I have no idea what day of the week it is today. Seriously. I've been having a blast in Taiwan visiting family, eating good food, and doing fun kids stuff with my munchkins. Taiwan is super fun! If you've never been, consider this destination the next time you make travel plans.
Truth be told, we came here because it will be me and my hubby's 10 year anniversary this summer. So, Taiwan being totally famous for taking those beautiful, gorgeous wedding/anniversary pictures, we came here to, well, take our anniversary pictures! The pictures are being printed, so I'm not able to post them, but I will definitely post them once I get the CD. Maybe on your next anniversary you'll consider coming here for pictures! ;)
So since we brought the entire fam bam here for the purpose of those pictures, we had to find fun stuff for the kids to do, otherwise they'd be so angry with us. Taiwan is not a big island. From the northern part of Taiwan (Taipei) to the southern part (Tainan) takes about 6 hours of driving time. Since my hubby's relatives live mostly in Tainan, and mine are all in Taipei, we had to travel a lot during the first week to visit both sides of the family. Our plane arrived in Taipei. We unpacked, stayed a few days then had to pack up again for our trip to Tainan. Where we stayed a few more days then we came up to Taipei again. My hubby left already due to work obligations, and since the boys have two weeks off for spring break, the rest of us decided to stay another week to explore.
The two parts of the country can NOT be more different. Taipei is a dense city that's busy around the clock (or so it seems). It's almost like Vegas; from our hotels we were able to see the lights of the city, and it's gorgeous. There are stores within 10 minutes walking distance any direction you go. It reminds me of Manhattan, everything is within reach. I can walk to the Hermes and Chanel store within 10 minutes (not that I bought anything - the luxury goods here are 40% more expensive than the US because of taxes), which is right next to a movie theater, where we caught a showing of Captain America: The Winter Soldier; walk ten minutes a different direction to get to a local mom and pop shop that serves delicious authentic Taiwanese breakfast. It's SO convenient! If I lived here, I would never have to touch the stove! Food is literally everywhere! The bakeries here serve a variety of delicious baked goods, Matcha Green Tea Snow Puff or whatever fancy name they call it. I haven't had time to buy any...if I do in the next couple of days I will post pictures.
Tainan, however, is more like the countryside. On our way there, we passed by fields and fields of rice patties. It's less dense than Taipei, and the people there are not as "hip" as the people in Taipei. I feel like when I'm in Tainan, I see the more traditional, older, and more rooted Taiwanese people. The people here speak mostly Taiwanese, the native dialect. There are less department stores, less fancy luxury goods stores, and a lot more of the mom and pop shops. The food here is unbelievably delicious. OMG. I'd gain a hundred pounds if I stayed here longer than 2 weeks.
All of Taiwan is also famous for it's beef stew noodles, rice vermicelli soup, it's traditional breakfasts, oyster and egg "pancakes," oyster vermicelli noodles, pineapple cakes, and I'm going tonight to a famous hot pot restaurant (Chinese Shabu Shabu). And oh, can't forget this, Stinky Tofu. It's just fermented tofu and they deep fry it. I don't really eat it, but my mom loves it. And the locals love it. Oh, and the fruits...oh the fruits are SO juicy and delicious. Bell fruit, star fruit, dates, charamoya, guava, even the ordinary fruits like tangerines and apples are extra delicious. And Bobas. Oh, the Boba drinks. The ones in the States come nothing close to what they have here. Brown sugar milk tea with boba, red bean match green tea with flan (yes! SO good!), you name it, they have it. Everything is delicious.
My cousin (who is 10+ years younger than me, and knows all the ins and outs of the hippest spots in Taipei) took me shopping the other day and I did quite some damage to me and my hubby's bank account. :) It was expected. LOL. Shopping in Taiwan used to be pretty inexpensive. But due to inflation, everything has gone up in price. Although, that didn't stop me from doing some retail therapy! Hey, I needed it from being with the kids 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. Right now, a lot of retailers import stuff from Korea; Taiwan is having some kind of Korean fever. The stuff I bought were not cheap...I'd say they were comparable to Bloomingdale's prices. But they're so cute! It's not stuff I can find in the U.S. Here's a romper I bought at one of the stores:
It's a white romper, with sequin details on the sides. On the inside is another layer that you can pull up, like a bandeau top. Here's a closer look at the details on the sleeves.
The picture is not as clear as I'd like it to be since all I did was crop it. But you get the gist. I just wanted to show the uniqueness of this romper.
Once the pictures are uploaded and after I've organized them, I will post pictures of the stuff that I've talked about. And when the anniversary pictures get back to me, I will post those too! So excited and can't wait to see them!
Xoxo,
Lin
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