21 March 2017
Chicken tower
Chihkan town in Tainan
Tonight I wandered off in the direction of the west central district with nothing in partuclar in mind other than finding dinner. Little did I know that I would stumble onto the Chicken tower and its open at night.
The Chihkan tower, was originally called Fort Provintia, and was built by the Dutch despite the fact it looks Japanese. Actually it was destroyed by an earthquake in the 1800's and rebuilt, so I am guessing it was rebuilt in the style of the slavemasters of the time, who must have been Japanese not Dutch.
At some point, this structure was where all of Taiwan, or Formosa as it was called, was ruled from. There is also a well which is rumored to go down to a secret tunnel to the other fort I was at earlier, 8 miles away. An 8 mile tunnel. They havent been able to find it, but I will, tomorrow.
Other than spending time at the Dutch fort rebuilt as a Japanese chicken tower, I spent my evening wandering around marvelling at the fact the city goes on forever. I did not get to the end of it before I had to turn back.
A definite highlight was seeing a woman getting her hair done (big deal every second shop is a hairdresser) but simultaneously alongside her was what I presume was her little white dog getting a trim too. It was the puppy and middle aged woman centre for simultaneous grooming. Unfortunately as it was a 2nd floor behind glass, I could not photo.
And on that note, you might recall I said there were no babies being pushed about getting in the way. This is true, Taiwan has a negative birth rate (they are actively going back in?) however on the odd occasion I have seen what I assumed was a baby being pushed towards me, every singe time, it was a small dog.
Here we have the Dutch surrendering to the Japanese. When the Dutch built the place they must have realised this would eventually happen so they designed a statue in advance.
The outside of the Chicken tower. It is confusing as there are 2 towers, but the grounds are shaped in a way that its impossible to get a good shot of both at the same time.
You can climb up to the upper levels. There are signs that count how many people are upstairs and I think 10 is the maximum. I dont know how they police that effectively when its busy.
Upstairs is rickety wooden floorboards that threaten to give way.
The roof of the other bit. There are ruins behind it of what I presume was the original Dutch design with windmills and clogs and cheese.
The grounds are quite nice, they have installed bright lighting that changes colors periodically so you can appreciate what it might look like green, or pink, or maybe even purple.
Me blocking the view. Super stance - ACTIVATE.
My hair looks like an awesome helmet.
A bit more chicken tower.
Nice tree, theres a waterfall, and a wall with a whole in it and a bridge.
With my super descriptive text you dont even need to look at the pictures.
Behind here, is what actually, genuinely, possibly just may in fact be is an old style street. Its not mentioned on any map. Its mainly cafes, dessert bars and galleries, but a bit fancier than most of Taiwan, the food is prepared inside, and people dont ride their scooters into the shops to collect their bubble tea.
At the end of old street is an absolutely enormous, dark temple. This is just the door, but it goes up a long way into the dark of night. Might warrant a return visit in daylight to see whats going on.
Tainan footpaths are generally ok. Except this scooter repair guy has decided to install his hoists directly in the middle of the footpath. I am standing on the road in the traffic to take this photo.
Apparently this is the market area. And indeed off the streets there are lots of alleyways with roller doors down. I believe its a wholesale clothing market, but must only be open during the days. In case I need to buy some cheap chinese Mao pants that come up to my nipples.
Taiwan was never Mao, but they did embrace the Mao pants.
I wasnt hungry, so I just had ramen. Then out came the biggest serve ever. I ate about half. It was actually pretty good, the store claimed their chef developed his ramen skills on Mount Fuji itself!
Their chef looked a lot like a teenage girl to me.