Tainan Anping Fort (aka Fort Zeelandia) is an ancient fort in Tainan City that dates back to the Dutch rule of Taiwan. The fort sits right next to Anping Old street, making it a great place to understand Taiwan's culture and at the same time get some of the best snacking at the culinary capital of Taiwan. 

Background:
After the Dutch defeat in Penghu in 1624, they turned their sights instead to the island of Taiwan (Formosa) and began building on what were then sandbars in what is now Anping, Tainan (the inland sea that once existed here has long silted in).
Fort Zeelandia was completed in 1634 after 10 years of construction, built on the high ground of one of the sand bars, along with other forts in the area, such as Fort Zeeburg. It included a one story outer fort armed with cannons. There was also a three story inner fort for administration, including a church and jail. The bricks for the building were shipped in from Java.
The Dutch ruled most of Taiwan until 1661 when they were defeated by Ming Loyalists lead by Koxinga. Koxinga sieged fort Zeelandia, for nine months, killing 1,600 of the Dutch people there before they surrendered due to lack of water. The victory at Zeelandia proved to be the end of 38 years of Dutch rule in Taiwan, the survivors fleeing to Batavia. 
After Taiwan was taken over by the Qing Dynasty in the late 1600s, Tainan became the provincial capital of Taiwan. Fort Zeelandia fell into disrepair as the bay silted in. The bricks on the outer wall were harvested for the Eternal Golden Castle fort closer to the ocean. 
During the Japanese occupation, the fort was repaired and renamed Anping Fort. 
In 1975 the fort was further repaired and the tower improved to what currently stands.

Price:
Anping Fort: 50 NT per person
Anping Old Street: Free

Hours:
Anping Fort: Every day 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. 
Anping Old Street: Every day 7 AM to 6:30 PM.

How to get there:
By Car/Scooter: From central Tainan go west on Minsheng Road until it becomes Anping Road. After that keep going until you see the tower. 
By Bus: Take Tainan Bus 2 from Tainan Train Station to Anping Old Fort station. The ride takes about an hour. 

Map: Please see below:

Full Moon Waterfall (Manyue Waterfall) lies in Sanxia's Manyueyuan National Forest Recreation Area in New Taipei. It's a beautiful waterfall and an easy family hike.
滿月圓瀑布位於新北市三峽區的滿月圓國家森林游樂區，是一個美麗的瀑布且容易的步道。

I actually recommend not going until the new tourist information center and Virgin Waterfall are opened up. That's right, Virgin Waterfall, the biggest waterfall in the park, is not even accessible, but you can still see Manyueyuan Waterfall for a discounted price.
其實我建議等到處女瀑布開放之後再去。對了，處女瀑布關閉了，整個公園最大的瀑布。但是滿月圓瀑布有優惠哦！

To get there, the only way is by taking your own vehicle or taxi. According to the recreation area website, there are no buses to get there. See a map of the waterfall below:
去那邊只能開車或搭計程車。本地區的網站說沒有公車。請參考以下的地圖：

Before we get into hiking just let me tell you about the parking situation here. If you go on a weekend, especially on a long holiday weekend, parking is going to be competitive. There is some free parking near the entrance to the trail, if you buy some vegetables. So what happens if you don't buy some veggies before your hike? You get yelled at by the kid next to the sign and by the people selling them. We were afraid that people would scratch our car while we gone out of spite, but we also didn't want to haul a bunch of potatoes up a mountain.
我開始討論爬山之前，奇偶想要分享這邊停車的情況。如果你周末去的話，特別連假，你會發現停車很競爭。有些“免費”停車場在步道入口附近，但是你要買菜。你不買菜怎麽辦呢？你會被旁邊的小男生罵，而且被賣菜的老闆罵。我們跟他們說：回來再買可以嗎？整個爬山的過程我們很怕他們會把我們的車子刮傷，但是我們也不想把一大堆菜帶上山。

There is an entrance fee, which is normally 100 NT per person. However, because Virgin Waterfall was closed on this day, the fee was only 50 NT per person. Yipee!
​門票原價100，但是因爲處女瀑布關閉我們享有50塊的優惠，黑皮黑皮！

View of the trail entrance as we began our way up. There's even a map in English!
步道入口居然有英文地圖！

This day in January was rather chilly and windy (you can tell how far behind we are on posts for this blog). ​
我們一月去的天氣有一點冷，風有點大 （你可以發現我們的部落格已經不是更新的很好）

From the get-go, there were signs that this nature trail had little nature. Besides the smelly bathrooms, the trail was a paved asphalt path, and you can see the river below has a rock wall.
一開始我們發現這個大自然的地方沒什麽大自然。除了很臭的厠所之外，還有泊油路和河邊的石頭墻壁 。

