Beach, City, Art

The next day I explored the coast and went on the search of Taiwan’s Dutch history. Selena let me borrow her scooter for the whole day. The Dutch built their first fort in Tainan, which later grew to become today’s city. Unfortunately there is only one wall of the ancient fort left, the rest of it has been restored and looks anything but historic. Being so close to the ocean, I couldn’t let this chance pass to take a look at it and rode the scooter to the nearest beach, where I watched surfers showing off in the warm sea and collected some beautiful shells. When I came home that night I was exhausted and went to bed early to be ready for my following adventure the next day.

The beach near Tainan. Grey sky but warm water!

The only remaining wall of the Dutch fort.

The next day came and I took a train to Kaohsiung, Taiwan’s second biggest city. It felt much bigger than Tainan and was accordingly harder to get around. I walked for half an hour before I found a bike rental. Equipped with a bike I went to the harbor (the world’s 6^th largest – who knew) and tried to find something interesting, which was quite difficult. So it came totally unexpected for me to find an art center with the telling name Pier 2. I walked into one of the exhibits where I was greeted overwhelmingly. After I was interrogated about my origin and purpose of stay, one of the workers started to talk German to me and even proudly gave me a tour in my native language. Possibly this also served PR purposes because a bulk of people followed us and took our picture – headline: even a German looked at our exhibit. The exhibit in question was with sculptures and drawings by a (supposedly) very famous Japanese artist. Unfortunately it didn’t spark anything in me and I had to endure an hour-long tour because I am too nice to decline such an offer. In sum, this art center really was a highlight of my stay in Kaohsiung. Other than that I just went to see the skyline and spent a long time writing this blog-entry and the like.

Pier 2 Art District: A woman and a man essentially: wide pelvis and wide shoulders what more is there to say?

Sculpture by a famous Japanese sculpture artist.

Around pier 2

Kaohsiun skyline with harbor in the foreground.

The people on this scooter showed me the way to the train station. Great folks!

So when I was finally planning to head back to Tainan I had to realize that the last train had already left. Without Selena I would have been stuck in Kaohsiung and would have to pay a hostel. Right after I texted her she called me with instructions for a bus back to Tainan, where she even picked me up. And she drove me to the train station the next day, bought the ticket for me and without me noticing even paid some of it. I owe her big time and want to thank her for all she’s done ( I hope you read this!). The train ride home was a long one and I had to stand for half of it. Taking a different route, I had again the impression that Taiwan’s cities were the product of the attempt of giving every Taiwanese a roof over his/her heads and not more. Saying all this I must say that I am of the conviction, though, that architectural beauty is highly cultural dependent and many Taiwanese people might actually find their homes beautiful. This means in consequence that my humble opinion has little weight. As long as Taiwanese people feel comfortable in their homes and streets there is little reason to change their looks. And there is one important lesson which I have learned so far: whenever something is unusual, uncomfortable, untasty or whatnot I tell myself: “you get used to it.”

I came home late, only to skype with Sarah and cleaning my room, which I had left as a mess. Hong Kong is calling and I was trying to get a good night of sleep but my vacation schedule interfered with that plan. Oh what the hell.