Friday, April 4, 2025

• Wake up ~ 10AM
• Get ready, prunes, bananas, coffee
• Yakiniku SHOJO Tainan Anping Branch w/ Ginas former teacher and his wife.
• Gina’s teacher took us to Blueprint Culture and Creative Park. walked around a bit there. Prett crowded. Lots of people taking selfies with the scenary.
• Dananmen – Big South Gate – Another attraction from Rough Guide to Taiwan from Kevin. Stepped in Tainan Film Center. Tranquil. Not so many people here.

• Klin Tainan Baozi – So many different baked goods. Stinky tofu + meat bun = very very good!

• Confucius Temple – Big, went to the top of the pagoda. Good people watching. Rreally nice to area to walk around, but was a bit busy. It is a holiday weekend..

• Confucius Temple Business District – street perpendicular to the temple. Some cafes and amusements/ games.

• 角窟酒吧咖啡(Bar&Coffee) – Taking a break. Noisy girls in the corner talking about their sexual experiences. Gina watching YouTube as a distraction. Milk tea, no sugar for her. Mojito for me. Refreshing.

• Local beef noodle soup for later – so called ‘warm-meat’ (freshly-killed) syle unique to Tainan. Expecting a long queue but should be worth it.

Sidenotes:

• GOOD to put destinations in a Google Maps list
• BAD to delete them after the fact
• Maybe dont use the main ‘want to go’ list. Create a new city/destination-specific list instead.
• Also maybe your pencil lead is too soft

Tainan Cont.

• Beef Soup Place 阿蓮牛肉湯-台南公園店 – VERY good. Little $$. Didn’t have to wait at all to get a table. Beef soup, veggies and beef, and beef bits over rice (similar to lurofan). Really, really delicious. Could have easily had two more bowls of rice and beef. A few empty tables when we arrived, place was full when we left. Long queue when we walked out (and still a queue when we came home from the bar much later).

• Tainan Wu Garden – Little bit of light when we finished dinner. I got a green milk tea. Gina wanted to show me a nearby park she knew about. Few minutes from the restaurant. Only one other person there. Sunken greenspace with a pond in the center. Quiet, relaxing space. Museum there dedicated to Ong Iok-tek (closed when we arrived). Very nice strolling.

• H&M – Sitting in H&M now. I’m digesting. Gina is ‘shopping’ maybe more window-shopping than actual shopping. This was easily the deadest Taiwan mall I’d been in. Brick and morter retail is thriving in here, so this was strange to experience. I’d like to find a drink or two later. So many unique little places here in Tainan. Taipei has a lot of colorful special little hole-in-the-wall places but Tainan seems to have a much higher concentration. Easy to imagine living here. Not just because of the bars. Not sure what Gina feels up for. Drink would be nice, but going home and getting comfortable would also be nice. Following a tour guide is a lot of fun. Should have been doing this the entire time. Better late than never?

• BARK bar now – Erdinger Weissbier. Very cool place. Only one other table occupied. Music is surprisingly decent! I don’t hate it! Also, Gina got 2 shirts at H&M. $150. Nice to hear loud dancy music that isn’t terrible. One other table came in, went upstairs. Spiral staircase! We miss the kitties. Will be good to see them again.

To-do For Tomorrow

• 11AM View properties w/ Ginas old teacher
• Coffee w/ Gina friend in Afternoon

* Ask the dude about my income – whether or not that could contribute to mortgage approval

#2 BUDEJOVICKY BUDVAR CZECH LAGER – Its not bad! 🙂

• 9:10PM music still isn’t terrible. Couple more drinks in. Czechia can make a decent beer! Waiting on fried stuff now after Gina finished the wings. The chicken wings came with ‘chips’ but that amounted to a very small collection of Lay’s-style potato chips. Not great, but they made an appearance. Hopefully the fried plate will be more interesting (spoiler: it will be!). Still happy with the decision to come here. Music is loud but we can still have a conversation. Gina is good to have conversations with. Bill Bryson really is an amazing writer. I like how Gina doesnt paint all her nails the same color. WTF is going to happen in Metropolis?
• 9:45 – Fried food – Very good! Questionable seafood is yummy. Crinkle cut fries are so-so (never been a fan). Honey/Icing covered mantou is also good; bit desserty for my liking. Gina is reaching her limit, so I guess I am too. Which is fine. We’ve got things to do tomorrow. Other Tainan party opportunities later.

• Back at Chateau De Yen – Gina’s Sister’s new place – Italo disco in the headphones in the play room now.

Saturday, April 5, 2025

• 11am – Brother-in-law, Gina, and myself, went view houses in the same area as before, near Tainan HSR. Met with her old teacher we had lunch with yesterday. Looked at a new 3-bed, 2-bath unit, and again at the old 2-bedroom, 2-bath unit we saw before. 3-bedroom place was nicer, felt like it had a more sensible floorplan. More expensive, however. Wrapped up our tour, got back in the car, and headed off to lunch.
• More Pizza and Pasta – Lunch with Sister-in-laws family and another family they’re friends with. Pizza was excellent, as was the pasta. Little noisy – kids. Restaurant had a very cute dog, and free popcorn. Should have taken more pictures. We had a very nice time. Didn’t eat too much. Very thin crust pizza. Spicy mushrooms, it was great. Pleasantly surprised!
• After lunch, Gina had an appointment with a bestie, and I wanted to do some independent exploration. Brother-in-law took us back to his place. Gina’s sister lent me her scooter for my adventure. So Gina and I took the scooter to the restaurant cafe where she was meeting her friend. Waited a few minutes for her to show up. Friend arrived, and I scooted off. One of my first solo scootering adventures since I got my license (or ever). Uneventful ride to my first destination: Koxinga’s Shrine

Koxinga’s Shrine

Dedicated to Zheng Chenggong, an influential figure in the history of Taiwan. “Hero who rid Taiwan of Dutch occupation” from the Rough Guide To Taiwan. Pretty area, nice strolling, not too many people. Exhibits and displays around the permiter were translated into English and Japanese. Took lots of pictures. Pretty park nearby. Fountain, water, footpaths.

