Tainan Day 3 (and back to Taichung)

 This morning I woke up early?! And just ate a bread for breakfast. I wasn't feeling too good as fatigue. I also heard many fighter jets, like yesterday. By the time it was around 1-2pm, I had already heard more than 10 of them passing overhead. I also felt a tiny earthquake around 12:23pm while sitting on a park chair.

I finished writing my postcards and passed stool twice before checking out. The balcony is so nice. Wish I could stay another day in Tainan. I stripped the beds as well before I left, and struggled my luggage down only 1 flight of steps. Phew. 

I sat down for a bit and looked up bus and train times. I couldn't decide, and decided to go do lunch at the nearby noodle place first. It was a bit early, I didn't have much appetite but was hungry. I got an eel yaki-noodle. Sadly I had to leave most of the onions on the plate as I wasn't feeling too good. The eel was nice and tender. $130. Great flavour as always. Pity I'm not at my best. It was nice and breezy outside.

After lunch I went to the post office to buy another set of stamps and gave my postcards to the staff. Then I went to sit down in the nearby park for a bit and swiped on SNS for a bit. I sat in the cradle bench chair as they had another one down the other end of the park. It was very nice. I heard more fighter jets. I needed to pee so decided to go to the temple near Duiyuemen.

Once I was relieved I had a look at the old city gate again, and had a look inside the temple. It's a small one but old. Then I decided to follow the alleyway down, and came across another temple. The staff inside this temple was asleep at the info desk, so I took care not to wake them. They had a pond on the side, and a big turtle dived into the water just as I approached, so sadly I couldn't get a photo of the turtle... the fish swam pretty vigourously. 

I left (the gentleman was still asleep) and walked down the alley. There were cute mini painted pictures alog the alley, celebrating 400 years (and as part of some project?). The houses were cool to look at, many old ones. 

I also came across a restaurant that was based in a really really old house. They even themed the inside accordingly to the historic period. So cool. 

Back to the park and I had a sit down cause I was tired. Another fighter jet zoomed by. I saw it in the sky this time!

It was about 1:40pm, and I decided to sit until 2pm and grab my luggage. I also looked up train times and decided to take the train cause I can get a stamp at Taichung Station. I contacted the minsu, so they can let me in. I walked back to the minsu door and decided to walk to the end of the alley to see what's there. I came across an abandoned and dilpalated house... I went inside to have a quick look. Oooohhh. 

Then when I got to the end of the alley, a construction worker working on the 2F of the house on the left, asked me what I was doing. I said I'm explored alleys, and he said this is a dead end. I said I like looking at old houses. And he shouted something to his coworker and went back to work. I walked back to the minsu door. They opened the look remotely the same time as I tried touching the lock (without looking at my Line messages), and it was open. Cool lol. I got my stuff and left and thanked them for a good stay.

Once I was at the alley entrance on the road, I realised I forgot to shift my laptop into my backpack, so I had to do that there. And masked up in my zimi, and then called a taxi. Mr Wang was my driver and wasn't much of a chatter. $120 was my fare. I thanked him and went to the ticketing window, and bought the 2:40pm Tze-Chiang EMU3000 to Taichung. 

I let 二叔 know and he asked if I could take a local train to Tanzi station, I had a look and said yes. So that's what ended up happening. I got off at Taichung Station, and they had the most fanciest stamp ever. Apity the wooden seat/stand was covered by a clock and I couldn't read what's on it, as half of it was covered. Then I went back in via Yoyo card and took the local train to Tanzi, making sure I stamped the memorial stamp before going downstairs and meeting cousin Joy.

I haven't seen her in person for over a decade. It was peak traffic and there was roadworks so there was a bottleneck at a certain place. We spent over and hour in traffic and ended up going to dinner straight away (original plan was to drop off luggage and Joy can get changed from her riding gear). We went to Chun Shui Tang, and a branch that had outdoor seats. Phew. A few smokers about but there was a small breeze so the smoke dispersed pretty quickly. I had kungfu noodle and Joy ordered a couple of dishes to share for the table, while 二叔 went to park the car and get his phone.

