Tainan， 不太难。高雄，高密度雄激素。

Conventional Wisdom
-- 懒牛做事厂

去香港，小心累死；
去上海，小心气死；
去东京，小心迷死；
来台南这地方，小心吃撑死！


I like Tainan. No. I love it. Take yesterday for example: In the morning I took 30 mins exploring the trains stn and vicinity. I learnt that I can deposit my backpack for only 17 NT (New Taiwan Dollar, 1 USD ~=33 TWD. I like the abbr NT). Hours are 8 to 8. Then I checked out all the local buses: Amazing! These Greyhound (North American) / 大巴（中国）sized buses seat but only 17 people, in 17 sofas (some of the companies use leather massage sofas) .... and, personal LCDTV with a wide range of channels ("wide" is my imagination but I bet it's true). The best part - swallow this - a 4.5 hr non-stop bus ride on this mammoth sofa to Taipei costs 600 NT (20 bucks, 145 HKD, 150 RMB). I was interested in the 45 mins due south sister city Kao-hsiung (高雄) -- 135 NT, runs every 40 mins around the clock. Kul! No problems. On I go with breakfast at a nearby bakery called 85C (Is this a special temperature for bread?) . The bread here was more to my liking than those in Tokyo, and definitely better than HK. No wonder the Taiwanese are taking over the bakery scene in Shanghai (Interested parties: this is a good business with enormous potential. Shanghaiese want more bread and are buying more pastries; yet 99% haven't tasted bagel nor baguette. Another story has to do with sugary stuff but I'll save it for another day.) 85C was also a mid-high end, clean , well managed, Japanese style service (This means treated-like-royalty for those who haven't had the chance to visit the Rising Sun). Price? about 30 NT for something creative, tasty, and filling. Clearly culture is a big factor in business. Trade the hardware at the right price, then use software to upsize flow. I spend an hour here on the bakery sidewalk patio reading Business Weekly Taiwan Edition (got some inspiration here for a different blog), and watching the locals eat their bread, drink their tea, do their thing, put on their helmet, then vroom off on their scooter. It's a bug's life here. People are friendly but unpretentious. Like.

I digress. Complete the picture: I put my bag in the station. Convinced there are motels everywhere. Conclusion: Travelling on this island, planning ahead is suboptimal. Was hot so I went to this cafe to create my blog, carrying with me only a travel waist-pouch.

Six hours later, after too many movies (legally obtained, of course) and too much typing, and way too much tea, (btw I spent about 200NT here), I reluctantly left the cybercafe, yawning. Heading for Wusheng Night Market (武盛夜市), I was feeling a bit drowsy, so stopby this motel and asked for a room. Only 10pm, I could not haggle up to far their pants. On I go.

I kind know where Wusheng is, but in Taiwan -- the friendly place it is -- I had gotten into the habit of asking directions whenever I had half a shadow of doubt. Three girls on 2 scooters were very helpful: "我们也正好去武盛，那你现在就要去吗？“ I rode of the back of a scooter for the next 3-4 blocks, feeling good about myself. I thanked them again for their kindness after hopping of at the entrance of Wusheng.

Feeling hungry, I spotted my first hunt of the night. A place called 古味豆花 (beancurd store) on a mainstreet just outside the nightmarket. It was good. Let me to elaborate. The most famous 豆花 in Tainan is 安平豆花 in 安平区 to the west of the train, closeby was where I had the incredible 周式虾卷 (interested parties: ten ten ten) -- It was so incredible that I ordered a second serving immediately after my first bite (I'm not ditsy-- the store was about to close). I'm going back there for the rest of their menu... Back to 豆花. I may be generalizing from but one experience, but the beencurb here in Tainan has a texture much to my liking. How so? It's slippery, soft, and doesn't break easily. The exterior is tough but very thin. Incredible! The stuff we buy in Shanghai and Ottawa were very fragile; one had to steam/boil it some to make it tougher. But this thickens the skin and changes the texture inside as well.

凄い！素敵！微妙！本とに美味しいかった！

After the beencurd I bought some wet knapkins from 7-11 (39NT for a 10入-2-pack, JnJ, quite a bit cheaper than HK), and heading to where the noise was.

I've got 3 interjections here:

Firstly, this trip was brought to me by 2 great inventions: the wet knapkin, and the disposible underwear. These 2 products both fit into my little pouch and are light enough to be almost unnoticeable. Yet the untility...! The latter can be in paper or cotton form. I highly encourage export/importers to expand this market. Travellers far and wide would benefit. Especailly ther paper underwear, it's just a knapkin for your bottom, friendly enough for the environment.

Secondly, Tainan is small. A 2.5km radius covers bulk of the city. Guys from back home Canada: this is but a stroll in some park -- Not even enough space for me to warm up on my blades before I start my backflip and triple axle routine (obviously I'm kidding). Well, it was good for me that Tainan was small. I was able to cover much ground as a relaxed pedestrian.

Lastly, 3 markets? 4?

Ok. End of Interjections.

Food. mJ. Food. Mj. KTV. Motel.


, brief passage through 台中 and 嘉义, and arrival in 台南.

List and pictures of food are also coming..... Ciao!
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damn it i just lost about 2000 words on some stupid script error in blogger. plz fix this!!!