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chiayi's walls: a street artist's offbeat diary

@Luna Sterling3/7/2026blog

i landed in chiayi with a backpack full of caps and a head full of noise. the airport's tiny, like a dentist's waiting room but with more humidity. grabbed a scooter from some guy named mr. chen who charged me 500 nt for the day and didn't blink when i asked for a helmet that fit my beanie. love that.

the weather's doing its own thing: 24.96°c, humidity 22%, feels like 24.09? whatever. it's dry enough that my lips are chapped by noon, but the sun's out and that's all that matters when you're hunting for walls. i just checked and it's...there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. actually it's perfect for spray paint, not too humid, not too hot. wait, did i say perfect? i'm lying, it's still taiwan, my shirt's sticking to my back. the barometer's at 1008 hpa, which feels like a weight lifted, or maybe that's just me.

if you get bored, tainan's just a 40 minute train ride away and it's like a whole other world of street art, or so i've heard. kaohsiung's further but has that industrial edge i crave. but chiayi's got its own secrets.

i started walking around the old town near the railway station. there's a bunch of these narrow alleys with electrical boxes covered in tags, but nothing huge. then i heard from a local that the sugar factory outside town is the spot. someone told me that the owner turned a blind eye as long as you don't paint the main gate. i biked out there, it's a sprawling complex of brick buildings, rusting machinery, perfect canvases. but the guard? total jerk. he yelled at me in mandarin and waved a broom. i pretended not to understand and kept sketching. eventually he gave up and went back to his chair. i got a few decent pieces in.

there's this little art supply store near the night market called 'color explosion' or something. the owner, a lady with pink hair, sells caps for 30 nt each. she told me that the police started patrolling the sugar factory last month after some tourists got lost and called the cops. i bought extra caps just in case.

over a bowl of beef noodle soup at this hole-in-the-wall (not the art kind), the guy next to me said, 'you know, the mayor's brother runs that gallery on zhongshan rd. they buy street art now, but they're just using it to look cool. they'll lowball you and then hang it next to some corporate logos.' i nodded like i understood, but i was just thinking about the soup. still, it's something to consider if you're looking to sell.

facebook group link tripadvisor forum yelp eats local blog. these links might be outdated by the time you read this, but whatever.

here's a map to get oriented:


i snapped a few shots (okay, not really, these are from unsplash but they vibe):


by the way, the map shows the general area. the sugar factory's not marked, it's just off route 1, look for the big smokestack. if you're by bike, it's a 20 minute ride from the train station. also, the low humidity means the paint dries super fast, but the wind off the strait can mess up your lines if you're not careful. bring tape.

the whole thing's a mess, really. chiayi doesn't have a 'scene' like taipei or taichung, but that's why it's gold. you can paint without some influencer showing up with a selfie stick. the humidity's a bitch, the food's cheap, the people mostly ignore you unless you're in your way. i left with a bag of caps, a few sketches, and a sunburn on my forearm. would i come back? maybe when the rainy season ends. or when i run out of walls in my hometown. until then, keep your nozzles clean and your eyes on the alleys.

oh and if you see mr. chen, tell him i still owe him 200 nt.

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About the author: Luna Sterling

Writer, thinker, and occasional over-thinker.

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