Kaitlyn Mah – Page 12 – Where to, Gumshoe?

Taipei (Day 26): A Near Perfect Day

March 26, 2015

Today was our last day with my sister, Noel, and Nate here with us in Taiwan. We woke up to sun shining through the window blinds – which made for a good start to the morning and a perfect last day with them.

We walked to Daan Park one last time to play in the playground with Nate. I think we went there four times with them during their twelve day trip. It would have been more if not for the rainy weather and going to Kenting for three days. After the playground we walked through the park towards Yong Kang St. for lunch.

The plan for lunch was to go back to Yong Kang Beef Noodle since it was Noel’s favourite meal of the trip. We made our way to Yong Kang St. around 10:45am and headed for the restaurant. There was already a line formed and the restaurant was full. They hadn’t opened the upstairs section this time so we had to wait about 10 minutes before we were seated. Since we were on the first floor, there were no high chairs available and all the tables were way more cramped. Sitting downstairs is where all the “action” is but also made for a very different dining experience. My sister had to hold Nate while they both ate, which was a bit trickier, but Nate loved their noodles so he was happily slurping it down and wasn’t fussy.

Next up on our agenda today was to visit SunnyHills pineapple cake shop. Pineapple cakes are the most common souvenir people buy when they’re in Taiwan. There are so many shops around Taipei it’s hard to sift through which ones are actually good. On our first trip to Taiwan, Tim’s aunt bought us both Chia Te and SunnyHills to bring back to our families. Chia Te is the most internationally known pineapple cake shop and is often the only place people will buy their pineapple cakes from. After trying both of them, our favourite was SunnyHills. They use real pineapple rather than jelly or melon (which most places use), so depending on the season the cake filling may be tart.

At first, my sister and Noel weren’t planning on buying any pineapple cakes since Noel isn’t a big fan of them. He talked about how the first time he had a pineapple cake, it was so dry and turned him off from them. We tried to convince him that the SunnyHills pineapple cake were different than all the other ones he’s had before.

I did a bit of research on the SunnyHills store as it’s about a 15 minute walk from the closest MRT station in a residential area. Luckily we had google maps loaded on Tim’s phone because you can easily miss the subtle signage. When we found it, it looked like a little oasis in the middle of the city.

When we walked in, the very friendly and pretty ladies (Nate kept waving and saying “ni hao”) at the store led us to a table to sit down. The front room was full so they brought us to the back room and we got to sit at our own round table for four people.

The ladies there were so kind and kept pouring us more tea, which was nice of them. Noel, the former pineapple cake hater, had a change of heart after trying them here. After sitting and relaxing for about half an hour, we went to buy some pineapple cakes. Each pineapple cake is 42 NT = $1.70 CAD, and buying them in boxes of 10 or 15 doesn’t change the price per unit. Along with pineapple cakes they sell pineapple juice, honey cake (Castella cakes), and tea.

I would highly recommend anyone traveling to Taipei to go here for pineapple cakes. I have yet to try a better one. I haven’t been to Chia Te yet to look around but I can only imagine it would be a gong show of a store as Trip Advisor reviews all say to go early to avoid massive line ups. SunnyHills was seriously such a calm and relaxing experience that I wouldn’t mind just going there to have some tea and reading a book if they let people do that.

We headed out and decided to walk to our next destination – Breeze Shopping Center. The walk was about 30 minutes and it was nice because we were in a more residential area of Taipei. The streets were tree lined and very quiet. One of the major streets had multi-coloured pinwheels lining it, which gave it a community feel.

As we were walking along the “pinwheel street”, we found a Cama Coffee (I call it Taipei’s Starbucks). We have seen locations all over the city but my sister and Noel (who are coffee drinkers) hadn’t had a chance to try one. Interestingly, as much as Taiwan is a very tea-centric country, Taipei has a lot of really great coffee shops all around the city. Tim and I don’t drink coffee, but according to my sister and Noel, all the coffee places that they’ve tried were very good. Their iced Americano from Cama was 40 NT = $1.60 CAD.

We finally made it to Breeze Center, a mall filled with high end luxury goods as well as other stores. We were there for the other stores, like Muji, Uniqlo, and they even had a Maison Kayser (Paris bakery).

After a pretty full morning and afternoon, we made our way back to the apartment so they could do a final pack up before dinner and the airport. We planned on going to the Tonghua Night Market for dinner, since Noel wanted stinky tofu for the last time and my sister hadn’t tried an oyster omelet yet.

