Tainan was a joy! Saw so many nice cute places. Stopped in lots of nice shops. Learned how to buy tea!
Tainan is a nice size city on the southwest coast that you could really enjoy living in. I especially enjoyed the back alleys here. You can wander through them and get lost and its so incredibly safe you don't have to worry. Even alone. Even at night. The locals will all attest that it's extremely safe.
Tainan really delivered on the food, which it is famous for. Had a great vegan meal, as well as several great traditional Chinese meals. Beef with spinach. Dumplings grilled together. Dan zai noodles. Sashimi. Matchi ice cream. Found some more mochi. Had some delicious donuts. And a perfect cappuccino.
It's also famous for temples, and the temples and historical places were really nice too. Especially noteworthy was the Confucius Temple. This was actually more of a compound and was used as an educational institution for Confucian scholars for hundreds of years. The collection of musical instruments on display was mind blowing. I think even non music enthusiasts will appreciate those pictures.
I also visited four other famous temples (Taoist) in the area. A small handful compared with the 220 temples renowned to exist in the city. You can just imagine a small temple in virtually every back alley. Makes it easy to stop in whenever to offer prayers, on your way to work or on your way home, and the Taiwanese are still very active in their religious practice.
Anping, a small village along the coast, was overrated, but I liked the treehouse there. And I got some great pics of graduating seniors on the beach at sunset.
At the train station this morning, just leaving Tainan. Kind of weird being up at 8:30 am, and to be at the train station. It feels weird that there are so many people here. Who gets up this early?
I haven't been sleeping well in Taiwan. I never get to bed before midnight and I often sleep until 11 am or 12 noon. It's almost as if my body clock was unable to shift to the new time zone. I'm still sleeping the same hours I did in India. I'd definitely like to start getting up earlier again. But until I do, morning it's for sleeping.
