Was feeling rather moody and lonely after my short trip to Taipei and back, probably because I had missed the companionship of a fellow Malaysian, and we spoke to each other like we hadn’t seen each other for YEARS when in fact it had only been months at that time. I was kind of reluctant to head back to Neiwan, but I was still halfway through my internship, so there’s no way I could slack off work before it was done.
Luckily our boss was in a traveling mood today. Right after the morning computer lessons ended, he whisked us off to Guangxi for hot noodles, and promised us a trip to Er Mei later in the afternoon.
We had actually been here before, on my second day after arriving in Taiwan before heading out to Taipei from Neiwan. This was our second time here, and got to help myself to bowls of steaming hot pork noodles and vegetables. Yet another outlet where people who patron it would leave their signature on the walls, especially celebrities.
After lunch, we stopped by at an old tea factory establishment which was now turned into a museum for those interested.
As most of the guided tours had to be booked beforehand, and the owner of the place knew our boss, he allowed us to walk and roam freely around, but the only down part was that there weren’t much explanation or description given at what we were looking at, except for the knowledge that they used to produce tons and tons of tea meant for exporting in their heydays.
Most of the machinery used were now defunct, so they had bars built around it to keep busybody away and from hurting themselves.
A small room which appeared to have been once an office also stored many antiques which were used then, including templates which were sprayed on the crates in which the tea were packed in to show where they were bound for, and Japan made up a large part of it.
What tour to a tea factory is complete without some hot freshly brewed chinese tea?
Our next stop was a roughly half an hour drive to Er Mei which was the neighbouring district. It was also the headquarter for one of the Taiwanese Buddhist foundation, where they are largely represented by the laughing Buddha. Even in our car, we could see the huge statue of it from afar. Our boss told us that the devotees from all around the world contributed money to the foundation to have this statue erected.
Parked our car near their building, and got down to get some fresh air and stretch our legs. The place was rather serene, save for a few devotees pacing around quietly, but unfortunately the weather was too hot to stay out in the sun for too long.
Boss brought us down a winding road, as he wanted to show us a hanging bridge which was located not very far away. The greenery was the perfect shade to keep us out of the sun, and the long hanging bridge was stretched over a wide lake with water lilies floating in it.
Leaving Er Mei back to Guang xi, my boss decided that it would be fun to stop and take some pictures of the green paddy fields which were growing brilliantly along a small backlane. As this was a hilly area, the wind was strong and we had fun running along the barrier to get our perfect shot before the sky turned dark and the rain began to descend on us.
Not one easily hampered by the rain, boss brought us to a riverside park which he thought was very scenic to take more pictures.
Wrapping up our little tour of the day was a visit to a tomato farm which grew and sold nothing but tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes. They claimed to have the largest collection of tomatoes growing on their ground, and we were allowed in to visit their tomato farms. Not a very huge fan of tomatoes but the cherry tomatoes were absolutely delicious!
Boss then drove us all back to Neiwan and I had a long nap before realising it was too dark outside when I woke up again, so our own option was instant dinner from 7-11 up on the hill by then. Made a mental note to head out to Hsinchu the next day to buy some ingredients and actually cook meals for ourselves because all the Taiwanese food was getting to us. I needed curry!
この長い旅で 