We visited all the Level 1 and some of the Level 2 shrines in central Tainan. There’s probably a dozen more places to visit in that area but the attractions close pretty early in Tainan and we were pretty hot, grubby and tired by 5:30 p.m. I couldn’t cover all we did today in detail so I’ll write some highlights.

The first place we went: We started at Chihkan Towers, buildings on the site where the Dutch surrendered to the famous Chinese general named Koxinga. Not real exciting except for a nice statue showing the surrender.

The last place: We ended at the Koxinga Shrine which was built in a different spot in the city. There was some interesting history here but it was not very moving.

The happiest, lightest place: The Lady Linshui temple is dedicated to women in childbirth. It’s incredibly ornate and very bright with beautiful murals of woman and children playing. We saw one pregnant woman sitting by the statues of the birth assistants for a month and a very pretty song and dance done by a temple attendant for another woman.

The darkest: Tie. The City God temple and the Dongyue temple. The City God is responsible for counting up your good and bad deeds during your life, information that will be used to decide if you’re going to hell or not. The City God temple is full of warnings, including large, scary figures holding chains and paddles, as well as a huge abacus he uses to count your deeds. In the front hall of the Dongyue temple, the Emperor of the East Mountains takes those numbers and determines which of the eighteen levels of hell you go to if you’re a sinner. The middle hall has murals depicting the horrors that bad people will go through in hell and the back hall is a gloomy, quiet place where a scary Fendu Da Di, emperor of Hell, glares down at you.

The spectacle: The grand Matzu temple was crowded with people parading, eating, worshipping, and standing in line for food being given out by the temple. We expected this since it’s around her birthday. The best moments occurred when the very large temple bell and drum began to sound and a line of temple attendants passed ritual items up to the altar and then back through the incense to a back altar.

The best statue: There is a beautify Guanyin statue at the back of the God of War temple that has Guanyin looking down with a compassionate but stern look on her face. It reminded me of the Guanyin that I learned about in the Journey to the West, a classic Chinese story. In that story Guanyin often saves the hero, Monkey King, from the predicaments he gets into, but also scolds him for being so mischievous and demands improvement in his behavior.

Best food: Tie. Lilly’s Fruit Shop serves shaved ice topped with fresh tropical fruit or a number of other mixtures—I had persimmon and Sally had honey-bean. Slack Season Dan Ti Noodles makes a delicious local dish called danzi mian that we both really liked.

Tomorrow we go to Anping, the other historical area in Tainan.