Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan City Walk

 

To be honest, I didn't know what else to do on my last day in Tainan. So I decided I will go check out a Japanese department store call Hayashi in town. It's an old retro department store, and from the internet, it looked really retro! Something that I like! So from Shennon Street, I think I walked all the way to town, lol. It was actually quite near by hotel :P

I had no problem finding it, thanks for Google GPS. But I was way early. So I thought I'll just wander around town and see what's there to check out. Shennong Street actually took less time than I expected. It was just a short street, really. But the town, the town was pretty amazing. Maybe because I didn't do much research on it, but I was amazed at some of the nice buildings I saw while I took a walk around waiting for Hayashi to open. 

For example, I found the Tainan Art Museum. I didn't go in cause it cost money. 

While walking around wondering where to head to, I actually kept smelling this nice fragrance smell of food in the air. So I followed my nose and found a shop with non-stop customer buying their breakfast at a corner shop. I cross the road to get there, and apparently they were selling "bowl cake". You can actually still find this dish in Singapore. I had it once before, probably in Alexandra or Tiong Bahru Area. But here in Tainan, the smell was amazing!

I ordered a bowl. They seller tried to ask me something, but I couldn't understand! lol. But they gave me a bowl of the above anyway, and I went to a table. I remember there were condiments on the table, and one of them was garlic paste. Oh mine, how wonderful it taste with the garlic paste. The cake was delicious, and I finished it. It was also rather cheap, and I left smelling of garlic! One of those unexpected surprisingly good find. It was a food I would normally not order too. But I'm glad I trusted myself and my nose on this occasion. 

Walking around lost, I saw many beautiful old buildings. Everything was quite well maintained. It reminded me of wandering around Singapore City Hall area, where all the small museums are. You can zoom into the photos to see the places I guess. Above is the Yeh-Shyr-Tau Literary Memorial Museum.

I think this one is a court? My mandarin is not that good....hehe

Above is the National Museum of Taiwan Literature. 

They have an exhibit on food on. For some reason, I was interested, but for some reason, I didn't went in. Perhaps it was not yet opened when I walked pass.

But it was a beautiful old building and I walked all around it. Thank you blue sky for making it a lovely day shot!

There was also a retro fire station nearby with the fire trucks outside. I love looking at fire stations in Taiwan. They sometimes have boats too for typhoon and flooding. Also, Taiwanese fireman is quite a good tourist attraction! lol

There was also a concrete bank building nearby. An old proper building that you can just tell it's a bank. With probably vault and cells and stuff inside. Like something out of a Batman movie where the bad guys are robbing a bank in Gotham City. Have my imagination run wild again? Sorry. I took the photo because I'm in the banking industry, ok? Better? 

Lastly, a beautiful school just next to the Confucius Temple. It was an active school too! With students inside! But they do fence up the place a bit so that tourist like me won't accidentally trespass inside. In short, Tainan City was a wonderful place for a casual walk. I did visit a few notable places along the way: The Human Rights Museum (because it was opened and it was free), the Confucius Temple (because I have a discounted coupon from my Anping Combination Ticket!), and of course Hayashi Department Store where I did my very first splurge of my trip! More on those coming up!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Shennong Street

 

I had one last full day in Tainan, so I decided to drop by Shennong Old Street to check it out before I head into town. According to some of the review from mostly Mat Salleh, it was an amazing beautiful street. I saw some of the videos on youtube and wasn't too impressed. But since it was highly recommended, and since I was already here, might as well pop by and judge for myself.... But first, breakfast!

These are the beautiful free organic mangoes I got for free from Anping Tree House the day before. Aren't they gorgeous? I don't even know if I can finish all of them since I was leaving the next day!

I ate one before I left the hotel. No knife. Just using my teeth to sink into the skin, and tear it up to get to the flesh. I felt so barbaric, so primal. Yet it does get the job done! After this experience, I'm no longer intimidated by a mango! Knowing very well if I can cut it right, I can always bite into it :P

As a respect to the owner of the mango tree, here is an official information about him above. Lol.  I also vowed to take up calligraphy when I am older! I promise! Actually it isn't that hard a promise to keep, I quite like Chinese calligraphy even when I was in school :)

Shennong Street was walking distance from my hotel. Soon you will realise, almost everything is walking distance from my hotel! Hahaha! Actually, anything less than 45mins is considered walking distance for me. And when I got there, it was early morning, so it was pretty empty. Above was one of the houses before turning into Shennong Street. Kinda reminded me of Chew Jetty houses in Penang, right? 

