After my conversation with Irene about Bamboo Lake and Gold Mountain, my father-in-law decided that, since I hadn’t been to the town of Jinshan, he was going to take us.
And so, before I was really sure what was happening, we were in Jinshan, a small, old town on the northern coast.
By this time, both kids were asleep in the car, and so when we arrived at the “very old temple”, only my father-in-law and I got out to look at it.
You have to walk down a narrow, crowded vendor street to get to the temple. It was an old temple, not exactly my bag of tea, but since Mr. Huang had driven us here apparently to see it, the least I could do was take a few pictures.
However, while I was trying to study the temple, he was far more interested in explaining to me the food that was being prepared on the steps of the temple.
He explained to me something like, “Tourists buy the food, then take it down the street to the stalls”, indicating the other food and good vendors down the street.
Apparently it is all the rage, because lots of people were lined up “buying” food on non-disposable plates and then walking down the street towards the other vendors.
I couldn’t see any logic to that, so I naturally assumed it was a religion thing, which doesn’t have to make sense. Of course, I wasn’t interested in spending money on such a venture, but Mr. Huang really seemed interested in participating.
Ultimately nothing came of it, probably because I kept ignoring the food and concentrating on the temple and because there were many, many people standing in line.
When we got back to the car, I asked Irene what the heck was going on and after a conversation with her father, she explained that the restaurant was just “in front” of the temple, and had been there for a long time and very famous. It is so popular that they’ve purchased some of the other stall spaces down the street for people to take the food and eat. Mr. Huang just wanted a snack.
Well, that’s what happens in translation sometimes.
As Jinshan is a coastal town, we stopped at the docks where there is a fish market and Mr. Huang bought a fresh fish to take home.
Presumably from Jinshan we’d head back to Taipei; however, Irene also mentioned to her father that I’d never been to the town of Keelung, either.
And so…
(to be continued)