The noodles were good, and the mantou was pretty unique (had condensed milk sauce). The bubble tea is the originaal, apparently (this store invented it). I had a warm one and it was served to me in a teapot, how cute. There were pearls in my cup, but I didn't realise that the pot also had pearls in it until I pretty much emptied the pot. RIP. I was so stuffed as 二叔 decided to get a big one (instead of small that we asked for) cause there was a special on. Man, that's how they get you....

And went back home after that. Took a shower, and hung the laundry out. I am so smashed. I have to get up early for a dental appointment tomorrow.

Tainan Day 2 (Chikan Tower part 2)

 Struggled to wake up today cause I got back so late again last night. Glad I went tot he cultural park though, despite feeling so smashed. Got constantly woken up by plane sounds in the early morning, and then throughout the day until about 3pm. 

I had the bread from the bakery, and then headed out. It's already 10:30am by the time I left, so I headed to Shinkon Mitsukoshi to the Nintendo store. Took a Ubike. Thankfully when I got there there was no line, so I could go in. There was a fair amount of people. They did not have the Zelda/Link tshirt that I saw on the website.... so ended up getting a Link BOTW plush and a Kirby face towel for a friend as a gift.

Then out I go, and headed to Chikan Tower. It was about 11:45am ish by the time I arrived, and the entry $70 ticket was a special 400th anniversary one! 海神廟 was open last year but 文昌閣 was closed for repair/rejuvenation. This year it's the other way around. So I had to complete the visit! The 蓬壺書院 Academny was also open, and you can see the blue doors. I didn't realise the front of the academy was street facing until I got home. Oops. In 文昌閣 there is a deity enshrined on the second floor. You pray for good academic results, and you can throw the 聖杯, if you get a yes you can get a special pencil (there is a name for it). There was a school group there as well. I ran into them again downstairs at the pillars. The stone horse was found in 1930's when a professor took his students after doing research/homework on where Koxinga's grave might have been, and when they dug they found the horse with teh broken foot. Then later they came back to find the other horse, which also had a broken leg, and that horse is enshrined in a 保安宮 or 天后宮. The prof and students also went back again to try and find the grave of Koxinga and/or son, but was unsuccessful. So they're unable to prove if the actual grave is where they found the horses.

There are meant to be 9 pillars, but when they were unloading the turtle-like creatures from the ship, one fell into the sea. So they made an imitation and that one is in Chiayi. After 100 years or so, a fisherman fished up the sunken turtle-creature. That turtle is now in a 保安宮 or 天后宮, venerated as a deity. If I didn't listen in onto the school group I wouldn't have known! I feel like I've seen that turtle somewhere...

I went to the gift shop and realised they sold the Your Blocks. So I bought it, and then postcards. Stamped my stamps, and then left. I asked for a stamp for re-entry, but didn't end up going back. I had lunch at the other restaurant next to the tower (that was closed last year). Their 擔仔麵 had good flavour, but the garlic taste was so strong it was a little bitter. Apparently there's a shop that sells 蝦餅 along this road, and I stopped at a drinks place and had a fruits drink that was sweet n sour (it had passionfruit in it). I sat while drinking it, and then continued down the street and didn't see the shop...

So next I decided to head to the ice cream shop and juice shop the shop lady at Xubi recommended. But before that let's go to the Confuscious temple in front of the Tower. The temple is actually really deep... you wouldn't have known. I spent quite some time here, some parts of the temple was also under repair. There was a temple for 月下老人, and you could ask for him to help you find a partner. I wasn't very good at following the instructions with stating my name, and the first time I threw the holy cup, I got a no. I asked again, for 月下老人 to help me meet a partner if I have the 緣份 to meet them this life, and the second time I got a yes. :') It would be nice to meet my partner. 

