National Museum

Day 33
Last day, my cousin Chen Chen gave me free tickets to National Museum and it was the only day I had left to squeeze it in.  

These swords are 5 thousand years old. 

The creative details on them are just beautiful and amazing.  The things I didn't get to see in museums in China, I got to see in Taiwan.

Swords from Neolithic period.



More swords from various periods in China.









This is one of my favorite Buddhist images of Maitreya Bodhisattva from what is now Pakistan region, 823 BCE.  












Yes it is not allowed in the museum to take photos and I did anyways.  The cameras caught me and security guards were sent to follow me around each floor. Each floor a different security guard of the floor was notified to follow me.  I finally lost the last one when a tour bus of people flocked the floor.  

I also enjoyed the Chinese Calligraphy script and brush work section.  The scrolls were just amazing.  I like the one called "Market by the River" it's a mural scroll.  It depicted life of many different areas of social class and stages of life.  There were no women on the streets, they were all inside with children.  It was beautifully done.  

I had to race through all the artifacts on the floor with Islamic work.  That same floor also had beautiful work from Mongol and Russia, totally just beautiful.  

After the museum I still had plenty of time because my midnight plane is still hours away.  I decided to go to my favorite places that was near by to eat some more yummy food for dinner.  

At the airport I had to pay an extra 1,000 yuan ($30.) for over staying my no VISA 30 day entry by 2 days and I had to sign a form saying I can not enter the country until a whole year from now without a VISA.  

Breakfast 247 Shop in ShiLin

Day 32
Had to soak in the hot spring again before I leave tomorrow, one last dip.  Then I decided to get off in 
ShiLin Breakfast 247 place by exiting the metro at ZhiShan.  It's great to be able to get breakfast flaky flat bread and fried dough with fresh soy bean milk.

How this fried dough came about was historically, someone was famous for being a traitor who betrayed his country and friends.  When justice came and he was arrested, people celebrated by molding dough into his body shape and fried it and then ate it.  



Went to 3rd uncle's for dinner.  His wife is such a great cook. The simplicity of wonton soup is just great with a few pieces of Chinese celery for crunch and flavor.

I don't usually like rice noodle sticks unless it is done in traditional Taiwanese flavor, and texture.  This was delicious.  

Sweet sticky rice with home made red bean paste.

Then I went to 2nd uncle's place for tea.  

He makes strong good tea, Taiwan style, there are more like tea shots.  I think I was there drinking tea for hours till 2am.

Dried mango from yesterday's trip. Very delicious, sweet and chewy.

My cousin Wei Xiang who recently got married showed me his wedding photo album. He and his wife are both day soap script writers who work out of the home and goes in the studio for meetings once a week.

Purple charcol is used to keep the leaves fresh and dry.  It is damp and humid in Taiwan, put a stick or two underneath the lid above paper protecting the tea leaves.  The art and care of tea is a culture in itself.

He keeps his tea in clay pot, old school.  He is a beautiful calligrapher and he write his own label for the pots.

He has a little tea table and lots of great tea and, and a pot for each one.

Wholesale Distribution Fruit Market and Perfume Tour

Day 31
We went to the wholesale distribution fruit market.  This area is well known for excellent fruit.  Everything I tasted was so good.  Tropical fruits at it's best.  I like the very fragrant mango and honey pineapple.  The pineapple is sweet and small in size and isn't as acidic as the other ones I have tasted in US.  

Then we went t a perfume cosmetic place for tour.  The outside of the compound has a very nice garden.

I like beauty of nature.  I also like to see what people can do with gardens.


These leaves are heart shaped, very cute and beautiful.

That may look like ice cream but it's facial mask in ice color and flavors.

My cousin YaLin with her brother Chaun Feng and her husband Hong taking a mist bath on the lounger. 

My 3rd aunty and 3rd uncle in law on the massage chair.  

My 2nd aunty and her husband.  My 2nd uncle in law was a friend of my father and when they wanted to get married, my mother who is her older sister was not married yet.  Some how in old days you marry in order of your birth.  So they decided to pair my parents up to get married so that they can get married.

