Amacizing and XiaoLongBao

We woke up early on Monday morning, June 24th, to see if we could join a tai chi group in a nearby park where Craig had done a lot of street contacting.

 Although it was drizzling and there were fewer people in the park than usual, we soon came upon this group who were "amacizing," according to Craig, a term coined by the missionaries to describe elderly people (grandmother = ama) doing their morning exercises, which involve rhythmically slapping their bodies and doing mild stretches.  They were amused as we joined in, slapping in time to recorded music.

A short time later we came upon a woman doing tai chi and she graciously allowed us to follow her, beginning her routine over again so we could start from the beginning.  We were amazed when she told us she was 70 years old and had only recently begun doing tai chi.  Her husband walked around the track.

Dad decided to strike out on his own.

Following Dad's example, Craig and I tried our own version--or I should say, I tried to follow Craig's version! Clearly more practice is needed....

We enjoyed exploring the rest of the park.

We came across a few other hardy souls doing their morning exercise routines.

We returned to our hotel, showered, and feasted on the abundant breakfast buffet, then headed out to explore some areas where Craig had served.

Loved the lotus roots (center back)

Looks like potato soup, but actually includes white radish chunks as well--delicious!

This was our view of Craig for most of the trip--he was a challenge to keep up with!

James Wang, Nancy's husband, was in Taichung visiting his parents, and he invited us to lunch at a world renowned Taiwanese restaurant, Din Tai Fung, which specializes in XiaoLongBao (steamed dumplings).  It was fascinating to watch the dumplings being made and even better to eat them!

Good thing I thought to take a picture before they were all gone!

James Wang, Craig, Mary Lee and Bruce at Din Tai Fung

The restaurant was located in a fancy, new mall, which included a grocery story that reminded us of AJs (where we can't afford to shop either).

Durian fruit.  Craig said they don't eat it till it's rotten and even he, lover of stinky tofu, won't eat this fruit!

Custard packaged in egg shells--tasty!

Later in the afternoon, we took a taxi about an hour out of town to a place Craig had been to where we could buy scrolls and other items at a good price.  We pass these Daoist shrines on the way.

Later we walked through a Daoist temple.

 

Craig explained there are literally hundreds of thousands of gods.

Check out the eyes!

The last stop for the day was a fruit stand to buy some of the fruit that Craig has been raving about ever since he returned from Taiwan.  It was delicious!

Litchee fruit on the front left--a soft white, delicately sweet  fruit inside.

Dragon fruit comes in red...

and white.

The only thing that Dad and I discovered in Taichung that Craig didn't know about was a gelato store called Ex-Libris (next door was an elaborate candy store set in a library decor) with an amazing number of flavors--60 in all--including 20 flavors of chocolate, 20 fruit flavors, 8 "Miyahara Specials," and 22 tea flavors.  Move over Frost!