Walking in, it was just a single street, with two rows of houses, and most of the houses were made of wood, and  decorated with paper lanterns in the front. Lots of scooters parked here and there too.

There were also quirky alleys like the one here, with paper lanterns in them. The reviewer did say it looked magical at night. I can imagine. But I am also an early sleeper and hate walking around lost at night in a foreign land. So no thanks! Not this time anyway.

I like a cute cat shop. I didn't know paper lanterns can also be made cat themed! 

There was also this cute house above. I suspect some of the houses here were airbnb lodging, or cafe. 

At the end of the street, there was a tall temple. I suspect it was a mazu temple, as almost all temples are in Taiwan. For some reason, I decided to wander into it. I wanted to go upstairs to take a look. I can hear chanting and bells ringing from above. There were two old uncles seated inside the temple chatting. I asked in hokkien whether it was ok for me to go upstairs. They didn't seems to mind, so up I went! 

Upstairs, a mid hall that looks like a pantry perhaps? Everything here looked old. It reminded me of some of the clan halls in Penang, like the one my Dad used to play badminton in, the Ong Kongsi at Burmah Road. Something like that, but older and more run down. I don't know how to described it, I was fascinated. 

Here is a picture of the stairways, and the toilet. Doesn't it look creepy and old school? Maybe I should have left there and then? I did thought about it, lol, Incantation still fresh in my memory. I was, after all, in the south of Taiwan, unknown temple, not sure what they were worshipping here. But still, up I went, into the halls, and this was what I saw....

Three ladies chanting prayers and praying at the altar. They didn't seemed to care whether I was there or not. I try to be as invisible as I could. For some reason, I felt privilege to have stumbled into this private session. None of that would have happened if I haven't decided that I wanted to go up the temple. My brother once told me that I shouldn't walked into temples like I own them, lol. But I have always been one that have made peace with any religious place. Shouldn't all religious places welcome people in??? Go figure!

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Chihkan Tower Part 2

What a beautiful sight. I thought I would have been happy just standing outside the gate looking in, not wanting to waste money coming in to see an old house. How wrong I was. Thank you combination ticket. You made me see things I would never have seen on my own :) As the sun set, the Chihkan Tower turned into a whimsical mysterious place. It didn't feel very Chinese actually. It felt almost South East Asian....

The Chinese lanterns started to light up and look even prettier.

And at the courtyard, lights bounces off the concrete walls, stones and sand to create a warm ambiance of the garden.

Ah, the beauty of a Chinese Garden. <3

Outside where the stone tablets were, the lights shined on them, as if to activate them. Have you seen Mulan, the animated movie from Disney? Yes, like in the movies! Tablets activated!

From a different view <3

At the garden, chairs were available to sit and admire the beauty. The garden trees were also lighted up and decorated with auspicious decorations and symbols. 

I'm so happy and glad I somehow stumbled into this wonderland on my own. It was a happiness that was hard to express. The feeling of awe at something so old and beautiful, sometimes can bring a tear to my eyes. As night falls, I left the magical kingdom and made my way back to my hotel.

But along the way, shops were also lighted up so elegantly.

Even old stalls held their charms with Chinese paper lanterns, plastic chairs at the eateries, old uncle cooking up a dish for families, and a scooter parked in front. Somehow, I managed to fall in love with Tainan after grumbling about it yesterday. How easy my heart was stolen by this very humble place. I hope they will stay true to themselves always, and not be swept by the wave of tourism in the future. Good night Tainan. 

 

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Chihkan Tower Part 1

Around 630pm or so, I walked to Chihkan Tower, just a few minutes walk from my dinner place. I asked the ticket attendance what time was best to go in to see the sunset. Does it matter, I was already there, so I went in anyway. I know it was a small place, but I guess I could find something to do while waiting for the sun set?

