Taiwan Day 6 (Taichung 2)

 Beach bison day today!!!

Got up real early to be out by 7:30am. 二叔 drove and took the coast line. There was a lot of wind turbines. 

We left on time and arrived 20 mins before 9am.

 The temple is so big! I wasn't expecting such a big temple.

The Mantee Inn was right across the road. 二叔 parked the car and we got out. The toilet was a bit hard to find as one end was under construction. I walked through a catering hall that had the lights off so it was dark and scary, but we got there lol.

After that I met up with 阿豪, a friend I made during the potehi fanevent last year. Hello!! We reported to the ManteeInn guys, but 阿豪's friend (a family of 5) were running late. There was quite a lot of people here today. 

So we went out first. I paid for 二叔 $350ea. We got onto these 3 wheeled tuk-tuks that were very bumpy and very loud. Very loud... I now understand people in the military saying they ride a vehicle so bumpy it feels like their butt falls off at the end of the day. They took us to the beach which would have been about a 30-40 min walk. On the way you could see heaps of nets and oyster shells heaped on the side of the path, forgotten and no longer used. 

When we arrived we got briefed and.... There was a bison at the beach! They told us to give them some personally space essentially. The one they did the briefing was a different bison to the one I rode on the cart later. The briefing was mostly in Taigi so I couldn't understand. 😭 阿豪 translated the main things for me. The first activity was that we got to dig for clams/cockles. They gave us these tools that looked like smooth rakes. 

They told us to dig at the bamboo markers, about a fist size deep. I dug with 阿豪 slowly lol. We found quite a few! And ended up splitting up with 二叔. We took our time and ran out of untouched poles so dug at the ones a kid dug at cause they didn't dig deep enough. 😂 We found some that way.

Afterwards 二叔 found us and he managed to get way more than us???!? 

There were heaps of like tiny crabs that we disturbed whilst digging.... Sorry... 

After that ManteeInn treated us to seafood congee. It was really good. They were also roasting fresh oyster. They offered raw ones to some but I was worried I'd be allergic to raw, so only had the freshly roasted ones. 

I noted that the frame they used to prop up the grill... Had barnacles on it so they must leave it fixed in place?? 

There's also a loo lol, to act as a washing bowl for the cockles. That's actually really smart cause it'll still retain sea water even if the tide goes out. 

There's also dong gua cha, which which was lovely and sweet. 

Then they started offering rides on the bison cart?? But I'm still not finishing eating! Felt so much pressure lol. I hurriedly finished my bowl and went for a ride. 

Soooo cooool it's smoother than the tuk tuk (probably, since the beach is smooth), and we just went around in a small loop. 

The bison is a 黃牛 and not a 水牛, as water bison are black. Their name is Coffee in Taigi! They are more tolerant so you can part their head... Pat their neck... Pat their back. Ahhhh I pat the head. They are so cute... 

Bison at briefing (not Coffee) 

Bison at briefing (not Coffee), back shot

Coffee

And then they pissed. Hahahahha it was like a mini waterfall!! Quite a lot. What a rare moment. XDDD I got onto the cart and rode twice hehe hehe. The handler staff took photos of me. 

Then I went back to have more congee and oyster lol. Yummy. Yummy.

We stood around and chatted for a bit, at some point the organiser asked about the other 5 people in our group (any later and the tide will come) and they tried to call the phone number rI registered with but no answer. Sorry mate... Calls won't connect cause my parents swapped the Sim to a 5G and didn't tell me. 阿豪 called them and they said not far away. Must be the 3 kids made them late. 

They came as the last group and they pretty much got a whole small section for clam/cockle digging all to themselves lol. 

 We stood and ate and chatted and then the organiser came back asked us how many people in our group, and to put us back onto the tuk tuk. Aww already? Okay...