I left one my way, and then was stopped by another temple. This one is a 天后宮 for Mazu, and they had a a few stamps. Also the talisman stamps too. All the deities looked so proper and series, and felt like they were there. It was pretty deep too, but not as deep as the Confuscious one. 

I continued on my way and got stopped by another temple - this time it's a 關帝廟. Also ancient. I asked if they had a stamp after seeing a stamp pad, and the person at the info desk took it out from a drawer. I thanked them after stamping, stopped at the front to write the locations into my stamp book, and left. This temple also had a few rooms/temples.

I also came across another temple on the way.... that went in a wee bit from a road. I got 1/3 of the way in and decided not to since I will never make it to me destination at this rate RIP. I wasn't too far, a 15 min walk turned into like an hour. I got to the 蜷尾家 甘味処 ice cream shop first, and they had vanilla and tieguanyin tea. I asked if there's a toilet nearby, and they said there's one in the B1 floor of the shopping centre up ahead, so I said I'll go first and come back. Only squat toilets here.

I got back and got the tea flavour, and it was good. I almost contemplated getting the vanilla as well. $100 for one. They only have 2 flavours a day and you don't know which one. While I sat licking my ice cream, a couple with a small kid also bought an ice cream. They had a cow balloon that flew away and the parents were stuck unable to move at that moment, so I grabbed it for them. Then the daughter was trying to lick (but not fast enough), and it was dripping. I called out and said 小妹妹，要舔快一點不然都滴下來了。and the parents started talking to me, asking where I'm from....they also are from Taichung and after the ice cream they're heading back. I said I'm from NZ and the husband said he has a cousin also in NZ who married a kiwi, but they don't contact that often. He had a look in FB and saw that she lives in Auckland LOL. He asked if it snows there, I said it's summer right now and it only snows in the south island. That was pretty neat. They left soon after finishing their ice cream and I headed to the juice shop, just as it started getting busy in front of the shop.

Aat the juice shop 柳丁先生 I got med 冬瓜柳丁 (one of the popular ones) for $65. I asked them about the living treasure Mr 顏振發 who comes to buy their juice. They said his workshop nearby isn't there anymore since he had some sort of disagreement with the movie theatre, so he's moved his workshop to the Blue cultural park that I went to yesterday. I let them know it was a lady in that culture park that introduced me to this shop, and I think they knew who it was since they mentioned she also said she'll tell people about their juice shop. I thanked them and left. I walked around and sat down in front of a peculiar building with a special architecture and construction was being done around it. I drank and turns out it was Ximen Market, where all the fabric shops are. I had most of my drink and decided to go and have a look at the market first. 

I went in and they had a couple of fabric shops in the half that wasn't under rennovation. I walked past a shop that had a clearfile of their supplies, and they also had chalk pen. I walked in and asked if they had white, in the thin one, and turns out they never had white in the Japanese branded Dia ones. After much puzzled discussion, I ended up finding a haul photo from last year and turns out I had misremembered.... oops. Soz mate. I got some velcro from them instead cause I felt bad lol. I got 1碼 of each A and B side, and it cost $90 in total. They had the clover white pen refills without the cover, but it was $140 for a pack of 2. I opted not to buy it. 

I thanked them and left, and stopped at a fabric store on the way out. They (the gentleman boss) ended up giving me a card of theirs since I found a polyester fabric with stars woven into it that could work for Sophie, but it was $150/30cm. They said it's possible to mail it overseas and payment may through intl banking? I concluded if I come back tomorrow, it means I can't stop thinking about it haha. I thanked them and left.

I had a look at another shop with an older gentleman, but they didn't have what I was looking for. I thanked mr and left. 

