Ramblings

Vietnam

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Hello, it’s been awhile!

But I have an excuse. We had been traveling around SE Asia over the boys’ winter break, visiting 3 countries and 8 cities in 4 weeks. We had such an amazing time there, and surprisingly didn’t find the trip exhausting at all. SE Asia is one of my favorite regions in the world.

I’ve been wanting to visit Vietnam for some time. Baba and I both have connections there, with his parents and siblings being born in Vietnam and my family having lived there for many years. I’ve also been enticed by pictures on social media of the beautiful nature and landscapes around the country. But most of all, we absolutely love Vietnamese food and have been missing it since we moved to Taiwan (the Vietnamese food here is lackluster).

We visited Vietnam from north to south – first Hanoi, then Ha Long Bay, Hoi An, Da Nang and finally Ho Chi Minh City.

Hanoi. Despite the terrible air pollution and nonsensical traffic, we loved Hanoi! I don’t know if it’s because Hanoi was the first place we visited, but the city has that old-world charm that makes you feel like you’ve stepped back in time, with its narrow streets, cozy cafes and roadside restaurants complete with the quintessential small, plastic stools. We stayed in the Old Quarter; most things were within walking distance and every corner had something to be discovered.

The food in Hanoi was also amazing. People have told me northern Vietnamese food is pretty bland but we didn’t think that at all. I don’t think we had one bad meal there, and of course everything is so, so affordable. Our meals were usually around $8-$10 for a family of four. 😱

During our stay in Hanoi, we also booked a day trip to Ninh Binh, a city in the countryside with calm rivers flanked by stunning limestone mountains and caves. It was so scenic! After the boat tour, we hiked to Hang Mua Cave and climbed up the Ngoa Long (Lying Dragon Mountain). The hike was all stairs so it was definitely a work out!

Ha Long Bay. We left Hanoi and took a 2 hour bus ride to Cat Ba Island, a gateway to Ha Long Bay. Originally, we wanted to go on a 2-night cruise to Ha Long Bay but the atrocious prices and lukewarm reviews turned us off. So, Baba found a more economical alternative: stay in Cat Ba Island for 2 nights and book a day cruise to the bay. 🙂

There wasn’t much to do on Cat Ba Island (although the tourism department is trying to build it into a resort town) and the food was mediocre. But we had a wonderful day cruise around Ha Long Bay – the views were beautiful and we got a chance to do some water activities even though the water was freezing. Our tour operator was Cat Ba Express and they were great. They seamlessly organized the cruise and transportation to/from Hanoi.

Hoi An. After Ha Long Bay, we flew to central Vietnam which included Hoi An. Hoi An is an incredibly picturesque city and has become one of Vietnam’s most Instagram-able place.

Hoi An is a very small city so after one day of sightseeing, we were pretty much done. There were so many tourists in the main part of Hoi An that at times it felt like a commercialized tourist trap. The streets were lined with shops selling souvenirs or tourist “experiences” like the lantern release on the river (which we ended up doing anyway 😅).

Nonetheless, we ate some good comfort food in Hoi An like bánh mì (including the shop that Anthony Bourdain visited!), and dishes native to central Vietnam that we’ve never had before, like mì quảng and cao lầu.

Da Nang. Da Nang is just a one hour drive from Hoi An. We only stayed here for 2 nights, but wished we stayed longer because it turned out to be one of our favorite places in Vietnam.

There are two sides to Da Nang. We stayed at the “resort” side, which was next to a really nice beach and tourist-friendly shops and restaurants. The boys loved the beach here and kept wanting to stay. (Taipei has no nearby beaches so the boys miss it immensely.)

We thought that was all of Da Nang until we did a Google search and realized there’s another part to the city over the bridge. A part that is a bit grittier and more frenzied, but with much more authentic, delicious food and interesting sites. We loved this part of Da Nang the best and had some of the best bánh xèo of our lives here!

Before leaving Da Nang, we also spent a few hours visiting Marble Mountain, a cluster of five limestone and marble hills/caves. It was a nice break from the usual cityscape.

