Category: Ramblings

Ramblings

One Year Ago

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One year ago on this day, we left our home and went on the biggest adventure of our lives.

I still remember the days leading up to June 3rd last year and realized I never documented it. I remember tossing and turning every night, wondering if we were making the right decision. I remember my anxiety building up as we slowly gave/sold/stored away our belongings until our home of 7 years no longer looked like ours anymore.

On the day of, I woke up in disbelief – which as I later discovered, became a constant theme throughout the day. Is it really June 3rd? Are we really doing this? Is it too late to change our minds? 😂

In the morning, Connor’s good friend stopped by for another goodbye. Baba’s sisters and BILs came over to spend time with us and help us get rid of any remaining furniture. We ate lunch together and at around 4pm, my sister and BIL came to pick us up for the airport.

It was hard. We did one last walk through of a now empty apartment, a place that carried so many memories. My SILs cried as we left. I felt terribly guilty, like I was prematurely cutting short their relationship with the boys. They played a huge part in helping us raise C and O, and that is something we’ll sorely miss.

Although I told them not to come (because airport parking is crazy expensive!), my family met us at the airport to send us off. Everyone was in good spirits and excited for us, which made leaving a little less hard. They will always be my biggest cheerleaders, and I am so, so thankful for their support.

Going through the gates was surreal. I was flooded with anxiety, excitement, shock and everything in between. I couldn’t eat or sit still. Or breathe. (On the other hand, Baba and the boys seemed oblivious to it all. 😒)

When the plane took off, I looked over at Baba in disbelief. Did we really just leave the place we called home for most of our lives? Are we really not going to see our families for 3 years? I dozed on and off throughout the flight but every time I woke up, I wondered if this was all a dream. I simply could not believe this was happening.

Now, a whole year after that pivotal day, I wish I could tell the 2023 me that it’ll all be ok. It’s kind of funny how much I worried back then, when this has turned out to be such an incredible and transformative experience for our family. We began this journey long before we stepped foot in Taiwan. Looking back, the conversation Baba and I had could’ve gone in a totally different direction, but whether it’s through some divine intervention or just pure luck, I’m forever grateful that we decided to take the chance.

Ramblings

Becoming Bilingual

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Before coming to Taiwan, the boys had minimal exposure to Chinese. They took several online classes (inconsistently) and went to an after school Chinese program that had only one hour of language instruction each day. We tried to supplement with Chinese books and shows at home but both boys showed little interest. We also spoke English exclusively at home because I was not confident in my Chinese at all.

After almost one year of public schooling in Taiwan, two things have proved to be true:

  1. Kids are truly like sponges!
  2. There is no better way to learn a new language than in an immersive environment.

At the start of the school year, I had trained both kids to introduce themselves in Chinese (their name, age, where they’re from), but that was pretty much all they could say. They could not understand what was going on in class and had to depend on classmates and teachers to help them translate. C could read/write a few characters, but O could barely remember to write his name in Chinese.

Flash forward to nine months later, C and O can understand their teachers, chat with friends, and read/write basic Chinese. O can do homework all by himself, from reading the problems to writing the answers. O’s teacher no longer needs to translate for him, and he still gets good grades on his tests and homework. With the help of zhuyin, O can also read a lot of text (see below for one of his assigned reading books) though he probably only understands 60% of it at this point.

C’s homework is a lot more challenging, but he can often complete more than half of his assignments by himself. (The rest is with his tutor’s help.) The fact is he is able to read, understand and answer difficult problems in Chinese is already a huge improvement from nine months ago. What I’ve noticed about C is that he’s able to retain information better as well. Almost every week, there is a dictation test on new vocabulary at school. At the beginning of the school year, I would help him study and man, it was a struggle! He would maybe get 20% right on the first try. Now, we wouldn’t really need to practice and C would still get almost every word correct.

This is why an immersive environment is so helpful when learning a language. In the US, both boys were SO resistant to doing anything in Chinese because it wasn’t the norm. Family and friends there all spoke English. Here, their friends speak only Chinese. Their teachers speak only Chinese. Everywhere they go, people speak only Chinese. If they want to watch TV, it will be in Chinese because there’s no other option. In this sink or swim environment, they learned they had to swim.

It’s been amazing witnessing C and O’s progress. I love hearing them talk in Chinese; it’s like reliving the time when they were toddlers first learning how to speak. As much as I am amazed at how quickly they’re learning, I am also incredibly proud of their attitude. They never once complained about not understanding anything, or all the homework and tests at school. They never seem frustrated when they have to read an entire page of Chinese, or have to write pages and pages of characters.

C and O are not fluent (I think my Chinese is still better than theirs 😅) and I honestly don’t expect them to be. But what I hope they’ll extract from this experience is that they can learn and do anything with patience and grit.

Ramblings

Learning Chinese: 1 Step Forward, 2 Steps Back

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This post only pertains to my Chinese learning journey. I’ll write about the boys’ progress in another post.

We’ve been living in Taiwan for 9 months already 🤯, and for the most part we’ve adjusted to the Taiwanese way of life. We’ve made friends, are comfortable navigating around the city, and have our daily routines nailed down.

The biggest challenge has been, and continues to be, learning Chinese. I wrote about first learning Chinese 6 months ago, and while my Chinese has improved drastically since then, I feel like it’s plateaued. I can comfortably order at a restaurant, exchange simple pleasantries with strangers, and introduce my background. But beyond that, it can be a struggle holding conversations.

My conversation skills are completely dependent on the topic. I can chat about the kids’ school and about daily life, but if the topic shifts to say, skincare, I am clueless. (This actually happened in real life: I went in for a facial and had zero clue what the aesthetician was telling me about my pores and moisturizing. 😅) This is because I have been learning vocabulary by subject matter. I write down words that are useful or related to a topic that interests me. For example, after the earthquake, I learned the Chinese words for “damages”, “aftershock”, and “predict”, knowing that this subject might come up.

My notebook of Chinese words. I’m already on my second book!

So on days when I’m chatting about kids or eating out, I feel pretty good about my Chinese. Other days – like today, when a sales person tried to introduce me to different types of sneakers- I feel like I took 2 steps back.

All is not lost though. Because I have been writing down words and reviewing them consistently, my reading and writing skills have improved a lot. I can read signs and simple text messages without having to copy and paste into Google translate. I can write messages using pinyin (though it still takes me awhile to do). An indirect effect to all this is that my mom even noticed that my Cantonese got better! 😊

Aside from learning vocabulary words, I have been listening to podcasts, meeting language exchange partners and doing weekly sessions on italki. (I’ll list these resources at the bottom of this post.) I still volunteer at the boys’ school and it’s a great way to chat with locals, but our conversations are usually pretty perfunctory. I stopped taking in-person Chinese classes after the boys’ winter break. The classes gave me a great head start, but I wanted to try other things.

Baba asked me what my next goals for Chinese are, and honestly I’m not sure. To feel confident enough to just speak without mulling over every word? To be able to have deeper conversations with people? I don’t really have a definitive, measurable goal other than continuing to improve. It’s hard, but to be able to connect with people using their language is an amazing feeling.

Resources for Chinese Language Learning:

  • Learn Taiwanese Mandarin podcast – Probably my favorite podcast so far. The best part is she has a website with transcripts of each episode that includes pinyin and the English definitions.
  • Talk Taiwanese Mandarin with Abby podcast – Another good podcast for Chinese learning. You do have to join her Patreon to access the transcripts.
  • italki – An online language platform where you can schedule 1:1 video chats with teachers. It’s convenient – you can schedule classes according to your schedule – but classes can be expensive. I found a teacher I really like on there.
  • Tandem – A free language exchange app where you can find people to chat with. (Conversely, I’d help them with English.) I’ve met a couple of people through the app, but the problem is finding someone who can regularly practice with you.
Ramblings

Earthquake!

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While my sister and BIL were in town, we had another visitor: an earthquake! It happened on Tuesday, April 3rd at 7:58am. We’ve experienced tremors before in Taiwan, but this was a big one – measuring in at 7.4 – with many, many aftershocks. The epicenter was in Hualien, which is about 2 hours away from Taipei.