It was about 6:15pm now. I was getting hungry but I needed to buy 蝦餅 for 三舅媽. It was eitehr taxi there or ubike. I ended up ubiking and it took about 30min+. Cycling along the river is so nice, it's so pretty. I made it like 7 mins before closing. I popped into the first shop and asked them which ones they recommend? And they pushed an original and lonster flavour. I asked to try a biscuit and they had samples. I can see why 三舅媽 wants it now. It's umami with a slight bitter aftertaste as with prawn. I asked if there was a toilet nearby, and the shop ledy let me borrow theirs. Thank god cause I was busting! I returned and said she saved me. The two packs of biscuits were $200. I thanked her and then left cause she needed to close shop. She came to the outside to close the roller doors and asked me if I was googling where to go next. I said I was responding to messages - which I was doing at the time! Thank you for your concern. I finished dwadling and went on my way. I cycled down Gubao street (where I ate outdoors last time after Anping Fort) and then ended up sitting at the end for a bit while I debated if I should go into the shop with better reviews for beef noodle, but was covered in vinyl and half full; or the other shop with outdoor seating but only 2 stars on google... 

I ended up deciding to cycle back and once I set off I realised the noodle place I had last night would be closed by now cause it's 7:30pm! DAMN! Guess I'll chance what's open nearby.... I passed Anpin Wharf, but they weren't playing music (they were when I passed earlier) anymore. Sad. It's as beautiful as ever, and the big whale looks great. I took a wrong turn and got distracted by some info signs, and then went back onto the right road. The river is stunning... at the later part the water level is angled at a way that it feels like you can almost touch the surface while you're cycling along. 

Once I was back at the really busy intersection that was still under construction, with the policemen directing traffic, I parked my bike, and walked back home. On my way I passed the bakery, and got more bread. Sad they ran out of the lemon flavoured one. Then I passed the noodle place and asked if they were already closing up shop? Yes, boss relied, sorry we close at 7:30pm! All good, thank you! I ended up walking on Minde Road (as per suggestion of bakery shop lady, as I asked when cashing up and she said most places are closed on this street). I found a place that did egg omelettes?? and was still open! It's a weird shop, lke breakfast shop for night workers. They open 6:30pm and close 12:30am.

I got an egg omelette $40. Their sweet chilli sauce is quite spicy. Then I asked for a brown sugar mantou with a roast meat + almond milk $85 total. I felt my bowels move and boy uh oh I needed to go. Just ask I decided to ask for takeaway it was ready and Mr boss had already packed it up as to go. Thank. I started to bring him the dish and he said there's a recycle station at the bucket there. Sweet, saves him coming out. I thanked and left.

Since it's just across from the Municipal Office, it wasn't far from home. As soon as I got back, dropped my stuff, took 1 bite I needed to gooooooo.

Man that's 3 times today.... I finished dinner (not bad, but the almond milk had a bit of an artificial almond taste to it, pity), and went to shower.

Just rest and pack up tomorrow. I will blog first, and probs write my postcards tomorrow.... RIP. Exhasuted.

Tainan Day 1

Had trouble waking up as was so tired from last night. Eventually I did get up after 10am and had the two 紅豆餅.The butter flavour was really nice, it's more moist than the red bean, but it might have been due to the cakes being overnight. Had a few slices of bah-la and that's it. Then I packed my stuff up and finished writing my postcards. Had another cup of tea, rested, and then it as around 12pm. I ate the rest of my leftover fried mushrooms. I then headed out to PX Mart, but Lin-jie said that there's a Family Mart with a Cathay Bank ATM. So I walked out and found a Family Mart, but they had a 台銀銀行 ATM. Hmmm ook I go to PX Mart instead. On the way back I saw the correct family Mart Lin-jie mentioned LOL, you can't see the sign from under the building itself, only from across the road. They had a Cathay Bank ATM and I got my money out.

