Hualien and the Taroko Gorge

Taroko Gorge, Hualien

Our last stop in Taiwan was Hualien, and a visit to the Taroko Gorge.

We didn't really see much of the town, as we were only here for one full day, which we spent at the gorge, but we did visit the Ziqiang night market.



Lanterns, Hualien

It is a busy place, with a good variety of foods on offer. Some of the stalls are just takeaway, others have a big seating area. The food was decent and good value.

Taroko Gorge, Hualien

The next morning, we took a bus out to the Taroko National Park to see the gorge. Not having our own transport, so unable to get to the different areas, we only did a small section, but it was the main part of the gorge.



Taroko Gorge, Hualien

We walked temple Yanzikou (Swallow Grotto) Trail, which took us through the area where the swallows are, and past the Chieftain's Profile Rock.



Taroko Gorge, Hualien

We would have done the Jiuqudong (Tunnel of Nine Turns) Trail as well, which is supposed to be the best section, but the pathway way closed off.



Not that anyone had told us that, the (initially very helpful looking) website had said it was all open, but never mind. We managed to get one of the infrequent buses, and rode the rest of the way to Tianxing, getting at least some view of the gorge from the road.



Taroko Gorge, Hualien

Tianxing has a pagoda, and a few places to eat. We had a quick bite, then ended up just getting the bus back.

The gorge isn't anything special, but it was OK. It wasn't helped by the better trail being closed, or by the fact that as you are walking along, you constantly have rows of tour coaches parked alongside, where there drop the Chinese tourists off for a quick look and a few selfies before taking them on to the next spot.



Tianxiang, Hualien

 We are lucky to be seeing some really great sights these days, and so it is hard to be impressed by something that's just OK. Which was kind of what we found in general about Taiwan. We lived many of the beautiful temples, and we liked the way that this was such a real and honest country, with nice friendly people, but the sights weren't as good as we had hoped. We gather from speaking to some of the expats in Tainan, that it is better if you have your own transport and can get up into the mountains, so if we come back, we will do that.

A bit more Tainan - Anping

Anping Old Fort, Tainan

One of the main tourist areas in Tainan is Anping, which is the oldest parts of town. You can get a free shuttle bus there from town.

The Old Fort was one of the earliest settlements, the Dutch fort was originally called Orlando, then Fort Zeelandia. The Dutch were forced out by Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga), who had come from China with a couple of thousand soldiers, intending to establish Taiwan as his base from which to increase his army, to invade China.



Anping Old Fort, Tainan

Although Zheng's army was larger than the Dutch forces, the Dutch at Fort Zeelandia were superior. Force of numbers led the Dutch at take Fort Provintia (now the Chihkan Tower) in town, to surrender to Zheng, who then executed them, but he could not initially take this one.



Anping Old Fort, Tainan

He laid siege to Fort Zeelandia for nine months, which left the Dutch hungry and disease ridden, causing one of them to detect and give important military information to Zheng. With that knowledge, and a severely weakened target, he attacked, and this time was successful. The Dutch surrendered on 1 February 1662, and as a mark of respect for their determination, he allowed them to leave safely.



Anping area, Tainan

The fort then became Anping Castle, until the Japanese came and renamed it Dutch Fort, before destroying it and rebuilding it as Anping Fort, which is not really a fort. A few bits of the original remain, a couple of sections of walk and the remnants of two bastions, but most is new, including an observation tower. The fort now houses a museum, but again, the information available in English is limited.

Anping Treehouse, Tainan

In Dutch times, the area was the centre of shipping trade for Tainan, and there were five foreign merchant houses, some of which can still be seen. These largely went out of business when the Japanese took control in 1895, and took the monopolies for trade in camphor and opium, leaving them only sugar.


Anping Treehouse, Tainan

One of the merchant houses, Tait & Co, later the Taiwan Salt Corporation, had a warehouse next door.





Anping Treehouse, Tainan

It fell into disuse in the second half of last century, and was left to nature. Pagoda trees took root in the buildings, and have grown around and through the walls. This mix of man made building and nature is now being preserved, and is worth a quick visit if you're in the area.



Coffin Toast, Tainan

There are a number of places to eat in the area, including places to try the coffin toast, which is basically a box made out of fried bread with a thick seafood broth inside it. Nic liked it.


