Kaohsiung & Others

This place was called Meinong. It was a touristy place where people could see Hakka culture through old relics. It was...an interesting place. Kind of.

My little cousin and I fed fish for 10NT :)

My uncle said this was what they used to play with: pans, bottles, and sticks.

Noodles in Meinong

My uncle said there was something special about this vegetable, but I didn't understand him

Ham hock. My family loves it, but I'm not a big fan.

My FAVORITE! Stewed cabbage.

A place famous for their banana desserts. Their ice cream was delicious, because it tasted homemade. Real banana ice cream is pretty rare, no?

A newly opened amusement park, hotel, and department store called E-Da. We didn't get to stay for very long, but it seemed like it was a good place to spend the day.

I love lanterns.

I don't know what portion this was...perhaps the hotel?

My beloved GongCha. I always get this when I go back to Kaohsiung.

Four-Day Weekend

This last weekend, I decided to take a trip to Kaohsiung because of the long weekend. Since I realized how little time I have left here in Taiwan, I wanted to make sure that I took advantage of any opportunities to go see my family. I would normally be begging to go back to see them :)

I was originally going to leave on Thursday morning, but I wasn't sure if my family had been notified, so I used the day for homework, errands, and relaxing.

On Friday morning, I took the 5-hour bus to Kaohsiung at 1pm, and arrived at around 6pm. My family immediately took me to my favorite restaurant Zui Pianyi for chicken with unlimited red tea. Afterwards, we went back to my uncles' house and I played cards with my little cousin. I was pretty tired after the long bus ride, so after my family left, I thought I'd fall asleep right away. In the end, I spent most of the night tossing and turning, until I finally fell asleep.

I was told Friday, that my uncle and aunt would be taking me out to lunch on Saturday. My other uncle would join us. We left at 11am and went to all sorts of places that were far away from the city. I slept nearly every time we got into the car. After a long day, I was dropped off at my other aunt's house so I could have dinner with my eldest girl cousin. She's usually pretty busy, so I had to make an appointment with her ;) in order to see her. After dinner, I went to the night market and NET. One of the best parts of going home is having a television. I make sure to watch as many movies while I'm there. But that night, after coming home from the night market, I fell asleep while watching Harry Potter.

On Sunday, I had the majority of the morning to myself. I got my delicious(!) sandwich from 大立 (Dali) department store and green tea with salty cream from GongCha, and went to the department stores to window shop. When I got home, my aunt called to see if I wanted to go to the Dream Mall. We did that, and then ended the night with dinner with my two (blood) uncles. WHO, by the way, I love to death.

A Little Bit of Everything

We went to the Flora Expo after school on Friday. Even though we only stayed for three hours, we believe we saw enough...it was interesting, but not exciting.

Floral landscapes at the Flora Expo

One of the many cheap meals I eat in Taiwan (85NT)

This is a favorite of all us California kids. It's an onion pancake made with egg and your choice of sauces (30NT)

A silly sign that we saw on a bus

My dad and I used to joke that he deserved priority seating. 

Animals in Taiwan

Lawrence, Jenn, and I made a trip to the zoo a couple of Saturdays ago. I love the zoo so much! I know when it comes to zoos and museums, I'm able to last a lot longer than the average person. So! I will probably have to go back again in order to be able to see all the animals. The weather was wonderful. No. The weather was fantastic and everything we could have asked for. Breezy, sunny, and perfect.

Welcome to the zoo! Jenn and I were both wearing pink, so we had to take a picture with the lady flamingos.

Lawrence needed a picture with his brothers.

Monkeys!

I love to see all of the GREEN.

More monkeys..

And more monkeys..

And more monkeys.

Giraffes are one of my favorite animals to see at the zoo :)

From far away, it looked like a child had climbed into the giraffe habitat. 

Ireland's proverb says, there are two things in the world that can't be joked: 1. marriage 2. potato

Fatty hippos

One of the most interesting things of the day: an umbrella had fallen into the rhino area, and they were either a) confused or b) not pleased. 

We ♥ the zoo! 

Hot Pot

All of us ICLP kids love all-you-can-eat, but sometimes the price is too much to make it worth it. However, recently we've found this hot pot restaurant where you get as much seafood, meat, veggies, eggs, fish balls, fish cake, tofu, drinks, cake, and ice cream for 500NT. That's about $17. It's obviously not a meal we would eat every day, but all of us get very excited when we know we'll be going there soon. In addition, you are allowed to choose the broth that you cook your food in. They have herbal, vegetarian, and various spicy broths.

Shaved Snow Edition

I've been wanting shaved ice ever since February. Even more so, I've wanted shaved snow. The difference is that shaved snow is shaved milk, which makes the dessert more like ice cream than slush-like. I'm so happy.

My long-awaited friend. Gone in 60 seconds.

Lawrence with kiwi, strawberry, and mango shaved snow (140NT)

Me! with chocolate covered banana and pudding shaved snow (110NT)

Jenn with coconut jelly and pudding shaved snow (60NT)

Unexpected

My mom's younger brother has always been pretty quiet. Except for television, he never expresses an strong interest for anything else. I think he's a pretty easy-going guy, but I've always wondered what goes on in that head of his...

