I woke up this morning and two of my favorite things to eat was in front of me.
This one is from the noodle stand I tried to get the other day but was closed because business is so good that they have cut back their hours to only morning.
I used to eat this twice a day when I lived in Taiwan. Infact I've had it every morning here on this trip. I actually don't know where this particular stand is. My cousin or uncles delivers it to me every morning. It is usually here before I wake up.
Then I took the metro to the Taipei train station to get on a train to go to my mom's home town. This is the first time I have taken a train. I like these trains, they are clean. The best part, it is made for my size. Look! I can even reach the foot petal.
Photo from the moving train of a town, a typical town in Taiwn of the old and the new.
After I got off the train in the town of RueiFang I stepped across the street to the bus stop to get to JinGuaShr which means Golden Gourd.
This is the landscape here, totally beautiful. All the steps are steep, very steep. People complain about walking in the hills of San Francisco, they haven't done these steps. The steps are a recent addition, it was just dirt paths back then.
This is the house my mother lived in.
Right next to it is this temple my mother used to run up and play in, yup very steep and they didn't have steps back then, did I mention that already?
These are images of guardians you can see on the walls at the entrance.
.
More sculptural reliefs of
animal form guardiansThis type of sculptural relief is common in Taiwan and common from province of FuJian, China.
This is a common water fountain you can find in the courtyard of temples. It usually contains the mystical animal of dragon and pheonix.
Then I tooke the bus and went to old town JioFen for food. I stopped at a soap shop. There are soaps with medicinal herbs in it. They come in round shapes and bars.
This basket of formula has lavender in it.
This one has moxa.
I went to a spicy stinky tofy stew place. It's sooooo spicy, look at the chilly oil.
In this shop they have Taiwanese local idioms in verses. I don't know them at all. I took photos of them so I can learn them.
I stopped by a sea shell shop. I love sea shells. This shop sells exotic sea shells for home decor.
This man is famous for making good instruments. I like the deeper sound that comes from bigger ones than the higher pitch little handy ones you can hang around your neck. He was teaching me how to make one on the spot. Isn't that cool. He told me I should make one for myself and I can adjust the sound as I work with the clay. Totally cool, he wasn't even trying to sell one to me.
I had to go back for more taro balls in read bean soup and eat it in the heat with a fan. I don't mind the heat. The food is great and the killer view is even better.
At around 5pm I took the bus home instead of the train. The bus picked me up right outside of the entrance back to Taipei. It was the JiLong Bus and stops at Chung Xiao Fu Xing metro station exit #1. It took and hour and only costed me 90 yuan. The driver was a young driver and drove the bus more like a taxi. It was better to not watch.
