Tainan and Chiayi, Taiwan
Shennong Street, Tainan
The lowdown
Tainan and Chiayi are two cities on Taiwan’s eastern coast that served as quick stops for us on our east coast cities tour.
Tainan is Taiwan’s oldest city and claims the nickname as the “Capital City” for its place as Taiwan’s ancient capital before Taipei in the 1600s and 1700s and also its culinary capital (we ate well here but felt we had the best food elsewhere in Taiwan). The city is filled with neat ancient temples, charming old architecture, and interesting sites from dutch colonial times. We enjoyed the temples and neighborhoods near Tainan’s city center but felt underwhelmed by the old Anping District.
Chiayi is a smaller city located inland between Tainan and Taichung that typically acts as the gateway to the Alishan forest area. We originally planned on staying here for a night before heading to the forest ourselves but our plans to visit Alishan were abandoned after the accommodations were virtually booked up due to a holiday we didn’t account for. We decided we would still stop in Chiayi after a Street Food Asia episode featured the city and piqued our interest. While it doesn’t get as much attention, we actually loved our time in this small but bustling city. We visited a few very interesting and well-curated museums and found delicious food that included both Chiayi specialties and international favorites.
Day 1: Tainan City Center
Our time in Tainan started with a walk from the city’s main station to our accommodation in the West Central District. Walking through the streets we immediately felt how different Tainan was from Kaoshiung – it felt more traditional and less industrial with old mid-rise apartment buildings lining the streets instead of high-rise office buildings.
Our accommodation, Love Here, was situated on a quiet residential alley with a few small, hip cafes and restaurants mixed in. The guesthouse itself was perhaps the most genuinely hip place we’ve stayed. Its entranceway was hidden behind two beautiful, traditional, turquoise-painted sliding doors that revealed their wood and age. The first floor acts as a cafe/bar in the afternoons and evenings. A black lab rescued from the streets named “Love” lovingly greets patrons. The upstairs houses a common area filled with antique goods and guest rooms that are comfortable and tastefully done.
We dropped our things and made our way to Shuixian Gong Market for a late lunch at Tatsuya Hamaya Fishing Ground, a counter sushi restaurant that serves crazy fresh and affordable fish. We dined on a set feast of cod liver salad (much more appetizing than it sounds), super fresh sashimi of yellowtail, salmon, and tuna, fresh and buttery nigiri where we had our first (and not last) flounder, and a healthy donburi bowl. It was a Michelin-quality sushi tasting menu for the price of $30 for 2 people.
Our bellies full and happy we walked to the Grand Mazu temple nearby, a 17th century temple across from Chihkan Tower. It was a beautiful and opulently decorated temple boasting colorful floral arrangements out front and painted details inside. Near the alter were 5 stamps and stacks of paper for good wishes – we grabbed one for family life and one for a peaceful year and stamped away. We found it interesting that two of the five were related to good luck on exams and family business.
There are two bubble tea shops in Taiwan that lay claim to having invented the local world renowned beverage. One of those shops, Hanlin Tea, is based in Tainan nearby the Grand Mazu temple and Chihkan Tower. We stopped by to try (one of) the OG bubble tea and have to say we were very impressed. We felt the bubbles were the best we had in Taiwan (especially the mini white bubbles). We sat outside and slurped them non-stop while we played Yahtzee.
Finally, we made our way to Chihkan Tower, an old Dutch watch tower from the 1650s that turned into a Japanese hospital during occupation and now functions as a temple and school. We paid the entrance fee of $70 TWD per person, a rarity in Taiwan and only something we experienced at old dutch colonial sites in Tainan, and roamed the grounds. The highlights for us were the views from the top of the watch tower and the stone turtles lined up in front of the the temple. It was a nice stop, but not a necessary one (we would have been happy to spare the TWD and prioritize other sites in the city).
On our way to our next stop, Snail Alley, we stopped into Szu Wu Miao Temple, one of the oldest temples in Taiwan, dedicated to the God of War, and our favorite in Tainan. Three things stuck out to us: the many different halls for prayer that were each unique and beautiful in their own way, the large furnaces for burning Joss paper, and the tortoise pond in the back courtyard.
After Szu Wu Maio, we continued to Snail Alley, a narrow network of alleyways in a pedestrian-only neighborhood with colorful snails and quirky installations adorning the residences and storefronts. The snails were not particularly noteworthy, but the neighborhood was incredibly charming and pleasant to walk through.
