Taiwan Day 19 - Taichung Day 6 (spring)

 Today I got up  early around 7am and finally crawled out near 7:30am to go to my dental appointment on time. Breakfast done, but it was still raining.... 

I walked down and had to make a decision. Do I call a taxi or do I buy a poncho and go? I still had 20 mins to get there before my appointment. I went into 7 but couldn't see the ponchos. Then I went into FamiMart and asked where theirs was - I bought a bigger one that was a better material and longer. 

I put it on once outside and then OK let's go get a Youbike. I managed to borrow one of the last ones (phew) and a dark-skinned guy took the other one. We was in a short poncho, guy smart, later I realised it doesn't get caught in your knees when cycling. 

I had to cycle fast but I forget there is a slight uphill going towards Shuinan so it wasn't as fast as coming home. The poncho kept riding up, but I managed to stay dry mostly. 

I arrived and there were no bikes in the dock near the primary, so I parked it under the tree for a better chance of a drier seat if it was still drizzling when I came back. 

I made it on the dot to the clinic, and took off my raincoat. I opened the door and asked the ladies where to put? And they said just hang it over the yellow moped (it was a Gogoro). Thank you. 

I went in and they asked if I wanted to make an appointment - I said I was the 9am. Oh! You are Alice. They asked me for my Jianbao card on auto drive - I don't have one hahaha. 

I sat for a wee bit and they asked about my trip this time around - I've already been! And fly back tomorrow. 

A guy came in to deliver a stamp when I got seated, and then Dr Huang came at 9:10am. And commented to the stamp guy when he said "這麼早就上班" that he's already late by 10 mins. Lol. He replied "喔，你們還要準備，我們開門就好".

A lady walked in when I was halfway through my treatment, but I think she maaaaay be Dr Huang's wife. Not too sure. 

My clean wasn't as painful today, perhaps cause it's only been like 3 months since. Just sensitive near the gum line. Dr did polish off my stains though with prohpy. 

He said I should get my wisdom pulled sometime, as there's not enough space in my jaw and it's pushing on the other teeth. I need 1 week recovery time. 

An Ah-bei came in and got seated just as I finished. I asked for the toilet and it was on 2F - their toilet still retains some of the original wall flower tile. Maybe even the original tap, cause it was a oblong handle type you turn, and it was old. 

After I was done, I thanked them and paid $600. See you next time!! 

After that I went to 三舅媽's place. It was OK busy. I hung up my poncho and put down my backpack on the shelf. 三舅 was going to 炒油蔥 and he said it takes like an hour. Honey wanted a hug so I carried her for a wee bit. Then I let her onto the ground. She just walked here and there abd eveb under the stove!! Gurl! Ain't it hot there! 

I watched him do fry it for the whole time. He used lard, and added some salad oil. Then the red onions (chopped by machine) into the heated oil. And just stir so it doesn't burn. Scoop off the scum (because they didn't wash the onion). Until the onions become brown, float to the surface, pushes easily and follows the spatula, and the bubbles become fine and almost none. Then you turn the heat off and add some soy sauce for it to add some aroma. At some point I went to the dry goods store to buy 榨菜. The shop lady was happy that I bought my own bag and said that plastic bags are now expensive and very hard to get. I asked why? Oh it's because of the oil shortage. 

When I got back I asked 三舅 about it. He said that it's true and they can't get more. It started 1-2 months ago (the shortage). And pointed out that their stock in the corner - once it's gone they will have none. 

I also managed to add him on LINE, and he asked how to get to watch 棒球直播 on YouTube or similar. He said a retired teacher comes almost everyday and he watches live broadcast. We couldn't get it to work so he said he'll ask the retired teach. 三舅 also said he never wear pants, after commenting on how the mosquitos here keep biting. Only shorts. He did buy 4 pairs for their upcoming trip April 23-30 to China. In case it's cold. He bought 1 pair for his trip last time, but ended up wearing it once and then just shorts after. Hahaha. 

After 三舅 was done with the onions, he just let it cool there. I went out and saw 三舅媽 picking off the tough bits off the 榨菜 so I went to help. Not too long after 三舅媽 fed me and I had 陽春麵 and added just a tiny bit of their chilli, which was quite spicy. They gave me a side with the pork bits and a braised tofu & egg. Delicious. 

After eating I went back and helped finish picking the 榨菜 off. I asked 三舅媽aabout the plastic bag situation, and sje said it used to be $100 for a box, and not it's $500 for a box/bag. 

Honey got picked up for her groom and wash. Once done with the 榨菜 it was pretty much time for them to tidy up. So I said my goodbyes and hugged everyone. 

I said bye to the big sis but I don't think she realised/heard me. 

Ah well. I went around and onto the main street to go to the bus stop. I took 82 to go to Chungyo Dept Store, not a lot of people were riding at this time of the day. 

I headed to Eslite on 10F once here, opting to take the escalator so I could also see what's on the other floors. It stopped at like floor 9F, so I had to take the elevator up.

Eslite was big. They had 2 floors! I managed to find my book cover but also asked a staff if it was the right one because the packaging was different. Turns out I got the fat book one and not the normal one, which was just behind it. The lady at the checkout had to call the stationary lady (whose checkout was closed), and I ended up checking out at the stationary checkout. The stationary lady helped me and opened up the packaging to check/confirm. 

I had a look around and ended up buying a papercraft kit (the same maker as the plant ones). They also had these gorilla massages for smartphone swiping sore hands, and high heel sore calves. The branding was funny. 

Floor 12F was Daiso but the elevator doesn't go there - I got into the elevator and a lady going to 15F told me it's a 夾城 so I need to go 11F and walk up, (and the elevator just passed it as I hit the button), or 13F and walk down. Opps. Thank you lady. I went to 13F and walked down. 13F was an exhibition space - lots of temp stalls here. 12F was indeed like an inserted level. This Daiso had more stock but I couldn't find any of those dehydrator beads??? No oshikatsu sticks either. 

Then I went down to 11F and saw the Eslite. This floor was a big Eslite bookstore and cafe. They have cool shelves. 

OK enough mucking around let's go home. By the time I crossed the road and got to the bus stop 25 and 35 bus were already leaving the stop and waiting for the lights.... 

I ended up waiting from 2:18pm to like 2:40pm (the next 25/35 bus never showed up on time), and took a 303 since it goes to Taiwan Bouvelard. Turns out it goes the other direction and the final stop was the high school. Lol woops. The bus driver shouted out to me and told me it's the final stop. And I got on the wrong direction when I ask - doesn't this go to Maple Valley? Ah oh well. 

I just walked out and checked the bus stop and they all stop here. So I G Maps and walked 10 mins to the next parallel big road and took 33 to get to 教師新村, which is actually even closer to 四叔's shop??? The stop before was Shinkon Mitsukoshi. Everyone got off here. There wasn' t much people on the bus. And then the driver didn't stop at my stop?? I pressed the button! I walked up and politely asked when the bus would stop at 教師新村 and the driver let me off as we were stopped at the lights, just past the bus stop. There was construction going on and he told me to be careful. Thanks driver. 

Seems like the construction is redoing some pipes as they dug up the middle of the road and were adding concrete back in when I walked past. I took a detour around the alleys and a tiny back alley connecting the back alleys, and got to 四叔's shop. Phew. He had a friend visiting. I left my 榨菜 as it was so heavy, and went off to buy my bus ticket first. 

I went by foot and took a sky bridge. The arcs were really pretty, and a building 2F next to the stairs had a tiny balcony, but really old wooden door and glass just like the juanchun. Nostalgic... 

Some of the floor tiles were loose on the bridge and someone had stacked them on the side. Who knows how long this sky bridge would exist, they seem to be getting rid of them now. 

What a privilege to be able to walk one. 

I got to the Ubus station and purchased ticket. Then I took a bike back... One day I will actually go into Maple Valley and have a look. 

Once back at the shop (parked at Shangshi Park) I got treated to tea and some Vita brand nuts with caramel flavouring. That was really nice?! There were 6 other flavours as they came in a new year pack, but some had garlic and some had pepper/salt... I think the caramel ones are the best lol. 

四叔's friend was younger than me, they are bug hobby buddies. They talked bug, and ended up talking about his 3 dogs and how they came to be taken care of at his family. His family lives at Nantou, on the middle of the mountain, facing east side so they get the morning sun. It's a wooden house so it heats up quick. Lots of nature and vege fields near his house growing up... And he once captured a snake with his brother to take home lmao. 

