Another beautiful sunrise this morning. Besides the regular taiji practitioners, there was some sort of early morning yoga session going on in the park.

Today's breakfast. In the small bowl, I have some stuff from the 火鍋, including some 麵筋 (flour gluten), fish and meat balls, cabbage and Japanese mushrooms, and other miscellaneous stuff. On my plate, I have some of my regulars: an easy-over egg (not so "easy-over"), fried rice, bean sprouts, and a couple of other vegetable dishes, and today, some 水餃 (dunplings). I had some of the same things on my second plate, plus some pineapple. They had so much to offer, it was so easy to eat too much!

Right down the street from our hotel is this 五金行 (a hardware store) where we sometimes shopped during past visits. It's moved across very busy 崇德路 (Chongde Rd.) making it convenient to get to (it used to be where this Poya Beauty Store sits now), so after breakfast, around 7:30, we took a walk to see if it was open yet. It was, and we quickly found the plastic zip-lock bags Mei-O likes to use to store various items. (We're running out of the ones we bought here many years ago.) She picked out several sizes, then we continued to browse through the store. It was so much more than just a hardware store! In the end, Mei-O bought a few things, more than just the plastic bags we came for.

Around 10:30, Meihui drove us to see her and Mei-O's 90-year-old aunt and her son. Seated in her wheelchair is Mei-O's sort of aunt who has Alzheimer's and wasn't able to recognize either Mei-O or Meihui (or me). That's her son Akui (阿魁) standing next to her, with her full-time nurse way over on the right. Even though she didn't know us, I think she enjoyed the company and attention. As I remember so well from past visits to A-kim and her family, many snacks were laid out on the table for us (which always remained mostly uneaten).

A-kim's house (where she's lived since she married into her husband's family) used to be way out in the country, and "this garage" used to be a pig pen. They used to have a pet monkey that hung out here too. Across the courtyard, that shelter served as a place to dry tobacco, then later a chicken coop. (Mei-O has a lot of fond memories of this place.) The city has moved in around them, and a new road is being built that will go through their property. When it comes, they'll have to leave.

We wanted to take A-kim out to lunch, but that meant her nurse would have to take her, and she thought that would be too difficult, so Mei-O, Meihui, Akui, and I walked about 15 minutes to the 頂園 Restaurant, famous for its goose dishes ("Roasted Goose & Danzai Kitchen." Danzai (担仔) refers to street food that can often be found at night markets.) We had some goose (and a bunch of other things); it was all quite enjoyable!

Akui owns a nearby factory. On our walk back from the restaurant (carrying doggie bags!), we passed it. He unlocked the front door ("弘昌精密企業社", Hongchang Precision Enterprise) and let us take a look inside. (It was Saturday, so nothing was going on.)

After some more one-way conversation with A-kim back at the house, it was time to say goodbye. She was quite active in her 80s; when we last saw her nine years ago, she was still tending her garden. Whenever we saw her, she always had some fresh vegetables to pass along to Mei-O's mom. It was sad to see what Alzheimers has done to her....

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