Anping's old streets are full of old brick homes

Entertainment

old fair-style games

Right at the base of Anping Fort is an area set up like a fairground. There are many gaming stalls with a 1950s county fair kind of innocence to them. You can shoot balloons, throw baseballs at targets, fish toys out of plastic pails, or enter in various games of chance. It’s all good clean fun and tickles a nostalgic funny bone in most people. If you’re not into the games themselves, it’s also good fun to watch the teenaged boys try to win plush dolls for their girlfriends.

Eating

converted teahouse

There’s no shortage of eateries in the area. Many of them try to capitalize on a demand for Anping’s traditional foods. Much of the food can be bought and eaten throughout Taiwan, but there’s nothing like oyster omelets (o-ah jien) eaten in Anping. Add to that, shrimp rolls, shrimp chips and shrimp soup dumplings and you’ll likely get your fill of traditional seafood. Many vendors sell candy and other snack food. It’s pretty similar stuff to night market fare, but you might find something you haven’t seen before.

Some of the old buildings in the area have been converted into tea houses or eateries, but not that many, really. You can see the potential for more of these conversions, but that hasn’t been exploited yet and that may be a good thing.

Shopping

souvenirs

Yanping Street is the oldest merchant street in the area. While the buildings here look like they were built 30 years ago, the history of the street has led it to become a shopping plaza for tourists and locals alike. The restored stone road of this street is flat-out trampled on during the weekends, and on holidays it may be impossible to traverse the crowds. This street is packed with little shops and vendors selling snack food and any manner of products from toys and soaps to trinkets and handbags. The products cover a full range from the cheapest of souvenirs to rather expensive handmade goods. If you’re thinking to send home something Taiwanese for Christmas, it’s not a bad place to shop.

Yanping Street marks the oldest merchant street in the area

Sightseeing

Haishan Hostel

Right on Xiaozhong Street is Haishan Hostel (Hai Shan Guan). This building has very recently been re-opened to the public. I’m not sure how long it was closed, but I understand it was under renovations for quite a while. At the time I saw it, I was not even certain that it was finished in the remodel as the rooms were empty without so much as the usual historical explanations. This building was the living quarters and shrine for Qing troops who came from the mainland and were stationed in Tainan. The group that stayed in Haishan Hostel came from Fukien and worshipped the goddess Matsu inside the hostel.

There's still life in these old brick homes.

The nicest part of this area is exploring the old streets. If you stay in the tourist area (like I did on my first couple of trips to Anping), you won’t think there’s much in the way of old houses and preserved heritage going on. Many tourists stick to the area of Yanping Street and Xiaozhong Street near Haishan Hostel, but they are missing out.

an old gate

There are several streets to explore, and many of them are conveniently located in the areas surrounding Haishan Hostel. Heading north or east from here will lead you through a surprising maze of old brick homes and a time warp to an older Taiwan. Some of the homes have been well-kept by their owners. Others have been, or are in the process of, being restored with the help of government funding (as stated by the plaques on the walls). Many of the old buildings, however, are empty and in various stages of dilapidation. While the government will help those who want to restore their properties, you can see that many people have abandoned the old style homes and may one day replace them with something modern.

Some of the homes down these lanes are just crumbling bits of brick.

While this area begs to be refurbished to preserve the heritage, only tourism incentives would be worth it to most people who own the properties. If turning their homes into restaurants, shops, and guesthouses is the only way to make the preservation pay off, then we would see this area become like the theme park of “Old Town” in Lijiang, China. That might kill any real heritage. For now, though, you can wander through these streets and there is still something natural about them. It is a good time to visit and see what’s left of these neighborhoods before they’re gone. I don’t know the future, but the odds are this area is either going to become a tourist theme park or be on the wrong end of a wrecking ball.

Some homes have really been kept-up.

Masala Indian Restaurant on Wufei St.

Near the Temple of the Five Concubines on Wufei Street is a small Indian restaurant with some pretty good food. Compared to most Taiwanese food it’s a little pricey, but by international standards it’s just mid-ranged. The menu has many of the cuisine standards people have come to expect such as mutton korma or chicken tikka masala. And though many of the dishes are altered towards the Taiwanese palate a bit, the quality of the dishes is quite good. I would put this restaurant up against many of the Indian restaurants I tried in Taipei.

