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Abstract: Visiting Tainan is like a trip back in time. It was a time when Taiwan was called Formosa by people who got allured by its beauty. This sprawling city in Southern Taiwan is the oldest city of the island and also its original capital. It has the most number of historical buildings than any other place in Taiwan hence I called it the “Ancient City”.
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| map of Fort Zeelandia during the Dutch occupation of Anping Island |
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| At the back of my entrance ticket is a map of the modern Fort Zeelandia which is now known as Anping Fort |
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| a larger version of the map |
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| The lighthouse above was added by the Japanese during its rule in Taiwan. |
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| The walls of Fort Zeelandia still stands up to now. Amazing! |
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| A small passage in the wall. |
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| Fort Zeelandia was like this in the 20th century. |
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| Structures were added like the tower above |
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| And the whole complex looks like this now. |
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| I went inside this building to learn about the history of Anping Fort. |
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| The wall of Fort Anping |
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| Since Fort Anping was a military fortress, it has a number of cannons pointing towards the sea. |
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| This well was rumored to be connected to the ancient well in Chikan Tower. |
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| An interesting thing to do in Fort Anping is to climb its surveillance post. |
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| Climbing to its top gave me a nice view of Tainan |
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| Another view from the surveillance post. |
climbing to the top of the tower
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| I could even see the other visitors below! |
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| Just a few meters away from Fort Anping is a portion of the outer building of Fort Zeelandia. |
I started my journey in Anping. I took Bus 88 (Anping Route). There was a separate island in Taiwan centuries ago. It's actually a sandbar and when the Dutch arrived in Taiwan in 1624 they built a castle on it and it was called Fort Zeelandia. It has an inner wall and other wall and I saw a model of the castle inside the Fort’s museum. The Dutch considered the island of Taiwan as a strategic location to protect their colonies in other parts of Asia. Taiwan was so important to them.
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| Koxinga played an important role in the defeat of the Dutch colonizers of Taiwan. |
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| Hundreds of years ago, the Taijiang bay separates Anping Island from the island of Taiwan. The Dutch built their castle on this sandbar island which is Fort Zeelandia. |
Large ships carrying goods entered Taiwan and lot of foreign merchants went to Taiwan to do business. A lot of merchant houses were built and some of them are the Tait and Co. Merchant House and the Julius Mannich Merchant House. Koxinga which is considered as the hero of Taiwan defeated the Dutch by bombarding Fort Zeelandia. The Dutch were defeated and surrendered Fort Zeelandia to Koxinga. Fort Zeelandia was renamed to Anping Fort. It was named Anping because it was the hometown of Koxinga. Gradually, the sandbar expanded due to the siltation of Taijiang Bay until it merged with the island of Taiwan.
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| This building is now a museum. |
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| Inside the Tait and Co. Merchant House are dioramas telling the rich history of Tainan. |
The Japanese monopolized the trading in Anping when they annexed the island as part of their Empire. Soon, the foreign merchants started to lose money and move to other places and only a few merchants were left. The Japanese then transferred the ownership of merchant houses to government corporations. The surviving Tait and Co. Merchant House has a warehouse beside and is now known as the Anping Tree House.
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| After visiting the Anping Tree House and the Tait and Co. Merchang House, I went directly to the Anping artillery battery. |
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| Some old cannons |
The original warehouse has a banyan tree beside it. The roots of banyan trees can absorb moisture and since the warehouse was built using a traditional mixture consisting of oyster and glutinous rice it was perfect for the growing roots of a banyan tree! Time had passed and the banyan tree beside the warehouse gradually engulfs the house owning it as it was the real owner. The house and the tree became united as one. The tree became the house and house became the tree. haha! Beware of banyan trees! They are homewreckers! The Anping Tree House is now a top attraction in Tainan.