While walking towards the Confucius Temple, we stumbled upon Hayashi Department Store, a five-story department store built during Japanese occupation in the 1930s. Back then, it was referred to as the “Ginza District of Taiwan”. It was refurbished after being bombed during WWII and today stands as a beautiful and hip brick department store, housing floors filled with cute knick knacks and home goods. We had a blast strolling around each floor and smiling at all the goods, wishing we had this store back home for birthday and holiday shopping.
Unfortunately, the Confucius temple was closed by the time we arrived in the late afternoon, but we didn’t mind saving the entrance fee. While moseying around the public space in front of the temple, we received a message from Soko, our Central Mongolia tour operator, about the weather conditions during our visit in late April and decided we needed to find some sufficient coats to fill the gap in our wardrobe for sub-40 degree temperatures. We found a Uniqlo on Google Maps and started walking in that direction. After a brief pitstop at Klin Baozi for some mouthwatering Michelin-recommended pork and spicy basil buns and a stroll through peaceful Nanmen Park, we arrived at Uniqlo. We found two small rust-colored down coats on sale for $39 a piece and our Mongolia uniforms were set!
After a full day of walking around Tainan’s central districts and neighborhoods, we were committed to finding somewhere no longer than a 10 minute walk from our accommodation for dinner. Luckily, there was a bustling and well-reviewed ramen restaurant, Shenwu Japense Ramen, that fit the criteria. Doug dined on a delicious spicy pork ramen while Jessie made a makeshift veggie-friendly noodle dish out of extra noodles and table accoutrements. Taiwan is known for its Japanese cuisine given its history of occupation and proximity to Japan
Day 2: Anping Old District
We planned to spend our second day exploring the Anping District, one of the oldest areas in the country (its former name was “Dayuan” which is the origin of the name “Taiwan”) filled with historical sites and merchant-lined streets. We walked from the West Central District along the river, making two stops on our way into Anping. First, we wandered into Anping Guanyin Temple, a small but grand temple with an incredibly detailed gold-painted ceiling. Second, we stopped into Chen Oyster Roll to try the famous Oyster Roll (basically an egg roll made with fresh oysters) and an oyster omelette for lunch.
Next, we walked up Anping Old Street which, as the name suggests, represents a pedestrian market street of old shops and food stands set up more than 300 years ago. Maybe we had seen too many of Taiwan’s epic night markets and old market streets like Jiufen by this point, but we found Anping Old Street to be underwhelming. The one highlight worth mentioning was the local prawn crackers being cranked out of machines like hockey pucks at many of the shops along the Old Street. Luckily for us, every shop offered free samples and we took advantage of the pappad-esque crackers with a light salty prawn flavor.
Our last site in Anping was the Anping Old Fort. This area was the Dutch headquarters in the 1600s, also known as Fort Zeelandia at the time. We paid another $70 TWD entrance fee and roamed the grounds. There were some beautiful banyan trees and floral arrangements on the property and the views from the watch tower were nice, but we were relatively underwhelmed by the site and information provided. Those with an appreciation for old ruins and Dutch colonial history in Taiwan may have been more engaged than us.
Feeling done with sightseeing around Anping, we sought out a coffee shop nearby for an afternoon pick-me-up. We found a hip-looking spot called Tao Gong Ding Tao Specialty Coffee under an awning with “Pottery Grandpa’s Tripod” on it that felt like a pottery studio with a small coffee shop in the front. We found a table and sipped on a delicious iced americano with fresh pomelo fruit syrup and brown sugar latte. Our planned productive time was supplanted by many games of Yahtzee 🙂
After a long walk back and some time relaxing in our room, we made our way to Wusheng Night Market for dinner. We didn’t have high expectations based on what we had read, but had a wonderful time eating and playing our way around the market. It was more similar to Dongdamen Night Market in Hualien in that the market took place in a parking lot space as opposed to city streets. We walked up and down the various rows of food stands, stalls selling clothing and electronics, and Taiwanese night market games. Doug tried Roujiamo, a bing bread sandwich filled with juicy fatty pork, veggies, and Szechuan chili sauce. Jessie dined on ttekbokki from a lovely Korean woman. We closed out the night by finally trying our hand at archery, a super fun experience that we’re confident wouldn’t be allowed in any American public space despite our egregiously lax firearm laws.
