{"id":16398,"date":"2013-01-27T06:14:35","date_gmt":"2013-01-26T22:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/?p=16398"},"modified":"2013-02-24T06:13:23","modified_gmt":"2013-02-23T22:13:23","slug":"round-island-south-taiwan-itinerary-kenting-kaohsiung-tainan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/2013\/01\/27\/round-island-south-taiwan-itinerary-kenting-kaohsiung-tainan\/","title":{"rendered":"Round-Island Taiwan Itinerary Part II: South: Kenting, Kaohsiung & Tainan"},"content":{"rendered":"

See Round-Island Taiwan Itinerary Part 1a for travel information, East Coast: Hualien and Taroko Gorge.<\/a>
\nItinerary 1b: East Coast: Dulan and Taitung.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0500\"
\nHung on Anping Treehouse: “Have courage to let go.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Suggested Itinerary Day 5: Taitung \u53f0\u4e1c to Kenting\u00a0\u58be\u4e01<\/h1>\n

Take Train<\/a>. Kenting is made famous by the movie, Cape No. 7 \u6d77\u89d2\u4e03\u53f7<\/em><\/a>, the second top grossing movie in Taiwan, after\u00a0Titanic<\/em>. On its own right, Kenting has the longest swimming beach in the area, good for surfing<\/strong>, snorkelling<\/strong>, cycling<\/strong> and diving<\/strong>. We skipped this leg because it was winter.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0460\"
\nAnping Fort<\/em><\/p>\n

Suggested Itinerary\u00a0Days 6 & 7<\/strong>:\u00a0Kenting\u00a0\u58be\u4e01 to Kaohsiung \u9ad8\u96c4<\/h1>\n

Train<\/a>. Once a Dickensian industrial nightmare, flithy port and polluting factories, mayor Frank Hsieh (1998-2005) has cleaned it up, creating a space for pop-music centre. Interesting sights include Ciaotou Sugar Factory<\/strong>, Lotus Pond<\/strong> with 20 over temples, Kaohsiung Harbour<\/strong>, Cijin Island<\/strong> with a Matsu Temple<\/strong>, British Consulate Residence<\/strong> at Dagou, Love River<\/strong>, Formosa Boulevard KMRT Station<\/strong> and Tuntex Sky Tower<\/strong>. We didn’t stop at Kaohsiung because our friends advised us that it is just another city and we might as well spend more days in Taipei.<\/p>\n

Suggested Itinerary\u00a0Days 8 & 9:\u00a0Kaohsiung \u9ad8\u96c4 to Tainan \u53f0\u5357 (or for us, Taitung \u53f0\u4e1c to\u00a0Tainan \u53f0\u5357)<\/h1>\n

\"Anping<\/a>
\nAnping Map<\/em><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0590\" You can take High Speed Rail<\/a>\u00a0(on the West Coast only)\u00a0or Taiwan Railways<\/a>\u00a0(round island). But since we skipped two days and didn’t go to Kenting and Kaohsiung, we went straight from Taitung to Tainan by Taiwan Railways. We were so thankful when we reached Tainan because this was the first city that we could hail a cab on the street; the other cities are too rural that taxis don’t roam. And we were so relieved to check into a proper hotel.<\/p>\n

AsiaRooms<\/a> offers 15 hotels in Tainan and has kindly given us a night’s rest at Shangri-La Far Eastern Plaza<\/a>\u00a0(pictured left). Even though Mr NGFL fancies himself as a bohemian-hipster, there was a deep relief on his face when we finally checked into Shangri-La after days of bad accommodations. For the Taiwan Railway train station, Shangri-La is a mere 5 minutes walk away.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0401\" \"IMG_0410\"
\nAlthough Shangri La prides itself as a business hotel, the facilities are fantastic with a beautiful pool and one of the most fully equipped hotel gyms I’ve seen. The morning breakfast buffet was the LARGEST and most spectacular spread: you name it, they have it. They even have proper ham–not those breakfast kind–ham that needs someone to slice it.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0583\" \"IMG_0585rerg\"<\/p>\n

