Taiwan Day 16 - Taichung Day 3 (spring)

 Today we head back to grandma's house for praying at the ancestor altar. We headed out around 10am, we were one of the first to arrive. 

五嬸 was cooking and 五叔 has set up the altar with trays of offerings and various paper money. Hu'nio came out to sniff my hand and then left. Maiya came out at some point after I tried to chase her for a bit to say hello. 

I bought the prawn crackers and there were 2 bags left. 賢安 was still sleeping and 五叔 and 小智 went in and asked her to choose and wake her up lol. Soz mate. She chose black pepper flavour. Then we went out and left her alone for a bit. 

The doorbell sounded and it was such a nostalgic sound. It's like birds chirping in a tweet tune. Hard to describe. 

Soon 三嬸 and the two kids arrived along with 三叔. The kids bought play dough and some dinosaurs along. And then 四嬸四叔 and fam arrived with 康康's wife. I helped peel and break some beens for 五嬸 and that was pretty much all I could do. Once the dishes were cooked for offerings we light some incense and 拜拜. Then we had lunch. The braised meat was so delicious and tastes pretty much like what 奶奶 used to make. 五嬸 taught me that you heat oil, add iced sugar rocks, sauté the unblanched meat in the sugar until it caramelised, and then add soy sauce, let caramelised just a wee bit, add sake, and then water. A bit of aniseed. No onion no garlic. And that's it!!!!! What the hell lol. I shall try that next time. It's the same technique as 姨媽's chicken. 

All the veges had wokhei flavour. So delicious. Everyone ate. The house is a little bit less cluttered but still pretty cluttered. 奶奶' s room door was open at one point and Hu'nio went inside. The cats tend to hide when there's a lot of people. 四叔 or 二叔 said that 奶奶' s room is looking a lot better since they've been clearing it out slowly. They have to go through things one by one because who knows what 奶奶 has hidden here or there. They found $27000 once. 

After everyone has gone I asked L&M what the plan is and where they were. So 二叔 ended up offering to take us to the shrimp place near Fengjia, and that also means we can visit the Su'jian budaixi shop near by, and 二叔 can take the big box of shipping back with us. However L&M we're going to a bookshop and we ended up waiting about an hour for them before heading out to pick them up. 

We finally picked them up arpund 4:10pm and decided to head to Si'jian first as they close at 7om and then go shrimping so we don't have to rush. 

Thanks for the ride uncle. We got dropped off. The shop only had 1 person at the time but other people arrived as we were finishing up. I over heard the shop keeper talking to another customer that Pili plans to have a TBF 10th anniversary exhibit in Oct/Nov in Shinkon Mitsukoshi in Taipei. Ahhhhh does this mean I have to try come back at the end of the year?!!?! I want to try make it happen...

When L went to cash up the shop owner tried to take to him and asked if he only watches TBF. I had to hop over and explain he couldn't understand Mandarin. I asked the shopkeeper about the TBF exhibit and he said they get notified about the types of merch they plan to sell and to estimate the need/quantity for it. There will be a July exhibit in Japan first. The info will be announced on official platforms when due. 

After that we headed to the shrimp place and we ended up going to "Golden Hook Shrimp". 

The boss lady was really nice and explained how it work and looked after us. 

We had to wait for a seat to open up at the pool and I went ot the bathroom first. The kid (owner's kid obviously) took me to the toilet when I asked. Thanks kid. L&M followed when I asked them to take a seat to wait lmao. 

After I got back from the toilet three seats did open up at the male prawn pool, which was $50 more but all the prawns are bigger. It's $450 for an hour. We decided to do it. 

The boss? Set the rods for us with the weight and length, and we started fishing. Then I found out to go grab a net and got told to check there's no holes in it. 

There were two guys who were obviously serious about the hobby and explained and gave tips. They were smoking and drank beer. They had their own rods and their own rod cases. He said that once you see the buoy/marker sink or a sudden tug, pull the line and check, if there's a weight you caught one. The bait was those mini shrimps, and you take the head and tail off and use the middle as bait. Vore.... 