I made it back and was ready to go. Being a good guest I vacuumed up my hair and stripped the sheets. Lin-jie dropped me off at Shin Zuoying station. This station is as confusing as ever. I started to get hungry now - typical. I got my ticket $86 and then bought a temaki sushi for $50. I went to my platform 2B, but forgot the platforms are all underground here.... so can't eat. Sigh.

The train came and it's a orange Tze-Chiang train. This one goes straight to Tainan so takes 30 mins. I got on and awkwardly there's no big luggage storage in the train, but it was empty enough that the seat next to me was empty. Phew. And it's only the next stop so no worry.

Once I got to Tainan I went to the main hall to get the station stamps. The station was under renovations.

Then I lined up to get a taxi. The driver who came up to me had a bit of an accent in his Mandarin, and he didn't know where the 中西區市政事務所 was... but we got there when I figured out how to read 臨安路 Lin-an Rd. He dropped me off at the side and fare was $120.

I walked up to the front door and let the minsu people know. A gentleman came to check me in this time. I'm in room 202 and he helped me lift the luggage up. Awww thank you. 

The TV was on in my room ?! and he went over the briefing and left. I thanked him. I settled in and unpacked a bit, ate my temaki (it had no rice but shredded cabbage instead, prawns, pineapple, lettuce and some dressing. Then I went to the post office as it's open until 5:30pm (it's 15 mins till closing now). Got my stamps, and put them on the postcards, and mailed them out. Then I went back to my room, and looked up where to eat. I'm sad because the little park across teh road is closed for rennovations, they have the fun swing chairs.

There's a nearby place that does 意麵 and is rated highly on google 4.5 stars. They had pork heart/liver, unagi and squid noodles. I ended up getting 花枝乾炒意麵 and the wait was 20+ mins (took 30 mins). Boss lady gave me $30 change instead of $70 opps, her brain must be so fried. All g, she gave me the right change. They were so busy. I went to buy some bread from the bakery I chanced across and was really nice last time. Mmmm. I came back and waited a bit more, and saw another regular add in the chilli flakes for his order. Soon my order was ready. I also added some chilli flakes. Thank you!

I got back to my room and dug right in. It's so good!!! WTF! Nice char flavour, with a acidic tone, and not too heavy. Great stuff. Will come back tomorrow if I can. And then later Dark H told me the unagi 意麵 is a famous delicacy. LOL. Guess that's tomorrow. xD

After I rested a bit I got ready to go out, and then felt really tired.... so I bummed around for 15 mins more and decided instead of Chikan tower, I'll go to the Nintendo Store instead.

I wanted to take the bus but it showed up like 10 mins early and drive straight past. Woop. I waited until 7:45pm just in case another one came, but not. Alright, looks like I'm uBike-ing all the way there. I can cycle along Hai'an Rd, and they have heaps of docks. Then it's only a short walk to Shinkon Mitsukoshi. 

There's not too many cars and the cycle/moped lane was pretty empty. Which is great. It's a great road to cycle along, so many art installations and special features. And then when I finally got to Shinkon Mitsukoshi, I got on the wrong floor even though I pressed 5F? No wonder I couldn't find it, I was on 3F. I got to the right F but I made a typo (or they updated the date) and the Nintendo store opens tomorrow... RIP... so I had a look and spied in to see what I could buy as a gift for a friend. Then I ran to uniqlo and had a look, but they had no culottes. Sad...

Then I decided to head to the Blue Cultural Park across the road, which closes in 30 mins. It seems like it used to be old Juanchun housing too. Very cool. There's heaps of little shops inside, and some of the buildings had a JP style to it. I went into a photo/costume rental store, but their lease ends at the end of the year (and tomorrow the park is closed), so no luck. I did get a card from her and her SNS so I can see what she's doing next time I am in Tainan and around. Then I walked around and spotted a little art shop called Xubi that was still open. Two English speaking tourists (couple?) were cashing up their products. I had a look around and the shop is full of artist creations, mostly illustrations! Some of them had an anime flavour. Turns out the artist is the shop owner! WOW!