After you settle in your hotel, take a cab to \u5b89\u5e73 An Ping\u00a0<\/strong>(about $200NT). In the 17th century, Dutch Indies Company used An Ping as a trading centre but when the Ming dynasty fell, the last King escaped to An Ping and chased out the Dutch. All hopes of regaining his kingdom were dashed when the Japanese invaded. The King committed suicide, and his concubines hung themselves in a row on a beam that is now a temple.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0443\"<\/p>\n

Alight at the intersection of \u5e73\u751f\u8def Ping Sheng Road and \u5ef6\u5e73\u8857 Yan Ping Street, which is also known as \u53f0\u6e7e\u7b2c\u4e00\u8857, the first street in Taiwan<\/strong>. Take a walk down Yan Ping Street. At the end of the street, you’ll come to \u5f00\u53f0\u5929\u540e\u5bab Kai Tai Tian Hou Temple<\/strong>, worpshiping Ma-Zu, the goddess who grants protection of the sea. A contender as the oldest temple in Taiwan, built in 1668, it has many legends, including Mazu manifested herself to change the direction of the Allied’s bombing in WWII, and the statue being unharmed in a great fire. The statue is soft with joints that can move and bound feet!<\/strong> and embodies how a Ming woman should dress. One of the stone generals in front of the temple has a Western hairstyle. In addition, the temple has tablets written by the Emperor. When you’re there, remember to take a packet of rice<\/strong> at the alter and go home to cook for peace and safety of your family. Make a donation when you take the rice.<\/p>\n

Beside the temple, you’d see a shop (pictured above), endorsed by Taiwanese food program, \u98df\u5c1a\u73a9\u5bb6, and you can stop for a late lunch.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0446\"
\nAs is guaranteed with any food program, the food here is bound to be so-so. (Un)fortunately, yes, it did live up to its promise of being average.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0448\"<\/p>\n

Continue along the road to \u5b89\u5e73\u53e4\u5821 Anping Old Fort<\/strong>\u00a0where the Dutch and Chinese fought for dominion. Then walk northward along \u53e4\u5821\u8857 Gu Bao Street and turn right into \u5b89\u5317\u8def An Bei Road for some beancurd at the famous \u540c\u8bb0\u8c46\u82b1 Tong Ji<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nWhile the taste is better than many of Singapore’s beancurd–it has a rich soy taste and less sweet syrup that complements and not compete with the beancurd–the texture isn’t as pleasing as Selegie Beancurd. Singapore’s beancurd won’t lose to this one.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0478\"
\nAfter the break, walk to \u5b89\u5e73\u6811\u5c4b An Ping Treehouse<\/strong>. What is unique is that it isn’t a treehouse in the sense that people build a house in a tree; it’s a treehouse because a banyan tree grew so large that it swallows an entire bungalow up. There is a moral lesson here: don’t mess with nature.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0501\"
\nHung on the tree: “To my 30 year-old self, you are wrong. From: my 23 year-old self.”<\/em><\/p>\n

Return to the hotel and enjoy the wonderful facilities. Rest for the day.<\/p>\n

\"tainan<\/a>
\nTainan City Map<\/em><\/p>\n

Unless you want to see all 7 million temples in Tainan city, you can leave your hotel at 10 or even 11am. For our trip, we only saw the must-see temples<\/strong>. Start with the two most northwest temples, side by side: \u5927\u5929\u540e\u5bab Da Tian Hou<\/strong> Gong<\/strong> and \u796d\u5178\u6b66\u5e99 Si Dian Wu Miao<\/strong>. Da Tian Hou Gong used to be the last Ming King’s palace. He committed suicide here and the beam that his 5 concubines hung themselves is found at the back of the temple. What we found interesting is that the temple exists side-by-side with residential households. Si Dian Wu Mian, or the Official God of War Temple, worships Guan Di, also known as Guan Gong or Guan Yu. The high threshold at the entrance is said to keep women out and the scroll at the back of the temple is said to be written by Guan Di himself.<\/p>\n

