This morning we walked to Old Street Sanxia. The actual "Old Street", with its brick archways and storefronts, is really pretty tourist-y, and it was fairly empty in the morning - only a few tourists and some classes of little kids on field trips all in their matching school shirts. Some of the shops weren't even open yet. We did get to finish up our final souvenir shopping, and it was easy to get around. We found a bullhorn crescent roll shop and bought tasty treats again for a mid-morning snack.
But our journey getting down to Old Street was absolutely fascinating. We went through many streets that progressively got more narrow, and this is obviously a major shopping area for the locals. Every kind of tiny shop imaginable lined the streets, and out on the sidewalks were many, many vendors of vegetables, fruits, fish, chicken, pork, beef, and lots of other foods we couldn't identify. Some had carts, and others just spread out a cloth and laid their produce out on it. It was a cacophony of sounds and a bustle of activity. There were huge crowds of people, cars (though not many - no room!), and the ever present scooters. Clearly, the morning shopping time is prime time for all the food. We saw legs of pig with their hooves dyed black. piles of chicken feet, and many other interesting items!
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| This is the little hanging note in the bathroom that is typical of those in U.S. hotels, stating that towels on the rack mean "don't wash", and towels on the floor mean "wash me", in an effort to conserve energy. Notice the typo!! LOL!! |
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| With Kai, the assistant manager of our hotel in Sanxia - great guy!! |
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| Fresh fish stand at the market near Old Street Sanxia |
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| Fresh vegetables spread out on a tarp on the street. |
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| The busy shopping street in Sanxia |
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| Looking down a narrow side street. |
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| Lychees for sale --- so yummy! |
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| Fresh veggies for sale! |
Then we walked back to our hotel via a fruit stand that our bus always goes past, to buy some apples and some yummy yellow plums for our lunch later. At the hotel we dropped off our purchases, washed the fruit, and headed out to Carrefour (like Hy-Vee/Meijer) for the rest of our picnic lunch items and a few other last-minute purchases. On the way, we stopped by Uncle Sam's and picked up P/A's bicycles for the last time. It has been so nice to pedal around like many locals do here. Then we followed a map given to us by the hotel assistant manager (who has been so wonderful to us - like our personal concierge helping us in every way possible), to go to a museum in the area. Well, long story, but the map isn't true to scale, and the roads aren't very bike-friendly, so we didn't end up seeing all he suggested, but it was still a nice afternoon. We went to a Hakka museum that was free, and ate our picnic lunch on a bench overlooking the gardens in back. The Hakka are an ethnic minority of native Taiwanese, and we learned a lot about them in the museum. Of course, the employees quickly located the one English-speaker there, and she was really great explaining things to us. She even printed out an English map of the area that was very helpful.
The Sanxia area is famous for its pottery, so we checked out some pottery shops, but didn't make it all the way to the pottery district and the pottery museum. Much too far and too dangerous by bicycle. So finally, we biked back to Uncle Sam and locked up the bikes again. We saw one of the classes returning from a field trip, getting out of the mini-bus owned by the school --- the kids were excited to see us again!!
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| We saw these 2 butterflies in the garden behind the Hakka museum while eating our lunch. |
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| One was actually orange and the other yellow - the colors didn't show up well in the photo. |
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| This is a model of traditional Hakka living arrangements. Family groups of 30-60 live in each round building with a common area in the middle. |
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| A group of Uncle Sam kids coming back from their field trip to the eye doctor. The school takes all the kids to their medical, dental, and eye check-ups during the school day, since the parents work and can't take time off for those appointments. It's another service the school provides. |
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| One last view of Uncle Sam American School after we locked up the bikes there. |
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| Tim and his mango slushie!! |
Finally, we walked back to the hotel, and on the way we purchased a bag of cut-up pineapple fresh off a street cart. We put it in our fridge and will take it along for breakfast at the airport tomorrow, since we'll have to leave before breakfast is served here at the hotel in the morning. Then we spent some time packing and re-arranging everything in our suitcases for the trip home. We actually put our smaller carry-on suitcase inside the "Santa Suitcase" for the return trip.
After showering and getting all dressed up for our last evening out, we hopped on the 922 bus for the last time, meeting Paul and Alana at their favorite "nice" restaurant, the Rose House. It is very elegant, and they are known for their extensive menu of teas. They also serve a variety of "high tea" meals English style. The dinner was wonderful - we both had fish, while Paul had chicken, and Alana had a beef stew. There was a salad also, with rose dressing. The meal included dessert, and we all had cake - very yummy and so pretty too. Our teas were wonderful. The other 3 all had iced fruit teas, and I had a pot of hot mango green tea. Amazing!! The teas were all served after the meal, and the iced teas all came in cute little pitchers, to be poured into stemmed glasses like martini glasses. My hot tea came in an ornate china pot painted with roses, on a little china trivet with sterno or a candle in it to keep the pot hot. Of course the teacup and saucer were lovely china as well. Melissa met us after the meal to join us for tea so she could say good-bye. She wrote us the sweetest note, and even wrote "thank-you" in Chinese characters ---- it must have taken her forever!!
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| Waiting on the boulevard for Paul and Alana to join us for our last dinner together in Sanxia |
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| More of the sidewalk on the boulevard - benches, trees, sculptures. |
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| There were many examples of trees being supported by 3 or 4 poles |
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| And here come Paul and Alana, after the short walk from their apartment |
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| What a lovely couple!! |
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| cake for dessert at the Rose House |
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| Delicious! |
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| My hot tea came in bone china, with a teapot over a candle to keep it warm. |
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| Melissa joined us for tea after dinner. :-) |
After supper and saying good-bye to Mel, the four of us walked down the boulevard (the street where P/A live and where Uncle Sam's is) for a while enjoying the evening. They took us to their favorite smoothie place and bought us a farewell smoothie. Michelle had Alana's favorite - strawberry, no sugar, and Tim had Paul's favorite - mango/milk with 1/2 sugar. Both were refreshing and delicious. We talked a while at the bus stop until a #922 came by and they headed to their apartment. It was tough saying good-bye to Alana, and Paul insisted he's coming to the hotel in the morning to see us off, even though we told him it would be too early for him on a school day. Tim and I sat at a cafe table on a terrace by the smoothie shop overlooking the boulevard sidewalk and finished our drinks, reflecting on our time here in Taiwan. We then took a slow stroll back to our hotel, walking hand in hand.
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| Not a very good photo, but a memory I'll always carry with me of our last sight of Paul and Alana in Taiwan, waving good-bye out of the bus window after our wonderful dinner at the Rose House. Love you guys!! Thanks for an amazing time with you!! |
So, here we are. Good-night, Taiwan. We've enjoyed getting to know you!! It's off to bed and early to rise for our trip back to the good old U.S. of A.
Love,
-M & T-
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