Saturday March 2nd, 2013
A blasting audio of Darth Vader’s theme woke me up. What a
way to wake up huh? XD I think my host uncle was playing with his high-def
audio system again and chose that particular track. After that I wasn’t falling
back asleep again. XD
Breakfast had a variety of four foods, black sugar red bean
pastry, meat bun, sesame bun and a bun I was told to be salty. I sampled half a
delicious meat bun and half of the black sugar red bean pastry. The latter was
pretty tasty and not too sugary. As I said, the bun was made from black sugar
(so my host father told me) and inside was a generous amount of red bean paste.
Its triangular shape was interesting and something I’ve never seen before. Yay
for trying new things! ;D
The day’s travels began with a pleasant walk along a coast
in Kaohsiung. Wind was blowing fairly strong, propelling nearby windmills and
providing pristine conditions for the children flying kites.
Though a shore line the area was not a beach nor suitable to
go swimming. Kaohsiung is famous for being an industrial shipping port. Numbers
upon numbers of ships sail in and out, not providing the best conditions for
frolicking around in the water. If you look closely, you can see numerous ships
(at least 17) lining sea line. The sea here is filled with them!
Just that short time walking by the sea, feeling the cool
breeze brush your face and letting your hair get bashed around a bit was so
refreshing. I felt revived and alive again! Amazing how a few minutes in one
location can instantly change your feelings. The magic of the world. ^_^
Next we visited the ‘Cijin Shell Museum,’ a free public
exhibition of seashells from around the world. It was small and had very few
visitors but still contained a very stunning variety of seashells. A main
attraction was a large type of seashell found in Taiwan with only three others
of its kind in the world. Sadly I don’t have any pictures because I was told
photography was not allowed. But something interesting is that many new species
of seashells have been found in only Taiwan. Who knew I’m staying in a country
of seashell exploration?! XD
Due to a lack of parking spaces, we had difficulty finding a
spot to park for lunch. We snaked up and down streets but had no luck. Out of
the blue Chinese parades marched down various streets playing traditional music
and wearing extravagant costumes.
One such example of the outgoing costumes that could be
seen. Twice as tall as a normal human, this guy lumbers forward swinging the
arms to and fro with the puppeteer looking out through an opening in the navel
area.
At one, wait, actually two points I excitedly flipped out.
First I saw a group of ‘Ba Jia Jiang’ (The Eight Infernal Generals similar to
NK101’s) sitting down on stools looking fierce as always. We were going to stop
and watch but since they weren’t dancing we just drove on. Soon after while I
was taking a video, we passed another ‘Ba Jia Jiang’ group but this one
walking. Again, since they weren’t performing we didn’t get sidetracked but I
still happily emitted a squeak and grin from seeing such esteemed figures. I
humorously asked Michael what would happen if I waved or respectfully bowed to
them. He said nothing because the Ba Jia Jiang don’t respond to such acts since
they can’t break character. To this I joked, “What if I hugged one of them?
Would they still not respond or would I get stabbed?” As he explained, you
shouldn’t do that no matter what because it’s viewed as very ill-mannered,
almost like randomly going up and unexpectedly hugging the president. You just
don’t do it no matter how much you may like him. So mental hugs is as far as I
can go ;P
Btw, I was told that numerous parades were going on around
the area because March marks the month of a beloved goddess’s birthday, Ma Zhu.
This goddess protects fisherman from treacherous seas and probably does other
deeds as well. Since the Ba Jia Jiang are spiritual guardians they are
associated and present at Ma Zhu’s celebratory parades. Lord willing, I have my
fingers crossed for finding such a parade back in Taipei where I can watch a
traditional performance of Ba Ja Jiang,. :D
Eaten at a famous seafood restaurant in Kaohsiung, we had a
feast of a lunch. The method of getting and buying the dishes was quite
intriguing. There’s food pre-made and set out for customers to pick up. All
they have to do is grab the desired dishes, bring them to the cashier, pay and
eat. No menus, no waiters, just a quick and easy process. How cool!
This stretch of table contained food that all only cost
100NT ($3.3US). Those yellow dangling things spun round and round to shoo away
any hungry flies thus protecting the food.
Over half of our meal! As you can see, we had shrimp and a
bowl of a green veggie. Going from right to left would be small fishes, octopus
in a boat, fish balls and fried oyster something-something way in the back. My
favorite food of the whole meal was the fried oyster something-something
because it reminded me of an egg roll but dipped in ketchup. The fishies were a
bit intimating to me because I didn’t know how to go about eating it. In
America I’m used to fish already separated from the bone. This fishy here was
everything. Though I am happy to announce I ate it successfully keeping the
entire bone spine intact without a single break. That’s an accomplishment for a
seafood newbie like me! ;D
There was also chiiiiiicken…
Some kind of battered and fried long shrimp? Whatever it
was, it was goo-uu-od.
Lastly, dessert was a heaping plate of delicious fruit
(guava, wax apple, date and tomatoe) sweetened with a sugar powder. See all of
that? It only cost 50NT ($1.7US). WOW!