Then walk 3 minutes to\u00a0\u8d64\u574e\u697c Chi Kan Tower. <\/strong>Chi Kan Tower, together with\u00a0\u5b89\u5e73\u53e4\u5821 Anping Old Fort\u00a0<\/strong>(which you’d have seen the day before), formed the guardpost of the Dutch in the 17th century. Hard to imagine that just 400 years ago, it was all water before the two forts. Interesting story about the two forts: Zheng Cheng Gong (or translated to “very successful,” I kid you not), the hero who took the land back from the Dutch, demanded a full surrender of the Dutch and in return, he’d give them safe passage and all their possessions when they leave the island. While Chi Kan Tower surrendered, Anping Fort didn’t. And so when “Very Successful” won, he executed many Dutch men and gave the Dutch women to his officers. According to legend, the three-legged horse statue in Chi Kan Tower turns into a monster at night and kills villagers.\u00a0Many Taiwanese told us that Chi Kan Tower is not to be missed but when we were there, we thought that every part is reconstructed. Nothing remains, what’s the point?<\/p>\n

If you’re hungry by now, when you exit Chi Kan tower, turn to your right and walk down. You’d see a row of food stalls (only open in the evening). We went to a kopitiam<\/em> lookalike: they have four stalls and each stall has its own sitting area.<\/p>\n

We first tried the 4th stall,\u00a0\u77f3\u6625\u65e5\u62c5\u4ed4\u9762 Shi Chun Ri<\/strong> (\u6c11\u65cf\u8def\u4e8c\u6bb5240\u53f7, 240 Min Zu Road 2nd Section,\u00a05.30pm-1am, close on Sun,\u00a0T: +886-6-220-1483). Tainan is known for its Dan Zai noodles.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0551\"
\nFamous for their noodles, there are plenty of newspaper cuttings on the stall. We ordered the noodles<\/strong> (45NT), fishball soup<\/strong> (20NT) and garlic pork trotter (pictured below, 50NT). They were ok.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0550\"<\/p>\n

After trying the 4th stall, we returned to the 1st stall and tried the \u867e\u5377 prawn roll<\/strong> and \u68fa\u6750\u677f coffin board<\/strong>, said to be originated from Tainan.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0557\"
\nThe prawn roll is very strange and I couldn’t decipher where the prawn went.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"IMG_0555\"
\nGuan Cai Ban is a piece of hollowed bread filled with clam chowder, and the bread is breaded and fried to a golden-brown, the color of fish fingers. <\/em><\/p>\n

And then, we tried the second stall because it was just visually tempting:
\n\"IMG_0559\"<\/p>\n

The cauldron was simmering! How could we resist? Although known for its seafood porridge, we asked for Lu Rou Fan<\/em> (braised rice). The handsome boss, whom we dubbed, “Aaron Kwok if Aaron Kwok ages without any cosmetic enhancement,” said, “This is not lu rou fan. This is luo mi<\/em>. Very delicious.” Since Aaron Kwok said it was delicious, we got both both lu rou fan and luo mi.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0560\"
\nThe lu rou fan<\/em> was quite sucky but the luo mi was quite delicious. Its base is glutinous rice, topped with pork floss, braised pork and mushroom, steamed peanuts and chinese parsley.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0563\"<\/p>\n

But what you must eat<\/strong> is the 3rd stall, the dessert stall<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0564\"<\/span>
\nLook at the mountains of ingredients she had. It’s no wonder because the queue kept coming. Non-stop. Motorcyclists would just travel all the way here to eat the desserts.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0567\"<\/span>
\nWe ordered the specialty, \u516b\u5b9d\u51b0 Ba Bao<\/strong>, or eight treasures, and it was fantastic! It was a superior version of ice kacang, with fillings such as green bean, red bean, etc and it tasted complex and simple, not too sweet with an long’an and barley soup base.<\/p>\n

