Day 2 in Taipei- Danshui

We started our morning grabbing a quick bite of dumplings and other Taiwanese treats from a street vendor by our hotel before starting our second day in Taiwan. I love that we were able to buy dumplings at 8am!

Me with my bag of fried pork dumplings- so good!

Paul with his Taiwanese breakfast items

My mom's cousin then met us at the hotel where we walked over to the Taipei Main Station to buy our train tickets to Taroko Gorge. We then made our way via MRT up to Danshui. Danshui was tons of fun- it is right along the coast in Taipei County so we got to walk along the water. There were lots of people out and about, a lot of vendors selling fruit, ice cream, squid on a stick, and other yummy or interesting snacks. There were also gift shops full of cute Taiwanese knick knacks, and of course carnival games all along the boardwalk to keep us all entertained.

Dunkin' Donuts was our first snack stop in Danshui...

They have mochi donuts too! They were pretty tasty.

No squid on a stick for me, but we did see little kids munching on them!

(taken by Susan...cute little tchotchkes!!)

Adam with his green tea ice cream...that he ended up throwing away.

Betty's snack- potato chips on a stick! It was pretty cool to see!

Danshui even had Turkish doner sandwiches! Mmmmm!!!

Pit stop for some basketball. This was one of many more games to come on our trip in Taiwan!

View on our walk- snacks and games on the right, water and boats to the left!

We had an interesting lunch that my mom's cousin (I refer to him as my uncle as well) treated us to. I've posted some pictures here. There was so much food, including soup, steamed buns, and noodles. The tofu with the red sauce and the noodles inside did not settle with my taste buds or my stomach too well.

After lunch we headed to the Fort Santo Domingo before heading back into Taipei for a stop at the gardens of Chiang Kai Shek's residence and a lovely dinner. We then went to our uncle's house for some coffee, tea, fruit and dessert. Of course, everyone was so kind and welcoming to us- our cousin that we met for the first time, Nielsen, canceled his plans with friends to take us to the Shilin Night Market and we didn't get back home until almost 1am! It was a lot of fun and there were soooo many people out shopping, eating, and hanging out. Though, I'm not sure if I care to smell stinky tofu again for a while!

The family in front of the fort

Canons pointing towards the waterfront

A common site in Taiwan- tons of scooters everywhere!!

At the garden- we sat, people watched, and took photos

Wonderful hospitality- cakes, fruit, juice, coffee, tea and even a napping spot for Betty!

Last Day in Hong Kong and First Day in Taiwan

On our last day in Hong Kong, we headed out to Hong Kong Island on the ferry after walking Piles on the beach. We first headed to the University of Hong Kong to check out the campus and grab some brochures for Andy. It was a lot of walking so we did many rest stops and sitting.

Stopped for a lovely breakfast of egg tarts...soooo good!

We realized that the university was close to where my dad used to live so we headed out to the street where his house was. Of course, seeing as how it was over 40 years ago, his old building was replaced by a high rise. He said when he was growing up, the tallest buildings were 2 stories...now in his old neighborhood I think we only saw one or two 2-story buildings- the rest were at least 5+. It was also really neat to walk the path that he used to take to catch the bus to school and see the streets that he used to run around as a kid.

Dad on the corner of street where he used to live

A funny story- we saw this woman dragging a big chair along the sidewalk and totally struggling, so Paul helped her carry it to the end of the corner. We then asked where she was taking it and she said she was taking it to the dumpster but it wasn't far and she would be fine on her own. Adam and Paul decided to help her carry it- it turned out to be a pretty far distance. It took them no time to get it there but it seriously would have taken this woman a good half hour at the rate she was going. It was so funny to watch as the woman ran alongside them yelling "thank you" in Cantonese.


We ended our afternoon by walking through the seafood and chinese medicine street shops where Paul bought some rancid Jackie Chan hair shampoo (that he threw out because it smelled so bad). After that, we did a bit more walking around before finally heading back to Lantau Island, while Susan and Paul stayed behind to ring in the new year with Chris and Haylee. We were totally beat and Betty wasn't feeling so well that night so we were rather calm ringing in the new year (i.e. I rolled out of bed and groggily said happy new year right before midnight...but hey, we rang in the New Year a second time with Gamble over the phone!).


The next day we were met with a beautiful and sunny morning (the first sunny day while we were in HK)- a great way to end our time in HK. We packed up all of our stuff, made sure we left the house in orderly condition and loaded up into a taxi. We met up with Susan and Paul at the airport, made some phone calls to Adam's family before boarding our short flight to Taiwan (where they fed us some dumplings and Adam and I got the entire emergency row to ourselves!).