It’s a cozy little restaurant with a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, orange walls, high-backed wooden chairs, and red upholstered benches. The tacky artwork is kind of fun, as are the Bollywood musicals and Indian pop videos that play on a flat screen and through the sound system. The food is served with nice presentation on good dishware. It’s a good place to bring a date or visiting relatives.

interior of Masala

Ordering from the menu a la carte pushes the price tag up pretty quickly as many of the curries run from NT$200 – $350. The set menus are a pretty good deal at NT$500 per person and give you a full set of courses. There’s a weekday lunch special for about NT$250.

Hours: 11:30 – 14:30; 17:30 – 22:00

Phone: 06 – 2153283

Location: 196 Wufei Street, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan

There’s also a Masala located on the east side of Tainan on Dong Feng Road.

Hours: 11:30 – 14:30; 17:30 – 22:00

Phone: 06 – 2008855

Location: 247 Dong Feng Road, East District, Tainan City, Taiwan

The small shrine of Wufei Miao is surrounded by a large park.

Unlike urban cemeteries in Europe where you can find people sitting next to grave stones and reading books, Taiwanese people are far too superstitious to treat a grave site as a park. The very idea of entering a cemetery for any purpose other than to clean the tomb and give respects to ancestors is close to sacrilege in Taiwan. This sentiment, however, doesn’t seem to be true for the tomb of five women who gave up their lives to honor their husband and their dynasty. The Temple of the Five Concubines, or Wufei Miao, marks the grave of those women. It is in the center of a half-acre park that is well-used by locals and tourists alike. It is a good place to sit amongst the trees and read a book or catch up on gossip without having to give any thoughts to the five young ladies buried under yonder mound. But not everyone comes just to enjoy the park. This temple is often visited by those who want to honor the nobility of self-sacrifice. This is why it is also known as Temple of the Five Noble Ladies.

door detail

The young ladies buried at the back of the shrine were the concubines of Zhu Shugui, who held the title of The Prince of Ningjing. The names of the five concubines were Lady Yuan, Lady Wang, Xiugu, Sister Mei and Sister He. Zhu Shugui was not in direct line to the Ming thrown, but he served as a regent to the army of Zheng Chenggong (Koxinga). He was invited by Zheng Chenggong’s son, Zheng Jing, to help lend legitimacy to the Ming settlement in Taiwan. Years later, when the Qing army gained control of Penghu, Zhu Shugui realized that all was lost for the Ming. He summoned his concubines and announced his plans to take his own life. He suggested that they retreat to a nunnery. The concubines decided it would be more honorable to die with the prince and in turn hanged themselves one-by-one in the central hall of the palace (what is now the Matsu Temple, Da Tianhou Gong, near Chikan Lou). Before taking his own life, Zhu interred the ladies in a hillside, known as Kuidoushan (Cassia Bud Hill), just south of the city walls. Their tomb has remained there since.

After the prince’s death, a shrine was built outside the tomb. It was renovated by both the Qing and Japanese administrations. The most recent renovation was in 1978. As Taiwanese temples go, this one is very unique. It is quite austere and compact, with dull colors and little ornamentation. The door gods are those of eunuchs and maidens. While your first reaction to the building might be “this is it?”, you are unlikely to find anything similar in all of Taiwan. It is registered as a first-class historic site by the Taiwanese government.

The temple is inside the Confucius Temple Historic District. The park takes up a full city block and is surrounded by an attractive red wall. It is located on a lovely tree-lined street named after the temple, Wufei Street. There are some shops and restaurants just across the street, including a fine Indian restaurant called Masala.

Admission is free. It is open from 8:30 – 21:00 year-round.

Wufei Miao is small, but atypical

Location: 201 Wufei Street, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan

Hakataya probably has the best video library in Tainan.

You wouldn’t have to go very far to find a place that rents DVDs in Tainan. DVD shops are in every neighborhood. Blockbuster Video has several locations and there are hundreds of mom and pop shops. However, regardless of location or an international name brand, the sad reality is that most of these shops have a poor selection of titles. While you can usually get a decent choice of new releases, none of the shops do much to make sure their libraries are intact. Most video stores have thrown out or lost their old copies of Pulp Fiction, yet through blind luck or ignorance, they’ve managed to hold onto Battlefield Earth.

Luckily, there is one shop that I’ve found that has an informed library. Hakataya may not have the largest collection in the world, but it does have more ‘essential’ movies as well as more obscure titles than any other place I’ve come across in Tainan. The owner, Wade, knows his collection well and speaks some English. He’s organized the shop by genre choices from ‘action’ to ‘women’s consciousness,’ as well as by directors such as Zhang Yimou or the Coen Brothers.

The one problem with Hakataya is that unless you live in Yong Kang City or north-eastern Tainan, the location isn’t very convenient. It’s out by the north-eastern Carrefour. But if you absolutely need a Jim Jarmusch film, you might not find it anywhere else.