So when I went home during spring break, he immediately asked me if I was hungry. I thought his behavior was strange at the time, but the question was a natural one to ask someone who has been traveling. He offered me an egg tart, and I munched happily without thinking much of it. It was only until later that I found out some interesting news: my uncle picked up baking! This is in addition to cooking, but he made the egg tart as well as other delicious goodies. I've never been more happy. To hear that he's attending classes and learning how to make such yummy treats makes his niece very, very glad.

These are black sesame candies(?) with peanuts. I ate these all weekend.

While I was there, my aunt offered my uncle there old toaster oven. He seemed excited at the idea of being able to test out recipes at home, and before I knew it, he had already started making muffins.

He went to a specialty store to pick up mini muffin tins, baking powder, baking soda, and other ingredients. My uncle is very particular about the way he makes things. My brother and I recall him making his tuna sandwiches a very certain way...I think those tendencies makes an excellent baker!

TADA! Our mini muffins! The oven got pretty finicky towards the end, but we were still able to use up all the batter.

Molasses mini muffins with raisins and dried longan, sprinkled with cashews. Serve with milk or coffee for a delicious treat ;)

Day 9 - Kaohsiung to Taipei

My plan was to leave today, Sunday night, for Taipei. Because I knew that there would be more opportunities to come back, I decided to stay with my original plan despite how much fun I was having. Since my family was going to my grandparents' graves, I had the morning all to myself. I showered, went to 大立 to get my favorite sandwich, and went to 大立 Star Palace to see if I could find washi tape. The tape was too expensive, but I ended up finding the perfect camera case instead. I had been keeping my camera in a sock for the last 4 months, so it was nice to finally find something safer to put it in. 

When I got home, I almost immediately got a call from my aunt, who said that they would be ready to pick me up soon. They took me to a restaurant where all of my mom's family was. The only people that were missing was my cousin Yi An 億安 and my other cousin Xiao Wei. We had an abundance of food, and I was the happiest camper. Afterwards, we went to my aunt's house for tea and dessert. Although we didn't do much talking, it was good to have all of my family together on the last day. Or should I say, last day of this particular trip.

When most of my family had left, I decided to take the subway home so I could see a few more familiar sights. When, I came home, my uncles suggested we get dinner together at a nearby restaurant. The three of us walked there in the cool Kaohsiung night, and I can't recall ever being happier. There was simply an overwhelming amount of emotion from being escorted by my cute&shy uncles. I'm such a fortunate child. 

After dinner, the three of us went home, and sat on the couch talking about recent events and thoughts on just about everything. I had to be at the High Speed Rail by 8:15pm, so when it was time to leave, I thanked them for everything, and walked to the subway. 'Twas a wonderful spring break and a more wonderful weekend in Kaohsiung.

My uncles had never taken me out to dinner before (with just the two of them), so it was interesting to see how they wanted me to take pictures of everything. Everything! Who knows? Maybe this will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...

We ended up at a Japanese-style sort of place. My meal was so delicious! I chose a beef bowl, of sorts, and the flavoring was exactly what I wanted. Light and savory.

My uncle's fish soup

Seaweed salad

My uncle's chicken skewer

My uncle's eel rice (minus a few bites hehe)

Day 8 - Kaohsiung

I was told by my uncle that I had to be ready to be picked up at 9:30am, so I was up by 8:00am to shower and get ready. I got a phone call from my eldest aunt, telling me to meet her at the subway instead, so I followed her directions and went to meet her at the subway. We headed towards my other aunt and uncle's home so it would be easier for them to pick us up and waited at a nearby 7-11. When they picked us up, we began driving towards Pingtung, which was where we planned on spending the day.

Once in Pingtung, we had lunch at a famous ham hock restaurant. We had so many delicious foods, and I thought I would explode from being so full. Later, my aunts and uncle told me that we were going to have tea at a place higher up the mountain, but we ended up eating even more food instead. Needless to say, I slept nearly the entire way home. Too much food...

When my aunt and I were got back to Kaohsiung, my aunt fell asleep on the couch nearly right away. So I went shopping at the young fashion night market, XinJueJiang. In addition, because I was low on cash, I was forced to treat myself to a Baskin Robbins ice cream crepe. It was quite painful ;)

The night ended with (happy) me watching movies on the couch...which is all I really need.

Delicious ham hock. I had to eat in moderation to avoid a headache.

Fried tofu

Plain veggies. My aunts and uncle kept telling me to take pictures to send home to my dad. I was more than willing for things of interest, but found it funny that they insisted I take a picture of this. Oh well, more memories!

Fried oysters

You choose your own ham hock. I'm only glad that I saw this after I had eaten. 

Coconut water for 10NT

Bamboo with sweet mayo (and sprinkles)

I don't know why this was so delicious, but I couldn't stop eating. My family told me that it was made from rice and coconut.

One of the best chickens I've ever eaten in my entire life. It was slow roasted/cooked/broiled with mushrooms and garlic for 50 minutes. I wish I could have eaten more. I love you, Pingtung chicken!

These are the ovens that the chickens are cooked in.

My little cousin, PeiChi the Explorer

I'm so fortunate when I go back to Taiwan, because it seems as if there is always some type of celebration. This firework show lasted so long, that I had to walk away from it. After timing it, it ended up being over 25 minutes long.

I am not a big fan of Baskin Robbins in the U.S., but in Taiwan, I can't resist. Bananas, crepe, whipped cream, AND Baskin Robbins ice cream?! How could I?