On to Taipei

Much like our last trip to Asia, Ryan and I decided we couldn't fly all the way to Hong Kong and not also spend a few days sight seeing in another Asian country, so we flew to Taipei, Taiwan the day after Pau Pau's birthday party.  Copeland "helped" us pack:

We spent a little more time with family before leaving for the airport.  They were headed back to the US:

And then headed to the airport:

Where we bid everyone adieu except...Pau Pau and Mo Ching!  They went with us to Taipei!  I was so, so excited about spending more time with family.  I knew Mo Ching was planning to come with us but she surprised us by bring Pau Pau with her.

The flight to Taipei from Hong Kong is about 1.5 hours and we expected to be there ready to explore no later than 2 pm, but the flight was delayed for a couple hours.  It's probably a good thing because we were cutting it close on boarding time, partly because we spent some time searching for one of our bags that we didn't know Mo Ching took while we were changing Copeland's diaper and partly because we'd had a leisurely lunch with the entire family before heading our separate ways.

The flight was pretty standard, minus being pointedly asked by a flight attendant if everything was okay.  I couldn't figure out why she had singled me out and I'm pretty sure I looked at her like she had three heads.  I later felt bad about looking at her like she had three heads when I figured out Copeland had been repeatedly paging her with the remote.

With the flight delay and the 45 minute taxi ride to the hotel, we didn't get settled in until around dinner time.  Pau Pau and Mo Ching were in another hotel, because the hotels in the metropolitan area where we were staying were very small and they couldn't get into ours, so we decided to part ways and meet up the next day.  We wandered around a bit in search of sustenance and were immediately impressed.  The city was clean and walk-able and everyone was SO nice.  And the sidewalks were sparkly and that pleased me irrationally.  

Everyone in Hong Kong had been telling me how good the food was in Taipei so I was determined to find something for dinner that the city was known for.  Unlike Hong Kong, English speakers are not as prevalent in Taipei and Mandarin is spoken, instead of Cantonese.  In Hong Kong, if I have to I can limp along in Cantonese and make my basic requests known, but I know nothing about Mandarin except how to say thank you (and I'm pretty sure I say it with such a strong accent that it's barely understandable).  As we were wandering around, I was finding it difficult to locate an authentic Taiwanese eatery where we would be able to order easily.  Lo and behold, Mo Chang and Pau Pau were inside a restaurant and saw us wandering around and pulled us inside and ordered for us.  Thank goodness!  So glad Mo Ching can speak Mandarin (as well as Cantonese, English, Portuguese, and Korean)!  She ordered us a noodle dish, which reminded me greatly of PF Chang's dan dan noodles, a cold chicken dish, and a tofu dish.  No pictures - we must have been too stinking tired.

Note: After I finish my blog series about our Hong Kong/Taipei trip I plan to write a question and answer blog as I've received a few questions and realize there are probably many other interesting tidbits I haven't addressed.  Please feel free to comment with any questions about our trip, about Hong Kong,  Taipei, etc. and I'll try to answer them.

Last Day in Hong Kong

Our last full day in Hong Kong...started with noodle bowls.  :)  Just posting these pictures makes me want a noodle bowl...

Then later we rode the top level of a double decker bus across town to have lunch with some family.  Oh my goodness, writing this post so far after the fact makes me miss Hong Kong so much!!!  Even the pictures of Hong Kong streets!  Wahhhhhhh!

That night was my Grandma's 91st birthday party, which is kind of a big deal.  Apparently odd numbered birthdays are more important for women, while even numbered birthdays are more important for men.  I still haven't figured out why.

Unfortunately, the party didn't even begin until 9 pm, so Copeland wasn't able to attend, which also meant Ryan wasn't able to attend.  That was a real bummer but the party was amazing.  We started the party with dessert!  I think the Chinese character cake says long life, but I'm not positive.  There is something about Chinese cakes that I love.  They're more airy and less sweet than what we're used to and the taste is amazing.  They also oftentimes have fruit in them - yum.

It was Wendy's birthday too so there was a cake there for her to cut.

Then we sat down for our EIGHT course meal.  And then after the EIGHT courses, they brought out rice and noodles.  And THEN they brought out two types of dessert!  I got pictures of everything except the rice/noodles and desserts.  I was in a food coma by that point.

Pork

Shrimp

Magical seafood with broccoli

Magical seafood roll-up things

Magical seafood soup

Abalone

Fish

Chicken

Here are some other fun photos of family that night.

Cousin Lok Yan and Aunts Siu Ye and Miu Ye

Tea Ceremony.  Mom had to tell me what to say.

