台南 Tainan

Last weekend, I visited the sunny southern city of Tainan with my MUA Taiwanese friend who grew up there.  First, we visited the Chimei Museum, which is a private museum established by a Taiwanese donor who felt that more of his countrymen should have exposure to classical Western art.  The obsequious imitation of Western culture, and on such an extravagant scale, could only exist within Asia.  With the Christmas tree out front for the holiday (which Taiwanese people do not even celebrate), it almost looked like the White House.  I most enjoyed the visiting portrait exhibition.

Exhibit of Rodin imitations

My friend making her dad take videos of her dancing at 漁光島

The whole trip, my friend’s parents generously drove us around and paid for everything, including meals and entrance fees.  They even put us up in a luxurious hotel.  Once again, I was blown away by Taiwanese hospitality.  They said they were so excited to have foreign friends to show off, as foreigners are much less common in Tainan than Taipei.

The landscape reminded me slightly of Florida.  We did two boat tours, highlighting the egret habitats especially.

四草隧道

國華街 a shopping and snacking old street in Tainan center

樂活廣場 plaza in Tainan center

My favorite place was 安平樹屋 the Anping Tree House, where a banyan tree and ancient house were living in symbiosis.  Anping is an old fort that was the hub of defense and trade in early Tainan history.

安平古堡

赤崁樓 Chihkan Tower

赤崁樓 Chihkan Tower

赤崁樓 Chihkan Tower

My friend really likes to pray; anytime we pass a temple together, she’ll stop briefly.  Tainan seemed to have more large, multi-courtyard inner city temples than Taipei, which is more likely to have small single-altar, local god temples.  When we reached the altar for 月老, the matchmaking god, my friend waved her phone three times clockwise over the incense. Usually this is done with an amulet you want to carry a god’s protection, but she said since she meets partners over apps and texting, she wanted her phone to have the blessing.  As per usual, the Taiwanese parents parked me in front of 文昌, the god of scholarly examinations.

武廟

武廟

武廟 across from 赤崁樓

Our last stop in Tainan was 林百貨, an original Japanese-era department store.  Her mom sweetly bought us each a very nice box of pineapple cakes, a Taiwanese specialty.  Because gift-giving culture is so prevalent here, stores frequently sell 伴手禮, an edible present in excessive packaging announcing it as a specialty of whatever locale you most recently visited, that you bring home when traveling or gift to guests and hosts.

Any time I told a Taiwanese person I was going to visit Tainan, they always said the food there was the best.

牛肉湯 beef soup with bone broth

擔仔麵 noodles with seafood

蝦卷 fried shrimp rolls

棺材板 coffin bread

蛤蜊煎 oyster omelette, made sticky and thick by sweet potato starch

芋粿 savory taro cake with meat on top

蝦仁肉圓 shrimp and pork in wontons

四神湯 "four gods soup" with intestines

碗粿 savory sticky rice pudding with soy sauce

the same traditional dish but made into an alcoholic drink
when we went to a bar with their family

東北酸白菜火鍋 sour cabbage hot pot

picking raw veggies, meat, seafood, tofu, and mushrooms
to cook in the big pot of sour broth; pay based on the plate color

It happened to be Election Saturday when we were in Tainan.  In Taiwan, you have to go physically to wherever your 戶籍 household registration is to vote.  For most people, this means returning to one's hometown, unless one has managed to buy residential property in a new city.  Homeownership is quite expensive, particularly in Taipei, and condos are passed down through the generations.  My American friend and I were excited to be with our friend in her hometown to accompany her to vote, but she said she was usually too lazy.  Admittedly, the Tainan elections are not nearly as important as the Taipei elections, where the mayoral seat is a feeder for the presidential office.  KMT's Chiang Wan-an won the Taipei mayoral race this year; he is the great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek, a revolutionary who led the KMT to Taiwan during the war against the CCP and then ruled the island with brutal military law.  Overall, in this election, the Kuo Min Tang triumphed over the more liberal Democratic Progressive Party--the party of the current president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is halfway through her second 4-year term.  Taiwanese politics have long been dominated by the single question of stance towards China, but it was said this year's results were more due to the pendulum of popular sentiment away from the DPP, who held office during the pandemic.