In Tainan with the Shih Cousins – July 2-3, 2009

My 3 Shih cousins and the husbands

What a special opportunity it was to meet up with my cousins in Taiwan. Mali, Yili and Manli are daughters of mom’s 2nd sister. Aunt Shih Mei Duan was one of my favorite aunt when I was growing up. She was a home economics teacher for many years until she retired after working for 36 years. She died of diabetic complications in 1991. Her daughter Mali told me that her mom wanted to work until she put in 40 years, but didn’t make it.

Koxinga's Memorial

I called up the cousins before I came to Taiwan and each sounded very excited to meet and visit when we came to Tainan. Salli, the 3rd daughter was on her way to China, so we didn’t get to see her. The cousins and their husbands, except for Mali’s, all came to the hotel at around 4 PM on July 2. We took a walking tour of Koxinga’s memorial. It was fun to have the locals give you a guided tour and tell you all sorts of folklores which I never even have heard of before. Our cousins were ready to take us to a restaurant to have dinner, but we suggested that we should just stay around the district near the hotel to have some Tainan “xiao chi”, or local food. We had fish noodles, gluten rice, soups, and ended up with a big bowl of shaved ice with all sort of toppings, such as mangos, sweet red beans, sweet mung beans, pineapple, condensed milk, etc. It was very enjoyable.

The next morning, everyone showed up at the hotel at around 8:30 to take us to the place where they had the famous “zhong ze”, or the sticky rice wrapped in lotus leaves. Tainan was famous for their vegetabian “zhong ze”. It was full of peanuts and topped with ground peanuts. It was delicious as I remembered. Elwin had western breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we all got in the cars and started the adventure.

Our first stop was my high school, Tainan First Girls’ High School. I didn’t realize how prestigious the school was until my cousins told me that the school has become a national high school. At the time I entered this school, one must have high scores to qualify for this school after taking an entrance exam. I guess it's still the same 40 some years later. My mom and my youngest aunt both went there. We saw some very interesting pictures on the bulletin boards as you see in the slide show above. Lots of those slides were posted on the bulletin boards and Elwin took the pictures off the bulletin. They included pictures of uniforms from years past. They also included pictures of my mom’s school activities.

Standing in front of the billboard with uniforms of the past. Mine was the 2nd from the left. Mom and I made sure I had 10 straight crisp pleats in the front and 10 in the back.

I remember the mimosa trees with beautiful read flowers. My friend Lina and I used to study English under the tree every morning at around 7 before anyone arrived at the school. One of the comments in our year book was: Shirley (Wen-hui) and Lina (Li Na) love to study English with a picture of the two of us under the mimosa tree. It was such a fun memory.

The mimosa tree where Lina and I studied English every morning at our high school.

Next, we drove for over an hour south of Tainan to visit the mango capital, Yu Jing. We saw acres of mango trees on the roadside and each mango was wrapped in paper to protect them from bugs. It was incredible to see all the paper wrappers all over the fields. We went into town and had the famous mango ice which consists of a big bowl of shaved ice (made of mango juice), fresh chopped mangos, mango sauce, topped with 2 scoops of mango ice-cream and condensed milk. Elwin said he could eat one all by himself until he started eating it, then he realized that no one could finish a big bowl like that but to share. It was the best mango shaved ice I’ve ever had. We also visited the whole sale fruit market and saw all sorts of mangos in baskets. What a sight! My cousins purchased some dried mangos, guava for us.

A big bowl of mango shaved ice, with mangoes, mango sauce, mango ice-cream, topped with condensed milk - yum!

Zions Temple Mount

Next, we headed for the mountains. We drove for miles and came to a place called the “Zions Mountains”. It was founded by a group of Christians called the “New Testament Church” group. It was quite an impressive sight as they had their own community there with roads, beautiful buildings and a temple. They didn’t believe in military services or public education. They were persecuted by the KMT when KMT first came to Taiwan. The members retreated into the mountains when KMT soldiers started beating up on them. They are self sufficient in their own community. They have a shop with all sorts of organic foods, vitamins, and cosmetics. They have farms all around them. It was very beautiful and also very interesting.


Lastly, we went to have the famous “taro shaved ice” and some “xiao chi”. What a fun day it was. It was so good to get to know my cousins. We rode with Manli and her husband. She is the number 5 daughter and her name means “enough li“ sisters. Manli told us about her mom’s struggle with diabetes which finally took her life. She also told us the story of her growing up. Since both her mom and dad worked as teachers, her grandma took care of her during the week. She said she looked so forward to weekends because her mom and dad would come to pick her up and take her home. She would sit on the porch for hours waiting for her mom. One Saturday, she waited and waited and her mom didn’t come. She cried herself to sleep. Then she dreamed that someone picked her up and she kept sobbing until she opened her eyes and saw her mom. She made a promise that she would never do that do her own kids. She kept her promise and stayed home for her son. He graduated this year from high school. What an awesome girl!

The other sisters are also very devoted to their families. Mali's husband is doing business in Shanghai. Their two sons have all graduated from universities. We met Mali's husband in Shanghai and he took us out to dinner. We enjoyed his humor and wits. It was great to get to know the families. Hopefully we'll see them again.