Ho Chi Minh City. Ho Chi Minh City is the most modern city in Vietnam, with wide boulevards, upscale shopping, and international cuisine. But HCMC is also incredibly vast and scattered. Even though we stayed in District 1 (where most tourists stay), it took us a long time to walk to places or we’d have to take a taxi, and many of the restaurants we wanted to visit were a 20-30 minute car ride away.

We heard that HCMC has the best food in Vietnam but thought the food was average (except for 1 or two dishes), at least compared to what we had in Hanoi and Da Nang. Maybe we went to the wrong places?

The highlight of our visit to HCMC was going to Cu Chi Tunnels and War Remnants Museum. We visited the museum one day, then booked a day tour to Cu Chi Tunnels the day after. They were the perfect complement for learning all about the Vietnam War. The Cu Chi Tunnels were a vast network of secret tunnels that the Vietcong soldiers used to combat the Americans. The living conditions for Vietcong soldiers during that time were terrible; many had to eat rats and snakes while in hiding, and had to live alongside dead bodies in the tunnels.

To accommodate tourists, the tunnels today are built three times larger than the original and equipped with lighting and air conditioning. This is crazy to me because I was already feeling hot and tired after a short trip through the tunnels. 😅 It was incredibly humbling to experience what people’s lives were like only 50 years ago. We discussed the war and Cu Chi Tunnels for days after – so much better than just learning about it in school!

We spent a total of 18 days in Vietnam. This was my first time there, but I strangely felt connected to the place. Perhaps it was the familiar smells, tastes and sounds that reminded me of my upbringing, which was heavily influenced by my parents’ time in Vietnam. For the first time, I wondered what my parents’ life was like there, and what our lives would be like if they never left.

I loved the craziness, familiarity, and of course the food in Vietnam. I can only hope to go back one day.

Ramblings

Volunteering in Taiwan

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I’ve always enjoyed volunteering. It’s a great way to spend time with the family while doing something good, often doesn’t require a huge time commitment, and you get to meet interesting people.

I already knew I wanted to volunteer in Taiwan somehow before moving here. The trouble was finding organizations that speak some English and could accommodate children. I scoped out some non-profits on social media and found two organizations: SALT Collectiv and Mary’s Doggies.

SALT was founded by a group of foreigners living in Taiwan who strive to feed the homeless (among other initiatives). When I first told the boys about SALT, they couldn’t believe there were homeless people in Taiwan. While definitely not as common as in SF, there are indeed homeless people in Taiwan! We want the boys to realize that regardless of where you are, there will always be marginalized people who need help.

At SALT events, we write encouraging notes and prepare 100 bento boxes, which we distribute to the homeless at Taipei Main Station. We’ve participated in 5 or 6 events now and surprisingly, the boys really enjoy it – even O, who normally hates being near the kitchen. 😂 The boys also donated some of their own money to SALT’s fundraiser this year. SALT events can be pretty tiring for Baba and me (they usually take 4-5 hours) but seeing the boys wanting to help others makes it worthwhile.

Mary’s Doggies is an organization that rehabilitates abandoned and abused dogs and prepares them for adoption. I’ve participated in several of their volunteer events like dog walking and socializing dogs, but most events were on school days so the boys couldn’t join. (Or when an event was on a weekend, it was too hot. Weather in Taipei is unfortunately not conducive to outdoor activities.)

But now that the weather has somewhat cooled down, I was able to sign us up for a weekend dog walking event. Many of the dogs are extremely timid, so it took some time for them to get used to us. We played with and walked 3 dogs for about an hour. Like me, C and O love dogs so this was a wonderful way for us to get our dog fix while helping to socialize them.

Other than volunteering with these organizations, Baba and I continue to volunteer at the boys’ school. Baba still volunteers as a crossing guard and this year, I’m volunteering as a “school lunch taste tester.” 😂 There is really such a thing!

Unlike the US, public schools in Taiwan take nutrition in lunches very seriously. They invite parents to taste the lunch and then fill out a form where you detail whether the food is too salty or not salty enough, too fibrous, too soft, etc. You also have to take photos of the food and upload them along with the completed form to a central system.

I find this fascinating as it’s so different than in the US. The lunches are pretty good too! The food is not unlike the simple mom-and-pop restaurants in Taipei. There’s always some kind of protein, carb, lots of vegetables, soup and fruit. Lunches aren’t free though – families have to pay $2 per meal but I’d still say it’s a good deal!