We went to the night market around 6:30pm and it was already really busy (it’s a Saturday night after all). Since Nate needed more of a sit down dinner place, we took them to Formosa Chang’s on Tonghua St. first. Formosa Chang’s is the fast casual chain restaurant that serves a good braised pork on rice. We ordered two large rice bowls, a stewed egg, a plate of vegetables and a pork chop for 242 NT = $9.80 CAD. After we ate at Formosa Chang’s, we got our night market eats and headed back to the apartment with about 45 minutes to spare before Uncle Albert came by.

We’re very fortunate that Uncle Albert has been so kind to us and to my family. Without even meeting them he offered to pick them up from the airport and now has dropped them off for their 11:55pm flight back to Vancouver. My sister and Noel said he parked and saw them off through the security gates.

Saying goodbye to loved ones, especially when we’re away from home for 4.5 months is hard. As most people know I’m extremely close to my family and see them more often than the average person, so being away from them for so long is harder on me – that and I’m a pretty emotional person. Saying goodbye was a teary affair for me and my sister. I think Tim was worried about how much I was crying when they left (I’m better now).

It was great having my sister, Noel, and Nate here. Things started off a bit rocky with Noel and Nate not feeling 100% but after that initial hurdle, the days couldn’t have been better (despite the rainy weather). It was awesome that they were able to come visit us in Taiwan and be able to meet some of Tim’s family and learn more about Taiwanese culture. I’m happy that Taipei was so baby/toddler friendly and we actually learned a lot about what it would be like to be a parent in Taipei (I’ll expand more on that in a future post). We all said we would come back in 10 or so years when we have kids – hope that happens!

Steps for the day: 24,000

Taipei (Day 25): Back to the Rainy City

March 25, 2016

Our last morning in Kenting started like all the others, wake up and head down for breakfast, except this time no swimming after breakfast. I think three nights in Kenting was good enough, especially when the weather wasn’t that great. Without nice weather, there’s really not much to do there, so it was good we were heading back to Taipei.

Our bus from the hotel left at 11am and we arrived at Kaohsiung’s Zuoying station at 1:30pm. We had about an hour to kill before our train back to Taipei. There is a mall attached to the train station that has a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi, Uniqlo, Daiso, Muji and a food court. We walked around and my sister found some cute plastic plates for Nate at Daiso. The items there were only 39 NT = $1.58 (a bit cheaper than the Daiso at home).

The train we took back to Taipei took about two hours this time because we made about five stops along the way. We arrived back to a very wet and colder Taipei. It was about 13 degrees Celsius and raining quite hard. We didn’t have umbrellas so we walked as quickly as possible (Tim: It’s actually best to walk slower in rain to not get as wet, unless it’s windy) and under awnings as much as we could back to Tim’s uncle’s apartment. We dropped off our bags and headed out for dinner. We had our mind set on hot pot because of the weather and we wanted some vegetables.

We headed back to our favourite hot pot place and it was packed for 6:30pm. We were actually surprised it was so busy because most locals eat later than we do in North America. Luckily, there was a table for us and warmed we up with delicious shabu shabu. Nate enjoyed it as well and loved having some of the ice cream at the end.

After dinner we came back to the apartment and my sister and Noel started to pack and organize their luggage (it’s their last night here). Tim and I went through some of our stuff that we realize we don’t need so they could bring it back home for us – mostly Tim’s electronics.

Tomorrow, we’re going to stop by some of their favourite places before they head to the airport around 9pm. Noel wants to go back to Yong Kang Beef Noodle, Nate wants to go back to Daan Park (so we think), and my sister wants to go to Sunny Hills for pineapple cakes.

The forecast tomorrow is sun! Nate has been singing “Rain, rain, go away”, so now his wish will come true. If only the weather had been nice while they were here.

Steps today: 10,000

Kenting (Day 24): Good Luck Winds

March 24, 2016

Yesterday, we had hung some of our shorts and swim suits on the balcony outside to dry. This morning, when we woke up and looked outside there was only one item out of four left on the balcony (we’re on the 2nd floor). The palm trees were swaying and it was super windy outside. We looked outside and saw my sister’s shorts on the roof top below, Noel’s swim trunks on the ground and Tim’s shorts weren’t anywhere in sight. Tim went down to find his shorts which had been blown about 30 meters away on the first level. Then Tim climbed off our balcony to the roof to get my sister’s shorts (probably not the best idea). We learned our lesson about Kenting weather: it changes really quickly. Today’s temperature dropped almost 10 degrees Celsius and with the wind blowing it felt significantly colder than 20 degrees out.

