Taiwan 2014

March 28-April 7, 2014

Friday March 28

Bound for Taipei, Taiwan! I'm ready for the long hours of travel to be over already and eat some yummy food with my in-laws. My biggest travel worry was my nausea acting up around strange smells, such as stinky tofu which I cannot stand. 

Saturday March 29

Late night arrival around 10pm Taiwan time. Straight to bed for us!

Sunday March 30

Breakfast at World Soybean Milk Magnate in Yonghe. We went for a walk to the park with Joe's Dad. We had some of Joe's family over for dinner: us, Mom, Dad, Grandmother, Grandmother's brother & his wife (they own a restaurant nearby), and another Uncle and his wife.

Monday March 31
We ate breakfast again at World Soybean Milk Magnate. Joe and his Dad went to run errands and take care of some paperwork in the city. Joe secured his birth certificate issued from Taiwan. I went to the market with Joe's Mom. She bought loads of fruit for the week as well as other healthy produce for me and the baby to eat. There were fresh bamboo shoots in season this time of year. The most alarming part of Taiwanese open air markets is the raw chicken lying out on the table for you to choose. They cut it up for you right there. In Chinese culture, a pregnant woman isn't to be around cutting or anything that may be disturbing to the child. While we were purchasing the chicken, I had to turn my little belly away and rub it to soothe the baby per mom’s instructions. We bought some fresh squeezed orange juice and then head back to the house. Also in Chinese culture, pregnant women are not supposed to lift anything. Mom would not let me carry any of the bags of groceries back home.
Joe's Great Uncle and his wife took us and the rest of the family out for a really nice dinner that night. It was quite a fun evening.

Tuesday April 1

We ate breakfast at World Soybean Milk Magnate. Are you seeing a trend? Yes this place is really that good and the cheapest food you can find. The menu is big enough to have different things each day and it not get old.

Thankfully I have not had any nausea issues yet, but 13+ weeks is looking promising! I haven't smelt stinky tofu yet, but hopefully the worst of morning sickness may be behind me now...

Joe & I ran some errands in Taipei and avoided the mass protest going on near the government buildings (China trade deal) by cutting through beautiful Liberty Square with the National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, National Theater, and the Main Gate

Wednesday April 2
We had breakfast at a sandwich place in Yonghe that Joe likes.
Today Joe and Jackie ran some more errands. We got all our ducks in a row for paperwork required to be sent to the Netherlands along with Joe’s birth certificate for proper vetting with the government for Joe’s new position.
Afterwards we walked over to the Taipei Arena which we had never seen. This area has a lot of money. Big banks, financial headquarters, Mercedes and other luxury car dealerships.
Taipei Arena

Soccer field

Jackie liked this curved metal panel façade.

We ate lunch in Ximen and then shopped in the Underground Mall. 

For dinner the family made Chinese burritos. They know how much I like them from years ago so they make them about every time I visit.
My baby bump is just now beginning to show: 14 weeks

Thursday April 3

Joe's Grandmother was in the hospital while we were there. In Chinese culture, it is not good for pregnant women to be near sick people or anything involving death around the baby. I was not allowed to visit her, but Joe & his Mom went. I grabbed breakfast at the World Soybean Milk Magnate with Joe's Dad. Joe the translator got many phone calls when I was on my own with his parents. It's not always the easiest to communicate through hand gestures when we both don't know each other's native language. 

Joe's Aunt from Charlotte (second Uncle's wife) happened to be visiting in Taiwan the same time as us. She took us out for dinner tonight.

Friday April 4

Joe and his Mom visited Grandmother in the hospital. She was doing much better today. 

We met up together for Joe, me, Dad and Mom to have lunch. 

Coming out of the metro at Taipei 101, there it was: Din Tai Fung @ Taipei 101. 

I insisted on eating here for lunch. It was Mom & Dad's first time there because this place is pricey. Mmm I love these Taiwanese prices. 1/3 of Bellevue's price and SOOO much tastier! No comparison. Xiao long bao here is the best! 