Here is a shot of most of the people there.  Notice how tall everyone is?  I get questions a lot about how can I possibly be half Chinese when I'm so tall (I'm 5'9")?  Well, not all Chinese people are short!  In fact, most of my Chinese family is tall.  It depends on where your family comes from.  In general, northern Chinese are taller than Southern Chinese.  I'm in the back on my tiptoes and you can barely see me!  

Oh man I can't wait to go back.  I think it might be awhile, though, as I think it would be better for Copeland to be a little older.  I am so super thankful that we were able to take this trip, even with the challenges of world travel with a toddler.  I think it will be so cool to show him pictures when he's older.  I hope that someday he can continue to visit family in Hong Kong and make his own fond memories.

Oh, one last thing:  Lindsay asked about the protests and what people had to say.  Really no one talked about it to us at all!  I made mention a couple times but no one really engaged in discussion.  I don't know if that means it isn't as big of a deal to them as it seems to us (kind of like how the Occupy Movement in the US really didn't disrupt a huge portion of cities - at least it didn't disrupt my life at all - but there was so much news coverage) or if it is an even bigger deal and a bit too scary to discuss.   

Russian Roulette Food Fail

On our fourth full day in Hong Kong we decided we wanted dim sum for breakfast.  The restaurant we chose did not have any English speakers and they only provided us a very limited English menu so I decided to play dim sum Russian roulette and order some items off the Chinese menu in addition to our English menu selections.  This was a bad idea.  Luckily, my Mom and two of my aunts were at the hotel when we got back and they took us to a proper dim sum.

Then later that night we had hot pot!  This is where you cook all your meats and veggies in boiling broth, much like fondue.  We had done this last time we were in Hong Kong and didn't want to miss it this time, even though we hadn't been able to join all the dinners during the week.

I will say that it was definitely very different traveling with a toddler than when just Ryan and I went two years ago.  Copeland really was such a good traveler and hardly protested about anything, but still, we really had to plan around nap times, meals/snacks, diaper changes, as well as letting him adjust to the time change.  And in Hong Kong, everything happens late in the day/night and our son (like his father) is an EARLY BIRD.  It may seem like all of my posts are about food...and that kind of is what dominated our time there this year!  In the mornings we would do our little family activities before anyone else was awake, then we would usually meet family for lunch, then usually we would go back for Copeland's nap, and then it was pretty much time for dinner and bedtime!  Even with the various challenges of traveling with a little dude, I was so happy to have been able to share it with him.

A Cross Town CrossFit Voyage

Everyone hold onto their seats.  I have a shocking announcement to make:  Our third full day in Hong Kong did not begin with noodle bowls and 7-11.  We like to shake things up a bit every now and then.  We're crazy like that.

Copeland's milk holster?

We woke up at the crack of dawn to venture across the bay for a 6 am CrossFit workout for Ryan. Please note here that this was for Ryan , as I would never be so crazy to actually work out while on vacation (and at 6 am!).  My vacation goals:  eat, sight see and learn something new, purchase souvenirs.  Anyway, I digress.  The night before the scheduled CrossFit appointment, we had mapped out the subway times and route, we had mapped out the walking route on iPhone maps, and we had planned to arrive a bit early.  Everything was going smoothly.  Copeland was awake and super happy, the subway system was on time and super easy to navigate, and we were right where we needed to be based on iPhone maps.  Except, iPhone maps was wrong.  We thought it quite strange that the CrossFit gym would be in the middle of a park...  Well, after finally using a different map function and harassing a few building security guards we showed up to CrossFit a bit late.  It was actually not super easy to find because the entry to the building was about halfway down a little alleyway and the building itself is not that big.  The gym was on the 10th or 11th floor and it took up the entire floor.  Once the elevator doors open, you walk right into the workout area, which only seemed big enough for 4 people.  There were already 3 people there working out and the manager was super understanding about our adventures.  Of the 4 people in that class, only one was Asian and only Ryan was not currently living in Hong Kong.  I don't why I thought that was interesting or why I needed to share, but there you go.

Copeland messed around with weights while Ryan was working out.

I think he looks like a CrossFiter here

He quickly got bored with that and wanted to join in on the action.  That would be incredibly dangerous so we had to exit the building and find somewhere to hang out.  That is not easy at 6:30 am in Hong Kong.  As I've mentioned before, I couldn't even find a Starbucks open at that time but, I could find a Burger King!  So we went to Burger King and I ordered some breakfast for Copeland.  I found it interesting that all the breakfast sandwiches had ketchup and mayonnaise on them.  It was quite tasty.  I mean, that's what Copeland told me anyway.

