Guest Post by Cheryl Williams

Lanterns

We arrived in Tainan mid-day, and after ditching our bags at our hotel we headed to a nearby park for some bubble tea and yahtzee while we waited for our rooms to be ready. Once we were checked in we headed out to explore the city. We had no real agenda, so we just picked a place on the map that sounded cool and headed in that direction on foot. It felt great to just wander, and follow our senses whenever we saw something neat we wanted to explore. There were all sorts of little alleyways that were incredibly inviting. 

It was on this wander that I became slightly obsessed with lanterns. Tainan was preparing for a lantern festival (Lunar New Year was just a couple weeks away as well) and it meant that many of the streets and alleys were well decorated in lanterns. They were gorgeous! Many were obviously hand decorated by kids. Marieke and I had a great time taking photos as it seemed there were more around every corner. The wander led us to a dinner place, and then more lanterns spotting (needed to see them in the dark all lit up of course!), to Taiwan’s oldest department store where we scored some small souvenirs, and then back to our hotel. We never did make it to our original intended destination that night but it really didn’t matter.

Historic Tainan

The next day we tried out the bike share for the first time and rode down to the old part of town. It was neat and we visited an old fort, and what is known as a “tree house” where the Banyan trees have grown right into the structure. We wandered some more alleyways and then got back on bikes to head out to some wetlands. It was a nice enough ride, but nothing too spectacular. We did another walk that night highlighted by some more beautiful lanterns. We found a cute alley that had a great little post card shop. Marieke and I went in to shop for a minute and when we came out, Steph was waiting to show us around the corner as she knew we’d be in awe…and we were! It was a beautiful little alley of adorable shops lined with gorgeous lanterns and lovely planters. 

One great 7-11

Our third day in Tainan we had an important mission to accomplish. After some research, Steph had found a 7-11 that was not too far away that served draught beer! After we had spent quite a bit of energy unsuccessfully trying to find a lowkey bar/pub the previous night, we realized that the culture of Taiwan doesn’t include such a place (there are high end cocktail bars and some fancy restaurants serve drinks, but otherwise it seems like 7-11 is the best bet). The draught beer did not disappoint! Marieke had not had a drink in a number of months and we all thought it was quite fitting that she end that streak at 7-11. We also used the opportunity to be briefed by Steph on “the program” for the next day as she had worked out quite the day for us.

More Hot Springs

We got up, took a train to Chaiyi (our home for that night), dropped our bags at our hotel, and then got on another train back to a town called Houbi where we got on bike share bikes. We did a beautiful bike ride through rice fields, around a lake and past some temples – almost entirely on separated bike paths. We dropped our bikes off, stopped for a quick lunch and then got on a bus up to a mountain town called Ganziling. Ganziling is famous for hot springs (specifically mud hot springs!) We found a resort that allowed day use and for $10 each we had a lovely afternoon enjoying moving between a hot mud bath, a cold pool with jet massage chairs, a sauna, steam room and a rose scented hot tub. Following our hot springs visit we wandered around the town for a while before getting on our final bus of the day to head back to Chaiyi.