Guy sat from 3pm to 6pm just chatting with 四叔. I left just after 6pm and went home. Organised myself to go out to grab dinner and also see if could change Ange's Pom shirt for the women's version. They can change but can't refund the $100 difference, unless you buy like something else. Dang.... 

After debating a wee bit and tried calling Ange (but she was already asleep), I opted to just keep it as is and took measurements with the ladies version so I can modify it... Since it's just tailored slightly with with shorter crop and sleeve. It shouldn't be too difficult. Famous last words I bet lol. 

Then onto dinner 中興素食. I got them to put the rice into my box so saved a bowl, and then took some soup. $95. 

I thanked the lady, and went home. Goddam how do they make it taste so good?! Especially the stir fried green chilli?!?! And the hash... Everything yum... The kimchi... Dang... 

OK so it is a wee bit greasy you can see it front the leftover juice in the box, but it doesn't feel heavy. Maybe that's why it tastes so good lol. 

After dinner I ended up liquid pooping for a fair while... Dafuq... As long as it's not something more serious. 

I just finished packing up the rest of the luggage and then showered and sleep. 

Taiwan Day 18 - Taichung Day 5 (spring)

 I naturally woke up just before 8am today. Had breakfast, some wood bread with a banana (yum), and then headed to the post office just after 8:30am.

The post office was busy with 11 people for banking services and 3 people for postal. I went to print the EZ Post label but it didn't come out. It took ages to print. So I tried again.... And then decided I need help so took a number. 

The gentlemen was patient and went to get the label from the print - it was an A4 paper and he said only the small packets print from the EZ Post machine, the EMS ones are bigger so they get printed inside. Sorry... I printed twice... 

The package was 6.1kgs and cost $2305. Pretty cheap if you think about it. 

Then I bought stamps for the rest of my postcards - he was going to stick it on for me but I said I can do it, and he can service someone else. 

That's also because I didn't leave enough space for some that ends up getting 2 stamps so I have to rewrite what it covers up... 

After that, I headed home and got ready to go to 三舅媽's place. 二叔 offered me a ride since he needs to go charge his car. Yay I don' t have to solve the problem of how to get the stuff I'm bringing for 三舅媽 onto the Youbike lol. 

Once arrive, I greeted the auntie that fries the eggs. She told me 三舅媽 is at the back 在打麻將 loooool and then I walked there and found out she meant it as 炒麻醬. XDDD 

I gave the stuff and then chatted with 三舅媽 for a while. 

And then got bitten many times by a mosquito just hanging out around there... Vicious. 

When 三舅 was free I greeted him and asked if everything was good. 

At some point Honey wanted me to hold her so I got to hold her twice. 

I got fed 麻醬麵 and 豬血湯 which was all delicious. 

They had less customers today. A lot of the stalls were closed and that was kinda a rare sight. I even went to the dry goods store in the arcade, but both were closed! 

Instead 三舅媽 gave me 2 packs of dried black bean instead. 

三舅媽 told me about how they went out to Hualien on a travel trip with a friend, and their lil brother suicided so had to go back ASAP without completing their trip. It was so sad. The brother was happy about anything the wife did - he fried chicken for a living and the wife would just come to collect the money. (My brain went, I bet she's a narc, I think I may be partially right). He would do anything to please the wife. At some point the wife wanted a divorce, and he took it way too personally and couldn't unthink himself out of the depression pit. All his siblings were supporting him and said that they'll support him in what he wants to do. The day before he was found dead - hung himself on a bridge; he sent a photo to his sister dressed up all fine and got a new cut and shave. Asking if he was handsome. His sister said, of course, you look absolutely handsome. 

ON the way back this friend insistented on dropping them off at home, when 三舅媽 said that just drop them anywhere near their neighbourhood and they can  arrange a taxi hime, and would save them 2 hrs travel time as it'd be faster for them to go to the funeral home straight from the highway. But nope they insisted... 三舅媽 also said the friend likes to go see animals, like eagles that cost a lot, and the aquarium/sea park in Hualien (they have one to?!). Originally they were going to go to Kenting's one but then they got the news. I felt so sad as well. The brother probably thought it was him that was at fault when it likely wasn't, and the trauma bond just took a really bad turn. 

About 12:45pm I left as they were packing up. It was raining lightly when I left, and I managed to find a Youbike (2 left!) with a dry seat.In the 10 mins that I cycled home, I got drenched lol. But at least my undies stayed dry hahaha. 

A shame, I couldn't stop at the juanchun spot on the way home. I forgot an umbrella. 

Once home I got changed and the rain lovingly helped me to wash my pants which I had splashed the noodle sauce on lol. 

After a wee break I headed out to the TVGAME 360 shop, but they didn't have Ryuusei no Rockman package version. Oh well... Guess I'm going to 小拳王 then. They did have!! And also Rockman EXE Collection. For some reason $200 more lol at $1390. I also spotted the MHST3 Amiibos around $580-680. But I really, don't have space for them, especially in the box, as it's so big. 

I exited the shop, and walked a wee bit debating. Since the package ver was in Chinese and the cover art was different and not Japanese, it felt weird. And inconsistent with the rest of my games. After like 15 mins in the pouring rain I ended up going back and buying the game. Lol. $1190.

Then I went home as it was raining hardcore and my feet were real wet. 

I changed out from my socks and just chilled. 

At some point I ate dinner from leftovers in the fridge. And then decided to sort some luggage out. 

Then decided to go out at 7:45pm to grab the Pompom shirt I had sent Ange a photo of a clothes store stand. Just as I left the front door downstairs, I bumped into 四叔 going home. He said he was worried that I didn't have enough money left. I said, then I will take $10000 to give back to dad so he can spend straight away when he comes back later in the year. He handed me the cash right there lol. 

I got to the shop CACO and they had a 2 for 12% off promo, but one shirt was $790 (they signed me up for membership so I could get that $790 price, otherwise it was like double the price). I had a look around but I didn't really like the material they use for their shirts and stuff. So just ended up getting the one shirt for Ange. The ears on pompom move, it's cute. 

On the way home I looked at a couple of figure shops, and eventually found a cute human Eva blind box as a gift for Bridget. OK this will do! I picked the heaviest one as I think Rei or Misato would be heaviest based on their hair. The carton comes as a full set. There were 4 left. It was $280. I hope Bri gets the girl she likes. 

Then home and shower. 

Taiwan Day 17 - Taichung Day 4 (spring)

 Today I slept in until 10am. Lol I really needed that sleep! I didn't do much in the morning, just organised packing a bit more and fluffed around until 11am or so, then I finished yesterday's blogging. As it was almost 1pm, I got ready to go out to get some lunch (as I had some breakfast, late, but not much). I also asked L to fill in the details for their parcel online on EZ post. 

Meilin ayi has gone out to get a haircut and came back with instant noodles just as I was getting ready to go out. She said I can have. Oh thank you!! There were also some kumara leaves in the fridge from 二叔's garden. So I rinsed all of those out (it has some basil leaves in it too) and blanched it before cooking my noodles. 

It was the 台酒 beef noodles. Very delicious. And also the kumara leaves were yum. I added too much water so ended up having too much soup lol. 

After a rest post-lunch, I went out and started to do shopping. I went to Watsons first, around 3pm, and then the sales lady got me to try a Watsons house brand of vitamin C. And I saw they also had Retinoid, so I got that too. Everything is currently on special, and they were $799 each. They also had a promo going on with buy over $488 over 2 items and then get $100 off. And then I went upstairs to check stuff out - the sales lady upstairs started selling me Dr Wu lmao for vita C. OK then. Since it was on $598 for the vita C brightening serum, on special form like $1399 or something, it was a really good deal. She said she has never seen it that cheap. 

I had a look around the store for other stuff and just picked up a Kiss Me eyeliner as well. 

In total I spent over $2000 lol, and managed to get tax free too. They also had a promo with Ariel pods (washing detergent), for $89 if you buy with another item which is like half price for 11 pods. I had used one at Tainan at the hotel, and the smell is pretty much what the Japan laundry smelt like at that Apartment in Osaka! 