A big earthquake like this is something that is forever burned into your memory. (I still remember everything from the 1989 San Francisco earthquake!) After I dropped off the kids at school, I cooked breakfast while my sister sat on the couch. Suddenly, we felt the ground shake and when it didn’t stop, we both scrambled under the dining table. 😂 The ground rolled violently back and forth, and the noise was thunderous. Meanwhile, my BIL was in the bathroom the whole time and Baba didn’t feel a thing because he was biking. 😶

The earthquake might have only been for ~30 seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Luckily, no one was hurt (that we know of), and there was very little damage in the apartment, except for a crack near the front door and in the boys’ room.

Our school sent pictures and notifications shortly afterward, reassuring parents that all the students were safe. Because Taiwan is prone to earthquakes, our school does regular earthquake drills. So other than feeling rattled, all the students and staff were prepared. Classes resumed afterwards as usual, and C mentioned that his teacher was worried she wouldn’t finish the lesson on time! 😂

Taiwan’s preparedness for this earthquake has been impressive. In Taipei, other than the MRT and trains halting service for a couple of hours, there was no significant disruption. There were no power or internet outages, businesses were open as usual, and all buildings remained intact. Many US publications commended Taiwan for its earthquake resilience and the huge strides it made after the 7.7 earthquake in 1999.

The greatest damage has been in the epicenter, Hualien, where Taroko National Park is located. So far, 13 people have died in the area but relative to the magnitude of the earthquake, the number of fatalities is pretty low. The park is likely to be closed for at least a year, and some trails like Zhuilu Old Road may be closed for much longer.

We feel so fortunate to have visited Taroko just 2 months before the earthquake. I’m saddened to hear that people lost their lives exploring this beautiful place, and it will be awhile before it can be enjoyed again. Here’s to hoping that the rescue and reconstruction efforts in Hualien continue smoothly and safely! 🙏

Ramblings

A Special Visit

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In early April, we welcomed my sister and BIL to Taiwan! My niece was on her 8th grade Chinese immersion trip to Taipei and Hong Kong, so it was the perfect excuse for a visit. (Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see my niece at all because of her school’s strict schedule, what a bummer!)

While my niece stayed with her classmates at a hotel the entire time, we hosted my sister and BIL at our place. The boys were so excited to see family other than Baba and me for once! They nagged Uncle 6 to play Chinese chess whenever they could, and the adults squeezed in a badminton game while the kids were at school.

Since both my sister and BIL have been to Taipei a couple times already, we skipped all the touristy stuff and just ate to our hearts’ content. This made for a much more relaxing visit because we weren’t rushing from place to place. And boy, did we eat! Here are some of the more memorable places we visited:

  • Paradise Dynasty: A contemporary Taiwanese/Chinese restaurant that serves xiao long bao, fried rice, wonton noodle soup, etc. It’s a good alternative to Din Tai Fung.
  • Lan Jia Gua Bao: My sister and BIL said they were craving gua baos ever since they had one in Seattle, so we took them to the best place that we know of in Taipei. There is something so satisfying about braised pork belly with crushed peanuts, cilantro, and pickled mustard wrapped in a soft bao.
  • Yong Kang Beef Noodle: My favorite place to get the classic Taiwanese beef noodle soup. It’s on the richer/spicier side, which in hindsight, probably wasn’t my sister’s cup of tea. 😅
  • Smoothie House: Even though it’s not mango season, shaved ice at Smoothie House is still a treat. We had shaved ice with frozen mangoes and fresh strawberries.
  • Tian Jin Scallion Pancake: Tian Jin is a simple food stall in the middle of Yong Kang Street that sells fresh, cripsy scallion pancakes. Along with Yong Kang Beef Noodle and Smoothie House, Tian Jin is always one of the stops we make whenever we’re in Yong Kang.
  • Din Tai Fung: Do I need to say more? When in Taiwan, this place is a must.
  • Sichao Rice Shop: A Taiwanese fusion restaurant with yummy dishes and beautiful presentation. The atmosphere was contemporary and elegant without being pretentious!
  • 上海宴: Another restaurant serving xiao long baos, fried rice and meats, but this place does everything very well. I’d say their XLBs are second to Din Tai Fung’s.

After 5 short days in Taipei, my sister and BIL took off to Hong Kong. It was so nice seeing familiar faces, and their visit made me miss having family around even more. There is a level of comfort with family that’s irreplaceable because they know you better than anyone else in this world. While we’re having so much fun in Taiwan, I only wish it were possible to combine everything we love in one place. ❤️

Ramblings

The New Normal

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Almost a year ago, I wrote down my prediction for how I’d adjust to moving abroad. Knowing how I normally react to big changes, I predicted that I would hate it the first couple of months, then learn to love it, then finally reach a plateau. Now that we’ve been in Taiwan for half a year, I thought about this post and how far or close it was to reality.

When we first arrived in Taipei after a 2-month trip in Europe, I didn’t really like our new home. Compared to places that we had just visited like Florence and Barcelona, I’ll be completely honest – Taipei isn’t the most visually appealing city. 🙊 Some buildings look run-down and grubby, electric wires hang haphazardly, and the skies were grey and gloomy (at least during August when we first arrived). I even began to wonder if we should have moved to Spain instead.

Luckily, that feeling lasted for only a couple of weeks and not months. I started to appreciate how safe, cheap and convenient it is to live here, and how quickly we felt at home in this foreign place. I had worried about how the boys would adjust, but the move was like any other day to them. 😂 From when we first landed in Taiwan to their first day of school, they remain completely unfazed. I’m beyond grateful and proud of their resilience.

I already shared what we love about Taiwan so I won’t repeat that here, but it’s safe to say that my old blog post is pretty inaccurate. Six months in, the honeymoon phase still hasn’t ended for us. We are always discovering something new and fascinating. We miss the energy and comfort of Taipei whenever we’re traveling. The language barrier is still a challenge but living here only motivates us to continue improving.

Maybe one day, Taipei will lose its shine and we’ll grow to be nonchalant about it. But for now, Taipei is our home, our new normal. And I already know that when we leave this place, I will miss it immensely.

Ramblings

Lunar New Year in Taiwan

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Even though our winter break was packed with activities, we made sure to schedule time in Taipei during Lunar New Year. We were curious how the locals celebrated this important holiday.

Turns out, it’s pretty tame. 😆 But it’s also because LNY is a family-oriented holiday, and since we have no relatives here, we didn’t get to partake in many festivities. Still, we have been enjoying the lovely decorations around the city, and of course we visited Dihua Street to buy LNY snacks and goodies.

A lot of Taiwanese locals warned us that Taipei becomes totally vacant during LNY. It was noticeably quieter, but the places that remained open were very busy. I guess those of us who stayed in Taipei were all looking for somewhere to go!

On the first day of LNY, we went around the neighborhood to watch lion dances. The most popular one was at Grand Hyatt. But it was so crowded that we could only see the lion when it was up on stilts. Luckily, we saw another lion dance not too far away and this time, we had a front row view.

The next few days were surprisingly normal, and the majority of stores and restaurants opened back up. The only real disruption was the garbage service. Normally, garbage trucks come around everyday except Wednesdays and Sundays, but during the first week of LNY, the schedule was erratic. Whenever we heard the garbage truck music play, Baba and I rushed downstairs because we just never knew when the next garbage day would be!

About a week after LNY, the Lantern Festival 元宵節 began. The Lantern Festival is not hugely celebrated in SF, so this was an eye-opening experience. The festival celebrates the end of LNY and welcomes the coming of spring. People enjoy fireworks, lanterns, and eating glutinous rice balls (湯圓) during this time. The national Lantern Festival celebration was held in Tainan this year, but Taipei also had its own festival in Ximen.

The lanterns were gorgeous! Some of them were actually created by students in a lantern-making contest too. The whole Ximen area was sprinkled with lanterns everywhere; it was fun spotting them while we roamed around.

The year of the dragon – especially when it meets leap year – is considered very auspicious in Chinese culture. We wish everyone a healthy, happy and prosperous new year!

Ramblings

Hey Taipei

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We have an ongoing list of things to see, do, and eat in Taipei. It keeps growing! Then, there are places that we’ve already been to but want to go back. But since we’re confined by the boys’ school schedules, we could only go on the weekends…which means more crowds.

