Deinstall, Day 5, part 1

Because our work was complete, we had a day to explore. We all wanted to see the Lotus Pond, so we took off early in the morning to find it.

It did not disappoint.

It was absolute heaven for a girl who likes cement amusements. This is the back end of the Tiger Pagoda as seen from the Dragon Pagoda. In the inside of one of the two beasts, there's a wider space where an old woman has a card table set up to sell you things, but she mostly ignores you and watches the Chinese Oprah.

Swallows will give you an idea of scale here:

This cement fellow is a fish food dispenser. Both the turtles *and* the fish really like the food.

This is another one of the pagodas, as seen from the temple across the street:

On the inside of the dragon, this is what you see:

This handsome fellow was the main attraction. I'd seen him on Flickr, and was very happy we got to see him in person.

Across from the pagodas, as I said, was a beautiful temple. Here were some of the beautiful items you could purchase, I assume, as a tribute for a loved one. Feel free to correct me.

A man was selling corn by the side of the road, and it was beautiful. He had a brush made out of husks that he used to brush salted water onto the corn. Yum!

Our last stop by the Lotus Pond was down a little alley where we saw a small neighborhood shrine. The people who lived there showed us their well and laughed at us. I think they were trying to convince us they still used the well, but we're pretty sure they do not.

This caricature of the mayor of Kaohsiung, decked out in Year of the Tiger garb, was here and all over Kaohsiung.

More to come.

Deinstall, Day 4

Thursday we wrapped up in the morning and went out for lunch at a place that makes local Taiwanese cuisine. The noodles were flavored with radish tops, and the sauce was sesame paste, soy and ginger. I will be making this for mrguy soon.

After work we decided to have a drink at the tallest building in Kaohsiung

First you buy a ticket to go to the 75th floor observatory. You really can see very far from up there.

The observatory itself is unconventional: a gallery filled with museum cases exhibiting things (jade sculptures, crafts) that can be purchased. And there are large photos everywhere of things that you could see really well if you were on the ground. That was hilarious.

When we found the bar it was pitch dark, in order to make the city lights more vibrant.

They hand you a flashlight with your menu. I happened to have one from the Hawaiian Electric Company, so this was my view:

The drinks were large and strong. My blue lagoon was very blue.

Family Mart provided dinner that evening...

Deinstall, Day 3

I won't really discuss work, other than to say it was going smoothly.

We went to a nearby restaurant for lunch, and tried many things. These hard-boiled eggs appeared brown on the outside, but the whites were translucent and brown and the yolk was creamy and sticky. There wasn't much to it, so I moved on.

This deep-fried flaky bread was very tasty, and topped with the ubiquitous five-spice and sesame seeds.

My vegetarian roll was made with the flaky bread, and filled with pea sprouts and other tasty greens. If only it hadn't included mayonnaise it would have been perfect.

We were all ahead of schedule, so we knocked off early. Blondie and I decided to go to the sparkly mall for shopping and dinner. The night before, I had done some research and discovered that my little friend from Family Mart was a Lunar New Year promotion with Sonny Angel. On this evening, at the sparkly mall, I found some more kewpies and had to buy them. I now have a baby wearing a corn hat from the Sonny Angel Vegetable Series.

We found our dinner in the mall's supermarket. And dessert at the ice cream store. I had two flavors: yakult (yogurt) and rose grapefruit. Then off to bed.

Deinstall, Day 2

I came back to the hotel at lunch, and headed down to Family Mart for a snack. 

Now I have a new friend. 

I'd seen this little fella in our cab yesterday, and the ladies at Family Mart (who are friends of the sprout) gave him to me. 

He's an anatomically correct Kewpie doll in a Mah Johngg tile. This blog explains it a bit.

According to the head forklift handler, he's supposed to bring me increased wealth.

Remind me to play Lotto when I get home.

Deinstall, Day 1

We got to the hotel bright and early for the deinstall of the forklift show in Kaohsiung. People sure like forklifts.

Our other colleagues for the deinstall won’t arrive until late tonight, so I am playing tour guide. So far so good. I got us to the museum of forklifts, then to a yummy cafe, where it seemed like all of our food involved tea, including the gelatin.

We visited the museum on the last day of the exhibition. Visitors were four-deep looking at the forklifts. It was an amazing site to see.

After we got back to the hotel we went on a long walk toward the night market, stopping at the beautiful temple around the corner. The man who is the caretaker (?) encouraged us to come in, and kept revealing additional rooms to us as we climbed higher and higher.

Then we shopped for athletic shoes, and popped in at the Macanna store. I now look like I'm auditioning for clown college.

We stopped for a beer at the Blue Muse on the way back in. The ladies remember us and still insist that we say "bow mi wha", which I hope means what they say it is and not something else.

And that's how the day ended.