Taiwan revisited

Last January's visit to Taiwan was not our most successful Asian adventure.  We missed out on three major tourist attractions:  the National Palace Museum, the Juming Museum, and Taiwan's famous cuisine.  However, Taipei is very close to Hong Kong, and a reasonable Cathay Pacific weekend special made it an affordable getaway in mid September.  Taipei is a sprawling city, not especially lovely, and not as prosperous-looking as Shanghai, Singapore, or Hong Kong.  There is only one very tall skyscraper, Taipei 101, which you can see from far away as long as the air is clear.
Our flight arrived late Friday night.  Jeff had done his homework - he had verified which airport bus would get us close to our hotel, Les Suites Taipei Ching-Cheng.  A very nice English-speaking woman checked her "tablet" (iPad), and wrote the name and address of our hotel in Chinese on a piece of paper so that we might show it to a taxi driver.  Good thing - taxi drivers do not speak much English!
Our boutique hotel was a treat.  Quiet and comfortable with impeccable service!  When our taxi pulled up to the hotel at 11 p.m., the concierge greeted us with "Welcome Mr. and Mrs. Biteen".  Put us at ease right away.

We fortified ourselves with an excellent breakfast.  Love the passion fruit display!

Hoping to avoid some of the crowds, we arrived at the National Palace Museum at 9 a.m.  Jeff and I are always surprised at the low admission prices (especially for seniors!) at attractions in Asia.  This museum was no exception: the equivalent of $5.30CDN to see all the treasures of China!  Compare that to the exorbitant prices at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto (oops, I just checked the ROM's website and they've actually lowered their general admission from $24 to $15, but that's still three times the price of the NPM!).  The NPM is laid out very well, and visitors are directed to follow a certain path, which keeps the crowds flowing.  By 9:30, the exhibits were packed, but as we moved on to different floors, the crowds thinned, and we leisurely took our time checking out the most beautiful relics that Chiang Kai-Shek brought with him to Taiwan in 1949.  Speaking of CK-S, mainland China claims that he stole the collection, while CK-S claimed he was taking the collection to a safe place.  I truly wonder what would have become of all of this had it remained in China during the Cultural Revolution.  When we were in Beijing, we saw the empty Ming tombs - angry mobs destroyed all the treasures and the remains of the emperor during the Cultural Revolution.  Who's to say they would have preserved what lay within the rooms of the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and mansions of the lesser princes?

But I digress ...  Not sure if I've ever had the stamina to roam through a museum for more than an hour before, but we spent almost three hours admiring porcelain, jade, calligraphy, furniture, snuff bottles, etc. from ancient times through the end of the Qing dynasty.  No photos allowed, but I took these on my iPhone, and would have snuck more if a guard hadn't yelled at me (yes, he was right).  We were pleasantly surprised that the English translation on all of the displays was perfect!
Tucked away on the 4th floor is a charming teahouse, where we had a delicious lunch.  Unlike the museum itself, the restaurant was not crowded, perhaps because most of the visitors were on group tours, with lunch served elsewhere.

We spent the afternoon touring various monuments in the city, easily getting around by subway.  Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall reminded me of the Lincoln and Jefferson monuments in Washington, but the steps are roped off, and no one is allowed a close look at the statue within!  The National Theatre and Concert Hall are situated on opposite sides of the same vast plaza as the CK-S memorial.  Then it was off to Longshan Temple, the most important Buddhist temple in Taiwan.  We ate our smoothies and were content to sit in the shade and people-watch.

You're probably wondering why I have not included more photos (some of the above were copied from internet websites, the others are from my iPhone).  Well, I have to admit that later that evening, as I was waiting for Jeff to fetch us a couple of cold drinks in the night market, I accidentally deleted all of my photos!  Yes, I know it happens to many of us, but from now on, I will be much more careful!

Speaking of the night market, Jeff and I got there around 9 p.m. - way past our normal dinner hour.  We wandered through the narrow lanes, which were becoming more and more crowded as the night wore on.  By 10 p.m. we could hardly push our way along, and the line-ups for the disappointing street food were 20-30 deep.  We finally found an open area with tables, and sat down to try the famous beef noodle soup (camera back in action).  It was awful!  In the photo Jeff is eating an over-fried piece of breaded chicken (well, we think it was chicken ...).  As we were leaving the market close to 11 p.m., young people began to unroll their wares right in the middle of the traffic-free streets.  Lots of cheap shoes and clothing.  We were not enticed.

