Trip to Tainan: That Temple Place

Last weekend Kate and I went to Tainan to soak up some of the Taiwanese culture. With over 200 temples, parks and markets it's a great place to visit. Also it's one of the largest cities in Taiwan and has escaped much of the modernity found in other places.

We were in no hurry to scooter anywhere after the previous weekend ended in hours of driving, so we took the train. We arrived late, as there seemed no need to rush and booked into a nearby hotel. I subsequently impressed the receptionist with my Chinese, you only have to say a word or two and they're amazed.

We were soon looking for a bite to eat in a restaurant recommended by the Lonely Planet. It was fine, but far from great. The stairs were mental!

Sunday we popped into the large Caves bookstore for a book buying session and an Italian coffee in the Cafe to read the newspaper. After that we strolled around some temples, enjoyed the change of scene and took lots of photos. We saw the Confucius temple which was built in 1665 as is the oldest Confucian temple in Taiwan and wondered around the gardens. After that we went to the Matsu Temple, which I thought was more interesting than the Confucian one.

Finally we headed to a lovely Austrian/German restaurant called Andi's Party Corner, where I scoffed a super fish and chips supper!


My eyebrow dances as I try and stop myself throwing this pile of turd book on the floor.


Like, these stairs man, are like, totally mental.


Not impressed by these bloody stairs.



After I eat I turn into cheesy Taiwanese man.


Temple and Kate.


The spooky tree of immeasurable doom.


Pretty Tainan street.


Which one's the monster...hahaha.....


Just plain sad.


Great old tree.


Shadow magic.


More tree.


My bloody farts are getting worse.


The night market selling some fishy treats for everyone to enjoy! The pink swishy thing stops the flys from getting to them.


The old Confucius temple.


Kate reading the interesting facts.


Hanging with her tea.


Change of scene now, the Matsu Temple's wooden bits.


I give my heavy chin a deserved rest.


Campo Martino, my alter ego, comes out.


Kate takes a rest to view her empire.


The new hairdo goes down a treat with the local wildlife.


Another J.D's and coke disappears.


Me bird, again, in the Austrian/German restaurant.


Waaaaah.


Stop it, I'm tired!


It's not, it's actually my finger.



It's long train ride and I got bored. Plus my big toe has healed. See here for further details: May 2005 archive with skanky toe: "Sunburn in Dili"


MC

Learning the Lingo

It's actually happening and has been for weeks! Myself, Kate and three teacher friends are taking Chinese lessons.
Every Monday and Thursday we get up at 6:00am and frazzle our brains speaking and writing Chinese for two hours. I really enjoy the lessons, the challenge is immense as I don't naturally pick up languages, though happily I'm making good progress.

We've also been to Lukgang, a beautiful Tawanese fishing harbor that has an abundant supply of traditional items for sale. We bought a handmade lantern, which has our names written in Chinese on the side.

Studying hard on the bed.


The book of knowledge!


This is what I'm learning at the moment, the Chinese phonetic characters.
From these you can essentially put the characters together to make any Chinese word. The problem however is that these characters are not used in everyday written Chinese, they have thousands of other characters for that. Shocker!


The new lantern illuminating.


MC