A WOK on the BRIGHT SIDE

CARE PACKAGE FROM HOME. It may have taken nearly 2 months to get...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 02:02:22 -0400

CARE PACKAGE FROM HOME. It may have taken nearly 2 months to get to Taiwan, but man was the wait worth it! We recieved the greatest gift from our family in Parry Sound - a box full of treats from home! With everything from maple cookies, energy drinks, hot chocholate, maple syrup, oh and did I say KRAFT DINNER?! Thank you, thank you, thank you - Laurie, Andrew, Drew & Mikayla!

LAST NIGHT. We intended on making out to the night market in...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:31:54 -0400

LAST NIGHT. We intended on making out to the night market in Taipei, but after a long hot day at the zoo and a trip to Taipei 101 we were all feeling pretty burnt out. We enjoyed our last night together in our hotel with a nice foot soak in our hot spring bath, some cold beers and McDonald’s dinner (Mom wanted to know what it tasted like in another country).

The hardest part was having to say goodbye and watching you leave. It was the greatest trip and experience ever and I will forever cherish these memories. Thank you Mom & Mummu for taking the extremely long and expensive trip to Taiwan to visit us and to share a piece of our new life here. I will forever be grateful for this experience. I love you both! x0x0x.

TAIPEI 101. To finish off a great afternoon and our last day in...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 01:24:37 -0400

TAIPEI 101. To finish off a great afternoon and our last day in Taipei, we took the trip to Taipei 101. Standing at 508m tall, Taipei 101 is the 2nd tallest building in the world and contains the Guiness World Record’s fastest elevator which can travel 1010 m/min. To help protect the building from the elements, Taipei 101 also has the largest passive tuned mass damper in the world (seen in the bottom photo).

GONDOLA RIDE. We left the zoo by taking the gondola, which is...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 02:05:13 -0400

GONDOLA RIDE. We left the zoo by taking the gondola, which is operated by the Taipei Metro. It was an incredible view of the mountains, the zoo and the surrounding city. We could even see Taipei 101! Though we were all really excited about this experience, Mummu was a little apprehensive. She made it though and was a trooper the whole time.

MY FAVOURITE MOMENT… Looking into the eyes of a gorilla....

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 01:51:00 -0400

MY FAVOURITE MOMENT… Looking into the eyes of a gorilla. I’ll never forget this.

TAIPEI ZOO.

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 01:44:00 -0400

TAIPEI ZOO.

HOT. HOT. HOT. After a great afternoon we went out for a nice...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 01:37:23 -0400

HOT. HOT. HOT. After a great afternoon we went out for a nice dinner. All so burnt out, we just took a little walk past our hotel. Mom got to indulge in hot plate for the first time and I had an incredible coconut milk & lemon grass hot pot.

MILLENIUM HOT SPRINGS. For $40 NT/each we got to soak in pure...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 01:16:11 -0400

MILLENIUM HOT SPRINGS. For $40 NT/each we got to soak in pure heaven for the afternoon. Our first hot spring!

CHYUAN DU HOT SPRING RESORT. Once we arrived in Taipei and...

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 01:10:00 -0400

CHYUAN DU HOT SPRING RESORT. Once we arrived in Taipei and mastered their Metro system, we checked into our hotel and enjoyed a couple cold beers (what else is new). We stayed at a great hotel only minutes walk from the hot springs. We even had a hot spring right in our very own bathroom.

DAY EIGHT - CHEERS KAOHSIUNG. HELLO TAIPEI. So long Kaohsiung....

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:34:38 -0400

DAY EIGHT - CHEERS KAOHSIUNG. HELLO TAIPEI. So long Kaohsiung. We had a great time in our home city and the surrounding areas, but everthing good must come to an end. It was time we venture off to the big city of Taipei for the weekend. We had originally planned to head up to Hualien for the weekend and experience Taroko Gorge for the first time, but unfortunately for us it was also Dragon Boat Festival, so all trains were booked for the weekend.

Here was are having a final toast to Kaohsiung as we prepare to board the HSR (High Speed Rail) to Taipei.

AMITABHA BUDDHA. Here we have the 36m statue that made our...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:26:47 -0400

AMITABHA BUDDHA. Here we have the 36m statue that made our mouths drop it was so large. Such a beautiful sight!

DAY SEVEN - FO GUAN SHAN. This 52-acre temple complex is about a...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:16:00 -0400

DAY SEVEN - FO GUAN SHAN. This 52-acre temple complex is about a 30-minute drive from Kaohsiung. The complex serves as a monastery, university and meditation centre. It’s considered the centre of Buddhism in southern Taiwan. The most famous feature here is the Great Buddha Land, where a towering 36m Amitabha Buddha stands over a garden of 480 smaller Buddha statues.