The next morning, we set out for the Juming Museum.  Ju Ming is a world-famous sculptor, whose works are installed all over the world.  His museum is located about 40 km north of Taipei.  We had a typical Dale-and-Jeff adventure getting to the museum.  Blind faith gets us through most of our travels! First, our concierge directed a taxi driver to take us to a bus station.  At the station, we finally found the Keelung bus and made ourselves comfortable.  There are very few super highways in Taiwan, so after half an hour, the bus left the expressway and wound its way through unattractive towns and dusty roads.  The trip took about 1 1/2 hours.  By the time we reached Jinshan, we had already decided to splurge on a taxi back to Taipei after the museum visit.  We alighted from the bus, crossed the street, and luckily found the free shuttle bus to the museum (kindness of strangers ...).    The journey was very much worth it - this museum was a delight!

The museum includes a number of pavilions, but most of the sculptures are in a huge, sprawling outdoor park.  Several themes run through the collection.  Here are some of our favourites:

The tai chi sculptures.  In fact, we were already familiar with this series because one graces the Exchange Square building in downtown Hong Kong.  There are also Ju Ming tai chi sculptures in Montreal - I thought they were hockey players, and I guess I was not alone, since some fans decorated one with a giant Carey Price hockey jersey!

          The life-size army.

       


            The tin men.

    The navy and the parachutists.

My favourite - people on their phones.  Jeff's favourite - the impatient husband.

Our taxi ride ($35CDN) back to Taipei took less than an hour.  Lynn, a colleague of Jeff's who works in the Taipei office of Manulife, picked us up and off we went to lunch and then the Story House Museum.

The Tudor-style Story House is an oddity in Taipei.  It was built in 1913 by a Chinese tea merchant to entertain his guests.   At that time, it was in quiet section of the city, right on the river.  Today, it sits under a busy expressway, close to the domestic airport!  The exhibits rotate every few months.  When we visited, there was a display of shopping bags.  Great way to decorate a college dorm!

Lynn drove us around some of the nicer parts of the city, and pointed out the extensive bike trail along both sides of the river (flat terrain - my kind of bicycling).  There are numerous baseball diamonds, too (another homesick moment).  Later that afternoon, Lynn very kindly took us to the airport.

Although we struck out when it came to food, the other two reasons we went to Taipei were definitely hits.

Kyle and Shane's excellent adventure in Hong Kong

Batten down the hatches.  Remove plants, vases, tassels, knick-knacks, and anything of value.  Close the doors to "off-limits" rooms.  Kyle and Shane are coming!  Invasion of the little people!  They sure look cute and innocent, but, in a flash, food is all over the floor (and themselves) and toys are scattered all over the house.

No complaints!!  Jeff and I were counting the days until the boys and their parents arrived on August 12th.  Their non-stop flight from Detroit was scheduled to land at 7:30.  At 11 a.m. I was ready to go to the airport to wait for them, but I restrained myself until 6:30.  I paced up and down the arrivals area holding two plush toys, and, of course, started to cry when I saw them wheeling their "stuff" through.  Julie and Eric looked sleepy, but the boys were wide awake.  Into the limo and onward to Wan Chai where Grampa Jeff was eagerly awaiting their arrival.

After a long, jet-lagged, sleepless night, breakfast was served at 6 a.m.  Kyle and I "discussed" what he wanted to do that day.  First and foremost was a trip on a double-decker bus.  He loved watching them from our living room windows and couldn't wait to take a ride.  I can't exactly remember which bus we took that day, or where we went, but the boys were very excited.  They were on top of the world!

Before the visit, I had filled the freezer with "comfort food" - meat sauce, meat balls, chicken, etc.  Rejected!!  Julie announced that she could eat that any old time, and all she wanted was Chinese food, and more Chinese food.  In the photo, Jeff and Kyle are waiting to pick up our nightly take-away.

Most mornings, we began our day at my favourite Starbucks, next door.  My cappuccino is always ready for me as I walk in their door.  While Julie and I sipped our coffee, the boys watched the cranes at the building site across the road.  Why are boys so fascinated with construction sites and machinery?  Kyle announced that he wants to be Bob the Builder next Halloween.  The staff at Starbucks are so kind - they never once complained about the mess we left behind each day, or the noise the kids made running around.  The day after the boys went home to Ann Arbor, I brought the Starbucks staff a box of chocolates to thank them for their patience!