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| A map of Anping town with its historic buildings |
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| I went inside the historic Haishan Hostel and on its gate was a sword lion |
Other interesting things to see at Anping are the sword lions at many homes. These lions have swords in their mouth and the position of the sword tells something. The house owner maybe wishing for success in business or wants to drive away evil. Food stalls abound in Anping Old Street and I just have my lunch there. I then took Bus 99 (Taijiang Route) to see the Salt Mountain and Salt Museum. It took around one hour to reach the place and I realized that I was no longer in the city.
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| Cigu Salt Mountain |
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| Walking on Salt Mountain was like walking in snow. |
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| The 'snow' |
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| A stairway would lead you to the summit of the mountain. |
climbing the mountain of salt
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| What can you see on the summit? Salt fields! |
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| Taiwan Salt Museum |
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| salt sculptures of a Japanese anime series |
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| A member of the museum staff helped me take photos. I was even allowed to go beyond the line. |
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| The Taiwan Salt Museum has a second floor so I was able to have this shot. |
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| The traditional ways of making salt can be learned here. However, the text in the displays were mostly in Chinese. |
One of the displays in the salt museum
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| Hmmm... |
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| The museum also have an artificial salt cave to let visitors feel on what's inside such geologic structure. |
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| Outside the museum is a salt field and visitors can experience the fun in making salt. |
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| You haven't been to the Cigu salt fields if you haven't tried raking its salt. |
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| manual watermill |
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| I also tried! |
It was fun to see Salt Mountain. Children were playing as if they are having fun in the snow. I too had fun and hiked Salt Mountain up to its summit. I have a nice view of the salt fields of Tainan at the top. After my fun in Salt Mountain, I hurriedly walked to Salt Museum. The building of the museum resembles two pyramids which are colored white. A white sphinx was also at the entrance. I went inside and paid a student discount ticket of NTD 110. I learned inside a lot of things about the industry, history and science of salt making. Outside the museum was a salt field where I had a chance to experience the traditional ways of making salt.
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| The sun was setting down. Can you see the Salt Mountain? |
Salt Museum closed at 5:30pm and I went to the bus stop to wait for the bus that will take me back to Tainan City. The sun was already down and it was becoming darker and darker. I checked again the bus stop information and asked some people. The problem is that they can't speak English. I asked if a bus will come at 6:00pm but they couldn't answer me. I felt that something bad was going to happen and the bus might not come. It was becoming darker and darker. Private cars were already leaving the premises of the Salt Museum and I was left alone in the dark bus stop. I sensed danger. (To be continued...)
Sakura Series - Taiwan
2025 Forecast
Taipei 101 first flowers
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Taipei Flower Test Center