What a steal!
Taking the car to our next location, me being the master of
car-napping, I did as my self given title suggests even though I tried not to. XD
Approaching the desired site, Mainland Chinese people were
everywhere! Michael told me that they very much like to come to this spot when
touring Taiwan. This spot would be…a former British consulate. Really? You come
all this way for a consulate turned into a museum mostly concerning historical
international trade? Ooooook, if you want to, power to ya peeps. It’s not a bad
place but as Michael said, it’s nothing outstandingly special. Still, it was a
nice place to visit and fun was found within its perimeter.
Random Chinese traditional roofing. Why did I put it in this
Taffy post? Because it’s pretty I like the dragons and phoenixes and the colors
are attractive. What more reason do you need? ;)
Viewed from a balcony, you can see a nearby university built
on man-made land from trash. That’s a really efficient way of expanding space
and using rubbish for a useful purpose! Good job Taiwan!
Underneath the consulate laid small tunnels that acted as a
prison back in the day. Some tunnel opening’s height came up to your hip while
others barely reached your knee. The teeny-tiny ones that led into pitch black
dark rooms were a blast to crawl through though some people brought the darkness
with luminous cell phone lights. Took away the scariness but helped prevent you
from bumping your head and causing a concussion. XD
When finished it was back in the car and off to have a snack
of a famous Taiwanese food. Shaved ice!
C’here is mango shaved ice! In south Taiwan this treat may
only cost about 60NT ($2US) but according to my host parents can be 180NT
($6US) in Taipei. All the more reason to savor the flavor here and now. ;)
An assortment of fruit shaved ice…
-Peanut (lower left)
-Red Bean (right)
-Taro and Sweet Potato (upper middle)
All were tasty, as to be expected, and filled our stomachs.
Next up was seeing the looooooooove river. Sounds romantic
huh? The story behind the name comes from a paddle boat company called ‘Love
River Something Something Boats.’ A hurricane blew through and destroyed the
business’s name only leaving ‘Love Boat’ left. A couple afterward came and
suicide together in the river. The reporter covering the story didn’t know the
river’s name so when he saw the tattered ‘Love River’ boat sign that’s what the
reported with, hence the birth of the river’s current title. Think it’s still
romantic sounding? XD
Despite its background story it was actually a pretty place.
The river had tour boat rides available to cruise on. But not just any boats,
solar powered boats! How cool is that?! Michael said the company he once worked
with built those boats. From one charge they can last for three days straight.
That’s such amazing technology!
We did indeed take a spin on the solar powered boats. Here’s
host father merrily sitting in the pilot seat before anchors away.
Random bear art that looks as if he is unsuccessfully trying
to hide behind a skinny tree. *que creepy voice* He’s watching yoooooooou. XD
Back in the car, with another nap knock out, we drove back
to the house and grabbed take out dinner. Aunt and Uncle went for the food
while the rest of us stopped by a place called ‘Donutes.’ Originally taking me
for coffee since my family knows I like it, we stopped and viewed the menu.
Before choosing a coffee beverage, Michael recommended a drink called ‘Green
Tea Au Lait.’ …In plain English, French green tea and milk beverage with a
smidge of what we think is caramel. Something totally new and unpredictable
taste-wise.
Mi familia! Oh perhaps I should say that in Chinese instead.
XD 我的家人！
Trying to take the
first sip of this drink, I tipped the cup back and nothing. Again I angled it
down and nothing came out. Wondering why the heck nothing was coming out, I had
a revelation. Underneath the coffee lid, the cup was covered in a plastic layer.
Ripping it away, the beverage then became drinkable.
Doesn’t it look
like green goo as if Polyjuice Potion straight from Harry Potter? XD Well it
sure tasted fantastic! Such a strange flavor and texture but all the more
intriguing! I’ve never heard of this in Texas nor Taipei. If you ever come
across this drink’s name on a menu, give it a shot! ;D
Dinner was a feast
of various assorted foods all shared between us as is Taiwanese culture. Such
as…
Two small
pineapple, corn, meat(?) pizza each less than a foot in diameter. They were
cute. ^_^ It also came with French fries.
Steamed round meat
dumplings with soy sauce.
Seafood noodles,
octopus I believe.
Red rice topped
with a layer of egg along with meat, veggie, ketchup and a smiley face tater
tot.
Some kind of drink
that is said to be good for your health. There are two types, sweet and salty.
These here were sweet and have green beans and a type of Chinese barley.
As a whole the meal
was delicious and more than enough to satisfy any ounce of hunger you possess.
Host Uncle apparently has a saying that has a meaning following along the lines
of to never be hungry. He accomplished that quite well tonight. XD
The rest of the
night was spent watching various videos together with my family, writing Taffys
and working into the early morning alongside my brother. Sleep to reward my completed
efforts followed after.
So nighty night all
and I wish you well! Byes! ^_^
No comments:
Post a Comment