The next adventure was a trip on the Star Ferry.  Before embarking, we walked along the central ferry pier and looked at the various boats, the harbour, and the skyline on the Kowloon side.  The kids (and Julie) loved the reversible benches, the breeze from the harbour, and the view.  The nasty diesel smell didn't spoil their enjoyment either!

The Star Ferry is one of my favourites things in HK - I automatically relax and feel like I'm on vacation.  I was glad that Julie, Kyle, and Shane shared my enthusiasm!

On our way into the Harbour City shopping mall for lunch, we stopped to look at a display of Doraemons.  Doraemons are cute, smurf-like anime characters.  Japanese kitsch is very popular in Hong Kong.

Jet-lag and the heat combined to wear us all out, so we headed home for our afternoon naps.  Kyle and Shane have certainly inherited (great-) Grampa Loua's sleeping genes!

Three-hour naps refreshed all of us and then it was time for a swim, or games in the apartment.  The boys' favourite game was jumping on the furniture.  (In fact, the first question that Julie posed when they arrived was "may the boys jump on the sofas?")

We centred the kids' visit around the boys.  They loved the playground next to the HK zoo.  It had big boy swings for Kyle, baby swings for Shane, and lots of shade!  Next best thing to having a back yard. I was beginning to realize how difficult it is to push a stroller in this city.  So many steps, so many uneven sidewalks, and so little space.  Speaking of steps, the following morning we couldn't find the lift at the Tin Hau metro stop, so Julie carried the stroller up three flights of stairs, while Shane masterfully climbed all the steps by himself.  He's so agile and confident, that it was hard to remember he had only been walking for three months!

Everyone enjoyed the trip to the Central Library (yes, I take all of our visitors there).  There's a terrific kids' section on the 2nd floor.  After sitting quietly with their books, Shane suddenly got that "gleam" in his eyes and led Kyle and another little boy of several rounds of jumping on the furniture!

We met Grampa Jeff for lunch at the cafe in the library.  A treat for everyone!  Kyle was excited when I told him we would take a green minibus to go home.  Julie and I were rather concerned when an old man rammed into the bus on his bicycle!  No injuries, but the bus driver had a few choice words for the cyclist.

After dinner, Jeff and Kyle curled up to read "chapter books".  Julie had brought several of them from her local library.  One of the books disappeared a few days after they arrived, but my cleaning lady found it when she vacuumed under the sofa.  However, the same book vanished again the day before their departure.  It has yet to be found, and I'm convinced Shane placed it in one of his hiding spots.  It will probably turn up when we move ...

One of our neighbours arranged a play date for Kyle with her son, Salaar.  They had a great time playing with Salaar's action toys, eating snacks, and dressing up as super heroes!  Julie and Eric spent that morning wandering around the Wan Chai market, sampling street food, and getting the feel of the neighbourhood.

That evening, we took the family to our old stand-by, Hometown Dumpling.  Smiling faces, full tummies!

The weekend was filled with touristy things.  Grampa Jeff and Kyle got us off to a great start by serving blueberry pancakes.  Another bonding experience!
Armed with the broom and dustpan, the boys expertly cleaned up after breakfast.  It's never to early to train them!

Off to Tai Po in the New Territories!  Our visitors experienced yet another mode of HK transportation - the commuter train.  We walked to the Railway Museum, and by the time we got there, Shane was fast asleep.  I nodded off watching him while the others checked out the old HK to Canton railroad cars.  Later on, as we walked through the village, we found a tiny barber shop.  Kyle's three-dollar (CDN) haircut!

Julie, Eric, and the boys visited their first Chinese temple.

We ended our adventure in Tai Po with a delicious dim sum lunch at the Great Day Restaurant.  We were the only "gweilos" in the place!  Note Kyle's new brushcut!  Shane was more interested in climbing up and down the gaily decorated staircase than eating.  Lots of grandparents stopped to admire him.

At 8 a.m. the next morning, we beat the Sunday crowds on the Peak Tram, Hong Kong's number one tourist attraction.  Oddly enough, Jeff announced that this was the first time he'd ever been on it!  I've taken in numerous times with many visitors, always during non-peak weekday hours.

After admiring the views, we watched the kids enjoy themselves in the playground.  Not sure how I squeezed myself into the little table with the boys - it was not easy extricating myself!