The boss lady asked where we were from and I said NZ. She knew we wanted to try experiencing shrimping, lmao, how did she know. 

He also gave the tip to put the bait in the middle of the hook and not the end. 

I ended up catching 3 shrimps, and one each for L & M. 

When I caught one the gentlemen taught me how to hold the shrimp, gently, but the back, and watch the pincer as it really does hurt. You can also hold the pincer arm backwards so they can't pinch you, and then just unhook or pull the line out. Then you place it into the basket net that's hanging in the pool. 

Thank you kind sir. At one point his buddy fished up a regular shrimp and they called out to the boss lady speaking in Taigi about how this is the 公蝦池 and why is there a small one in here lmfao. The boss man went and got him a big shrimp and said "gift/exchange for you" looool. 

At once point I did fish up another shrimp but it fell down as I was pulling it up along the side of the pool. And another one swam by near the surface, you could see it!!! Near the buoy but didn't bite lol. The gentlemen next to me said 路過 lol. 

We fished for an hour and we were pretty much done. I asked the gentlemen if they would like our bait but they were good. 

We returned the rods and then came back for our shrimp which we pulled the basket up and placed on the floor. L was worried they'd escape but the gentlemen said they won't. 

The boss lady came to help up do the grill and asked how many did we catch? We said 5. She went back and and gifted us a few more. A total of 9. Then she went and grabbed a bag of salt (this is a lot of salt) and tipped the shrimp in a basket with the salt and told me to 刷刷  like toss 'em. 

And then she came and lit the frill, and got us the grilling tray. Place the shrimp inside and started grill. She said turn after 15 mins. There were 2 others using teh grill with a lot more shrimp inside. Wow I felt bad watching the shrimp die. 

I cleaned and rinsed out the buckets and trays while I was waiting. 

Once the shrimp was done we moved tables and sat near the entrance for less cigarette smoke, and ate our shrimp. M didn't want any so I had 4 and L and 5.

It was really delicious.... 

The male prawns were harder to de'shell whilst biting so I had to actually peel with my hands. Poo lol. It got really salty at the end due to the amount of over-salt lmfao. Look at the huge bulk bag of salt just sitting near reception. The owner's kids were playing around and riding a bicycle after eating his noodles for dinner. 

After that we got ready to head home. I thanked the boss lady for her hospitality and then L, M and I took a selfie because it's the last time we'll see each other before they head off to Taipei while I stay in Taichung. 

We walked to the Maple Valley bus stop and M commented the bus drivers are brutal... Yes.... And I asked what route did they take on the bus today and they said 304. Ohhhh nooooo it's the same number as the one I took home yesterday - probably the same bus driver!!! 

We split up at the bus stop on Taiwan Bouvelard and I headed into the nearby FamiMart for a bread and a drink since we opted not to have anything else for dinner at the shrimp place (too much smoke for M). 

I got the choc flavour of the raisin one I usually get. It's nice but the raisin one is still the best. And the drink was honey lemon water. A bit sweet... But it'll do after all that salt lol. 

I walked home, it was about 30 mins walk in light rain. 

Then a shower and so tired, I didn't blog, and just went straight to sleep. 

Taiwan Day 16 - Taichung Day 2 (spring)

 Woke up today and had half of the obentou 二叔 bought yesterday. It's very aromatic but a little heavy for me. 

I ended up sharting just before my poop???? ?????? At least it happened at home and not outside. Oh well wash my panties after that. And then I had to go poop again before I headed out. 

二叔 was also gonna head out so I got a ride on the scooter to 四叔's shop. On the way, a lot of shop were closed and it was weird!!!! Cause usually the shops never close lol. 

Once at 四叔's he had a visitor who was his friend. They were figuring out what screw to use to open up his smartwatch so he could replace the battery. And also settle a debt that 四叔 owed him for buying something for him. After a while he got a call from someone asking him to move his car. Then he left. 

