For breakfast, John's mother had cooked daikon cake: fried daikon (Asian radish) mixed with rice flour and some mushrooms, steamed, and then fried again. We poured soy sauce over the cakes. Absolutely wonderful. A nice sweetness to the cakes. I had some guava juice with the cakes.
Daikon Cake (picture from website of novice-baker.blogspot.com)
After breakfast, we left for our outing to Liuchiu Island. First we went to a nearby town to pick up Yen Wen, John's 9-year old nephew. Yen Wen's father is a vendor of steamed dumplings, and he gave each of us a box filled with pork dumplings. Yen Wen was a nice little boy - excited about everything and had endless energy. Thanks to him I learned several new phrases: "Bu yao don" - "Don't move;" "Bu Yao mol" - "Don't touch;" "Shao Shin" - "Be Careful;" and "Bu Shin" - "No."
We had originally planned on going to Kenting, a popular beach area in southern Taiwan, but decided it would be too crowded. Instead, we went to Liuchiu Island off the coast of Donggang. It has 13,000 residents, 4 primary schools, no secondary schools, and 80 temples. The port in Deng Peng was about 1.5 hours from Daliao. We took a 20 minute ferry ride over to the island. Our first island activity was another boat ride - on a glass-bottomed boat. Through the clear sides, we could see the ocean floor which was covered in coral. Most of it was a dull yellow color, but there were numerous patches of beautiful purple. There were also lots of fish - schools of tiny purple fish, many clown fish, and sea turtles.
Once we finished the boat ride, we ate lunch at a nearby restaurant. The dumpling's given to us by John's brother-in-law were enough for a meal, but John ordered several other dishes. We had cold chicken with pickeled vegetables (not my favorite); a stirfry of vegetables, squid, and shrimp (very good); stir-fried bok choy (good); fried fish balls which we dipped in salt & pepper (very good); and seaweed soup (okay). The pork dumplings were also delicious, although we thought they would taste even better if they were hot. One thing that has surprised me about the food in Taiwan is that the flavors are relatviely bland - the food is not heavily seasoned or spicy. The focus is on the food itself, which is generally very fresh. Yen Wen bought a bag of baked squid it the restaurant - akin to squid jerky. He said he was buying it for his grandmother but then proceeded to eat the entire bag throughout the afternoon. I tried a bit of the squid - it was excellent, with a sweet, smoky taste.
Several people in the restaurant had their dogs with them. The Taiwanese love dogs. I've seen numerous starving street dogs wandering about (more in Daliao than in the other towns), but I've also seen lots of leashed dogs wearing sweaters. There seems to be no restrictions on where the dogs can go.
We boarded a bus after lunch which took us to a different area of the island. We walked through narrow tunnels and caves. The island has caves and high walls made out of coral. One of the most famous caves is Beauty Cave. This cave received its name from a story about a beautiful woman from China who encountered a violent storm at sea. The waves carried her to the island and she spent the rest of her life in the cave. We walked over to a tide pool and saw starfish and numerous sea plants. The pool smelled like seaweed. Several people were swimming, so presumably the water temporature was not too cold. Our next stop was the Wild Boar Ditch. It was not a traditional ditch - more of a crevice. There were high walls of coral with trees growing out the side. The leaves formed a roof over the crevice - very pretty. We ordered ice cream cones at one stop - soft-serve vanilla swirled with black sugar ice cream. A bit icy, but tasty.
The famous Vase Rock (picture from www.thewildeast.net)
Beauty Cave
Julie
Wild Boar Ditch
Kids were swinging on a tree root at Wild Boar Ditch
Our final stop was the Black Dwarf (aka Black Ghost, Black Devil) cave, a winding coral maze. It is said to have been inhabited by slaves who were left when the Dutch abandoned Taiwan 350 years ago. The slaves used to attack nearby shipowners, who eventually attacked the slaves and burned them alive in the cave. The cave is no longer large enough to be inhabitable due to subsidence. For $10 NT, you could rent a flashlight to take with you through the cave. We found this to be an essential tool. The cave couldn't have been more than 10 feet long, but it was pitch black. The walls were constantly twisting with opening so narry that only a thin person could squeeze through. The ceiling kept rising and falling. We had to lean and hunch one way and then the other. It was a claustrophobic's nightmare. I thought it was a lot of fun, although it would have been nervewracking had it lasted much longer.
After we left the island, we drove back to John's house. Soon, we sat down to yet another feast, courtesy of John's mother, sister, and sister-in-law. There was chicken in soy sauce (very good); whole shrimp in a sweet spicy sauce (wonderful but messy); chopped celery with crab (excellent); green beans grown by John's mother (tasty); leftover bamboo with pork; squid rools; leftover fish roll; leftover beef stew; and fish ball soup. After dinner, we ate cherries, grapes (John's family peels grapes before they eat them), jujubes, and guava. Since it was John's birthday, Julie bought him a cake. It was chocolate with a gelatin/pudding filling with whipped cream frosting. It was topped with fruit. I had a strawberry. Scott had a lychee stuffed with pineapple (very good). We finished eating dessert around 9 PM, by which time Scott and I could barely keep our jetlagged eyes open. We headed off to bed.
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