Hualien, Shabu Shabu and the Cingshui Cliffs

January 4- Today we headed off on the train to Hualien! The train ride was very pleasant, with one side facing the Pacific Ocean and the other side facing rice paddies. We arrived in Hualien and grabbed our rental car (the Space Gear worked out really well for us- made it so much easier to see Taroko Gorge) and then ate lunch at this totally fun shabu shabu place that was all-you-can-eat, so several different kinds of meats, tons of different seafood options, veggies, and then side dishes like egg rolls and even chicken nuggets, as well as a display of desserts, ice cream, coffee, sodas, etc. (we went back and had dinner there at the end of our trip- it was that good).





After stuffing ourselves silly, we went to our hotel. We stayed at the Crossing the Rainbow Bridge B&B and it was a wonderful stay. The owner is part of an indigenous group called Truku and when we first arrived, he sat us down and shared with us a little bit about the history of Taroko Gorge and the Truku people, as well as how to greet people in the language. He was super welcoming, he lent out bikes, and overall it was a great little place to stay. If anybody goes to Taiwan, definitely check this place out! It is 5 minutes from the Taroko Gorge Visitor Center and absolutely wonderful place to stay! It is supposed to be eco friendly, using solar power to heat up the water according to the owner.


After getting settled in, we decided to head out to the Cingshui Cliffs, which were a few miles away. Adam drove the Space Gear with Susan, Betty, Dad and I, while Paul borrowed a bike and met us there. We were there until sundown, and then we headed back to the hotel. We grabbed a late dinner at a small restaurant, played a little basketball, and bought some food at the 7-11 for our picnic lunch in Taroko Gorge. Overall a really great day!

Day 3- National Palace Museum

On our third day in Taiwan, Paul's family friend Fanny met us at the hotel and we took public transport to the National Palace Museum. It is a huge museum with so much to see! Unfortunately, we didn't stop to eat breakfast, so by the time we got to the museum, Paul and I were starving. We ended up eating a little bit of food at the teahouse on the top of the museum before hitting the artwork and history housed at the museum. I didn't get a chance to take many photographs, but I recall that Betty and I were very tired from our late night out the evening before at the Shilin Night Market.

Mom, dad, Betty, Adam and I headed back to our hotel a little earlier so that we could grab the luggage that we were leaving at my uncle's house while we went to Hualien. We made a pit stop at a beautiful tea shop where we bought some tea for our uncles. We then had lunch at...you guessed it...McDonald's! It was a 3 story McD with a ton of students in it studying English and other school subjects. We made it back to the hotel and grabbed a ton of luggage that we brought to my uncle's.

Mom and Dad on the subway...long days!

We arrived at my uncle's house for dinner, where the rest of the family joined us (Susan and Paul came a little while later after having some sushi with Fanny). My uncle, aunt and cousins ordered in pizza and fried chicken, and my uncle made some incredibly good dishes as well (brown eggs with rice, marinated chicken wings, and salad to name a few). I also ate more fruit and pineapple cake for dessert- seriously eating was one of my favorite things in Taiwan. At the end of the evening, my cousins and uncles and aunts took us back to our hotel later that evening. Again, it was just another example of the kindness, love and hospitality that we received during our time in Taiwan.

The reddish fruit in the back is a popular Taiwan tropical fruit called bell fruit. I had never seen or tasted anything like it, but it was darn good!

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!