Oh, the rock wall reduces the impact of the stream water?! Really! 
哦，挑流工的石頭墻可以減緩河流的影響嗎？真的嗎！

The sign says" Piled stones are used to reinforce the riverbed. The arch principle and watertight construction methods are used to reduce the impact form the water in areas where the waterway curves even large stone pile-ups may not be able to withstand the long-term erosion of the water. In these locations, adding a spur dike can achieve the goal of protecting the shores."
​標識牌說：中文看的到吧？

Let's protect nature against getting destroyed by nature by building walls all over nature!
我們不可以讓大自然破壞大自然，所以要在大自然蓋一個很醜的墻壁！

There are large stones in the river due to erosion!
有巨石在河流裏是因爲土石流的關係！

This is probably the prettiest part of the trail, even though it is completely man made. A nice stop for selfies from everyone walking by.
這邊應該是整個不到最美麗的地方，雖然整個都是人造的。每個人在這邊一定要自拍。

Further up the trail, we find a pavilion that has truly become one with nature.
​在更上面，這邊的涼亭真的變成與大自然合一。

Here is the tourist information center that is still under construction. It will probably be a cool place once its finished, so come back in few months or a year and check it out.
這邊的游客中心還在施工中，所以我才會建議幾個月后或明年再來。

My perfectly balanced photo of the park ranger lodge.
我的完全平衡的國家森林員工木屋之照。

Is this the Full Moon Waterfall? Nope, its a man made waterfall that you can barely see through the bushes. Keep walking.
這是滿月圓瀑布嗎？不是，是個幾乎看不到的人造瀑布，繼續走。

If you are sick of nature halfway through the hike, you're in luck because there is a restaurant right at the halfway mark so satisfy your hunger for man-made consumables. 
如果你走到一半就受不了大自然，你很幸運因爲在半途中有一個餐廳，所以你可以好好滿足你對人造的消耗品的渴望。

You can also learn about nature from these cool flippy signs.
​你也可以從這些開開關關的標識牌學到大自然的東西。

Soon you'll be able to memorize the Latin name for almost every plant in the forest!
很快你可以把森林裏的每一個植物的拉丁名稱背起來！

A glimpse of the river below before the waterfall.
去瀑布之前可以看一眼河景。

Just before the waterfall, there is a trail to the left that leads to a pavilion overlooking the waterfall. 
去瀑布之前，左邊有一個步道，走到底有一個可以看到瀑布的涼亭。

It's a beautiful view! On the day we went there seemed to be quite a lot of people, so we couldn't sit and stare for very long.
真的是很漂亮的風景！那天人很多，所以我們不能站在那邊發呆太久。

Below the waterfall is a bridge from which you can see the lower part of the waterfall.
​瀑布下面有一座橋，從此処可以看到瀑布的下方。

So you can't see much here and there are a few branches in the way, but that's what nature is all about.
​從這個位置幾乎什麽都看不到而且樹枝多，但是這就是大自然。

Closeup of Full Moon Waterfall. There happened to be a full moon that night! It was destiny that we visited this magical waterfall.
更接近滿月圓瀑布。那天晚上真的是滿月！我們真的有緣看到這麽有魔力的瀑布。

The whole hike took less than two hours, and was really easy and flat. You could bring young children here and hike to the end with no problem.
整個爬山過程不到兩個小時，都是很平很簡單。你可以帶你的小朋友來河邊爬整個步道沒問題。

After our hike down, we bought a bag of sweet potatoes for only 45NT and headed down the mountain. The traffic was quite bad going down the mountain to Sanxia Old Street.
下山后，我們在停車場買了一袋地瓜45元，就開走。開下山到三峽老姐很塞車。

It took a while to find parking, but we eventually found a spot under the elementary school nearby. That night we ate some sausages, ice cream, stinky tofu, and we bought some Ox Horn Bread for our relatives because apparently that is the delicacy of Sanxia.
找到停車位花了一點時間，但是我們終於找到在國小下面有空位的停車場。那天晚上我們買了香腸，魚丸，冰淇凌，臭豆腐，和三峽的特產：牛角面包送給我們親戚。

​Sanxia Old Street is beautiful and one of the  best Old Streets in greater Taipei. Be sure to follow our Instagram!
三峽老街很漂亮，真的是大臺北最好看的老街之一。記得發嘍我們的IG哦！

Thanks for sharing this obscure family friendly hike in Taiwan with us, and be sure to follow and like so you can see our next adventures!
謝謝讓我們分享這個家庭步道，記得按讚和發嘍所以你可以知道我們下次的冒險！