Taipei 101

Saturday April 5

Beautiful 82 degree sunny day in Danshui on the northeast coast of Taiwan

Mom, Joe & Dad

Mom, Dad & Jackie (and little baby at 14 weeks)

Danshui little eats street food

Mom & Dad were tired from all the walking so they went home. Joe and I decided to walk around Shilin as the Night Market was beginning to setup. We had to get some Hot Star fried chicken steak. The piece is massive! 

Sunday April 6

We had one last breakfast at Yonghe's World Soybean Milk Magnate. Today's mission was to find an old map of Taiwan to hang in the house. After countless stores, the best we had found was a tourist map roll at Eslite Bookstore on Friday.
Mom & Dad made dinner of pounded rice cakes made into noodle form and a few other yummy dishes as always.

Monday April 7
I'm so glad to be home! I can't wait to sleep in my own bed and snuggle with my puppy
We had a great flyover of Seattle on our flight in!

Dihua Market, Jianan, & Shilin Night Market, Taiwan

Friday January 13, 2012

Jackie took Joe to Dihau Street Market which is several blocks long. It is typically crazy before the Lunar New Year since the area is considered Taipei’s best for traditional New Year foods, party supplies and gifts of all kinds. Many merchants are offering free samples of their goods to all passers-by.

Several times Jackie was greeted with “Hello! Welcome to Taiwan! Happy New Year!” and had some foreign food shoved in her face. Both of us were a little overwhelmed.

There were barrels and barrels of candy.

Jackie had to keep her distance from the tall bags of nuts. She might die if these fell on her due to her allergy!

There was also a lot of dried food.

Next we rode the metro over to Jianan where the Miramar Entertainment area is and the large ferris wheel.

The Jianan metro station is pretty cool too.

Jackie’s main reason for heading here was to find Morphosis’ ASE Design Center built in 1997 in Taipei. Nowhere on the internet could she find the address for this building. She figured the link to a map on Morphosis’ website has got to be accurate enough, so up we go down a residential street. Either the building no longer exists or Morphosis can’t even accurately locate the site of a building they designed! Thom Mayne may be getting a very irate email from a young architecture admirer who was thankful she didn’t drag her aging father-in-law on this trek but upset that the location of such a highly acclaimed building cannot be found.

We gave up and took the long route on the metro to the Shilin Night Market. We went east on the brown line and saw the northeastern part of Taipei. Dahu Lake in the Neihu district looked cool and a lot of new construction around Nangang Exhibition Center and Academia Sinica.

We finally made it to the Shilin Night Market. This time we went straight downstairs to the new food court. There was a long line for this large fried chicken stand which we knew we just had to have.

We had roasted chicken buttocks and tempura from a street vendor.

This was a great last night in Taiwan, but we were ready to be home.

Saturday, January 14, 2012, we had an early flight home. Even with the long flight, we still arrived in Seattle on Saturday morning due to the time change (15 hour difference between Seattle and Taiwan, 12 hour from east coast and Taiwan). I watched a few more movies: The Help (at least the first ¾ on the first flight), the final minutes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow Part 2, Crazy, Stupid, Love, I Don’t Know How She Does It, and Horrible Bosses. I was able to sleep the last 3.5 hours of the flight, but Joe couldn’t sleep at all. We picked up our bags and made it through customs (even with food stuffs in our additional checked bag for the flight home). We rode the light rail from the airport into downtown Seattle. Coming into town on a Saturday morning didn’t give us a clear direct route to our house. We waited 10 minutes in windy downtown waiting for a bus to Lynnwood. We then waited 15 minutes at that park and ride for a local bus. After another 10 minute wait in the cold for a second local bus, we reached the closest bus stop to the house, .7mi away. As we departed the bus at 11am, the falling rain began to turn into sleet as we walked home! By the time we were in the house we were frozen and soaking wet. We were out the door shortly to pick up Chance from the vet where it was now snowing huge flakes! Welcome to the convergence zone!