Went back to the scooter. Checked my Google Maps ‘Want To Visit’ list, and saw that i’d previously saved the location for the temple across the street.

Lady Linshui Temple

Took the scooter around the block and parked near the entrance to the temple. Temple established 1736. Also from the Rough Guide: “Linshui is supposed to protect unborn children, babies, and pregnant mothers.” Felt busier than Koxinga’s Shrine. Still, good walking. Took several pictures. It was a pretty place. Several families making the rounds. Old and young. Nice smelling the incense.

Fort Proventia / Chihkan Tower

Around 4:30PM – Sun starting to get low. Fairly busy in and around Chihkan Tower. Lots of families and couples. Obviously a touristy area. Got a good parking space right around the corner from the entrance. Scoped the place out a bit, walked around the entrance area. Got my admission ticket, NT$70. Was feeling thirsty so I stopped by 7-11 for a big bottle of green tea. Took a few swigs then headed back to the entrance. Lady punched my ticket and I was inside. Greeted by a pretty garden in front of the tower. Most of the tower was not visible due to scaffolding. Clearly in the process of some renovation procedure. That wasn’t enough to stop sightseers (such as myself). Families, friend groups, and couples strolling, enjoying the nature and the sights. Several foreigners there too. Think I heard French. Unfortunate that so much of the tower was inaccessible. Does give reason to visit again after they’ve finished the renovation. It did feel a little crowded during my visit. I took my time strolling through the designated route. From the entrance, along the left side around the garden under the huge tree, through a circular gate, down a path next to the tower lined with chest-high shrubbery, to a right-hander in front of the Penghu School building. Continuing up some stairs to the part of the tower that was open to visitors.

The sun was making its way lower in the sky and I didn’t want to be scooting in the dark if I could avoid it. I did my tour at a pace comfortable for me. If I had arrived earlier and I didnt have to share the space with so many others, I probably would have spent more time examining the displays. More motivation for a return in the future. On my way back to the entrance, I stopped by the gift stop to get a stamp. A little boy was waiting to get his stamp so I had to be quick. While I was there I got a call from Gina, saying that we had dinner plans with her parents, and that I needed to head back. Told her thats just as well, because I was finishing up. I finished my inspection of the gift shop and made my way back to the scooter.

Scooter trip from Chihkan Tower back to her sister’s place was smooth. Early evening air felt nice. Afternoon was warm, but now starting to get cool again. Not having a map visible and having to rely on voice guidance resulted in a few wrong turns near Gina’s sisters place, but made it in OK. Gate was left open; lucky me.

Dinner with In-laws, Return home

Gina met me at the door. Chatted a bit about real estate options. Opted to stick to the original plan of returning to Banqiao that evening instead of viewing more properties the next day. So, we went upstairs to pack. House was noisy with kids and grown-ups chatting. The pizza and pasta party had apparently relocated. Strong smell of baked sugar cookies. They tasted as good as they smelled.

Gathered our things downstairs and waited for the Uber to take Gina and myself to her parents place. Gina’s elder neice gave us several farewell sugar cookies on our way out. Sustenance for the long HSR journey later. Soon, the Uber arrived and we piled in.

As usual, Gina’s mother had prepared a feast for us. A kind of burrito assembly which is customary to have during the Tomb Sweeping holiday. I swore, like always, that I wasn’t going to have too much, and this time was the closest I came to success. It’s just too delicious. I eat and then I nibble.. and then I nibble a little more.. and then I’m finished again. And then she brings out fresh pineapple and wax apple. I tell Gina all the time that if we move to Tainan we can only eat there once or twice a month. My self control isn’t strong enough and I’m finally feeling OK with how my ‘aspirational’ shirts are fitting. Gina had a long talk with her dad about the housing market, and international politics. Gina’s mom packed us a to-go bag of wax apples and we summoned an Uber to take us to Tainan HSR station.

Got there in enough time. Needed to get non-reserved tickets from Taichung to Banqiao, which we were able to do. Got on our train, in separate seats, for the first leg of our journey. In Taichung we crammed into the non-reserved car, along with a crowd of other returning holiday-goers. It was pretty packed and we were lucky to be standing where we were.

Gradually, the pressure lessened as we passed stops on our way to Banqiao. Felt good to exercise my legs as we disembarked and made our way from the platform up the stairs and out into the station. Not so many people in Banqiao Station at the hour we were there, but the people we did see looked tired and eager to get home. On our way up we saw dripping umbrellas. Sure enough, it was raining when we could see outside. Loaded her rolling suitcase and my backpack into the back of a waiting Toyota Sienta taxi, and set off for home. Carried our luggage up the stairs and did our usual litter box maintenance, cat feeding, and unpacking we do after a Tainan holiday. We were happy to see the cats, and the cats seemed happy to see us, too.

Google Photos Album