Dumplings, dessert, and Yuan Heng Temple (元亨寺)

Yesterday Stanley took us for some delicious rice dumplings (filled with pork, egg, mushrooms, and covered in a warm peanutty sauce), rice cake, and intestine soup. This was our second day in a row eating intestines as Stanley had served us some the night before as an appetizer at his restaurant. Once you get past the idea that you’re eating entrails, they’re not so bad! Fittingly, they kind of taste like hot dogs. Think about that next time you have one of those! 

We each had a bowl of intestine soup, rice cake with pork, and rice dumpling with pork.

 
After our delicious lunch, Stanley drove us to Yuan Heng Temple, one of the largest temples in southern Taiwan. It is on the side of Shoushan and is home to many beautiful structures as well as a large number of male and female monks. Brett and Stanley both took quite a few pictures, though I don’t know if ours will be up on the blog anytime soon. Brett’s been pretty preoccupied with sorting through his photos from Singapore!

A monk walks down a corridor at Yuan Heng Temple

Brett & Amanda

Stanley & Brett

Buddha statues at Yuan Heng Temple

One of many towers at Yuan Heng Temple

Yuan Heng Temple

After Yuan Heng, we went for chua bin or shaved ice. I had mango ice, Brett had mixed fruit with “milk ice” (made by shaving frozen milk), and Stanley had pudding and milk ice covered in condensed milk. Too delicious!

Mixed fruit chua bin

We spent the evening relaxing, but eventually went out to grab a snack to eat while watching the Godfather. For a long time we’ve suspected the people on one of the top floors of using the elevator to go between upper floors, thus making the wait at the bottom a long one. Last night we finally shared an elevator with the culprits - a brother and sister no older than seven years. When the elevator doors opened and the children realized a pair of waiguoren were coming aboard, the little girl almost lost her mind with excitement. She took in a huge breath of air and held it in her cheeks like a blowfish, while also grinning ear to ear. They both stared up at us, eyes twinkling with awe. As we got off the elevator and Brett called “Bye-bye!”, the girl looked ready to explode as she and her brother called “BYE-BYE!” after us.

I know no one will pity me for this sentiment, but I’m getting sad that our summer of funemployment is coming to a close! We’re handing back our internet device this afternoon but we’ll be reconnected on the evening of the 25th when we arrive at our training hotel.