Zoo, Maokong, Rally, Ximendeng, & Shilin Night Market, Taiwan

Sunday January 8, 2012

Today we had breakfast again at the usual spot before heading to the Taipei Zoo with Joe's dad. It is located just southeast of Taipei. On the metro ride over, Joe found a great sign.

There were flamingos when we first walked in.

The main attraction was the pandas. Joe's Dad had never seen them before. In 2008 the zoo accepted 2 pandas from mainland China, a gift that had been rejected by the then president Chen Shui-Bianca in 2005. The pandas are named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan which together means 'reunion.' The offering of pandas is an old Chinese diplomatic tradition, but the supporters of Taiwan's independence view it as something like a Trojan horse. Dad was upset that they were just laying there with their butts facing us sleeping. They had a large room to explore and they weren’t.

The most popular attraction before the pandas was the koala house.

Tortoise

Penguins! I love penguins.

We also saw lynx, elephants, rhinoceros, etc.

We took the Maokong gondola, a 4km cable car from the Taipei Zoo up the green hills to Zhinan Temple and Maokong in the Erge Mountain Range. It finally reopened again in 2010 after repairs. Since it was free for Dad he decided to ride with us, which is surprising since his fear of heights is getting greater with age. I hate that the weather sucked so badly today. Pictures didn't really turn out in the rain-covered car.

At the Zhinan Temple stop it turned to a complete fog. You could not see 10 feet in front of you, much less the car in front. On the way to the Maokong stop it cleared up a little.

Maokong is one of Taiwan's oldest tea-growing areas and is famous for teahouses, temples and romantic night views of the city. On my first trip here we came shortly before New Years 2008 and could faintly make out Taipei 101 in the distance while the family played cards and drank tea.  We ate some lunch in Maokong before heading back down since it would not have been fun walking up the rural mountain street in search of a teahouse in the rain. On the way back down we got a car with a glass floor!  In this view the glass wasn't be covered in raindrops.

Views of Taipei beyond.

Looking back at the gondola after we exited.

Dad & son.

Somehow Joe's dad convinced him to go to a 'parade' near the Presidential Office Building in the center of Taipei. As we walked by MANY policemen toward a stage setup near Chiang-Kai chek Memorial Hall we started to get a feeling there was something lost in translation.

Dad brought us to a political rally! The presidential election is about a week away. What Joe had not understood was that the president and his new vice president nominee were marching to this stage from Taipei 101. Most of the older crowd, like Joe’s Dad, was waiting to hear the president’s speech at the final destination. He would speak for about an hour and then other political rally festivities stuff would happen; hence the misinterpretation of festive atmosphere for festival.

For some reason Jackie enjoyed watching Joe be as uncomfortable as she was as the only white person there.

Dad gave us an out to leave before the parade made it there. We took the opportunity and walked through 2-28 Park and hightailed it over to Ximendeng, a trendy young shopping district where we recalled Joe's cousin stopping for noodle soup at a crowded place after just finishing a huge lunch of dim sum nearby. We were determined to find this place again. The Red House Theater is one of Taipei's older buildings. The wooden, octagonal structure was originally a public market with many lives since then.

We searched down Ay-Chung Flour-Rice Noodle House, which has had a large crowd gathered out front since 1975. This stall serves rice noodles in delicious soup with added slices of pig intestine.

After that we went to the Shilin Night Market, the city's biggest and oldest. Joe recalled this food market being located under a large covered building that you could see from the metro stop. We walked the narrow lanes that sell mostly clothes, but are peppered with snack stalls.

Now that is some big Asian sausage!

and Joe had to order some!

We found the public market building, but weren't really sure where all the street food was located. We later found out that the 'food court' downstairs was the new location. The old covered pavilion had been deemed a fire risk so the food stalls were relocated here in August.

Here are Chinese lanterns at the temple front, which of course had food stalls.