Hello from Taiwan!!! After a long break, we arrived at
Tainan and prepare ourselves for the next
adventure in this old town. It’s lucky that the weather becomes cool here recently and
we don’t have to worry about our missing summer uniforms.
In the first few days, we took a walk around and found a small lane with beautiful old
houses. The atmosphere there is so peaceful, and it’s hard to believe that there is a
busy street just a few steps away. There are also some cute shops hosted by people
who take these houses as a treasure from their grandparents’ time. On the other day, we joined the Holland Bike Day held around this time every year. People followed the footprints of the Dutch people here in the 17th
century. Though most of the historical remains were destroyed, it is still fun to meet a
city in this way.
We also got a chance to visit the fishing port in An-Ping, the origin of Tainan City. It
is now a famous tourist spot for people to enjoy the afternoon seeing the sunset over
the Taiwan Strait. On the train, we were on our way to
Dungshan which is about 50 km far
from the downtown.
Dungshan is famous for its coffee in recent years, and becomes a popular place to
visit during the weekend. Most people drive there just to have a cup a coffee, feel the
breeze and enjoy the view from the hill. Not only the coffee impressed us, but also the
kind people there we met. An old lady even gave us a free ride to the bus station so
that we didn’t have to walk downhill for over one hour. She also shared her interesting
experience as an ice cream carrier!
One morning, the host’s mother brought us a bag of roselles. She happily showed us
the fruitful result from her little garden on the top of the apartment. We helped
removing the seed capsules from the fruits and waited excitedly beside the stove as
they were boiled into delicious beverage. The host’s mother told us that this is the
luxury that she enjoys in this concrete jungle everyday. How great it is to have a short
break and taste the gifts from the nature.
Talking about the foods, we also have some fresh experiences here.
Ba-wan is a common snack food in Taiwan, and
is probably a nice choice when you feel hungry during the meals. See that stand with a
lot of people sitting in front of ? As there are a lot of milkfish breeders and farms
nearby, many people take milkfish porridge, mutton or beef soup as their breakfast
and it already becomes kind of tradition here in Tainan.
Later on, we visited a spring roll stand to
offer ourselves some vegetables, as you may notice that we didn’t eat any earlier!
They made the spring roll right away as we ordered one. Therefore, we were able to
see what they put in and how they make it into a beautiful roll. Another common way
to fill your stomach in Taiwan is getting yourself a delicious
Bento. Bento shops are easily found in the streets here, as most workers and students only have 1–2 hours break at noon and this is
definitely a cheap and fast choice!
We also spent some time looking around in the city at night. The street art behind us is
one of the most famous places in Tainan. The topic is about the memories of the wall.
The artist uses the white lines to depict the rooms which might be in the past. As some
of the old houses were pulled down during the extension of the road, the lateral of the
houses inside were exposed on the street, and this gives artists a good reason to show
their talents!
Night market is another good place to see and taste all kinds of local snack foods. In
Tainan, the market place is empty in the daytime, but becomes crowded at night.
Everybody there has their own secret maps in minds. Comparing with them, we
totally didn’t know which stand to start! On our way back, we saw a crowd of people
watching some kind of show in front of a temple. An audience there told us that this is
the Taiwanese opera. When a temple
has a festival, they usually invite one or more different groups to celebrate the event.
Some temples will also organize a parade in the street. Today we were so lucky to
meet one here! See the wooden sedan chair? That’s where the main god sit. Every
sedan chair was made by a skilled master. And maybe you are curious about those two
big guys…we don’t really know which role they played, but that seems to be a tough
work to wear a suit like that! They also told us that they have to walk in a special way
to make sure that the long arms will swing naturally. That’s one of the most impressing
events we saw for sure!
As mail carriers, one of the most important tasks we have is to visit all kinds of
mailboxes in the world. Here you can see the mailboxes and the post office in Taiwan.
Be careful! Not all of the post offices look green here. When we were pretending as
local mail carriers, we also met a postwoman who is about to start her works today
after the traffic light turns into green. She kindly shared some tips, and took a photo
with us!
The last thing to do before we leave is to send a postcard home. Although we’re a little bit
shy, we decided to make a postcard with a photo of ourselves on it this time. When
we put the postcard into the mailbox, we were thinking about what it will feel like
when reading the journey from us in the past. A postcard seems to be the best tool to
connect the gap of space and time, while the ink stains on the seal recorded the tracks
of every voyager passing by.
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