Our First Visitors to Taiwan

My parents (this is Heather) came to visit us this past October and we had such a blast with them.  My dad stayed with us for 2 weeks and my mom for 3 1/2 weeks, but we packed in so much that it just flew by!  We had been anticipating visitors for quite a while and it was so fun to introduce Asia to my parents who have never been to this area of the world.  It reminded me of how much I first was in awe and just loved everything when we first got here, and how fascinating all the unique sights, sounds, and even smells are here.  (Note: the smells might be unique, but by no means nice :) It was fun to experience it all with my parents and give them a glimpse into my new world.

Elli was so excited to have her Gramma and Granddaddy here!  She is a seasoned city girl now and loved showing off her new turf.

Our first stop was the tea gardens up the Maokong Gondola.  It is a beautiful scenic ride up the mountainside that gives a nice overlook of the city.  It was such a pleasant day and my mom mentioned that it was the perfect way to start a trip after arriving late the night before.  

Here we are going up the Gondola.

Below is the balcony mountainside tea restaurant we ate at when we reached the top of the gondola.  We enjoyed herbal tea being served the authentic way (with multiple steps).  We had to have the guy a table over teach us how to do it, but it turned out great!

We enjoyed walking around the the top and even though it drizzled a little it just made us enjoy Elli even more-- our little walking fantasia mushroom. Below is an adorable picture of the girls next to a nearby temple we visited.  Inside we learned about each of our birth years and how that effects who we are today.

Here is the iconic Chiang Kai-shek Memorial.  It is quite a beautiful structural site right in the middle of the city.  The large empty square is often filled with people dancing (just random groups), playing instruments, or people hanging out.  Since homes are so small here and often multiple families live in them, commonplaces like this are really used.

We saw the retiring of the guard for the day.  I had seen them changing the guard, but never been there at 5 when they leave.  We even saw the lowering of the flag.  Pretty cool.  Notice anything similar about the Chang-kai-shek statue?  Reminiscent of any other statue maybe in D.C.? Not a coincidence.  Americans are very much loved and appreciated here. :)

Lin An-tai ancient house
This house was a cool historical house that dates back at least a good long while, I think like 150 years ago.  It is neat to see how the rooms are laid out and how symbolism is very important to them.  Having mock mountains to imitate the mountains in China,  a raised thresh-hold to keep out evil spirits, and doorways shaped in auspicious shapes are a few examples.  

While my parents were here, we also organized a special showing at the Lin Join-sen puppet theater.  They only do this show on Sundays and on special requests, so I made the request and it was so worth it.  It was a fun dinner theater where we got to see a show and then work the puppets ourselves.  Elli got to be a part of a show with my help and she absolutely loved it!! Sienna had been a bit grumpy but when the performance started, she was mesmerized through out the whole thing.  

 Dad, Mom, and I took advantage of having our amazing helper, Nerissa, watch the girls while we took the day to explore Taipei.  We went to the Binjiang Market & Aquatic Addiction Development area first.  Binjiang Market is a very popular traditional market (very common all over taipei but this one is very large).  Mom and Dad enjoyed all the strange sights and smells, including hanging meat from every part of the cow.  Dad thought that was quite comical.  Also, Taiwanese believe that eating a certain part of an animal helps strengthen that same part of your own body.  As you can imagine, that belief leads to some interesting food choices.  We then went on to the  large fish market area where we picked out some crab legs and clams and had them cooked right there.  Then they were kept warm on some hot rocks.  It was DELICIOUS!!!!

We also went to Lin Family Mansion and Garden that day and got to see a traditional old family garden.  Beautiful and very unique.

One night we took my parents to see a lion dance at Taipei Eye theater.  It was pretty fun to see these lions dance and leap from pole to pole.  Definitely a reach asian experience.

We live right by an iconic Miramar ferris wheel at Miramar mall, so we had to take my parents for a spin.  It was a lot of fun.  By this time the girls had warmed up to my mom and dad quite well (bringing them presents first thing helped a lot).  Here we are on the Ferris wheel where Sienna is pretending to "eat" Gramma! Of course we had to have fun on the carousel too.

Another fun spot that Todd and I have been so excited to go to is Yeliu.  We were saving it for our first visitors since we knew it would be worth it.  Yeliu is a geographical park by the coast with really unique sandstone that has been sculpted by the ocean and wind into interesting mushroom type shapes.   

We basically took our lives into our hands by taking this pic.  There was a guard who was freaking out  that we were so close to the red line marking the area you shouldn't cross.   Yes I am referring to the red line that is about 5 feet or more away from us.  We almost died. (I know this is a generalization but I feel like Taiwanese people are ridiculously overly cautious or surprisingly not cautious at all, i.e.  5 people on one motorbike.  No middle ground here).

Beautiful huh!

 Jiufen
We followed along the coast and continued our day trip to Jiufen.  Jiufen is an awesome little town on the top of a hillside coast with tons of fun souvenirs and an awesomely ornate Daoist Temple.  It is one of my favorites.

Streets of Jiufen

There is a network of under and between city "roads" to get to the various shops on the hillside.

Having some bing, ice-cream shaved ice with fruit.  SOOOOO GOOOOD! We took my parents to many really good food places.  They couldn't believe they loved real Asian food so much! American chinese food really can't compare.  

Taipei 101:  We couldn't not go see Taipei 101, once the tallest building in world. It was a humid day but I was super happy to have this shot!

Shilin Night Market

Night markets in taiwan is not only common, but a way of life for Taiwans. You can find anything in a night market: games, shrimp fishing, clothing, souvenirs, shoes, and any kind of asian snack invented including crunchy chicken feet.  Yep- you heard me Chicken feet.  And I made my parents both eat one.  I am such a good daughter.

Mom was oddly really good at shrimp fishing, and its actually quite difficult.  I don't think Dad caught one.   I think Mom might be a secret shrimp fisher in her spare time.

Notice the chicken feet nails.  Yum.

Other Random Pics 

Elliana is starting to actually be able to use chopsticks semi decently for a 3 year old caucasian kid. She prefers to use them on many occasions over a fork, although it takes her too long, so I eventually insist she use a fork.  

Both girls loved having their grandparents here.  They even got to go have fun with them individually at Yu-kids play center. I am so glad both girls just loved having them so much.