6th day 臺南 Tainan

We arrived in Chiayi after takig a super long bus ride from 阿里山. There, we had our second serving of turkey rice and also bought some square biscuits (Chiayi's famous for it). To go to 臺南 from Chiayi, we had to take a local train that is only one stop away. Like Chiayi, 臺南 has not much traffic lights and so has the same haphazard feeling.

We were apprehensive of our hotel cos it is the cheapest of all in the Taiwan trip. At S$35/pax, we walked into the lobby with bated breathe and found out that it was actually OK. This was because there was a spare room that was bigger and the hotel receptionist happily gave us. Nevertheless whether this is a good thing we don't know because that night while we were sleeping, SL LLG claimed to have seen a figure outside the balcony, and that he was awaken by the door opening and closing. That, whether I shall leave it to his fecund imagination or as the pan tang me were to say, he has seen something dirty, has still yet to be ascertained.

Anyway, as we went into the room, the eagle-eyed me started to notice a few lackings - (1) No hot water dispensary and worse still no kettle! (Later I found out all hot water had to be retrieved from the lobby in a paper cup), (2) No slippers, (3) Queen bed rather than two single bed (Having a fox sleeping beside the cat is not a wise idea, let alone comfortable), (4) a bit of old feeling. Other than that, it is Ok. I once declared to SL LLG that only one thing will make this hotel the BEST, and he laughed.

I shall digress. We went for lunch at this place beside 赤崁樓. The owner thought we were fromm Hong Kong, as is a common ex-pe-ren in Taiwan for these past few days, especially when we speak. 赤崁樓 was originally the site of the city of Providentia built by the Dutch in the 1650s as they outgrew Zeelandia. There are tablets, stone horses/camels and a row of nine turtle-borne steles with inscriptions. It has undergone changes from the Ming Dynasty to the Ching Dynasty to the Japanese occupation and to Taiwan's Retrocession.




There was a free tour so SL LLG and I joined in the tour which introduced the statues of Koxinga and also the story of the horse statue that has a missing leg, as well as one of the turtle carring a stele. It was a nice place to explore, not least because of the old Chinese feel. The guide made the experence a whole lot better as many of the nuances in Chinese architecture would have been carelessly overlooked without expert's advice.

After this, we visited a couple of temples and marvelled at the intricate differences in the carvings, especially since the guide book was able to give a lustrous explanations as to which part of the temple was done in the Ming dynasty and which was not. Philistines of course wouldn't be able to discern. Below is a picture I took in one of the temples.





Above: A plum tree picture. It is said that the last Ming king planted a plum tree in his garden, which has since then been converted into a temple.

We went around to a lot of places including finding a street that the guidebook promised to be the MOST picturesque street in Tainan. We found it eventually but then suddenly we found out that we had suddenly lost our purpose! Feeling a bit spent now we were at the crossroads of deciding what to do before we found our legs carrying us to round and round and round...... exploring what came may... I must admit that Tainan suddenly seemed quite boring... There was even a couple of times where we were almost lost.

Of course along the way we ordered bubble tea, and SL LLG did the most heinous thing of leaving his (and my) cups on the pavements when we couldn't find a dustbin. With my crocodile morals, I pontificated how wrong it is for overseas Singaporeans to dump rubbish in the most uncivilised manner.

Still we were happy to enter this tea house! It was our first tea house since our visit in Taiwan and we were enjoying the tea and the lovely interior. I discovered the second floor is a better deal in terms of ambience so we were indulging in small gossips admists sips. Having our thirst sated, we decided it is best to try the coffin bread. Apparently, it was made of thick toast with the centre cut out so that fillings of what seemed to me like a very rich Campbell soup seafood stuffings can be added. It was apparently "invented" to cater to the American tastes when they were stationed there during the WWII period.

After this, we decided to go to the night market by foot since we were rather full and a walk would do us good.

It was a mistake we would never ever forget.

We must have walked for an hour and passed by this open area. Then both of us had our bladder almost full and wanted to use the (unusually a lot) of mobile toilets in this open area.

Don't they resemble coffins?, I quipped without thinking too much.
Yes, they do leh now that you said it. Be careful of things that will jump out when you open the cubicle door
When SL LLG said this, I froze on my track. With one hand on the door, my ever fertile mind started to be imaginative. If anything, we had successfully scared each other!

Realising that the open area belonged to the night market, we bemoaned that we had come at the wrong day. With a heavy heart, we went to the city centre again by foot. This time round, we explored a bit for some watering hioles (SL LLG would be fascinated by Down Under's watering holes a few weeks later in the gym with his Brother Ong). Then we came into this Japanese restaurant.

Going in, we oredered a German sausage and sake. Hoping it to be a warm one, we were disappointed when it came in ice. All disappointment evaporated however when we took a sip and found it delighted our taste buds! So we went talking in the midst of Japanese chatter. However I noticed when we came in or were leaving, they dint even bother to greet us, though they had considerately done so for those Japanese. Sigh.. those TKPGs (Taiwan Kimono Party Girls).. obviously sucking up to the big toes of the Japanese.