Dinner With cousin in New Taipei City

I had dinner with my cousin and his family at Haidilao Hot Pot (海底捞火锅) which is a chain of hot pot restaurants founded in Sichuan Province, China. Haidilao is known for their customer service (blankets on demand for customers feel cool from AC) and a variety of free entertainment such as board games, snacks, Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and manicures for waiting customers, as well as making noodles with music, and hourly Sichuan Opera Face Change (川劇變臉). The Performer wore vividly colored masks of well known characters from the opera, which were changed from one face to another almost instantaneously with the swipe of a fan, a movement of the head, or wave of the hand. I stopped by the cousin's home before heading back to Taipei. 

Last time I saw my cousin in Banqiao was when I was studying at  an elementary school, but we could still recognize each other today. Banqiao has changed a lot from an old town to a metropolitan area full of department stores and a big city plaza hosting events such as an Thai water festival today.











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