I had a chat and she started introducing me to places I could go to - this year is Tainan's 400th birthday, and next year would be Old Tainan City's 300th birthday. Wooo!! There's an art gallery/musuem with an exhibit on that features BL LOL - she asked me if I read manga and if I read BL hahahhaha. And mentioned how it's strange that something like BL can now be in a national arts gallery as an exhibit, like a proper cultural thing. Amazing. Also introduced an ice cream store, a juice store that does natural orange juice and has been around since she is a kid. She said that the living treasure, the man that hand paints the big movie posters lives like 2 doors down and comes to buy the bulk juice to take home!!!!! Sometimes his house is open for visitors. So cooool~~~

I also suggested she could make a store stamp and then she said maybe she make the stamp on the wooden hammers that are carved by her dad. Neat idea!! You can test it out and see if it works. And then I suggested perhaps she could propose a stamp rally for the culture park and have some other shops participate by having their own stamps, and she was really taken with the idea (she said she could visualise it). The park can provide a card for a small fee, or visitors can bring their own book like me. Nice. It was a really nice chat and I bought some postcards ($50 ea, 3 of them) in case no other shops are open. I thanked her and wished her a good night.

It was 8:09pm now, and I decided to finish looking around. There was another shop in the next row that still had its lights on and the sign op saying they're open. And they look like they have indigenious products! I pressed the doorbell but it said it failed to link? I stared inside to see what they had, and then someone came down from 2F. They opened the door and I asked if they were still open - yep! Awesome. I came in and had a look. iSluhuang is the shop name. He was really nice and talked about his art - and the postcards he made. There was one with a male and female potrait illustration version of each tribe, and I was going to have trouble deciding what to pick. But there was another set on the other wall which had cross stitch patterns and his original designs with an indigenious flair. I saw one which was based off a famous painting of the wheatfield ladies, but replaced with his female family members picking up stones from the fields instead. He said he asked why when he was little, and they said it's to make the millet grow better (easier to till). The word for stone is "batu". So I picked that.

I turned around back to the wall with all the tribal potraits, and next to it there was paper craft frame potraits. One had their traditional stone house!! He said the pack explains about the house and how it's built. This is for me!!

Then back to the wall with the original designs, he recommended one called "Kaviaz", which is the name of a snake and it also means friend. He says his grandpa told him that, we should give a little and be considerate, so we can live in balance/harmony with the snake, just like how you should with your friends. I liked that so I picked that card too. And the last one is "balikuan" which means butterfly. The story with that is you leave the tribe/community as a caterpillar, but after enduring the outside world and accumulating experiences, you come back as a butterfly, signifying growth and maturity, and being a better you. Alright, this one too then!

I asked him about if he was familiar with weaving because I saw one in Yilan's cultural park. He said that should be Taiya tribe's weaving, and their weaving is very skilled. He said his tribe, Bu-something (didn't catch it....), is also very good at weaving, but he has just started to learn. he showed me a weaing machine on his work table, and showed me a little strap he made from it. I said, I also saw similar up there! They used a bow. He said the bow is a very traditional form of weaving, and men can do it too. Traditionally, each gender had their roles and couldn't touch the other's gender's stuff, like hunting tools are men only, and weaving is women only. But now, since the culture is at risk of being lost, they're not as strict with that now and encourage all to preserve the art. The postcards were $50 ea ($150 total) and the papercraft pack was $300. I only had $449 in change but he let me have it, and wrote a manual receipt. Aww thanks. I wished him a wonderful night and left. 

I took a few more photos and went back to the ubike station and rode home. After docking I almost got lost on the way hom walking, again lol. No sense of direction - usually walk the opposite way...

Got home, and very tired, and it's already 10pm. Shower, and then blog. It's 12am now. Chikan Tower is open 9:30am tomorrow and Nintendo Store 11am. Let's try.... lol.