I took my goods home as I had also run out of cash lol. On the way, the old Watch & Clocks store that has been open since I was a kid, had a banner saying "closing down sale, all must go". They are finally finishing business... I don't blame them, but it's still a little sad to see. I went inside and asked if they had any Jaga watches, and they still had 2 children's watches. I ended up picking the black and pink one. It's $590. I said I'll come back as I need to get more cash. 

I got home, unloaded my stuff, and then went back to do more shopping and stopped by the watch store. Another older oucple walked in at the same time. The boss man saw me come back and I paid for my watch. Thank you. He said that he's been open for 30 years, when I said I remember buying a Jaga watch here as a kid. 

Off I go to Daiso. They only had 1 item I was after - the B5 OPP slider zip folders. They didn't have anything bigger than my A3 one to put my laptop in, and their oshikatsu section didn't have any nui holders. Ah well. No YBC Aerial too. 

Off to PX Mart. I didn't mind the microfiber cloths, but did find my Pocari and Dalli, along with picking up a tub of cotton buds. The economy pack of Felix cat brand was made in Thailand, and only the round pottle ones were still MIT.  The PX Mart was busy and the air quality wasn't great. Over 1000ppm. 

Then I was tired and almost dinnertime so I went to buy myself Yixin Stinky Tofu. I opted for 2 servings and a side of 泡菜. Home to eat. I only managed to nibble the 泡菜 and struggled to finish the last 2 pieces of the second serving. I did it though! 

After a break after dinner, I went out again at 8pm to grab another box of Ariel laundry pods. Since I discovered half the tub is empty, I can fit 2 tubs in one! When I got there one of the lady's saw me just with the 1 tub, and said that I needed to buy something to go with it. I said OK I'll look for the wipes I like - and went to the shelf. But they don't stock it here!!!! I ended up buying cotton pads (made in Greece?!) which I thought was $59 but turns out it was $79???? Oh well teh Ariel was $89 and I had got tax back of $100 so I guess I still save. 

After that I walked to 久久大賣場 to buy the extractor hood filters. I couldn't remember how many dad said to get so I just grabbed like 8. Any extra can sit here lol. They were $65 each and total was $520.

Then back home, and 二叔 wasn't back yet. It was 8:50pm. I told Eilin ayi I'll go take a shower first, and then after my shower 二叔 had just come back. 

After I blew dry my hair I tried to consolidate some of the skincare but it was annoying and they didn't wanna fit as diff sizes and the bozes were just a bit too small. Ugh. 

And played around with packing a little bit. Then I went to sleep. I will finish blogging tomorrow. 

Taiwan Day 16 - Taichung Day 3 (spring)

 Qing Ming Jie today. We woke up early and headed out to the grave at 8:20am.

We were the first ones there. They had traffic control set up near the entrance to Dadusan, and the control officers wore all orange long-limber clothes, with a hood-to-neck covering, sunglasses and a surgical mask. For maximum sun protection! 

There were a lot of those arched gazebos set up near the ash tower, for families to place offerings as there's no space in the tower. 

The weather turned fine for the morning when it was originally forecasted to rain. A little too fine lol. 

Someone from Nana's family had already come and done the offerings. There are flowers in the pots next to the graves. One candle holder was on the floor for some reason?? I picked it up and placed it back where it should be. 

三叔's family were next to arrive. And then 四叔 and 五叔. 五叔 bought all the goods, the offerings, snacks, incense, water/tea etc. 

People helped place the offerings on the graves, and the paper yuanbo too. We got given paper money and told to place it on top of the mound using stones to weigh them down. One was placed on top of the gravestone. I wonder if these stones were the sames ones we got asked to pick up as a kid? I remember going around to pick rocks up for this purpose, it must have been when 爺爺 was recently buried. 

We also gave offerings to the 土地公 and 龍神 ？. After everyone prayed and put their incense into the holder pot, they hung around. I asked for one for 姥姥 and 姥爺, and one for the 土地公 on their side.

五叔 gave me a disposable cup and poured some water for the 土地公 and 姥姥 and 姥爺. 

The family just hung around and chatted. 五叔 was telling 安安 about using a bank's app to buy ETFs and how her mum does it lol. Someone commented they have been buying gold instead. 

Then they were looking for the 擲筊 which was placed on the top of the red drinks cartons so it blended in LOL. They took it out of the plastic and put it around the cup of drink offering. 

Later they 擲筊 and started to burn the paper money. There was a lot. A looooot. But a lot of people helped so it wouldn't take as long lol. The little burner was shaped like a house so the holes (windows) on top and sides were easier to place the paper in to burn VS the front door. I called dad just so I can update him and said hi to everyone. 

Before we finished burning 二叔 said I had to go now so he can pick Meilin ayi up for lunch. Aww. Can't stay till the end. 

We went and picked ayi up and then headed to Tokiya 陶板屋 and parked at the nearby parking lot costing $90/hour on weekends. Yikes! The whole family went. I was a bit anxious on the indoor air, but looks like the building has proper HVAC. The Airspot read ~560ppm at reception, and then we were in a side partition room with one other table of other diners, and 3 big tables were our family. It read about ~800ppm before the rest of the family arrived and it read about 1000-1200ppm, which isn't too bad for the amount of people. I think I can survive this. 

The food itself was really good though. You pick a salad, a soup, a main, a side, a drink, and a dessert. So stuffed. I picked fruit salad, beef/tomato soup, steak/fish combo main, takoyaki ball side, Yuzu soda drink, and caramel pudding dessert. 

The steak they asked how done, and I said medium, which is 五分熟. Everyone else asked for 七分熟. When the steak arrived it was medium rare consistency... Mmmm looooool. Everyone else's was more medium to medium done. Lmao. Okay so it's different here. Oh well I can still eat the steak no biggie, just funny. Next time I also ask for 70% done. 

Since it's a Japanese style, western teishoku the flavours were pretty nice. The pudding was awesome. The takoyaki ball was eh. The beef soup was lovely. The main was nice but not amazing. Overall it's pretty yummy. The waiters were all dressed in chef-style neckerchef uniforms and a hat.

At the end of the meal, everyone huddled together for a family photo. The restaurant printed out a copy and a frame for every family. That's nice. 

After that we went home and I sorted out my postcards, printed some more to make up for the ones Kayla didn't get because she didn't pass along her address to me in time. 

That took the whole day.... I took a nap from 4-5:30pm and when I woke up I went to 7-11 and bought my yoghurt drink and a Supau ($49 + $29). And printed off those postcards on the ibon machine ($56 for like 9 cards). Then I went back up to 8F and tried to get some air - wasn't much of a breeze. I felt so groggy and drank the Supau. Felt a little better. 

Dinner is at 6:30pm. And Meilin ayi made dumplings from 八方雲集 with 3 side dishes. Thank you ayi. Afterwards we finished the pork spine and bamboo shoot soup. I accidentally smashed the bowl when I tried to get the last bits of the soup out of the pot, with the pot handle slipping back and crashing into the lip of the bowl. Rip rest of the soup. 

二叔 helped clean up and I did the dishes. He ended up vacuuming the whole house as well. After clean up I finished the rest of the postcards. Then it was almost 9pm, I took a shower and finished blogging for yesterday. 

The washing was done around 10:30pm, and I hung it out and then went to bed. So tired. 

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. 

Taiwan Day 14 - Alishan (spring)

 Alishan today!!! It's also L's birthday today!!!! 

Breakfast was a Royal feast again. Mrs Lin was like "sorry the colour for the veges looks a bit ugly because I was worried it'd be too cold and I had to reheat it!". It's ok! It's delicious. 

After breakfast, I pooped again, and then we went down to the bus stop. M popped into 7-11 for an umbrella, and we took the 10:04am bus (it was a bit late) up the mountain. By the time the bus got to us, it was standing space. This bus driver didn't have the front windows open, it was raining intermittently lightly, so maybe that's why. The bus was also extremely warm, and the Airspot read 6976ppm, I saw it go up to 7000ppm though. Yikes!!!! M got a bit carsick and sat down. The driver took some corners pretty fast so the swing was pretty big. 

