BY NELSON NG

We had been walking along the streets of Tainan cluelessly that night, unsure of where to spend New Year’s Eve. We had just arrived from Alishan and didn’t know a thing about the city. After about an hour’s walk we realized our decision to go to Anping by foot was a wrong choice, and we found ourselves in the middle of the highway with nothing in sight and cars just whizzing by. At that time I was a little worried New Year’s Eve was going to end up being dull.

Then my girlfriend suggested to look for her friend Crista who had emailed her earlier. Apparently she was in Tainan alone to visit the city as well, and her hosts had kindly brought her out to the Sunset Platform to see the fireworks. She didn’t have a phone so we were just going to chance it and hope to bump into her there. We hopped onto a taxi and went over, not entirely sure what to expect.

Arriving at the Sunset Platform, we saw hordes of people gathering in the dark at a beach, taking their positions and preparing their firepower, all waiting for the magic moment. When midnight struck, all hell broke loose, the skies were lit up in all sorts of colours, and the night became day. The fireworks lasted for about 40 minutes and it was by far the longest and nearest explosions I had seen in my life. It wasn’t dull at all. And to top it off we bumped into Crista on the way out.