FORMOSA BOULEVARD DOME OF LIGHT. Made by Italian glass artist...

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 02:00:00 -0400

FORMOSA BOULEVARD DOME OF LIGHT. Made by Italian glass artist Narcissus Quagliata, this MRT station in Kaohsiung is truly a work of art and worth putting on your to-do list. We specifically hit the rails just so we could get down there to see it. We then ventured off into the pouring rain to hit up the Liouhe Night Market to find some souveneirs for our visitors to return home with.

DAY SIX: TUNTEX SKY TOWER - 85 BUILDING. The 85 Building was the...

Mon, 09 Jul 2012 23:01:00 -0400

DAY SIX: TUNTEX SKY TOWER - 85 BUILDING. The 85 Building was the tallest building in Taiwan before Taipei 101 was built in the capital. The building was designed with a look inspired by the chinese character meaning “tall.” For $150 NT we took a trip up to the 75th floor viewing deck to take in the Kaohsiung sights. Though it was a cloudy day, we had a great view and enjoyed this awesome experience!

AND THEN WE BOWL. So as if our day hadn’t been jam-packed...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 03:08:21 -0400

AND THEN WE BOWL. So as if our day hadn’t been jam-packed enough, we went to the bowling lanes down the street after dinner for some good fun and cheap beer.

We were joined by our friends Lucy, Simon, Katie & Ed and we had a blast. I’m pretty sure we even closed the place down!

For someone who hasn’t bowled in YEARS, my Mom did pretty awesome. She managed to get a couple spares and I tried so hard to catch them on camera. Instead, I captured a few more commical moments.

Here Mom goes to through the ball and chickens out. Such a good laugh! :)

NOTHIN’ LIKE MOM’S HOME COOKING. So after a great...

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 02:57:02 -0400

NOTHIN’ LIKE MOM’S HOME COOKING. So after a great afternoon at Lotus Pond, a souveneir hunt, lunch at Sushi Express and a trip to Costco (which was on Mom’s bucket list for Taiwan), we headed home to start making dinner.

This dinner was the result of a well thought out plan! Everytime we would come home to Sudbury from Ottawa, we always ask my Mom to make her incredible scalloped potatos and cesar salad with her own dressing. Just because she’s coming to visit us around the world, why would it be any different?! I even made her bring ground mustard powder from home for the dressing because I doubted that we would find it here.

So together, we opened a bottle of wine, cut up the potatos, boiled the eggs (I was actually deemed the “kitchen b****” for the evening) and we made this beautiful meal…

We even had to borrow a counter-top oven from friends of ours as apartments in Taiwan don’t come equipped with an oven. That just goes to show how thought out this dinner actually was!

We invited our friends Simon & Lucy to join us and we had a lovely evening. Nothing beats a home-cooked meal… Just like Mom makes it!

DAY FIVE - LOTUS POND. I’m pretty certain that we kept the...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:39:36 -0400

DAY FIVE - LOTUS POND. I’m pretty certain that we kept the rain away just by wearing our rain ponchos the entire morning. Though the locals thought we were certified nuts, we think that it worked, and they looked kinda cute in photos too. We went down to lotus pond, checked out the pagodas and temples, fed the koi fish, purchased souveneirs and took many photos.

Feeding the koi fish lead to a turn of events, seeing as I dropped my iPhone in the pond while taking photos. The sad part is I bought a wrist strap for my phone just days before Mom & Mummu’s arrival and happened to leave it at home this morning. Oh well, the fish are swimming with a top of the line phone now and I sure hope that they appreciate it. Oh, and I’m currently accepting donations for the “Ashley’s New Phone Fund.” JUST KIDDING :)

ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH.

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:19:51 -0400

ONE FISH, TWO FISH, RED FISH, BLUE FISH.

ONE BIG FISH. In the final large aquarium, we got to see a...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:09:57 -0400

ONE BIG FISH. In the final large aquarium, we got to see a variety of fish - some active and some not so much. We also got to see the largest of them all, a whale.

STING RAYS. The museum has three different tunnels that walk you...

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 05:01:34 -0400

STING RAYS. The museum has three different tunnels that walk you actually through the aquariums. This allowed us to get up close and personal with a variety of the fish. Here we see the sting ray, gracefully swimming through the water. You can even here my Mom say it looks like a bat.