Finally, Stinky Tofu!

We've been on a family road trip since early Monday morning, ten people in two cars driving down through Taiwan's mountainous middle to see family, friends, and natural beauties. Our first stop was Taichung (pronounced "Taizong" for some reason), where we hung out with Roger's cousin, who we call the "sandwich cousin" because his name sounds (to my American ears, at least) remarkably similar to the Chinese word for sandwich. This cousin took us to the night market in Taichung, and upon learning that I hadn't yet tried stinky tofu or 1,000 year egg, he procured both for us. The egg is... interesting, the white turned brown and the yolk a rather disconcerting shade of bluish-green. Apparently it's a duck egg that has been allowed to go a bit bad, in the manner of our blue cheese. It's usually eaten with something else, and we had it with silky tofu. The taste was fine, but not something I'd seek out. The stinky tofu was, well, quite stinky. It really does smell almost exactly like excrement, but once you get past that, the tofu itself is quite tasty, if you like tangy foods. It sounds like the tofu has also been allowed to ferment until it's a little off, and once again, I definitely wouldn't seek it out, but am glad to have tasted it. Other less bizarre treats from that evening included a tea-soaked hardboiled egg and some really exquisite bubble tea.

After Taichung, we headed to the beautiful Sun Moon Lake, then up into the mountains, and last night we stayed in a little town perched on a mountainside that boasted a hotspring spa right in the hotel! It was designed like an underground grotto, despite being on the 5th floor of the hotel. (Random fact: buildings here don't have a fourth floor, as the word for four is a homonym with the word for death. Kind of like our superstition about the number 13, I guess) The mountains are incredible, very steep and covered with pine and bamboo forests, with little villages nestled here and there, their vegetable gardens and fruit orchards mostly hibernating at this time of year. We did some hiking today, saw Yu Shan (Jade Mountain), the tallest mountain in Taiwan, and then watched the sun set spectacularly over varied peaks. Tomorrow it's off to see more sights, which I will write about the next time I have internet.

More pics are up at flickr.com/photos/goateebird and they're pretty sweet, I'd advise checking them out!