Walking with my grandma to lunch 🙂 She’s still so active and can take care of herself easily. Admire her so much!

We go to the same restaurant every time we visit Hsinchu and I don’t mind at all. Food there is always good.

Temples in Taiwan are so colorful

Hsinchu Zoo is only 20NTD, around $0.60! It’s a small zoo, but lots of animals to see.

These birds fighting over the same twig of branch.

These geese fighting over I don’t know what, but it was loud!

Saw a rare sighting of a hippo entirely OUT of the water. Caught a couple photos of it, before it quickly went back in and under water.

Traditional Hakka flower designs

Strawberry pineapple shaved ice, refreshing from the outrageous hot weather that I totally wasn’t expecting.

I wish I was able to tell what each temple are about. Each temple supposedly has a different guardian or a god/spirit you bai bai (pray) to. I’d always ask my mom the stories, but can never remember them well enough to tell other people.

Dong Men Gate – East Gate

Spent a good day in Beipu where we got lunch at our favorite spot. Hakka food is so flavorful and salty! I love it!

I spot Joy & Martin’s signatures. Also Marsha’s and my brother’s PULSE

Here’s mine! Signed back in 2007!

Lunch with family 🙂

Pork knuckles

Pepper duck – the sauce goes well with the rice.

Visiting yet another temple

The details on these stone pillars are incredible

As some of the adults went to go sightsee more, Wilson and I decided to go get some Hakka tea, Leicha.

Mochi with peanut powder

You grind up green tea, then sesame seeds, then nuts. You grind it until all the oil comes out of the ingredients and it becomes a oily paste almost. Then they add hot water to the paste and you can drink it with some rice puffs. It’s delicious. We actually didn’t grind it all the way and the lady had to help us finish. We’re noobs.

Yummmmmmm

In the evening, met up with Brian and his friends to have dinner at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ place that was only $8! So cheap!

Great group of guys! They’re all around the area doing their army civil service teaching English at different schools. They all went to school outside of Taiwan so everyone was really international.

As we walked back home, we passed a local night market right behind Hsinchu’s train station. Played a game of the ring toss and got some Ramune, the Japanese soda with a marble in it.

And Wilson got his Ditto face Pikachu .___.