Ramblings

A Weekend in Yilan 宜蘭

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Since moving to Taiwan, we’ve heard a lot about Yilan, a county in the northeast part of the country. Apparently it’s a very popular weekend getaway for families.

Earlier this month, we finally took a trip to Yilan for a weekend. It was so easy to get there! Friday after school, we walked 15 minutes from our place to the Taipei City Hall bus station, then boarded a bus to Luodong 羅東. The buses depart every 10-15 minutes and we simply paid the fare on board with our Easy Card. Within an hour, we arrived at Luodong – easy peasy!

I decided to stay in the city of Luodong because it’s close to a few of the family farms Yilan is famous for. I booked a room at Check Inn Magi and it was a HUGE hit with the boys. It has video games, ball pit room, a large indoor slide and motorized toy cars. The boys seriously wanted to live there. 😂 The best part was that Baba and I could rest in our room while they played downstairs.

Our hotel was also close to the Luodong Night Market, which we visited on Friday night. It was a pretty big market but nothing stood out in particular, at least nothing that we tried.

On Saturday morning, we went to Zhang Mei Ama Farm 張美阿嬤農場, about a 20 minute taxi ride from Luodong. Buses don’t run very frequently in Yilan, so most people either drive, hire a driver, or take a taxi.

Zhang Mei Ama Farm is a popular petting farm located in Sanxing. Visitors can get up close and personal with animals like alpacas, capybaras, sheep, wallabies, etc. But first, we signed up for a short cooking class at the farm, where we got to make (and later eat) sweet potato and taro balls. The balls are fairly easy to make: just mash up soft taro and sweet potato with rice flour, then boil in water.

After the cooking class, we headed to the petting farm. The worker gave us a bunch of grass to feed the animals. It can be pretty overwhelming at first because the animals charged at anyone with food. The taller animals like alpacas and deer would grab the food right out of C and O’s hands, so Baba and I had to hold it with our arms held high. 😂 But aside from the animals being ravenous, they were generally very tame and seemed to be well taken care of. We all loved seeing the variety of animals here! We paid $10.75 per person for both the cooking class and farm experience, and booked our tickets here.

Nearby Zhang Mei Ama Farm are a couple of scallion farms. The one we went to is Cong Bao Bao 葱抱抱體驗農場. It was about a 30 minute walk from the farm. You could take a taxi there but since the weather was comfortable, we decided to walk.

At Cong Bao Bao, you can make scallion pancakes and/or harvest scallions. Unfortunately, the scallion fields were destroyed by Typhoon Kong-rey the weekend prior. But all was not lost! The farm also grew dragon fruit so we were able to pick those.

Interestingly, dragon fruit grows on long prickly vines. The dragon fruits at the farm had pink flesh and were wrapped in bags to prevent bugs and animals from eating them. We each got to take one home.

On our last day in Yilan, we took the local train to Jiaoxi 礁溪, another small town in Yilan famous for hot springs. Streets are literally lined with hot springs spas. We bought a day pass at Chuan Tang Spring Spa Hotel 川湯春天溫泉飯店 for about $10 per person. (On weekdays, it’s about $7 per person.)

The resort is a little dated but we still had a lot of fun because of the variety of facilities. They had different scented and colored baths; a kids’ section with water slides; scented steam rooms; fish pedicure; and even a bath with a mahjong table! 😂 We stayed here for 4 hours – definitely got our money’s worth!

The trip from Jiaoxi back to Taipei was seamless as well. As with Luodong, there is a direct bus linking Jiaoxi and Taipei. We took the bus for about an hour and the first stop was just a 5 minute walk from our apartment. Can’t get any more convenient than that!

We had a great time in Yilan. It’s family-friendly, easy to get to, and has tons of fun, affordable activities. It really makes a perfect weekend getaway.

Ramblings

A Family Affair

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This past April, my sister and BIL visited for a week, followed by my SIL who visited for two months over the summer. Then in mid-October, my other sister and BIL visited for 10 days. How lucky are we to have so many family members visit us this year?!

