taiwan day 3: exploring tainan
hello. read to the end for a fun surprise.
after my quick trip in and out of the mountains, it was time to head to tainan for two nights. before leaving, i stopped by the same breakfast spot as yesterday. i pretty much ordered the same food, so here is a picture of the little sidewalk tables:
next i headed to the station to catch the train to tainan:
after arriving in the city, i took the bus to my hotel, dropped most of my luggage, and began sightseeing. my first stop was at the hayashi department store: a 1930s era building built during japanese occupation of taiwan. it has retro architecture, some cute shops, and a cafe on the roof.
the retro hayashi cafe and my curry lunch:
you can also see where the building was damaged by US bombing in wwii. it was restored beginning in 2006 and reopened in 2014. you can still see damage from the war:
the mall even has a japanese shinto shrine next to the cafe on the roof:
my next stop was the tainan confucius temple.
here is a some info on the history of the temple:
here is the main courtyard:
the dacheng gate:
the dacheng palace behind the gate:
the edification hall:
and the wenchang pavillion (the first floor is square, the second floor is circular, and the third floor is octagonal):
this is a view of from the pagong stone archway which is now located across the street:
i then visited the tainan lady linshui temple, the earliest temple in taiwan dedicated to childbirth. the temple is named for lady linshui, but the main altar is actually to the three ladies (三奶夫人), each of whom has twelve assistants. i unfortunately only got a photo of the front gate:
last on my history tour, i went to the koxinga shrine, a 17th century chinese-style ancestral shrine that was converted to a shinto shrine during the japanese occupation. it was renovated in the 1960s to change the architecture to a more northern-chinese style.
one of the things i wanted to buy most in taiwan is oolong tea; the island is famous for its very high-quality tea. my friend recommended a teashop nearby and i happened to be in the neighborhood so i swung by to do my tea buying for the trip.
he offered for me to sit down and sample the teas. i ended up trying about 8 different oolong teas and we chatted for over an hour. i ended up buying 4-5 different varieties to bring back home.
it was time to check into the hotel:
i grabbed dinner in the same small street as my hotel: there was a small chinese soba restaurant that looked pretty good. i ordered a miso-soymilk noodle and a side of cold tofu. i was hungry and forgot to take a photo of the noodles :)
after dinner, i had time to kill so i had a walk around town. mostly just wandered around the alleyways and saw lots of beautifully hand-painted lanterns:
this was a temple i walked past where people were just vibing and watching a movie:
it was across the street from this temple dedicated to the wind god:
that wraps up my first day in tainan! so far i really enjoy this city and am excited to hang out here for a couple more days.
BONUS!!!
ha i bet you wanted to see a capybara? tough luck. today we have a claw machine where you can win laundry detergent pods featuring lebron DUNKING. yes, things are going great here.
ok losers bonus bonus or whatever here is the lid of my tea bottle:
