Asian Persuasian part 2: Taiwan

We had been following the news, as there was a Typhoon that was hitting the Philippines and was supposed to hit Taiwan next. Our flight was the last allowed to land before the Taiwan airport was closed. Aside from a bumpy landing, we were safe. It was great to meet the Lin’s (Tim’s uncle on his mother’s side). They new the way to my heart and we did a lot of eating! I seriously spent most of my time being stuffed and trying to fit more in. 

I was a bit overwhelmed by the shrimp. They still had their heads!

 We took the high speed train from the Jojo and Joma's house into Taipei. I really enjoyed it and wish there was one from here to Edmonton.

We went up the Taipei 101 which is a big business and shopping centre. I of course enjoyed an audio tour and Tim just had to wait for me. 

 To get to the top of Taipei 101 we got to ride on the world's fastest elevator. 

The great big balls in the centre of the building stabilize the building to protect from typhoons and earthquakes. 

We did lots of shopping and even went to snake alley! I wasn't brave enough to try snake soup but I did see some gigantic snakes. I want to know who has to feed the snakes the mice. I think that would be the worst job in the world because I hate mice. 

Shopping at snake alley. 

Taiwan really took 7-11 to a whole new level for me! They were seriously everywhere and we learned that they did EVERYTHING! You can get mail sent there, pay tickets, buy train tickets, buy food such as rice or black tea eggs and most importantly they had mugua niu nai aka papaya milk! Fresh papaya milk really was awesome but the stuff in the carton form 7-11 was disgusting. That didn’t stop Tim; he drank at least 2 per day.

On our last day there we went out to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, due to the typhoon, we were experiencing a serious amount of rain. No rain could stop me seeing as I never get to go to the ocean. I am pretty sure Tim’s family thought I was crazy! We tried to rent bikes but got rained out…. This is as far as we got….

For dinner they had me pick out what I wanted. It was a bit overwhelming seeing as dinner was still swimming! But it was delicious and I am glad I stepped out of my comfort zone!

We made a serious mess! Tim even accidentally broke the lobster cracker.

One of the best parts of the Taiwan experience was meeting Tim’s grandma or Apo. She was seriously the cutest and sweetest little lady. I wanted to put her in my pocket and take her with me! She could only speak mandarin but luckily Tim had taught me a few songs. Are you sleeping and head shoulders knees and toes were my songs of choice. I am pretty rough at remembering everything and usually end up making parts of it up but that is ok, she understood and even sang along.

Even flying out ended up being an experience. We were tired and just wanted to our stuff to get there. When checking in the attendant asked if we wanted a Hello Kitty boarding pass. I asked if he was speaking English. When boarding we realized that plane was decorated in Hello Kitty. Inside the plane everything was Hello Kitty (even the toilet paper and barf bag!). I was in heaven but Tim wasn’t so sure.

All in the entire trip was an experience and we are very very glad that we went!