Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (15)

Wow!! It’s been a long ‘e-walk’ if you have been following me. Sorry if my ‘e-walks’ had been to slow for you. Guess I love to take my time and enjoy the culture and views. =P

Anyway, this is nearing the end of the day (and also this series, I bet you must be saying… ‘finally’).

Well, I am now heading out from Anping Old Street (but still in Anping area) and walking along its perimeter.

As you can  see, the streets are quite narrow (and also a hot sunny day too)

Another place where you can see people hanging high up all the oyster shells (or can I say.. their collections) and I mean lots of it. Guess, from the picture you can really see the real quantity they have shelled.

Workers removing oysters from their shell. Yup, it’s a manual job and not auto.

As I head out along Pingsheng Rd, I came to a fisherman’s wharf. Lots of the fisherman and their boats anchored to the jetty.

From there you can take a stroll on Anyi Bridge which is one of the 3 bridges (maybe could be more) that were built across the Tainan canal for locals and tourist to get across from Tainan to Anping.  From this bridge you can look across to see Anping Harbour.

Next to the bridge I saw a long queue and as usual, my curiosity brought me there to see what is so good there.

Yup, they were selling ice cream on a cone. Nice to have on a hot day.

Cute little mobile stall in shape of a cartoon character. That really do get the children’s attention.

It was getting late. So, I had to head back to Tainan to catch my train back to Hsinchu. Catching a bus back was easy; #88 or #99.

Saw this robot made of scrap metal. Creative!

Do stay with me on  my last posting for this series which will be coming soon. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (14)

Welcome back!! Hope you like this series so far.

We are nearing the end of the series (but not that near) of this 2 days trips on history (& food too)

Down the alleys of Anping, you can find lots old houses. This one is made of red bricks.

Beautiful painting of Anping Sword Lions wall of the houses.

Another temple in the Anping Old Street

Anping Street map to help you find your way  around. It also shows you all the interesting places to visit there.

Long queue for…..?

Dessert time!! Here the menu. What do you like to have?

Me? I had the Anping Black Tofu pudding dessert. Taste? It was yummy. =) Definitely I will have it again if I visited here (Which I did a few months later. More on this in my coming posting)

 

Interesting so far? If yes, then just bear with me a little longer as we are near the end of this series. Just, keep following me if you haven’t to catch the end of this series.

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (13)

Hello! Thanks for staying me on my e-trip in Tainan, Taiwan.

I am now walking half way through Anping Old Street. Guess there are so much things to see and taste, that a walk that should take like 15 mins, took much much longer but it’s worth the slow walk. =)

Along the way, I saw this cultural and creative park with bamboo being the main material used to build the park.  The owner of this place has design elegant and ornate gifts and souvenirs based on Tainan’s mascot.. Mascot, you say? Yes, Tainan has a mascot.

It is Anping Sword Lions which is believe can cast out evil spirits and bring blessings. It was originated from the local traditional culture. You can find the Anping Sword Lions everywhere in the park and also 13 other animals.

Below is one of them.. the red one…

the blue one.

This one, you can see it in the park too.

Stalls selling gifts and souvenirs to visitors. Noticed that all the stalls are built by bamboo?

A fountain guarded by the Anping Sword Lions.

Walking out from the park, I detoured and walked along the small alleys in the Anping Old Street away from the busy street

Want to see the little alleys? If yes, then, follow me on the next posting and find out what there. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (12)

Hello! Where are we you may ask? Well, we are still in Anping Old Street, Tainan, Taiwan.

If you have been followed me in my previous posting, you will get the direction where I am heading.

Still walking along this long street, slowly, as there were so much things to see, many short stops to do some food tasting at the little snack stalls.=P

Here  we see a stall where kids, and adults too cooking their own caramel cake (if I am correct, pls correct me if I am wrong here)

Kids really enjoying this but of course, with their parents around to help them else the cake may be burnt or overcooked food.

Long queue for……? Well, this stall is selling pickled fruits. Guess locals love eating them.

Moving deeper into Anping Old Street……

Stall selling drink….

Prawn crackers. Lots of stall selling fresh made from crackers where they used machines to make them. Lots of different flavour to choose from.

 

The end? Well… we are 2/3 there in this series. Want more? Well.. yes, there’s more. Just stay tune. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (11)

Hello!!! If it is your first time dropping in to my blog, welcome!!