The next day, Julie and Eric flew off to Beijing, leaving the boys behind with Gramma and Grampa.  At six a.m. I looked at them wolfing down their breakfasts and thought "this is going to be a very long three days!"  Poor little? Shane marched over to Julie and Eric's bedroom, gave me a sad look, and said "Bapa?"  Hmmm ... how can I distract him?

I know - Tupperware and wooden spoons!!  Worked every time with my kids!  Meanwhile, Kyle emptied the shoe cabinet, and set up a shoe store on my sofa.  That kept them busy until it was time to head to Starbucks for our morning snack, and to meet Ayelet, our friends' daughter, who would be helping me babysit that day.

Julie is her mother's daughter - she left lots of lists and instructions.  Sunscreen, hats, shoes, snacks, blankets, water, and more water.  And off we went.  Not easy to push a stroller with a fat baby up our driveway, but I'm not your average 60+ grandmother, either!!

Ayelet and I took the boys to the playground at Hong Kong Park.  Unfortunately, there were no "big boy" swings for Kyle, but Ayelet showed him how to slide down poles and climb up and down everything.  He had the best time.  Shane did, too!

After lunch, Kyle snuggled up to Ayelet and they read together until nap time.  I think he's in love!  Shane played with his shoes.  He loves the velcro.  Grampa Jeff came home early, we fed the kids, bathed them, and put them to bed. Hooray, we survived day one.

Jeff was my helper the next day.  Same morning routine, and then it was back to the playground at the zoo.  I forgot to mention that every day of their visit, it was at least 33C, so two hours in a playground is more than enough.  Unfortunately, Shane lost his hat somewhere between the photo on the right and the time we got to the corner to hail a taxi.  In spite of Jeff's search, we never found it.  Perhaps it's hiding with Kyle's chapter book.

Bath time!

Kyle hanging out with our concierge, Mr. Tong, who gave him biscuits each morning.







Yay - we all survived day two!

I was on my own the next day.  Luckily, I had planned an indoor activity - it was pouring!  After Starbucks, we walked over to an indoor playground nearby.  I felt like a lady of leisure reading my newspaper while the kids played under the supervision of two lovely young ladies.  I was impressed by how independent Shane is, and how nicely Kyle plays with him, too.

Julie and Eric returned later that night.  Back to hard-core touring the next day.  We sat on the upper deck of bus number 6 to Stanley.  It was so early, the market wasn't even open!  However, they all enjoyed the temple, especially the framed tiger skin on the wall, coffee/snack at Starbucks, and a terrific playground.

Next on the itinerary was a visit to Grampa's office where the staff oohed and aahed over the boys (even Kyle who was sound asleep in Shane's stroller).  Then dim sum at Din Tai Fung.  How many noodles can one baby eat, and how many shiaomei (shrimp dumplings) can a 4-year-old swallow?

Shane decided that going up and down the escalator was a lot of fun.  The exercise tired him out, and we had no problems putting him down for his nap.

The kids all cooled off in our pool later that afternoon.  The pool is outdoors, but there is a roof overhead, which keeps the temperature rather brisk.

The next day we took the ferry to Lamma Island.  So relaxing!  We walked through the village which was very quiet in the mid morning.

Every village has a Tin Hau (goddess of the sea) temple, and Lamma is no exception.  There's a small sitting-out area next to the temple that is home to Jeff's favourite gnarled tree.  It soon became Kyle's favourite climbing tree.  Delicious lunch followed at Andy's Restaurant.

Speaking of Chinese food, we had a terrific meal (including Peking duck) at the American Restaurant that evening.  There's nothing "American" about this famous institution.  It's been around since the early 50s, and is called the American because its original customers were the American sailors who were stationed at Fenwick Pier nearby.

The following day, Saturday, August 25th, was Kyle's fourth birthday.  The festivities included:

Making the birthday cake.

Buying flowers.

Lunch at McDonald's.

Eating birthday cake.

Balloons.

Sunday was the last day of Kyle and Shane's adventure, and, unfortunately, it was the hottest and muggiest.  We ventured across to Kowloon by Star Ferry, and then trudged up to Kowloon Park - yes, to another children's playground.  Once again, we finished the excursion with dim sum!

We were sorry to see our little people and their parents leave the next day.  Calm and quiet returned to life in Hong Kong!