Shennong Street (神農街) @ Tainan City in Taiwan

Shennong Street is known to be the most beautiful street in the ancient city of Tainan. Despite staying just one night in the city, we decided to check it out given the short 13-minute walk from Princess & Elephant Hotel.

The signage for the street was not at the entrance, but at the side pedestrian pavement along the main hai'an road. Guess it makes sense given the the height of the installation.

Especially the low hanging lanterns.

Jump a bit and I bet Alex's head would have bumped into a few.

A bit harder for me since I am much shorter. 

Me in my current state, when work bogs me down and sometimes I wonder what the heck am I doing with my life. Life is more than just work right? 

Should I seek divine help on what to do moving forward, given that I have no luck when it comes to TOTO? But, I am not keen to know about my future as it would keep on coming back to remind you if you decide otherwise, and there's no such thing as guarantee. Eventually the choice is yours to make.

Back to the quaint, 300-meter short Shennong Street! A lonesome American soldier statue in front of a shuttered shop, marked the start of the street without any information. 

Anway, Shennong Street was a narrow road that likely can't accommodate any cars or big lorries and even though it might not look much; it has been around for a few hundred years and used to be one of the busiest given its proximity to the river ports.

A mix of commercial and residential, with the latter exuding much nostalgic charm as if time has stopped for a few decades. The key attraction here would be facade of the one or two-floor high buildings. More to come in this post! 

Lanterns seemed to be the norm, similar to the ancient city of Hoi An in Vietnam, although the lanterns here in Shennong Street were more hand-painted and oblong in shape.

I am quite good with directions and even then, my mind was confused with this "floor directions" as the places didn't ring a bell as being tourist attractions. My bad.

Great way to improve the aesthetic of metal shutters, although the paint might be scrapped off when the shutter was rolled up. In addition, the paint might also increase the load of the shutter, resulting in issues surrounding operations and maintenance. 

Many shops selling unique items! If Jovyn and Jerald were still young, I would likely buy the dancing lion winter caps for them! And yes, that's a statue of Mr Colonel Sanders, also known as the founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken! 

I didn't know what to make out from the above shop.

It didn't feel it's selling second-hand products though.

The cyan facade, the original telephone, and the old gramophone would definitely catch your attention! It's a speakeasy with a hidden door called 龍九坊 that commanded a high review score of 4.7 from over 150 reviewers. 

Jinhua Temple - honoring Wenheng Shengdi (said to be the god of war, Guan Yu) since 1874, making this temple more than a hundred years old. To be frank, there's always a standard look for Guan Yu, but the main deity in the centre seems more scholarly, almost king-like.

These kind of shutters was more the Japanese style.

One thing that I remember very well from Shennong Street was the abundance of mosquitoes, and I thought they would not be as active when temperature was low?! I was bitten so so badly, and the mosquitoes were huge! Amituofo for the killing.

Interesting shops that I didn't manage to check out as we were running out of time, and I needed to be mindful of my shallow pocket, and my limited luggage space.

Very funny name for a shop; the emperor doesn't want to hold court, which I presume to mean the emperor would prefer to spend his time eating pastries! We bought a lava custard mooncake just to try.

Well, not suitable for our taste buds. 

More on the shops! Control, control.

Don't step in, and we will not be tempted.

Services for a pet whisperer! I remember an article a few years ago on pet whisperers in Singapore and that's so fascinating! Pity Rubee passed away many years ago and I have no plans for a pet. Quite scary though, to know what your pets think of you. 

A metal window frame need not be boring! I heard that such metal frames were said to uglify the many cities in Taiwan, although some will argue that some had unique features that spoke of the history and heritage of metal window frames in the country! 

Pots of succulents! Even though the sign mentioned the plants will not wilt, it gave the wrong impression that it will not die, which isn't true as mine died on me, for reasons that could only be attributed to me.

 

Typical interior of a shop; it's usually a wide variety of products and you never know what would appeal to you! The loafers were so beautiful right?! Just a bit too colorful for my age.

Teru teru bōzu - "white, ghost-like figurines with strings tied around their necks" that were hanged in advance as a Japanese prayer to stop or prevent rain the next day! Similar to the planting of chilli and garlic in Singapore! 

Shennong Street continued further down, past the wider Kangle Street.

A so-literal We Drink Beer Company bar; Google Maps review score of 4.8 from over 600 reviewers! I really need a drinking beer to accompany me for a drink as Alex would just order coke; so wasteful! 

This side of Shennong Street was a lot quieter though.

Not sure if everyone assumes it ends before Kangle Street.

End of the street would be the imposing Temple of Shennong (known as 臺南藥王廟), which was said to be built at this site in 1764, and appeared to be closed for the day when we reached. 

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Address

Shennong Street, 

West Central District,

Tainan City, Taiwan

Map

As above.

Click HERE for 11 Days, 10 Nights Taiwan Trip: Summarised Itinerary for Chiayi Alishan (嘉义阿里山) - Kaohsiung (高雄) - Tainan (台南) - Taichung (臺中)