Taiwan’s salt museum

Only 150 metres from Cigu Salt Mountain was the Salt Museum, which claimed to have a complete collection of books and cultural relics pertaining to the salt industry in Taiwan.

tainan city’s parks

I entered Wu garden positioned between city buildings that blocked out the sound of traffic. Unfortunately for me, a band started playing and it was no longer the peaceful nook it had been when I first entered.

Tainan city’s back streets

Tainan had many narrow lanes tucked away between traffic filled streets. When I entered many of these old streets, the sounds of motor scooters faded away. This was a real bonus after wandering the city’s streets for most of the day.

A city of temples

Tainan felt like Temple City. If I peeked down a narrow lane there was bound to be a temple packed between buildings. If not, I only had to search the street I walked along and I was bound to spot a shrine.

An ancient walled city

The Great South Gate was one of only two main gates still remaining from seven that once existed around Tainan City. The original wooden wall that kept out enemies was built in 1736.

Taitan’s Confucius temple

Confucius promoted education for everyone at a time when it was only available to aristocrats. He taught six arts — traditional rituals, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy and mathematics. Later, Confucius’s disciples spread their learning throughout China, which became the foundation of Chinese culture for over 2000 years.

The changing face of chihkan tower

Tainan had been Taiwan’s capital for almost three hundred years when, in 1625 the Dutch arrived in the city. After the 1653 uprising against them, they built Fort Provintia, and made it the hub of their administrative and commercial activities. 

Hukuisu restaurant’s past

Behind the former Tainan weather observatory were beautifully restored buildings surrounded by a Japanese garden. I removed my shoes and stepped over thick wooden boards into what was once a famous Japanese restaurant during the Japanese colonial period.

The former tainan weather observatory

During Japanese colonial times, a weather observatory was constructed on the Jiuling Tableland. It’s location was on the highest hill in old Tainan City, but this would only have been apparent before the 1970s when there were no tall buildings.

Koxinga’s corner of tainan

Koxinga and his troops arrived in Taiwan not long after his failure at the Nanking battle in 1658. But in 1661 he captured Fort Provintia making it his residence. After he overthrew the Dutch in Fort Zeelandia, they left Taiwan in early 1662.