Taichung Day 4

 Just had a bakery bread for breakfast today. 二叔 headed off for a rehab lesson (?) and I decided to clean the toilet, and then ended up vacuuming and mopping the floor. It was about 10:30am when I finished, and I was getting hungry so I decided to head to 三舅媽's place as a typhoon is coming, and she's closed tomorrow. 

I took a ubike and cycled through, and could already feel the heat coming down... sweaty.

Once I got there I said hi to both 三舅媽 and 三舅. It wasn't too busy at the stall and it was calming down. 三舅媽 fed me food, ah it always tastes so good~ added just the right amount of spice. 三舅媽 is really good at starting conversations but I am not so good at starting convos. I wanted to talk to 三舅 some more but IDK what to say, and I think he is not the talkative type. 

Later after I finished 三舅媽 took me to bu a spatula that mum wanted. It was $50. Wow I get a little intimidated at the 菜市場 but there's so many good wares to be found. On the way back she tried to buy me heaps of other food but like I tried to decline... semi-successfully. Ended up getting some preserved fruits and half a traditional wedding cake (pineapple flavour) - $85. She wouldn't let me pay. 😭

We went back to the stall and I sat at the back for a bit and started to eat the preserved plums. Had a bite of the cake but it was kinda dry so I didn't eat any further. 

Then I went back out to see what they were doing, 三舅媽 was cutting up blanched pork into pieces and discarding the too fatty parts. I asked if I could help but she said I don't know how to cut. So I just looked. Honey had already gone to the groomers for a bath. 

After staring for a bit and small talk, it was then time for them to close the stall. So I said good bye and headed back via bike. 

I got back and 二叔 was home. It was just after 1pm, and he said we were due to head out at 1:30pm. Oh man. No rest huh. 

Off we go, headed to 三叔's place. 二叔 wanted to discuss something with 三叔. When we arrived, it has been over 10 yrs since I visited their house. They used to have 3 dogs? Now only 1 remains. I think the others passed away from old age. 球球 was lying on the mat but barked a lot when we arrived. Their living room was also super cluttered with various toys and kids things... wow. 三叔 cleared a spot on the sofa for me, (thank you), and he then sat on the floor close to 球球. When 二叔 was talking to 三叔, he wouldn't look at 二叔 directly and kept fiddling with things, like finding dirt on the floor, picking it up and throwing it in the bin. His body language was also like, "none of my business" sort without being direct. He did look at me for a short while though when explaining about where the main ancestor and family grave is in China though, and explained what it was (I forgot the word). He is still very skinny... 

球球 on his mat. He gets fed freshly cooked food 4 times a day and goes to laser rehab once a week for his joints. He's well looked after! 17 years old.
皮皮 was another dog and passed away at 19 years.

The river outside 三叔's house. Sometimes at dusk fish would come up!

Once done we left and headed out to pick up 小智 for dinner. Dropped into the house and greeted 奶奶and ancestors. 

The balcony still looking just the same!

We swung by 日出 so I could get the stamps I missed on Monday. And then on the way I saw a cool advert, for Giant. I think their Mando name was different way back then.

Next was to pick up my cousin Joy's aunt, but we were a bit early so 小智 and I took a walk around for 30 mins (meet up at 4:30pm). I saw a cart selling the bean cakes!! and they sold a turnip strip one?? Pretty nice?? Peppery flavour and kinda tastes like breakfast. $15 for 1. I had to save some tummy for dinner.

We then took a walk and ended up at a park called 三信公園, and there was a little plaque explaining that the park was donated or sponsored by 三信 credit union. 小智 tried to explain what they are and looked it up on wiki (credit union) and then I understood. We got on the Space Walkers for a wee bit after walking around the park, and then it was almost time to head back.

When we got back at 4:30pm, auntie and uncle was already in the car. We then headed to the hotel where teh buffet was - I was trying not to freak out too much due to covid safety... dining indoors... I was hoping there wouldn't be too many people at opening and that the HVAC inside would be on strong, and that we would be away from people. Since we were early we passed by 中央公園 and 二叔 said he'll take me to go see the runway they left. They made a sculpture showing where it is, and also there were so much 含羞草 at this area!!! Man!! Leave me alone with some time and I would just play with them haha. The adults waited near the car and 小智 took a walk with me to the sculpture to have a look. I then stopped by the toilet on the way back.

The sculpture they made, but I don't think the actual runway had pebbles

The plane wheels

What I think is the actual runway if you turn around on the sidewalk looking at the sculpture

Heaps of 含羞草!!!

There was still a little bit of time and they sat at the lobby waiting. I was looking at a charity organisation's magazine and started to read a comic, where the first panel had some swimmers asking kids why they were playing at the wharf and not at home doing homework. The kids replied saying that mum and dad isn't home and ah-gong is illiterate, hence them playing here. I think the next panel had the swimmers/surfers take the kids one and them sitting them down at a desk and teaching them their homework? I got called away and couldn't read the rest of the 8 panels... 😭 The magazine had 3 letters and I can't read the characters, and it did say charity magazine or something on the front cover corner. I'll never find it again. 

At least the sunset is pretty.

Once it was time everyone filed into the elevator and went up to 2F into the restaurant. Spacey my ass. This is moderate not spacy. 二叔 said it was spacey and we were seated next to other people. :/

Well, I can see HVAC vents and I turned my CO2 monitor on. I'll try to eat as fast as possible and mask back up. The food was really good though. Seafood was fresh. They had crabs but I was too wimp to try them. Sashimi and nigiri... hell yeah. Gimme. Their tofu was also super silky and flavourful. They ordered temaki and it had like alfalfa on top. That's new. The auntie said it was pretty good. But if I ate it it would bulk me up. They also ordered a 花魚? which is apparently a bit more expensive. They had a drink that was pretty good. It was almond or some sort of bran/barley type, white milky liquid. Pretty sweet but had a nutty taste. Dessert was movenpick. I tried not to breathe too deeply whilst eating... it got busier.

I had another plate of sashimi and nigiri after this

After I finished eating I masked back up and just had a cup of tea doing the hold breathe and unmask method. And waited for them to finish. 小智 ate a lot and kept looking at QQ, lol. Auntie ate A LOT. Uncle ate moderately. 二叔 also had a fair amount. I didn't want to overeat. The buffet cost $629 and 二叔 has some coupons to use plus they get senior discount. I checked my CO2 monitor throughout and it showed under 600ppm all the time, in my bag. !?! I expected it to be higher but okay I'll take it.

Then we went home. 二叔 dropped me off first while he took the others home. I took a shower and it's almost bed time. Tomorrow is a typhoon holiday, lol, my second one.