I got a new phone and I plan to post my snapshots from time to time. The quality might be poor, but perhaps you still want to take a look :)
I like this kind of small streets, but all the motorbikes are getting on my nerves.
One of our neighbourhood's cats, there are some dogs too. Many pets in our neighbourhood get fed by their 'owners', but are not allowed to enter their houses, so they practically live on the street anyway.
Christmas Edition - No idea what it was, but it was nice :)
Our newest discovery! A good friend introduced it to us :) I think it's some modification of the Japanese Daifuku. However it has strawberries and some kind of cream inside (but not heavy at all!).. it's sooo delicious!
um... what?
Some people might not know: Right side standing, left side walking! Always!
Oh, and Taiwanese people like to stand ;)
'Poultry and pet birds may not be brought into Taipei Metro stations."
Good, that this guy had no intention to use the Metro. They crossed the street after I took the picture and they are often around this area together - so maybe really pet birds??
現在時間11:06 xD Many temples have this kind of sign and tell you the date and time.
Confucius Shrine, there is a school next to it.
Confucius welcomes you! Unfortunately we didn't hear Confucius' band play.
It's more elegant than most of us will ever be ;)
Their expression is amazing, but...
...this one is even better.
The Literature God Pavilion
Old martial arts training hall, built by the Japanese. Now part of the school next to the Confucius temple.
Well, we thought Anping wasn't that far from the Confucius temple, so we walked. Actually it's about 7 km and we didn't eat anything, so we were starving and kind of exhausted, when we arrived. But it was still an amazing place.
Anping Fort, had a great and super friendly atmosphere, which I unfortunately couldn't catch in my pictures. But somehow everyone seemed very happy and relaxed.
The lighthouse.
If you ever trravel to Taiwan, you shouldn't miss Tainan and I would definetely recommend Anping! I guess I will go there again and next time, I will take more pictures in Anping itself to show you why I thought it was especially nice :)
A while ago my ninja and me went to Tainan and l must say I liked it so much, on the same evening I looked all the 'Southern' Chinese Language Centers up in the internet. I wanted to move as soon as possible! XD Well, but that's not going to happen. Also, I don't hate Taipei, it has a lot of advantages and I know quite a few lovely people here. ;)
Because we only had one day, we went to Tainan at noon and back in the evening, it's so nice that short trips like that are possible.
Only 1 hour and 43 minutes - that's so fast!
Taipei Main Station
"Schaffner" kann also mit 'Train Master' übersetzt werden? Finde ich herzallerliebst x)
28 °C - but well, it's Christmas Time
By the way, Tainan HSR (High Speed Rail) Station is not Tainan Main Station, it's somewhat outside of the city. But there are free shuttle busses to Tainan Main Station (also stopping at Koxinga Shrine) and a nice Information Center with english speaking staff.
The elegance of Taiwanese busses ;)
The bus drove past a huge European style building, which looked like a castle and I started feeling a little strange in my chest x') It was like the first time I went shopping at Zara's in Taipei and they didn't paste their own price over the origial one correctly, so a big fat EURO price was still visible. This is so awkward and I don't really know how to explain that feeling, but at both times seeing something so familiar shocked me in a way and somehow I felt ... moved? It feels like being ripped out of daily life and left behind puzzled (Es fühlt sich an wie ein Fehler in der Matrix :P). However, this is some aspect of home sickness I didn't know yet.
I tried to find that castle online and it took me almost an hour, guess why?
Because I googled "Amusement Park Tainan" the whole time - I was sure that building was part of some kind of Disneyland. Oh-oh shame on me. It's actually the new "Chi Mei Museum", which will be opened in future and will be one of the biggest (and apparently most interesting) museums in Taiwan!
If you want to know more about it or to see a picture, you can read this article: http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/local/tainan/2012/05/18/341445/Chi-Mei.htm
Finally arrived at Koxinga Shrine.
We were lucky to spot these guys doing a little foto shooting at the back of Koxinga Shrine :D
As far as I know these are the Taiwanese puppets, which are used in a popular TV show in Taiwan. Actually we do have one channel, which screens nothing else but this kind of show! The stories seem to be very dramatic and with a lot of action. This is just so funny and interesting to watch. Luckily I could find some english subtitled Youtube-videos... Please take a short look - it's worth it, I promise!!
A quiet scene, very dramatic! ;)
And a FIGHT!
It may sound stupid, but I was really happy to see some cliché-Chinese things (as in temples, shrines ;), because in Taipei most of the temples are in garages, with people living in there and watching Taiwanese drama on enormous flat screens the whole day, lighting some incense sticks from time to time. Maybe I'll figure out someday why it's like that. XD
