Sunday March 3rd, 2013
Let’s jump right into breakfast. There was the usual soymilk
for a beverage and a variety of four different types of food. I tried three of
the four:
First was two (half of what you see) of a ‘dan bing’ (moist
pancake/Asian tortilla thing) with egg and a green leafy vegetable.
Half a white radish cake with soy sauce. I’ve come to really
enjoy these and know I’ll miss them when back in America. ;)
Half a bun with veggies and noodles(?) inside. This bun food
is different from steamed meat buns you known. This one is more of a cooked,
moist, hollowed out biscuit with various ingredients placed inside. Quite
tasty.
Unfortunately our stay in Kaohsiung has come to an end, four
pleasant days passing by in a flash. Before we left I snapped a couple
reference pictures of my Aunt and Uncle’s apartment on the 15th
floor of the building. Here we have a view of the entrance, kitchen and living
room. Just a little more to the left and you would be able to see the door. The
kitchen table is located in the middle of the photo with the living room and
impressive stereo system to the right. The hallway leading to the restroom and
bedrooms are in the back just to the left of the giant black speaker. It’s a
nice and cozy living space indeed.
Once our bags were packed in the car and goodbyes were bid,
host father, mother, Michael and I headed out to our main destination for the
day, an art museum. This was no ordinary museum though. No sir, this was a
fancy-shmacy museum that required reservations (2:00 I believe was the
scheduled time). By the time we arrived in the area it was too late to find a
place to eat lunch so we compromised.
Instead we visited a shop that makes homemade ice cream,
apparently the best in Taiwan. So it’s the Blue Bell of Taiwan! ;D The building
was fairly small but had an interesting selection of icy treats. Some were
already packaged while you could also go for scoops of ice cream. Ice cream
cone flavors had classics like chocolate and vanilla but also weird sounding ones
like yeast. …Yeast? Yeast ice cream? Ooooooook, that’s strange just like
‘lactic acid’ flavor I once saw a long time ago. XD There was then an option of
either eating it in a regular wafer cone or in a bowl topped with red beans.
My selection fell upon a two-scooped ice cream cone with
peppermint and taro flavors. Isn’t it an appetizing sight? The green peppermint
scoop had dark sprinkles embedded within
its iciness as a nice characteristic. This whole thing cost only 40NT ($1.4US).
What a steal! For two scoops of tasty ice cream (as well as yummy cone) this is
an awesome bargain! It was thicker ice cream compared to others I’ve had in
Taiwan with a delicious sweetness but not overpowering nor lacking. I really
enjoyed indulging into it. ^_^
Host mother chose an ice cream sandwich cube of what I think
was either vanilla or almond flavor.
Host father chose the two-scoop cup with red bean choice
(45NT). I’m not sure what the top ice cream flavor was but the bottom made me
toss my head back in shock with a slightly puckering face. I believe it was the
yeast flavor. Enough said. XD
Michael also got a two-scoop cone with chocolate on top and
a white flavor on bottom. His face is great here. XD Btw, that’s what the cup
with red bean option looks like before getting attacked. ;P
So yeah that was our lunch. XD It seriously was just ice
cream and nothing else. But hey it’s better than no lunch at all. ;P
The museum is owned privately by an owner who is currently
constructing a new building to move the exhibitions to. It’s a bit difficult to
see with the trees in the way but there’s the general outlook of the new place.
Doesn’t it look a capital building back in America?
This mentioned museum is a collection of various pieces of
art and antiques by a single owner who donated them. It’s called the ‘Chimei
museum,’ Chimei being a big company in Taiwan of several specialties. Once your
party name is found on the reservation list, they direct you to a room where a
movie is playing showing the rules of the museum. Most parts were to be
expected like to eating, drinking, photography, etc. But there was apparently a
rule that forbid shorts. What? XD
A part of the museum was off limits most likely to do with
the relocating of the exhibition. But to sum it up what we did see were
paintings, sculptures of people, stuffed animals and antique instruments. The
most interesting was a little demonstration showcasing old music boxes. Some
were pegged wooden cylinders based to holed metal circles to holey fold up
books. It was really quite fascinating. There was one music box that controlled
both a piano and two violins at the same time. Wow! My favorite was the coin
vending pay-to-listen machine with the large holed metal circles. It was so
beautiful thanks to both the played song and its unique instrument sound.