We finally made it, and I hurried everyone up to go through the entrance (pay $150 entry fee with bus voucher discount), and to go to the train station to get tickets before they go on lunch!! We were cutting it so close, at 11:24am we lined up with 3 other groups in front of us, and the staff was just going "here hurry up the train is leaving!" and stuffed us the tickets and gave change fast. The tickets were to Shenmu and not Zhaoping lol. We ran for the line, it was still moving, phew. But board the train fast. It was the cypress train! The special one with the windows that can go all the way down!!! YAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!! 

The train was full but I managed to open some windows partway and then someone left their seat, so I bags it and opened up the windows near there. Phew. I got a bit nervous with just my KF94 on ears so I quickly took out my ear saver and re-tied my hair so it would sit on it. Phewwww. Better now. Enjoyed the rest of the ride. The train did smell faintly of cypress. 

Once out we tried to get photos and managed to get some when most of the crowd dissappated. 

Then we could finally do the toilet. After that we had a look through the little area to the left of the station with the shops. I got some Taiwan cut-out shaped postcards, and they also had a special stamp here! Win!!  The stamp was sooo cool! The shop gentleman was so busy though lol. 

Then we started to walk towards the sakura grove. FINALLY!!! The Sakura are in bloom here!! YAAAAAAAAAAHHH!! 

We took a while getting photos and stuff and then made our sweet way past the Alishan House/Hotel/Resort (not the Grand Hotel). The Police Station we saw from the train was here, with two magnificent sakura trees blooming. The old entrance of the House was cute and they had a wonderful blooming tree. 

We continued and made our way towards Shousan Temple for foods. Eventually we got there, and it was almost 1:30pm. 

I ended up getting a guabao, and a millet donut. The millet donuts from this stall was sold out, so I bought the ball version of it from the next stall over. 

This stall had a lady who was a great talker, and convinced me to try one ball with wasabi. They planted this wasabi themselves and the recipe won an award. I tried it, it was pretty good! They mixed it with some salt and pepper. The balls were a bit cold but still good. 

Then I bought a cup of oolong tea from next door. 

And then got a few photos with the trees at the Temple area. 

Toilet, and I also checked with the temple had a stamp - yes! Woot! 

We went along towards the Old Tree Walk and Museum. We ended up missing the Three Generation Tree (didn't quite get there, ran out of time). There was a tiny suspension bridge which was 90m from a walkway intersection so we had a look at it and it was a tiny little one. I didn't go on it thought haha but L did walk it. 

Then we went towards Cishen Temple, and passed a viewing deck with a nice view of the rolling clouds over mountain peaks. 

Past the temple we reached the Museum area and I finally could have a good look at the Museum. That said, it was about 3:30pm now so we didn't have that much time. I did take a lot of photos though for later. 

About 3:50pm I started heading towards Shenmu station. On the way past we saw the big Shenmu tree. Because the tree was too ugly it was not felled by the Japanese. A lot of the older, ancient trees were too ugly so they survived. Then back to Shenmu Station. 

Just as we arrived to the ticket office, they closed it. The staff came out to do the key exchange!!! Ahhh!! I managed to get it on video!!!! 

Once they were back I bought tickets and then we headed into the train, but not before a quick toilet break for M. 

We ended up getting on the last carriage and the train took 7 minutes back to Zhaoping. 

We only had 20 mins before we needed to head down to the Transfer Station for our bus that we already booked tickets for. I went into the first floor of the station and saw they had a tiny exhibit on salamander. I took photos as I didn't have time to read it. Then a quick walk down the shops area, not really having much time to buy anything. I did stop in front of the post office, but their postal services end at 4:30pm. Rip. It was 4:29pm. Then I walked towards the info centre thinking maybe they have stamps? But checked how long it takes us to walk to the Transfer station - 10 minutes. Uh oh. I aborted that decision and texted the others to let them know we gotta GOOOOOOO. 

We half ran down to he transfer station and arrived at 4:35pm. The bus driver was an Ah-bei and said "Why you arrive so late? Everyone is waiting for you (rerved tickets)." I apologised and quickly went to get seated on the bus but someone was sitting in our reserved seat - uuhhh no matter the other side is still free and we are still in the front row. 

The bus driver did leave the door side window open. Fantastic. The bus filled up to standing space at the door steps. This driver is so Taiwanese, he's wearing the classic beige jacket with a gingham print lapel, Drives with mostly one hand turning on the wheel, and leans over on one side, and was chatting in Taiwanese to another passenger sitting on the steps.  He did open his driver side window slightly. The breeze coming through really helped and felt really nice. 

After Shizichun, he turned the bus stop announcement off. I played Pokemon Go and made a remote trade with Mipo-san.

After my incense ran out, I checked the map and we were close to Shizuo. Once I saw the familiar street, I undid the seat belt and stood up to hit the bus stopping bell. We got off and the driver was like "tap your card" to L and M as they walked off, so I followed up and said "we bought tickets". And made sure to thank the driver for his hard work. 

This driver took the turns much more gently and M did not get as sick. 

Once off, we saw the black dog mum in the corner of the bus stop. Later M saw them shivering and wanted to give them a blanket. We could buy one from the conbini but then it would be littering as the dog leaves the blanket... 

We decided to get dinner at Ping'an Quick Fry. The English speaking dude was there with a t-shirt that said "帥哥" on the front in red. He said he went to NZ not long ago after asking us where we are from, He said he went to Hobbiton and Auckland. 

We got Mapo tofu again, kungpao chicken, mountain pig, and sizzle plate oyster. 

The oyster was really tender and juicy, I had two, but not too much in case I get allergic. The Mapo tofu, mmmmm yummy. The pork was nice and tender and on the lighter flavouring side, which was nice. And then the kungpao chicken had a bit of a pineapple sweetness to it (without pineapple??), and was great. Yummy. 

Then we went to the conbini and I picked up another yellow watermelon for dessert. There was a lot more people in the store today.... 

We did stop by Hi-Life but they didn't have what I wanted! 

Back home. It's about 6:20pm now.  When we got back the front door was open and a bunch of Europeans were having dinner served on the side room to the reception. Mr Lin was there and I asked him if it was convenient for him for us to ask a question, or shall I wait until tomorrow? He said to wait until the last 2 trays are served, 

We hung out around for a bit and looked at the cats. 

Then when he was free we asked about the tea leaves. 

M and L ended up getting 3 diff boxes, and I got the black tea with the honey taste (2x 150g packs) for $800.

The honey black tea has been bitten and eaten by a larvae, and their spit left on the leave creates the honey flavour when undergoing the fermentation process. The tea leaves are left thin and loose, and the leaves are thinner so it's easier to crush. The packets inside are half-vacuumed as to not crush it. Not kneading it into a ball shape means that you can seep it for 10-15 mins and the tea won't become bitter, whereas the ball shape means the bitterness comes out more after seeping for a long time. 

The high mountain oolong pack (150g) is $400 I think, and the black tea (ball shape 150g) is also $400.

The other high mountain oolong tea has been roasted twice, so the fragrance and aroma is stronger, along with a stronger sweet aftertaste. That one is $600 (I think it was). They sold out of Jinshuan tea, which was L's favourite from the tea ceremony. M's was the black tea with the honey taste. Mine was, of course, high mountain oolong haha. 

Because L and M bought 3 packs? Mrs Lin gifted a set of the tea pourer and cup to us. She also wanted to gift me one but I said my dad loves tea so we have everything at home! So then it because L and M both got one each. 

I asked Mr Lin what was happening with the dinner, and he said that they booked a dinner experience. Ohhh thank you, I understand. It felt a bit awkward asking but then later I thought about it and it made sense. Initially when I booked last year, they also had a dinner service. But because the Taipei Tea Expo was on, it wasn't available. 

Once back in my room, I relaxed for a bit (it was 7pm), showered, wrote postcards, I blog, and now I will sleep. It is almost 10pm.

Taiwan Day 13, Shizuo day 2 (spring)

 Breakfast is served and we are fed like royalty. Mrs Lin cooked and there is congee instead of weili zhajan men... Sad lol. 

Still delicious... This time my appetite was better??? I managed to finish everything without being too stuffed. 

Then we had tea ceremony and the sister came along and did it in English. M asked why she chose to learn tea ceremony, and Ms Lin realistically replied that it's because to et a job after she graduated from uni and couldn't find a job in Taipei lol. So real. I feel her. 

This time tea ceremony was in front of the main house of the sanheyuan, I asked why and it's because they're currently doing construction work on the upper level just above where we live. They're wanting to redo the rooms and the restaurant there, and the noise and dust was too much. 

