Tainan

I congratulated myself on copying down the instructions to the hostel from Tainan station. They were straightforward but one had to mind the details.The route ran past the university so there were students all around. They were also in the fast food outlets, attending tuition classes at the tables. I had seen this practice before in Bangkok. They were not moved on, there seemed to be an unspoken compact between the workers, students and their tutors.

There were also churches; were they more evangelical here? This piece of craft made from household objects was outside a church.

The hostel was clean and tidy. I rested, then prepared to visit the Garden Night Market for dinner. The staff showed me where to catch shuttle bus 0. At the shelter an electronic sign indicated that the next bus was in another half hour. Nice high tech. So I did a spot of shopping, and grabbed a couple of pastries to munch. When I returned to the shelter, it showed 10 minutes to go, then suddenly changed to 40 minutes. WTF? I waited a bit longer before giving it up as a bad job. Not impressed with Tainan City Council. I got the rest of my dinner elsewhere, and called it a night.

The next morning I woke early, tidied myself, and tiptoed out. Somehow none of the Taiwanese breakfast eateries appealed to me. Eventually I found a coffee and bagel chain.

5th floor entry for a department store: Decent men. I looked hard but no other floor served indecent humans of any gender. But it was a typical gaffe rivalling those in Japan. English is not commonly used in Taiwan, and this inhibits visitors. A clue is that guest registration forms are often only in Chinese. Another is the number of commercial English schools.