What's different about this trip from the past is that we brought an 8 months old baby with us. We've always dreaded hearing the baby cry when we go back to Taiwan and coming back, this time, we were the trouble maker. Fortunately for us, Cadi behaved much better on the plane than we expected her to.
For the first couple of days, we stayed at Joy's parents' home in Taipei. For some unknown reason, screaming was pretty much all that Cadi did when we first stepped into the house. It wasn't until after a couple of hours that we took Cadi out for a walk did she start to calm down.
Since we did not have a stroller with us, I was carrying Cadi with a baby carrier and as a result, I had a difficult time taking photos for the first couple of days.
A friend taking us out for lunch in a discontinued oldie mini cooper. Only snapped a photo of the interior, the car looks super cute from the outside but I don't have a photo of that to show.
Went south to Pingtung after 3 days in Taipei. When we arrived Kaohsiung to see Joy's friend, this is only the 2nd stranger in the first week of us in Taiwan that could hold Cadi without her crying.
We were planning to go to another night market but after we finished parking, we realized that it wasn't open. So, we went to Liouhe night market...once again. A tourists' night market.
Pingtung was super hot the first we got there. All of us had trouble sleeping the first night as there is no AC. But Cadi did get to show her chubby legs because of the hot weather.
A friend's son. Just 2 to 3 months younger than Cadi but Cadi looks gigantic compared to him here.
Like her daddy, Cadi attracts mosquitos. The red dots are all mosquito bites. There were a total of 10 on her leg alone and more on her arm (it was all on her right side which was kind of funny.)
We saw these huge fish eyes for sale when we went to YiLan. The eyes are interesting but so is the sign here. Not only do you have to understand the Chinese letters but you also have to understand what "No body" here means. Yes, "no body" here literally means no body (only eyes) but it's also a famous song from the Korean group "Wonder Girls". Check out the song at No Body MTV. Before seeing this sign, I had no idea that "No Body" is a song. While talking to a friend, he suggested that the catchy phrase in the song is "No body but you" and if you pronounce "but you" in Taiwanese, it sounds exactly like "eyes". So I think this sign was really very intelligently put together.
Just because it contains my last name's character. :)
This is not pollution. This is dust storm. First time I've witnessed one.
One of the vendors we tried at Luodong night market in YiLan. This night market is so much better than the Liouhe one.
Visited Yangmingshan National Park and went to the calla field. Wasn't as large as I expected but it might be that some flowers had already been picked.
Another part of Yangmingshan Park. Forgot the name but I since we got there late, we did not have much time to explore this place. I would like to come here again next time.
What they have on each of their hand is a grilled skewer of chicken butts. You don't see that in the US.
This is near the end of Taiwan trip. By that time, Cadi has already met a LOT of people. Thought Cadi would have gotten used to being held by strangers. Apparently not.
The gondola at Maokong has been closed for some time already but it was reopened for testing the 2nd week we were in Taiwan. Joy's mom told us not to go on the gondola but we went anyway. Glad that we did. It was the longest gondola ride that I've been on. Close to 30 minutes each way if don't get off the ride midway at two other locations.
Joy's cousin, Jay, or Cadi's uncle was sort of on vacation and was able to take us out for two days. As a result, Cadi has gotten to know him quite well. Because Cadi was willing to be carried by her uncle, I was much more relaxed on the 2nd week due to losing some significant "weight", 20 pounds to be exact. :)
