Solo Trip - Taiwan (July 2023) - Tainan First Day Night View and Supper

 

First night in Tainan, and I am surrounded by mystical lightings everywhere I went! Above is the beautiful Chihkan Tower as I made my way back after a long day of wandering around. The red building, along with the green trees, slightly dark and the still slightly blue dusk sky.... It was almost like a magical wonderland. I love the whole atmosphere of this place...

Above were scenes from when I walked back from Garden Night Market, just before the sun sets. Almost every corner of Tainan's little alley, there are shrines and temples. Just small ones, maybe just a square building tucked among the residential units, or shop houses etc. They were decorated elaborately, and felt old in age...

Portal where paper offerings are burned are also found scattered all over the alley. The belief system here seems to be very ancient, and very old, yet very much alive.... There was just something magical about it, yet dark and mystical.... As I explore more of the temples during my stay here, although I wandered into most, paying my respect along the way, I can't help recalling the movie Incantation, a Taiwanese horror movie about the religion in the south of Taiwan. I was careful where I went....

Sunset view in one of the alley...

Dark alley ways like these with old paper lanterns marked certain area of the Tainan old town. I took the photo from outside, but dare not venture in to disturb the peace within. 

Back on the main road, commercial paper lanterns also decorated the shop houses.

People were busy having their dinner by the time I reached the place I had my lunch. Seems like a popular place. Seems very Malaysian too. I felt pretty much at home here.

Although I've eaten an early dinner, and bought back snacks from the night market, the summer heat and all the walking seems to justify an ice cold treat. I came across Anping Soya Milk and decided to went in and ordered the cheapest dessert there, lol. It was another pre-view of my upcoming journey. I was headed to Anping town the next day. Anyway, above was just grass jelly ball with syrup water or winter melon water. It was too sweet, and too much for me. But the ice cold taste of it was refreshing. I took note that I should ease off the sweet drinks. It was easy to over drink fruit juice and desserts in this hot weather. Although it kept me hydrated, it also contains a lot of sugar. So I needed to keep these reward to a limit!

Gah, Chinese is so hard to read. Sure there is Google Translator! But then, what's the fun of that. Sometimes miscommunication is part of the joy of travelling. I remembered once in Korea, I wanted to order a bowl of white rice, and gesture my hand in a shape of a bowl to the owner, but ended up ordering a bowl of soup instead.... After that incident, I can now say "bap" properly lol. Sometimes hand gesture can also be misunderstood!

My dreamy walk back to the hotel. My fairy tale trip in lovely Tainan. Would you believe it that this is how I feel now while writing this, but I didn't like Tainan at all when I arrive. Cause the road and alley was confusing, and everything was quite a far walking distance away. But looking back, Tainan had the nicest and cheapest food in general. I would love to go back again. It also has the friendliest aunties!