Taipei Tag-Alongs

OK...let's just say that I'm embarrassed by how long it took me to finish this post. I started it shortly after our trip in OCTOBER, and now it's January. But better late than never, right? Many apologies, and bear with me! I've been busy. :)

If you ask a native Hong Konger what their favorite Asian destination is, more often than not you'll hear the answer, "Taiwan!" It's close, it's not super expensive, the food is really good, and the people are friendly. Joseph had a conference there over a year ago that kept him occupied practically every minute, so he didn't get to see much. This time, he was reading a paper at a conference in Taipei that had a little more wiggle room in the schedule, so Evangeline and I decided to tag along. We were very glad that we did.

If we had been there longer, it would have been nice to get into the countryside, which is supposed to be gorgeous and very culturally rich. For a trip of just just three nights, we had to stick to Taipei, which was still great. It struck me as a sort of American-friendly China. In fact, I had to tone down my own Hong Kong pushiness on the subway--it gave me a start to see people forming orderly lines far from the escalator, the way you would see in the West. Faces were friendlier, and there was much less "fashion" than you see in Hong Kong.

And the food was great! Looking through the camera, I saw that I didn't take any pictures of our food (bad Asian tourist!), but we stuffed ourselves silly. Not only was the Taiwanese food delicious, but there was a lot of good Western food as well. We had lunch at a burrito place that almost brought tears to our eyes--or maybe that was their fabulous homemade jalapeno poppers.

My favorite outing was to Maokong, a suburb of Taipei in the misty mountains. It used to be the biggest tea growing area of Taipei, but now is more of a place to experience Taiwanese tea culture. And to make it even more fun, you can take a gondola directly up to the tea area.

Evangeline enjoying the glass bottom of our gondola

The city becoming more distant

When the gondola ends, there are many roads and paths with literally hundreds of teahouses. Unfortunately, Joseph pretty much had to turn right around and go back to his conference, but Evangeline and I enjoyed wandering around. We randomly chose our teahouse based on the view and really enjoyed the quiet balcony.

Evangeline by a tea field

The vista from where we sat

Once you pick which tea you want, they bring out all the equipment so you can make it yourself. I thought I knew what I was doing, having some experience with Chinese tea in Hong Kong, but very quickly the proprietor came back over and stopped me, showing me how to do it his way. Oh well!

Obviously, she loved pouring out the tea for both of us

She liked drinking it, too!

When you're done, they seal up whatever tea leaves you didn't drink and send it home with you, a nice little souvenir. On our walk back to the gondola, I let Evangeline take over the camera.

This dog took quite a fancy to us and followed us for a while

The vendors by the gondola were more than happy to pose for a small girl with a camera

She almost got a free sausage on a stick out of this guy

For the rest of the afternoon, we went to a children's park, which was a very odd mix of a carnival and some educational and cultural displays. It was a big hit with Evangeline, though.

All smiles on the carousel

A very difficult traditional toy--even I couldn't do it!

We did much better with the drums

Hula hoops!

Striking a fierce pose by her zodiac sign, the ox

We made sure to hit up the National Palace Museum, which is known for having what some consider to be the finest collection of Chinese art in the world. They have centuries of paintings, jade, ceramics, and calligraphy, among other treasures. I was definitely made aware of my ignorance of Chinese art going through the exhibits, as I couldn't really tell the difference between many of the items. But it was still amazing to see and great to know that this art has a worthy home.

Outside one of the levels of the museum

Here are some pictures from the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall area, a public square-type place with surrounding gardens. Chiang Kai-Shek was an important 20th century political and military leader in China who did not get along with the Communists, and accordingly had to retreat to Taiwan, where he was the leader for a long time. I know very little about the whole situation, but it struck me as strange to have such a big display for a figure who seems quite controversial.

The man himself. There is a changing of the guard around the statue every hour

The view from the memorial. The National Theater and Concert Hall are on either side

The Gate of Great Centrality and Perfect Uprightness

Evangeline and a friendly lion

Another gem from Evangeline the Photographer! This girl's expression kills me

No visit to Taipei with a small child would be complete without a visit to the Taipei Zoo. Evangeline and I went while Joseph was busy and had a lot of fun. I've never been to a zoo that had a more community feel. It really seemed like it is intended to be a place where people can go all the time, not just as a special treat. For example, the entrance fees--Evangeline was free, and I was somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 USD! The price didn't affect the quality of the habitats, though. The zoo was very spacious and the animals didn't seem to be stressed or depressed (at least, considering they were in a zoo).

Also, I've never seen a zoo with a McDonalds inside!

Evangeline by one of her favorite habitats, the elephants

And they have pandas! Even a baby, although she wasn't public yet when we were there

Fun times

We ended our day at a famous local place for Taiwanese-style desserts. We went with the shaved ice, which is a Taipei must. Our order was a classic, mango with milk and pudding. The pudding was a lot tangier than I expected, quite a contrast to the milk and mangoes.

I guess I was wrong, we did get one food picture!

Thanks for your patience waiting for this post, and I'll keep working on catching up!

