Winter trip to Taiwan
full of history
27 January - 10 February
2018
route by trains:
Taipei - Tainan - Anping - Taitung - Taipei - Tamsui
Amsterdam - Taiwan with China Airlines
Bakery near our hotel in Taipei
The National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall
Chiang Kai-shek (31 October 1887 - 5 April 1975), was
a political and military leader who served as the leader
of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975, first
in mainland China until 1949 and then in exile in Taiwan.
1955 Cadillac
1972 Cadillac
Soong May-Ling (March 5, 1898 - October 23, 2003) and Chiang Kai-shek
Hello Kitty Kitchen And Dining
Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 - 12 March 1925) was the
founding father of the Republic of China. The first provisional
president of the Republic of China, Sun was a Chinese physician,
writer, philosopher, calligrapher and revolutionary.
High speed train to Tainan, the warmer south
Zheng Chenggong, better known in the West as
Koxinga, was a Chinese Ming loyalist who resisted
the Qing conquest of China in the 17th century,
fighting them on China's southeastern coast.
In 1661, Koxinga defeated the Dutch outposts on Formosa,
Egg filled with fried rice for lunch
Fort Provintia or Providentia was a Dutch outpost on
Formosa at a site now located in the West Central
District of Tainan in Taiwan. It was built in 1653
during the Dutch colonization of Taiwan.
During the Siege of Fort Zeelandia (1662), the fort was
surrendered to Koxinga, destroyed by
an earthquake in the 19th century.
It was rebuilt as Chihkan Tower
Dutch surrender
Fort Zeelandia was a fortress built over ten years
from 1624 to 1634 by the Dutch East India Company (VOC),
in the town of Anping (now Anping District of Tainan),
during their 38-year rule over the western part of Formosa.
The current name of the site is Anping Fort.
A sketch of Fort Zeelandia
Original wall of Fort Zeelandia
Young women in traditional Chinese Qipao dresses
Former Tait & Co. Merchant House
a British Trading Company that was found in 1867
Once the site of the Dutch-built Fort Utrecht
Eternal Golden Castle, built with bricks from Fort Zeelandia
The castle was built in 1874 and completed on 1876 by the
famous Qing official Shen Baozhen in order to safeguard
the coast and to defend the island against Japanese invasions.
Coffin Bread is one of the signature dishes from Tainan
"Tomb of the Dutch" behind the Sicao Dazhong Temple
In 1971, when the temple was being re-constructed, more
than 100 sets of skeletal remains with 30+ intact skulls
were uncovered. Local legends had long held that this area
was an ancient battlefield and a burial ground. And that
some of the remains were those of the Dutch soldiers.
Aborigine minorities in Taitung County
Political debates in Taiwan
so different compared to Mainland China
MiBaNai Aboriginal Restaurant, Taitung
Liyushan Park, Taitung
Wulongyuan Restaurant, Taitung City
(Wulon House)
Train from Taitung back to Taipei
Eartquake in the Hualien area
We passed Hualien by train
Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial House
Fort San Domingo in Tamsui
Anthony van Diemen (1593 - 1645) a Dutch colonial governor.
Educational video about the history
of Fort San Domingo
The Fort San Domingo was originally a wooden fort
built by the Spanish in 1629 at Tamsui District,
New Taipei, Taiwan. It wasoriginally built in 1628
by the Spanish, who were the governor of northern
Taiwan during the era, and was named as
"Fort San Domingo".
However, the architecture was then destroyed by
the Spanish after losing the war to the Dutch
in 1642. After the war, in 1644, The Dutch had
managed to rebuild the castle in the original
site, and had renamed the castle as "Fort Antonio".
Former British Consulate Residence in Tamsui
Oxford College, Aletheia University, Tamsui
Hello Kitty shop
Zhongzheng Road, Tamsui
Helll Kitty Airport Store
Back home, souvenirs from Taiwan
including two interesting books:
- On the road to freedom: A Backpackers's Guide to
Taiwan's Struggle for Democracy
(2013)
- The Real Taiwan and the Dutch
Traveling notes from the Netherlands Representive
(Menno Goedhart and Cheryl Robbins)
(2010)
Decoration for the Year of the Dog