Here are some pictures from breakfast:

After breakfast, we got changed and headed to the covered jacuzzi area. The jacuzzi area pool is set at about 34 degrees and has different jets everywhere, including ones that spray down to massage your shoulders. This area was the only part of the pool area that was busy. In the pools here you need to wear a swim cap. If you don’t have one, you can borrow one from the hotel. Many locals had their own that matched their swim suits.

To get to our resort in Kenting, we took their shuttle from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung. I had booked the shuttle about three weeks before but forgot to ask to reserve seats back to Kaohsiung on Friday. When we arrived at the resort to check in, we told them we wanted to book a shuttle back and they said the shuttle was full and that we would have to take a bus in town which takes an hour longer and costs more. I felt really bad for dropping the ball on this. We had done more research on the other bus we had to take but today as we went out for lunch, I told Tim to just ask the front desk again if there was any room for us. I said, I think today is our lucky day, maybe some people decided to go home earlier or stay longer. Tim went to go ask and we were in luck, they had room for us! They even gave us the round trip rate of 500 NT = $20 CAD, only 100 NT more than the one way fare (which is not posted on their website… their website needs some work), so we only had to pay the different from our one way fare we already paid. This was the best news we had all day! A shorter bus ride, more convenient and a lot cheaper (the other bus would have been 418 NT = $17 CAD one way).

With that great news, we headed for celebratory lunch at McDonald’s. Asian McDonald’s have fried chicken! The prices at McDonald’s in Taiwan is a bit cheaper than at home. A Big Mac is only 69 NT = $2.80 CAD, where as it would be around $5 CAD in Vancouver. The best thing we have discovered at McDonald’s in Taiwan are their black sesame McFlurries (Tim: and sundaes). They mix black sesame paste with crunchy rice-crispy-like bits; no wonder it’s advertised at their number one seller.

We walked around the beach after lunch and then eventually made our way back to the room. It was Nate’s nap time and as it turned out, it was mine as well. Earlier in the day, Tim signed us up for an archery class at 4pm, but I stayed back to watch over Nate while Tim went with my sister and Noel. They came back after an hour saying they had fun. Nate didn’t wake up from his nap until around 6:30pm. We were deciding what to do for dinner since it was really windy out and we didn’t want to eat night market food tonight. My sister and I went to check out the restaurant downstairs and decided to just stay in tonight.

The main restaurant here is where breakfast is served, buffet style. The restaurant is called “Aegean Restaurant”, which had a mixture of Western and Asian options, a good selection of cold seafood, and a carving station.
It was 693 NT = $27.60 CAD per person (weekday price), which is like a North American priced buffet. They had a Filipino trio band playing live music during dinner, which Nate enjoyed listening to. We all enjoyed dinner as there were a lot of vegetables (which really hit the spot) and western options (Tim and I were craving pasta for a while). The seafood was a nice treat since the seafood at the night market was overpriced for tourists -ie. 3 scallops on a skewer for 200 NT = $8 CAD.

We took our time and enjoyed our nice dinner. My sister, Noel, and Nate treated us tonight as a thank you for “showing them around Taiwan”. It was the most uncomfortably full Tim and I have been since being on this trip.

Time to sleep, tomorrow will be a longer day because we have to travel back up to Taipei. At least now we don’t have to worry about the bus to Kaohsiung!

Steps today: 13,500

Kenting (Day 23): Catching Some Rays

March 23, 2016

Today was the first day in over a week that we all woke up after 8am – even Nate! I think it was a combination of comfortable beds, silence and blackout blinds. Nate started to call out for my sister around 8:15am and we were surprised that it was so “late” – we woke up to get ready so we wouldn’t have a rushed breakfast (breakfast ended at 10am).

I think it’s always exciting to see what type of free breakfast hotels offer (or is that just me?), especially Asian hotels. I find that Asian hotels offer the best breakfasts because they always have an assortment of good Western and Asian options. You could have a plate of bacon and eggs then have a plate of noodles and stir fry – it’s the best of both worlds.

After reading a lot of very mixed reviews on Trip Advisor about this resort, I continue to be very skeptical about American’s reviews about Asian resorts and hotels. There were multiple negative reviews made about how Chateau Beach Resort doesn’t have a good breakfast and how there’s not enough Western options (come on, you’re in Asia…). As soon as we walked into the breakfast “hall”, the food and beverage area was extensive. I’ll try to take pictures of the food tomorrow – I was a bit overwhelmed this morning.