My sister and BIL have been to Taiwan a couple times before, so they’ve visited most of the major sites in Taipei. I had arranged a day trip to Yangmingshan 陽明山 but it was pouring rain so our driver took a detour and drove us to Tamsui 淡水 instead. We had the most delicious blueberry cream castella cake, explored the old street, and took a ferry across to Bali 八里, a small coastal town. Bali was very similar to Tamsui across the river in terms of look and feel, but less busy.

My sister and BIL’s visit also coincided with the Halloween festivities in Taipei. We took them to Yong Kong Street to trick or treat, but also to eat of course! Our “must-eat” places at Yong Kang have always been the Tian Jin Onion Pancake 天津葱抓餅 and Yong Kong Beef Noodle Soup 永康牛肉麵。 But we recently discovered Jingimoo Cafe 金鷄母, which has amazing shaved ice – in my opinion, better than the famous Smoothie House!

Because the boys still had school during their visit, we weren’t able to accompany my sister and BIL to a few places, but I’m glad they got to explore Alishan 阿里山, Jiufen 九分, Shifen 十分, and Hsu’s Noodles 許家麵線 on their own. They were lucky to have had good weather during their visits too!

We also took this time to have an early celebration for my sister’s birthday. After all, can’t say no to eating cake!

Life is really about the simple things. We had so much fun just eating (a lot!), chatting and laughing. In fact, I didn’t even take that many pictures – which is always a sign of good times!

When my sister and BIL left, we were all feeling a little down. Being apart from family is truly the hardest thing about living abroad, but the short time we do have together is even more cherished than before.

Ramblings

Typhoon Days in Taiwan

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In early October, Typhoon Krathon hit Taiwan. The eye of the storm was mostly in southern Taiwan but as a precaution, the Taipei city government decided to close offices and schools for two days on October 2-3.

Naturally, the boys were ecstatic. There was still homework assigned, because well, it’s Taiwan. 😂 Coming from California, we never had snow days but now we get to experience typhoon days or 颱風日!

Except, typhoon days aren’t as fun. People are advised to stay indoors because of high winds and rain. And with two active boys, staying indoors all day can be a challenge! Restaurants are closed. Grocery stores are cleared out the day before as people prepare to shelter in place.

But Typhoon Krathon turned out to be more of your average rainstorm, at least in Taipei. By the second day of closure, most businesses reopened and many people were out and about. (Which was for the best because we were running out of food. 😂) We started to wonder if cancelling school and businesses for two days was necessary at all.

Eating lunch at the food court in Taipei 101 during the second typhoon day.

Then in early November, another typhoon – Typhoon Kong-rey – hit Taiwan and other parts of Asia. This was a super typhoon and the strongest in 30 years. Normally, typhoons in Taiwan occur during the summer months when the air is the warmest. It is rare to to have typhoons in October, and even rarer in November so you know it was going to be a wild one. Schools and businesses closed again. This time we made sure to have enough food to last a few days.

We’ve experienced a few typhoons by this point, but most of them turned out to be rather tame. Typhoon Kong-rey however, was a real beast.

The rain and high winds howled for most of the day, but thankfully stopped before bedtime. Otherwise, I don’t think we’d be able to sleep!

The morning after:

Despite the strong wind, most of the damage was just fallen trees in our area. Although this typhoon was much stronger than Typhoon Krathon in October, the boys had to go back to school the next day. Maybe the fact that midterms were coming up had something to do with it! 😅

All of the debris was cleared out within a few days. As with the earthquake earlier this year, buildings in Taipei remained intact, and we never experienced any power or internet outages. Taiwan has its fair share of natural disasters but they are impressively well prepared!

Ramblings

Field Trip to Penghu: Taiwan’s Offshore Islands

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Written by C

In September, I went on a 3 day, 2 night field trip with my school to a beautiful archipelago in the south of Taiwan called Penghu. We flew from Taipei’s Songshan Airport to Penghu, which took less than an hour.

Penghu was extremely hot! Luckily, whenever you are sweaty a gust of wind will cool you down. An interesting fact is that Penghu is made up of 90 islands and only 19 islands have people living on them. Also, Penghu doesn’t get that many tourists so it’s mostly locals who live here. Three popular islands are Qimei, Huxi, and Xiyu.

At Penghu, my classmates and I visited a local school, the old street, and we even went kayaking! This was my first time kayaking.

Penghu is famous for its salty seafood and its old temples. Most of their vegetables are imported from the main island. In Penghu, they grow a type cactus where it can be made into drinks, ice cream, and jelly. Penghu is the only place in Taiwan where they grow it. I liked it so much bought some for my family back home. I also brought home a peanut candy.

In conclusion, I think that this trip was a great experience for me to learn about Penghu traditions and its cultures. Maybe one day you can go there and check it out yourself. Remember to put on sunscreen though!

Ramblings

Indonesia Part 2: Java and Bali

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Click here to read the first part of our Indonesia trip.

Bali is one of the most popular destinations in Asia. It’s so popular that it has sort of become synonymous with Indonesia. But it’s easy to see why. Bali has a rich culture and natural beauty, but also tourist-friendly features like 5-star resorts, electric nightlife and plenty of restaurants.

We chose to stay in Ubud, the cultural center of Bali that’s also very family-friendly. I decided to “splurge” on our accommodations (but it was still relatively affordable!). Our villa had a swimming pool, 3 large rooms, and included 2 helpers who came each morning to prepare breakfast for us. What a treat!

On our first full day in Bali, we went snorkeling at 3 locations. The first location had super choppy and deep waters, but we were there to see the giant manta ray – and we did! Unfortunately we weren’t able to get any pictures. The next two locations had calmer waters, and the boys had a much more pleasant experience. This was their first time snorkeling and I’m amazed by how brave they were! This is the tour we booked.

After a day of adventure, we booked a more low-key tour the next day and visited some of Bali’s most famous temples: Ulun Danu Beratan (left) and Tanah Lot (right). No tourists were allowed inside.

We also visited the Jatiluwih Rice Terrace and Handara Gate. Honestly, not much to do in these places except to look around and take pictures.

Bali is known for its spas, so of course we had book a couple’s spa/massage at Ubud Traditional Spa for Baba and me. The two-hour massage for 2 people cost only $60! It would be triple the price in SF.

While Baba and I were getting massages, my SIL took the boys to the Sacred Monkey Forest, where hundreds of monkeys roam free. Quite frankly, this would freak me out. 😅

Food in Bali was a lot more expensive compared to Java and in our opinion, generally not as good. We felt like the flavors were altered to cater to foreign palettes. The center of Ubud had many trendy restaurants serving acai bowls, steaks, vegan cuisines, and sushi. Ironically though, the best meal we had in Indonesia was also in Bali – crispy, spicy pork belly and sausage with greens and rice (center picture).

Sights around Ubud, Bali.

We wanted to explore other parts of the island but traveling around Bali was so, so cumbersome. Public transportation is non-existent and the roads are narrow, with only one lane going each way. Traffic is terrible at any hour of the day. One time, we were stuck in a taxi for an hour when the ride should’ve been only 20 minutes! 😠

I know Bali is a desired destination for many, but unfortunately it wasn’t our favorite. Many “attractions” felt like they were built just to bait tourists, like the Bali swing, or photo op setups at temples. Some bars and restaurants in Ubud look like they plucked straight from Las Vegas or London. Tourism is a huge part of Bali’s economy so it’s understandable they have to cater to visitors but it can feel inauthentic, especially since we had just come from Java.

After a week in Bali and 2 months in Taiwan, we parted ways with my SIL at the airport. The boys were devastated. They had such a fun and memorable summer with their aunt, and we are thankful she spent her summer with us. Goodbyes are the hardest part of living abroad, but I don’t think they’ll ever get easier.

Ramblings

Indonesia Part 1: Java and Bali

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Bali had always been on my list of places to travel to. I was captivated by the blend of culture, beauty and laid back vibe of the island. But the 20+ hour flight from San Francisco deterred us from visiting for the longest time.

So when we moved to Taiwan, I knew we had to take advantage of the 5 hour flight to Bali. As I did more research though, I realized just how many islands there are in Indonesia that get overshadowed by Bali! (Seriously, there are 6,000 inhabited islands in the country.) I felt like we wouldn’t do Indonesia justice by visiting just Bali, so we decided to visit Java as well. Even thought there were other islands I wanted to go to – namely, Komodo, Borneo and Lombok – it was logistically hard to plan. We spent 1 week in Java and 1 week in Bali.

