HSR

It was hard parting from Uncle Winston & auntie's place- we had so much fun with them.  We celebrated our last day before our return (we are definitely going back before we head back to the US) with uncle's amazing beef noodle soup (mentioned in the previous post, but it was so good I had to mention it again).

It is a pain in the butt to carry so much luggage around.  Just traveling from Ban-qiao to Xi-zhi was exhausting.  We cleaned up our luggage, did our laundry, and prep'd for our trip down south (nan-bu).  Cat and John were on the hunt for hats, as we've been told it is EXTREMELY hot down there (by multiple people... it was starting to scare me).  We went to Wu Pen Fu Market nearby and ended up shopping around for quite awhile.  We ran back to the train station, thinking we've missed the last train back home, but luckily there were still a few trains left for the night.

Before calling it a day, we grabbed some lu-flavored food from a nearby street cart (highly recommended by John) and had a midnight snack while planning out our trip to Kenting.  Then, it was off to bed.

***

The next morning was crazy.  For some reason, I thought we were going to wake up at 9:15 to leave around 10:15.... I was wrong.  We were suppose to leave the house at 9:15!!!  John woke us up at 8:53 a.m. and we rushed out.  Of course, we didn't make our first train.... you can only guess why.  We just took trains/MRTs to the High Speed Rail station (HSR) and changed our train date.  We asked our auntie about changing the date, and she said things would be fine just changing it at the station- we were charged a 150 NT fee per person.  I guess it's really just a $5 fee but still... we're on a low budget trip here!  It was an amazing ride on the HSR... I slept like a baby, Catherine has proof on the Tryx.  ^^;; 

We met up with Deng ayi at the HSR station so she could take us to eat Wan Ran Zhu Jiao.... absolutely amazing.  The best meat ever!  They had this really good garlic soy dipping sauce... I could totally go back for more.  After some bickering over the check (we failed... she had seniority!), she was ever so kind enough to drive us down to Kenting when we originally planned to take the bus.  I felt bad since we were terrible at communicating in Chinese, and we were stuffed to the brim to even stay away during the car ride.  Nonetheless, she is so sweet and such a fun person- I want to take her home!

We got to our hotel and it was... not impressive.  The location was far from the busy market, our room was teeny and full of mosquitos, not to mention hidden away in a traditional looking youth camp.  We got into the room and instantly looked up other places to stay.  Deng ayi showed us this really cheap place that looked spacious and nice, but the location again was too far (and they won't let us rent anything motorized without a national drivers license).  So, we finally checked online at a hotel that we looked at online- it was cheaper, closer, and more cozy.  Instant win.

We followed Deng ayi and Uncle Yen to their hot spring public bath- the first kind I'd ever been to!  It was outside, really hot, and pretty cool.  :P  Different temperature tubs, even massage chairs/showers, and it looked kind of like a beach but for tubs.... hard to imagine.  We soaked for a good 2 hrs then headed out for dinner.

They (once again) treated us to this famous duck restaurant- specializing in (can you guess?) duck meat.  I got this duck rice noodle soup which was great with a little extra white pepper and vinegar.  They dropped us off at our hotel and we really couldn't thank them enough for their hospitality- they are amazing friends (my parents have great friends!).

We cleaned up a bit at the hotel before going to the night market on the street just outside of our hotel.  It was very busy for a Wednesday night- lots of things to do, food to eat, and stores to shop.  Check John's facebook for our kiwi shaved ice!  We were pretty entertained for a couple of hours before we decided to head in.  Our first floor of the hotel is essentially a Family Mart convenient store, and we bought some water, fruit beer (lychee and grape- it was so sweet!), and some more midnight snacks (chips... chili pepper flavor and seaweed flavor).  We figured out details, budget, and got some screen time and now we're pooped.  Time for bed.  :)

Doggies sleeping on the welcome mat of our hotel ^^