Tainan really has a lot of potential for tourism – at least in our eyes. But it lacks the infrastructure that makes it easy for foreign tourists. There’s so much good food, but it’s hard to find the good restaurants unless you know a local. Everything – including websites – are written only in Chinese, and it’s hard to get around (motorbikes and cars are the norm).
Here’s the other shocking thing – despite having lots of coastline (see pic above), it’s vastly undeveloped and there aren’t many beach resorts. No one wants to live near the beach! That’s a stark contrast to beach loving cultures in the western world where beachfront property is prime real estate. Part of the reason is the government has and still controls the beachfront property, maybe for military purposes? And the other reason is that Asians don’t really like to tan.
Despite being underdeveloped, there’s still plenty to eat/do around Tainan. First, we headed to Anping, the seaside town to the west of Tainan, and site of the Dutch fort that was established for trade purposes.
There we found this little girl who had just taken a sip from her water bottle.
The other thing to mention about Taiwan is that the people are really nice. You really can strike up a conversation with anyone – my Dad started talking to this family waiting in front of a store. It was a great grandfather and his great grandson, who smiled when Lisa asked him how old he was, in Chinese (go Lisa!).
Southern Taiwan is very Buddhist, so you’ll see many many temples. One of the fun things you can do is to go pay your respects and ask the Buddha for your fortune through a ritual.
First, you choose a stick that has a number on it. The number refers to the drawer you will open to get your fortune that’s printed on a slip of paper.
But wait, it’s not as easy as picking a stick, you have to tell the deity what your question is and throw these kidney-shaped wood carvings on the floor and hope one half turns face up and the other face down. If you do this 3 times, then you’ve chosen the right stick and go find your fortune in the drawer.
The tough part is, it’s actually pretty hard to get the right results 3 times in a row. But, eventually, we got our fortunes, but that’s only for us to know!
Once again, Taiwan has always been about eating, and while there’s weird stuff, there’s also a lot of just plain good stuff too. This is goat (mutton) soup with ginger.
At the restaurant, we saw this family eating dinner. Notice the shih tzu that’s sitting at the dinner table and getting fed as if he were a baby. No joke. He’s a little porker indeed…
And finally, we had a big, multi-course seafood dinner in Anping with my 96 year-old grandfather. This is a man who stopped smoking in his late 60s, cold turkey. I like to think that it was because when I was 7 years old, I told him it was bad for his health. I think his secret to long life has been daily exercise and keeping his mind sharp through reading and learning.
Next, we take a closer look at a Ma Zu Buddhist temple celebration. In the meantime, here’s the full set of photos from Tainan and Anping.
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