Tianhou Temple, Tainan

 Needless to say, there are a few temples here too. We visited the ones close by, which were the Anping Tianhou Temple, dedicated to Mazu and Koxinga, and the Miaoshou Temple, which had some great pieces of origami.

Tianhou Temple, Tainan

Tianhou Temple, Tainan

Miaoshou Temple, Tainan



Miaoshou Temple, Tainan

Miaoshou Temple, Tainan

Tainan

Sidianwu & Da Tianhou Temples, Tainan

From Sun Moon Lake we went to Tainan. We liked Tainan. Except for the pavements and moped combination. What is it about so many places in Asia, that mopeds drive and park on the pavements? Most of the time you can't walk along a pavement because it is regularly blocked by parked mopeds, and if it is clear of parked bikes, you are in danger of getting run over by a moving one. At least here fewer drive on the path, because there are regular steps up and down.



Sidianwu & Da Tianhou Temples, Tainan

Mopeds aside, Tainan is a nice liveable city. It is popular with expats, with lots coming out here to take advantage of decent money to teach English, as we discovered when we went down to the bars along Hai'an Road. We spent an enjoyable evening in a place called Dive Bar, chatting to a group of them. It seems a number of people come out here for a short stint, but end up staying.


Sidianwu & Da Tianhou Temples, Tainan

But we only had a few days here, so we had to get on with some sightseeing. First stop was a pair of temples, the Sidianwu Temple, which is a martial temple, and the Da Tianhou Temple.



Sidianwu & Da Tianhou Temples, Tainan

The latter was originally the palace of Emperor Ningjing, of the Ming Dynasty. It was converted to a temple dedicated to goddess Mazu, Tainan's most worshipped God, in around 1684 at the suggestion of admiral Hsis Long, in an attempt to get the Taiwanese to accept Chinese rule.

A stone tablet by Hsis Long, setting out the invasion and efforts to sooth the people, is the oldest Qing Dynasty tablet in the country.



Chihkan Tower, Tainan

Near to these temples is the Chihkan Tower. It is the site of a 1650s former Dutch colonial outpost, Fort Provintia, but that was destroyed and replaced by the tower. There are a lot of historical artefacts here, but unfortunately there isn't a great deal of information about them , or at least not in English. We found that quite a lot in Taiwan.


Chihkan Tower, Tainan



Chihkan Tower, Tainan

I did rather like the nine stone turtles, each carrying a stone tablet. Apparently the turtle is said to be one of the nine sons of the dragon, but he became a turtle because he like bearing heavy loads.









Chihkan Tower, Tainan



Chihkan Tower, Tainan



Tiangong Temple, Tainan

The next temple was the Tiangong Temple, known as the Alter of Heaven. It is dedicated to the Taoist Jade Emperor.









Tiangong Temple, Tainan

Chinese Taoists believe in fatalism, and this is where they come when things go wrong. They believe that they can pray to the Jade Emperor, and he will transfer their misfortune onto a straw doll, so they can be freed of them.



Tiangong Temple, Tainan

Tiangong Temple, Tainan

Beiji Temple, Tainan

The Beiji Temple was a former Dutch medical centre, but is now dedicated to the worship of Emperor of Mysterious Heaven.



Beiji Temple, Tainan



Beiji Temple, Tainan

Nearby is the only remaining Japanese weather station, dating back to 1897. It is known as the pepperpot, due to its shape.



Weather station, Tainan







Confucius Temple, Tainan

From here, we wandered past the grand building of the Taiwanese Literature Museum, and in to the Confucius Temple.


Royal Boards, Confucius Temple, Tainan

Built in 1666,  it has long been regarded as an important centre of learning, and  are very proud of their large collection of royal boards, given by each of the past rulers -  a bit like our royal warrants I think.



Confucius Temple, Tainan

Across the road from the temple is a nice little street called Fujhong (or Fuzhong) Street, with some nice little shops and places to eat. The Pan Gao stone archway as you go into the street dates from 1749, and was originally one of the gates to the Confucius temple.



Yonghua Temple, Tainan

There is also the nice little Yonghua Temple down one of the side streets.

