Tainan Nights: Sticky Air, Neon Dreams, and One Very Confused Tourist
it's 2am and i'm sitting in a 7/11 in Tainan, eating a microwaved bao bun and wondering why i thought coming here in july was a good idea. the humidity is doing its best to turn me into a human sponge, and the air smells like fried tofu and regret. but also like something magical. maybe that's just the heat talking.
i just checked and it's 26°c there right now, hope you like that kind of thing. personally, i'm sweating through my shirt like it's a wet t-shirt contest i didn't sign up for.
anyway, the reason i'm here is because i heard there's a night market that's supposedly the best in taiwan. someone told me that if you don't try the coffin bread here, you're basically a tourist fraud. so i did. it's basically a bread bowl filled with seafood chowder, and honestly? it's weirdly comforting. like a hug from a very carb-heavy aunt.
"You gotta try the milkfish soup," said the guy at the next table, slurring slightly. "It'll change your life. Or at least your stomach lining."
i'm not sure if he was drunk or just taiwanese-level enthusiastic, but i trusted him. and now i'm hooked. also slightly nauseous. but mostly hooked.
if you get bored, kaohsiung and chiayi are just a short drive away. but honestly, why would you? tainan's got enough temples, street food, and weird little alleyways to keep you busy for days. i spent an hour in one temple just watching people pray and light incense, and i'm not even religious. it was oddly calming.
i also accidentally stumbled into a puppet show. like, a real one. with wooden puppets and a guy yelling into a mic in taiwanese. i had no idea what was happening, but the crowd was into it, so i stayed. sometimes not understanding things is its own kind of joy.
one thing i'll say: the people here are ridiculously nice. like, suspiciously nice. i dropped my phone in the street and a random grandma ran over to pick it up, dusted it off, and handed it back with a smile. i'm still not over it.
"You're not from around here, are you?" asked a guy at a bubble tea stand. "Your face is too dry. You need more tea."
he wasn't wrong.
i also heard that the anping tree house is haunted. someone said they saw a ghost there once, but it might've just been a very committed cosplayer. either way, i'm gonna check it out tomorrow. maybe i'll finally have a good ghost story to tell.
anyway, that's my tainan update so far. it's messy, it's humid, and it's exactly what i needed. even if i'm now covered in a thin layer of sweat and soy sauce. totally worth it.
*for more on taiwan's night markets, check out tripadvisor's guide.
if you're into temples*, this yelp list has some solid recs.
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