Taiwan 2.7: A night out in the old town of Lukang/Lugang after a day of travel

Yesterday was a day of travel.  We woke up, ate breakfast, and then took a taxi to the train station.  The sun was strong.

We took a train for three hours to Taipei Main Station, a high speed train for about forty five minutes, and then a forty four minute taxi ride in order to get to Lukang.  I've been interested in visiting Lukang since I first looked into Taiwan, but it is a pain to get here because it is a bit off the normal train routes.  Lukang is also interchangeable with Lugang, a different variant of spelling it. 

According to wikipedia, Lukang was an important sea port in the 1800s and 1900s.  It was Taiwan's second largest city at the of the 1700s.  It was Taiwan's fifth largest city during the Japanese occupation.  In any case, when you look up old towns of Taiwan, it is the first one to pop up.

We got in by mid afternoon and checked in to our pseudo bed and breakfast.  Our room is by far the largest of the trip, with a nice air conditioning and heating system to boot.  Unfortunately, the toilets are still not supposed to flush toilet paper.  From what I have read, there have been initiatives to get people in Taiwan to flush toilet paper, but they are still fearful.

Once the sun went down, I headed out to take photos of the town at night.  I tried to stay in the older town areas, visiting the many temples that were surprisingly open.



This first temple was on a nearby street that eventually turns into "Lukang Old Street" on Google Maps.  It is labelled only in Chinese.



This second little temple is not labeled at all on Google Maps.  I continued down the old street, taking pictures of my favorite building fronts.



At this point I crossed the street, which had a very disappointing and ridiculously large sign up top.



This next building used to be the residence of a wealthy and powerful family.  Around the corner was a street food bazaar.



Next was the Lukang Yuqu Temple and an unusually styled building nearby along the main street.



This was a tiny room right along the main street.



The last stop was at the magnificent Lukang Lungshan Temple, similarly named to the one in Taipei.  The complex was large, with many different areas to explore.  People sat on benches, families with small kids walked around, and a handful prayed.



As I was leaving, a women's group had set up music and started a dance routine.



While walking back, there was an area with a whole bunch of cats hanging around.  I started taking pictures of this one small cat when someone came by on a scooter, screaming, which scared away the cat.  I did not see it again.  So, the lights behind the cat are partly from the scooter in the second picture.



This last picture was of a street mural, seemingly of Spiderman and a ninja turtle, wearing Asian garb.