Taiwan in Pictures

Hi there!  They say pictures speak a thousand words.  So of course I had to talk about Taiwan with not just my lovely Hemingway-esq prose but my Ansel Adam-esq photography too. ;)  Ok, all cheesy jokes aside, I finally uploaded all the pictures on my computer!  I took some of these photos, and my uncle and cousin took some too.  I will post as many as I find interesting and as this post will allow.  :)  Warning - a lot of good stuff up ahead! 

1) Fun Kids Stuff

Baby Boss - kids get to try different "professions" and earn Baby Bucks

 

Mechanics

Magician - she made her own balloon sword!

Artists

Stylist - K got to style her own Barbie!

Robot Engineers - this one you can't get in unless you made enough Baby Bucks  from your previous "jobs"

K in Her Pizza Chef Gear

Pizza Chefs Hard at Work!

Enjoying the Fruits of Their Labor!

Taipei Children's Recreational Center - It's not very big, with only about 7 rides, each ride costing about USD $0.60.  But there are arcade games, snacks, and a couple of playgrounds too.  The ice cream is imported from Korea and it's extra delicious!  We went on a weekday so there were barely anyone there.  It's like enjoying Disneyland w/o the lines!  It was awesome!

Spinning Tea Cups!

Can you tell the boys were SUPER excited to ride their own motorcycles?!

Swings - didn't move too fast.  But K wasn't able to go on it.

Mini Farris Wheel

Enjoying Korean Ice Cream with Grandma

Even K got to "drive" her own car!

Of course we had to ride Thomas the Train in the Arcade

One of the Playgrounds

Dragon Boat

Merry-Go-Round

Ferris Wheel - supposedly the tallest Ferris Wheel in Taipei?  It was pretty high up, and we had a clear bottom so I was pretty freaked out!

Swimming - on days we don't have any plans, I take the kids swimming at our hotel.  We stayed at the W Hotel

Clay Model Making - on the top floors of most of the department stores, there are instructors that will assist children in making clay models.  It takes about 40 minutes to an hour to make it, and costs less than $15 USD.  It's amazing what they can make with clay!  

The boys trying to choose which clay model to make

2) Food

I apologize I can't recall the name of this restaurant, but it's where my extended family gathered to celebrate my two uncles' birthdays.  This dish that this young lady prepared is consisted of deep fried sweet potatoes, glazed with maple syrup, then dipped in cold water to harden the syrup.  The lady then used a fork to make hair-like strands of maple sugar with a fork.  It's amazing, really, what she did.  Then she made the whole maple sugar thing into some kind of sculpture.  I was beyond impressed.

Hard at Work

The Result - pretty amazing, isn't it?

This here is from the Shabu Shabu restaurant my cousin brought us to.  At the end of our meal, the waitress used the leftover broth and made it into congee (rice porridge).  Oh.My.God.  It was so delicious.  Why doesn't any of the Shabu Shabu restaurants here do that?!

Congee

Shabu Shabu sauces

Taro and Red Bean Dessert

Before we left, I treated my uncle, aunt, and cousin to a meal at our hotel.  The food is so good.  The Peking Duck had all these parings to go with it.  The squash was cooked in chicken stock that's been cooking for 4 hours.  And the pumpkin soup had chicken stock mixed in it with bits of crab meat.  K thoroughly enjoyed every bite of food!

Peking Duck Pairings

Squash with Chicken Stock

Pumpkin Soup - yup, that's a fleck of gold on top!

Tofu Stuffed with Pork

 Fruits - shown here are bell fruit, and dates

 Boba Drink - this one is milk tea sweetened with brown sugar.  Boba, in case you don't know what it is, is tapioca balls.  When cooked right, they are so deliciously chewy and sweetened just right....which is about every single boba drink in Taiwan!

So right before I left, I finally had time to walk around the department store right next to my hotel.  And on the bottom floor it was all restaurants and bakeries.  I wasn't able to take pictures of the food since I had to feed 3 kids, but I got photos of the baked goods.  They are adorable and delicious as well!

Donuts

Cakes

Macarons

3) Shopping

Street Shopping - there are so many street shopping in Taiwan, and street shopping is super inexpensive.  My mother got K a few dresses, with each costing $3.00 USD each!  But of course, it depends what you buy.  :)  I don't think little girls' clothes are made out of anything other than your basic cotton.

