From the Grand Mazu Temple we make our way south towards the Hayashi Department Store hoping we can use shelter for some time there from the heat and enjoy the air conditioning. It is relatively close and the area surrounding it seems to have been the center of Japanese Tainan with other impressive buildings from that period like the Land Bank of Taiwan.
Entering we are taken aback a bit by the atmosphere but more by the fact that it is smaller inside than we expected. But we know that the major attraction is the elevator so there have to be more floors, we just have to find the elevator or the stairs. Stairs it is in the end as there is an unending queue for the elevator and we get bored after ten minutes.
The products available are quite interesting really but also very expensive. It is one of the most expensive stores we have seen in Taiwan so it is more look and don’t buy as we make our way up floor by floor.
You can access the roof for some nice views and some weird sculptures and even a couple of restaurants that are too busy to try out. And we are really full after the morning breakfast.
There are also some remains from the Japanese days, some good like the Shinto shrine and some bad like the holes from the American bombardment of Tainan in 1945.
And then all is left is to descend and leave the department store which ultimately gave us exactly what we needed, a break in an AC controlled environment. And to top it all off we stop on the other side of the street and buy an ice drink, now we are cooled and ready for the next attraction.
The next attraction, the Confucius Temple, is not far so we walk to it continuing to enjoy the old buildings and the newer ones while keeping an eye out for the ones that are getting demolished due to the recent, unfortunate earthquake. Keeping an eye out to avoid passing too close as the excavators are working all the time and it looks quite dangerous really.
