[Taiwan] Chapter XLIV: Which once more demonstrates the usefulness of calendars as aids to booking

We hadn't planned on passing through Tainan, let alone staying there. But when we came to book accommodations for the nights of 30 and 31 December --- the new year weekend --- we couldn't find anything at all within a 100 kilometres radius of where we wanted to go. Everything was absolutely full or outrageously expensive (hundreds

of dollars a night). Scouring the map of central and south-western Taiwan, we finally found one nondescript room for "only" $67 a night, and grabbed it.

It ended being the sleaziest, dingiest, dirtiest place we had stayed in these past 4-5 months, and ironically nearly the most expensive, but at least we had a roof over our heads.

However, we did not let our lodgings set the tone, and decided to make the most of Tainan while we were there. Since the city is known as the "temple capital of Taiwan", we thought we'd do a walking tour through four or five of the more prominent ones, but we soon found ourselves more drawn to Tainan's side-streets and pedestrian alleys, filled with colourful food stalls and with street artists selling their wares, so much so that we ended up visiting only two temples, but probably enjoying ourselves much more in the process.

Happy New Year!

Accommodations:
- Unnamed establishment at 161 Zhengxing Street, Tainan (2 nights; not good at all)

Photo captions: (a-l) from the streets of Tainan; (m-q) Tiantan temple; (r-v) Confucius Temple