Tainan - Taiwan

Our main purpose of visiting Taiwan was seeing Danny’s family. During the three nights we spent in Tainan we met his grandmother, two aunts and two uncles and their respective spouses and kids.

Everyone was really nice but it was pretty difficult to communicate with them. One of his aunts and two of his cousins spoke enough English to try to speak English with me. Everyone else spoke Chinese and I was proud of myself because I understood about two words per sentence when they talked slow for me. Danny wasn't the best translator because he understandably kept getting distracted by talking to all his relatives. I really need to work on my Chinese...

We didn't do a ton of sightseeing but Tainan is a tiny, rundown town and there isn't a ton to see. We spent most of our time hanging out at Danny's grandmother's apartment and eating a lot.

Danny was really excited about the food. I was less thrilled. The Chinese food we are used to in the states is Cantonese (from Hong Kong.) The food in Taiwan is a lot more bland by comparison. Plus I felt bad because everyone made a huge deal of going out of their way to find vegetarian foods for me and I mostly didn't like them much.

 The main thing worth seeing in Tainan were the shrines. They were everywhere including this one inside Danny's grandmother's apartment. It is supposed to pay tribute to her ancestors.

The really pretty shrines are the ones that are supposed to pay tribute to a buddha. As you walk around Tainan the streets mostly look sort of grubby until you see these structures. Here are photos of a few.

We also saw the place where Danny's grandfather's ashes were kept and it was pretty ornate. They even had tvs that would show obituaries of your relative when you swipe a card. We went with Danny's adorable little cousin, grandma and uncle to visit it.

The main thing we did that was actually touristy was visit Chih Kan Tower, a fort built by the Dutch.

We also went to a night market. They are basically big street fairs with a lot of food and cheap cloths and knick knacks.

My favorite street in Tainan was Shen Nong Jie which reminded me of South St. in Philly except a bit smaller.

After a few goodbyes we headed for a larger town called Kaohsiung (pronounced Gowshung.) I have to say one weird cultural difference is people in Taiwan don't hug. If I see my family everyone has to hug everyone goodbye and give them a kiss on the cheek. In Europe you do a kiss on each cheek. Here people just wave emphatically. I told one of his aunts that and she thought it was funny. She gave me a hug goodbye when she dropped us at the lightrail station to head for Kaohsiung.