Tao Yuan
My dad has a very large family; most of them lived in Tao Yuan. I was raised there for a few years before I came to the US. Upon hearing of our visit to their town, all of them gathered to welcome us. 

As we were waiting for everyone to arrive, I heard a truck rolling by with a recording sent over a bullhorn, reminding everyone to not eat meat for the next week.  Starting tomorrow, for religious reasons all of Tao Yuan stays strictly vegetarian for 5 straight days. It’s not too bad since it happens once every 12 years. So every morning for the past few weeks the commercial cars roll out into the streets with bullhorns, telling everyone to prepare for this week.

Jen Dow Vegetarian Restaurant
One set of my aunt and uncle are strict vegetarians, so for lunch my relatives took us to a very large vegetarian buffet restaurant called Jen Dow vegetarian. There were a lot of items that I didn’t recognize but I tried a bit of everything. The food was quite tasty and I stuffed myself silly.  Truly, Asia is the only place where vegetarian food doesn’t equate a tasteless salad with tofu on the side.

Japanese Restaurant
My aunt took us to a Japanese restaurant for dinner, I wasn’t sure what it was called since it was in Chinese but she said it was one of the more famous Japanese restaurants in Tao Yuan. The setting was really cool; every table was located inside a little room. You had to take off your shoes at the door and when you enter, the room is decorated with Japanese accents. The table sits very low on the floor and at first glance seemed like you’d have to kneel but once you sit down there is actually room for your legs underneath the table.

 The food there was great. Everyone ordered combo A, which came with everything. We first started off with some sushi, three pieces each person (large pieces). Then we were served soup in a little teapot. The cup sits neatly on top and looked very cute, I wanted to buy one right away. Then came the tempura, and the steamed egg. Both were very, very good. Near the end we were given a roasted fish that had it’s fins covered in sea salt. You pick off the pieces of fish and rub it against the fins for flavoring. Last came the miso soup and fruit to top off dinner. This must have been one of the best Japanese style meals I’ve ever had.  Again I was quite stuffed by the time we finished.