Mixed Up With The Taiwanese Mafia

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In Tainan, I stayed with my aunt's family on my mom's side. They were extremely helpful and wonderful hosts and I give them many thanks for taking me in! It's been very interesting learning about my mom's side of the family, and I've not met anyone related to me who is as chill as my cousin Ricky. It was great fun hanging out with him these past two days.

My first day in Tainan we headed to a monument/temple celebrating Zhen Cheng Gong, a Taiwanese hero who fought against the Dutch occupation in the 17th century. I was also given a chance to visit my grandfather who recently passed away. It was a sombering and reflective visit and I was really glad to get a chance to pay him my respects.

The following day we visited a variety of historic sites and went crazy on Taiwanese snacks and drinks. At the end of the day, we tried to check out some "bing liang xi si" stands. They are a sort of tobacco stand that also sells alcohol and a sort of legal drug made from the bing liang plant and chemical additives. The particular thing about these stands, which are found only in Taiwan, is that they are usually staffed by skimpily-clad girls.

Anyway, I've seen pictures of them and was thinking that if I told them I was a foreigner and asked nicely, I too could snap a photo and there would be no problem. Well, when we rolled up to one particular stand, the young lady came out and was very angry. She had thought I had taken a photo without asking, when in reality I had not! Anyway, she was wanting to delete the picture off my camera. Well, my camera just happens to be broken in such a way so that you can't review or delete any pictures from the camera itself.

She was pretty aggressive, and my cousin tells me how some of these places are affiliated with the Taiwanese Mafia! So in a rush to placate this lady's fury he hands over the flashcard with all my photos on it!

We decide the best course of action is to call the cops. They come, and after I apologized profusely to the her she didn't seem so upset anymore. Long story short, the cop was pretty chill about it and after following him to the station I got my camera and flashcard back safe and sound.

Tomorrow I head back to Taipei to stay with my very good friend Jen!!!

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Photos

Ricky and Me
Thanks for showing me around cuz!

Zhen Cheng Gong
Taiwanese Hero!

Bing Liang Xi Si Stand
In terms of photography, the Bing Liang hunt was unsuccessful, but the resulting adventure was great fun. I've posted the two photos I managed to get, though.

Bing Liang Xi Si Sans Xi Si
Xi Si is the mythical name of a very famous, very beautiful girl in China. This photo is without the beautiful girl hence sans Xi Si.