Java. Java is considered the economic and cultural center of Indonesia. The capital Jakarta is also on the island but we decided to skip it after reading many reviews saying there isn’t much to see/do. Instead, we went to Yogykarta and Surabaya.

Yogykarta (or commonly called “Jogja”) is known for its cultural heritage and traditional arts. It’s actually the most popular destination in Java but it never felt overly touristy or inauthentic. I really liked the laid-back vibe in Jogja.

We visited the famous Prambanan and Borobudur temples in Jogja. Prambanan (pictured below) is a large Hindu temple complex that reminded us so much of Angkor Wat. Visitors can also climb up into some of the temples, where a statue of a deity often stood. We went to Prambanan during sunset and seeing the temples in the warm, glowing hues was a wonderful way to end the day.

Borobudur is the largest Buddhist temple in the world. Borobudur is actually quite close to Prambanan (about 1.5 hour drive away) so many people visit the two temples in one day. But because we had extra time, we visited each temple on different days so as not to wear ourselves out.

Borobudur temple has several upper levels, which visitors need to buy a special ticket to in order to visit. I had such a hard time securing the tickets (probably due to bots 😒) so ended up working with an agent. Because of its massive scale, the temple is very impressive from afar. We climbed the stairways and walked through the corridors to see the relief panels but the temple has no interior you can walk into. Overall, we enjoyed the architecture and aesthetic of Prambanan more.

We didn’t realize it at the time, but Jogja had the best food out of all the places we visited in Indonesia. The dishes were reminiscent of Southeast Asia flavors: a mix of salty, sour, sweet and SPICY! I have a decent spice tolerance but some of the food set my mouth on fire (in a good way). The downside was finding food for the boys because even the least spicy foods were too much for them. 😂 Food was extremely affordable in Jogja – the total bill was generally no more than $20 for the 5 of us.

After Jogja, we took a 4 hour train ride to Surabaya in east Java. We were pleasantly surprised by how comfortable the trains were! We booked seats in the Executive Class through tiket.com, and each ticket only came out to be about $20 per person.

Surabaya is the gateway city to Mount Bromo, one of Indonesia’s most famous active volcanoes. We booked a Mount Bromo sunrise tour, which picked us up from our Airbnb at midnight (!!) 😱 to then drive 2 hours to a spot where we switched to a 4×4. The 4×4 drove us up a rugged, winding path for another 1.5 hours (which the boys loved of course) to King Kong Hill to catch the sunrise.

Prior to the tour, our guide had warned us about the windy and frigid weather at King Kong Hill. We packed as much warm clothing as we could, but our efforts were futile. The wind chill atop King Kong Hill was brutal. What’s worse is that we had to stand in the cold for 1.5 HOURS in order to see the sunrise from the best viewing spot. Understandably, the boys were very grumpy. At long last, we finally saw the sunrise and it was absolutely glorious…though we would’ve enjoyed it a lot more if it weren’t so damn cold.

After snapping some pictures, we raced down the hill to try and beat the other tourists leaving the area. The road was PACKED with 4x4s, causing a major bottleneck. We had to wait another 45 minutes for the cars to start moving.

The next leg of the tour was climbing up to the crater of Mount Bromo. It’s not a hard or long climb, but can be steep in some areas. It was awe-inspiring to see an active volcano up close!

The last part of the tour was seeing the Madakaripura Waterfall. What we did NOT expect was having to reach the waterfall on the back of a motorbike. 😂 Granted the ride was short (about 10-15 minutes), but you can bet I was hanging onto the driver for dear life! Of course the boys loved it and thought it was the best thing ever.

After the motorbikes dropped us off at the trailhead, we had to hike about 1/2 a mile – including crossing a few rivers and scrambling on rocks – to reach the Madakaripura Waterfall.

And it was STUNNING. Seriously, pictures cannot do this place justice. The soft streams of water flowing down from the cliffside was like a dream. The sound of the waterfall was thunderous yet I felt so at peace there.

The entire tour lasted 16 hours. We were utterly exhausted but agreed this tour was the highlight of our Indonesia trip. The next day, we all slept in and didn’t have the energy to do much except hang out at the pool/gym. There was a mall and food court below our Airbnb, so we never even left the building. The boys later visited a cool balloon exhibit in the mall.

