Cousin Jamie and Bill, Isla and Seizo visited from Hawaii to join Jeff's family and ours on an around the island minibus (aka Xiǎo bā, aka Little Cutie) tour! We would travel 8 places in 8 days in a rapid tour going counter clockwise around the island. We somehow managed all 6 kids, who seemed to be in one big wrestling ball at all times, and their 4 different allergy restrictions (fish, shrimp, milk and even soy) with no major incidents! Seizo was a big hit - literally. At 6 foot 4 inches tall, with the humor matching his young cousins, he basked in their admiration and poor attempts at mocking him. Jenny, our guide, brought us all Santa hats, educated us about the candidates for the upcoming election, told us about her travels around the world, and lectured the kids to thank their parents for paying for the trip. After much effort, Jean and I managed to force the entire crew into wearing (and even being photographed in) trip t-shirts with their favorite cartoon animals and cute Taiwanese expressions. Trae's included a kitten in a dinosaur costume that read "human weapon". - Kim
After a quick trip through the salt fields and an estuary on the western coast, a return to our favorite beach in Kenting served as the perfect place for Christmas morning. The warm weather was welcome after the cold wind and rain in Taipei. The kids spent several hours playing football, Trae taught Poppy the long jump, and Bill and Jeff and I enjoyed a beer from the beachside patio bar. - Kim
When the itinerary read "cycling in the rice fields following the irrigation canals in Chishang" we were all ready for some exercise - it had been many hours of swerving bus along bendy mountain roads. However, the tour guide insisted we take electric group bikes so we buzzed along to visit long open spaces, public sculptures, and ponds among the rice fields. -- Kim
Day 5 of the tour, we joined a larger group tour to visit the Luanshan Village or "Sazasa" of the Bunun indigenous tribe. Our guide for the village was Alee-Moose (phonetic spelling and his name meant Sponge) was great. He was filled with energy, interesting facts and constant jokes. The first thing we did upon arrival was take a bamboo skewer from a woman that had a piece of raw pork on it. Alee-Moose taught us how to say thank you "ooh na nah" and advised us that if you say it to the woman handing out the skewers, you will get a bigger piece. We then sat next to one of the several camp fires going and grilled our meat like a s'mores. Next you could then get some local brewed tea or rice wine. In hindsight, there wasn't really necessarily a purpose for this portion of the tour other than we got a nice snack. Thinking back, I was questioning myself and what I forgot about this part of the experience and what the relevance was. But we weren't really given any information like this had any significance. It was just a nice welcome. Come in and eat some pork, have some tea and we'll start the tour shortly. What a fantastic way to start.
After our welcome snack, Sponge requested each group in attendance to send a representative to meet with him. This representative was going to provide an offering of rice wine and betel nuts to the gods prior to us entering the forest for a hike. I was by default our group representative. It all become suddenly evident why I was carrying around this plastic bag filled with unknown contents. A little side note to give some insight into how I'm living life right now. This may not be the best way to travel, but since moving to Taiwan, whenever there is a language barrier, I basically have found that I unconsciously live "yes" days. If someone clearly doesn't speak English and says something in another language to me, I just say "yes" and see where the situation takes me. It's better than the two of us trying to fumble around and say words at each other that neither of us understand. So far it's worked at pretty good minus the time I ate fish gonads. And then the other time when I ate fish gonads. Asia, you got me twice (once in Japan and once in Taiwan), but you won't fool me a third time into swallowing a bunch of fish sperm. Other than that, nothing of major consequence has occurred...that I know of.
After we initially arrived at the village, our driver said something to me not in English (not sure if it was Chinese or the indigenous language), handed me this plastic bag, pointed to where I needed to walk. I just nodded and said yes. Now I find myself in front of Sponge with all the other family representatives. Again, not sure what's going on. People with the plastic bags, go stand by Sponge. Yes. Now Sponge is giving what seems like intricate instructions (all in Chinese) on how to present the offering to the gods. Just saying "yes" will not suffice in this situation. We are all standing in front of the offering table and I'm scanning my surroundings like my life depended on it, looking for any cues on what I'm supposed to do to not piss off the gods. Thankfully, Jean snuck behind me after about 30 seconds and started whispering the translation of the instructions to me. I went second to last so I could observe how everyone presented their offerings. In real Tashiro fashion, I went to put my offering on the table of betel nuts and rice wine and suddenly wondered, why am I the only one offering up rice wine in a plastic bottle? Everyone else has glass bottles. Are we going to be looked down at because I just presented the cheap stuff? We all made it out safely, so I guess it was okay. Just in case you want to know what betel nuts are. https://www.cnn.com/2016/09/05/asia/taiwan-asia-betel-nuts/index.html
After the offering, we were on our way. No one really knew what to expect on the hike, and what insight into the culture of the villagers we would learn along the way. Again, not a bad thing, but the hike was just a really awesome hike. Just like the pork was an awesome snack. No real information was given about anything. They just led us up trees, through rock formations, up sketchy rope ladders, etc. It was challenging and super fun. The kids and adults alike loved it. It did leave all of us wondering if anyone knew what the hike entailed. There were a bunch of senior citizens in attendance along with a couple babies and one lady in a walking boot (see pictures below of hike). Everyone made it though and on to lunch.
