Our place was the happenin' place to be Saturday afternoon – too bad I went to
Tamsui instead. :)
So count 'em: two YeePohs; a friend of a YP, whom we told the girls to call Yu PohPoh; two YieYies, who later left to go to a meeting; and my cousin Amber, whom I haven't seen in absolutely ages. (I can't believe she's a freshman in college.) I left the girls in their collective loving bosom and went with Shiao YP to see a friend's craft table in Dansui.
Danshui of a Saturday is a very crowded tourist destination, esp via MRT. I was so busy watching where I was going, and checking out all the different things for sale, food and trinkets alike, that I didn't really take any pictures. Not much has changed here, though there have been some improvements, including ongoing construction to the "boardwalk". I remember the first time I ever came (were you with me, Drew? lol), they had just finished the MRT station. It was a weekday, so not much was going on. I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing there, someone had recommended it to me, so I came, I saw, I went home. Little did I know that Dansui is known for its sunsets (esp by boat over by some lover's bridge), and the street food (see
here and
here), and the iron eggs. (I've experienced most of what Tamsui has to offer since.)
This time there was this Turkish ice cream shop. What you pay for is not so much the ice cream (because you can get the much taller soft serve elsewhere), as to be somewhat humiliated by this Turkish guy's slight of hand. Had a
matcha latte at Starbucks, it was about the only warm drink to be found anywhere; chatted with YP's friend, who crochets and sews, they met at an embroidery class; bought some whistles for G and BB's stockings; almond tofu; a variety of rice snacks; a hole punch game; some "arcade" (see
here, about halfway down); a bubble blower that my mom and aunts played with as kids; and this other old school game, I have no idea the name for. Description: there's a stack of roughly circular cardboard pieces, a person takes another of the circular cardboard pieces and throws it at the stack trying to dislodge one of the pieces from the center of the column, keeping the dislodged pieces for their collection. An easier version is to knock the piece off the top. Don't know the rules, but one of the YieYies is reportedly very good at this game.
A Presbyterian church, next door to the original
Mackay hospital (little white building to the right). His name is on a lot of hospitals around the island, including the one that my grandmother liked to frequent.
The girls were practically starved by the time we got home – we brought take-out –, but entirely happy.
Amber AhYee was a new favorite, see everyone clambering for her attention?
M didn't even run to me when I came home! She simply smiled and maintained her grip on Amber AY.
BTW, San YP wanted to thank us for allowing her to see so much of her daughter since going away to college, only about an hour from home.
San YieYie brought treats home from his meeting, including this savory gluttonous rice, cooked and sold in bamboo (pictured next to a
zhong zi, the more traditional way to prepare these kinds of gluttonous rice dishes).
After dinner, Shiao YP got the bubble stuff out, to the delighted exclamations of all the Pohs: childhood memories and all. It comes in tubes, you squeeze a bit on the end of the provided straw and start blowing. The bubble will last as long as it's not squeezed too hard or gets a hole.
And at some point, as G's talking excitedly of everything they've done, she says to me, I'm going home with San YP tomorrow (after mass). Just like that.
