On our way to the park, we happened to notice a flower market, popped in and found quite a number of vendors selling flowers. The orchids were particularly cool.
This park contains a shrine dedicated to the seven concubines, who hanged themselves rather than surrender to the triumphant enemy of their master. There is also a tablet in the park dedicated to the master's eunuchs, who sacrificed themselves, supposedly, in a similar manner. It's all about loyalty, not buying it.
Tainan Day 3, November 25, 2007
Spent another nice day in Tainan. We're staying in the historic aka touristy section of the city, where there are lots of small restaurants and temples. The vast majority of Tainan resembles any western city.
Today we took the city bus (yes, there is one on weekends and holidays) out to the ocean to see Anping, the remnants of the 17th century Dutch fort there, and to check out more temples, which are numerous and each different from the other. The first image shows the old Dutch Fort originally built in the early 1600's, rebuilt by the Japanese in the late 1800's. At some point the tower was added, first as a lighthouse, and then converted to an observation tower. The fort is now purely a museum and tourist attraction.
This fort is an important symbol to the Taiwanese, because it is an example of Asians kicking Europeans out of their country. When the Ming dynasty fell to the next folks, the Manchu Qings, the Ming General retreated to Taiwan. He didn't have enough power to retake the mainland, but he did kick out the Dutch and is much acclaimed.
Curiosity item #1. I noticed tables set up to sell rather expensive liquor in the parks - always two rather professional looking gentlemen, and rather expensive liquor. About NT $2500 (US $75) for the glass bottle in the middle, which features a submerged eagle.
Here's another thing they have at their national parks and public areas: memory stamps. These are just stamps of the particular site being visited, that kids can use to create a souvenir of their visit. The National museum has quite a number of these stamps, each with a picture of a different artifact or style of pottery, cast bronze, or what have you. Very cool.
The largest temple we've seen, so far, on our trip is Kaitai Tianhou temple, located just outside of the old Dutch fort. It has stone columns three deep in front, instead of the usual single or double row of outside columns.
The economics of the temples, as near as I can figure, consist of people buying incense, or other symbolic offerings, such as those shown for sale above, imbuing them with well-wishes, and leaving them to be burned later by temple staff. The stacks of paper symbolize money, and the other items can be candy, fruit, even Pringle's potato chips. The money is burned in an ornate incinerator to one side of the temple - I have no idea what happens to the food and other items, but they are not apparently burned.
Most temples have high relief stone carvings in the columns and side walls. There are generally tigers depicted along the left side of the temple, in this case there were leopards in addition to the tigers.
This is a group of about a dozen women, clustered around a heap of freshly harvested oysters, for which the town of Anping is renowned. After getting a look at this black heap of scrunge, I did not feel like eating oysters ever again. That feeling lasted for at least half an hour, when we had a wonderful oyster "omelette" for lunch.
Unlike the bustling Kaitai Tianhou temple across the street, this smaller temple had just one visitor while we were there. This picture shows what I call the "administrative sidebar" of the temple, where the financial and other support tasks are carried out.
Walking along, exploring the streets and alleys of Anping, we came across what looked like tan pea pods sitting out on tables. Turned out they were seaweed, drying in the sun.
Another small and crowded alley-way discovery - small cakes, made of ice-cream cone like material, in the shape of different animals and objects. These are full 3d objects, molded in two halves, about 5 inches long. Nothing like a tray of gun cookies as an ice breaker at parties.
This is the bottom of an old Oyster shell kiln, used to make mortar for the Dutch fort. Turns out that you can burn oyster shells, and get the same sort of lime that you get from burning limestone. Cool.
Some of the waterways used for growing oysters are just two blocks away from the busy alleys of Anping. You can walk along the top of a levee, with nice benches made of wood and stone, and look at the numerous water birds there, including egrets, great blue herons, avocets, and others. We may have seen the spoonbills that are famous here--but too far off to be sure. This is a great egret taking off.
The Tree House. This is a partly decayed wooden house, with Banyan tree roots holding it up and maintaining the shape of the roof, long since gone away.
Get set for some coolness. Above is a machine that makes puffed rice cakes. The vendor had this going with a crowd of people watching. The rice is loaded into a hollow space, about the size of a silver dollar, between two heated plates. The plates are pressed together, released, and BAM, out pops a full sized rice cake. The whole process takes about three seconds. Where can I rent one of these? [see video]
Above, the converted remains of a smaller Dutch emplacement, in the heart of old Tainan. This was a much smaller affair than the fort in Anping. Located miles away, there is still a rumor that the wells of the two fortifications are connected by tunnels!
And now, as dusk descends on Tainan, that's it for today. Tomorrow it's the bullet train back for another day in Taipei.
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