There were a lot of Western options – bacon, sausage, eggs, and even an omelette station. Tim was really happy about the Taiwanese food options like – danzi noodles (the noodles we had in Tainan) (Tim: they were so-so), stewed pork belly, and a green onion pancake station. Noel (and Nate) were most excited about the fruit bar – it had guava, pineapple, water apples and watermelon. Thanks to the breakfast buffet, Noel didn’t have to buy guava during the day.

After breakfast we were all set to swim. It was about 28 degrees Celsius today, a bit overcast with the sun coming out once in a while. It was nice to feel the heat – it was the weather we were hoping for in Kenting. We hung around the pool for a bit and then went down to the beach. The waves got pretty big so was not ideal for swimming in the ocean, though there were a bunch of people who were. Also, there was a warning that there were jellyfish in the area, which kind of psyched me out, so we just stayed close to shore.

Since we are in Asia (where most people want to be pale) there aren’t many sun bathers, therefore, there isn’t an abundance of lounge chairs around. We didn’t find this to be a problem since there were still quite a few free. We found most people liked to stay in the shade or in the covered jacuzzi pool and only the North Americans were out laying on the beach in the direct sunlight (with tanning oils).

For dinner, we headed back to the night market – it seems like that’s the best place to eat since a lot of the restaurant close by seem overpriced. We decided to try the “Taiwanese three cup” stall, which makes the traditional three cup chicken as well as other options: squid, mushrooms, duck tongue, and prawns (all made to order). We both ordered the chicken – it was really tasty, but would’ve been even better if we had a bowl of rice to go with it.

Our night at the night market got cut short by a sudden downpour. We were ordering bubble tea from Presotea when we felt a couple of rain drops, then suddenly rain was coming down like crazy and all the vendors quickly rushed to get their stalls under cover. We stood under Presotea’s cover until the rain died down. We still had about an 8 minute walk back to the hotel without an umbrella. You could tell no one was prepared – everyone was soaked.

An observation about Kenting is that it’s like the Thailand of Taiwan. Kenting Road (where the night market is) resembles any street in Koh Samui or any beachy Thai town. There’s a lot of street vendors, clubs, girls and lady boys dancing outside, and alcohol (we haven’t seen alcohol at any night market in Taiwan before here). Although the one thing Kenting doesn’t seem to have (or openly show) is prostitution, which is good.

Tomorrow is our last full day here. I imagine it will be somewhat of the same type of day we had today. I’m happy everyone is having a good time. It’s a nice way to end our leg of this trip with my sister, Noel, and Nate. We head back to Taipei on Friday and have one more night with them before they fly back home to Vancouver on Saturday night – just in time for Easter Sunday.

Total number of steps today: Around 10,000 steps but it wasn’t that accurate today since we didn’t have our cell phones with us at all times.

Kenting (Day 22): Finally Feels Like a Vacation

March 22, 2016

Today started off a bit hectic as we were busy packing up everything and making sure the apartment wasn’t a mess when we handed it back (Tim: Not sure why that was necessary since we pay a cleaning fee for AirBnB). We left the apartment at 10:30am and made our way to Taipei Main Station to catch the high speed rail train to Zuoying (Kaohsiung).

This was our first time taking the high speed rail (HSR) long distance. We had taken the HSR to Taoyuan (15 minute ride) for the lantern festival but were only taking the normal railway for our loop around Taiwan. Our train left Taipei at 11:24am and was scheduled to arrive in Kaohsiung at 1:00pm. Taipei to Kaohsiung is approximately 360km, so to get there in about an hour and half (Tim: with two stops) is pretty awesome!

As scheduled, we arrived at the Kaohsiung’s Zuoying station at 1:00pm on the dot. We bought our tickets for our return trip back to Taipei and walked around before heading to the hotel shuttle that picks up everyday at 1:50pm. Zuoying Station is very modern with an assortment of food options and even has a Muji and Shin Kong Mitsukoshi attached to it.

The shuttle from Zuoying to our hotel in Kenting took two hours for about 114km (which included a 15 minute rest stop break). If only there was a train connecting Kenting to other cities in Taiwan, it would make traveling here so much easier. Long bus rides are pretty painful, I prefer train rides.

