Day 19 - Kaohsiung

Our second day in Kaohsiung began with a leisurely breakfast with Amy. Her second eldest son, Sheng, actually stood in the line I photographed for four hours in order to bring home several boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts, and so I got to have one with my coffee as Amy thought they were too sweet and wanted us to help eat them :)

Next, we went with Amy to her temple as she needed to meet with a nun there, and I love seeing temples. It was very beautiful and serene, and Sonny and I wandered around for a short while until Jeffery came and met us there so he could take us to the next spot on our busy itinerary.

Old temple gate and new art museum

 Our next stop was to go watch Mina do calligraphy at the event sponsored by their Minister of Parliament and also in part by Mina's school and Jeffery and Amy (they seem to be very involved in the community). It was a very busy event, the locals seemed really pleased. There were lots of kids, even ones in kindergarten who could only write one or sometimes two characters, but considering I was still mastering the alphabet at that age, its still pretty impressive. We spent about an hour here, getting introduced to all the other "bigwigs" and getting our picture taken. I grabbed a quick picture of Mina at work, but she was always surrounded by people wanting her to write something for them as she is the best in the school and even took third place in a national competition. She made a scroll set for us but unfortunately it got lost in communication and she forgot to bring it home with her.

That is the minister in white in the center. She seemed very nice, and for some reason they wanted Sonny and I in all the pictures. Pretty sure we are going to end up on some campaign promotion somewhere

Very busy (and out of focus :) Mina

One of the guests, the president of the PTA at Mina's school mentioned to Amy (who used to be the president) that he was having a party at his house and that we should go as there was lots of kids and free food. Amy mentioned it sounded fun, and we agreed, so we bid Mina good luck and good bye, and set off.

The party was very lively, with kids running around, and teachers gossiping, and everyone was just having fun. The host's home was perfect for a party, as it was almost a small farm with a big dirt area, and a long covered shed with karaoke and long tables. The kids were having the time of their lives playing in the dirt and riding bikes when we arrived. I immediately became the center of attention, which is a very weird sensation. They all wanted to practice their English and I was asked my name then had to ask each of them their name as well as answer what time it was, where I was from, and even take pictures with a few. The adults were all worried and kept telling the kids to leave me be, but I enjoyed talking to them.

At some point everyone started shouting for me to come see, and bring my camera. Turns out our host makes a very famous incredible roast/smoked chicken and he was taking it out to baste and I needed to photograph it. I dutifully obliged :) I was then escorted around back of the house to see the surviving relatives of our soon-to-be dinner. Overall, the whole party was a very large dose of the famous Taiwanese hospitality and I am so grateful that we ended up there. It was so nice to experience a real slice of Taiwanese life rather than just tourist things. Plus we had loads of fun talking to the teachers and other parents, especially the very nice couple who were plant physiologists and met in grad school. He now works for Pfieizer, and she teaches junior college, but as fellow scientists we spent a long time talking with them.

Our new friends. Also, note the bowl of beer Sonny is holding

Our host had lots of beer and within minutes of our arrival, Sonny was handed a bowl full of beer and ice and cheered. "Gambe!" Now, in Taiwan when someone toasts you, you don't just take a drink, you "bottoms up." As such, within 30 minutes, he had drank most of their version of a forty. I was helping him whenever I could, but as the two new guests, he got toasted a lot. At some point they figured out I could drink, and I was given my own bowl. Then all the other ladies joined in and there was lots of fun :)

After lots and lots of beer, our host decided we needed to drink tea. So he got out the very expensive (NTD$10,000 per kg I was told - again, hospitality!) tea and the proper tea brewing table and made us oolong tea Taiwan-style. I really enjoyed this whole experience as its the kind of thing I was planning to pay a good chunk of money to do in a fancy teahouse, and here I was getting to do it in a backyard, more as it is done in real-life.

 We drank tea and talked some more, and laughed at the kids singing karaoke, and then Amy mentioned that maybe we might need to get going as she and Jeffery had planned to bring us to a Hakka village to see the fields of flowers they plant every winter to keep their fields active in the off season. Our host was having none of that however, and insisted vehemently that we MUST stay until the chicken was done, and in fact we should stay for dinner as well! We agreed to stay a bit longer to try this famous chicken and so we continued to drink tea interspersed with bottom's up toasts. Finally, the time arrived! Our host declared the chicken to be ready! As guests we were served first and given a drumstick each, and I got the stomach and tail, despite my protests that I didn't need any special treatment. Let me tell you, that chicken was AMAZING. Very juicy, flavorful, and tender. So good! I am glad we stayed.

The master chef

Even the dog got bones and bits. He was very excited too!

Before we left our host's father wanted to show us the push tractor that he used to clear all the land that their homestead (seems like the best word for it) was one, and so he started it up and brought it out from behind a tree, and we all took pictures. According to Amy, it hadn't been started in years!

After that, we finally convinced our host that we needed to go and headed out. We met up with Jeffery and the kids and set off for the Hakka village, Mei-nong. We got their just before the sun set, but got in some quick pictures, then ate dinner (surprise surprise) at a traditional Hakka eatery that is a famous institution.

Tobacco fields

After dinner we went back to the apartment to rest for a short while, then headed out again to the local night market.

After we ate lots more, we headed back to the apartment, but not before stopping to get MORE food, salt-water chicken. After eating that along with some black bean tea, we finally went to bed.