Even Further Adventures

Since I am having them quite far from you all - most of you, anyway.

I hadn't planned on ending that last post where I did, but that's how I published it anyway. I also had planned to write this post yesterday, but, halfway through writing it, the computer I'm using decided to crash. It's running Windows ME. And it hasnt' been treated well, either...the fact that the keyboard is working today has me in a good mood.

Anyway, I was writing about my host family. Like I said, they're very friendly people, and went far out of their way to make me comfortable. I forgot what exactly I was going to say, except that before I left, they took me several places, of which I have some good pictures. Right now I don't remember how to upload pictures, but when I figure it out, I will post them.
They took me to several temples, all of which were mystifying and old; I asked Judy (their daughter) for help, but she's no expert on religious matters, and many things remain which I need to research for myself. But she did an admirable job trying to explain things she barely knew in Chinese, in English. I do have to say, though, I heard a phrase I had never anticipated hearing: "that statue has a beautiful beard". Most of you aren't from here, so you probably wouldn't know the way temples are set up. I don't feel like taking the time, but there's usually a section up at the front (think of it as the alter area) that's full of statues. Some are gods, some are saints (or something), and others are assorted people, or just plain old statues. Anyway, I forget who it was supposed to be, but there was a huge statue of some guy, and he had a big black beard. I never thought of beards being especially beautiful, and never really though to put actual hair on a statue. But, that's because I'm just a crazy foreigner, probably.

What was more interesting, however, were the old fortresses I saw. One is called the "Eternal Golden Castle", though it is not Golden, or a Castle. Also, I am fairly certain it is not Eternal, but I have only been here a couple weeks...I suppose I'd have to wait until the place crumbled into finality to say for certain that it wasn't eternal.
Anyway, what it is is an old fortress. It was contracted out to the French, so it's a fairly reasonable cannon-fort with high earthen/stone walls. It also has nice trees.
We went during the typhoon; as you might imagine, it was raining. Judy had the good sense to warn me to wear sandals so that my feet wouldn't be too soaked. So I wore shoes. You know, just in case.
And, as you might have imagined, they got soaked. I was also wearing my extra-absorbant socks. When we arrived, it was pouring down rain. But, you need a brief explanation of the layout before anything else. To get in, you must pass through a brick gateway/tunnel, and then - then you see the real defenses. The walls and cannons are all very nice, but the real defensive bonus the fortress gives is from the inside - if anyone ever got within the walls, they would immediately be bogged down in mud, water, and grass up to their ankles - on a good day. The problem is so bad that the groundskeepers have placed plastic mats in the places where people walk (with lots of holes through them so grass can grow through), and, even then, the water's fairly deep. I took pictures, but I think I didn't get any good ones of the water. It was still pretty, though, and I like old forts anyway, so I had a good time. And my host family's son had an even better time than I did - he was splashing in every puddle and under every waterspout he could find. I don't think he even knew there was a fort - the water was all that mattered.

The other place I was taken was once a Dutch fort, before it was conquered by the famous pirate Koxinga, before it was rebuilt as a fort/house for a Japanese governer, and before it was rebuilt by the Taiwanese. It was a neat place, with lots of old walls and trees...which I took lots of pictures of. In fact, looking back, that's about all I've taken pictures of. Oh - that reminds me - another kindness I was shown by my host family was that they loaned me one of their digital cameras while we were sightseeing. Anyway, I think the name of the place is Anping Fort; it used to be Fort Zeelandia. I don't know what to say about it, except that it was interesting, and had some nice old artifacts.

And I was also given a taste tour of the city - apparently, the way things work here is that there are famous foodstands and restaurants all over, and each will serve some distinctive food. Some are really good, and the rest I'm sure you can guess at.
One of the stranger specialties is something called "Coffin Bread". It's a very thick piece of bread which has been hollowed out, filled with soup-ish stuff, had a very thin section of bread placed on top as a lid - and then the whole mess is deep-fried. I want to know what line of thinking led to this particular delicacy. Seriously - is this something you'd think to do on a slow day? I probably wouldn't.
But, for all that, it is pretty good. I mean, come on, it's fried. How could it fail to taste good?

Another specialty I sampled was something like balls of shrimp fried on a stick. It was also tasty.

Oh, I should mention - I was given all these things at one sitting.
Now, in case you should think all the local specialties are good, I will ask you to keep reading. The last specialty I had at this one sitting was a little odd - it was fried eggs and mussels. Doesnt' sound too especially bad, right? Well, it wasn't. It just wasn't that good, either. The eggs had American-style brown gravy on one half, and a huge offering of ketchup on the other. The mussels were just sitting there, being...mussely. And around the whole place was a lining of...something. I haven't figured out what it is yet, and everyone I ask doesn't really know where it comes from or what it's made of. Not a good sign, right? Anyway, it's this gelatinous/snotty stuff that tastes vaguely of meat. It's not especially appealing.
So I'm thinking that for specialties here, as at home, all that's really required is that you mix together things that...well, that probably don't really belong together. I like eggs, and I've never had anything against ketchup or gravy, but combining the three is a little weird. I've never liked mussels much. And the snotty, rubbery meat gel...I haven't acquired a taste for that, and I'm thinking I probably won't. But I still ate most of the thing. It wasn't all bad.

Oh, one last specialty - we went out for desert after that. Obviously, I was feeling really full, but I can't really turn down free, untried food. It was something like cold custard cubes in a sugar sauce, with the topping of your choice - and our choice was red beans. Some of you are probably wondering how bad that was - but you shoudn't. The red beans they use here are really sweet. They're a little mealy, though, so they do have a bit of an odd texture; you get used to it pretty quick - these red beans get used in all sorts of things (but they can be a source of dissapointment, too - sometimes you'll see something that looks like chocolate, but is actually red bean paste. It's not that it tastes bad, it's just not what you thought you were getting). But altogether, the desert was good.

This post is getting pretty long, so I'll go ahead and publish it. I might write another today, as well. (Oh, and if any of you want me to start an RSS feed, I can do that. In case you don't know what that is, it's a thing that will notify you all whenever I update. Just send me some comments or email.)