四嬸 arrived shortly before he left. Then 二叔 came shortly after he left. I got fed some fish strips. And tried a seaweed almond sandwich snack. Thank you. 

Short chat, and then 二叔 took me home. 

Once home I had to poop again.... Meilin ayi had made lunch. So I had the rest of my obentou which I really struggled to finish. Only with the help of Meilin ayi's 排骨竹筍湯 which was absolutely delicious. The bamboo was so tender. The pork bits too. 

After lunch I headed out to where L & M is. I bought a big box for them but they forgot I was bringing that over and they headed over to the Comics Museum already. Ahhh well I'll ask reception to hold it. 

Once I arrived, reception were OK to hold it, and I borrowed their toilet. 

Then borrowed a Youbike next to the park and off I go down to the Comics Museum. 

I parked the bike and found them near the info centre. We did the info centre first and they had a register via QR card and give you a stamp on the hand. And then they gave you a card to DIY your own manga using the step by step stamps. I somehow misaligned the blue on mine????? And came out with a weird one hahaha. So I lined up and tried again in my book. It was difficult because there was no flat surface for me to stamp so I had to line up on the wall and try it. It came out a little better. 

After that we went to the buildings in order. 1 and 2 (the budokan and adjacent) were currently closed. 3 and 4, one of them was a café. 3 had an exhibit (I think it was 3). 

There was a 3 year old having a party outside the Books and Basket café and their parents had hired a jazz band to play happy birthday just for her. Oh my god. It's like those rich parents parties. We had a look into the Bookshop café and there were manga homegrown artists and lots of queer material. I ended up buying a manga about 1960's Ximen ding and the hand painted posters. I wonder what it's about. It seemed interesting! 

Then we went to the next building's exhibit which was for a 16ths Awards winner, which was gay-coded. Okay it's deeper than that but you know, you need some eye candy to appeal to the general audience. It also deals with loss and drug addiction and choices you make that you may end up regretting later in life, etc. It was pretty cool! 

Ice cream time. We had gelato and the bowls they gave us was like a little bathtub. The 雞蛋糕 they included on top kinda looked like ghosts but you can taste old oil in it so I don't think they clean the iron properly... The gelato was delicious though. I got a peach tea flavour, and combination berry. 

Then the next building had an exhibit for the entries of a Youth Comic Award. You can read the entries as well under each stand. I read two, and the one I picked up first was a time slip story with the grandson going back in time and meeting his grandpa as a kid. That was really enjoyable. 

After this building we had 3 more to hit before the museum closes. There was a kids library building, which I found Origami Warriors in there.... Aaaaaaaaaahhh.... 

And the other one was another library and they had Corocoro Comics and 1/2 Prince....!!!!! 

The baseball exhibit was a big one, and there was a set up outside where you can be the batter and scan the QR code to input a text for the marquee screen. Like your name or a catch phrase!! That was pretty cool! The exhibit was also really cool, it had English in it too. Before the regulations were lifted there were pirated versions of translated Japanese manga, and then there was a crackdown, and so published redrew/trace and enlarged the panels onto the pages to get around it. A lot were missing onomaetopaeia. Who knew such a history existed! 

And, a certificate/permit for the book would be included on the back cover - and this explains why some old books I've seen have that. Aaaaaaah mystery solved, many many years later... 

After the baseball exhibit, it was dinner time. We headed towards the gunpla store direction and found a shop that had open store front and we sat near the door. They had an extremely simplistic menu but the food was good! 

Before that we had tried ChunShuiTang, but Google Maps photos lied and they did not have any outdoor seating. The second place had an outdoor waiting table ony. :/

The third place was a really unique shop with flavour, and also dessert. I got wonton soup and then silken tofu flower with peanut for dinner. After dinner L headed off to the gunpla shops and subsequently the sanrensei, while we had dessert. Then M and I decided to Youbike to where L is, but he finished when we were partway, so we told him to head back home and will meet him there. We biked and parked at the Park, and very shortly after L met us up at the crossing whilst we were waiting. 