This particular picture was taken at one of the many underground street shopping places

As you can see, my mom is pretty happy.  :)  She is releasing her inner shopaholic!  I wrote about shopping with my cousin at slightly more expensive places.  But sorry I can't provide you with pictures!  I was too busy releasing my inner shopaholic!  ;)

Department stores - well, I'll be honest with you.  I had no interest in shopping in department stores at first.  My reasoning is, well, we have department stores here in the States.  Why do I need to shop at the stores there?  Well, I was wrong.  The stuff there in the department stores are not like the ones here.  Most stuff are imported from Korea or Japan, and of course there are stuff made in Taiwan and China.  I guess because it's a different culture?  But stuff there are just...different.  More delicate, I guess.  The only picture I have is a picture of my cousin with the munchkins.  This was after our Shabu dinner, with the restaurant located on the top floor of an especially expensive department store, with Hermes and Chanel and all kinds of other luxury goods stores.

4) Clubbing

I can't tell you which clubs I visited...but everything is seriously within walking distance from my hotel.  My cousin and I took the taxi, and we arrive within 5 minutes.  They're all in one building, one club to another.  It was so much fun.  If you're not into dancing, you can start by relaxing at the lounge upstairs.  Then work your way down...club hopping.  My cousin knew all the ins and outs.  She got us to sit at the VIP seats, we hung out with Taiwanese celebrities and club owners alike.  Let me tell you, I totally had fun, if you know what I mean!  It brings me back to our pre-children days, when my hubby and I would hang out with our friends on the weekends.  ;)

5) Anniversary Pictures

And here they are!  I only posted a few because my hubby is camera shy.  :)  Like I said, the Taiwanese are well-known for this.  It literally took a village to get these photos done.  When I booked the package, I had to select the photographer I wanted.  Then the day after we arrived, I had to choose my outfit and get fitted (they alter the dresses for you the day you try them on).   Then the next day we arrive at the studio for makeup and hair at 7am, and the actual photo shoot took an entire day.  We didn't finish until about 7pm.  We got the family portraits done early because, well, those of you with kids know this.  Kids don't do well with professional photo sessions.  So after the kids did their part, my uncle, aunt, and mom took them out for food and to a local park.  Then two days after the shoot, we had to look through and choose our pictures.  A week later, looking through and checking the re-touched photos.  All in all, the whole process took about 2 weeks, and cost about USD $2,000.  This is considered super inexpensive!  When my hubby and I got our engagement pictures done 10 years ago, at a similar studio but here in the States, it cost us around USD $8,000.  With my Taiwanese package, we got a huge acrylic cover bounded album with 36 retouched pictures, 1 framed 30" picture, 2 framed desktop 8x10 pictures, 2 smaller albums for each of our mothers, and a CD.  BTW, these pictures were taken at the studio called Sophia Ritz.  The daughter of the former Taiwanese president got her engagement photos done here as well.

I love this one because this person shown here is such a fantastic creation!  Ha!  I'm so not like this in person!  ;)

 And that's it for now!  I have so many other pictures saved on another disk, but we can't find the camera that it's sitting in.  :P  But hopefully you got a more thorough look into what Taiwan can offer.  We came for our anniversary pictures but wanted to make sure the kids had fun too.  We achieved both missions with satisfaction.  We all left Taiwan a few pounds heavier, a little less stressed, our wallets a little lighter (ha!), and came back to the US very, very jet-lagged.  But we're happy!  I'm actually going through my day-to-day routine with less stress and more focus.  And I'm more in touch with my family in Taiwan.  I'd say this was a spring break well-spent.  I hope, through my writing and pictures of Taiwan, I have inspired you to put Taiwan in your future travel plans.  It really is a fun place to visit, with something for everyone.  :)  Maybe I'll see you on our next visit there!  ;)

Xoxo,

Lin

Taiwan

 Hi Everyone!

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.

 

 Romper: from Taiwan, super cute ones here and here from Forever 21

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

 

Luck Be A Lady

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Since I dressed all 3 kids in green, and all the itty bitty pre-school kids at K's school were wearing green, I thought I'd do a St. Patrick's Day look.

I was rummaging through my closet, trying to find a green shirt to wear, when I came across this green skirt I got years ago.  Who knew that it would rise to the occasion?  Since the skirt was past my knees, giving it a retro feel, I decided I'd do a collared shirt to complete the whole retro look.  Here it is!

Notice something different?  No more braces!  Hooray!

I LOVE my new quirky sunglasses!

Top: Got it from a flash sale site a while back, here's a really cute lace one and here's a see through mesh one like mine, both from H&M

Bottom: Old from Banana Republic, here's a shorter lace one from ASOS

Shoes: Tory Burch

Bag: Michael Kors

Sunglasses: Prada

Xoxo,

Lin