Tainan
I’ve been meaning to write this post for ages, given that my first trip to Tainan was in November and my second was in January, but oh well. Life and all that jazz. Let me start by saying that I loved Tainan. It feels (and is) much smaller than Kaohsiung and has a completely different vibe to it despite being only 50 km away from Kaohsiung. My favorite parts of the city were the multitude of temples, but I found it quite interesting to learn what a varied and extensive history with the Europeans Tainan once had. The temples are also lovely, and I only wish I knew more about the details (like Mel telling me that the darker the statue of the god, the holier it is – I saw some extremely sacred statues in that case).
So, pictures!
There was a massive temple celebration happening in Tainan the first time I went, so I got the opportunity to see some fairly amazing sights:
Our next stop was the famed Confucius Temple which, while not spectacular, was still rather lovely to wander about:
From there we went to a monument celebrating Koxinga, the Chinese warrior who forced the Dutch to surrender their control of Tainan:
And from there to the other forts that remain as a testament to the European presence in Tainan:
The second time I returned to Tainan was with my parents and Akhil when they visited in late December. I had a Monday off due to Sports Day, and so we hopped on the train and spent the morning exploring Tainan. In addition to revisiting the Confucius Temple and the memorial to Konxinga, we also took time to wander into some of the temples Tainan is so famous for, including the Matsu Temple and the God of War Temple:
All in all, I am very glad to have had the chance to go to Tainan twice this year. It’s such a lovely gem of a city, and a definite must-see for anyone planning a trip to Taiwan. That’s it for now, but stay tuned for more posts from the past!
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