TAINAN _ SEPTEMBER 14–16

 September 14, 2024

The weekend started with a field trip to Taijian National Park. We went on a boat tour of the wetlands where we saw fishing and oyster methods, birds, and lots of mangroves. Despite it being a little rainy, I always really enjoy seeing the outdoors. Plus the rainy mood made it perfect weather to eat a big bowl of beef noodle soup after, which was really delicious. We walked around the Anping district for a while before visiting the Anping Tree House, which was one of my favorite sites we’ve visited. It was really stunning to see how the banyan trees had overtaken the old factory building, and it was tons of fun to walk around it with my friends and take pictures. 

After getting back to the hotel, Jessy, Ned, Austin, and I went to my favorite coffee shop of the whole trip so far: a place called Prospect Coffee in the West Central District. We shared three flavors of basque cheesecake (original, black tea, and Jin Xuan, the Jin Xuan was my favorite), and I had, genuinely, the best cup of coffee of my life (plus super cute decor). We went to a Japanese tableside barbeque restaurant after, which was likewise delicious. 

September 15, 2024

To continue our coffee exploration, Jessy, Ned, Austin, and I went to a specialty coffee shop which did coffee tastings, similar to a wine tasting. I’ve been really surprised to notice that almost all of the coffee shops in Taiwan offer entirely (with one exception over the entire trip) South American and African coffees. I tend to go for Sumatran or Sumatra-heavy blends, which I would’ve expected to see more of considering the geographical proximity. The place we went to served its specialty coffees with a bit of grounds to smell and in two different cups (a ceramic teacup and a tall narrow glass) to show how the vessel can influence the experience. They also encouraged us to drink slowly over time to notice how different flavors in the coffee can come out as the temperature changes. We tried three different treatments and origins of coffee, and it was super fun and educational to compare and contrast them. I really enjoy learning about the nitty-gritty behind coffee, tea, and wines so this was a really fun and unique experience for me. We did a bit of thrifting in the area, including a specialty vintage consignment store that featured primarily clothes either designed by Taiwanese designers or made in Taiwan. They only cleaned their clothes with detergents not tested on animals and had a really incredible and interesting selection of clothing with really unique pieces, and I bought a pair of jeans. We then went to Yuguang Island to watch the sunset at the beach, which was absolutely stunning. I truly cannot describe in words how beautiful of a time it was, except for the fact that my camera died about two minutes after getting there!

September 16, 2024

After two days of adventuring, we started this day by working with our project groups until post-lunch. We then went on a craft-tour of Tainan, including an embroidery workshop, an incense producer, an old movie theater, and a pastry shop. The embroidery shop was my favorite, and I loved being able to try out some embroidery stitching myself, and their work was really beautiful. The colors were incredibly vibrant, and I had never seen such three-dimensional embroidery work before, which was really cool to see a tradition that challenged my standing understanding of embroidery as a more two-dimensional art. I also really appreciated the incense store as someone who burns a lot of incense myself. It was sweet to be able to get a few pastries in preparation for Mid-Autumn Festival, which is tomorrow! I’m really excited to hopefully get to celebrate a bit by eating barbeque with some UW and NCKU students.