Day 1 - getting to know Taipei

Last night we didn't set the alarm clock and just slept in. When we woke up we looked out the window for a little while at the street scene below. Taipei looked really overcast and the streets were wet. Looks like it could be spitting rain. We got ourselves together and went downstairs to check out this breakfast buffet that we've heard so many rave about here at the Grand Hyatt Taipei. The buffet is in multiple sections scattered throughout the restaurant, and was a little confusing to us newbies. The section we checked out first contained Chinese food. We tried lots of little bites of about everything. I can't remember the names of the items, except giggling at omelets with black fungus (aka a mushroom omelet). We were served coffee (me) and tea (Kevin). Next we checked out the juice bar. I had carrot juice and Kevin had green starfruit juice, which we weren't too impressed with. Next we found the motherload of fruits, breads, specialty cheeses, cereals, nuts, and yogurts. I had my first taste of dragon fruit, and I looooooove it. Kinda like kiwi, but without so much acidic bite. We also found a section of buffet that would cater to guests from the UK and US with baked beans, scrambled eggs, omelets, eggs to order, toast, sausages, bacon, and ham. With full bellies, we were ready to start our day. But wait! As we were exiting the restaurant, we discovered that we missed a section of the buffet. There's another section with sweet breads. Darn. Oh well, that leaves something great to explore another day.



Even though it was still very overcast, we decided to check out Taipei 101 first as it's just across the street. The first several floors is like a luxury shopping mall with all sorts of designer stores that I've never seen in the US. Versase, Dolce and Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, etc. This is so totally not us... and I wasn't even interested in window shopping. We followed signs for the observation deck and bought our tickets. It's amazing how quick the elevators get you to the top of the tallest building in the world. I think I had to swallow three times on the way up and town to keep popping my ears. At the top we were given little headsets where we could listen to an English guided tour. We took all kinds of photos, and were surprised at how far we could see even on a bad weather day. Kevin my techo guru was very interested in the damper system that keeps this engineering marvel of a building up in the air.



Here's some photos of grocery items at Jason's market in the bottom of Taipei 101.



We got out our map and decided to walk to the yellow roofed Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall. It wasn't far at all. We were getting drizzled on a little bit, but it wasn't too bad. Once again, I'm really glad that I brought my trench coat to keep the water off me. I'd be pretty damp if I just had a sweatshirt on, even with my umbrella. It was cool and misty. In this humidity, my hair didn't stand a chance, and was a curly frizzy windblown mess all day. We arrived at Sun Yat-Sen just at the right time, and viewed a changing of the guard. We asked later, and learned that they do this ceremonial changing of the honor guard every hour on the hour. It was very impressive... and also quite long. After the changing of the guard we were approached by a young woman with a neon orange vest that identified her as an English speaking tour guide. She was very sweet, and welcomed us to the hall. She asked where we were from and we made some small talk. She gave us a little bag of chocolates to wish us "Happy Christmas." The tour guide asked if she could give us a tour. I respectfully declined as I wanted to poke around on my own. After she started to walk away, I realized that there weren't any other tour guides roaming about, and she was here just for us. Kevin caught up with her and told her that we'd like a tour after all. The young tour guide got really excited. "Really? You'd like a tour?" and her face was all lit up. She went on and on what a present it was for her to be able to give us a tour. Heehee. She showed us around the exhibits detailing Chinese revolutionist Sun Yat-Sen's life. We could understand about 80 percent of her tour while listening very intently.



Next we made our way to the MRT subway station to head to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. Down in the subway station we couldn't quite figure out on our own how the automatic machine worked to put money on a subway card. There was an information booth nearby, and Kevin went and purchased cards with 500 Taiwan Dollars each on them. The attendant explained that you press the card on the indicated area on a turnstile as you enter and when you leave, and the system takes money off your card. It shows how much money is left on the card every time you use it. We kept joking that we needed a Staples Easy Button to press. "That was easy!" Kevin's been studying the subway routes for awhile and we've been excited to use the MRT for transportation around Taipei. On the MRT they have blue seats that are reserved for the elderly, disabled, pregnant women, and women carrying children. You are allowed to sit in the blue seats, but if one of these categories of people get on the subway, you are to yield the blue seat to them. The MRT was really clean and nice. There are signs to tell you not to smoke, eat, or drink on the subway. The fine is about $50 US if you are caught doing this. There were electronic signboards above the doors as well as an announcement over the intercom that tell you what station is next in Mandarin as well as in English. Once again, "That was easy!" Here's a map below of the MRT lines.

Once again, we were on our way to Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. The MRT stops right at it. We walked around and took some photos. I got a little emotional while we were there, as it felt like something... well, someone was missing. Hannah was missing. I so badly wanted to put down a blanket on the ground and take her photo with these beautiful buildings in the background. Okay, okay. No time for tears. We'll be back! Just hope that it's a prettier day next week. This spitting rain and cold weather is the pits for taking photos. I really really wanted to check out the pond and gardens next to the hall. I've wanted to take a photo of them ever since I followed Sherry's blog when she and her husband traveled to Taiwan for Kobi two years ago. Wow, it's amazing that it's been a whole two years since I was loving this post by Sherry... and decided that when we go to Taiwan, I've got to see this beautiful bridge.

By this time we were geting tired and cold. We took the MRT back to the stop near our hotel, and walked back to the Hyatt to freshen up and get ready for dinner.

Back at the hotel, we called up the couple that we were meeting for dinner. They are also in Taiwan as they just adopted their son from Cathwel. We confirmed our plans to meet up at Din Tai Fung in the SOGO department store for dinner. The MRT goes right to the store and you don't even have to go outside. While trying to figure out which set of stairs to take to get into the store, I heard my name. "Sarah! Sarah!" Well, there they were! Pretty funny... I never expected anyone to be yelling my name in a subway station in Taipei!

After spending PLENTY of time oohing over the baby, we made our way up into the department store and into the restaurant. I'm going to list what we had with some links so you can see photos:

• sugar pea shoot


• beef and noodle soup (Taiwan is famous for!)


• Kevin had hot and sour soup, his favorite


• a couple kinds of dumplings, but I don't remember what they were. Sorry! My favorite was really juicy inside. Mmmmmm.


• drunken chicken

After dinner we decided to head out to look for some dessert. We poked around the department store and I bought some pineapple cakes and moon cakes to take home with us. Our friends found some of their favorite Japanese gummy candies and gave us a bag. Kevin LOVES gummies, so he's in for a real treat. I was hoping for something traditional, and we found it. We found a place that had shaved ice. We got two kinds. Number one had red beans and gelatin. Number two had black boba (tapioca balls) and sweet potatoes. Both kinds had a syrup pored over the ice that tastes like brown sugar. I'm not a fan of the red beans, but everything else was great. The sweet potatoes were my favorite. I know, sounds strange... sweet potatoes on shaved ice, but the brown sugar syrup makes it work.

After dessert we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. Kevin went to sleep, and I tried to talk via video with my mom and dad, but they kept loosing their internet connection so that didn't work out so well. It took forever to upload all of these photos from today to Flickr, and I haven't' attempted to do anything with the video yet.

Tomorrow we leave on a two day tour, so it may be awhile before I'm online again. Not sure if our hotel in the door will provide internet access.

Good night... from Taipei. Just one more week, and we'll be crazed new parents looking out the window at this.