After CrossFit we had noodle bowls.  :)

We also did a little shopping:

Later that day I got to go with my Mom and Grandma to get a Chinese acupuncture massage.  I did not receive any acupuncture and the massage did not feel like he was poking at acupuncture spots, but that is just what they called it and it is supposed to be very healing.  First we had dim sum:

And then we went to our massages.  It started with an herbal foot soak and then foot reflexology.  The first thing he said to me when he touched me was "Oh, you must suffer from a lot of back pain."  And I do!  I had actually just been to the doctor and chiropractor in the weeks before the trip and am still going to the chiropractor and physical therapist.  At one point during the foot reflexology, my head started tingling and I asked him what part of the body that part of my foot was associated with.  You guessed it:  my head.  I think that sort of natural healing and the ability to be that in tune with the human body is amazing!  After my foot reflexology, I had another couple hours of massage.  About an hour for my backside and an hour for my front.  During this time he told me his observations and the craziest thing is...they were all spot-on.  Every single thing he told me was unprompted by me and was an issue that I have always dealt with (weak respiratory system being one...what other massage therapist would know this about you after just one massage?)  I swear I did not tell him anything beforehand or during and his observations were not canned responses because he found different things on my Mom and Pau Pau.  He really was just that knowledgeable of the human body.  Such a cool experience.

While I was gone Copeland and Ryan were doing this:

Later that night our nuclear family had dinner right across the street from our hotel and Ryan finally got to have some duck.  He loves duck and I don't so much, except for some reason I like the duck we get in Hong Kong.

Also later that night, Copeland stole my soy milk.  This resulted in more 7-11 visits to quench our thirst for delicious VitaSoy.

Hong Kong trip continued

I have to get something off my chest:  I sweat.  I don't glow or perspire or sparkle.  I sweat like a hairy lumberjack in Florida during August.  So, imagine my chagrin when I used the last of my deodorant the morning we left for Hong Kong.  You might ask how could I not know I was out? Well, we are Costco shoppers and always have excess toiletries, rice, air fresheners, etc. on hand and I was sure that I had extra deodorant.  I was wrong.  And I was getting ready to travel across the world to an extremely humid and slightly warm environment.  Once we landed one of my first order s of business was to find deodorant.  Mom was convinced that I couldn't find any suitable deodorant in Hong Kong because "Chinese women don't sweat like that" but alas, I found Rexona.  Pish Posh "Chinese women don't sweat like that".  Hmpf.   

Rexona is amazing!  For all my gal friends out there that are sweaty like I am and are super picky about deodorant (I know you're out there), give Rexona a try!  I haven't seen it in the US before but upon further investigation I found out this is a Unilever product and allegedly sells under the brand names Degree and Sure.  I've used both of those before and don't recall loving them as much as Rexona but perhaps I need to give it another try.  Anyway, thank you for your rapt attention about my incredibly appealing tidbit of personal information.  And also, sorry.  Ryan is such a lucky guy, don't you think?

Ok, on to more pertinent stories about Hong Kong.  (Although I might argue that a quest for personal care items when you're halfway across the world is pertinent.)

Our second full day in Hong Kong predictably started with noodle bowls and 7-11.  Ryan's meal came with some fish, which Copeland ate most of.  And I ordered buns covered in butter and condensed milk.  Why don't I used condensed milk more?  This is the same question I asked myself the last time we were in Asia.  

I liked seeing Chinese names on the Coke bottles

Later, we had Korean food for lunch.  It was delicious!!!  I need to have more Korean food in my life. I used to go out for Korean food with a college friend and always loved it but I never paid attention to what he ordered so never knew how to order for myself.  Now I do!  We did Korean BBQ where they bring out several meats that you put over the hot grill yourself.  My cousin also ordered several other dishes and each meal comes with a bunch of little appetizers.

Pork, beef tongue, sauces, and various appetizers

The veggies were wrapped up in the rare beef and we dipped them in a sauce.  Delish!

This is raw beef.  I am usually slightly picky about meat but this was my FAVORITE dish!

Because Copeland does this in restaurants:

Ryan and Cole played with him for awhile in an out of the way section of the restaurant:

After lunch, we headed to a street market for some souvenir shopping.  On the way we saw one of the protest encampments:

We didn't shop for too long because we needed to get back to the hotel for Copeland to nap.  He loved the subway because air rushes through it when you're moving and he thought that was so funny.

His nap, which started at about 2-3 pm, lasted until the next morning.  Yikes!  Tired kid!  So we missed another family dinner and instead had some disappointing room service.