the ground. Put them in the fridge if not eating them right away. OK!!!! Luckily, I have a small fridge in my hotel room! Those mangoes were delicious! Well worth the combination ticket price!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan First Day Night View and Supper

 

First night in Tainan, and I am surrounded by mystical lightings everywhere I went! Above is the beautiful Chihkan Tower as I made my way back after a long day of wandering around. The red building, along with the green trees, slightly dark and the still slightly blue dusk sky.... It was almost like a magical wonderland. I love the whole atmosphere of this place...

Above were scenes from when I walked back from Garden Night Market, just before the sun sets. Almost every corner of Tainan's little alley, there are shrines and temples. Just small ones, maybe just a square building tucked among the residential units, or shop houses etc. They were decorated elaborately, and felt old in age...

Portal where paper offerings are burned are also found scattered all over the alley. The belief system here seems to be very ancient, and very old, yet very much alive.... There was just something magical about it, yet dark and mystical.... As I explore more of the temples during my stay here, although I wandered into most, paying my respect along the way, I can't help recalling the movie Incantation, a Taiwanese horror movie about the religion in the south of Taiwan. I was careful where I went....

Sunset view in one of the alley...

Dark alley ways like these with old paper lanterns marked certain area of the Tainan old town. I took the photo from outside, but dare not venture in to disturb the peace within. 

Back on the main road, commercial paper lanterns also decorated the shop houses.

People were busy having their dinner by the time I reached the place I had my lunch. Seems like a popular place. Seems very Malaysian too. I felt pretty much at home here.

Although I've eaten an early dinner, and bought back snacks from the night market, the summer heat and all the walking seems to justify an ice cold treat. I came across Anping Soya Milk and decided to went in and ordered the cheapest dessert there, lol. It was another pre-view of my upcoming journey. I was headed to Anping town the next day. Anyway, above was just grass jelly ball with syrup water or winter melon water. It was too sweet, and too much for me. But the ice cold taste of it was refreshing. I took note that I should ease off the sweet drinks. It was easy to over drink fruit juice and desserts in this hot weather. Although it kept me hydrated, it also contains a lot of sugar. So I needed to keep these reward to a limit!

Gah, Chinese is so hard to read. Sure there is Google Translator! But then, what's the fun of that. Sometimes miscommunication is part of the joy of travelling. I remembered once in Korea, I wanted to order a bowl of white rice, and gesture my hand in a shape of a bowl to the owner, but ended up ordering a bowl of soup instead.... After that incident, I can now say "bap" properly lol. Sometimes hand gesture can also be misunderstood!

My dreamy walk back to the hotel. My fairy tale trip in lovely Tainan. Would you believe it that this is how I feel now while writing this, but I didn't like Tainan at all when I arrive. Cause the road and alley was confusing, and everything was quite a far walking distance away. But looking back, Tainan had the nicest and cheapest food in general. I would love to go back again. It also has the friendliest aunties!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan First Day Lunch, Dinner and Garden Night Market

 

As I arrived before the hotel check-in time, my room was not available, so I went in search of my lunch. I know it was in the middle of the summer heat, but winter melon pork rib soup sounded divine to me! And this was the place I had to request for a bowl of rice, and the guy was hesitant to sell it to me. Apparently they don't just sell white rice.... But the winter melon soup was delicious! I actually came back here again the next day, and added the prawn rolls. The prawn rolls were the best I had! I tried to come here again before I left Tainan, but it so happened to be their off day :(

While exploring the hotel surroundings, I wondered into nearby temples and alley, and stopped by for some ice winter melon drink from a small shop. I strike up a conversation with the lady owner, and she asked me to come back for dinner. So I did, at around 5pm. Above was the noodle I ordered along with a bowl of soup (what is with me and hot soup in summer!). Sadly, the food was not very nice. But I guess I made the lady owner happy seeing me back :)  I didn't minded supporting local businesses, even if the food was subpar. Sometimes, it's more than just the food, it is about supporting a culture that has existed there for such a long time....

After dinner, I took a walk to look for Garden Night Market, supposing to be the biggest night market in Tainan. It was a good 20 minutes walk or so away! I did not enjoy the walk at all! But the night market was huge!

They sold all sorts of food. Some I couldn't read what it was, and didn't know how to order either. I like the giant woks in the above stall, cause it reminded me very much of a ramadan bazaar in Penang where they also sell curries in such big wok. Actually, Tainan reminded me very much of Penang. The alleys are charming like Penang, roads are old and small, and there were food almost everywhere! It was a very ancient place, and the people were rather friendly.