On the way home from Wusheng, we walked up Shennong Street, an incredibly hip and charming pedestrian street lined with colorful illuminated lanterns and hole in the wall bars and restaurants. If we had one more day in Tainan, we might have spent a good chunk of the time here eating, drinking, and shopping our way down the street
Day 3: Chiayi
The walk to our Chiayi hotel from the train felt like an endless grid of intersections and mid-rise apartment buildings with small local restaurants occupying the first floors. We dropped our things at our hotel, Lan Kwai Fong Garden Hotel, a clean and nice spot in a central location that reminded us of a new city center DoubleTree in the states, and went out to grab lunch and explore.
After our first few spots appeared to be closed, we wound up at a small shop operated by a younger looking man and woman called Fungus Forest. We were here to try a local Chiayi staple, cold sesame noodles, prepared with a nutty sesame sauce and mayonnaise, fresh julienned vegetables, and chili. Once we mixed the ingredients together and dug in, we quickly forgot the image of mayonnaise sitting on top of the noodles. The dish was delicious and different from the cold noodles we indulged in at Shilin Night Market in Taipei and something we would seek out again in Taichung.
We read about a unique museum, the Museum of Old Taiwanese Tiles, that piqued our interest so we decided to walk there following our sesame noodle lunch. Situated in an old restored timber warehouse (Chiayi used to be known as a logging town given its proximity to Alishan forest), the Museum of Old Taiwanese Tiles celebrates the history and restoration of beautifully hand-crafted tiles that adorned homes between 1915-1935. This tradition was adopted from Victorian England and was practiced during a particularly narrow 20-year period under Japanese rule. The museum’s curators, who self-funded the museum out of passion, rely on demolition companies and owners of traditional homes to notify them of any traditional tile sightings so that they can collect them before the houses are demolished. The museum is a beautiful, old wooden space that has been artfully designed to feature the tiles, the history, and the careful process for identifying and restoring them. It ended up being one of our favorite museums in Taiwan and on our travels.
From the Museum of Old Taiwanese Tiles, we ventured to the Chiayi Art Museum, a museum featuring rotating exhibits from Taiwanese artists in the beautifully repurposed Tobacco and Wine Bureau building (another great example of Taiwan’s ability to repurpose defunct manufacturing and government buildings). We spent our time walking through the featured exhibit celebrating the life and works of Chiayi sculptor, Pu Tian-Sheng. The highlight was his busts of famous government and business figures that are famous for their realistic composition.
Our minds now well-fed and our stomachs ready to eat again, we set out to find a local Chiayi specialty for Doug as an appetizer – turkey rice (yes, that’s right, turkey). US military members stationed in central Taiwan introduced turkey to the people of Chiayi after World War II. Turkey was cheaper and more nutritious than chicken, resulting in Chiayi adopting turkey rice as its local specialty dish. Doug settled on Ah Hong Shi Turkey Rice after researching the many well-regarded restaurants known for the dish. While at the register to order, we spotted a few massive turkeys sitting on the counter, probably 18 – 20lbs each, ready for preparation. This was a good sign. The dish, consisting of juicy roasted and pulled turkey over rice and garnished with fried shallots, gives Hainanese chicken rice a run for its money. Expect to find this on the Smart’s Thanksgiving spread next year (Doug’s cooking it).
While we had no trouble finding good food around Chiayi, the night market didn’t boast as many appetizing options as others around the country. We found a very nice and hip Indian restaurant, Shengshi Curry Restaurant, near the art museum that was vegetarian friendly. We were pleasantly surprised to find they had very flavorful and delicious dishes that reminded us of our time traveling around India. We tried the Kashmiri curry, pani puri (a local street snack not commonly replicated outside of India), and naan. We enjoyed it so much we wanted to order more, but were cutting it too close to closing time.
On the way back to our hotel, we spotted a Taiwanese claw machine arcade that was packed to the gills. We decided to go in and see if we could learn a thing or two about how to do it. Walking around, we saw people alone and in groups pulling shopping carts filled with their winnings from various machines. We found a nice man who was willing to stop and explain to us that people will come in and play the claw machine to win their common household goods – laundry detergent, wipes, etc. We were in awe of this approach – shopping while having some fun. It was amazing to witness the success around us after personally experiencing so much failure in the claw machines we tried our hand at while in Taiwan.
We’re glad we decided to make the stop in Chiayi despite not making it to Alishan and felt like the city punched above its weight on both food and museums.