Sun Moon Lake

Sun Moon Lake

From Lukang, we took the bus to Taichung, and then a second on to Sun Moon Lake.  It is called Sun Moon Lake because the little Lalu island is said to be shaped on one side like the sun and the other like a crescent moon. We came here because it is the biggest - in fact the only big - natural lake in Taiwan, and we had seen some lovely photos of it.

Sadly, this was one of those cases where reality didn't live up to expectation. The lake may be the biggest, but it still isn't all that big, and I don't know whether they used old photos, used Photoshop, or just found one very careful angle to take their photos from, but we weren't seeing the same scene that they did.

We stayed around the lake in Ita Thao, which was probably a mistake, as the bus doesn't run in the evenings and there aren't many places to eat or have a drink there. The other side has more. Also, from Ita Thao, you look out to the more built up area.

So we weren't that impressed with Sun Moon Lake. It didn't help that it was misty and raining most of the time we were there, so there was no point in taking a boat trip, or doing the cable car, because there was generally no view to be had. Perhaps if we'd have had some decent weather we would have felt differently.

We did find a nice tea shop though. That was good.

Lukang - lanes and the rest

Nine Turns Lane, Lukang

Because Lukang largely wasn't redeveloped like most towns are, it still retains some of its old narrow lanes. One of these is Nine Turns Lane, which may not have exactly nine bends in it, but is certainly winding.

The lanes twist around because the homes were built alongside the winding stream, and obviously the pathways followed. But the weaving lane had its advantages too -  not only did it make it harder for any invaders, but it also meant that the cold wintry winds didn't flow through, keeping the homes warmer.

Talking of invaders, the Ai gate here was built in 1830, so that they could close the gates at night as a defence against anyone attacking the town.

But Nine Turns Lane isn't the narrowest of lanes here, that honour goes to Touching Lane, so called not as an invitation, but because it was so narrow that two people going in opposite directions could not pass each other without touching. For that reason, it is said that a true gentleman will never walk down that lane.



Mock Weng walls, Lukang

One of the places that we visited here was the Folk Museum, which was really quite good as an introduction to how people used to live, what their homes were like, and even some of the work related things like the tests they would have to pass to get a government job. It is worth a visit if you're here.




Food, Lukang

One thing that people would have used daily was ceramic jugs. When the boats came from Quanzhou in China, they would need extra ballast, and one of the items they would use was ceramic jugs. When they were taken off the ship, locals would use them for fermenting wine and pickling vegetables. When a child was born, they would make a batch of wine, stored in these jugs.



Food, Lukang

If the child was a boy, The wine would be called Zhuang Yuan Hong, scholar red, and would be consumed at a party held to celebrate his 20th birthday. If it were a girl, it was called, Nuer Hong, daughter red, and would be used as a dowry when she married. Either way, once the jugs were empty, they would be reused to make weng walls, which were regarded as both aesthetic and thrifty.



Steam cakes, Lukang

One thing that we did struggle with a little in Lukang - or at least I did, Nic was OK, was finding any variety of suitable food. There was a small market, and a number of stalls, but they didn't have the range that we did in Taipei. One thing they did have was something they called 'small pipe bomb' but we decided not to try that - something about the name worried us!

We did try some of the brown sugar steam cake, and a few other types like green tea cake. They were quite tasty.



Ting Residence, Lukang

And we found a couple of nice places to have a drink. There was a nice French style cafe, and on the way back from that we passed what looked like a bar, although we weren't quite sure whether it was open, or if it had a private party or something.



Ting Residence, Lukang

As we were looking. Someone can out and beckoned us in, so in we went. As it turns out it was a small private party for the owners and their friends, but they were quite keen for us to have a drink and a few bits of food.

We didn't stay for long, but they told us we should come back to the cafe during the day and see the house at the back.


 

Ting Residence, Lukang

We were confused by this, but did go back, and sure enough were shown through to the back of the cafe, into a courtyard where there is a museum.  The whole building, the cafe, two shop fronts either side, and the whole back section, were all part of an old merchant's mansion.

The Ting Residence is quite interesting, and there are a few exhibitions inside, including hand held notice boards, calligraphy, paintings and origami. Like many places in Taiwan, it has been partially destroyed a few times, so has had to be heavily restored, but it is still an interesting part of history.



Origami, Ting Residence, Lukang

Ting Residence, Lukang