The day I toured Anping

Dr W and SX drove me to the western part of Tainan (Anping district) last Sunday. It has a lot of sightseeing districts like:

• Anping old streets
  The streets resemble a bigger version of our pasar malam. It’s a long stretch of road selling tonnes of interesting things and the whole street is buzzing with activities. There are foodstalls selling stinky beancurd (not as stinky as the wastewater fed into reactors), offering games for the young and young at heart.
• Matsu temple (Tian Hou Gong)
  Generally, Taiwanese are devouted Taoist/ Buddhist. So the temples are usually grander than those we see in Singapore. This temple is supposedly the first Matsu temple in Taiwan, and naturally has the oldest Matsu statue in the whole of Taiwan within it.
• Anping fort (Fort Zeelandia)
  I had a brief history lesson of Taiwan at this place. It was said that in 1624, the Dutch seized this area and established a military and commercial base. Later in 1661, it was attacked and captured by Zheng He, who sailed down from China after failed attempts to restore the Ming Dynasty. Zheng He lived here ever since then. I was told that the current statue of Zheng He looked in the direction of Mainland China, symbolizing his wish of going back to China and fulfilling his dreams. Later, the area was recaptured by Qing Dynasty, and forced to be given to Japan when the dynasty wilted. The fort that we see now is reconstructed by Japanese and is still in good shape. A lot of archaeological effort has been taking place over the past few years. Land has been excavated to find old artefacts. It is rumored that there is a underground tunnel, connecting from the old well here in Anping to the central Tainan. This is the tunnel which acted as the escape route for Sun Yat Sen (I think?), and they are still trying to validate if this is true.
  

On a side note, darn…I still cannot access internet in my dorm, even though I have asked my junior to register for me. So I have to write this first and then post it online later. As I wrote this blog in my dorm, I heard firecrackers cracking away in the streets outside. Hah…not even New Year yet.