At the end of the ceremony, I asked Ms Lin if we could do a factory tour? She said to ask Mr Lin, as he knows more about the tea making process. Dejavu lol. 

After the ceremony was finished, we got ready to go walk some trails. Mr Lin was still around so I asked him if today we good, a dn if he was available to be OK to do a factory tour? He said yes, can do now if needed, and said that the new building over there (with the black netting) is almost complete. Since they are in process of building the new factory some equipment aren't moved to the new factory yet. The weather has been quite dry this season, and the tea leaves are growing quite slowly. It's almost a drought. Usually they would expect to start harvesting work around the beginning of April, but this season they expect it to be 20th of April. We walked to the new building. 

M asked if the workers that come to harvest are all employees, or? 

Mr Lin said that there is an agency that arranges shifus to come and pick for them, and some are employees. Because we harvest 4 months oout of 12 months (4 seasons), one month per season, the shifus need to find work in between. And not everyone lives up the mountain so they come from down the mountain. 

The new factory for the sunbathing process for tea leaves has climate control. The black shade cloth goes over so the leaves don't get sunburn. The morning harvest will have dew drops on the leaves, due to Shizuo's misty climate, so that also needs to be evaporated. They want to ecaoprate about 40% of the moisture in the tea leaf, from the edges of the leaf. The moisture concentrates into he stem. The sides of the building has vents for good weather, and for rainy weather they close it up and use the dehumidifier. This process takes about 4 hours. 

Once the sunbathing is done, the tea leaves are brought down to the bottom level, where it begins a fermentation process. The leaves are spread out on the big trays - they are building large trays on an machine that can move the trays out and down the side for tossing. 

The leaves get spread out and tossed. Through the tossing process it breaks the protective barrier on the tea leaves and oxidises the leaf. This starts the fermentation. I forgot how many hours, maybe 5 hours? The leaves also get cold air blown on them to open up the pores and let the moisture spread out from the stem. The tossing and resting/oxidisation process gets repeated, I think about 4 times? Then Mr Lin took us to the old factory with the really old elevator doors (like in Titanic) to see the machines. 

Once this process is done, the leaves get taken down to the big tumble machines for further fermentation. The tumblers are made from woven bamboo. Through the tossing motion, the leaves rub against each other and cause bruising, which also causes further fermentation. It is now 1am. I think the leaves are given rest and tunbled again, or it may be once. They are going to buy newer models of tumbling machines which are bigger. 

Next the leaves are taken to the roasting room. The big barrel roasters go up to 300-350°C, and the roasting brings out the aroma and increases the sweet after taste. The roasting will depend on the batch, and the shift will judge. Can't be too cooked, can't be undercooked. A bit like stiry frying. The time taken depends. Then it gets taken out and kneaded. The leaves get put into the cloth bags and balled up and rolled for about 10-15 mins?, rested and repeated 8-10 times.  The total time takes about 7-8 hours. 

Once the leaves are kneaded and formed, they get taken for packaging, and it is now about 7-8am. The leaves are packed into big bulk bags weighing 18kgs each. 

On a good harvest they make about 10-18 bags a day, I think he said. 18kgs each. The ranking of tea quality goes from best: winter, spring, autumn, summer. Summer and Sutumn harvests are shorter, and take only about 1 week. The summer tea is lesser quality in flavour and also cheaper. They rank their teas themselves and also send it off to an official competition for an official quality ranking (and win awards). One jin 一斤 (4x 150g pack) of summer tea is $1200. 

After the tea tour we got ready to walk trails. 

We started off walking up the road to the Sunset Trail, so we could take the Sakura trail down. M decided to wait for us at the start of the Sunset Trail... Stairs are eveil, she said. Lol L and I went up and we made it but our legs suffered.

We made it and the view from top was pretty good. There was a lady in a red dress and a parasol, walked past as I was getting nui photos and she thought Juan Juan was Xavier and she said she plays Love & Deepspace. How rude lol. I said they were from Thunderbolt Fantasy and she replied sounding like she knew the series??? We will never know. Her perfume was so strong... She had come from the Mist Trail. 

Then we had to come back down... The info centre at the start of the two trails was undergoing construction and closed until the 5th of April. Poo. I bought my stamp book for nothing lol. 

We did the Sakura trail but the sakura had finished blooming... We were about a week too late. Nooooooooo.... 

At the end of the trail, we unexpectedly found a stamp for a stamp rally?!?! Well I'm glad I hailed my stamp book with me!!! Never will I be caught out again!! 

 Then we followed the trail and back down to town. 

It was about 1:30pm and we decided to go to 平安快炒 across the road from Tong-Xin. They had outdoor seats too. We got mapo tofu, bamboo shoots, beef stir-fry noodle, and a plate of 水蓮. The mapo tofu was exquisite. Silken tofu... Just right spicy... Full of flavour!!! The breed noodles had a satay flavour base, it was good too. Bamboo shoots were nice and crunchy and not tough. 水蓮 was crunchy too. Everything was awesome. A hit. We finished eating around 2:20pm and the auntie came to get the bill as they close at 2pm, Woops. Lunch was $590, I paid L&M $200.

Inside I could spot that they had a corner with some manga and books, and many figures including a big one of the 3 Yu-gi-oh Egyptian Gods. They also had a blackboard out the front with DBZ Freeza screaming something. 

And near the end of our meal a local guy wearing a DBZ t-shirt walked out and spoke in perfect American English, if the taste was good. And two more sentences after our reply. Lmao that was unexpected. 

After we paid we left and went for a walk around town. I noticed a lot of shops close in the middle of the day. A backpacking European couple was peering into shops to see if they were open - so I told them that the shop is closed. 

We came to a drinks shop with aiyu jelly and we sat and had some aiyu drinks. This place ended up having the poster for the stamp rally, and we finally found out what it was. It runs until September... 

And the boss came out when I looked at the poster. Said he had 3 stamp sheets left, would we like to do it? I had a chat and said we saw the sakura trail one earlier today but the sign there didn't say what it was. 

I ended up taking one stamp sheet and then looked up the three trails (as you can redeem your stamps for prizes in 3 tiers of collection, and need a photo with you in it at the stamp point). The other one was mist Trail, and the one was Cloud Trail. The Cloud Trail was an hour's walk.... And uphill with that many steps? Nooooo. We could do the mist trail one though. So I went to put the sheet back. 

I borrowed the shop's toilet and L and I decided to challenge the Mist Trail and suffer, whilst M went back to rest. 

Off we go. I realised I walked the Mist Trail last year, and started the beginning of the Tea Trail (which links in with Mist Trail and then connects to Cloud Trail on the other end) but didn't finish it was the sun was setting. 

The steps were brutal lol. And the stamp was at the other end of the trail entry/exit, which mean we climbed all the way up to the end... L and I took a selfie showing how unimpressed we were. Haha. I was thinking the stamp may be in the middle so that you'd had to walk part of the trail either way. 

We headed back down via the road, and on the way at the Sakura Trail entrance I met a couple who were trying to take a photo and I offered to take for them. I got a few shots and they were happy. They asked about how far the trail goes up, and I said be prepared for a lot of steps. When asked where we were from, I said NZ. And she said her son spent 3 months there on exchange when 10 years old and was so happy about it. I commented that the schooling there has less pressure and the approach to education is different. 

Then we got back to the entrance driveway of Lin Family house, with the red small shrine and the single blooming sakura tree. We started taking photos and one English speaking lady offered to take photos for us. 

It was hard because of the angle of the tree and the slope. 

L managed to get a selfie with his phone case stand, and I helped do a series of photos where I placed him and pressed the shutter button so him and the tree were in frame with him doing various poses. 

Then I tried some nui photos, and home we go. 

Time for dinner, quick break and pee and then off to dinner. We are going to try hotpot at Tong-Xin tonight haha. M decided to skip dinner and rest. 

We walked down and got hotpot of classic bone broth and the crispy high mountain stream fish L had eyed up the previous night. 

It was just right. The fish was a bit dry for me, kinda like the crispy tiny prawn. 

The hot pot had the jelly fuel and it was pretty good! I think my 酸白菜炒豬肉 is still the best though. Mmmm. 

Then we headed to Hi-Life/7-11 for dessert/drink. 