Once we got to the resort, I was pleasantly surprised. We are staying at the Chateau Beach Resort in Kenting. It’s a popular destination because of a movie (Cape No. 7) which was filmed around the area. The hotel and grounds are very nice and our room is quite spacious with very high ceilings (our room is $200 CAD/night for a “Mountain View” family room). The hotel is very family friendly with multiple shallow pools for kids, a playroom, and the hotel’s private beach has super soft and pristine sand. This is the only hotel in Kenting that backs on to its own beach – which was a major selling point for us, especially with Nate.

We were excited to explore the resort once we settled in since it was actually sunny and warm (about 26 degrees celsius). We walked down to the beach and walked along the shore for a bit – the water is a bit too cold to swim in but it’s perfect to wading in. The sun was starting to set so we decided to head out and grab something to eat, since we didn’t really eat much today.

The Kenting night market is located just up the street from the resort – which is a pretty ideal location. We snacked on some green onion pancake, fried milk, sausage, and chicken. For dessert we went to McDonald’s and tried their black sesame sundae (it was really good, and I don’t even love black sesame). The main street in Kenting is very touristy and it reminded Tim and I of Thailand (Tim: Koh Samui) more so than any other place we’ve been to in Taiwan.

We headed back to the hotel and went to the rec room to let Nate play (and Noel and Tim played ping pong).

It’s nice to sleep in comfortable beds for the first time in a week or so. It’s also so quiet here compared to being in the Daan apartment. I know that this part of our trip is a luxury and Tim and I will not be traveling like this for other parts of our trip (unless it’s really cheap), so I’m definitely savouring every moment we have here for the next three days.

Looking forward to doing nothing by lounging and reading by the pool tomorrow. The temperature is supposed to be 28 degrees.

Steps today: 15,000

Taipei (Day 21): Taking it easy in Taipei

March 21, 2016

It was our last full day in Taipei (with my sister, Noel, and Nate) before heading south to Kenting. We headed to Ximending (west Taipei) to walk around and grab some snacks to eat.

The first stop was KFC. My sister and Noel hadn’t tried their egg tarts before so we got a box of six (140 NT = $5.65 for 6). They were warm and delicious, if only KFC North America would serve these for dessert instead of deep and delicious cakes (although, deep and delicious cakes are (Tim: deep and) delicious too).

After walking through Ximending, we went looking for a store called Hakka Blue (the front of the store says “Art Yard”), that Tim’s Mom had told us about that sells “xiao long bao” condiment sets and other crafts made in Taiwan. The store is located in a historic area in Taipei on a street called Dihua. It took about 20 minutes to walk to this area from Ximending. Dihua street reminded me of most cities’ Chinatowns – cobbled streets full of dried fruit and herb stores.

Tim’s Mom hosted an exhibit a few years ago called “Made in Taiwan” and she had these xiao long bao sets on display – this is where my sister fell in love with them. When we found the store, it was not only filled with those xiao long baos, but it had an assortment of other crafted items that were really neat. I could see why Tim’s Mom really likes this store.

We made our way back to the apartment early in the afternoon since we had to pack and clean up before tomorrow morning. We had dinner at a place close to the apartment – a restaurant that is typically for late night eats but is popular for the normal dinner time crowd as well. I wasn’t feeling 100% so I just had a bit of congee and went home and rested.

Can’t believe it’s already been a week since my sister, Noel and Nate have been in Taipei! Nate is finally feeling at home in the apartment and now we’re leaving tomorrow. His favourite place in the apartment is on the balcony because you can see the MRT trains, buses, cars, scooters and a digger in the lot beside the building – it’s a little boy’s dream. Looking forward to going to Kenting tomorrow. It’ll be a nice change of pace and scenery from the city and hopefully we will be able to see some sun.

Our total steps today: 18,000.

Taipei (Day 20): Yong Kang Take 2

March 20, 2016

Last night we looked up mass times for a Catholic church (Holy Family) in Taipei, which is just on the other side of Daan Park from us (about a 15 minute walk). It’s Palm Sunday today (week before Easter) and they hand out palm leaves to symbolize Jesus riding into Jerusalem. I find it’s always interesting to go to different churches while traveling to see all the subtle differences in each church (although there’s more similarities than differences in Catholic churches). The palm leaves were different than what we would get in Vancouver, so that was neat!

After mass, we headed to Yong Kang Street because last time we were there Noel was not feeling well and didn’t get to enjoy any of the good food there. We decided to try the more famous beef noodle restaurant this time – called “Yong Kang Beef Noodles”. When we got there around 11:15am, there was already a huge line outside. The line went really quickly because they had just opened the 2nd floor seating. We went upstairs, grabbed some side dishes and waited for our beef noodles to arrive. This beef noodle’s soup is more soy based and spicy, where as Lin Dong Fang is more herbal. Everything was really good – Noel and my sister said it was their favourite beef noodle of the trip!