Like many DVD shops in Taiwan, you have to pay NT$1000 up front in order to rent videos. This gives you store credit that is debited as you go. This is a pretty standard policy you’ll find throughout Tainan (except at Blockbuster).

Phone: 3025790

Location: No. 250, Zhonghua 2nd Rd, Yong Kang City, Taiwan (about two blocks from Carrefour near the intersection of Zhonghua Road)

the Chin Men Theater and its hand-painted posters

While most of Tainan’s movie venues are of the modern cineplex variety, a theater with some history still exists. The Chin Men Theater (or Jin-ri & Chin-men Theater) is in an old three-story building with architecture that looks influenced by old American art deco theaters. You would have to look hard to see the surface of the building, though, as much of the facade is covered by enormous hand-painted movie placards of the current shows. These paintings, by artist Yen Chen Fa, add tremendous charm to both the theater and the city, reminding me of theaters in Myanmar, rural China and other places where even skilled labor is cheaper than billboard-sized posters. They and the building itself likely add a huge amount of nostalgia for the residents of Tainan.

an Ang Lee cut-out by the box office

The theater was frequented by famed director Ang Lee while he was a high school student in Tainan. These days, the theater honors him by displaying posters and press reports, and by the occasional free-showings of his films.

The Chin Men Theater is a second-run theater, showing movies that have recently left the cineplexes. There are three screens in the theater and they show two different movies back-to-back on each screen. Tickets (regular price NT$120, student NT$90, children/seniors NT$60) are good for the two movies that are double-billed. Check here for showtimes.

TEL: (06) 2205151 (06) 2222265

Location: 187 Yong Fu Rd, Sec. 2, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan

Taikoo Mid Century retro bar also sells furniture.

Retro bars are becoming a popular trend in Tainan. This one falls on Shen Nong Street, an arts street where many of Tainan’s oldest surviving houses have been re-ferbished. This bar is built into one of them near the end of the strip. Subtitling itself Mid Century, this bar aims at reviving the 50s through the 70s (mostly the 70s) in pop culture and furniture. They also make a side business at selling “the finest re-issues of modern furniture classics from Northern Europe and Germany.” The furniture for sale is housed in a rear building behind the courtyard.

the upstairs shows the history

The bar is divided in style between the first and second floor. While the first floor is bright and retro-modern with kitsch decorations featuring Disney characters, the second floor aims to recreate a nostalgic home experience. In my opinion, it is the upstairs that is something special. Tucked up into the rafters, you get hardwood floors, fading wallpaper, and old window panes. There’s some nice furniture pieces as well, and the music adds to the time warp. Pop music from the bygone era pours into good acoustic space from a restored stereo system. There are great balconies on either side of the room, looking out over either the courtyard or straight onto Shen Nong Street. If you’re exploring Shen Nong Street or the Five Channels Cultural Zone, a visit to this pub is a great way to get inside and see how these traditional houses were built.

The bar has a limited menu with only light fare (french fries) for food. It promotes a good selection of beer, however, furthering the popular trend in Taiwan to drink Belgian beers and lambics. Beers cost a bit more here, but this is more the kind of place you come for a drink or two, and not really a place to get sloshed.

Hours: Mon – Thurs 18:00 – 02:00; Fri – Sun 16:00 – 3:00

Phone: 06-2211053

the balcony looks onto Shen Nong St.

the front entrance on Shen Nong St.

Location: No.94 Shen Nong St, Tainan City, Taiwan

Lao Shen - the best deal on yang rou

If you like the meat of sheep or you just want to fill your belly without spending a fortune, here’s a good spot to try.

good-sized portions

Lao Shen specializes in mutton and serves up generous portions for very reasonable (some would call it cheap) prices. You can get yang rou bian dang (mutton lunch box served with rice and vegetables) for NT$70 and combos with medicinal soup for NT$120. Their entire menu consists of prices between NT$60-120.

I like this place for its easy access, low prices and good food. It’s located on Minzu Rd, across from Chikan Lou, making it convenient for tourists seeing the sites or anyone looking for a cheap bite to eat in the middle of town. It’s also one of the few places open late.

Lao Shen interior

I’m not sure if they have an English menu, but one of the old ladies working there speaks some English.

Open: daily 11:00 -14:00 / 16:30-midnight.