Hi-Life didn't have any fruit for me, so I went to 7-11. They had yellow watermelon. 

When I went to pay, another customer was checking out the pudding and asked the young lad at the counter if they had the no-caramel-pudding-only flavour. He said ti was sold out. The other customer lamented it and the lad laughed. I asked if it was a new flavour? He said yup, this time it's all pudding no caramel, and we got stock today and it sold out fast. I said, oh, I remember seeing a thing of it online. He said, last time it was all caramel no pudding, right? Hahaha. Not sure why people are so crazy about it, rofl. We laughed, I thanked and left. 

I went out and couldn't see L, as I left him behind when I saw no fruit at Hi-Life. He wasn't in Hi-Life anymore, so I texted him. Apparently he arrived just as I left. Lmao I just missed him. Oh well I'll start walking back first. 

I got home and gave him $250 for dinner (dinner was $500). Then I just winded down for a bit and then went for a shower. Also decided to wash my pants and see if they dry cause I've been sweating so bad. 

Now I blog, and finish. Sleep. The weather so rude, it's forecasted to rain at 6am tomorrow, heaviest at noon, and then clear up around 6pm. Poo!!!!! 

Taiwan Day 12 - Shizuo (spring)

 There was hardly anyone at breakfast today, except for 1 person. But I took my breakfast up with me anyway. A lot of items were out yesterday but today they had croissant so I took one, a brown sugar mantou, and nikuman, along with the choco cereal and oats. 

After breakfast, I went back down to return my plate and also borrowed their toilet to poop. 

Then I went up to gran my laundry that was still damp and headed to the laundromat around the corner, but all machines were in use. So I sat for 5 mins, as one machine had 10 mins left, then decided I will go back to the hotel and see if they will let me use the machine early.. I arrived back at 9:38am, and asked reception if they could? 

They let me! I put my clothes in for 30 mins, then popped back upstairs and took my postcards out to he post office with me. 

I decided to head to the post office that was a little further as they held 3 風景戳. That was worth it - I sent 9 postcards in total and Nadi/Archer got all 3 of them. The rest got 2 - the two temples. The guy who served me was so nice and patient. 

Then back to the hotel, It was about 10:08am and my laundry should be done. I asked L to check on my laundry, and he put it on for a couple more mins. I got back and went and grabbed me laundry bag, headed back down, and collected my now dry laundry. Yay! 

Back upstairs and finish packing. It was just after 11am now once we all finished sorting our stuff out. 

We checked out and asked the reception to call a taxi that could fit 3 luggage for us. 

A plain white hatchback came and they could juuuust fit all 3 of our luggage into the boot. Woo! The driver was dressed in a shirt, tie and waistcoat. Fancy! Fare was about $200.

Whilst in the car I reserved train tickets and then collected it at the self-service machine. We went into the platform and hung around. The train that came was a push-pull train, the one with weird baggage holding areas that had the foot rests on it.... 

Welp, looks like we're baby sitting our luggage. I had to manspread but it worked. Thankfully the train is only 45 mins journey. 

Tainan Station had a signboard up about the renewal of the station. It looks like they are under grounding the train lines, which is a real pity. I like open air stations way more. And seems like they are putting a new building out the front? So the train station would be covered.... That's sad man. 

Once at Chiayi we exited the station, and Chiayi station is also an open air station like Tainan. We headed to the TRA info desk for the stamps, and then I popped to the tourist info desk to ask if they had stamps. They had 11! Wow! 9 of them were all uniform circles of the same size, which was satisfying. Two were square/rectangle. 

The auntie at the info desk asked me to spray my hands with alcohol to disinfect before stamping. Very fair. 

I thanked the lady and said bye. 

We headed to the FamiMart just to the left of the station and got lunch. I ate an onigiri combo of salmon and tuna. 

And then ate the bean tea cakes (the kind that drys your mouth out but melts instantly with enough water) left over, and then drank the oolong tea from last night. 

We had about an hour until the bus, so we just hung out under shade and then moved to the bus stop about 20 mins before. 

There were two lines, the reserved and non-reserved. Like no one else was in the reserved tickets line??? Everyone else was lining up in the non-tickets. 

Though, after we got on, two ladies came on near at the end with their tickets. 

The bus driver opened up the bottom cavity for us. Initially we put our suitcases in first but there was another 2 passengers that were getting off at Alishan, so took ours out and reordered them as we were getting off at Shizuo. 

I chose front row seats... Because the bus drivers tend to open up the window when we start ascending the mountain and the air is way better. It was quite hot in Chiayi. 

As soon as we started climbing, the bus driver opened up the window on his side. 

On the way up, we had 2 monkey sightings. We also ran into a truck that was carrying stone pavers/concrete bricks load, that didn't take a turn properly and got their right rear wheel stuck into the gutter on the side of the road... Thankfully their wares were tied down - the stones glad wrapped and on forklift pallets, and secured in place onto the truck. One person was helping spot the bus as they made the turn, the space was soooo tight in between the edge of the road and the head of the truck that had the accident. We made it! The driver thanked the spotter and we headed on. 

One bus coming down in the opposite lane was taking the corner too fast and our driver had to brake to make sure we didn't crash. One passenger behind us said why they turning so fast... And the driver was like 搞什麼. 

We made it safely to Shizuo and I let Mr Lin know we were here. Less than like 3 mins later he arrived and I was in the middle of typing a message cause I remember his little black SUV, might not fit all our luggage, and said I was willing to walk if no room for luggage lmao. 

Turns out he was driving a van! A van so old, it didn't have seat belts on the back seats. And the windows were manual roll down ones. Nostalgic... Cause dad's Ford in Taiwan was like this. 

Once we checked in, Mr Lin went through the briefing and I translated for L and M. 

We settled in quickly, L and M went to look around, and I unpacked a few things. Then I followed them to the observation deck. 

The mist was coming down really hard now and you can't see anything. Real Silent Hill hours! We took a few photos and observed a stray dog family. 

And then when we came down from the observation deck it started raining. Like real rain not misty drizzle. 

Mrs Lin was coming out front the front and asked us if we needed umbrellas. She gave us two. 

And we were gonna head out but observed the cats as it was feeding time... I crept closer to the back door of the kitchen and Mrs Lin was getting their food ready. 

I ended up asking about the cats and she was happy to talk. 
The cat dad was on the stool and the mum has already passed away. She got them neutered and commented about 3 cats hasn't been cause they weren't old/heavy enough yet, and skittish. 

One cat saw the other get put into the cage and taken so is extra wary now, Mrs Lin wants to get them neutered as they are a girl. 

She also commented the stray dogs had puppies recently and they may be a bit noisier at night. And not to put our shoes outside as the dogs come to eat the leftover cat feed, and sometimes if they don't get any leftovers they get a but grumpy and take a shoe.

Mrs Lin also said to go to the restaurant a little earlier as they may shut early if no business on a weekday. And offered to pick us up if the rain is too heavy - but I think we should be alright. Also to be careful of the cars in the mist and they may not see us, and if I am wearing white it's easier to spot me. M went to change a white jacker. We thanked her and headed to dinner! 

We went to Tong-Xin, the same quickly fry shop I liked a lot last time. 

We ended up getting a lot of food lol. I made sure to get my 酸菜炒羊肉 that I wanted but didn't get to last time.

We got... To share... Pineapple fried shrimp (which came with a sweet mayo??? And sprinkles), crispy tiny shrimp with garlic and herbs, Makao sausage, fried rice, 龍鬚菜, and a small pot of chicken and mushroom soup (which also had some cockles in it!) which was not small at all! We managed to finish 90% of the food, the soup we left half... I couldn't even fit a piece of chicken from it inside... Total was $1350 and we split it into 3.

Then we went to Hi-Life and 7-11 for some drinks that L and M wanted. No bandages in Hi-Life for M but I found my vita C candy for $25! The staff who served me said there's a pharmacy 5 mins up the road. I think this lady may be Indigenous. I thanked her and left. 

Then at 7-11 L and M found everything they needed. 

I hopped outside as I could hear coughing. One staff was changing the banner over the main entrance. They used magnets to fix it in place, the banner scroll itself is that plastic material. 