Ta-Dah! My things to do! Feeding fish! Inside the compound, there was a pond. And it has so many fat orange koi fish inside just swimming all over each other. Their colour was so vibrant that I was mesmerised by them. 

The pond actually ran all over the ground, not just the front. I thought they were so beautiful.

I got me self some fish food and slowly settle in to feed them as slowly as possible, lol. Got to make them last till sunset! Some people came near me as I was feeding the fishes. They were so big!

Here's a nice shot of them. I had plenty of time! Actually, I saved half of the fish food for later. I decided to go inside the tower first.

Walking through the moon gate, it leads into the inner courtyard of the tower ground.

And up those stairs to enter the tower. There were some other temple next to it, but it was closed for, you guess it, renovation in summer! They were restoring some stone tablet there. What a waste for me.

The Chihkan Tower was just like a double storey old Chinese house. 

The colour of red and blue was beautiful, as where the old Chinese lanterns hanging inside.

Going up the stairs was interesting. As this was an old house, limited people were allowed upstairs at any one time. And from upstairs, you can look down to see the whole ground area like the above photograph.

There was a statue below which I guess, people pray to? Lord Kui Xing. Below is the instruction on how to get a pencil from him. Maybe to pass exams? I didn't partake in it. I wasn't in need of a pencil. But I did think his status was beautiful. You can almost feel his presence here :)

I didn't need the instructions to understand how it works. As a Chinese growing up, we use the same method when praying to our ancestors. Specifically we use it to ask if they are around when we offer food for them during Hungry Ghost or Cheng Meng festival, and ask again if they are done so that we can keep the food and burn the offerings. You can ask anything else in between, but it's kinda like a one way conversation, not very interesting, lol. 

Sun setting as I waited on the 2nd floor balcony of the tower :)

Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan Bus Ride Back from Anping

Getting back to Tainan from Golden Palace was a bit challenging. I didn't know where the bus stop was, so I asked  more aunties, and they pointed me to where I might find a bus stop. Skeptical, I even asked if the bus actually passes there, lol. The bus stop was placed in front of a car garage -______-  There was another solo guy there waiting, so I guess I'm at the right place. Google map did tell me what time the bus was arriving, so I waited. It was a long route. In fact, the bus was going all the way up to Anping again before making a u-turn and going back to town. Yippieeee

I would also like to share with you another bus stop, that can be easier to spot, and has the word Tainan Sightseeing Bus!  But guess what, it only operates  on weekends and public holidays! WHY?????

Anyway, I didn't mind the long bus ride. It has aircon! And the bus was relatively empty, and cheap too! And I get to sightsee along the way!

Lovely view of the river and housing areas along it. 

Finally I made it back to Tainan town. The stop was near the hospital where I started in the morning, so I decided to walk back to the hospital to see if the mantou shop was still open. Along the way, I passed by some alley and snapped the above pix for no reason, really. I just kinda love it. Slice of life photo for me. And thankfully by the time I got there, the mantou store was still open.

Above is my late lunch, of about 2pm? I got a black soya bean milk, I LOVE black soya milk, and it's kinda hard to find in Penang. A very nice Ipoh lady used to sell the nicest black soya milk at Pearl Hill near where I stay, but she stopped selling it after expecting her child. The one I had here was just so-so. I also had a yam mantou. I though it would be yam paste, but it was just cube of yam sticking all over the mantou. Can't complaint really, I love yam in any way, lol. I'm a yam fan! I have one more tourist attraction to visit, but it had to be in the evening, and it's only 5 minutes walk from my hotel. So I stayed in thr hotel with the aircon on, and rested till around dinner time (meaning 5pm for me :P  ) before heading out to my favourite winter melon soup stall!

I ordered the winter melon pork rib soup, and they didn't even protest when I asked for a bowl of rice. I added some prawn rolls too, and oh my god! Delicious prawn roll! I wish I've ordered that yesterday. I told myself I was gonna order that again the next day. Ha! Sadly, this was the only time I managed to eat it. How sad. Maybe I'll go back one day. And have this delicious meal again :)  I still miss it whenever I think about it. It was just such a comforting food in a foreign land.