Finally a sunny day in Hong Kong!

The moment we set foot into Taiwan, we were treated with such incredible hospitality. It's been totally unbelievable how nice everyone has been, and I've been grateful for how gracious my uncle, aunt and cousins have been to us on our visit to Taiwan. I've felt like such a huge burden! For example, we were planning to get a bus from the airport to the hotel, but my uncle arranged a van to pick us up from the airport. After we settled in, we rode with my uncle in the van to a coffee shop to talk together over drinks, followed by the most incredibly welcoming dinner banquet that I've ever experienced. The group included 2 of my cousins (and one of their spouses) and their children, my aunt and uncle, my mom's cousin, and our group. The kids knew some English but were totally shy (one of them reminded us of Susan when she was younger). The dinner was very impressive- it felt like endless course after course of the most amazing and beautifully prepared food. I think Susan maybe has some pix of the food...for some reason I totally forgot. I must have been too engrossed in eating!

My family before the start of an amazing dinner

One of the dishes was beef baked in a clay shell, so Paul got to do the honors and break it!

Day 2-5 in Hong Kong!

So sad- I just discovered that many of the photographs that I took are nowhere to be found. The ones from Victoria's Peak seem to have been rewritten over, as my camera has no memory of ever taking them and my lovely pictures from my little point and shoot are also gone, including pictures at the beach, food pictures, and stray dogs of Hong Kong. I have NO clue how that happened.

On our second day in Hong Kong, we spent it in Kowloon. I would post pix from dim sum, but alas those were on my small camera so those pictures are gone. We did a lot of walking that day- saw a couple temples (including the LDS one), saw crazy crowds in Mongkok, and also saw the Festival of Lights show in Victoria Harbor. We then went to a fairly expensive Indian restaurant where we had a curry that even burned through Adam's mouth (as the restaurant menu proclaimed, it was "HOT HOT HOT!"). It wasn't that enjoyable of an experience- they charged an arm and an a leg for soda and rice, I never did get any utensils or a plate (I borrowed Adam's appetizer plate and used a communal dish spoon), and they lost Paul's credit card for a good 15 minutes, searching under tables and around the restaurant. I would take India Cook House over this high-end place in Hong Kong any day!

Sunrise on day 2 (around 6:30am)

Betty's McD sundae fix...one of many on this trip!

LDS Temple- it was closed for cleaning, but Chris (who was a missionary in Hong Kong almost 10 years ago) got to talk to some of the missionaries who were around

Busy streets of Kowloon- everybody is out shopping

The light show off of the harbor- came with music and we saw a huge catfight between these two women! Lots of yelling and curing in Cantonese!

On our third day, we spent it on Hong Kong Island. We started off with some lunch at a local eatery (all the food pictures were on my little camera so are lost), then did some walking around SoHo and Causeway Bay. Since it was a Sunday, we saw crowds of Filipina women picnicking under awnings and buildings. We took the covered escalators to one of the temples there, before taking the tram up to Victoria's Peak. The view at sunset was beautiful, and there was a nice mix of fog, rain and lights.

Lunchtime at a small restaurant in Hong Kong- fun times, lots of food!

All over Hong Kong were huge crowds of women who were taking a break from their jobs as housekeepers, nannies, etc. With nowhere to go, they hang out with friends in the public spaces. Since there was rain out, every covered area was where the crowds went.

Covered escalators...glad they have them because the hills are STEEP!

One of my few pix from Victoria's Peak. I have no idea what happened to the hundreds of pix that I took, but they were not on the memory card. =( Luckily I got a few from Betty!

Day 4 was spent in Macau. I can't talk much about this day because I was sick with a cold and not in a particularly good mood. Adam probably can tell a better story. We did eat some amazing egg tarts here and I took my parents to get some cool stamps at the Post Office and took my mom to the Wynn to do a little gambling.

Inside the Wynn

Today was a catch up and breathe day! We slept in, did some laundry (which is still hanging to dry...with rain and humid weather, the clothes don't dry as fast as in Ridgecrest!) ate lunch in Mui Wo, took the dog out for a walk, then headed to Tai O to see the houses on stilts, walk through the dried seafood markets, and eat dinner. The dinner was a little underwhelming, despite the restaurant getting rave reviews from Lonely Planet.

One of the many large animals we saw on our walks in Pui O

Homes on stilts along the water in Tai O

One of the many dried seafood stands along the small streets in Tai O.

Tomorrow will be our last day in Hong Kong. Susan and Paul will ring in the new year in Victoria Harbor, but the rest of us don't have the energy to stick it out (plus I am still sneezing up a storm with my cold). I am going to take a ton of photos to make up for how I am feeling right now!