So when the boys had a month off for winter break, we planned trips outside of Taipei (Malaysia and Taroko Gorge) but also outings in our backyard. Since many families travel outside of Taipei during Lunar New Year to visit family, we wanted to take advantage of the smaller crowds.

Dihua Street. Dihua is a historic street in the Datong District, lined with traditional shops selling Chinese herbs, tea, and snacks. We’ve been to Dihua before but this time we wanted to take part in the Lunar New Year market. Long blocks on Dihua were filled with vendors selling everything from LNY candies, decorations and food – so festive!

Raohe Night Market. We visited Raohe during our Taiwan trip back in 2019, then tried to go again recently around NYE. Boy, was that a mistake because it was so crowded we could barely get two steps in! This time, we came on a weekday during winter break. It was still busy but much more manageable.

Raohe has a ton of fantastic food: black pepper buns, pork bone herbal soup, tang yuan (rice dumplings), grilled mushrooms, etc. No wonder it is one of the most popular night markets in Taipei!

Meerkat 75 Café. I found this café on Instagram and immediately made a reservation. I tried taking the boys to a cat café before, but we were turned away because of the boys’ age. But Meerkat 75 Café allows kids!

There are a total of 5 meerkats at the café. Groups of 2 people take turns going into an enclosed viewing area where you can play and learn about the meerkats. So fun! Each person has to order a certain dollar amount of food – I think it’s about $8 USD per person, and less for children. The food was mostly pasta, salads and chicken tenders, but it was pretty decent!

Children’s Amusement Park. An amusement park that you can spend the day at but isn’t overwhelmingly big, the Taipei Children’s Amusement Park is really fun for kids mainly 13 and under. Entry tickets are ridiculously cheap too – $1 USD for adults, and $.50 USD for kids – and then you pay as you ride, which ranges from $.50 to $3 USD each. You could also get day passes for about $6.50 USD, but it’s not all-inclusive. We spent the day here with friends and had a great time.

Taipei Zoo and Maokong. We went to the zoo at the end of last August, and the heat was so brutal that we had to leave before seeing everything. This time, the weather was absolutely perfect but the zoo was a bit crowded because it was one of the few places open during the week of LNY.

The zoo also has a gondola that connects to Maokong Mountain. Frankly, I never thought about going but the boys wanted to ride the gondola. The gondola ride was surprisingly long (about 20 minutes) and it went up so much higher than I expected! You can also ride in glass floor gondolas but since it was a busy day, we didn’t want to wait around for one to come by.

Maokong was a special surprise. I didn’t realize how charming this town is! Maokong has little eateries, family-owned farms, tea plantations and shops. We also visited a family living in Maokong that the boys had met on a previous trip. It makes me happy seeing C and O getting along so well with local kids.

Ice Skating at Taipei Arena. This was actually the boys’ first time ice skating! They were a little nervous, but because they’ve been taking inline skating class at school they quickly got up to speed. The arena requires that all skaters wear gloves and if you opt out of wearing protective gear, then you have to sign a waiver. Our calves and ankles were tired from just skating for 1.5 hours!

For the next couple of days, Baba and I decided to split up the kids. We spend a lot of time together as a family, so we wanted to spend individual time with the boys and so they can pursue their own interests.

Wuliaojian Trailhead. C and Baba wanted to go on a very challenging hike called Wuliaojian in New Taipei. This trail is seriously no joke – requiring rock scrambling, rappelling down rocks, and climbing steep trails. It’s a trail known for experienced hikers, but Baba and C did so well. C was the youngest person on the trail that day!

Taipei Astronomical Museum. Meanwhile, O and I went to the Taipei Astronomy Museum. The museum was cheap to get into and had many fun interactive exhibits. O’s favorite was the spaceship ride (and I have to say it was mine too).

Taipei Science Museum. The next day, Baba and I switched kids. 😄 O wanted to go to the Taipei Science Museum, which funnily enough, is directly across from the Taipei Astronomical Museum that we visited the day before. I actually took the boys to the science museum back in November, but O wanted to go back. We didn’t know the little guy loved museums so much!

