day 4!

Our plan for today was to go to Nantou, an area outside of Taipei, to visit our aunt (on my mom's side) who lives there with her family.

Trying to figure out which bus to take in the morning....tempers flared. 

Finally made it on.

Shared a bento with my sis.

After a 2.5 hr ride, arrived at Nantou! Our aunt's brother bought an entire building for the whole family to live in -- 4 floors, with 1 room per floor. Cost ~300k. Not bad! :o This is the bathtub they had in the bathroom on the 1st floor. Isn't it cute?? Wooden bathtub, complete with wooden bucket to throw water onto your back. :)

After a huge lunch, prepared by my aunt's mom (wish I had taken a pic of it -- 3 of the dishes had fresh bamboo in them, it was sooo good), we drove up the mountain ~20min to visit her brother. He has a very..unique house. :) They bought a big plot of land and designed and landscaped the whole thing. It. was. gorgeous. :o Palm trees everywhere, stone paths, fruit trees, flowers.........it really looked like a tropical jungle (but much neater and well taken care of). Here's a pond that they had....

Some flowers.

Papaya tree? I believe they also had guava, banana,  lychee....can't remember what others. Fruit year round! 

A little outdoor pavilion for them to have dinner and enjoy the view of the valley from the mountain. So relaxing and amazing....Kevin and I were saying that we would build a bbq pit/bbq grill into that table so that you could do like korean bbq?? as the sun set. and a bar of cold beer to the side............ :D i want to be rich. T_T

Went inside to chat with our "uncle" and his wife. They put out an array of munchies for us (as Chinese people do...), and a lot of it was made -- fresh and organic -- by their neighbors! The green tea she poured out for us was prepared recently by their neighbor, as you will soon see. :)

Fireworks randomly started going off. It was the closest I'd ever been to fireworks, it was like they were setting them off next door or something. We followed the sounds to a temple nearby....

...where we were greeted by a vegas stage, Usher, and an exotic dancer??? While people banqueted at a Buddhist temple. It was surreal. She was dancing pretty half heartedly, and the MC (i guess??) led her off the stage to like....let people pay to motorboat her?? So weird!! She would climb on them (as if to dance) but instead of dancing she would grab their heads and bury their faces in her boobs and shake their heads around in them. For tips. Again, at a Buddhist temple festival. WHAT THE HELL?? According to my aunt it's kind of a weird part of Taiwanese culture, and they hire dancers for funerals and weddings as well. First I've heard of it.

Ran into their neighbor, who had given them the tea. :) He graciously let us follow him back to see his work. It was pretty amazing....Here's a whole crapload of tea leaves just sitting outside, drying in the sun. He picks them all by himself, I believe.

More tea drying on racks in an air conditioned room (to remove humidity).

My "uncle", his wife (not my aunt), and the tea guy. :D

Headed back to the cabin lodging that our "uncle" rented for us. It's kind of a camping resort area. Went to eat dinner at the restaurant they had there, which is completely bamboo themed.

Interior of the restaurant.

After dinner, back to our room for blissful sleep. :)

...only it was not to be had, since all 4 lees stayed in the same room. :( hello loud snores, tossing and turning, and muttered curse words all night...........