After we had noodles we went to the shaved ice place we saw the other day called, “Smoothie House”. If you walk down Yong Kang St. you won’t miss it. We shared one mango and panna cotta shaved ice. It was good, comparable to Ice Monster, and 60 NT cheaper.

After lunch and our snacks, we headed to Daan Park on our way home to play in the playground with Nate. The crowd at the playground was like night and day on the weekend compared to when we’ve been during weekdays.

After Daan Park, the weather was starting to get colder and windier. You could tell it was going to start raining again soon. We decided to go back to the Taipei 101 area and shop around while Nate was sleeping in his stroller. Thinking about what to do for dinner, we ended up going to Din Tai Fung again to have XLBs for the last time (Tim: ever!?). Since we put down our names at around 5pm, we got our table right away even though it said on the board that it would be a 30 minute wait. After we left around 6pm, the wait time jumped to 70 minutes!

When we got back to the apartment, we were all tired (the adults). We stayed out all day so once we sat down it was nice to relax a bit. Nate was up from his nap and all he wanted to do was go out. He kept pointing to his stroller and wanted to sit in it. He also kept saying “go outside” and “put on shoes” to all of us. The Nate we all know and love is slowly coming back. We all agreed to take him to the night market that’s close to our apartment.

It was his first night market experience where he wasn’t sleeping. He seemed to really enjoy looking around at all the different stores and food stalls. He kept pointing to them saying “want one”.

It’s our second last night in Taipei with my sister, Noel, and Nate before we head down south to Kenting for a more relaxing getaway. Tomorrow we’re planning on checking out Ximending and packing up/cleaning up the apartment.

It’s been nice to have everyone around (although tiring at times, it’s always worth it). It’s only been day 20 out of 140 on this leg of our trip – not even close to halfway! We’re already talking about doing a Taiwan, Japan and Philippines trip in 10 years or so with our (future) kids. They should be at a good age where they can actually remember things by then.

Total number of steps today is 23,100.

Taipei (Day 19): Family and Food

March 19, 2016

It was another rainy morning in Taipei, but at least it’s a lot warmer than earlier in the week. Nate was in a good mood this morning and asked to sit in his stroller after breakfast and said to my sister, “Go!”. My sister and I took him to Daan Park to walk around, but as we began walking there it started to rain even harder. So unfortunately for Nate, he wasn’t able to play in the park.

When we got back from the park, Tim and I went to grab breakfast for everyone from a restaurant down the block that has since become our new breakfast/lunch/late night eats joint – “Ya Meile”. Once we walk in, the lady behind the counter recognized us and welcomed us in. She gave us free soy milk and said it was her treat (we think she’s the boss lady, she’s really friendly and very in control of everyone). We brought some dumplings, XLBs, lo bak go (fried turnip cake) and rice rolls to bring back to the apartment. It was our second day eating at this place and it’s probably one of the cheapest restaurants we have found for good eats (for breakfast, lunch and dinner). We could feed all four of us for less than $10 CAD.

The rain was coming down really hard at this point in the morning so we decided to just chill out and let Nate nap. The guys stayed back at the apartment to rest while I went with my sister to walk around a bit and get some bubble tea. We headed towards Daan Park and stopped by a Coco Bubble Tea. My sister really likes their passionfruit tea with coconut jelly and pearls – it’s really refreshing and only 40 NT = $1.60 CAD! We were discussing that this drink in Vancouver would likely be around $5. We also went to try to look for a KFC so my sister and Noel could try their delicious egg tarts. We had no luck because the one I looked up that was close to Coco closed down.

After our failed attempt to find a KFC, we walked by a beautiful indoor flower market – if only we actually lived here I would buy fresh flowers and an assortment of succulents.

On the way back to the apartment, we stopped by a restaurant that looked like a very popular lunch spot a few blocks away (Tim: Ruei An Taiwan Buffet). It was a self-serve lunch bar but we weren’t sure if they charged by the box/plate or if they weighed it. We didn’t see any signs with a fixed price so we assumed it was by weight, as people weren’t going crazy filling up their boxes/plates. We picked a few things to share and went to the counter to pay. There wasn’t a scale, but the cashier counted everything with her tongs and charged us for what we had. For a pretty full box we paid 90 NT = $3.60 CAD.

