March 13, 2011

Today we went to visit Ron’s aunt on his dad’s side that lives in Taichung. We started out the day with some breakfast. Simon liked the pineapples.

We also found a rice roll stand near our hotel. It’s not really packed like a roll, more like a massive ball. This one has pork chop inside although with the regular dried pork meat, fried dough stick, and pickled vegetables.

Grandma Chung met up with us at the train station to accompany us to Taichung. Simon and Grandma waiting. We bought him this hat last night while in Danshui. To protect his head from the rain and or shield his eyes from the sun.

For the train, Simon had his own seat… sort of. He fit perfectly on the tray table and was still under the weight limit.

He had a little snack during the ride.

We made it to Taichung and were picked up in two cars by Ron’s cousins.

They treated us to some special mochi stuffed with cake and fruit filling.

Plus Simon enjoyed some fresh fruits, including the baby bananas. Simon and Ron’s niece enjoyed a banana together.

Then we all headed out for some lunch. Simon let Auntie hold him for a few minutes.

We had some wah guay and ba wan.

The yummy filling in the ba wan.

The kitchen in front where the ba wan are keeping warm in the vat of oil.

Definitely a yummy place. The best wah guay and ba wan that we’ve had this trip.

Nap time on the way to our next destination: Lugang, Changhua

When we got there, we briefly visited the temple and walked around to get some snacks. This is a green onion pastry, it is sort of like a stuffed cinnamon roll. It’s stuffed with green onions and served pretty hot.

This is 2 scoops of ice cream with some peanut brittle shavings wrapped in a crepe.

All the eating wasn’t just for us. We bought Simone a cup of these tiny but very sweet strawberries. He loved them and almost ate the whole cup by himself. He shared a few with us and with the little cousin that was with us. He also was fascinated by this water decoration and let out a few squeals.

We also stopped for a late afternoon snack of oyster pancakes.

Plus a mixed plate of other fried goodies: tofu, turnip cake, and some green vegetable.

Ron doesn’t like oyster so had a shrimp pancake.

Heading back to the car. This hat was useful today since it was unusually warm today.

They dropped us off at the train station but we weren’t able to get tickets back to Taipei for another hour. So we ended up waiting there and snacking on some mini croissants and saving some for breakfast.

As the sun was setting, our train was about to come.

Simon was a bit restless in the train. Thank goodness it was only about an hour and 30 minute ride.

We met up with our old Singapore flatmate Justine for dinner. Along our walk to find a place to eat, we came across the Hello Kitty Sweets Cafe.

Too bad no time to eat this time around.

We also ended up walking around a lot because Justine was going to help me find a hair salon to have my hair cut and colored. Unfortunately it was too late to do anything tonight but she did find a place for me to have it done tomorrow. So instead, we found a place to have dinner. She says she used to eat at this place when she was younger since she lives nearby.

Cold appetizer of cow’s stomach.

Beef noodle soup with fresh knife cut noodles. Not what I expected for the noodles since when they are “knife cut”, I imagine them smaller. But they had a nice chewy texture to them and the beef was really tender.

Ron had the ja ja mien.

Plus this beef roll.

And one fried meat pie.

We’ve been eating a lot. I wonder how much weight all of us have gained…