I had a look at their room, and used the toilet, and left. 

I caught the 304 bus home to Maple Valley and walked back. The bus driver... Drive so hard like an F1 driver. Took turns super hard and braked hard. Everyone would topple. 

I walked home and showered and then was too tired to blog so went straight to sleep. It started spitting on the way home and when I went to sleep it started pouring. 

Taiwan Day 15 - Taichung Day 1 (spring)

 I got up a wee bit early so I could take a nui photo of Dan Fei and Juan Juan in the tea leaves before breakfast. 

I managed to find a spot under shade near the steps with the archway covered in vines, and got my photo before breakfast. 

Breakfast is a feast again. This time they had the wavy edge flat noodles instead of congee, and a tea flavoured jelly.  Delicious, fit for royals. As we were eating Mr Lin dad walked past and waved at us. He coughed a dry cough and then it hit that Lin lad takes on his dad's resemblance with his light coughing... Family genes, huh. He's got his mum's face shape though. 

I bought back my tray to the kitchen and Mr Lin came to collect the rest. 

Then back I go to poop. I'm so full... After that I packed up the rest of my stuffs and stripped the beds/combined the rubbish for them. 

Once we were done, we asked for a lift down to the bus stop. Mr Lin loaded our luggage while I placed the keys onto the front desk. Mrs Lin had a chat with me and apologised for the rooms being small and in an old building, but I said no it was fantastic and the rooms have character being an old building. 

She said that having part of the house being accommodation means that it gets maintained and the house slows down the depreciation. She mentioned that if they knocked it down and rebuilt, the rooms would be newer and nicer, like a lot of the other newer minus around here, and some people prefer that. But I said that those people can chose to go there, and those that like old housing can come here. I think they have a great place! 

She told us to come again if we can, and I thanked her for it and got seated into the car. It's the same silver van. 

As we passed the little red shrine I asked Mr Lin if he knew who lived in it. He said he wasn't sure and thinks it's likely 土地公 and/or 地基主. He said it's been there a long time, and when he was a kid in school his classmates would pray at it and he started doing it too. Then his dad told him off saying that he can't 亂拜. So he's not 100% sure. 

We thanked him as he dropped us off at the bus station. 

There were another group of Europeans at the bus station and the next bus wasn't until 30 mins later at 11:30am. And it was the HSR one. As we sat and waited, more and more Europeans got dropped off and there was like a little crowd. Uhhh. We have competition... 

I went across the road to Hi-Life to check if my Yoyo card had enough on it. It did. As I came out I spotted a taxi driver taking a break and his car with the "empty car" light on. I went back and there was the male dog we saw wandering around earlier in the same corner we saw the black dog last night. Oh hello. 

More people arrived. M had a look on the combined taxi app and saw the estimate was about $1000 ish for a trip down to the station. 

A quick debate later I judged to go ask the taxi driver if he was willing to take us down. "I would do it", said M, and off I went. 

Hello Mr. This taxi driver was from the other Taxi Fed something 大隊 and had a "高鐵站專車" label on his car. I asked if he free to take passengers and we had 3 suitcases and 3 people. He said yep, the fare would be about $1500 and I said that's fine, we're willing. He said he'll bring the car around to the Clothing shop since he can't park at the bus stop. Sure! 

I went back to get L and M and moved our luggage over. This taxi driver ended up being sooo nice and explained a lot of stuff. He asked if we were tight on time, nope, and then offered to drive slower. I   said that M gets carsick easier and he said OK he will turn gentler. So nice! M commented at some point that this was much nicer as she can see stuff and be more comfortable. The driver had his windows down partway and we had fantastic fresh breeze until just after Chuko. We saw someone overtake us on the right side (scooter/bicycle lane) and M was like "uuhhhh isn't that illegal" and I asked the driver. He said yes... As long as they don't bring danger to us we leave the rule enforcing to police. Yeah, fair. Also commented that around this time of the day, there's more chance of people wanting to go down the mountain so that some taxi drivers wait around a little to see if they can get a customer to go down. I commented that we were lucky either way! 

