Nov 11

I woke up at 3:15am. Jet lag is real.

We started our day with breakfast at our hotel.

Then we got on the bus and headed over to the Chiu house. This place is huge and old school, but still standing well. I think 1 family still lives there. This property housed multiple families with multiple generations at one point. It was amazing to see how people lived back then and humbling compared to how we live now.

Gong Gong’s old room

PoPo explaining the ancestors to us and where we tie into the family.

We started the day praying to the ancestors, followed by group photos and then a huge 10+ course lunch.

This is the “kitchen” where all the cooks were preparing lunch for almost 300 guests!

Lunch

After lunch, we went over to the home of Gong Gong’s mom. He said it has changed a lot. The place is being rented now and part of it is a child care center.

The original 10 of us decided to skip the evening party at the Chiu home and we headed back to the hotel to rest. In the evening, we walked over to Wanda Plaza again and ate dinner at a hot pot place that our tour guide recommended. It was yummy but very hot. We ordered a ton of food and the bill came out to around $75. Not bad compared to what we would’ve paid in the states.

Guy pouring hot water to make tea

Favorite part of the day

Me: seeing the Chiu house

David: seeing the Chiu house

Tyler: playing with firecrackers

Nat: taking a bath in our hotel room. There’s a big separate bath tub.