Tainan
I have arrived in Tainan, the 4th largest city in Taiwan and the former capital during imperial times. I had originally intended to go down the east coast of the island first stopping in the area of Taroko Gorge, but due to rain this week in that region I decided to instead head here by train, about a 4 hour ride from Taipei, where I have successfully located the sun. I will hop around a few cities in the south now where the weather is nice and hopefully by the time I am ready to return next week sometime, the weather on the east coast will have cleared up and I can spend time there on the way back to Taipei. I'd like to be back up there for 12/31 so I can do something interesting on New Years Eve, then fly back on 1/3 to Hong Kong.
Tainan is a nice city so far. I arrived late yesterday afternoon. The city has fewer tall buildings and feels more relaxed to me than Taipei. There is still a decent amount of people and vehicle traffic, many shops and restaurants as in Taipei, and overall it does not feel vastly different, just a smaller and more laid-back version of the capital where I've spent my time up until now. There are a zillion temples here, each interesting in its own way. Some Buddhist, Taoist, and even a Confucian Temple. There are also old forts usually 300-400 years old or so, usually built by the Chinese on top of the ruins of old Dutch structures from the time of that occupation. All that usually remains of the Dutch buildings is a wall here or there. Tomorrow I'm going to head to the site of the oldest fort which like most of the Dutch forts isn't really there anymore and has had something built on top of it, but is apparently an interesting historical site nonetheless. This is apparently Taiwan's oldest city and some of the streets do have a more quaint charm than I found in Taipei, though when I return to Taipei after this I still need to walk around the oldest neighborhood there and I'm sure I'll find similar scenery.
The people here have been slightly more curious about me than in Taipei. Up there foreigners are a dime a dozen. You don't see quite as many as in Hong Kong, but locals are largely indifferent. Down here I attract more looks though still nothing like in mainland China. I'm sure there must be some concentration of foreigners here, but I've actually yet to see a white face in the 24 hours I've been in town. I met a Japanese guy in the hostel ($8USD per night) and we went last night to a night market and then an old lit-up street where there was actually not much going on but we walked back through the city which was nice. I did encounter two friendly people almost immediately, one who offered directions simply because I looked lost, another who gave me directions and then found me 5 minutes down the road and offered to take me where I wanted to go on her motorbike. It was pretty amazing, I don't think it would happen in Taipei but who knows. There are many snack places out on the sidewalks as there are in Taipei and various restaurants and shops and pubs sprinkled throughout the city. All the sidewalks are covered as they are in Taipei and they are always unpredictable, sometimes disappearing so you have to walk in the street, sometimes turning into an outdoor seating area for a restaurant, sometimes turning into a kitchen, other times a parking lot. Sometimes several of these things at the same time. Walking around today was great, the sun was out and the weather was beautiful and I mostly wandered through the city from temple to temple and fort to fort, stopping only for a giant bowl of noodles at a vegetarian restaurant. There are a decent number here but nowhere near as dense as Taipei where I'm convinced there must be hundreds of completely vegetarian restaurants. Tonight I'm supposed to meet up with a couchsurfer who lives here for dinner, but she is still at work at the moment so I have found myself in an internet cafe typing this.
My hostel here has a curfew of 12am and then they lock the doors which kind of works out well. I'm not out for super late nights and I'm not sure during the week there are any real super late nights to be had, so being out until around then and going to bed shortly thereafter should work well for getting me back onto a reasonable schedule. With a computer in Joy's apartment I had gone back a little bit towards my New York City night owl ways and today I actually managed to get up and get out at a reasonable hour which I was excited to do anyway both for the nice weather and because it is the first day I have walked around a new city in a new while.
Hope everyone is doing well wherever you all are.
Tainan is a nice city so far. I arrived late yesterday afternoon. The city has fewer tall buildings and feels more relaxed to me than Taipei. There is still a decent amount of people and vehicle traffic, many shops and restaurants as in Taipei, and overall it does not feel vastly different, just a smaller and more laid-back version of the capital where I've spent my time up until now. There are a zillion temples here, each interesting in its own way. Some Buddhist, Taoist, and even a Confucian Temple. There are also old forts usually 300-400 years old or so, usually built by the Chinese on top of the ruins of old Dutch structures from the time of that occupation. All that usually remains of the Dutch buildings is a wall here or there. Tomorrow I'm going to head to the site of the oldest fort which like most of the Dutch forts isn't really there anymore and has had something built on top of it, but is apparently an interesting historical site nonetheless. This is apparently Taiwan's oldest city and some of the streets do have a more quaint charm than I found in Taipei, though when I return to Taipei after this I still need to walk around the oldest neighborhood there and I'm sure I'll find similar scenery.
The people here have been slightly more curious about me than in Taipei. Up there foreigners are a dime a dozen. You don't see quite as many as in Hong Kong, but locals are largely indifferent. Down here I attract more looks though still nothing like in mainland China. I'm sure there must be some concentration of foreigners here, but I've actually yet to see a white face in the 24 hours I've been in town. I met a Japanese guy in the hostel ($8USD per night) and we went last night to a night market and then an old lit-up street where there was actually not much going on but we walked back through the city which was nice. I did encounter two friendly people almost immediately, one who offered directions simply because I looked lost, another who gave me directions and then found me 5 minutes down the road and offered to take me where I wanted to go on her motorbike. It was pretty amazing, I don't think it would happen in Taipei but who knows. There are many snack places out on the sidewalks as there are in Taipei and various restaurants and shops and pubs sprinkled throughout the city. All the sidewalks are covered as they are in Taipei and they are always unpredictable, sometimes disappearing so you have to walk in the street, sometimes turning into an outdoor seating area for a restaurant, sometimes turning into a kitchen, other times a parking lot. Sometimes several of these things at the same time. Walking around today was great, the sun was out and the weather was beautiful and I mostly wandered through the city from temple to temple and fort to fort, stopping only for a giant bowl of noodles at a vegetarian restaurant. There are a decent number here but nowhere near as dense as Taipei where I'm convinced there must be hundreds of completely vegetarian restaurants. Tonight I'm supposed to meet up with a couchsurfer who lives here for dinner, but she is still at work at the moment so I have found myself in an internet cafe typing this.
My hostel here has a curfew of 12am and then they lock the doors which kind of works out well. I'm not out for super late nights and I'm not sure during the week there are any real super late nights to be had, so being out until around then and going to bed shortly thereafter should work well for getting me back onto a reasonable schedule. With a computer in Joy's apartment I had gone back a little bit towards my New York City night owl ways and today I actually managed to get up and get out at a reasonable hour which I was excited to do anyway both for the nice weather and because it is the first day I have walked around a new city in a new while.
Hope everyone is doing well wherever you all are.
posted by Dan at 1:21 AM
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