Taiwan—Tainan 2016-10-04

Early in the morning, I went to National Cheng Kung University (成功大學).  There were many people playing tennis or basketball, walking, running, dancing, , or biking to classes.

Walking in the University campus, I saw birds and squirrels. However, I surprised to see a black-crowned night heron juvenile in the campus.

Chimei museum is a private museum. The museum's collection is divided into five categories: Decorative arts and period furniture); Musical instruments; Natural history; Arms and armor; Antiquities and artifact.  Sorry, no photo allowed inside the museum.

Taiwan—Tainan 2016-10-03

My friend went back to Taipei in the morning.

I went to check in a backpack hotel near Tainan train station.

Tainan Park is next to Tainan train station.  Tainan park is one of the oldest and most central  park in the city of Tainan. There were lots of elderly and retirees sitting in the gazebo.  They were either playing Chinese board game or talking to each other.  Tainan Park is a social gathering place.

The backpack hotel is next to National Cheng Kung University and Fist High School of Tainan.  There are many little restaurants and food vendors.  

Taiwan—Tainan 2016-10-2

After a good night sleep, I woke up with a view of beautiful and quiet Tainan from my hotel room window.

The weather today is partly cloudy with temperature of 27 - 31 ℃ (80 - 87 ℉) with humidity 76 %.  That means, it will be a free  sauna day. 

My friend loves the local food.  The local street food evoked my childhood memory.

Wheel Pies is one of the top 45 Taiwanese foods listed on CNN travel site.  The crust of Wheel Pies is made of flour, eggs, and sugar.  The filling can be red bean, cream, chocolate, peanut, taro, dried radish, and dried cabbage).  I had dried radish one.  It was amazing!

Sting Tofu (臭豆腐) is another top of Taiwanese street food.  You will either like it or hate it, and I love it.

We went to a very  be autiful Europen style restaurant, Mi Yeun (米約時尚輕食).  With the healthy food concept, Mi Yeun creates delicious delicacies. We enjoyed the cuisine in the atmosphere of European classical and rural art. 

After lunch, we went to Sio House (夕遊出張所).  The Chinese name of Sio House is very strange.  My friend and I could not understand the meaning of its Chinese name.  After went in the Sio House, I finally realized.  Salt is pronounced “sio” (夕遊) in Japanese. In the days when salt was controlled by the Japanese government , Sio House served as an office for storage, selling, and inspection of salt.

Chihkan Tower (赤崁樓) was a Dutch outpost in the West Central District of Tainan in Taiwan. It was built in 1653 during the Dutch colonization of Taiwan. However, the original tower was destroyed by an earthquake in the 19th century.  In front of the outdoor steps, there are twelve lions with two kinds of different styles, and each of them had different poses.  They were sculpted in 19 century, and look vigorours.

It was a hot day!  After walked around under the sun for couple hours, we were ready for our afternoon tea.

In Tainan, we found many stores and interesting things in the ally. 

Taiwan—Tainan 2016-10-01

Early in the morning, I arrived at airport at 4:30 in the morning.

After 12 hours flight, I really needed to refreash myself.

Before I existed custom, I noticed there is a shower room.  The shower room is quite big and clean.  Also,  it includes hair dryer and a mirror.

However, there is a problem.

When I dryed my hair, I looked at the mirror, I can only see top of my head. I could not see myself all.  I finally realized I am short.

Soon after I exited the custom, my high school friend picked me up from the airport and we were heading to Tainan.

             Yanshuei Octagonal Display Hall

In Qing Dynasty, Yanshui(鹽水)was already one of the four biggest commercial ports in Taiwan after Tainan(臺南), Lukang(鹿港), and Wanhua(萬華). The Octagonal Display Hall used to boast the best view overlooking Yueh Chin Port.

Yue Jin Lantern Festival (月津燈節)in Tainan attracted tourists each year from around Taiwan ever since it began in 2010. A large scale lantern exhibition with exquisite local creativity and culture designs has become one of the major events during the Chinese New Year and Lantern Festival.  Now, we can only see the poster of Yue Jin Lantern Festival.