I slept in quite a bit today, and then Jacob and I went to meet up with my dad’s side of the family ! Since many people had differing dietary needs, my aunt selected a buffet for everyone to meet. Since I woke up late, I had to call for an Uber instead of have us take the MRT. Here is a photo I took in the neighborhood while waiting for our Uber to arrive:
The relatives there included two of my aunts, two uncles, a great aunt, a great uncle, and a cousin. It felt good to meet up with some relatives ! I never really got to interact with them much as an adult, so that was cool. I wish I got more photos of the buffet, it was very impressive. But here are the couple I got:
The photo on the left is a very impressive tea selection, and the photo on the right is this rosemary apple jelly and red bean & taro ice cream that wasn’t dyed to make it look more authentic.
The fam photo (with faces covered !):
The night before, I found out that the buffet we were eating at was close to the Lin family mansion and garden (no relation here, unfortunately). I thought admission was free, but only if you are a New Taipei resident. Nevertheless, admission was pretty cheap anyways, at 40 NTD (~$1.33 USD). This garden is S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G. I think I might have visited this place when I was a teenager, but I can’t fully recall. Walking through the grounds felt like I was on a Chinese drama set.
The entrance pathway:
I have no idea how to really sort these photos to share, so here is just a ginormous gallery of all of them:
Some unique areas of the grounds included….
^ very interesting looking bamboo
Koi fish in the ponds:
This stair area/building built almost into a tree:
Interiors:
Lanterns:
Details on the gates:
Wildlife on the grounds:
Beautiful Japanese maple leaves on the grounds:
Some cool street shots I got while we headed back to our Airbnb:
And lastly, the really unique Lin Mansion Family & Garden Metro sign:
the heart as it is | courage • grief • beauty 
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