I think that the bus rides in between the sites of Taiwan’s treasures are becoming an increasingly appreciated component of our daily routine… I know that I personally cherish the accumulated hours of sleep that I get on the air conditioned bus. After an hour-long nap, we toured the Wushantou reservoir, constructed by a Japanese engineer, and the surrounding attractions. Following a delicious 蓮花大餐and another multiple-hour nap, we arrived at 高美濕地. The hot sun forced many of us to hide under our umbrellas for protection, which created an amusing sea of color as we toured the wetland. For those who chose to keep their sneakers on like me, we bought welcomingly cold drinks and 魷魚 from local vendors and engaged in rather interesting conversations, but for others like Eileen…
At the end of the eco-tour, we had some time to explore the shore of the wetland by ourselves. We had to leave our shoes on the cement walkway before the shoreline, but I felt really lucky to be able to walk around, since our tour guide told us that it was going to be closed in a month to preserve the natural environment and its inhabitants. Along the way, we saw hundreds of holes and dips in the silt. We had a lot of fun crouching in the pools of water, trying to catch crabs, shrimp, and fish. We were pretty successful! David, Robert and I were walking around, each carrying a crab in our hands. We named them Gui Gui, Pao Kuai, Ah Ge. It was really entertaining letting them run around in our cupped hands. We released them all at the end when we closer to the water. It was so beautiful with the sun nearing sunset. Unfortunately, we had to go back to our bus before the actual sunset, so we couldn’t watch it on the shore, but we caught a bit of it on the bus.
司機大哥 deftly navigated the overwhelming sea of cars and motorcycles and swarming people and safely brought us to 東海夜市 where the true fun of the day (in my personal opinion) really began. Luckily for our group, Zoe often frequents this night market, so we embarked on an adventure to find all of the yummiest items. Although initially distracted by free cookie samples and a cart with Doremon and Hello Kitty toys, we 鑽-ed our way into a sparsely lit alley for the first delicacy of the evening: 刮包. Instead of the typical colorfully adorned stand with bustling workers behind a counter, I was surprised to see a solitary woman surrounded by several tables, on which a plastic bin of 包’s and several mysterious crock pots perched. Unperturbed, Zoe ordered for us, and we returned to the main street munching on the harmonious combination of包 + 五花肉 + 煎蛋 + mustard greens + peanut powder. We completed the meal with asian-fied fried chicken sandwiches, some Taiwanese shaved ice-like thing, 大腸包小腸, and 木瓜牛奶. Although I had wished that we had more time to thoroughly explore this night market, I also greatly appreciated the expertise that Zoe and文哥 provided that allowed us to taste so many delicious things and not get utterly lost among the many people and cars. This night market trip helped me forget about being covered in mosquito bites and reminded me of one of the reasons why I love Taiwan :).
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