When we almost reached Chuko the driver also asked us if anyone needed to pee. At some point of the journey he asked where we were from and I said NZ. He asked if people were like allergic to wearing masks as his sister said 千萬不要 when he offered to send some to her. His sis said only sick people wear masks. He 

When we reached the city boundary he pulled up the windows for A/C but left a small crack at the back for air, as it got very hot. 

His driving was very safe and he stuck to the rules and speed rules with the little machine telling you the speed limit and speed cameras. I wish I got his name or taken a business card from him. Regret lol. 

Toilet break, L babysat our luggage. And then we went to get train tickers for them. They booked the Puyuma Express at 1:30pm. It was about 12:30pm now. 

I said byeee I might see you later if the buses are full. I went my way to the back Transfer Station and asked the info desk. Ho-Hsin and KuoGuang go to Taichung Chaoma. Thank you. I found a Kuokuang ticketing machine just next to the info desk and managed to buy a ticket and pay with Yoyoyocard. There was one at 12:50pm. That's in about 10 mins... Okay! 

I bought an onigiri and a banana from the Hi-Life at the gates and sat down. But then the bus came so I couldn't even eat my lunch lol woops. The bus was fairly empty. About 3-4 other people? I feel asleep partway and woke up just before Chaoma. I thanked the bus driver as I got off and asked for the luggage hold to be opened. He told me to watch my head so I don't knock it. 

二叔 was ready to pick me up. Helloooo. I ate my onigiri (Chiayi chicken flavour). It was tasty but greasy!! He stopped by 四叔's shop to pick up my rice and box of prawn crackers. 

I was still eating and asked if he wanted me to lift my 9kgs of rice... Nope... 四嬸 came over to talk to me and asked what' s the red line on my nose - that's a mask line. She took a step back lol. Don't think I didn't notice. 

二叔 loaded my stuff and we went back home. He tried to convince me again to loosen up with the airborne infectious disease precautions. Welp after the graves sweeping on Sun the whole family is going to Taobanwu to eat. Uhhhhhh. >_< I guess I'm just going to eat with my mask on... 

Once home he dropped my off and disappeared somewhere. I unpacked some stuffs and hung out the washing in the washing machine, started sweeping the floor cause I could see hair and dust in places. He came back just as I was doing the last 2 rooms. He said he'd already done it before I came. Oh well let me do it for you.

I had called Pan ayi earlier to arrange to give her her stuffs and she went to Fengjia's main entrance with the 7-11 and Hi-Life. She arrived and called me, I went down. Turns out the main entrance I was thinking of and here's is different - there are both 7-11 and Hi-Life at the back and front entrances. Woops. Well let me walk over. She had cycled here. 

When I arrived she was chatting to an old coworker's of hers who immediately tried to Christianise me. Yeah whatever, I stayed polite. Pan ayi game me a teapot to take back for dad cause she saw the one he had had a chipped stout. Sweat, dad had lots. But thanks! Then I went to the post office. 

I ended up eating the left over fried rice in the fridge at his suggestion, and then had a cup of tea. 

He went off to pick up Meiling ayi as she comes back from Taipei today.

I mopped the floor whilst he was out and then went down to 7-11 to pick up my doujin that I had ordered and arrived. And also got some yoghurt. 

I then returned and took a shower. He came back as I was showering and had bought a bentou for me.... Aww thanks but no thanks. I don't feel like eating and I have brushed teeth. 

My PJ's still smell like Drizzle Tea... The faint smell of cypress plus the disinfectant clean smell. It's wonderful. Can I buy this in a bottle? Lol. 

I put my washing on and blogged while the washing goes. I'm a little hungry now but don't really wanna eat. I will sleep soon.