We just returned from my 7th trip to Taiwan and this one we will remember for the food and the mountain hiking.
The day after we got there we had a large family dinner with several types of duck, shrimp tempura, pork, dumplings filled with mushrooms and other veggies. We chose a quiet place in Zhong He City which is a suburb of Taipei and had the entire restaraunt to ourselves for over 4 hours.
When we got back home mei mei(little sister) and I hiked up one of the many mountains in Zhong He city to burn off some of the calories from lunch. What a hike it was too, almost straight up thousands of steps.
On top of the mountain there is a temple named Yuantong Chan and a huge area of the mountain covered with tombs.
On Tuesday brother-in-law Ken and I spent 3 or 4 hours hiking up LaLashan mountain. The hike up was a bit strenuous and when we got to the top the wind was blowing so hard it was diffiult to stand up so we headed back down.
On Wednesday I spent the morning in Tai Lao Shi's K-5 class. Here I am teaching the kids how to play poker - a pair of 5's do not beat 2 aces!!!!
I actually gave a presentation in Mandarin Chinese although the kids laughed at my tones and corrected my mis-pronounciations several times and I and taught them how to say "How ya doin" and "good Morning" in English.
I drew them a picture of America (Mei Guo)and the route the plane took to get to Taiwan. I never was known for my ability as an artist!!!
On Thursday I was invited to play golf at one of the many resorts in Taoyuan. Golf in Taiwan is nothing like golf in the US, it is much more formal and very structured. From the time you arrive at the golf course and unload your clubs you are pampered. Each foursome is assigned 2 female caddies who are covered from head to toe in suits, even their faces are partially covered. These caddies do everything but swing the club for you. They tell you the yardage, they tell you where to hit your drive, where the OB is located, they even help you read greens and point out the slope of your putt (even though our caddies were not very good at reading putts), they drive these enormous golf carts which seat 6 and can carry 4 large travel bags. Every golfer in Taiwan has one of these travel bags and they are loaded with balls, sunscreen lotion, towels, 20-25 clubs and must weigh over 100 pounds each.
On Friday we took the new high speed train to central Taiwan and Taichung City. This trip takes over an hour on the slower trains but only a half hour on this bullet train which is supposed to travel up to 180 MPH. There is a lot of controversy in Taiwan about this train, the noise it makes and its safety but we found it very enjoyable and quiet and the new train terminals are so huge and modern.
The track for the new train is elevated above the countryside and provides great views of the farms and small villages.
After we arrived in Taichung we drove to a new restaraunt our cousin Debbie opened a few months ago. It is a traditional shabu shabu style of cooking. They bring a large hotpot filled with broth and seasonings to your table and set it over a gas grill. You choose beef, pork, chicken, lamb, shrimp, squid, oysters, clams, several types of tofu and mushrooms from one of several counters and cook this in the pot. There were many other people eating at adjacent tables and the entire room was filled with the aroma of the hotpots. For desert we all had pumpkin bing xi ling (ice cream).
