呉園／Wu's Garden

The day after going to the Salt Museum etc. I decided I still hadn't had quite enough and went on a walking tour of Tainan.  I say "walking tour", but "forced march" might be more appropriate.  Among other things, I decided that I wanted to see how far it actually was from the Cheng Kung campus to the Anping Neighborhood.  Of course, I had taken the bus out there, and I know how to read a map, but it's hard to really get a feel for an area unless you hit the streets and walk it all.

It's pretty far.  Google says 6.4 km (4 miles).  Not ridiculous, but also a bit far to be walking in the heat of the day.  Now I know.

Before all that though, I went to Wu's Garden.  A rich guy named Wu built himself a fancy garden, and later the Japanese government added a public meeting hall since there was no large, public building that could serve that purpose until after the Japanese showed up.  A Japanese style restaurant was also built next to the meeting hall.

 This is the front of the meeting hall.  It's built in the western-inspired architecture style that the Japanese colonial government loved to use.

 「呉園」。元々呉さんという台南に住んでいた大金持ちが作った園が有って、其の隣りに日本政府が作った公民館（？）も有る。此れはその公民館の前面だ。隣りに和風のレストランも作られている。

 Why did I come all the way to Tainan?  I can see buildings like this all over in NYC!

 北条氏か？

 Around the back of the meeting hall you can see some of the garden.  We're up on street level looking out over it.

 公民館の前はそのまま保存されているが、後ろはモダーンに改新されている。
The front of the Meeting Hall is preserved in its original form, but the back has this modern addition stuck on it.

 公民館から道の向こうに有るアパート。
This is just an apartment across the street from the Meeting Hall.

 The pond in the garden, with tea house.

 凄い木が有った。

 これは元々有った園の一部だ。池と植物以外、呉さんは洞窟も作った。石は石灰岩に見える。沖縄のグスクを思い出す。

 歩道が綺麗に出来ている。

 This is from the walkway in the garden.

 This whole rock cave structure was built as part of the original garden by Wu.  Unfortunately, probably for liability reasons, the city has posted signs asking you not to walk around inside the cave.

 公民館の隣りの日本旅館っぽいレストラン。これも公民館と同じく最近の建物じゃなくて、日本時代からずっと有った物だ。本物のオリジナルだ。今はカフェーとお土産店に成っている。

 This is the Japanese restaurant next to the Meeting Hall.  Like the Meeting Hall, it's also a period structure that has been preserved.  It's unusual to see a Japanese-style wood building like this in Taiwan anymore.

 The building is three stories high, with the bottom story being at garden level, the second story at street level, and the top story one floor up from the street.

 井戸だ。又、下の小さい窓は風通し用だ。
Here you can see a well and the basement-level windows used for circulating air in the building.

 建物の中だ。The building is open and free to enter.  There actually wasn't even anyone on duty or anything; it's just open.

 危ない！落ちるぞ！

 Seriously, I come all this way, and it looks like someone's Manhattan, pre-war apartment.  I should have just toured the Upper West Side.

 I posted this map yesterday as well.  It shows Tainan from the pre-Japanese period when the city was surrounded by a wall and multiple gates.
日本時代以前の台南地図だ。塀と門に囲まれている。

 古いシーサー。顔が溶けている。

 This pond was really beautiful, and the Chinese tea house (currently behind me in this shot) has tables where you can sit and look out on it.

 公民館の前面からの向こうに、この木材の建物が有った。もしかして、呉園に有る和式レストランを真似しているかな。

石油じゃなくて 飲料水を買うところ。台湾人は水道の水をそのまま飲まない。時々飲んでも別に何の問題は無いと思うけど、毎日毎日飲んだら体に悪いとよく言われている。でも本当かどうか分からない。俺が住んでいる寮に飲料水を出す機会が有るから、それを使っている。それが無い人は定期的にこういうやつを使うだろう。２０リットルが２０元だ。（１００円も行っていない。）
This probably looks like a gas pump, but it's actually a drinking water station.  People in Taiwan don't seem to trust the tap water.  I've read about it in different sources, and talked to different people, but ultimately it's still unclear to me just how safe or unsafe it actually is.  It's definitely not horribly and immediately unsafe.  You can drink the water without getting sick, and using it to brush your teeth or whatever is perfectly fine.  I think people are mostly worried about sediment in the water from old pipes, so I guess you could use a Brita filter to get the same effect as whatever they're selling here.  It's pretty cheap though at 20 dollars (less than 1 US dollar) for 20 liters (a little more than 5 gallons).  Fortunately, my dorm has drinking water machines in it, so I don't have to go anywhere or pay any money for drinking water.

The temple of the Tainan City god (I think).

God money.  You buy this money with real money, and then you burn it as an offering to the gods.  I've heard that Taiwan is actually trying to discourage this practice because of the effect on the air quality from lots of people burning money at certain times of the year, and because it's a less than efficient use of paper resources.

新しい橋がほぼ出来ている。でもまだ開いていない。この川は安平区の北の方に有る安平運河だ。

おばさん達は釣りをしている。

This river is Anping Canal, in the northern part of the Anping neighborhood.  I walked along Qingping Road on the south side of the river where there is a nice park.

It's hard to tell maybe, but there were loads of fish jumping around in the water here.  You can at least see the places where the surface is rippling if not the fish themselves.

安平区の贅沢なマンションだ。見た目から判断すれば、結構お金かかるのじゃないかと思う。景色はきっといいと思う。
There were a bunch of fancy-looking condos like this on the south side of the canal.  I bet they go for quite a bit.

なんで自転車レーンがわざわざこのトンネルを通るのか、よく意味分からない。右側の方が広いくて、絶対自転車に乗っている人はそっちを使いたいと思う。

この橋を渡って、安平運河の北側に行った。

On the way over the bridge to the north side of the Anping Canal, I encountered this dog on his way back to his high-priced condo on the south side of the canal.  He told me he made his money in computer chip manufacturing.  Taiwan is well known for its success in technology manufacturing, so I don't think this dog's story is unusual.

The old canal house.  This is where boats used to stop and unload their cargo back in the day.  It's now a small museum with a riverside cafe/bar out back.

昔はこの「運河博物館」は船が荷物を降ろしたところだ。中は小さな博物館に成っているけど、裏側は川沿いのカフェー／酒場に成っている。いつか夜に行ってみたいと思う。

「梟の王国」って意味。「猫頭鷹」って漢字面白いな。

"Owl Kingdom"  A store specializing in owls.

以上で、安平は成大のキャンパスからめっちゃ遠い！この日はずっと歩いていたけど、夏の暑さが半端ないからお勧め出来ない。バスとかに乗って楽々行った方がいい。でも”冬”（無いよ、そんなもん。台湾の冬は冬と言えない位暖かい。）だったら安平まで歩いて気持ちいいかも。歩いて行ったら、色々がゆっくり見えるからね。