Easter in Taiwan

We spent 5 days over the Easter break in Taiwan with Lin and RY. It was a short trip packed with tons of activities. Here's Sophie getting ready for yet another adventure overseas :)

Curious on the plane

On our 1st night, we headed to the industrial town of Hsin Chu where we sampled the taiwanese version of our yong tao fu. Basically different variety of fish cakes covered with yummy sauce.

Sampling different varieties of local food

Annie and George were our host for 2 days..they along with their lovely doggy "oo loong", drove us to Sun Moon Lake where we had afternoon tea at the lovely Lalu Hotel, a 5 star establishment with beautiful views of the lake. We also pampered ourselves with a spa session, lin and RY kindly watched the little bean while we melted under the experienced hands of the taiwanese masseuse. :)

Oo loong posing as Taiwan's mascot/ambassador

Jin with Sun Moon Lake in the background

Afternoon tea at Lalu Hotel

Day 3 saw us having a go at the famous taiwan xiao long bao. Personally I feel that the din tai fung in spore serves good enuff xiao long baos ;). In the late afternoon, we arrived at Lugang - an old quarter with a street market winding through conservation shops and homes. we had traditional ice desserts and fried oysters with egg (oh chien).

Sophie : What the?! Mummee help!

What's this? more bubble tea? RY and Jin had like 3 cups a day!

We set off to Yang Ming Shan(YMS), the famed national park, on Day 4, hoping to see some cherry blossoms and flower gardens. We found out upon arrival that the flower season ended like 2 weeks ago. :( We attempted to head up the mountain to see some calla lilies in action but the rain came and we had to seek shelter at some uncle's home midway up the mountain. It was so cold and windy!

Taking shelter from the rain and checking out the views

With bad weather not looking to end anytime soon, we made the decision to head back down the mountain. It was after lunch at Shihlin that Lin realised she lost her phone. We found out that her phone was left on the bus coming down from YMS - we decided to split , Lin and RY went back up the mountain to retrieve the lost phone and we headed to meet Annie at the electronics shops.

Check out jin and RY drooling over the food and how Jin gets rewarded and the expression on RY's face is classic ..lol

That evening, we walked Xin Men Ti , a bustling area filled with young fashion and hippie shops. There, we tried the famous ah chung oyster mee suah - it was really good. Although stuffed, we still ventured ahead for hot pot dinner - thus making ourselves mega stuffed. We walked the Shihlin street market after dinner and could not even look at the variety of food on display. Exhausted as we have been walking the whole day, we headed back to the massage place next to our hotel for a foot massage with sophie on my lap :)

At the busy cross streets of Xin Men Ti

Getting some of the yummy Taiwanese fried chicken

This shop serves really really good mee suah!

RY cracks me up over his food obsession :)

Sophie on her dinky chair as the shop's baby chair was gross!

Day 5 saw us skipping the lure of the museums. We decided to take it easy on our last day - we had a leisure breakfast at a local tawainese 'you char' and soya bean place just 5 minutes from Yomi hotel where we were staying.

Super long yu char

Bean having a quiet moment with daddy at the hotel lobby

Then we went to check out the tallest building in Asia, Taipei 101. It was filled with shops just like the ones at Orchard road. We met up with my taiwanese colleagues and they hosted us to a lovely lunch at 1010 chinese restaurant located at Eslite bookstore building.

Taipei 101 in the background

Bean slept the whole flight home..I think we were just tired out from the 5 short days..hopefully the next Taiwan trip will be longer :). Funny video of bean trying suan mei ice cream :D