Taitung City, Taitung

After introducing Tainan for three weeks, I would like to share another fascinating tourist attraction in Taiwan. In the following week, I will introduce some places in eastern Taiwan.

Taitung City

The first place I would like to talk about is Taitung City which is located in the southeast corner of Taiwan. I have been to Taitung for four times during this three years. With fresh air, gorgeous scenery and fancy delicacies, Taitung City is a great place to visit.

Local Delicacy

When it comes to the local delicacy in Taitung city, the first dish comes to my mind is silver needle noodles, and Taiwanese always called it Mi Shai Mu (米苔目). Silver needle noodles are made of rice milk and yam powder, which are traditional dishes form the Hakkas. As for the taste of silver needle noodles, they are shorter, thicker and chewier than normal noodles. Personally, I prefer silver needle noodles than normal ones.

Lao Dong Tai (老東台)

Lao Dong Tai is one of the famous restaurants serving silver needle noodles in Taitung. However, I felt disappointed when I sampled the silver needle noodles there since they are too greasy for me. Having a sweet tooth, I like the sweet ones.

Bao Sang Tangyuan(寶桑湯圓)

Tangyuan is a traditional food in Taiwan which is usually in white or pink, looks like a ball and taste chewy. Today I don’t introduce tangyuan; instead, I would like to focus on the restaurant. To be honest, I don’t think there is any special in the tangyuan offered by Bao Sang Tangyuan. The thing I would like to share is the “crispy tanyuan.” The taste of crispy tanyuan did hit my spot and I still cannot forget it.

When you come to the restaurant, you can choose which kind of ingredients you want to eat, and the things you choose will covered by shelved ice when you have it.

It was so delicious that I forgot to take the pictures of crispy tangyuan.

Have you ever been to Taitung city? Are there anything you would like to share about there? Feel free to write your comment bellow and I’m glad to discuss with you!

Guantian District, Tainan

Today, people consider Tainan as the “Cultural Capital City”  in Tainan. When it comes to Tainan, local cuisines and historical site always come up to people’s minds. Actually, that kind of images are from the former Tainan City. The Tainan City now are combined with Tainan County and the former Tainan City. Compare to former Tainan City, Tainan County is famous for Chianan Plain(嘉南平原), a variety of crops and natural scenery. However, the features are sometimes ignored by NCKU students since it is relatively far away from the university. 

Honestly, I have also visited there for few times. However, the experience there was fantastic; therefore, I would like to share my journey to there and also hope that I could visit places in the origin Tainan County more often.

Guantian District

Pheasant- tailed Jacana Garden

The place I introduce in this article is Guantian District. First, I would like to talk about the Pheasant- tailed Jacana Garden(水雉生態教育園區). Pheasant- tailed Jacana(水雉) is a beautiful bird with yellow fur behind its pure white head, black body, white wings and a long elegant tail. Pheasant- tailed Jacana is also the Bird of Tainan City. However, because of the devastation of its habitats, the Jacana have become an endangered species. Nowadays, ecologists and governments are making great effort to protect and rebuild their habitats. The Pheasant- tailed Jacana Garden is a great place to know more about the Jacana and enjoy their elegance. That is an ideal place for people to escape from their busy life, slow down their pace and get close to nature.

Trapa 

Besides the Pheasant- tailed Jacana, Guantian is also well known for trapa(菱角), which is a plant grown in fresh water. The shell of it is black and the shape is like a cow’s horn. Inside the shell, the fruit is white and boomerang-like with violet pink skin on the top. If you want to experience how to collect trapa you can visit here.

Bottle Gourd Pond 

I visited a pond called Bottle Gourd Pond(葫蘆埤). Beside the pond, there is a grocery called Chien Lai Yeh Grocery(錢來也雜貨店) offering traditional snacks and toys. It is interesting to note that you can buy the "trapa ice cream" there. It is an innovative flavor for me. There are some trapa fragments added in the trapa-flavored ice cream. Although it is too sweet for me, I still think you can try it to see if  you like it or not.

Confucius Temple, Tainan

Visiting Tainan, you cannot miss the Confucius Temple which also known as “the First School in Taiwan.” The Confucius Temple was built in when Zheng Chenggong’s son, Zheng Jing ruled Taiwan. At first, it now built for educating people, and now it is the First Class historical site in Tainan. Today, I’ll lead you to enjoy the beauty of Confucius Temple. The Confucius Temple is a area with several buildings. To enter the area, you have to pass a gate with a board saying “The First School in Taiwan.”

In the area, you can see two pailous(牌樓)- Chinese architectural gateway- named “Ceremony Gate”(禮門) and “Justice Way”(義路) which means that if people want to learn from Confucius, they have to follow the ceremony and justice which are the traditional Chinese etiquette. Many people may think that most of the traditional Chinese buildings look alike, but actually, they are completely wrong. Taking a close look at the buildings, you could find something interesting and meaningful. The pic bellow is “Ceremony Gate”. On the roof, you can see to creatures. They are called Chiwen(鴟吻). Legend has it that dragon has nine sons, and Chiwen is one of them with dragon head and fish body. Chiwen is used as a decoration on the buildings for preventing them from catching fire.

Da Cheng Dian(大成殿) is the center of the area. There are also some meaningful decorations on the building. Some birds can be seen on both sides of the roof. The bird is Chi Xiao(鴟鴞) . They are known as bad birds. Then why there are bad birds on the temple. It means that no matter what kinds of students, Confucius can teach them. Through his teaching, even bad creatures can become good.

Beimen District, Tainan

In my opinion, traveling is not only for relaxing and spending time with friends and family. While enjoying the delicacies, scenery or the joy with friends and family, traveling is also a great chance for me to know culture and history. Knowing the history can make the trip more enjoyable and meaningful. Therefore, in this blog, I will not only share my trip but introduce the culture and history about the place I visit.

The tourist I'll introduce today is Beimen (北門) which is one of the district in Tainan. Beimen is well known for salt. Since it is near the sea, in the past, local people made salt for living. In 2014, to boost the tourism, governments built a church called "Crystal Church (水晶教堂)" in Beimen. The church is an imitation of the Crystal Church of St. Laguna Chapel in Guam. Since then, people, especially couples, like to go to Beimen to take a picture with the church.

Rather than the imitation one, I still appreciate more about Taiwanese culture and history. Taiwan used to be occupied by Japan. Therefore, some Japanese Style buildings can be seen in Taiwan. The picture bellow is the salt syutsyiuzyo (出張所 しゅっちょうじょ) .

It is common to see the three words when I visit the places near the sea in Tainan. Syutsyouzyo is a place for tax. Namely, the salt syutsyouzyo is the place to tax on salt.

There is a vender selling roasted sweet potatoes near the salt syutsyouzyo. To be honest, I don’t like sweet potatoes very much; however, the roasted sweet potatoes here are different. The pulp is golden yellow, and it is not only sweet but a little bit chewy. I strongly recommend you to try it if you visit here!