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

Jin and his Bar Bee Q and bean turned 9 months!

For months Jin has been bugging me about doing either a steamboat or BBQ dinner at our place. i think he got tired of pestering me to organise and took matters into his own hands. He invited RY, lin, li mei and karen, went to Giant at turfcity to get the grill and charcoal, hopped over to Meat the Butcher and bought his $60 BBQ package.

We all thought that the package (pre marinated) was pretty good value for $ - sausages, pork chops, lamb, beef, chicken - 6 pieces of each. We bought otah from Ghim Moh market as an additional dish. We ate till we were stuffed and there were still leftovers.

Check out the food and company!

The Cooker with his "cookees"

The lamb and otah getting ready to be eaten :)

The "feast"

I am the glutton next to Karen..check out her tiny morsel compared to my huge sausage :D

When RY piles on the ketchup, you know he is preparing to EAT!

It was a good night of fun..made more memorable that the grill burned our patio table ..hehehee

More important highlights - Sophie's 9 months!! as Adora puts it, she has been out of my tummy longer than she has been inside. At 39 weeks, our little beansprout can now sit on her own, has 6 teeth and weights 9 kgs. It tickles me to see her sitting up on her bed playing with her toys at 5am in the morning..lol.

Potty time!

Play time!

Such a sweet smile..*meltz*

Play time with daddy

Hello Blue Whale , swim buddy..

Sigh, must she chomp on Patrick ? :(

Yay..i am going to be an Ah Yee again :)

My sis called when we were in Bkk over the weekend and broke the good news! baby will come in Sept - how exciting! She mentioned that I should get pregnant too..is she kidding? Here's are 5 reasons why I should not be preggy now...

1) I am only sleeping an average of 6 hours daily. This is despite sophie being in bed by 8pm till 730am everyday. with a new baby, can I function with only 4 hours of sleep?

2) I have just lost all my pre preggie weight and i like slipping into my old clothes again

3) I enjoy my daily coffee and diet coke too much - I need my caffeine fix!

4) I have not read a book in ages or watched all the Oscar movies - I want to!

5) I have not gone to the gym or joined an exercise class or picked up golf again - I need to!

The above 5 reasons seemed highly self centered but I always believe that by having a baby, you do not lose your identity..there should be some ME left in me. but ok ok, to make me a bit more noble..why I should not be preggy now? bcos I like enjoying the one on one time I get with sophie bean..just the two of us :)

She's turning 8 months next week. There's something new about her every week. This week, she started lifting up her arms to be carried. She makes jin and me laugh as we talk about her before we sleep at night. mostly about her antics and funny behaviour..like how she is now so sticky to me , that even in her most distressed mode, just seeing me makes her face all light up again. and how she wails after every meal (whether or not she's stuffed) and how promptly stuffing her thumb into her mouth gives her the comfort she seeks.

20/5 posting - yay, ryan is going to have a little brother :)

Kong Kong and Po Po's 90th bday!

It's wonderful to see two old people still having so much zest for life...my grandparents were turning 90 and they wanted a partee! To join in the celebrations, we took half a day off work and sophie took half a day off from the sitter's and we drove logan back to KL. Traffic was wonderfully clear and the bean and her mummy slept most of the way.

Dinner was held at Ming's room @ Bangsar Shopping Centre. It was wonderful seeing Uncle KY along with dave and pete, visiting from UK. Kong kong gave a short speech after blowing out his candles and i have to say : he really has a good memory - being able to tell stories of himself when he was 8 years old!

scenes from the party :)

CNY in Spore

Lo Hei and more lo hei..

We had an office team lunch at Crystal Jade - also to celebrate Adel's bday. Baby Jada joined us..she's a super cute 3 mth old :)..this was also Mark's farewell lo hei session - he went back to Aust and I am officially cube-mate less :(

We spent the whole saturday afternoon visiting Mad and Ah Loi's new homes. Sophie was the only baby at this party but I have a strong feeling next year this time, she will have other baby friends :)

Jin was a great help this weekend..he basically entertained and watched little bean while her mummy spent close to 3 hours preparing all her "snacks" for the coming week. We met up with Yen Ling and Eddie for dinner at Old Town White Coffee (yummy nasi rendang!) and happy to find out that YL is 4 mths preggy..cool whiz!

Daddy takes Sophie for swims to keep her occupied

7 months old bean

The many faces of sophie bean (in a span of 1 minute)..

..but usually more of a happy bean :)

When one stops keeping count of how many weeks old their baby is, that when one realises that the little one is growing up fast! Sophie turned 7 months old 3 days ago..and guess what? Adora had to remind me :P

Her recent achievements :

- being able to sit up straight unsupported, being able to lift herself up from her 90 degrees yoga pose. This also means that she dislikes lying down to play..she struggles to get up by doing mini stomach crunches :)

..every toy goes into her mouth..there's no escape!

Bean - the future musician?

- responding to our voices - she got super excited when she saw and heard me at the door when I picked her up from the babysitter's place this evening. I truly believe that if she had wings, she would have flown to my arms :)..instead, I was greeted with squeals of happiness,,,def made me forget the frustration I felt being stuck in traffic for 30 minutes just trying to reach her from work today.

- wolfing down two semi-solid meals each day. She now gets to eat avocados, sweet potatoes, carrots, apple puree. I think she likes sweet potatoes best. I take that back - her mummy's milk is still her absolute favourite :)..she gulps down 180ml - 4 times day.

- Pooing in her potty at the babysitter's. (only bcos her parents have not bought her a potty for her home :p). it's quite funny how she just would not poo at her Po Po's place during CNY despite 4 attempts (how to when so many eyes staring at her? :p ) but she poos everyday at the sitter's...hmmm

- doing her funny face ,..I have NO idea when this started BUT it happens like several times a day..it's like she's grumbling..it's really funny to watch..we call it her "ugly face" :)

yes, the little bean is growing up too fast..and I have another 7 days of work to endure b4 I get to spend more time watching her grow :)..la di daaa