And then back home. When we headed back, the sky cleared up quite a lot.  We could faintly see the rest of the sunset. Just chill now. I get to have oolong tea... And boiled the jug for it. Then I checked Pokemon and realised one gym was empty, just up at the observation deck at the start of the mist trail, and an egg hatching in 5 mins. So off I go!! Climbing those stairs in quick succession was oof. I got there with a min to spare. 

Like 3 cars passed me by. 

Then back and finally some tea, and relax. Decided to shower first after flicking through the TV - only the basic channels here. 

Showered and now blog, then bed. Breakfast and tea ceremony tomorrow! I am quite tired. 

Taiwan Day 11 - Tainan 2 (spring)

 Today we are going to hit all the Anping stops.

First off we went to Anping Fort, but before that we stopped for lunch at one of the restaurants outside. They had streetside tables and I got danzai noodles which were vermicelli, bean spirits, one prawn, some vege, and a fish ball.

The smell of stinky tofu kept wafting down and I asked the shop lady if they sold stinky tofu? No but they're just up the street so you can bring 外食 here to eat if you want.

After everyone ordered I went up and bought a serving of tofu for $70 and boy was it stinky good. Hit the spot.

L had oyster omelette with oyster rolls? and M had a regular omelette. Pigs ear for side dish as well as some 海帶芽.

After lunch I got some 冬瓜茶 and we headed to Fort Zeelandia. I found the stamps and finished my tea first before going for a walk around. The pits are cool but someone has been down in the pit and moved all the bricks. Later when we left I let the staff know and the groundsman said it's likely to be kids that went in there to play.

The wall has been covered up for maintenance so you can't really see it, which is a real shame. 

I got a good nui photo with some blooms and then eventually made it to the shop at the top of the fort. I found that they were selling portable soap, with a roll on type container (like a glue stick) and got one for the office days. 

Later I went to the toilet and tested it, and then went back to buy the other stick for $50. 

After we were done at the fort, we headed out towards the Tree house, but stopped at the outer wall remnant and also discovered a new historical house open for viewing. Yang house. They had some art painting exhibits inside, available for sale, and a DIY area for kids (but no classes today). They also had a back courtyard. 

Then we kept going and wandered out to a Yang Shin Trading House which is open with heaps of different DIY experience projects. I found an embossed and embossed a page in my stamp book with it. 

Finally we made it to the Tree house lol. 

I opted to skip to buy prawn crackers and then got myself a egg popsicle (plum flavour) to lick while waiting for L and M. The shop lady at the store was so patient with me. 

Soon after they were done, and it was about 3:44pm at this stage. We called a taxi to go to Eternal Golden Castle and I entered so I can sit in the grounds for a rest. I did have a look around, carrying my 10 bags of prawn crackers around with me haha. 

The little shop was moved to a different location and the building has changed as well. They sold out of the t-shirt that I bought in 2023. 

I bought a Kongzhi noodle snack and munched it and L and M joined me shortly. We had a rest and decided to go back to the Old Street for dinner. We ended up Youbiking there and looked up and down the street with temples. 

We settled I'm on a beef noodle soup place with seating on the street. I got a hot plate braised tofu with plain rice. It was so good?! It was sweet, but the sweetness was just slightly caramelised and not too much. The tofu was full of flavour and the plate sizzling. It was great! M had 魯肉飯 and L and a sausage fried rice with prawn rolls. And fresh prawns.

Yummy. This was really good.

Then a taxi home - the driver who accepted our request was driving a Benz 9 seater today and forgot. So he called to ask and make sure it was OK. 

Fare was about $230. The driver was trying to hint I should download another app for taxis as 55688 is hard to get taxis with. But I find it's ok? And then he kinda left it there. But did give me his card for future tours or trips.

Once home it was laundry time. The dryer isn't very hot and took ages, even 2 hrs later it was not completely dry. This was now 10pm. I did postcards in the meantime, and before that one of the reception ladies were curious about NZ so I told her a lot about what she wanted to know. We had a long chat. 

I ended up sleeping st 11pm cause I couldn't shower until the laundry was done, as it was on the ground floor. Their laundry area was outside at the back of the building though.

I just hung out my laundry as best as I could and sort it out tomorrow. 

Taiwan Day 10 - Tainan (spring)

 In the morning we just had breakfast in our rooms with conbini feed, and headed to Zuoying Station for the local train to Tainan. 

Once we got to Tainan the station was so nusy! It's the busiest I've seen it. We got our stamps, and then looked at getting a bigger taxi for our 3 luggage. But 55688 app couldn't find a driver so we said, worst case scenario we take 2 taxis. So we called a normal taxi and they were like pretty much just in front of us. 

The driver was so nice, and we fitted 1 luggage into the back seat on top of L and M's laps. I sat in the front. The driver was introducing which streets, that were close to our hotel, with good eats and events happening, which was the main Street next to Shennong Street. And the street parallel to it had good eats. 

We got to the hotel and thanked the driver, the fare was about $120. 

We checked into the hotel, and the staff could do English. We dropped off our luggage and decided to go to MOGU KABI first, the Capybara cafe. 

Called a cab, and the taxi driver was talking about which pets/dogs he'd like to own, but the are all expensive upkeep dogs. His friend owns a Samoyed which he would also like, and we talked about how the fur of the SAmoyed means a really bad match in Taiwan summer. Basically the air con has to be on 24/7... And only take the doggy out for a pee and can't really do exercise outside. 

He said that he would like to own a Bi'shuan, and he looked up a pic on his phone; it was a black and white sheperd dog. He said they ar the smartest dogs but I said, if they're too smart they will be problematic lol. He said he want to MOGU KABI back in the peak pandemic years with his brother from America, who commented teh food was a little pricy even for him. They weren't allowed to touch the capybaras but it might have been a pandemic measure. Also that he wasn't sure why they're called capybaras now, they used to be called 水屯（？）. I said maybe because the Japanese called it that and it became trendy? Anyways the driver was super nice and the fare was about $105.

The cafe wasn't that busy when we arrived, phew. 

There were 2 other groups of diners there. We opted to get the fruit cakes and if you bought 4 you get a free cooler bag with their cafe image on it. We got an extra fruit tart. I chose lemon, and the extra one was a combo of fruits. It was very good. Mine was SO TART, they used the green lemon, which is very very sour. 

The shop did have 1 LG ThinQ air purifier inside, but it ain't gonna cover everyone with the amount of people in the space... Better than none I guess. 

After eating we were allowed into the outdoor section with the capybaras. They let us touch them, but not if they are feeding/eating. They Re so chill. It feels like touching a bristle brush. 
The younger was was softer. 

After a while we were done and decided to leave for Shikhan Tower. 

The driver we got was also nice, and at the end of the ride I wished him an easy day and he said, 平安就好，to which I said, yes you're very right! The fare was about $105.

As soon as we got in after buying tickets, they had a tour starting at 1:30pm. No English, so I translated for L&M. 

After the tour, we had a look around the gift shop, and I bought some postcards. 

Then we were done and M needed coffee and I decided to go for 冬瓜茶 since I saw the sign. 

The shop had no electricity until 4:30pm, so they were only selling bottled tea. Okay... I'll take it then. This shop must be really famous cause they had so much ordering machines. 

Afterwards, we headed into the Grand Mazu Temple. I remember visiting this temple! They did had a stamp but you have to ask for it at the counter. They have the pool with heaps of turtles. 

Next we went to ChihMei Theatre, where they have the hand painted posters. The theatre has had its 70 year anniversary last year. They also had stamps but only if you buy something! They had heaps of postcards of the master's painted works. I bought a couple and their stamps were all so nice. 

Cause the lady re-added the stamp ink, the stamps too ages to dry hahaha. 

After the theatre, we headed to Snail Alley. 

I was getting a bit tired and hungry and came to Escargot bistro, and they are open until 11pm on weekends. So yes! I ate here and so did L and M. I got a Pesto Tomato Arguala sandwich for $240, and a honey lemon Yuzu drink that was very very nice. My sourdough bread was awesome and the pesto with heaps of flavour but not too overpowering with the garlic. Mmmm. 

Once we rested and filled up a little, we finished looking around the Alley and then headed towards Shennong Street. At the end of Smail Alley exploration, I found the temple that was illustrated on teh floor tiles and the manholes. They had a stamp as well (had to ask the front desk), and it was a super cute one. 