Looking back, we’re a little disappointed we didn’t get to explore much of Surabaya but getting some down time to recharge was also necessary. (I was experiencing cold symptoms at this point too!) From Surabaya, we took a 45 minute flight to Bali. However seeing how long this post is getting, I think I’ll save Bali for another post!

Ramblings

Summer 2024 Activities in Taiwan: Zongzi, Fencing, and Monkey King Opera

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This summer, Baba’s sister (my SIL) came to Taiwan and stayed with us for 2.5 months. Prior to her arrival, the boys excitedly came up with a list of places to take her around Taipei and beyond. This is one of the few times we get to play host. Since most of our friends and family are from the Bay Area, we never had to take anyone around until we moved here.

Luckily, my SIL was down for everything. Even though we didn’t sign the boys up for any full-time camps, they still had a busy and productive summer! This is just a snippet of the things we did, in addition to Alishan and Indonesia (which I’ll blog about next!).

Zongzi Cooking Class. We had such a fun time learning how to wrap zongzi 粽子 at CookingFun Taiwan. At the time, the Dragon Boat Festival holiday had already passed so it was just the four of us in the whole class!

Making zongzi is extremely labor intensive since each ingredient needs to be prepared separately and in advance. The process can take days. Our teacher had already prepared some ingredients for us beforehand, so we were able to make 26 zongzi’s during the 2.5 hour class and take them all home with us!

Fencing. Fencing always looked like sword fighting to me so I thought the boys would enjoy it. I found a one-day trial class and signed the boys up. The class was really fun, but it’s quite a journey from our place and I’m not sure if we want to manage another extracurricular during the weekend. But how adorable are the fencing uniforms? 😍

Monkey King Chinese Opera. The Monkey King opera is put on by Taipei Eye Performing Arts. The show was really entertaining but I’m also glad it was only an hour. 😅 While there were English subtitles displayed on the side of the stage, Chinese opera can be rather hard to follow! The pre and post show activities were so much fun. We got to dress up in traditional Chinese costumes, participated in a print-making activity, and even met the actors.

Shrimping. Believe it or not, one of Taiwan’s pastimes is indoor shrimping. You rent fishing rods for about $13 an hour, and can catch as many shrimp during that time. The first time we went, we only caught 5. This time, we caught 9! You can then grill and eat the shrimp onsite. Despite how peculiar this all is, we always get a thrill whenever we catch a shrimp. The shrimp pool we went to this time was called Fun蝦休閒釣蝦場. It was clean, had AC and the staff was kind – highly recommend!

Tainan. Baba and I already took the boys to Tainan last October, but my SIL wanted to visit the city with the boys. They went for 2 nights, which gave Baba and me some much appreciated time off! 😊

Staying Active. It’s absurdly hot and humid in Taipei during the summer, so we had to find ways to stay active indoors. We played badminton, ping pong, swam, and went to the gym at the nearby sports center. On occasion, we would join a group of visually impaired people at Sun Yat Sen for a run at night. (Ok full disclosure: I did it once and couldn’t stand the humidity but Baba, my SIL and the boys went a few times!)

Glass Blowing. It never occurred to me to try glass blowing, but I wanted to find indoor activities to avoid the heat and this popped up on a blog. Guests get to take part in the entire process, from gathering molten glass from the furnace to forming the glass with the blowpipe. It was a fun, educational experience – but didn’t come cheap! Depending on the shape you want to make, the cost can be $30-$100 per person. Initially, we weren’t sure if we wanted to do it, until we realized the same experience in SF would cost around $200! Gotta take advantage of the benefits of living in Taiwan while we can. Our glass blowing experience was done at Kun Crystal.

There were more activities we did but I don’t want this blog to get too long. We had a pretty fun and productive summer, right? Except I’m sure if you asked the boys what we did all summer, they’d say, “Nothing. We just sat at home and played with our tablets.” 😒 Why do I even bother? 😂

Ramblings

Exploring Alishan in Taiwan | A Cool Summer Getaway

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Summer is coming to an end, and there is so much to catch up on! I’ll start with our trip to Alishan 阿里山 back in July.