My 3rd uncle in law bought me a classical popsicle with 4 beans in it.  I love this stuff.  


Family chat table.  I have no idea what they were talking about.  I wondered around the lotus and lily pond.





our tour bus

My cousin Chuan Feng who almost moved in with us in US when he finished military but his visa was not approved for whatever reason.  So he spent time in Japan working as a tour guide instead.  

The trip concluded at 8pm and we went our separate ways.  My cousins continued their party at their place over bottles of wine.  

Nan Tou

Day 30
Woke up at 4am before my alarm to make sure I don't miss my bus ride.  I only had about 2 hours of rest.  I think laying down regardless if I sleep or not helps a bit.  I decided I needed a morning shower from the night and then made myself 2 cups of tea for breakfast.  I made it for the 5:45am bus load.  Maybe it was the lack of sleep or other things, but my 3rd chakra felt fried.  


My 3rd aunty and her husband organized this family trip along with his friends.  Shue Jian Bao was offered along with water, tea and coffee for breakfast.  The bus rolled off at 6:30am.  

The bus  was loaded with 14 speakers in the luggage compartment above the seats and microphones were handed out along with song selection album for karaoke.  It was only 7am.  This is all very new to me and part of my Taiwan experience.  Well, it took getting used to, to hear people karaoking at 7am in the morning and then non stop as long as the wheels rolled.  Glad I brought my ear plugs.  After 30 minutes of off tune, off beat singers, the pros stepped in to save my sanity and they were amazing.  I get the excuse of being a foreigner and don't know any Chinese songs.  

My cousin Chuan Feng sat next to me.  We talked and talked about everything.  We pretty much caught up with our entire life on this bus ride.  He was in a car accident a year ago and broke his collar bone.  Now every time it rains his bones hurt.  I have heard of this and others have reported the same thing.  

We got on a boat to check out Mangroves. It was raining so they gave us straw hats and rain coat to wear.  I saw lots of egrets, crabs, the mangroves are mostly poisonous.  The crabs are poisonous so no one goes crabbing here.  


I enjoyed it that much more because it was raining and the sun was out the same time.  It was quite an experience.  The air felt fresh and it wasn't hot and stinky either.  Plus the rain drops make beautiful crystals on the greens and webs.  

There were fishes in the water that was flying up and then diving back into the water.  

These are oyster colonies.  

This is the museum with this type of crab that is poisonous with an extra large pincher for fighting.  

What sail boats used to look like.

We then went to an old town to snacks and shopping.  There was a DIY pottery shop with a ceramic teacher shop owner guiding your project.

These pottery are used for curing fruits like plums and olives for preserves.  I like Taiwanese fruit preserves.  There is a distinct flavor to to them and the texture, totally delicious.  I tend to go for tender, chewy, sweet ones over the savory hard or crunchy ones. 

I like these black prunes in moxa herb, chewy and sweet.



These are crunchy olives.

I like this type of prunes with seeds, they are sweet and chewy.

This type of pastry is originated from this area.  It is hard and crunch with hallow inside.

We checked into a hotel and I got my own room.  Hotel name is ShinDA a.k.a Taiwanese Scenic Park Business Hotel.  I love Japanese toilets with seat warmers.  I didn't bother with the water squirting function, that require more getting used to.  

Dinner was my own personal set of hot pot.  Oh it was delicious and more than I can eat.  Check out all the goodies.  I didn't have room for dessert or appetizers.  

After dinner was, tea, and more Karaoke.  What else, after a day of Karaoke since 7am, more karaoke! Oh yes and more food.  I did not have any more room for the cake and noodles and snacks.


My aunty who is a beautiful singer, singing her signature cover to a Taiwanese song, "Black Rose"

My 2nd uncle and his wife who are amazing singers, in tune, on beat, and stylized.  I am surrounded by professional singers, I must continue to think of reasons why I can't sing.  

So after Karaoke, and yes, more midnight tea in the room with my 2nd uncle and his wife.  I was lured by awesome organic tea of his private stash personally especially brewed for me.  We chatted over tea, meditation, my trip to India, China etc...