Birthday Shenanigans

We had a great time celebrating our birthday! This was the first year that Evangeline really seemed to "get" that her birthday was coming and all that it entailed. We'll probably look back on this year as the sweet spot:  old enough to appreciate what is happening, but still young enough to not be greedy about presents. Don't get me wrong, she very much enjoyed her presents, but I don't think she would have missed them if they weren't there. If only it could always stay like this...

Since it was a Friday and school is still in session here, I brought cupcakes over to her school in the morning at the designated time. We did cheery little yellow sun cupcakes:

A container all ready to go!

Evangeline getting a gift from her teacher

The birthday girls

Blowing out her cupcake

I didn't really get what this was. Some of the girls came up for a picture...

...and then some of the boys

I feel silly because it honestly never occurred to me that it would be unusual to bring cupcakes to school in China. But home ovens are rare, and cupcakes only exist at bakeries in expat-heavy areas on HK Island. So imagine my surprise when all the other kids ate their cupcakes with a fork! Eating with your hands is traditionally frowned upon--Joseph has even seen students at CUHK eat sandwiches with chopsticks! Evangeline was the only kid who picked up her cupcake, took off the wrapper, and ate it in the traditional way. I apologized to one of the teachers for not thinking about it, but he said it was a good cultural experience for the kids and for most of them, probably their very first cupcake.

This kid went with the spear technique--smart

Two of Evangeline's besties, Man Ching and Bella

In the afternoon, we had a small party at our place for non-school friends. We didn't really have any other reasonable venue choices--the rooms in our estate's clubhouse are closed due to a burst water pipe, and an outdoor party would have been too risky. Incidentally, it ended up pouring all day, so I was very glad that we didn't try for an outdoor space! So although I hate to be exclusionary, we just invited the friends that Evangeline sees on a regular basis. I did a watermelon theme, which was a lot of fun to put together and made for easy goody bags. Besides cake, we ate watermelon salsa, watermelon wedges, and punch served out of a hollowed-out watermelon--the perfect disposable punch bowl for a small apartment with little storage!

The crew!

Blowing out candles for the second time in one day

It actually tasted like watermelon, thanks to watermelon puree and watermelon Jello

And the kids kept it together for the most part, so us moms could have a good chat!

My favorite thing was hearing the kids explain their homemade cards. So creative and hilarious!

After the party, we were totally drained, so we headed to the local Thai restaurant in the village for dinner. All in all, a great day! We are going to re-celebrate my half of the birthday in a few weeks when we're in Arkansas, because I am too lazy to want to do anything else on my birthday except to make a cake! :)

April Showers

We were so lucky to have Dave and Georgia with us for the majority of April. Hong Kong, however, did not cooperate, and we had less than stellar weather with quite a bit of rain. It's kind of frustrating as hosts when your city doesn't show itself in its best light for your guests, but we still had an amazing time. We managed to do everything on our list and a few off-the-beaten-path things as well. Here are some of the highlights and things that I haven't featured on the blog before:

Sai Kung Country Park is a huge wilderness area on the eastern side of the Hong Kong peninsula  It's a local favorite for the countless hiking trails, beaches, and fresh seafood. Most of the hikes are quite long, but there are a few that are kid-friendly. We did the first stage of the popular Tai Long Wan hiking trail, taking a bus to the trail head and then about 45 minutes walk to the village and beach of Sai Wan. The trail was even paved, so it was no problem for Evangeline.

Setting off!

Views of a reservoir for the first part of the hike

Evangeline, her uncle, and her stick

Striking a pose as we get closer to the beach

Lunch on the rocks

Part of Sai Wan beach

The full crew

Evangeline got a lift for much of the return hike, which was all uphill, poor Dave!

One of the few decent pizzerias in HK happens to be in Sai Kung, so we brought one home after the hike

A challenge to get on the top deck of the bus, but we made it!

We also managed a quick trip to Macau, which was lovely. We stayed in the very southern part, far away from the casino madness, right on the beach. But we made sure to swing through all the casinos, too!

The garish water "show" in the main lobby of the Galaxy

Needless to say, Evangeline loved it!

Waiting for the show to start at the Wynn, right before the security guard made E get down--"too dangerous!"

The Wynn's show was more Chinese, with a dragon that comes out of the floor, a little scary for E

Here we are in Europe....wait, no, that's the Venetian :)

Fortifications at a cafe with our friend Victor

Dave's birthday was going to be just a few days after they left, so we celebrated early. We went to brunch at a place we'd always wanted to go, the famous Jumbo. It's supposedly the world's largest floating restaurant, anchored in Aberdeen Harbour on the south side of Hong Kong Island. The Jumbo is also famous as a tourist trap, with mediocre dim sum at extortionate prices. But on the top deck there is a separate restaurant that is rumored to have a fantastic weekend brunch, so we checked it out. Georgia's friend who happens to work in Shenzhen tagged along.

You can't miss the sign for the free ferry out to the Jumbo

It lives up to its name

One of the dragons that guards the entrance

Fun to watch the busy harbor in between trips to the buffet

Before dessert and...

...after!

A rain shower forced us inside, but that was lovely, too

Dave making his birthday wish

It was a great visit and it just flew by. I wish we could do it all again!