Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (7)

Hello! Welcome back…. we are now at Anping Old street where Fort Zeelandia is this area. Yup we are still in Tainan, in case that you aren’t sure where we are. =P

By noon time, there are lots of street stalls selling food, accessories, cloths and others (while some are just setting up). Nice place to have a walk (provided if the weather is not too hot)

Saw this old huge cooking stove. Not sure it is for show or to used by one of the street vendors.  At the background, you could see the Fort Zeelandia walls or perimeters. This lane or street is still part of Gubao Street where I followed from the Old Tait & Co Merchant House.

In Taiwan,they are famous for night market. Over here, the market even starts during noon time till night. Stalls on both side of the street.

This stall is selling goose duck egg and they are really huge.

Deep fried snacks…..

Gotta watch out as motorbikes also as they share the road with the pedestrians too.

 

Statues along Gubao Street showing the history in this area.

 

One of the many small lanes in the Anping Old street that are interesting to explore. More pictures on these small lanes later on in my series.

 

Want to see more of this place? Well, it is just started. Stay tune and keep following me. =)

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Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (6)

Hi!! Time to move on. Still in Tainan but now we are heading away from Sihcao Ecological area to Anping Old Street. There are tourist shuttle buses; #99 (I know that for weekends, it is for sure they have this service and more also quite frequent) which you can catch at the bus stop outside the Dazhong Temple.

So, hopped on and got off Anbei Street; Tait & Co. stop and my walking journey in Anping Old Street begins.

Walked on the pathway and this caught my eyes; they had mosaic the important place to see here in stone. =)

A statue of Zheng Chenggong in Anping also known as Koxinga. Who is he you may ask? It literally means “Lord of the Imperial Surname”. He was a Chinese military leader who was born in Hirado, Japan to the Chinese merchant/pirate Zheng Zhilong and his Japanese wife Tagawa Matsu, and died on Formosa. He led his troops on a landing at Lu’ermen to attack the Dutch colonists in Dutch Formosa. He was also the champion of the Ming in their struggle to maintain their dynasty against the surging Manchu Qing who would ultimately take over China and serve as its final dynasty before becoming a republic.

Moving on, we moved to the Old Tait & Co Merchant House. With the expulsion of the Dutch from Taiwan in 1662, it  was not the end of European traders in Taiwan nor in Anping, but it took an Opium War to officially open the doors to trade. In fact, Anping was one of the four harbors opened to foreign trading on Taiwan as per the treaty of Tianjin signed in 1858. The company opened shop in 1867 and, together with Bains & Co, Boyd & Co, Wright & Co, and Julius Mannich & Co, made up one of the five main foreign trading firms in Anping. Only the company buildings of Julius Mannich and Tait remain from this era. The Tait & Company building is well-preserved and has been made into a mini-museum. I will show more in my next series. For now, it just an outside view. =)

 

This is the main entrance.

 

 

Walking along Gubao Street, there are mix houses of the old and new.

 

Walking towards the heart of Anping old street, is the famous Fort Zeelandia (or also know as Anping Old Fort) which was built on the foundations of the Dutch stronghold .The fort was the anchor point of early settlements in Tainan for both the Dutch and the Chinese, and much of the settlement’s history lies in Anping’s old streets surrounding the fort.

 

More? Well, join me on the next series to the Anping Old street walk about. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (5)

Welcome back!! Guess you wanted to see what  it looks like in the Dazhong temple in the Sihcao Ecological Park. Glad that you are back. =)

It’s really beautiful and detailed architecture (not to mentioned it’s really red inside too =) ).

On the other side outside the temple, of course there’s food stalls and what’s famous in Tainan? It’s the oyster.

For me, I wanted something light as I know I will be heading to another place where there’s even more food to try and eat. So, I have to leave space in my stomach and take it is easy here. LOL!!

What’s light? Well, the prawn tempura; lots of prawns on a piece.

Deep fried oyster with chives

Filled with oysters cook in deep fried coated with dough and chives.

.. and my deep fried prawn tempura.

That’s for making my stomach happy for a short while. Now, to head to my next destination. Where? Follow me and find out. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (4)

Hello!!! Well if you missed my early posting, it’s on my cruise to see the mangroves and also the wildlife along the canal.

In fact, this posting is on my trip back to the canal station or beginning point. Now I am enjoying the view from the opposite direction.

Saying ‘hi’to the other canal cruise folks who is heading the opposite direction. I guess you can see why we were all wearing the straw hats. The sky is so clear with so little clouds. Yup…. it was hot!!

This is a shot which I took after my canal cruise from a bridge across the canal where the cruise boat will go under.

Next to the canal cruise, is a beautiful architecture of the temple; Dazhong Temple. It is a legendary temple with almost 300 years of history. In fact, Dazhong means “mass of people”. It used to be a temple for ancestors or unknown deaths around the neighborhood.

Shots from the front of the Dazhong temple.

 

.. a closer shot.

 

This is a shot from the side…

In the temple, you will see many paintings on the wall and roof telling traditional Chinese stories and a beautiful caisson, a spider web ceiling, when you look up. There are also many other statues of deities and generals being worshiped in the temple.

Wanna see what’s inside? Then follow me on the next posting. =)