June 8th

We planned our first day in Tainan to really just start getting oriented to the city. In the morning we walked to the street again where we ate dinner the night before. This street is really just a mile or so long alley (no cars, but tons of motor scooters) with small restaurants and food carts on both sides of the road. We were told it would be the place to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We found a fruit stand and got a few things there and also a steamed bun sandwich place. In Tainan, for some reason, the people don’t eat breakfast foods as much for breakfast. Instead, it is mainly all of the same foods as dinner. The kids haven’t liked that, especially since we were in our steamed bun routine in Hualien. After breakfast we went to this old Dutch fort from the 1600s that had been converted into a Buddhist temple – Chihkan Tower. Tainan was one of the port cities for the Dutch when they ruled Taiwan and we have been seeing a lot of these forts around the city.

After exploring the fort/temple we walked to Costco! We thought it would be really cool to see what the Costco was like in Taiwan since we go there on almost a weekly basis back in Pocatello. It was really cool. It was two stories tall with escalators for the shopping carts. The top story was all of the electronics and clothes and things like that. A lot of it seemed pretty similar to the things they sell in the American Costcos. There were a few unique things though, like the electronic zapping mosquito/fly swatters. The bottom story was where all the food was. It was set up with all the same sections as the Costco at home, they just sold Chinese versions of the foods. It was interesting to see how it all worked though. First was the alcohol section and they had samples of all of the different wines. They were sampling like 10 of them and I was wondering how all of the people were going to drive home sober. When we got to the samples that we cared about we saw that they do formal lines for each of the samples. I liked how orderly it was, but about three quarters of the lines we got into ran out of food by the time we got to the front of the line. Rather than wait 10 minutes for them to cook the next batch, we would go get into a different line only for the same thing to happen. The Costco seemed about twice as crowded as ours gets in Pocatello on Saturdays – the busiest day of the week. We planned on getting some food fillers there, like granola bars and things like that, but they didn’t really have anything that would fill the purpose we were looking for. Usually when I leave Costco without buying anything I feel embarrassed for having eaten all of the samples and then walking out empty handed, but since we only got 3 or 4 samples but stood in 15 or so lines for them, I didn’t feel too bad. 

We promised the children a treat at the Costco concessions place. I was thinking maybe churros or something (they did have those as well as some of the regulars from back at home – no nut covered, dipped chocolate ice cream bars though, I guess they did away with those everywhere – and some different things, like mango shaved ice). As we got up to line Rebecca suggested we get a whole pizza for the kids. There was a seafood option and a Hawaiian style option. We had just had a discussion about politeness and eating food earlier that morning, and so each of the children in a very polite way tried to tell me that they would prefer the Hawaiian one J Can you imagine the excitement of finally getting some American pizza only to find out that your dad ordered the one with shrimp and fish and peas on it? They had such big smiles as I carried the 18 inch pizza to our table and all of the other people in the store turned to look at me. They were all just memorized with the huge American family eating a whole pizza. Everywhere we go we have a lot of people come up and talk to us and here was no exception. We let just the kids eat the whole pizza and they were so happy. After that we walked to the first or second department store in Taiwan. It was opened in the 1930s in Japanese ruled Taiwan. It was damaged extensively during WWII and only recently was it restored and reopened. It was kind of fun to walk through and to think about some of the first western influences coming to the island. 

Then we went back to the food street to look for a restaurant that was mentioned by our guide book. We couldn’t find it anywhere, so I started asking around if there were any good beef noodle soup places in the area. The guy I spoke to sent us to a place that was about half a mile away. It was really good, but I found out later that there were many just as popular ones much closer. We just got one bowl for Rebecca and I to share since the kids were still full off of the pizza. We had to eat it across the street on a bench since they would let us sit at their tables since we had a stroller and so many kids. That was the first time that people have not been overly accommodating to us and it was kind of a surprise. It reminded me of the soup Nazi from Seinfeld. You have kids and a stroller, no beef noodle soup for you! It was really hot and I spilled a bunch of it on my leg, but the parts that we were able to eat were delicious. We definitely want to get some more beef noodle soup, but probably won’t go there again.

Here is one of the bridges that we go across just outside our apartment. It is fun being by the canal. It is a little dirty, but we still get to see the fish jump a lot in it. This is the same canal that they will have the dragon boat races in next week.


Here are the breakfast sandwiches.


We let the kids each pick out one piece of candy.


Enjoying the koi pond. These koi were huge and they were expecting us to feed them. Some would just sit there with their mouths open half way out of the water.






Outside the towers. The lower parts were the remains of the old fort walls, while the upper parts are the newer (still pretty old) Chinese temples.










This was the place for students to pray to the god who would help them out in school. They would write their prayer on these papers and then hang them here. Then they would go and offer the prayer with incense burning to the god.


Here is the god that helps them with their school work.









The kids are trying to stand in the same poses as the statues.




Christian pointing out Costco in the distance.


Going up the escalator.




TVs sure were expensive. The kids are pointing out that it was $178,997. Did you ever think you would see a Costco price tag with such a high price on it?


People waiting in line for a sample.



I tried to get a picture of the things Costco offered. The regular things were cheese and Hawaiian pizzas, churros, the chicken bakes, and hot dogs. The different things were a chicken sandwich, some type of seafood soup, the types of cold slush drinks that they offered, the types of ice cream (only lime), and the mango shaved ice. I was going to get the mango shaved ice, but then I saw the price and thought it was too expensive. Since then I have been looking around Tainan and the cost has been about double at all the other places.


Look at those happy satisfied smiles.



Right outside the department store.



Inside the store they had a lot of displays of what they sold and how they made different products back when the store was first opened.





At the top of the store they had a Japanese shrine. I guess when the Japanese occupied Taiwan, during WWII the Americans had bombed this building in their fight against the Japanese. The Japanese then used the top floor as a place to shoot at the aircraft when they would come for attacks. At the time, this was the tallest building in Tainan (5 stories).


I guess this was their version of Captain America.


I can't remember if I mentioned these before, but it is a kind of waffle type dough on the outside and then we usually get the custard filling. They also have things like red bean and taro. Here in Tainan I have been seeing some really unique ones, like meat or eggs or fruit or even ice cream on the inside. This one had some custard and a whole Oreo cookie in it. Pretty delicious.


Our beef noodle soup.