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.
After the ceremony was finished, we got ready to go walk some 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!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment