Taiwan, Day 4: Back to Taipei

Heading back to Taipei was a welcome day for everyone I think. Tammy's aunt was very upset with how the trip turned out because she wanted it to be something really special (which it was because of family) but she was expecting something more. Imagine having three city girls cooped up in a beautiful hotel with nothing to do except go pet some sheep. Haha. We checked out at 11AM and headed to The Old England Hotel for lunch. The building was gorgeous and the food was great. It was buffet style and we had two hours. Tammy said something about how I would eat for the whole two hours if I could and I said that I always feel like eating my money's worth at a buffet. I was surprised to hear Daphne say she planned on eating at *least* three plates. A worthy adversary.

Most of the dishes that I enjoyed were accompanied by Tammy's aunt saying that Tammy's grandmother can make them better. To which I replied, "Everything is better when it is made at home.", and compared it to my mother's cooking. We naturally took pictures before we left (asians...) and then boarded our chauffeured ride home. Now remember how I said that Tammy's aunt is like my mother squared? When she is paying for things, she wants them the way she expects... On the way to the mountains she was upset by how old the van we were riding in was and requested a newer one for the trip back. Well the one we got was newer, but it had less seating. I didn't hear all of the conversation and even if I had I wouldn't have understood it because it was in Mandarin, but it went something like this:

"I requested a new 9 person van."
"That is a 9 person van, but we had to take out a row of seats to accommodate your luggage."
"We came in a 9 person van with all of the seats in it and our luggage fit fine."
"Does everyone fit in the van?"

She ended up getting a discounted rate, and honestly I can understand. The way there everyone was very comfortable, but on the way back Tammy and I were smashed in the back seat, the entire first row was full, Tammy's aunt had to sit up front with the driver, and our luggage had all the room in the world to stretch out. We got home, unloaded, I think I fell asleep till dinner, and then we walked down the river to Bitan.

Dessert from the buffet. Cheesecake (not so good), two mousses (pretty good), chocolate cake, and some pudding thing.

There are enough pictures of me and Tammy. I only included this one for the background.

This was either William Shakespeare or Inigo Montoya... I'm going with Inigo.

The Old England

More mountains and the traditional Asian peace signs.

Some weird passion fruit tea that I didn't really fancy all that much.

Bitan bridge and river.

Sampling from the buffet... mí fěn, fried rice, braised lamb, and pearl meatballs. Not pictured: cabbage, duck, bamboo shoots, and the one thing that no Chinese buffet can go without...

CHICKEN NUGGETS AND POTATO WEDGES!!!