Grilled cuttlefish and aloe!

Today is Moon Festival day so we decided to do a bike ride along the Love River since it's our first holiday off since school started a month ago.  We left early to beat the heat, which isn't possible by the way.  It was in the high 80's before 8:00 a.m. and with the heat index it was over 105º by the time we hit the road. We're insane.

Here is a sign along the river and where you can take river tours.

We biked our way down the path along the river and it was pretty quiet today because it's a local holiday and a family day. It's such a beautiful ride with some pretty dramatic buildings along the way. We had planned to take the ferry across the harbor to Cijin Island again because the last time we biked around but didn't really stop to explore.  Explore we did!

 This is the view from the island looking at Kaohsiung.

 This is what you see as you step onto the street from the ferry.

We see this "guy" everywhere.  Have to find out more about this one.

It is so colorful and bustling with different products and foods being sold everywhere.  The main product being sold is every type of fish imaginable.

We wandered around from stall to stall and my ultimate goal was to stop and get grilled cuttlefish.  Yes, cuttlefish!  

Isn't it cute!  It's in the same family as squid and octopus.

Anyway, on our walk down the main road we saw this man cutting up these huge aloe leaves (are they called leaves?).  We were wondering what he was doing so stopped and watched him.  It turns out he was making a drink with fresh aloe.

That whole piece of jelly-like aloe is chopped up and a ladle full is put in a container with lemon and sweetened green tea.  Of course I had to try it.  Anyone who knows me knows I'll try anything.  I have to admit, when he was scooping the aloe into the cup, it looked completely slimy and mucusey by the drink was delicious. It was light and refreshing and the aloe was more like a gelatin.  I had a big straw to suck up the bigger pieces but ended up just scooping them up at the end.  After I got home I looked it up and I guess aloe is really good as an anti-inflammatory, among other things. He made the whole process of slicing and dicing seem so easy.

We travelled a bit further and along the way I noticed that all of the cuttlefish was fried.  I was really hoping to find grilled so we kept going.  We saw so many little stands selling fresh fish, like this one. I couldn't even recognize even half of what was being sold.

 I kept looking for the grilled version and then, there it was!

 That's mine being grilled right there!  As she grilled it, she brushed it with this wonderful sweet, salty and tangy sauce, sprinkled it with seasoning and then it was done.

I could have eaten it right off of the stick but she offered to cut it up and put it in a bag for me.   This is the cut up cuttlefish along with my aloe drink.

It was FANTASTIC!  Chewy, savory, a touch of sweetness and spice!  I could have eaten 2 more.

My friend knew of an indoor market so we continued walking and along the beach road is this huge building that houses all of these fish vendors.  It was incredible!  Outside the merchants are selling fresh and cooked fish.  Inside the fish is all dried and smoked.

 This is what you see when you first enter this huge market.

 All of those colorful piles are different types of dried fish.  All if it!  There are tiny little shrimp and squid and other sea creatures.

 I got to sample a bunch of different fish along the way and they were all delicious.  Everything was so balanced with salt, sweet and spice.  Wow!

After we left the market we continued walking to the ocean and I snapped a couple of shots.

 A ship that ran aground on the beach.

 The ocean water is so warm, it doesn't even begin to cool you off.

 A temple along the way facing the beach.

 Even the local Family Mart sells fish snacks.  You have to click the photo to read it.  This stuff is EVERYWHERE!

 Finally we stopped at this little bakery that was selling mooncakes and other baked items. The packaging for everything is so beautiful and perfect.  People were in line buying multiple boxes of cakes.  It is Moon Festival after all!

This guy was parked outside the ferry terminal.  I am continually amazed at how much they fit on trucks and scooters.  I have seen a family of 4 on a scooter along with a propane tank and groceries.  No joke!

We biked our way back and now I'm sitting here, trying to cool off.  I can never complain about the weather in the states again.  This heat and humidity is incredible!

Now, back to doing some school work and preparing for the week ahead.  Having a 3 day weekend was just what I needed!  A hike up a mountain (climbing about 1000 stairs), tea with new friends, monkeys, turtles, aloe and cuttlefish.  It was just about perfect!