Continuing my Taiwan 2018 Trip Blog Series for April 29!

Exhausted from Saturday’s events, Sunday was decreed to be a day of rest followed by a visit to the family tomb to pay our respects. I believe the plot is located in a place called Ta-tu, in a relatively-new cemetery that Dad says is about 20-30 years old. The ashes of our ancestors in Taiwan, including my mother and my dad’s parents, are interred in the family plot. Interestingly, this is a Christian-style part of the cemetery, eschewing the traditional rounded shapes you see in other Taiwanese/Chinese tombs but keeping the overall layout. It’s quite different than what you see in the United States.

The inscription on the family tomb (above, right), Dad explained, was taken from Ecclesiastes Chapter 3:10-11:

¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has placed on us all. ¹¹ Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.

This passage has particular meaning for him and my mother, but that is not my story to share.

Afterwards we had to kill some time before meeting with Uncle and Auntie for dinner at yet another buffet restaurant, so we stopped by Starbucks for coffee. I think the reason we went was because A-bun wanted to try it, or perhaps he thought being American’s we’d like it. The interior (above, left) looked pretty standard Starbucks. I had a cold-brew coffee that was acceptable (I don’t really like Starbucks coffee, though I like hanging out there when I’m at home). I did enjoy seeing some of the localized food choices they had, like the Starbucks Pork and Egg Sandwich, Longan Walnut Bread, and this Sweet Potato and Nuts Sandwich leftover. I suppose this might have been the least popular sandwich because it was the only one left.

Afterwards, we went to dinner with Uncle and Aunt at one of those super buffets in the area. I didn’t take any pictures, having been there before. Then, it was time for a good night’s sleep before heading to SUN MOON LAKE the next day!