After you have your fill, you have to visit another must-see<\/strong> structure in Tainan,\u00a0\u5b54\u5b50\u5e99<\/strong> Kong Zi Temple or Confucius Temple.\u00a0<\/strong>If you’re up for a long walk from Chi Kan Tower to Confucius Temple, about 30-40 minutes, you may walk. Midway if you’re hungry, you can try\u00a0\u5ea6\u5c0f\u6708\u64d4\u4ed4\u9eb5 Du Xiao Yue<\/a><\/strong> (16 Zhong Zheng Road,\u00a0+886-6-223-1744). When we visited Confucius Temple, the aura was very different from other temples. There was a serenity and solemness.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0574\"Opposite Confucius Temple is aptly the most awesome bookshop<\/strong> I’ve seen in my life.\u00a0\u8349\u796d\u4e8c\u624b\u4e66\u5e97<\/a>\u00a0Cao Ji Second Hand Bookshop<\/strong> (\u53f0\u5357\u5e02\u5357\u95e8\u8def71\u53f7, 71 Nan Men Road,\u00a0T: +886-6-221-6872,\u00a012-10pm Close on Wed) knocks a big hole in the middle of the floor! So to get to the other side of the room, you’ve to go down a flight of stairs to the basement and climb up another flight of stairs. Beside the bookshop is, befittingly, a book cafe.<\/p>\n

And beside the book cafe is a cafe called \u7a84\u95e8\u5496\u5561 Zhai Men<\/a> Narrow Door <\/strong>(\u5357\u95e8\u8def67\u53f7, 67 Nan Men Road,\u00a0T: +886-6-211-0508, facebook<\/a>). The entrance is so narrow you have to go in sideways! (unless you’re Kate Moss).<\/p>\n

If you’re free and still have time, try the \u00a0\u8d64\u5d01\u68fa\u6750\u677f Chi Kan Guan Cai Ban<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(\u53f0\u5357\u5e02\u4e2d\u6b63\u8def\u5eb7\u6a02\u5e02\u5834\u6c99\u5361\u91cc\u5df4\u5167180\u865f, No. 180, Kangle Market, West Central District; +886-6-224-0014), said to be first store in Taiwan to have coffin board bread.\u00a0
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Continue the journey:
\nPart 3: West Coast and Central Taiwan: Alishan, Sun Moon Lake, Lukang & Taichung<\/strong><\/span><\/a>
\nPart 4: Northern Taiwan: In and Around Taipei<\/a><\/h1>\n

PS: Thanks to Ryan Gibson of Asia Rooms<\/a> for putting us up at Shangri La.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

See Round-Island Taiwan Itinerary Part 1a for travel information, East Coast: Hualien and Taroko Gorge. Itinerary 1b: East Coast: Dulan and Taitung. Hung on Anping Treehouse: “Have courage to let go.” Suggested Itinerary Day 5: Taitung \u53f0\u4e1c to Kenting\u00a0\u58be\u4e01 Take Train. Kenting is made famous by the movie, Cape No. 7 \u6d77\u89d2\u4e03\u53f7, the second top […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263488,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"{title}\n\n{excerpt}\n\n{url}","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[118405,1495],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tainan","category-taiwan"],"modified_by":"Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":false,"thumbnail":false,"medium":false,"medium_large":false,"large":false,"1536x1536":false,"2048x2048":false,"trp-custom-language-flag":false,"newspack-article-block-landscape-large":false,"newspack-article-block-portrait-large":false,"newspack-article-block-square-large":false,"newspack-article-block-landscape-medium":false,"newspack-article-block-portrait-medium":false,"newspack-article-block-square-medium":false,"newspack-article-block-landscape-intermediate":false,"newspack-article-block-portrait-intermediate":false,"newspack-article-block-square-intermediate":false,"newspack-article-block-landscape-small":false,"newspack-article-block-portrait-small":false,"newspack-article-block-square-small":false,"newspack-article-block-landscape-tiny":false,"newspack-article-block-portrait-tiny":false,"newspack-article-block-square-tiny":false,"newspack-article-block-uncropped":false},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow","author_link":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/author\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow\/"},"uagb_comment_info":13,"uagb_excerpt":"See Round-Island Taiwan Itinerary Part 1a for travel information, East Coast: Hualien and Taroko Gorge. Itinerary 1b: East Coast: Dulan and Taitung. Hung on Anping Treehouse: “Have courage to let go.” Suggested Itinerary Day 5: Taitung \u53f0\u4e1c to Kenting\u00a0\u58be\u4e01 Take Train. Kenting is made famous by the movie, Cape No. 7 \u6d77\u89d2\u4e03\u53f7, the second top…","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1DEqF-4gu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263488"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16398"}],"version-history":[{"count":25,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18331,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16398\/revisions\/18331"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rubbisheatrubbishgrow.com\/zh\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}