A hidden mini-roundabout topped with eight arches in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and white lies between the Central First Market roundabout and Chiayi’s fountain roundabout at 1,250 m above sea level, ringed by buildings that create a singular enclave. Its official name is Central First Market: once thriving, now hushed, it feels sealed off from the bustling Wenhua Road night-market only blocks away. The sustainable-tourism brand Island Walk has turned a 40-year-old neighbourhood barbershop into Chiayi’s new Ertong cultural hub, launching the shared-space project “Circle-Time Good Room.” For its inaugural limited-edition afternoon tea, it invited the tea-growers of MORIYAMA from Xiding to bring their 1,250-m-high mountain tea—grown organically and eco-friendly, additive-free—down to the foot of Alishan. MORIYAMA will scent Chiayi’s historic streets with tea aroma and pair the brews with desserts from Tainan’s famed Kadoya kissaten, staging a cross-region tea session inside the graceful arc of a retro-modern old house, distilling the very best of the Chianan Plain. Photo: Chiayi City Government Tourism & News Dept. | Photographer: Marg.
