So I guess you could say I traveled a decent amount last month.
Between February 5th to February 21st, I traveled to Taiwan and Hawaii for a week each. I’ve been to both before, but it’s a different experience every time. Things are way different on the other side of the world.
Here’s my story of Taiwan through photographs.
Here we are (or I guess in this picture, just my dad) at Reagan National Airport (DCI). Since it’s an international flight, we had to arrive here 2 hours prior to boarding. We left the house around 5am, and boarding was at 9. It might be 7am in the picture on Thursday, February 5, 2015.
At the Admirals Club in DCA, waiting to board the flight. They had so much food, it was wonderful.
We flew to Boston first, which is about 2-3 hours away. Here are my delicious airline pretzels. This plane was about an hour late, and our layover in Boston was only an hour. Let’s just say that there was lots of screaming/yelling and that they were about to close the gate on us. We made it, though.
I got to be able to sit in bulkhead seating on our 14 hour flight to Narita Airport, which was nice. Lots of room for my footsies! And yes, I did play their on-flight Street Fighter II. And no, the airplane controller did not work well with the game. I lost all my fights. Yes, I played as Chun-Li.
We took Japan Airlines (JAL) to Narita Airport in Japan. I believe the plane we sat in was a 787, and they had these cool dimming switches for your windows instead of a pulldown screen.
You besta believe I played this on the plane too. And yes, the controls were still shitty.
Good morning! Here’s the view from above the clouds. This must’ve been about 10 hours into the flight.
Above is the airline food. Sometimes it was a hit or a miss, but mostly miss.
Let me tell you, this was definitely a hit.
We’re almost there!! Eek!
I found the cutest Totoro stuffed animal during our Layover in Narita.
That also happened at Narita. Multiple times.
We landed in Taiwan after our ~3 hour flight from Narita to the airport here.
Here’s our hotel we stayed at in Danshui, Taiwan.
Yes, the first thing we had when we landed was bubble tea. Nothing more, nothing less. (And aren’t those tiny bubbles sooooo cute!!!!) This was all thanks to our lovely cousins.
The second thing we had was this beef noodle soup. It’s so different when you buy food like this, everything comes separately when you get it to go, and they’re all in these little plastic bags – even the broth. Nonetheless, it was very authentic and tasty. Wish you could get something like that here in NoVA.
First morning in Taiwan! #iwokeuplikedis
After getting ready… #iwishiwokeuplikedis
We had some breakfast before heading out for the day for a little adventure. Above: scrambled eggs, half a salted duck egg, sausages, and bacon.
Off to exploring! We just walked around the city for a little bit.
I don’t know if you’ve ever had these lil’ suckers but they are my favorite kind of dessert! They’re called Hong-Kong egg tarts, and they sell them in a lot of dessert shops in Taiwan. They actually sell them at KFC too (that’s how popular of a dessert they are!) and the one’s from there are little slices of heaven. Just imagine your favorite warm dessert, fresh out of the oven. Keep imagining…
Okay you can stop drooling now.
Sorry to disturb your scrolling, but isn’t this a strange picture? Look at these dudes just swingin away.
I’ve been…catched. :'(
At the fruit market.
We went from the fruit market, to an all purpose local day market. This place sold EVERYTHING. In this picture, here’s some underwear and socks.
Oh look! Some jewelry!
Here we can see some eggs, some spices maybe, and beans.
Here’s some seafood-y things? I’m not quite sure.
Balls (no, not those kind of balls you weirdo). I think they’re meatballs, or fish balls, or some other kind of seafood ball.
Balls (yes, those kind of balls you weirdo) and a heart(s?). I don’t think this guy was too amused when I took the picture.
I believe these ladies are making some kind of filling (ex. wontons) or something? I’m not exactly sure.
A serious variety of meats!
This guy was such a good sport. I would buy from him (just look at how happy he is!)
You can also buy cooked foods from this place too. I think this is pork belly.
Generic food. I believe we left a little after this picture was taken.
Some food on the street being cooked.
I don’t know why he was giving me this look.
Yes, we bought these. Yes, they tasted…exactly what the would taste like. Cheeseburger.
Yes, I also bought Mr. Brown’s coffee.
So the main reason why we came here was because my cousin was getting married! There were about 450-500 people there. Here are some pictures from the event:
Yes, this is some straight outta mario kart shit. She was the “flower girl”.
My cousin’s wife. She was beautiful and her dress(es) was amazing!
My sister and Ella <3
There was a photobooth there, so naturally I took a picture with my cousin (left), and my sister (middle). Overall, the wedding was amazing and i’m so grateful that I had the chance to be a part of it!
