Taiwan Day 3: Tainan City

We left Daliao early this morning and drove to the nearby town where John's sister lives. We had breakfast at the dumpling stand of John's brother-in-law. The pork dumplings were, of course, delicious - much better warm than cold. We dipped them into a spicy soy sauce. John walked across the street and bought a bottle of sugar cane juice and a fresh coconut from a vendor. The vendor bored a hole into the coconut and stuck in two straws. Scott loved the coconut juice. I wasn't as enamored - it didn't have much taste. The sugar cane juice had a lot of taste, but was so sweet that I could only drink a few sips. The dumpling stand was very busy. Dumplings are a traditional breakfast food. Many people wanted a quick breakfast today, since it was the second Despite the constant stream of business, John's family was as gracious as always. day of Chinese New Year, the day that married daughters travel to their families. John's mother, and brother (an engineer who lives near Taipei) and his wife were there helping. They even took the time to show Scott how to roll the dumpling dough and let him try. I don't think any of their customers were poisoned by Scott's dumplings, but you never know...


Scott and I with our coconut juice, sugar cane juice, and dumplings

Fresh coconut juice - notice that it's not brown

John's mother rolling dumpling skins

Making dumplings

Making dumplings

John's sister-in-law helping customers



John's sister filling the dumplings; John's mother is in the foreground rolling dumplings

Coconut cut open by vendor after we drank the juice

Scott the dumpling maker

Scott rolling dumplings

After saying goodbye to John's family, we headed to Tainan City. Tainan City is the fourth largest city in Taiwan, with a population of almost 800,000 people. It was the capital of Taiwan from 1661 through 1887. Along the way to the city, we stopped by the side of the road where vendors were selling locally grown wax apples. These bell shaped fruits are also known as rose apples, bellfruit, or rose apples. These "apples" are very popular in Taiwan. John and Julie bought several for us and boxes as presents for Julie's family. The apples we bought were one of the most prized variants of the fruit in Taiwan. They were crunchy but much lighter in texture than apples. They had a subtle sweet taste. The vendor recommended that we start eating at the bell of the apple and work our way down for maximum sweetness.


Wax apple vendor stand




The roads were very busy. There was lots of traffic both on the highway and in Tainan City. We were lucky to find a decent parking spot. We walked through Old Street (An Ping Lao Jie), an area known for food and shops. We ate a fantastic lunch at a small restaurant on a corner. I wanted to try a coffin sandwich, a Tainan specialty. We order the coffin sandwich with seafood curry. It was a fried sandwich - the taste of the fried bread reminded me of a grilled cheese sandwich. The center of the sandwich was cut out and filled with a delicious seafood curry. We also split a fried shrimp roll and a seafood omelet topped with a ketchup-based sauce. Both were good, although I didn't like the sauce (being a ketchup hater). For dessert, we stopped at a street vendor outside the restaurant and bought shaved ice topped with red bean sauce. The four of us also split a cone filled with cubed marinated tofu, a typical Taiwanese snack. It was very good.


Coffin sandwich with seafood curry (notice the purple squid)

Seafood omelet

Fried shrimp rolls

Shaved ice with red beans

Marinated tofu cubes

Our educational outing for the day took us to Fort Zeelandia, just off Old Street. The fort was built between 1624 and 1634 by the Dutch. At the time, it was off the coast of Tainan. The fort's location provided the Dutch direct access to the sea and therefore, to supplies and reinforcements in case of a siege. However, the site lacked fresh water, which the Dutch had to ship in from the mainland. The bricks used to built the for were brought over from Java. The mortar was made out of a mixture of sugar, sand, ground seashells, and glutinous rice. The fort was designed to be surrounded by three concentric layers of walls and the four corners of the fort were built into protruding bastions for better defense. In 1661, mainland China attacked the fort with 400 warships and 25,000 men. The fort only housed 2,000 Dutch soldiers. The siege lasted nine months, costing 1,600 Dutch lives. The Dutch surrendered the fort on February 1, 1662 when they ran out of fresh water. The Dutch officially left the fort on February 9, 1662, ending 34 years of Dutch rule in Taiwan.


The fort walls

The fort walls

Canon outside fort

View of Tainan City from fort

View of Tainan City from fort

Model of the fort in its heyday

We headed back to Old Street after touring the fort. We ate a snack in a restaurant recommended by the mayor of Tainan (which, of course, means the restaurant must be excellent). We bought two shaved ices: one topped with red beans & almond jello and the other with pumpkin & red beans. Both were good, but I preferred the red beans & almond jello. The pumpkin was a bit overwhelming. We also bought tofu pudding with a sugary sauce. I thought it was merely okay. But to Julie, this was comfort food. When she was growing up, local vendors would knock on her door and offer it as a snack - the Taiwanese ice cream man. After eating snack, we walked through the shops in Old Street. It was extremely crowded - at times it was hard to move. We bought some dried fruit (mangoes and raspberries covered in sugar) at a famous shop on Yanping Street. The shop is over 1000 years old. The fruit was excellent.


Shaved ice with red beans and pumpkin

Shaved ice with red beans and almond jello

Tofu pudding in sugary sauce

In the late afternoon, we left Tainan and drove to Ma Do, Julie's hometown. Also spelled Madou, it is a small city of about 49,000 people north of Tainan City. It is known for its pomelos and two universities. We stayed at Julie's aunt & uncle's vacation home. The family built the house next to her grandfather's home; no one currently resides in it. It was a large house with three or four bedrooms and a large family room. As we became accustomed to while in Taiwan, the first order of business upon arrival was a meal. Julie's mother and aunts cooked a delicious dinner. We had ground chicken balls, three kinds of fish (fabulous), pork with pickled bamboo, cold chicken with vegetables, cabbage with shrimp & dried fish in a thick sauce (very good), and cream of pumpkin soup. For dessert, we ate jujubes, Asian pears, grapes, wax apples, lonchan muffins, and the most incredible fruit I've ever eaten. Known as Buddha's head, cherimoya, or custard apples, the fruit somewhat resembles an artichoke. We sliced it open and ate the flesh with a spoon, spitting out seeds as we ate. The fruit is extremely sweet, like ripe mango, and melts in the mouth. I could eat it all day.




Custard apple (aka cherimoya)

After dinner, Julie's family began their annual karaoke show. The karaoke machine was linked to the TV, which showed random pictures along with the words to each song. It was interesting to watch the family sing all these Chinese pop songs I'd never heard. I sang "You are My Sunshine." Scott sang "Sound of Silence" and a Japanese song. Scott and I sang "Yesterday" together. Julie's grandfather enjoyed singing songs in Japanese, which he speaks fluently. He sang very loud - the family turned down the microphones when it was his turn.