It only took me a little more than 3 months and someone’s birthday to become a tourist in my own backyard and visit Mr. Brown Blvd. Mr. Brown Boulevard is a road famous for a being a scenic bike route through the rice fields in 池上, the town next to mine. You can rent regular bikes or these four-person motorized contraptions to ride around the maze of roads along with all the other tourists. Pictures on Instagram show people posing with no crowds, all peaceful. That’s definitely not how it is. Nevertheless, I couldn’t think of a better way to spend Crystal’s birthday.
For a little background, Crystal is one of the other ETAs in 關山with me. She’s from Texas and is a hilarious person who always can lift an entire room. Her mom flew all the way over from Texas with her fiancé to celebrate her birthday as well as travel Taiwan for her fiancé’s work which is helping people apply for financial aid in US universities. Friday night we met both of them along with Amanda’s (another ETA in 關山) friend, KT, who studied in China with her and was visiting for the weekend. On a side note, KT is probably the coolest person I have met. She studied neuroscience in school and is going to start working as an analyst for the Department of National Security. On top of all that she takes amazing pictures too. Anyways, we all met up at a Hakka restaurant in town. I’ve passed the restaurant every time I go to Chinese class. Its always got a full parking lot and requires a reservation beforehand. When I heard requires a reservation, I just counted it off the list of places to eat because that usually means calling someone on the phone and speaking Chinese. I have a hard enough time understanding Chinese if I can talk in front of them watching their mouth and their actions to help translate what they are saying. Speaking on the phone just takes all the clues away. Crystal did all the reservation stuff which was a week of back and forth getting prices, a dinner is around 350-600$ a person – in perspective I usually pay around 65-120$ for dinner on a regular night, and understanding the menu. The Hakka restaurant is a family style restaurant where all you need to pick is the meat of your choice and the rest of the dishes come regardless.
The food just kept coming. We had a whole chicken with the head and feet still on, sweet potatoes and carrots, okra and dragon fruit, salmon with the bones and pineapple, crawfish, rice, steamed cucumbers and noodles, literally anything you could think of seemed to be on the table. I have a little difficulty at restaurants like this. I don’t know how to regularly eat a crawfish let alone eat it in a professional manner with chopsticks at a semi-nice restaurant. My dislike of mixing food is a pet peeve that comes out at family style restaurants. I’m not saying if my food touches I won’t eat it. I’m not that bad. But, I typically eat everything separate for the most part. However, in the family style restaurant even though you have a plate you are supposed to fill your bowl with rice and then pile everything else on top of that. So either I am forced to mix foods or I eat painfully slowly going one dish at a time. I chose the latter, working through the dishes systematically.
Typically, I only eat dinner with Parker, Amanda, and Crystal on most nights or sometimes no one at all. This dinner with Crystal’s mom gave us a chance to all be together and catch for what seemed like forever. Dinner started at 7:00pm and we didn’t end up leaving till 9:30pm. We closed the restaurant and I think the whole time the waiters wanted to start cleaning up, but because we were all speaking English, I really don’t think they wanted to have to speak English to ask us to move. The funny part is that out of the group of us all of us have some level of Chinese, but more importantly Crystal’s mom and her fiancé are both completely fluent being both from China.
Saturday, I was planning to go on this cool hike an hour away with rope bridges that I’d seen pictures of on social media. I was told multiple times that I should’ve go hiking by myself even if I was going to bring my phone and water and people knew where I was. Which I personally think is enough. It all worked out because Crystal asked me last minute to join her mother and fiancé in 池上. We met at the train station and they had already rented a four person motorized bike. There were peddles and everything, but regardless of your pedaling it would only move with the motor. They moved at a snail’s pace, but somehow in the first five minutes Crystal almost ran into a car in the parking lot so Micheal, her mother’s fiancé, took over the driving.
We “biked” if you can call it that when its motorized, around Dapo Lake, to Wanan Elementary school (Crystal’s school), and through the roads around the rice fields. It was seriously gorgeous. Not only were there fields on fields of rice, but this year 12 art installations were constructed in 池上and parts of 關山 with most littered around Mr. Brown Blvd. Half of me wished I had done this earlier to be able to see the rice when it was still green and flowing in the breeze. Now, some fields have already been harvested with the others being harvested soon. So, there were patches of brown amongst the gold. The silver lining is I was able to see the machines first hand collecting the rice and cutting the plants. Crystal’s mother also grew up on a rice field in southern China and despite her jet leg was able to answer all my questions on the process which I’ve been interested in since I’ve come here.
It has been getting pretty chilly here. I went to 池上wearing a tank top, flannel, and jeans. The whole time I wish I had brought the sweatshirt in my scooter’s compartment with me because it was cold in the wind. Crystal’s mother being from Texas was a saving grace because she insisted, we get lunch to get out of the cold. At lunch Crystal’s parents ordered one of pretty much everything off the menu which gave me the chance to try everything. After heading back to the rice fields for a while we took another break around 4:00 o’clock to return the bike to the rental shop. Crystal’s mom wanted to go for massages, but as much as a massage sounds good it makes me a little uncomfortable because I wouldn’t fully be able to express myself because my Chinese isn’t at the same level of all theirs. Thank god there were no openings and instead we spent 2 hours in a coffee shop drinking milk tea and possibly napping in the comfy chairs till Crystal’s birthday dinner. Don't worry before we went to get warm you better believe there was a photoshoot in the rice. It came out looking like Crystal got a high school graduation photoshoot, but I still think I am getting better at photography especially with only using manual!
The dinner was held at our favorite restaurant near our Chinese class. It’s a quiche restaurant ran by a Taiwanese woman and her French husband. It is so refreshing to talk to them and also to try their wonderful food. Their menu changes each day it seems with two different kinds of quiche offered, a rice dish (usually a form of curry with lots of vegetables), sides of French fries and soup, and to finish it off pie. As long as you call or message ahead of time, they will make sure to have pie. They make apple pie and a toffee like pie as well. On top of that Amanda and I were able to order a cake beforehand. We really didn’t know if we got out point across that we didn’t want chocolate because Crystal hates chocolate, until we cut it open. It was really good. It was vanilla with a strawberry jam inside and a pile of fruit on the top. It was such a fun time catching up with some of the ETAs that live in the city that took the trip up north to get together. It truly was a great night.
The apple pie even has sesame seeds instead of a top crust and I've got to say I'm digging it
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