Addiction Aquatic Development. I took my foodie partner in crime to Addiction Aquatic Development, which is like a fabulous fusion of fish market/supermarket/sushi restaurant. C and I loved this place. The vibe is similar to European markets, with high quality produce, polished décor and delicious food.

Yangmingshan National Park. The day before school resumed, we went to Yangmingshan. Yangmingshan is relatively close to Taipei (about a 45 minute drive), making it hugely popular for Taipei residents. It is a little tricky to get to by bus, so we hired a driver on Klook to take us there and drive us to the trails. The downside to hiring a driver of course, is there is a time limit.

Yangmingshan is beautiful! The landscapes are varied too, with grasslands, lakes, fumaroles, and mountains. There are also flower festivals throughout the year. This time it’s cherry blossom season (though we went too early for that), in the spring it’s calla lilies, and so on. Most trails at Yangmingshan are fairly easy, so it’s perfect for hikers of all abilities. I’d love to go back.

Whew, we did a lot during winter break! I love spending time and exploring Taiwan with my family. Growing up, Baba and I never had these opportunities. My parents worked 7 days a week all year, so I was ecstatic whenever they could spend time with me, even if it was just going to the neighborhood park. I hope the boys are enjoying these adventures with us as we much as we are.

Ramblings

Taroko Gorge

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After coming back from Malaysia, we had a few days in Taipei before heading to our next destination: Taroko Gorge! Taroko is one of the nine national parks in Taiwan. The dramatic limestone mountains, clear blue water and scenic hikes make it the most popular national park among locals and tourists.

We took the Taiwan Rail to Taroko, not to be confused with the High-Speed Rail, but just as convenient and efficient. We left from Taipei Main Station and got off at Xincheng, which was closest to our hotel. The ride took approximately 2 hours.

Many people advise renting a car or hiring a driver to visit Taroko Gorge. We ended up just taking the shuttle around the park, but a word of warning: shuttles don’t come frequently and the schedule can be inconsistent due to current roadwork. When we were there, the shuttle came every 30-45 minutes, so you just have to plan your hikes accordingly.

We stayed in Tienhsiang Youth Activity Center which is a basic hotel but fairly priced and located within the park. The room fee includes a breakfast buffet, and dinner costs an additional $8 per person. Don’t expect good food in Taroko! Restaurants are scarce and food is very basic. But people don’t come here for the food.

We stayed in Taroko for 3 nights and 4 days. The park isn’t huge so you could technically do all the hikes in that time if you’re determined enough.

As for the park itself: it’s beautiful! But then again, can you really go wrong with mountains and crystal blue rivers? 😍

The park is also well maintained. Many of the trails are paved, making it easy for all types of hikers to explore. Everything is well marked, and most signs were in both English and Chinese. Bathrooms, even on the most remote trails, were clean too!

More pictures of Taroko because it’s so damn photogenic. The layers of fog added a level of mystique.

Taroko has many fun suspension bridges. The boys loved the buoyancy of the bridges, but that just made Baba even more nervous. 😅

After planning the Malaysia trip, I didn’t do very much research on Taroko. But the night before we left, Baba started researching Taroko and found that there is a famous hike (Zhuilu Old Road). Unfortunately, the hike requires a permit and there were no more spots left during the days we were there. We put ourselves on the waitlist anyway.

Well, we lucked out because at the last minute, we received a notice that we got the permits! Zhuilu Old Road was voted one of the best hikes in Asia because of its views and historical significance. The trail was once used by aboriginals to commute between villages.

The hike is considered challenging so we wanted to get there as early as possible. However, the park shuttles don’t start running until 11am and the trailhead was far from our hotel. We asked the front desk if they could find a driver, but we were told that taxis are few and far between. For awhile, we weren’t even sure we could do the hike.

Then, a few hours later, the front desk called and said they found a driver! Hurray! A man who works at the hotel simply volunteered to drive us. He didn’t even want any payment (though we still gave him something) – this is another example of how friendly Taiwanese people are!

