Inspired Artists Day One

Unfortunately, after recent typhoon Morokot, much of Eastern and Southern Taiwan is inaccessible. Our plan was to start day one in Meinung to visit the Meinong Umbrella Factory, but the best we could find was a train-bus-taxi combination... and one website said, in effect, if you aren't bringing shovels to help dig, don't come.

(There's great info about the Meinong Umbrellas here and here. For directions, visit here.)

Add in the fact that yesterday we spent the day in the hospital (Funky tripped and got four stitches in her chin), and you'll understand why we've decided to let Meinong go and focus on Tainan for the first two days.

Day One Agenda: NCKU campus, Beimen Road, Confucius Temple, JungJeng shopping area.

National Cheng Kung University is a big promoter of the arts, and also has a beautiful campus. The 'banyan tree park' has become almost a national symbol... at any rate it's a beautiful place to relax and walk around. The university has only recently expanded it's arts program, commissioning about a dozen new sculptures (the campus looks like a 'statue park' there are so many of them around now). They also have a very nice, newly renovated art gallery.

The university campus is directly behind the Tainan train station (if you go out the back entrance and walk straight up the street, you'll get there.)

The next stop is Beimen Rd. Exit the front of the Tainan train station and turn left - this is Beimen. This is a shopping area full of cheap clothes, gadgets and novelties. There are a couple big bookstores. It's also a great place to buy electronics, or computers. Less known is that Beimen has a great arts supply store with everything you need; you can even order custom sized canvases (a large canvas will cost between 200~500nt). It's just about across from the Caves Bookstore.



















If you're looking for a hotel, there are several budget hotels along Beimen (next to or across from Caves Books).

We drove past Gongyuan park (Gongyuan and Beimen Road) and headed to the area around the Tainan's Confucius temple.


The original Confucius Temple was completed in 1666, but some of it has been moved or restored. It is on Nanmen Road, near the Cultural center. The area around the temple is interesting; there are several art stores and boutiques. There used to be a gallery across the street but it has been shut down recently. Still, the long street facing the Confucius Temple is full of crafts and activities.




Finally, we did a little window shopping around JungJeng Street; near the intersection of Haian and JungJeng.