After the wedding, we hit up the night market. This night market was a little small compared to the other ones, but it was still cool to visit. I didn’t get many pictures since I got a video of it all (that i’ll post later).
We did get a little snack, and it was this potato concoction with all sorts of toppings (they are buried under this cheez whiz layer). It was interesting. After that, we got another snack (hehe) and went to this side of the street small restaurant place (below).
They sold dumplings (different kinds), fried dough sticks (most people eat it/dip it with soybean milk), and scallion pancakes.
We only stayed in Danshui for I think about 3 days total, the rest of the trip we went and stayed at Humble House in Taipei (the capital of Taiwan).
We were packing up to move to Taipei, so here’s me lookin like a doofus.
Arrived! This place was wonderful to stay at. I think my favorite part about it was probably the concierge always rushing to hit the elevator button as soon as they saw you coming – then the elevator door would be open by the time you walked there!
Some art on the first floor of the hotel.
We lived right next to the mall!
And another mall.
Naturally, we visited the mall since it was early evening by the time we arrived in Taipei. We got some yummy mall food, then a crepe for dessert!
After eating, we just walked around the mall to look at things. I thought these were so cute, I got one for Andy!
Fish cake cone (doesn’t taste like fish) ice cream!
Me and my cousins went by the eye-glasses store. This is what we ended up doing on our visit.
Sad egg I saw at the mall.
Does (…clothing…) size matter?
More dumpy eggs.
After the trip to the mall, we went to go have dinner at this hot pot place (if you’ve ever been to HotSpot in Fairfax – that’s what it’s like (but x1000 better).
Half of it was spicy, half mild. My glasses fogged up so much when taking this picture (I think my camera lens did too).
And this is how we all felt after dinner. Exactly like Ella.
The next day, we went to go see my grandma, picked her up, and went to a temple in the mountains to visit my grandfather’s plaque and burn incense. Following are the journey there:
My outfit of the day #ootd. Don’t mind my brother in the back there.
Here’s Taipei 101. We were about 2 miles away, isn’t that neat-o?
Here’s Ella during the car ride. 3 pictures of her because I love her and she is the sweetest. <3
We picked up my grandmother and off we went to the temple. I didn’t get many pictures of the way there besides some of the shore and a small beach, but those weren’t that interesting.
Here’s a view from the top of the temple. I couldn’t get too many pictures of the inside though, because it’s considered disrespectful.
Here’s where you put the burning incense after you’re done with it.
Again, because I love her and she is my favorite <3
Was having a little bit of fun outside the temple :)
After the temple, we visited an alleyway full of little shops on either side (I think mostly of food). I’m on the very right with my grandma to my left.
After the market, we went back to my grandmother’s house for a little bit.
I think the only picture I got there was of my brother in law’s (Jon) humungo white dude feet in a little old chinese lady’s slippers.
THIS PICTURE. When I have a corgi, we’re going to look just like these two.
Later that night, we went to go have a dim sum dinner with all my cousins/aunts/uncles. No pictures, but it was yummy. The next day I believe we just walked around a little more and got lunch at the famous Din Tai Fung in Taipei.
I think if I could have to whole day and unlimited monies, I would sit here and eat these all day, one day. Serious. They are that yummy.
After the Din Tai Fung, we shopped around for a little bit in the Taipei 101 mall. This place was like Tysons Galleria (x1000).
We were walking back from the mall and there was a grand opening of an H&M (their first store in Taiwan), so there was a big show with lots of models and early access shopping for them.
It must’ve been around 5 or 6pm around that time. We went back to the hotel, freshened up, and went around to try to get food. Since we had just eaten (kinda), we didn’t go back out till 10pm to look for someplace to get dinner. Surprisingly (you’d think the capital of Taiwan would have late night restaurants), a lot of places were closed but we found something to eat nearby. Some places we stopped by:
Ireland’s proverb says:
“There are two things in the world that can’t be joked:
1) marriage
2) potato”
Agreed.
We got a donut each at the Krispy Kreme, and Ella got this hat. I think everything played out very well.
This was our last night in Taiwan. We started walking back to the hotel after grabbing a bite to eat when suddenly…
Was walking along that crosswalk when a bunch of cheerleaders ran into the middle of it and busted out in dance (music out of nowhere started right on queue too).
Overall, I am so happy that we went. I love being able to see my extended family, especially because they live in Taiwan, and our immediate family lives in NoVA. Aside from that, learning about the cultural differences and trying out the various kinds of foods also make the trip worth while (plus, my chinese improves since I HAVE to use it to communicate!). Can’t wait to come back!
My next post should be about Hawaii! It’ll be flooded with just as many pictures (maybe more) as this one. Stay tuuuuuuuned and see you then! :)
Sarah in NoVA 