Taiwan Adventure Journal - Day 5!

January 21st was actually one of my favourite days, simply because we ate such amazing food. All the food we had was pretty amazing already, but today was EPIC. My uncle and dad picked us up from the hotel, and we set off to Tam Shui (淡水). A more proper translation is actually Danshui). The first stop was at a temple called Guandu Temple 關渡宮. This temple is a Tao temple, so there were many different statues of different gods that they worship. Like many other temples, this one was very beautiful as well! It was special in the way that it was very large; the part we entered in was where people would practice and light inscents. We walked up the stairs and onto the look out area, where we can see a majestic view of the infamous red bridge that brings people into Tamshui. Before this bridge existed, people had to take the ferry over to get into this town. As we progressed further into the temple, there was a park and garden area where people can relax enjoy the beautiful view. We didn't have much time to spend around the garden area, because we were actually on a schedule today, but it was nice to enjoy the calm, serene part of the Guandu temple.

 Outside GuanDu Temple

 Carved from a single piece of stone

 Tossing in coins for good luck

Little garden on the small mountain that the temple is built into

We were pretty hungry after our intense walk up the temple (there were many stairs!) so my uncle and dad took us to eat seafood at Tam Shui! We were told that Tam Shui seafood is very famous and delicious, so our expectations were very high. Well, the food we ate definitely met my expectations! I actually don't remember the name of the restaurant :( The restaurant wasn't too busy, but we were told that it was because it was so close to Chinese New Year and CNY Eve, so everyone had gone back home to visit their families. We got many delectable dishes; there was a oyster dish stir fried with tofu and yummy sauce, a dish with mussel cooked with soy sauce, the most yummy fried rice dish I have had and a great fried noodle place! Like mentioned before on my other posts, I do not do the food justice. It was just so amazing and I was definitely very happy after eating that.

After the meal, we then went to see a historic site called the Fort of San Domingo. Fort San Domingo was originally built in Tam Shui by the Spanish, and there is much history associated with this area. It is now a historical museum, and it was interesting to learn about this history of how trade became to be in this area, and also historical events such as the Opium War.

Our next destination was the Tam Shui Fisherman's Wharf. It was a big, open space that allowed to see the water and boats that surrounded the area. We walked across the square (past the random 'Love' sign haha) and onto the bridge that connected us another part of the wharf. There were many restuarants and food shops along the area. It was a quiet, windy day and was a nice day to enjoy alongside the water!

As if the delicious seafood lunch wasn't enough, my dad and uncle took us to eat MORE seafood! This time, it was a huge plate of soft-shell crabs. The crabs are smaller than what we were used to, but the dish came with about 8 crabs, so it was definitely enough. It was also very different than what we were used to, because of how they were cooked. I guess since the shell is soft, the flavor and sauce seeps to it a lot more, so we can taste the yummy, greasy flavour of the sauce in the crab meat. Yum!

Before Picture

 After Picture

We definitely had to walk off the dinner, so we decided to walk around the street market of Tam Shui. I saw a pair of really nice mitts, but the lady wouldn't give us the price we offered, so we kept walking and found a cheaper pair at another store! A lot of the stores/booths sell the same stuff, so you really need to decide on a price that you would accept and pay, and if vendors don't meet that, then too bad for them. Anyways, we did a bit more shopping around the streets; it was really nice! We noticed that there were more souvenir stuff, so I got a couple of nice things for my friends back home :) There were some pretty epic sales along the sidewalk; one was for leather belts and wallets for $100 TWD! To prove that they were real leather, the guy selling the stuff took out his lighter and held it to the belt - no burn = real leather! Jordan was very interested, and picked out a shiny new belt for himself!

That was pretty much the whole day...it was pretty epic. Seafood lunch, seafood dinner, lots of sightseeing and market shopping = an amazing day!