Lot's of Taiwanese sausages too. I am strangely quite vegetarian friendly when I travel. I don't really crave meat that much.

The fruit jelly balls were also available here, and cheaper too! But I've already had those in KaohSiung, so I skipped it this time round.

On this day, I was gonna try potato balls! I never buy this anywhere else like Singapore or Malaysia, cause it's a lot more expensive. But in Taiwan, it was cheaper, especially outside of Taipei. So I bought these as snacks.

I also bought these scallion pancakes. I actually can't really read the chinese character at first, but then I saw the English words beneath it. Thank goodness. Still, I went for their recommended original flavoured one. But unlike the usual pancake, these were cut up in to strips. So it's kinda like fries.

The night market area was so huge that there were ample space to sit down and have a proper meal without people banging into you. I think this would be a great place to come with a group of friends. You can just sit down, order a variety of food for sharing. 

Game stall at Taiwan night market was a common sight. Kids playing pin ball games and game of chance was also quite common. I guess it's in the Chinese blood to tempt lady luck....

But the game stall at this night market was quite something else! I've never seen so many stalls! And I didn't know you could play mahjong in a night market game stall! I didn't know how the rule works though....But I found it very facinating.

More game stall, with prizes to be won!

My snacks for the day. I left while it's still light, cause I hate getting lost in a new town when my mobile is out of battery. But I didn't go back yet. I just walk back to where my hotel was at and explored more of the area before calling it a day. Next post will be about that. 

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - KaohSiung > Tainan via Train

   

At last, my last day in KaohSiung was about to come to an end. It was my last morning there, and I have a late morning train to catch. I laze around a bit, packed up my bags before making my way to the station. 

Here's my ticket to my next destination, Tainan. It was just less than an hour ride away.

Bye Bye Single Inn. I hated the loud lady on my floor, but the hotel itself was pretty great!

Had my last free breakfast of my stay here. The rest of the hotel does not have breakfast included :(

My train to Tainan.

Here is me at my seat. So one of the things I found helpful when I am researching trips online, is whether I can fit my small luggage together with me on the train. I am rather paranoid and don't like to put my luggage at the luggage area. I also don't have much arm muscle, so I hate using the overhead compartment. The train in Taiwan does fit my luggage at the seat area, but it was quite a tight squeeze. It was ok if no one was seated next to me. But if there was someone seated next to me, moving in and out was quite troublesome due to the leg rest that obstructs me from just rolling the luggage in or out.... FYI, I do not have such problem in Japanese train. I can always roll my luggage in :)

Reaching Tainan station, the hotel was a good 15 to 20 minutes walk from the train station. It was quite troublesome with my luggage, as the road wasn't smooth. I followed the main road towards the hotel, and then have to navigate some narrow alley to find the hotel. Thank goodness for GPS! Many reviewer said the hotel was hard to find, but I had no problem. The town of Tainan was filled with small alley ways as it's a very old town. But it was a charming place once you go into the older part of the town. Above photo is the alley where my hotel is at, it is just further down on the left. 

Some of the homes and shops were actually rather pretty! Like this restaurant here. But I checked the prices, and it was quite expensive, and I recall it serves fusion food. There were also other shops and cafe around. I must be quite a poor traveller, I hardly went into any coffee shops or restaurant. Mainly, I just eat street food or where the local would sit down for their meals. I wanted an authentic travel experience. It would be weird if I came all the way here, and had an ice mocha blended, or some italian cuisine!

Anyway, here is my single room. I stayed for 3 nights. There is a super big toilet attached. During the day, it was super hot as the sun shines right in, especially in the toilet. So I did a lot of laundry here! Haha. cause all my clothes would be dry by night time when I come back! There was also a fridge, and I had full control of the aircon. 

Although it was a pretty old style hotel, the locks were pretty high tech. When I checked in, the lady/guy (I don't really know how to address her/him) gave me a hotel card, with my room number, my pin number to open the door of my room, and the pin to open the front door of the hotel should I be back late. The front door pin changes every 3 days, so I had to remember a new number after my third day.... Luckily I didn't manage to lock myself out. I requested no housecleaning, even though the cleaner offered again on my last day. There really wasn't any need for it, I was quite happy having the room all to myself :)

Here's a address side of the hotel card.

And the hotel was like a 5 minutes walk to this beautiful Chihkan Tower! I passed by it many time walking up and down the road looking for food. I also went in one time with my combination ticket. Will have that up when I reach that posting!