Shennong street was busyyyyyyy. The vibes were great with the lanterns though. We walked to the end of the street, and looked through a few shops. Cause it was so busy, it was easy to miss shops. Once at the end of the street, you cross the road and there is a small section which was much quieter with less shops and more houses. There was an area with a guy selling panna cotta and pudding with his goose pet. The shop was even named after goose and had a drawing of the goose with a pudding on its head. Hehe. 

I had a caramel pudding and the flavour was very rich. The good kept looking as the owner and pecking him affectionately. There was also a black cat that kept meowing in the little stand behind the pudding store, and the owner lady came to open shop (crystals) and the cat came out. 

After pudding, we walked to the end of this street and there was a diety getting ready to go out on a walk in the carriage. The temple workers were doing a process or ceremony with swinging the carriage lightly in place. One staff came over to where we were standing and told us we are OK to go up to take a look. I asked if the diety - 藥皇大帝  was going out ona  stroll. Yes, he said, the diety will go out all around Tainan and also catch any ill spirits on the way and take it back to take care of it.

They are also building a new temple and the staff said they set in the two dragon pillars in the day time today, and then the deity is going on a stroll out in the evening,

We watched for a bit and looked at the dragon pillars, and then headed back home.

We had a look at the other shops on Shennong Street on our way out, and I got some funny stickers at an indie arts shop. The temple on the street was really quiet and I ducked in and found stamps!! 6 of them! 

The lanters with Shennong Street name was free so we got a quick photo.

Then out on the street they had lots of food stalls, and one was an Indigenious stall/cuisine. Called Puliman.

L got some BBQ meat with 刺蔥 and the owner of the stall asked L if it was good. Yes. 

Another uncle stopped by when I was taking to the stall owner and he said he was also Paiwan. Malimali is the northern way of saying thank you, and Masuali is the southern way of saying thank you. 

The uncle asked the stall owner (who was a young lad) where his home and, and the owner also said that the stall is named after his dad because his dad is the one who plants the 刺蔥 and other herbs (but not the Makao pepper). 

That was cool. After the quick chat we headed home, showered, and died. 

Taiwan Day 9 - Kaohsiung 2 (spring)

Out plan today is to do the Lotus Pond Pagodas, the military battlement on Turtle Mountain, and one of the city gates. 

First off we headed to Lotus Pond and Youbiked there. We arrived and parked the bikes, and entered the little gift shop pop up. I got some postcards there, there was a lot of indie artist wares in there. Then we released the Youbike park was around the corner and returned our bikes. 

L went off into the Pagodas to get photos. They finished renovating the Tiger and Dragon pagoda towers but I opted not to go up and see, because climbing stairs in this humidity and heat would make me dizzy, especially as the stairs go round and round, and there was also a fair amount of tourists today. 

M and I went to the temple across the street and licked soft serve. We both got combo flavour of choco and vanilla. It was $40 a serve. 

Then we had a wee look around inside the temple at the intricate art and carvings. 

Of we go along the path as we met back up with L. To the next pagoda! This one extends out into the pond a little more and the breeze is nice. 

We stayed for a bit, and they had a 2F at the pavilion at the very end, which was very full of bird poop everywhere lol. They did have a dragon tunnel you could walk through the head to the tail (one way), and the inside had statues of the various rohan etc, like the Tiger and Dragon Pagodas. 

The third pagoda was very long and had a fish feeding pond! The breeze was good here too. The Yuandi temple had a long walkway down to the temple, and there were statues of various guardians along the bridge/walkway. At the front they had a karaoke station and some uncles were going at it. The koi pond was just off to he side before the main temple. The main temple had a frog with a coin in the mouth where you could touch it for good luck. They also had a stamp! 

Next to the frog there was a glass full of $1 coins so I gave the frog a coin and touched the head, the tail, the feet. 

I also went upstairs and they had Yuandi also venerated there. The room was smoky and stained black from all the incense. 

At the entrance of the main temple they also had many machines that you could do fortunes by putting a coin in, or a rooster with a golden egg that have you a charm. M did this one and got a little wooden charm that wished for peace/safety and fortune to stay inside. 

We started looking for food and there was a shop along across the road that did the wheel cakes. We got 4 red bean, 1 butter, 1 seasame/peanut, and 1 taro. I had the sesame peanut and one red bean. 

Then we wanted pepper buns but when we got there, the owner was preparing tomorrow's buns and said that sold out today. Aww. 

So we just walked along the road and passed a traditional market, and many many old temples/miaow with old sanheyuan style housing down there and around as well. 

We passed a noodle shop and open to eat inside there. I got 酸辣湯麵 and so did L. M got a plate of 10 dumplings of Park & chives, 

L also chose a big plate of 鹵味 as a side dish, We also ordered a plate of kumara leaves for the table, but didn't manage to finish this because we were so full from the wheel cake earlier... 

The soup was great! No unneceesary flavours, full of veges, just right in sourness, light and not heavy, and the kumara leaves were stir fried. M commented she liked the one from yesterday better, which was blanched. 

L managed to finished all of this side dish.... (amazing) and I managed to finish 90% of my bowl, just leaving soup. My noodle was $70! Kumara leave was $40. M's dumplings (10 on a plate) was $60.

After this we went for the Youbike station down the road and decided to finish cycling the pond. On the way we passed a water sports centre, with one uncle just sitting at the stand in the shade, with life jackets for the paddle boats. He had no business.... I wanted to paddle but the thought of actually paddling in the Kaohsiung mugginess put me off. This was right next to a cafe with coffee and M got an iced mocha. 

There was a corgi on the next table over. They had a lot of outdoor seating with a view of the pond, and also a fabulous breeze coming through. L got a macha soft serve. I didn't get anything. 

After this we continued the cycle and got back round to where we started, We saw the water skiing with someone actually doing it in action. They have a pulley system that pulls you along to ski. It looked really cool, perhaps we can do it with the proper preparedness next time. 

Next we went to Turtle Mountain to find the military battlement. The mountain had lots of stairs... And the remnants of the battlement were cool. Smelt very earthy and dusty though! Some of the round placements for the guns, had numbers on it like a clock, for orientation. That's cool. And a little recessed part under the rim, I guess for ammunition storage. 

You can see the qilin rock and the pebbles in the concrete mix, and the remnants of the camouflage paint on the concrete outer. 

There was also a good view of the lake from the mountain. I can see why this was a stragetic military point. 

Afterwards, we walked along the old city wall. We walked along the part where they had juanchun housing, and you can see the joints of the brick walls and the various tiles for kitchen or bathroom. One of the walls even had part of the bathtub with the mosaic, the same an Laolao's house!!!! 

This was neat. The other side of the wall still had housing, I assume the roadside row of the juanchun. There were kids playing in the park (must be primary or before primary aged) and one mum just keeping at eye out. It felt like the kids backyard. 

At the end of the juanchun section, the wall was cordended off so we couldn't go further. They were building that new walkway to see the old city. 

So we had to turn back and go around, passing by the playing kids again. There was a small alley leading to the road so we went out there, and could see the houses of the roadside row. One house had a notice from Taipower warning that they were going to cut power aon March 10th. There were also heaps of mail and flyers stuck in the bars of the front door. Some of the houses had front doors or side entrances that were very nostalgic.... 

We finally got to the South Gate and initially we thought it was covered up, but it was just the end of the walkway being built, and they were building an elevator. The actual South Gate was in the middle of a roundabout, and we could cross to go there. You can go up to the top of the South Gate!! You could get a good view of Building #1 of Guomao. 

Afterwards, we headed to Guomao and had a look at the inside of the buildings where it looked like Kowloon, and then the playground at the centre of the community. We took some photos that looks like a band cover hahaha. 

Then back home. We opted for dinner at Dandan, and got takeaway. They did also have a nice long outdoor seating section with a fantastic breeze flowing through today. 

L and M headed to FamiMart while I waited for the order. 

I got the order and headed to the FamiMart we passed, and they were just finishing up as I arrived. 

They got me breakfast! And I asked if there is banana? No banana... L went back in and got me one. Thank youuuuu. 

Off home we go. We ate,... I got the set #1 with the 肉羹湯麵, L a teriyaki burger, and M the set with 2 types of chicken nuggies. 

I had iced lemon black tea. This was very nice. Their chicken is not greasy but oh so moist and crispy. 

Shower, postcards, blog and bed! Tainan tomorrow.