Ever since I began thinking about taking time off last year, having Alexandra meet my family in Taiwan and Korea was a top priority. We found out during our month home after South America that, during the time we planned to be in Asia, my cousin Claire was getting married. There was no way we were going to miss her wedding, so we revised our itinerary to fly from Bangkok to Taiwan, then back to Thailand.
My earliest memories of traveling are from a trip to Taiwan with my dad when I was a kid, so it's always been a special place to me. I think it was the first time I flew on a plane. I met my 'sisters' and other family for the first time, and wondered why there were so many Chinese people everywhere. It was very different from Vacaville.
Every morning, my dad took me to the same street stall to pick up a bag of xiaolongbao (also known as Shanghai soup dumplings, but I'm not so sure they actually originate solely from Shanghai). Smells of onion and ginger filled the steamy air, and the boss lady shouted orders. Everything was so frantic and busy. It was all quite new and alarming, but I got more and more comfortable each time we went back, and started looking forward to it every morning. They were so good... Waiting for them to cool wasn't an option -- burning my mouth a little was worth it for the perfect bite.
Looking back, that trip influenced me a lot as a kid. It was the first time my eyes (and belly) were truly opened to the rest of the world. I had such a great time hanging out with my sisters, and I remember being sad to leave.
This time was no different. I felt so happy and comfortable being back in Taiwan. It was wonderful to reconnect with family and particularly my sisters, and I'm so grateful that Alexandra was able to meet my family there.
On our first night, my aunt generously treated us to dinner at her Korean restaurant, which she's owned for more than 30 years. We had come from several days of pretty filling Thai meals and breakfast buffets, so I was thinking a couple soups would be perfect with banchan. Somehow, my aunt generously talked us into 4 dishes: spicy stir-fried squid, spicy tofu soup and two types of BBQ beef. It was all super delicious. Afterwards, feeling some I-just-ate-way-too-much guilt, we walked around the neighborhood as my uncle made his way to the restaurant. We bought some excellent fruit at a street stand and caught up a bit with my aunt and uncle after closing hours.
The next day was wedding day! Held at the super nice Grand Hyatt, the venue was decked out with an elevated stage, sparkling decorations, and strobe lights when food service began! Claire and her husband, Mice, were a great looking couple. The slideshows were awesome, and the food was absolutely incredible. Abalone, sea cucumber, huge prawns, fresh fish, etc... I think it was the first meal I've ever had where there was a dessert course for the appetizers, before any of the (TEN!) main courses were served.
My aunt and uncle from Korea (who I hadn't seen in more than 20 years), an aunt living in Taiwan (who I hadn't seen in at least a decade), and an uncle from the States all attended. It was a great day, and everyone needed a nap afterwards. A picstitch of the wedding:
The next day, after all the eating we did on the wedding day, my uncle treated everyone to a buffet of course! It had everything, and we all pigged out again. Beyond the food though, it was the first time we were able to hang out with my sisters and Mice. It was a great day: lots of ice cream, the new X-Men movie, capped with street food snacks at the Shilin night market.
We spent the next afternoon at the National Palace Museum, which houses nearly 700,000 artifacts encompassing over 10,000 years of Chinese history that Chiang Kai-shek evacuated from mainland China. The museum was pretty awesome... The jade artifacts and the "Along the River During the Qingming Festival" painting were particularly impressive.
That night, my sisters treated us to an epic all-you-can-eat spicy "ma-la" hot pot dinner with different cuts of beef from the US and New Zealand, all types of seafood, and HD ice cream!:
The next morning we visited Longshan Temple, where we lit some incense to pay our respects to our grandparents, then walked through the Botanical Gardens to get to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial, which is way bigger and grander than I remembered. That night, we had a nice farewell dinner with family at my aunt's restaurant.
It was such a great, memorable time hanging out with everyone, celebrating Claire and Mice's wedding, experiencing Taiwan's incredible food scene, and sightseeing around the city. Hopefully, it won't take me another 20 years to go back next time!