When we got back to the apartment, Nate was waking up from his nap (such good timing). We got ready and headed to Zhongxiao Fuxing to go to SOGO (Japanese department store). I’m always impressed by children’s toy floors at department stores here. They have a huge selection of toys and a variety of arts and craft stations around- like sewing, embroidery, clay making, painting, etc.

After SOGO, we walked down Zhongxiao Road towards Ice Monster. We wanted to stop by before dinner to get a popsicle as we wouldn’t have enough time before meeting the Ho family for dinner. As it was a Saturday afternoon, there was a huge line up for Ice Monster if you wanted to eat in. We got two popsicles (passionfruit and mango) just to try. They were perfect for Nate – super mini popsicles for 30 NT = $1.20 CAD.

We met Auntie Sandra, Uncle Dave and Kris for dinner at the original location of Shin Yeh. They were in town for the weekend so it was perfect timing that we were all able to meet up. Uncle Dave ordered a lot of classic Taiwanese dishes for us to try (I forget to take pictures).

After dinner we headed back to the apartment to put Nate to sleep before heading out to the Tonghua Night Market. My sister was exhausted so she decided to stay back and just go to bed early (it’s hard being a Mom…). We’ll come back to this night market again with her when we get back from Kenting – it’s close to Tim’s uncle’s apartment, where we’ll be staying for their last night in Taipei.

Now we’re back at the apartment, all ready to go to sleep. We’re planning on going to church tomorrow at the Holy Family Catholic Church close by (on the other side of Daan Park). There’s one English service there on Sundays at 9:45am.

Our total step count for today was 21,045 (I walked a bit more than Tim because I had two separate walks to Daan Park without him 😛 )

Taipei (Day 18): Tamsui Day

March 18, 2016

Today we planned on spending the day in Tamsui to visit Uncle Albert. Tamsui/Danshui/Danshuei (different spellings) is a seaside city located north of Taipei. It takes about 35 minutes from Taipei on the MRT to get there. The cost of going there from our MRT station (Daan) was 44 NT = $1.75 CAD, which is the most expensive MRT ride we’ve taken so far. Ideally, Tamsui is a good place to visit when it’s sunny since a lot of attractions are along the waterfront. We had scheduled to visit Uncle Albert on Friday because the forecast had been for sun today, but the forecast changed to rain and even some thunder.

When we arrived at the station, Uncle Albert was waiting for us outside the gates. He led us down a street filled with food stalls and various snack vendors (“Tamsui Old Street”). As soon as we entered, we ordered fried chicken nuggets and UFO stuffed waffles (taiyakis). The fried chicken nuggets were from this place called J&G Fried Chicken (since 1973), the chicken was just fried so it was moist and perfectly seasoned with a bit of spice (Tim: I asked for less spicy).

Uncle Albert wanted to take us to a place on that street that served a traditional Tamsui dish. He ordered “a-gei” (bean curd outer skin with vermicelli inside) and fish ball soup.

After we finished eating some snacks, we continued to walk in Tamsui’s “old town”. By now, the rain was starting to pick up and it became a downpour, my sister even bought a poncho for 30 NT = $1.20 CAD. Uncle Albert walked with us to Tamsui Presbyterian Church and then left us to get his car.

The Tamsui Presbyterian Church was founded by Canadian missionary, Dr. Mackay, the first missionary to serve northern Taiwan. Not only is Dr. Mackay an important figure in the Tamsui area but he is important to Tim’s family. Tim’s Great Grandfather was the Pastor at that church. As we waited for Uncle Albert to come back with his car, we went to a historical building next to the church where Dr. Mackay had run a dental practice. It is now a small museum and shop. The store attendants there gave us some tea and cookies as they explained more about Dr. Mackay.

After we spent some time around the church, Uncle Albert picked us up and drove us around to see other Tamsui sites – including Fort Santo Domingo and Fisherman’s Wharf (where they have the “Love Bridge”). The rain wasn’t coming down as hard as earlier so we got out and walked over the bridge and around the waterfront.

For dinner we headed to a mall close to the Tamsui MRT station. Uncle Albert picked “Thai Town” – which has multiple locations in Taiwan. It was a nice restaurant on the 10th (top floor) of the mall that overlooked the water. All the seats in the restaurant had a window view. If only it were a sunny day, the seating at the restaurant would have been awesome. The food and service were good – the prices were similar to back home ($10-$15 range per dish)

After dinner, we said our goodbyes to Uncle Albert and thanked him for being such a great Tamsui guide. We decided to head back to the market street to buy “iron eggs” which originated from Tamsui. They are small chicken eggs that have been cooked down continuously until they’re the size of a quail egg. We decided to walk around a bit more and buy some snacks for later and for my sister to bring home. Nate had fallen asleep so my sister was free to actually look around. On top of the iron eggs to try tomorrow, we got more fruit (Noel loves the guava here), dried plums, this seaweed snack, mochis, and Mister Donut donuts at the MRT station.

