[mountsac]

My friend Ken passed this small town in southern Taiwan during a business trip, and he decided to take some pictures of this charming small town, which only had 40,000 residents. It is unlike the densely populated and fast-paced urban metropolis you would find in other parts of Taiwan and East Asia. Enjoy :)

The more quiet and residential part of the town:

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Traditional market alongside of the street:

http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/4431/015cl6.jpg
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A Taoist temple that is over 300 years - This temple was temporarily converted to a Shinto temple during Japanese colonization:

http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/3352/022ak4.jpg

Old houses from the Japanese colonial period:

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Railtrack:

http://img182.imageshack.us/img182/5854/037fl1.jpg

The downtown of this small town:

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/8669/003ui2.jpg
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The green field:

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A factory that makes sugar - built during the Japanese colonial period, over 100 years!

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/2272/043kf0.jpg

Houses among the farmlands:

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4219/042mv0.jpg

Some of the traditional houses look like southern mainland China!

http://img95.imageshack.us/img95/1411/044yn1.jpg

New residential area:

http://img412.imageshack.us/img412/7192/1017787985en6.jpg
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[mountsac]

:previous: The town is called Shanhua 善化鎮. It is 20km from Tainan 台南 and not too far from the Southern Taiwan Science Park 南科園區.

Here are pics from another town called Xinhua 新化鎮

http://img243.imageshack.us/img243/7475/1879317417ub4.jpg
http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3697/1879317420zp8.jpg
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http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/6136/1879317436bn8.jpg

[SpeedoPro]

mountsac, these pics look spectacular !!! thank you for posting them. :cheers:

i don't think i have ever been to these small towns. they look very urbanized..

[zilfondel]

Very interesting! Good to know that not all asians live in hong-kong style high rises.

[K. Tsai]

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3697/1879317420zp8.jpg

"役場" means City Hall, right?

[laikuanchi]

"役場" means City Hall, right?
Yes, 役場 means city hall in Japanese. I am assuming that building was built in the Japanese occupied era.

[mountsac]

:previous: thanks. i actually didn't know what it meant :P