Tainan

*Written August 21, 2012*

For the first time in my life, I traveled totally alone in a foreign country. I've traveled alone to San Francisco, but they speak English and I had a working cell phone. When I went to Tainan today, I had to navigate without technology or a common language. It was surprisingly not that bad!

I started the day taking the subway to the Taipei Main Station, where I caught the high speed rail to Tainan.

Once in Tainan, I went to FuQi Hostel, where I checked in and dropped my stuff off on my bunk bed. I made use of their computer to find out details on the incoming typhoon (more on this later), and then went for some sightseeing.

Tainan's main sights are some reconstructed old ruins and temples. Lots of temples. Like... a lot of freaking temples.

I first stopped at the Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual, and then grabbed some fish spring roll type things before exploring Chihkan Towers. From there I went to the Grand Matsu Temple (Matsu is a popular Taiwanese deity), the Beiji Temple, the Confucius Temple, Koxinga's Shrine, Lady Linshui's Temple, Our Lady Queen of China Cathedral, and the Great South Gate (which I will not include pictures of because it was painfully dull). Yea, and I skipped a lot of temples.

Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual  

Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual  

 Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual  

 Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

 Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

 Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

 Temple of Guangong for Official Ritual 

 Fish spring roll type things. Yummmm

Chihkan Towers

 Chihkan Towers

 Chihkan Towers

 Matsu Temple

  Matsu Temple

  Matsu Temple

  Matsu Temple

 Confucius Temple

 Confucius Temple

  Confucius Temple

  Confucius Temple

  Confucius Temple

Koxinga's Shrine 

 Koxinga's Shrine

  Koxinga's Shrine

  Koxinga's Shrine

Our Lady Queen of China Cathedral 

 Our Lady Queen of China Cathedral 

Lady Linshui's Temple 

 Lady Linshui's Temple 

 Lady Linshui's Temple 

 Lady Linshui's Temple 

 Lady Linshui's Temple 

Lady Linshui's Temple

For lunch I had "rice cake."

Random note: fighter jets can be seen/heard flying over the city. Very loudly.

Not knowing what to do with myself, I went back to the hostel in hopes that there would be some cool people. Indeed there were. I played some weird Asian card games with Vincent (Taiwanese, volunteering at the hostel) and a deaf Japanese guy. The only language we all shared was Japanese - Vincent's English wasn't the strongest, and the Japanese guy... well I don't know if he knew English.

I then went out to dinner with a newly acquainted friend, Kenny (Taiwanese, lives in Tainan, studied English in Canada, hates being Asian). We went near Chihkan Towers, where I let him order for both of us. He got us rice cake (he didn't know I had it for lunch, and he's about to find out when he reads this) and pig intestines in a flavorless broth.

Flavorless, chewy, grainy. 

Kenny

Kenny and I hung out for awhile, chatting, and going for some sort of delicious fruity tea.

It started getting late, so I went back to the hostel. Being the only non-Asian person in my hostel, everyone wanted to practice speaking English with me. I felt pretty popular.

I chatted with some guy from Beijing and then two guys from Hong Kong named Cheung and Jason. They were pretty cool. Cheung works for HTC and asked me if they're popular in the US... I kinda crushed his spirits when I told him that they're not that popular. Sorry!

Left to right: Vincent, Cheung, Jason

I asked the guy from Beijing what he thought about Taiwan's independence and he said, "I'm Chinese. What do you think?" When I asked the Taiwanese guys, they said that they believed Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau should all be independent from Chinese rule. I agree!