We were the first group to arrive at Zhuilu. Even though it’s a famous hike, we often felt like we had the whole trail to ourselves, which was so nice. The first 1.5 miles of the hike was a steep climb. It will make your legs BURN! We were also lucky that the morning of our hike was a clear day, because if it were wet (like it had been the prior days), it would be a much trickier hike.

After hiking up the mountain, we arrived at the crescendo: a narrow 3 feet wide trail along a cliff, looking down 2,600 feet into the gorge. There is no guardrail, but there is a cable for you to hold onto. It’s not for those who are afraid of heights, but I think I was more worried about the kids messing around here.

The hike took us 5 hours roundtrip, with many breaks for water and snacks in between. We later went on two other hikes that same day, with one that required climbing a lot of stairs (not sure why I agreed to this). My old lady knees were dying at the end of the day.

On the day we left, we squeezed in one last hike: the Baiyang Trail. This hike was relatively relaxing as the trail was paved and flat. We were told by another hiker to wear a raincoat because of the waterfall, so we went to 7-11 to get ponchos. None of them were small enough to fit O however, so being the responsible parents that we are, we used a plastic bag instead. 🤣

The Baiyang Trail was a lot of fun. It requires walking through a series of dark tunnels (so it’s best to bring flashlights). During the summer and fall, there are bats that live in the tunnels too!

Towards the end of the hike, we were wondering if we needed the raincoats at all. It provided more protection from that day’s rain than any mist or trickling water we found in the tunnels thus far.

But then, we arrived at the last tunnel. We saw a shallow river flowing through it. There was a narrow path against the tunnel’s wall, which we started to go through. It got wetter and wetter, and at this point, all our shoes were soaked. Suddenly, we heard and saw it: several waterfalls gushing out from the cracks of the tunnel! There is no way around them, so we walked under the waterfalls and got more soaked! 😂 With the darkness of the tunnel, sound of the rushing water echoing against the walls, and water pouring down on us, it was an exhilarating experience to say the least.

I wish I took better pictures of this part, but I was worried about my phone getting too wet (and me trying not to slip! 😅)

A lot of people just go to Taipei when they visit Taiwan, but if you have more time in your schedule, we highly recommend visiting Taroko too! Taiwan is actually known for its nature, and Taroko is a prime example of that.

Ramblings

Malaysia

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The boys made it through one semester of public school in Taiwan! I’ll post about our school experience at a later time, but for now I wanted to write about our trip to Malaysia during winter break or 寒假.

Some people asked if we have plans to go back to SF during our stay in Taiwan. Honestly, unless something urgent comes up we don’t plan to travel back home. Our time in Taiwan is limited and there is SO much to see and experience, not only in Taiwan but in Asia! We are also constrained by the boys’ school schedule and there aren’t many breaks during the school year aside from winter and summer vacation.

This winter break, we decided to travel to Malaysia. I went on a tour 20 years ago (!!!) and stayed in Malaysia for only 2-3 days. This time around, I wanted to experience it with Baba and the boys on our own terms. I was intrigued by Malaysia’s diversity and delicious street food. We went to two places in Malaysia: Penang and Kuala Lumpur, for a total of 9 days.

Penang. Penang is a state in Malaysia that consists of two parts. We stayed on Penang Island, specifically in Georgetown, the state capital. Georgetown is charming city known for its colonial style architecture, street art and street food. Our hotel was in the heart of Little India, which is an incredibly vibrant, colorful, and at times, super noisy neighborhood!

The quaint architecture of Georgetown.

One of the highlights of Georgetown is the street art. The art is scattered around town, so we spent half a day trying to track them down. The most famous artwork is by a Lithuanian artist named Ernest Zacharevic, who incorporates 3D aspects to his art. We had a lot of fun thinking of ways to interact with them!

Penang is also known for its street food, and it did not disappoint! We loved the diversity, intensity of flavors, and of course the price. We already think food in Taiwan is cheap but you can’t beat the prices in Southeast Asia. Many dishes in Penang were about $2-$3, and there were times when we had a whole family dinner for less than $15.

