As soon as we got off the train in Taichung, Jenny’s father was waiting for us with huge smile. James took us back to his house to meet his wife Gerry. The two of them were as welcoming as could be and had a room ready for both of us. James laid out a huge envelope for us that included so many things: a cell phone, house keys, maps, museum tickets, bus schedules. I was so impressed at how much he had ready for our arrival. We relaxed at the house for a bit before heading to dinner. James and Gerry took us to a fun traditional type of meal. On the table in front of each of us sat an iron pot full of mushrooms, veggies, pork blood squares, duck blood and rice cubes, and a wonderful stew broth on a personal burner. Multiple other plates surrounded each of our individual pots that were topped with raw shrimp, beef, fish, and clams. Eating at my own pace, I cooked all the meats one by one in the pot as the meal continued. It was SO good and very filling.
Following dinner, James dropped us off at…another New Year Celebration! I don’t know how we keep chasing the best New Year celebrations, but they are so much fun. We have celebrated in Chiang Mai for the actual midnight New Year with lanterns, Ho Chi Minh with decorations and city gatherings, Taipei for a simultaneous lantern release, and now Taichung for stationary lantern displays. The grounds were huge and FULL of light up stationary lanterns, food vendors, an entertainment stage, and a 5 story tall light up Ram. We roamed around through as many displays as we could and then the Ram light up the sky in dozens of colors and began to spin drawing everyone’s attention towards its beauty. Behind us, the sky boomed with fireworks exploding in the night’s darkness. It was stunning to say the least, and I am so glad James recommended it to us.
The next morning, James took us out for the whole day. We drove out of the city and up a mountain where his family owned a weekend house. It has stunning views from every direction. After roaming around the property enjoying the scenic views of the valley and local plants, we headed to lunch. James took us to the most beautiful mountain side restaurant with a view to die for. The restaurant’s surroundings were perfectly manicured with a koi pond, stunning views of the strawberry valley, and wonderful food. Following lunch, we were heading down the mountain when were lucky enough to spot not one, but two Swinhoe Pheasants. A species that is endemic to Taiwan and has a population of only 10,000. James said in his 16 years of visiting the mountain he had only seen one!
When we reached the valley, it had a very clear theme, STRAWBERRIES! Strawberry farms stretched as far as the eye could see, and smack dab in the middle was a strawberry museum. We toured the museum while we munched on strawberry ice cream and fried strawberries. We then handpicked our own box of fresh strawberries to take home.
On our way back to the house, James dropped Marge and me off at the night market. It turned out to be much more than we expected. When I hear market, I think veggies, food, and souvenirs all packed into a dense vendor area. This night market was vast streets of stores and restaurants that seemed to go on forever. We spent two and a half hours there and barely covered any territory. We did do some shopping though. I bought a new pair of shoes and Marge got a new jacket. It was a very lively part of town packed with people, both foreign and local, with many vendors offering very reasonable prices. My shoes only cost $15!
The next day in Taichung, Marge and I decided to do walking tour from the National Science museum to the Art Museum with a few stops in between. We walked around the science museum and thought to ourselves “Wow, this is really child focused’. It was similar to our science center in Saint Louis, with many youth activities that Marge and I got way more entertainment out of than we should have. After roaming around a few hours we headed outside and saw another set of doors. The doors lead to the actual Taiwan National Science Museum…for adults. We laughed at how much fun we just had in the “kid zone” thinking it was the entirety of the museum. The adult section of the museum was stunning. It was gigantic and spread across three grand floors with very well done exhibits. It reminded me a lot of the Field Museum in Chicago. We skimmed through as many exhibits as we could before heading out for out next stops.
Our next stop was the botanical garden. A huge 200 foot tall dome housed 800 species of plants with a large Amazonian fish display on the lower level. I can’t get enough plants and animals on this trip so this oasis in the middle of Taichung was like heaven to me.
As we walked south, we stopped at a very unique book store and grabbed some lunch along the way. The path through the center of the city was beautiful. It is lined with art work, mature trees, and fountains for the entire mile long stretch between the Science Museum and the Art Museum.
When we finally reached the Fine Art Museum we had just enough time to quickly cruise through all the exhibits just before they closed. After our adventurous day through the city, we came home to be treated to another wonderful meal right down the street from James and Gerry’s house consisting of beef and noodle soup.
On our last day in Taichung, we tried to be ambitious to do some more city activities, but ended up back at the house to rest up a bit. After being on the road for nearly 7 months now, it starts to wear on you. Every once and a while we just need some down time to rest up. James and Gerry’s house was the best place for it since Marge and I each had our own room.
For our last night, Marge and I treated James and Gerry to dinner for taking such wonderful care of us. Since we couldn’t read the menu, James picked out several dishes for the ultimate last supper in Taiwan. Before we knew it, 11 dishes sat in front of the four of us. We had everything from month-old marinated black egg, blood cube and intestine stew, fried whole minnows and tofu, clams, veggies, shrimp, and the list goes on. Though the food seems strange to an American, it is all about what you are used to eating. Many of these foods I have never see back home, but it doesn’t mean they aren’t good! Who knows, maybe pork blood squares and intestines could be your favorite dish you have ever had, you just haven’t tried it yet. I love trying new foods. Of all the weird things I have tried on the trip, there was only one that I didn’t actually like and it was a tarantula.
On our last morning, we didn’t want to say goodbye. After a few big hugs, Marge and I felt like we were leaving family behind as we jumped on our first bullet train back to Taipei to catch our morning flight to Hong Kong. The train was so freaking fast we didn’t realize it when we had already reached Taipei. As we sat there for a minute with the train stopped Mage said “Wait! Is this our stop!?” With that we jumped off the train just in time for the doors to shut behind us and the streamline train zipped away. It was a close one, but that seems to be the norm for us. We can’t wait to see what the NYC on steroids has in store for us! Hong Kong, here we come!