Clever signs

I may be a writer, but I can never come up with clever puns. When I see or hear someone else with a slick line, I am gobsmacked — like the CBC radio show, The Debaters, I shake my head at their quick wit, and of course, laugh!

The other virus

Were you aware of the virus that hit before Covid#19 spread and changed our world — the one that’s still raging and cannot be cured by a vaccine?

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.

salt mountain

North of the Zengwen River, I reached Salt Mountain in Cigu on a windy afternoon. Before me stood a mountain of salt just over sixteen metres high that covered one hectare. I was immediately drawn to the salt steps that led to the top.

anping’s backstreets

Tucked away all through Anping were tiny alleyways that were worth exploring. I first wound my way to Wei’s ancestral home whose past resident had been a Manchurian navy officer. But there were other tiny houses that seemed just as old. Sometimes only a roof remained, or a couple of brick walls to give a hint of what was once there.

Zeelandia fort (later anping fort)

Anping Fort was in the heart of the area’s tourist bubble, where from the bus stop, stalls lined both sides of the road all the way to the entrance into the fort. The site was typical of 17^thcentury forts and a symbol of Dutch governance on the island. 

Anping’s invaders

Long before Europeans arrived in Anping, Chinese and Japanese pirates had already been invading Taiwan. But by the mid 16^thcentury, the Dutch ruled the region for thirty-eight years. They made Anping a key international port until Koxinga gained control and encouraged foreign powers to establish trading posts on the island. For more on Koxinga —

https://malleestanley.wordpress.com/2020/10/30/koxingas-corner-of-tainan/

taijiang national park

Like Kenting National Park, Taijiang was hard to pin down. Perhaps because the park was divided into five zones — the ecological protected area, the scenic area, the cultural/historical area, recreational area and the existing used area. This last one was where oyster farms, aquaculture ponds, temples and villages filled land and waterways and wiped away the feel of a national park that covered both land and sea.

taijiang national park’s sicao green tunnel

If you’ve never been surrounded by mangroves, Green Tunnel is the place to visit. I crossed the car park where litter lined the walkway. In fact, I’d walked all the way from Anshun Salt Flats, and loads of garbage had fluttered by the side of the road — and this was a national park.

the long forgotten anshun salt factory

Tainan had been Taiwan’s earliest salt producing region since the mid 1600s, so within Taijiang National Park was a ghost village. Once this site with its small temple between dormitories on either side, housed a salt factory. Now the factory held little more than a few rusty displays.