As soon as we finished walking through the multi-floor
exhibitions, we tiredly and hungrily left the building though both feelings
weren’t to a crushing degree. I passed out easily and woke up with Michael and
host mother getting out of the car. Rushing to my senses, I joined them. We
stopped by a famous bakery in Tainan known for good pastries but also an
unbeatable feature of everything costing only 15NT ($0.50US). Only 15NT?!
Goodness gracious that’s amazingly cheap! Everything looked scrumptious to
boot! Two trays of goodies were filled before we checked out.
See those two bags in Michael’s hand filled with pastries? It
cost less than 200NT ($6.7US). That’s about thirteen pastries total for that
cheap. WOW! That is beyond incredible!
Host mother selected most of the various treats but I did
pick out one myself, an intriguing eye-catching one. Based on its appearance,
it was a green tea, red bean cream pastry of some sort. Being very Asian
flavors and also looking just plain enticing, I desired to try it. The actually
tasting will be another day but in the near future of course. ;P
For dinner we originally were going to eat at a restaurant
located in the medical department of Michael’s University but when we arrived
it was already closed. Nonetheless we saw an interesting carving of tai chi
outside the building. Can you see the man lifting his leg and arms?
Plan B was at a restaurant cheap and famous in Tainan for
‘bian dan’ (Chinese lunchboxes). At the front you order what type of meat you
want as well as pay. Sliding down the assembly line, an employee grabs a
lunchbox with rice packed into the bottom half. You then choose three sides
that the worker accordingly places in. Afterwards they plop on your selected
meat and viola! Finito!
There is also a little station where you can get unlimited
iced tea and miso soup. First you push the yellow button to the right and a cup
pops out. You then fill it with iced tea from the right facet. A little bowl
located at the far left is used for the miso soup, the left faucet. Spoons and
chopsticks are at the top. What I find really interesting is the take-out
method of the same station. You grab a little plastic bag (top middle gizzy)
and fill it up. A bag below (not in the photo) has pink ties for the bag. So no
cups, no bowls, only a little but efficient bag. That’s pretty cool (cooler to
see and not read about ;P)
This was my meal! Iced tea, miso soup and chicken pie rice
with the sides of broccoli, carrots and tofu (the chicken steak is covering all
the rice). I quite enjoyed this dinner. The chicken steak was delicious and you
can’t go wrong with veggies on the side! ;D The iced tea was also good. I
didn’t eat all of the rice because I don’t eat that much but everything else was
all consumed.
In case I haven’t shown y’all yet, the waste disposal system
in Taiwan is fantastic. This particular place had three different sections.
From right to left we have:
-Uneaten food and bones
-Waste like napkins, chopsticks and spoons
-Cups, bowls and lunchboxes
Taiwan is really efficient in its waste disposal and
recycling. At school it is even more efficient because there’s added specific
sections for plates, bowls, spoons, chopsticks, etc. each. That’s because the
dishes are washable and therefore are needed to be further separated. This kind
of recycling and waste disposal should really be incorporated in America. It’s
quite remarkable.
Dropping Michael off at his college dorm, we parted ways
with my host parents and I returning to Taipei. Though we shan’t be apart for
long since Michael has to come to Taipei next week for a meeting or something.
So it’s not yet time for me to get sentimental. ;P
4-5 hours of driving and we land back in Taipei land where
homework needing to be done by tomorrow awaits me. Nothing hard though so it’s
all good in the hood. :P
Bye-bye y’all! See ya next time!
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