This series of my posting is on my trip to Tainan, Taiwan back  on Apr 2014. It’s a 2 days short weekend trip to enjoy the history and, mostly scouting for their local food snacks. This is my 2nd day walk about. If you have missed  my earlier posting of my 1st day and my earlier half of my 2nd day, do backtrack on my older post so that you can be up to speed with me on my ‘e-walk’ =)

We are walking along Gubao Street heading to the famous old street; Anping Old Street where where all the happenings are.

Now at one end of Anping Old Street……

As it was a weekend, it was packed with people, walking in all direction. It was a human jam. At times, it could be standstill (just for a few minutes though =P )

Lots of stalls selling snacks to hot cooked food, to souvenirs and clothes and other stuff.

hhmmmm what’s this?

and this?

.. guess there are way too much to choose from.

 

This is another shot in Anping Old Street at one end. Yup, the street is narrow with stalls on both sides.

 

Well, this is only part of Anping Old Street. Wanna see more? Then dun stop. Keep following me on my next posting. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (10)

Hi!! Glad you are still with me on this series. Yup, this is a long one. =) Hope I amnot boring you.

Anyway, still in Tainan’s Anping Old Street. By now, it is already mid noon in Spring and it is a bit too hot for me (even with bermudas and T), and already started to sweat. Guess Tainan is most further south and it can get a bit (or much more) hotter than Taipei.

Ok. Back to where I left off in my last posting. Walking along the alleys in Anping Old Street, you can find lots of nice and unique old houses that really captures your eyes.

Walking further down towards one end of street, saw this old Catholic Church; St. Laurentius Church (1956). In fact, about 10% of the city’s population are Catholic.

Mobile stall with wheels selling snack.

Another temple in Anping area; Anping Matsu Temple

 

That weekend when I was there, there had some martial arts performance for the locals and visitors.

 

Martial art students getting ready for their performance.

Walking down Anping road and Gubao Street, guess what I saw?

You must be wondering what’s all these basket loads? Well, there are oyster shells.

Workers removing the oysters from their shells.

 

… just look at the pile of oyster shells. Anyone wanna guess how many oysters are there in that pile? Imagine eating half a load of that!! LOL!!!

 

Well… the journey does not end here. My series still goes on. If wanna to more, then keep following me on this ‘e-trip’. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (9)

Hi!! Thanks for staying with me till this far of my series. If you have missed my earlier half, pls do have a look so that you will be up to speed on my e-travel. =)

We are still in Anping Old Street, Tainan. Yup, in the middle of hot day, walking along the old streets of Anping on a weekend can be a challenge. It is getting more crowded as it gets further to the evening.

Animal shaped pancake. Aren’t they cute?

Colourful handmade handicrafts..

I diverted from the Old street and walked along some the small alleys that lead to homes of the locals there. Once you are in there, it’s like a maze (Maze walker) . =)

Beautiful view of the old houses and structures.

and not forgetting temples also.

 

Reflection shot.

Old banged up red door which is the entrance to someone home.

 

Like it? Well, this is still not the end yet. More posting coming. Just stay tune and keep following me. =)

Taiwan – Tainan; 2 Days Trip on History of Day 2 (8)

Welcome back!!

Hope you enjoyed my series on my Tainan; 2 days History trip. Well, we are just only half way through this 2nd day of my series.

To get some of you up to speed, we are currently at Anping Old street in Tainan city.  Walking down this historical place and enjoying the scenic of old building and houses, and… and not forgetting the street food that are available here.

A shot of an old house of it’s window (panels). Yup, red bricks.

 

Locals and tourists walking in the street market.

 

Food time!!! Looks like one of the famous ones. How do I know? You can they have pictures of the owner with famous personalities that have throng to their place. Guess.. it must be good then. =P

 

Menu? Easy. If you do not read Chinese. Just point at the photos when you order. haha… that’s what I did. =)

 

This is their menu where you place your order by putting the quantity you want next to the item you like, then you bring it to the counter, pay and wait for your meal to be sent to your table.

 

hhhmmm.. what’s this? Toasted bread?

 

Yup, it is but it has chowder filling in the center of the toasted bread. Any guess what’s called?

 

Well… it’s called coffin toasted bread! Guess the picture tell the whole story how the name came about.

More food? Well… yes of course. Stay with me on the next posting to see more. =)

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. =)

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. =)