Sanyi is well-known for its woodcarving industry. (We have two statues at home that I bought there sometime in the late '60s.) I wanted to go to one or two of the woodcarving shops, not to buy anything, but just to look at the splendid artistry, but no one else wanted to stop, so my only option was to catch a few pictures out the window of the car as we drove by. Here's a closer look (although not much better) at some of the woodcarvings in the shop pictured above, and here's another shop where this somewhat weathered life-sized statue stood outside just to the left of the shop. Anyhow, we passed the shops, and on we went, ...

...driving through the mountains, ending up at 映象水岸 (Reflections on the Waterfront), a small, remote coffee shop/restaurant on West Lake (西湖), and found a nice private spot to relax. Unfortunately, there was a NT$1,500 cover charge (about $48) to sit there, so we had to order a bunch of stuff. Meihui came for coffee, but we had to order a lot more than just that to cover the NT$1,500 cover charge! And boy, did we order stuff! (Actually, Meihui and Zhiwei ordered it. Mei-O and I were just going to have orange juice. But after I saw Zhiwei's "Rich Cocoa Smoothie", I ordered one too.) They had a good menu, making it easy to run the bill up to be significantly over the required NT$1,500 (my Cocoa Smoothie which I ordered separately was another NT$250). There was a lot left over; Zhiwei took it home. We sat and talked (and ate and drank) for a while, enjoying the relaxing atmosphere on the shore of beautiful West Lake.

Our next stop was the 龍騰斷橋 (Longteng Broken Bridge). No one wanted to stop and get out and walk around (except me), so we just drove by it. Fortunately, I was able to get out of the car, take this picture, and get back in. Since our last visit nine years ago, strong steel arches have been added to support the deteriorating ruins. From the car, Meihui got a picture of this sign detailing some of the bridge's history. And from the internet, here's what the bridge looked like circa 1910.

Heading home, we came upon the 鯉魚潭水庫後池堰 (Liyutan Reservoir Afterbay Weir. It was actually a high dam more than a weir which, by definition, are usually low.) From atop the dam, we could see the nearby 臺鐵舊山線內社川橋 (Taiwan Railway Old Neishechuan Iron Bridge). Often called the Liyutan Iron Bridge, it's a historic, decommissioned steel truss bridge built in 1938. Located on the abandoned Old Mountain Line, it is a popular destination for scenic views and photography, which, I suppose, may be the reason Zhiwei decided to stop there. As we were leaving, a light rain began to fall.

From here, it was about a 40-minute ride back to the hotel, passing rice fields on the outskirts of the city, a huge Micron building, this food stand, 豐洲肉角飯, featuring a special rice dish, and a 7-Eleven (Family Mart's biggest competitor in Taiwan), finally arriving at our hotel around 4:30 after a pretty busy day.

For a good 20 minutes during the drive home, Zhiwei was on a phone call, meeting with several fellow employees from his company to discuss their current project, all the time while driving!

We did nothing the rest of the evening. I think we each took a shower, then just relaxed and watched TV. But around 7:30 when I looked outside to see what, if anything, was going on in the park, I saw this (0:24)! We were quite surprised, since no one in our family in Taiwan had ever heard of pickleball making us think it hadn't made its way to Taiwan yet. These were the last pictures for today. We eventually went to bed, looking forward to another great day tomorrow.

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