Alishan is one place I had always wanted to visit in Taiwan. Known for its lush greenery, tea trails, and forest railway, Alishan is a wonderful escape from the big city (and heat!) in Taipei. Since my SIL was visiting for the summer, we all took a 3 night/4 day trip to the area.

We first took the high-speed rail from Taipei to Chiayi Station. From there, you can take the historic newly-reopened Alishan Forest Railway directly to Alishan, but tickets are hard to come by. So, the alternative is to take one of the many buses to Alishan, which can take about 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours, depending on whether you want to stop at any of the smaller towns near Alishan. We did not have to book bus tickets in advance and simply paid the fare with our Easy Card on the bus.

Since we had time, we decided to stop by a small town called Fenqihu 奮起湖 for 1 night before making our way to Alishan. We stayed at the Fenqihu Hotel located in the center of town. We immediately noticed the temperature difference between Taipei and the Alishan area after stepping off the bus. While Taipei has been in the 90s everyday plus humidity, Fenqihu was a cool, breezy 75°F. We were so thankful to be spared from the heat!

Fenqihu is popular for its bamboo forest and (weirdly) their bento boxes. The bento boxes were quite tasty, generous in size, and cheap! Each bento was about $4 and came with bottomless seaweed soup.

We had low expectations for good food in this little town, but we surprisingly found some incredible cronuts and aiyu jelly 愛玉, which is a refreshing jelly dessert made from fig seeds. The jelly is topped with ice and lime juice, making it a perfect summer treat.

Fenqihu is also popular location to see fireflies at night. Our hotel offers nightly tours to see fireflies but because of the rain, we weren’t able to see too many.

After Fenqihu, we took a 30-minute bus ride to Alishan, where we stayed for 2 nights. Our hotel was Chinshan Villa. I loved Alishan! I’ve always been a city girl, but being surrounded by mountains and lush green forests is just so calming. The air in Alishan is ten times cleaner and fresher than Taipei’s too. The park itself isn’t huge so you can do all the hikes within 2 days with time to spare. None of the hikes were particularly strenuous, so it’s great for all fitness levels.

Even though we weren’t able to get tickets for the historic Alishan Forest Railway, you can still ride the train within the park. In fact, I think the trains that run within the park are even better because they use the old wooden carriages (while the trains from Chiayi are more like commuter trains). The trains look gorgeous against the landscape of Alishan!

A popular thing to do in Alishan is seeing the sunrise. We woke up at 3am, rode the train up to the mountain peak and waited for the sunrise. It was beautiful, but not sure if it’s worth sacrificing my beauty sleep. 😅 The early morning was also extremely cold, so the boys had to wear Baba’s clothes and I had to rent a jacket from our hotel. Baba just braved the cold. 😂 Apparently tourists often underestimate the temperature drop in Alishan!

Alishan is probably the most well-respected producer of teas in Taiwan due to its altitude and weather. As a lover of teas – but I’m in no way a connoisseur! – I went with my SIL to do some tea tasting. The most interesting fact (or perhaps belief?) we learned is that tea does not have any long term health benefits! Instead, the tea master we met said it’s merely the lifestyle of tea drinkers that could contribute to longevity, which includes socializing with friends, drinking lots of fluids, etc. Still, my SIL walked away with a few bags of oolong teas. 😊

Before heading back to Taipei, we made a quick stop at another town called Shizhuo 石桌, known for its tea plantations. Shizhuo, along with Fenqihu and Xiding, are the three most common towns to stay at on the way to Alishan. We got to Shizhuo by the bus enroute to Chiayi.

Seeing the neat rows of tea plantations was lovely but we didn’t realize how hot it was in Shizhuo. The hikes were all uphill and after about an hour, we were sweating buckets and ready to go home.

We were prepared to take the bus back to Chiayi Station to catch the high-speed rail, but a taxi driver offered us an unbelievable deal ($16 for a 1 hour drive back!) so our tired bodies eagerly hopped on the cab.

I can see why Alishan is such a popular destination for locals and tourists alike. The scenery is beautiful everywhere you look. Apparently it’s even more beautiful during cherry blossom season, where trails and railways are flanked with blooming pink flowers. I can only dream of seeing that one day!