I woke up after 6am and headed out soon after to see the view from the hill by the British consulate. The hill was quite small and had a temple there and the consulate charged 300 dollars entry and was of course shut at the time. I got a picture of the city and was lucky that the sun was behind a skyscraper so the picture looked ok. I climbed down the hill saw a closed viewing tower and a view of a lighthouse on a rock on a small long Island where the ferry goes to. I went across the bridge to the ferry but it left just as I arrived and I didn't want to wait so I went back to the hostel via a temple and a memorial. The guys in my room were still sleeping so I had a shower, packed and left and took the metro to the main station. I asked at the information counter for luggage storage and then went there and they were automated so I left my suitcase for 50 dollars for 3 hours. I went down to the bus area and the next bus was at 9.55 and it was about 9.15 now so I tried a funny coloured boiled egg from the 7-11. A taxi driver said we could go to the temple as a group of 6 for 100 dollars each, a bit more that the 70 dollar fare on the bus but with no waiting so we agreed and he did have 3 rows of seats in his normal sized taxi so it was ok. We got to the temple just after 10 and I went in and was given a booklet of the temple where you can collect stamps for visiting various places so I went around and visited almost every place picking up stamps where there were some. The temple had a large entrance area then a space with 4 pagodas on each side then a large pyramid building which housed the Buddhas tooth relic in a room with a jade Buddha where you aren't supposed to take photos. Finally there was a large golden statue of Buddha some 40 or so metres which you could see all the way down to the entrance as it is all on a hill. There was also several exhibition rooms in the pyramid about different Buddhist things and in a square in front of it there were stories and picture murals as well so there really was a lot to see. There were also a lot of Buddhists working there who were friendly and welcoming and the pkace was quiet and peaceful but also quite modern as it was finished in 2011. I got back to the entrance around 12pm and I still had half of the places still to see. Next up was a Sutra repository which was a big building and gave me a good view of the temple but it was shut. Still I got the stamp and then headed around the back to the next place - the monastery. The monastery had buildings with lots of Buddha statues on but the first three buildings I tried to enter all turned out not to be tourist buildings as I'd come the wrong way. One was a hostel with 4 beds per room. I got shown downstairs to the art gallery and their art is not like European art but it was better than the art I'd seen earlier in the temple. Then there was the main shrine a big hall with 3 buddhas in front. There were towers of small buddha candles and then in the corners were a large drum and a large bell. I went around the rest of the monastery including climbing a hill to get to a small shrine, seeing the impressive gold statue and finally being shown the way to the last temple and I had collected all of the stamps. I headed back and there was no bus so I went to collect my prize of a small badge and then waited for the bus. A guy from South Korea told me when the next bus was and we started talking about things like travelling. The bus came and I used my exact change and we carried on talking. Hus name began with a C so lets call him Chappy although he did add me to facebook his name is in characters so I can't read it, lets just hope he doesn't read this. The bus was quick and we were back at Zouyoung train station at 3pm almost 6 hours from when I left my luggage. I went to get my suitcase and it was 50 dollars for the extra 3 hours and I had no coins so I used a 100 note but it wasn't working for notes. I went to get change and bought a drink at 7-11, came back and some people were using the machine so I tried the other one but it didn't work maybe because my locker was in the other area. I waited and then when I used it I was charged 100 dollars so the few minutes had cost me. I went and bought a high speed train ticket to Tainan for 140 and the train was there in no time so I went out and looked for the hostel but it wasn't there. Turns out the high speed station was different from the main station my hostel was at but there was a train going there so I made it not too long after 4pm checked in and I found out that my next hostel - old man captain booking had not gone through so I had to phone santander again to get my card working and Skype had stolen my credit and deleted my history and everything - Microsoft :-(.
I walked down a main road to a roundabout where the first 2 things on the map were not worth seeing but then I went in the literacy museum which was open snd free. I zipped through as it was mostly in Chinese but there were some English information boards. After that I went to the nearby Confucious temple which was closed as it was gone 5. I left and there was a military school and then just some normal temples and a church and not much else for a bit. I got a box meal for 80 dollars which meant I could eat as I walked and made it to a main road with bright lights as it was getting dark. I crossed a bridge and crossed back as I decided the old town of Anping was still a bit far and in the dark there would not be much to see. I headed back and saw some more temples and then a fort built by the Dutch which seemed to be open with a music performance and I think entry was 50 dollars but it was dark and the fort didn't look that good anyway. I headed back to the hostel and then went out to get some more food but there was nothing that caught my fancy so I went to a park and saw a supermarket opposite so I had to cross the road again. It was the first supermarket I'd seen and turned out to be more of a large budget shop as they didn't have fresh produce, meat or lots of other things. I did get some toothpaste and biscuits which I ate walking around the park. I went back to the hostel and there was nobody to talk to so I used the computer and found out there was a walking tour in Tainan so I tried to book it but it said to book 3 days in advance and it started at 9.30am so I decided to check at an information office the next day. I read a bit, did some more things on my phone and went to bed.
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