night market food and extreme humidity

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Today is our last full day in Taiwan. We stayed 2 nights in Hsinchu, a large town SW of Taipei, where Wendy's aunt's husband is from. Mostly, we've just been laying around in the dense humidity and eating really well. In Hsinchu, I had an amazing traditional Chinese dinner at the inlaw's home. It was a group effort by the grandmother, her daughter-in-law, and the Vietnamese maid. There were about 15 different meat, fish, and tofu dishes, steamed buns, soup, wine, and fruit for dessert. I struggled a little with the chopsticks but I certainly didn't go hungry 😊 Wendy noticed that there was no rice and asked about it, and it turned out that that family never eats rice. Very abnormal. They are obviously well-to-do. One of the adult brothers is second in command at the Royal Palace Museum in Taipei.

After staying in Hsinchu, we relocated up to Taipei for the last few days since Wendy's aunt stays there during the week for her job with China Airlines. Yesterday, while Wendy had her glamour photos taken, I went with the aunt to the Royal Palace Museum. It was humongous and we managed to traverse all three floors and do a pretty thorough job of it, though I admit that long before we finished I was loathe to see another porcelein, jade or bronze pot. I did feel that I learned a bit about Chinese history though. The last exhibit was a good way to end it since it was all interactive technology-short films about how bronze was made, etc. Taipei has a really good public transportation system, and we've taken the tube most everywhere, sometimes along with the bus. Why oh why don't we have the tube in the Bay Area and Portland? Everything is in English and Mandarin, so it's no problem to get around.

Last night, we headed to the night market for dinner. Wendy knew all of the best things to taste since she lived here til she was 6, and also spent 2 months here in high school for a summer study program. I had lots of different meats and tofu in good sauces, and yummy fruit drinks.

This morning, Wendy's aunt showed me the front page of the newspaper. It has a weather map and shows 3 typhoons brewing off Taiwan's coasts. Uh oh. We are supposed to fly back home tomorrow early evening and she said we SHOULD be fine since they are not supposed to hit for 2 or 3 more days. I could do without that kind of excitement.

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Photos

Buddhist temple
I couldn't resist!

Buddhist temple
His ancestor is going to be loaded

Night Market in Taipei
Tasty meats

live turtle game at night market
you catch'em, you keep'em