Following the hike, we waited for the chefs to call us up to the eating area for lunch. While we waited, Sponge asked for volunteers to help him plant a tree. Following each hike, they plant a new tree to thank the gods and also help sustain the forest as we may have damaged some of the ecosystem as we enjoyed our hike.
Shortly after the tree was planted, we got called up to eat lunch to a high open air area where we sat overlooking the river valley. All of the men were summoned to the kitchen area while the women could sit down and relax. Sponge told us we were to be "useful men". We were to get all the chopsticks and plates for the women. We then grabbed the large serving dishes of food from the kitchen and delivered them to the buffet table. All of the food was prepared by 3 cooks who rolled out 38 dishes for the group of around 80 people. Everything was prepared over open fire. The food was cooked to perfection. It was unbelievable at how they were able to accomplish this feat of cooking this massive amount of food, with perfect timing of presenting all of the food at once, with everything coming out piping hot. Just the rice alone was amazing. I can't cook 3 cups of rice on a nice stovetop correctly. They made probably 40 cups of rice in an enormous pot over an open fire! We then learned that after they would wash the dishes, the 3 cooks would then go out to the gardens and pick all the vegetables for the next meal. The thought of that was exhausting.
Following the main course, Sponge taught the group how to make mochi for dessert. Two people would alternately pound the rice in a giant wooden bowl using large wooden pestles or also known as kines. They mixed in some steamed pumpkin for flavor and then we dipped the mochi in ground peanuts. A great ending to a fantastic meal.
-- Trae
Mom's favorite part of the trip was this place called Taroko Gorge. Basically it is a ginormous canyon with green plants and tunnels and steep rock walls. On the first day we did a hike on the Baiyang Trail. We had to wear helmets and yellow rain gear because it was very wet and there were falling rocks. Near the end, there was a cave where you could take your shoes off and you could walk inside it and walk under splashing water in the dark. A lady we met on the trail called it a water curtain. The cave was really fun but we got really wet and soggy. The second day we hiked Shakadang Trail. It was really long and beautiful. About midway through, there was a little market where indigenous people sold snacks. We ate sausages, fried mochi, and delicious aiyu (fig) juice. We walked along the river which was the brightest turquoise blue and the rocks had layers and layers. Mom and dad saw a group of monkeys and watched them cross the tree tops above them. One of them pooped on mom! At the very end of the trail there were a bunch of really big chickens, really big geese, and really big roosters. At first, Seizo got too close, and the mom goose almost got him. On the way back down, Dad stopped at a riverside cafe and asked if he could order homemade bread to go. The owner told him no, and told him the bread wasn't enough. It wasn't worth it if you weren't staying for the view. That happens a lot in Taiwan. Everyone wants you to get a good deal. -- Poppy w mom's help.
Both the beaches we went to were really fun, except this beach in Yilan we got to swim, surf, and boogie board. The water was a bit cold, but nothing too bad and the waves were pretty good for all the activities we wanted to do. Seizo caught a good wave while surfing, me Kerai and Enzo all caught a wave at the same time, and everyone had a blast swimming. While we weren't playing in the water, we were usually playing football. Seizo would usually be all time QB while the two teams would be me and Poppy vs. Kerai and Enzo. After a little while, the game got really serious where we had black sand marks/designs all over our bodies (because it was a black sand beach). After Poppy and Enzo left to do other things, it was one vs one - me and Kerai. Seizo got really mad at Kerai at least ten times for dropping perfect passes that he threw, and I ended up winning the game 80 to 45. - Grayson
Back in Taipei, for New Year's Eve, there was a lot happening! Mom, auntie Jamie, and auntie Jean had a hair shampoo. What they do is put a bunch of different little foam animals and decorations on your head and give you a shoulder massage. Then we all hopped down by Taipei 101 for a early dinner. Then there was a concert happening but with a bunch of different people kind of like a competition between a few different groups. First there was a rock band that was a little too loud and crazy for me, then a girl named Julia Wu who was actually not that bad at singing, then after her, we knew something big was happening because everybody was starting to stand up and the announcers said that Hwasa was going to play a few songs and that made everyone crazy because apparently she is super famous. The first song she played was called "I love my body", and about in the middle of the song I found out that I knew the first song because some of my friends showed it to me. Also half of her songs are sometimes in Korean because that's the main language that's not English, but she does not speak any Chinese. When she was done singing, the announcers told her how to say I love you in Mandarin - wo ai ni - then everybody clapped and laughed. After we got tired of the concert, we came back to our home base which was where we would watch the fireworks at, and just sat down for a while, took some photos, and played with these cool little toys that we bought when we got there. It was like a sling shot but the part that flys in the air lights up, and you pull it back and "WHAMP" it was up in the air as soon as you let go, but the funny thing that happened was you can't really control where it goes, so one time Grayson hit someone because the wind was a little strong. Finally it was 3 minutes until the fireworks went off. And now 1 minute, and now 10 seconds it was counting down, "shi, jiu, ba, chi, leo, wu, si, san, er, yi!!!!!!" all the fireworks went blasting out from everywhere in the Taipei 101 building! It was amazing! Also the latest I probably stayed up. After we all walked home in tons of tons of people but after a while we went into a small street to hide away to make it a little more less crazy. At the very end, I needed a 30 second ride on my dad's back to hold me over until we got there. It was a great end to an awesome week!
-- Poppy!
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