Location: 301 Minzu Rd, Sec. 2, West Central District, Tainan City, Taiwan

Ph: (06) 2111-498

outdoor food and drink on Haian Road

If you want to enjoy some local street nightlife, there’s no better place in Tainan than Haian Road. This is the one place in town where the sidewalks are wide enough to support seating, and several blocks of bars and restaurants are exploiting this. Here you can enjoy your barbecue and beer in the open evening air throughout most of the year. There are numerous beer gardens already, and many new ones seem to be opening (and closing) every day.

open sidewalk seating is rare in Taiwan

The broadness of this street comes from a failed attempt at building an underground mall. The government gave a go-ahead on this project, but poor planning put an end to construction after the neighborhood (containing some of the oldest houses in Tainan) had already been carved up. It was quite a fiasco and the street remained closed for several years. You can still see underground through the many raised concrete ventilation systems that protrude all along the street. The construction fiasco is now becoming and thing of the past, and Haian Road is starting to flourish again with new development and an arts initiative that’s helping to beautify the area.

While bars and restaurants can be found along much of the full length of this street, most of the action is between Fucian Road and Mincyuan Road. Jhongjheng Road is at the heart of this area as many of the establishments are capitalizing on the nearby shopping area.

Tainan City Immigration Office

Tainan has one of the quirkiest little government buildings I’ve ever come across. This posting of the Taiwan Immigration Agency is inside what looks like a Euro-themed love hotel. Decorated with classical statues and rococo ornamentation, this is a building that begs to be either loved for its eccentric charm or scoffed at for its laughable ostentatiousness. Whatever your take, if you are living or working in Tainan you will likely end up here at some point.

classical statue

While the outside looks like a ticket to wonderland, the inside is as plain as any other government agency. It’s quite a small operation with a Mayberry Police Department kind of casualness to it. If you are applying for an ARC or other documents, you will need to take a number from the machine to the left of the agent kiosks. If you’re picking up, you can usually head straight to the cashier’s desk. There is a coin operated photocopier on the premises. It’s helpful to photocopy all your documents before seeing the agent. Mostly the process is straight forward, but chaos can ensue as it can get pretty crowded in there very quickly.

Hours: 08:00 a.m.-17:00 p.m. through the lunch hour,from Monday to Friday.

No, really! This is a serious government building!

Location: No.370, Sec. 2, Fucian Rd., Tainan City

Tel:06-293-7641, 06-293-6210, 06-293-6472, 06-293-8785

Fax:06-293-5775

it's not Boracay, but it's got sand and ocean

Being both on the coast and in the tropics, visiters and newcomers might have big hopes for Tainan to have lovely white sand beaches complete with swaying palms and turquoise blue water. Well, it doesn’t. But there are a few beaches in the vicinity of Tainan that are pretty decent. The closest to the city is on the coast side of Anping, thus most people refer to this as ‘Anping Beach.’ It is actually called Chiao (Qiao) Tou Beach Park, or Bridge-end Beach Park, on the sign.

This beach is a lovely place to catch a sunset. In the daytime it is a great place to enjoy Tainan’s seemingly ever-present sun. During the warmer months, though, it can be quite hazy and the sun can be oppressively glaring. Shade is minimal, so you may want to consider bringing your own. Additionally, the beach can be pretty dirty. This is especially true during typhoon season, and there’s often a swimming ban during this time as well.

some local beach bums

The beach is seldom crowded and you may be surprised to find you are there with only a handful of other people, even on the weekend. You do see a few families enjoying the beach and it is a popular place for particular youths who enjoy the sun and surf. For good people-watching, check out the young local ladies whose beach attire includes boots, leggings, long-sleeved shirts, gloves, hats, visors and scarves, all the while carrying parasols or reflective car windshield visors. Low be the woman who lets an ounce of sunlight spoil her precious white skin.

Skimboarding seems the most popular sport at this beach. Windsurfing is also popular. Surfers and kite surfers tend to head to Golden Beach to the south of Tainan. Through the line of trees that separate the beach from the highway is a boardwalk that is part of the bike path joining the coast with the Lakeside Water Bird Park via Sichao Bridge.

the boardwalk

Getting to the beach is pretty much a straight shoot west from downtown. Head west on Minsheng Road. Minsheng will become Anping Road after Zhonghua West Road. Right before Anping Road narrows, there’s a bit of a fork. This is where you’ll make your only turn, heading right onto Anbei Road. Keep following this road (the name changes to Anping 1st Road, but you probably won’t know it) until you reach the end at the west coast highway. The beach is just to your left behind a wall of trees. Look for some roadside vendors to mark the spot. Biking is a nice way to get out there. You can also drive, but a taxi would be a little pricy and there’s no bus that I know of.