Our conversation at the mochi stand was funny, my sister wanted to know what all the flavours were so she asked Tim to help her. Tim asked in Mandarin what the flavours were and the guy listed the six flavours fairly quickly. My sister asked for clarification from Tim on what one of the flavours was, Tim forgot and asked the guy to say the flavours again. When he repeated the flavour Tim wasn’t quite sure, he asked the guy to explain again. Then the guy just said “that one’s taro, black sesame, and green tea”. We all had a good laugh because we were struggling to figure out some of the flavours and the whole time the guy knew the names of the fillings in English.

We were all looking forward to going back to the apartment and having a chill night – Netflix and trying out the donuts. The donuts were different than any other donut I’ve had before, it was a bit chewy (almost like they used a bit of mochi flour in them). They are apparently known for their “pon de ring” donuts so we tried a strawberry, plain, peanut & chocolate and a double chocolate donut.

Tomorrow, we’ll probably do a bit of shopping and walking around the Zhongxiao Fuxing area. For dinner, we are meeting Auntie Sandra and family! They are in Taipei for the weekend from Hong Kong so it’ll be nice to see them.

Our step count for today is 14,000.

Taipei (Day 17): First Full Day and Night

March 17, 2016

It was the first day that was forecasted to have sun (a little peaked out but at least it was a lot warmer – around 26 degrees today), so we decided to take Nate to the Taipei Zoo. Noel was feeling back to normal, but Nate was still having a hard time adjusting.

The Taipei Zoo is on the south end of the brown (Wenhu) MRT line and about 7 stops away from our apartment. We headed out to the zoo around 10am. We heard the zoo was a great place to bring kids and they have pandas – which are their main “attraction”. The entrance fee to the zoo is only 60 NT ($2.40 CAD) for adults and Nate was free.

When we walked in, there were a lot of groups of school children on field trips, all with different coloured sweat pant track suits (school uniforms). The zoo grounds were great, and we were all very impressed by the variety of animals and the way the park was laid out. They had a good selection of food stands and stores (Family Mart, 7-Eleven, McDonald’s to name a few) sprinkled around the park that had the exact same prices as they would have outside the zoo. The zoo is surrounded by lush mountains which gave it a very “zoo like” feel.

There are a lot more pictures of animals that we saw, but I think everyone gets the idea. I just kept hearing they had pandas (two), but I was surprised at how many other animals they had. Nate fell asleep half way through the zoo, so it was really just for the adults at this point. We walked around the whole zoo and enjoyed it!

If we had more time and it was a nicer day (visibility wise), we would have considered taking the Maokong gondola up the mountain – the gondola base is right beside the zoo.

We left the zoo around 4:30pm, and headed to Lin Dong Fang for beef noodles. This was the place Tim and I had previously gone to our first week in Taipei, and it’s still my favourite one (so far). Nate was sound asleep so we thought it would be a good chance to go to a not so child friendly restaurant. He slept through loud traffic and a jack hammer (there’s construction beside our apartment) but as soon it was dead quiet in the restaurant, he wakes up!

We got back to the apartment around 6pm, and planned to go to the Shilin Night Market (the largest one in Taipei) to meet up with Tim’s cousin, Karen, who is also in Taipei for the week. I first met Karen during our trip to Taipei in 2013, and she has since moved back to the U.S. (Austin, Texas) and is just here for less than a week. It was great getting to see her for even a short period of time here.

The Shilin Night Market is huge and a bit overwhelming. There’s a lot of shopping, food stalls and carnival games to play. It was my sister and Noel’s first Taiwan night market, so we for sure had to get fried chicken cutlet and stinky tofu. We also had ai-yu jelly drink, a cranberry lemon juice that Karen bought for us (this was really refreshing), “big sausage wrapped in little sausage” (outside sausage is sticky rice), and bought some Taiwanese fruits at the end.

We got back to the apartment close to midnight – we were all exhausted, especially my sister who had to carry had a 30 pound toddler strapped to her for 4 hours. I don’t know how she does it, she’s superwoman!

Steps today was 30,000 ! No wonder we were pooped.