Day 12: Sansia

My three and a half year old cousin is currently crawling all over me, so I have to write fast. Yesterday I went to Sansia, which has an awesome historical district. The street is lined on each side with a row of brick arches, and there is an ancient temple. The gutters that line the streets also have pretty designs on them. You can see them on the picture above, and one in detail below.

My mom and I went with my distant cousins: four sisters! Their little brother is still in high school and couldn't make it। My mom and aunt had a good time talking to them when we came back, because my mom had a similar sized family with 4 sisters and 2 younger brothers. My aunt and the cousin who is the second eldest agreed that the second eldest always does all the work.

While we were strolling along the street, we happened upon a group of people playing with Chinese tops! The tops are wrapped up with a string and you make them spin by throwing them and unraveling them at the same time. I got a really good shot of a man throwing one onto a high pedestal.

My mom and I both agreed that the temple at Sansia was the most ornate and intricate one we had ever seen. I just wanted to sit there and stare at the beautiful columns and altar. However to my cousins, the temple was old hat. I used to think that their faces were smoked black, but apparently they are carved out of black wood.My cousins took my mom and I to an interesting restaurant. I was so shocked when I looked down at my place setting and there were no chopsticks! It was a European-style restaurant. They served mostly French or Italian food. It was interesting to see who ordered what, because my Taiwanese cousins all ordered Western food like cream of corn soup and vegetables au gratin, while my mom and I had a Chinese vegetable soup and my main course was an eel fillet. Here is a picture of the restaurant. They had a piano resting above the Koi pond which is just out of the picture.

In the evening our other family friend treated us to a nice buffet restaurant dinner. They had so much food I couldn't believe it and they also included some Western fare like German pork knuckles, Hungarian gulash, foie gras, Haagen-Daas ice cream, sashimi, etc. I had so much sashimi I thought I would explode. So many people have treated us to eat that I am seriously sick of food. I never thought I would get to this point, but it has finally come to this.