Food in Malaysia is influenced by so many cultures – Chinese, Malay, Singapore, Indian – and you can often taste the influences in each dish. Baba and I especially loved all the spice, something that we miss in Taiwan. (Taiwanese food tends to be on the milder side.) Our favorite dishes were Char Kuey Teow which is similar to Chinese fried rice noodles, and Asam Laksa, a tangy, spicy noodle soup. But seriously, even random food stalls we found had delicious food!

Admittedly, Penang doesn’t have a lot of “must-see” sites, but one place on our list was the Kek Lok Si Temple. It’s the largest Buddhist temple complex in Malaysia, filled with countless statues, pagodas, and pavilions. It’s so big that it’s impossible to capture the whole complex in one shot. Kek Lok Si sits on top of a hill, and seeing it from afar is even more awe-inspiring. The entire temple also lights up at night which we didn’t get to see; I can imagine it looking magical!

Kuala Lumpur. After 4 days in Penang, we took a ferry to Buttersworth, where we caught a train to Kuala Lumpur. The train ride took 4 hours.

Kuala Lumpur (or KL as the locals call it) is a massive, chaotic city, making it challenging for pedestrians to navigate. Crossing the streets was an ordeal – you’d either have to scramble across the street because there are no street lights, or track down an overpass like the below. This would sometimes add 10-15 minutes to our commute, which wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the heat.

The subway and bus system isn’t as comprehensive as Taipei’s either, so we would often walk or hail a ride through Grab, SE Asia’s version of Uber. Grab rides are super cheap – rides were typically $2-$3. Even a 45 minute ride to the airport was less than $20! I highly recommend downloading Grab if you’re traveling in SE Asia.

Now for the positives of KL. 😊 Like Penang, KL is super diverse and that’s reflected in its delicious food. There is a large Cantonese and Indian population so we ate all the dim sum and Indian food we sorely miss since moving to Taiwan. Our favorite restaurant in KL was probably Mollagaa, an South Indian restaurant serving everything from curries to banana leaf rice. It was so good we went back twice!

Overall, the food in KL was very good and cheap. You can eat like royalty here without breaking the bank.

A favorite pastime of ours when traveling if visiting wet markets. The ones in SE Asia are the best because they have the most interesting and exotic fruits and vegetables. We ate so much mangosteen and jackfruit here (fruits that are relatively hard to find in Taiwan). We also discovered a new fruit: snake fruit, or salak. It’s native to Indonesia/Malaysia and has a mild sour taste with a crunchy texture. Not one of my personal favorites, but it’s always fun discovering new fruits.

Speaking of exotic fruits, Malaysia is obsessed with durian (and so are we!). They have their own varieties of durian – 24 of them! – with the most popular being Musang King. Malaysia durian is creamy, sweet, with a slight bitter taste. Even though Thailand is the biggest exporter of durian, Malaysia is known to have the best tasting. There are cafes and restaurants throughout KL dedicated to just durian! I think we probably ate one a day. 😋

Although it may seem otherwise, our trip wasn’t just about eating. 😅 We did some sight-seeing too! One of the most stunning sites we visited was Batu Caves just outside KL. The Batu Caves is a large Hindu temple complex guarded by the monumental statue of Hindu god Lord Murugan. Next to the statue are 272 colorful steps leading to a limestone cave. Truly a site to behold, Batu Caves is not to missed when visiting KL!

We also visited the Petronas Towers, which I have to say is one of the prettier skyscrapers! They look like shining jewels against the KL skyline. Next is Petaling Street, a bustling street of shops, stalls, and restaurants in the heart of Chinatown. Pictured on the right is the new Merdeka 118, which is currently the second tallest building in the world (after Burj Khalif in Dubai)! It’s sleek and modern, but even though Google says it’s been completed since November 2023 we didn’t see very much activity around it. Maybe it will be open to the public at a later time.

The rest of our time at KL was spent at our Airbnb’s pool and gym, which was probably the boys’ favorite part of the trip. 🙄 We also had access to the building’s infinity pool that had a glass floor looking 35 floors down. I didn’t dare to step on it but did swim over it, ha! This was our first time swimming in an infinity pool!

Malaysia is often overlooked in SE Asia, but if you’re a foodie and looking for a good bang for your buck, then Malaysia is a great place to pop by!