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Broadwood Park
Sunshine Sports Park kawazu sakura
Wuling Farm (武陵農場)
SYS kawazu sakura
Formosan Aboriginal Culture Village
CKS Memorial Hall
Shibafen Yoshino Sakura
Hope River
Dongfang Temple
Tianyuan Palace
Neicou Stream Trail
Orange Garden Cafe
Yangming Park Visitor Information Center
Yangming Park Service Center Bus Stop
Huashan Road
Qianshan Park
Zhongshan Hall Entrance
Tenglong Sakura Farm
Flower Test Center Shōwa Sakura
Neihu Creek Trail
Shulin Land Office
Xióng Kōng Cherry Blossom Forest
Lung Yen Sakura Forest
Yangming Park cherry stream
Yangming Park fountain
CKS Memorial Hall Tairyō sakura
Wugu District Tianyi Road
CKS Memorial Hall yaesakura
Loving Farm
Yong Long Farm
Zhongbaling Sakura Road
Sun Link Sea
Tai'an Police Station
Cherry Hill Slope
Hsinchu Park
Taipei 101
Kāng Gào Kēng Creek
New Garden City
Broadwood Park
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Alishan Ranger Station
Alishan House
Alishan Police Station
Alishan Forest Railway
Alishan Station
Alishan Entrance
Alishan Gou Hotel
Alishan Magnolia Garden
Wulai tour
Wun Chang Elementary School
Bishanyan
Sanzhi Sansei Trail
Sakura Series - Taiwan
Nei Cuo Stream
Orange Garden Cafe
Sansei Trail
Tenglong Sakura Farm
Yangming Park Cherry Stream
Yangming Park Fountain
Flower Test Center
Broadwood Park
New Garden City
Yinghua Park
Pingjing St. Lane 42
Yangmingshan Visitor Center
Taipei 101
Tianyuan Palace backyard
Sakura Series - Japan
Kamonyama Park
Near the Nippon Maru Memorial Park
Shinko Park
Minato-mirai 21 area
Tokyo Tech Suzukakedai Campus
Onda River
Tenryuji
Byodoin
Kiyomizudera
Himuro shrine and Yakushi-ji Temple
Hōryū-ji Temple
Nara Park attractions
Tokyo Tech Ookayama Campus
Sumida River
Tsuruma Park
Gion
Maple Series
Taipei Aowanda
Shimen Dam
Alishan
Aowanda
Shanlinxi
Taoyuan Valley Garden
Fushoushan Farm
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| Yehliu to Jiufen? Yehliu to Shifen? Cheaper than yellow taxis |
The "Taipei kong mahal" (My beloved Taipei)
Always in my heart
MRT birdman
Valentine's Day
Tulips Festival
2018 Taipei Lantern Festival
City of Azaleas
Linji Huguo Temple
Nanjichang Night Market
Gudetama Chef restaurant
Dalongdong Bao'an Temple
Shilin hollyhocks
Ningxia Night Market
Ximending graffiti
Discovery Center of Taipei
Chunghwa Postal Museum
Double-Decker Bus
Shilin Cold Balls
Jingimoo
GomanMango
mud volcanic ice
Fire and Ice Dumpling
Opium Fen-Yuan
Ichiran Ramen
Liu Shandong Beef Noodles
hydrangea flowers
National Palace Museum
Other attractions in Taipei
Taipei on a budget
Japanese buildings
Dāoxiāomiàn beef noodles
Presidential Office Building
Yongkang St. and Elephant Mountain
CKS and SYS Hall
City tour
Beitou ramen
MRT Monopoly Game
Winter city tour
Zhicheng Park
Shilin Plum Blossom
Art museums
Shopping in Taipei
Summer desserts
Qingtiangang
Qixingshan hiking
2015 Calla lily
2016 Calla lily
Beitou tour
Beitou-Zhuzihu tour
NTU
Confucius Temple
2015 Dadaocheng Festival
Puppet Museum
Fantasy Ice World
2016 Bread Show
Strawberry picking
2015 Rose Garden
Modern Toilet
Shilin Night Market
NASA Exhibit
Raohe Night Market
Longshan Temple
2013 Taipei Zoo
Maokong Gondola
Lupin flowers
Taipei 101 day visit
Taipei 101 night visit
Tiger Mountain
Din Tai Fung
Taipei Story House
2014 Flower Show
Chrysanthemum Show
Miramar Ferris wheel
Miniatures Museum
Archery
1600 Pandas
Wulaoguo hot pot
Upside Down House
2016 101 Fireworks
New Taipei
Tamsui Pumpkin Tunnel
Shifen Waterfall
2017 Sand Sculpture
Dragon Caves
New Taipei tour
2016 Kite Festival
Pingxi Crags
Bitou Cape
2016 Sand Sculpture
2015 Christmasland
Juming - Jinshan
Houtong - Pingxi
Sandiaoling Waterfall
Jiufen foodtrip
Guanyinshan hike
Yehliu Ocean World
2014 Kite Festival
Pingxi Rail tour
Jinguashi tour
Vigor Kobo Pineapple
British Consulate
Yehliu Geopark
2014 Sand Sculpture
Paragliding
2014 Christmasland
2014 Pingxi Lantern
firefly watching
Yingge Ceramics Street
Jiufen tour
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