Trip to Taiwan

We took a two week long family trip to Taiwan over spring break. Ok, so it was a little bit long than the usual one week spring break, but the kids going to school and me going to work is over-rated, right?

Anyway, we met up with Julia's parents in Taipei and the adventure started.

We walked around Taipei 101 (at one time the tallest building in the world), and ate way too much delicious food, while visiting Julia's extended family. We also visited the Taipei LDS temple.

Then we traveled to Taichung and more family, ate more food, and visited the scenic Sun Moon Lake (where we rode on the cable cars). We also cruised around the lake in an express boat. I always enjoy a boat ride, but Julia and Joseph tend to get seasick. :( We capped off the day having a snack at a ritzy new hotel that Julia's family member owns. Ohh, ahhh.

We also went to the National Science museum where we saw dinosaurs and tons of other exibits. We also watch one of the original IMAX movies about flight. I love how your stomach gets turned with the camera!

Then, we rode back to Taipei and visit yet more family and eat even more food and visited the Taipei Zoo. The zoo was great in that it had some real hard to find animals like koala bears and panda bears. Each bathroom had signs about feces, which was kinda weird, but funny.

Like a flash, two weeks were up and we were waiting at Julia's new favorite airport terminal gate to return to Jakarta. We loved how the Hello Kitty theme extended beyond the store into the waiting area. Each gate had its own theme.

Lots of great memories and time with loved ones! I miss the food and great people of Taiwan already. :)

Taiwan

We bought tickets last night for my parents to go to Taiwan in March.  We will meet up with them for a couple of weeks in March.  I am so excited to go back to Taiwan.  My parents, my brother, and our family of 5 went to Taiwan 2 years ago.  It was a whirlwind trip to see family that my parents had not seen in some 30+ years but we all had a fantastic time.  We are so looking forward to going again.  Taiwan is also known as Formosa which means beautiful island in Dutch.  It is just a fantastic place to visit. 
The thing we are most looking forward to besides seeing family again is the food.  I can’t even describe how delicious the food is.  I am not kidding when I say I gained at least 10 pounds in the 2 weeks we were there.  The food in the restaurants was excellent, but you could buy  delicious “small eats” off the streets pretty much anytime.  They were readily available, cheap, and just amazingly yummy!  I’ve been desperately trying to lose a few pounds in anticipation of the sin of gluttony that will surely overcome me once I get back to Taiwan…lol.