Our Trip to Taiwan - Day 2

We get to meet up with Nate today!

That's what kept running through my mind when I realized that Abby and I were up at the bright hour of 4:30am. I realized that the time change would throw Abby for a loop, but seriously kiddo? She was up only nine hours after going to bed. Couldn't jet lag have caught up with her and cause her to sleep fourteen hours instead of her normal twelve? Sheesh. :-) So Abby and I spent the first three or so hours having breakfast, watching a bit of TV (thankfully we found a few channels that were in English), reading our books, and trying not to make too much noise or get into too much trouble.

Look at those baggy eyes! My baby girl is one tired young lady.

It was so hot that a diaper and a tea towel were all that were needed for breakfast attire. I felt pretty proud of my makeshift bib as I didn't want to stumble around finding her normal bib. So a tea towel and a chip clip saved the day!

Pretty soon the rest of the household got up and it was time to pick up Nate and Don (Nate's co-worker who also went on the business trip) from the airport where their host had dropped them off. Don had never been to Taiwan and, due to the distance from where they were training to Taipei as well as lack of transportation, they hadn't been able to site-see yet. There were a few hours to kill until Don't flight left so we set off for a quick tour of a few Taipei notables. First stop. The Grand Hotel.

This hotel was HUGE!

It was a pretty amazing place. When we were originally thinking we'd be staying at a hotel this is the one we really, really wanted until we found out the cost. It costs what it looks like it should! The main lobby was filled with beautiful artifacts and sculptures that lit up. Abby was very impressed with all the lights, but after seeing a teacup worth over a $1,000 I held onto her little hand really tight.

The lights on this dragon would flash on and off in a pattern of sorts. It was pretty mesmerizing to watch.

The group (sans Nate) in front of the mural at the top of the stairs (leading towards another 'touring' section of the hotel).

Abby had a great time on Daddy's shoulders. All along the wall there were pictures of famous people that had stayed at this hotel. I remember former President Reagan and I think Elvis.

Once Abby found this fountain she wanted nothing to do with the rest of the hotel. It's hard to see but this fountain had such detail to it. The rock formation was the mountain and all along its sides there were tiny houses and tiny people going about their daily business (pulling water from the river, hanging clothes, pulling carts, etc). Then the golden dragon watching over it all from the top. Really neat!

Next up was the Water Bottle Building. Nope, not jesting. There was some expo a few years back and one of the buildings that was built specifically to be showcased at the expo was made from specially designed, interlocking plastic water bottles.

The building looks like this from afar.

And this up close.

While parking at the expo I saw this ingenious way to know how many parking spots were left. It made it very easy to determine if we wanted to try and park in this garage or find another. Later on in the trip we saw a garage with -2 spots. Makes me wonder if the two cars just drove around and around and around.

Soon we realized that it was time to take Don back to the airport and we were glad we left when we did. A quick half hour trip turned into almost an hour and a half making Don hurry to catch his plane on time (which he did!). Then back out for some additional city touring! While on our way to the Presidential Palace we saw some amazing street sites.   

Here's a great view of the scooters and how they weave in and out of cars

Their "Don't Walk" sign is a red person as opposed to a red hand.

And their "Walk" sign is a green person that starts out walking but as the countdown for crossing gets closer to zero the green man starts to run. Totally cute!

Here is where we learned that driving lanes are more of a suggestion and that people seriously creep forward  super close as they edge closer and closer to turning. The taxi cab angled in front of us is also trying to take a left onto the one lane available for us to turn into. Both cars (us and the taxi) creep closer and closer to the cars driving straight by us so that when there's an opening we both can get across the intersection and then quickly merge one in front of the other in the appropriate lane. This allows more cars to move at once diminishing traffic jams. You really have to know your car's front end as we found ourselves mere inches from traffic as we waited for our opening.

There's a painted box area at the front of every stop light that is intended for the scooters. They all drive through the cars right up to the front so that they're the first to go, getting out of the way of the cars, when the light turns green. Again, cuts down on traffic jams.

Scooters are also not just for one or two riders like you see with motorcycles in the United States. This picture shows three riders but it isn't the most riders we saw on a scooter. That honor belongs to an amazing mother. She had her eldest daughter sitting behind her holding on, her middle daughter sitting on the bike in front of her, her son standing on the platform of the scooter holding onto specially added handles that were below her driving handles, while having an infant child strapped to her chest in a carrier similar to a sling. Everyone but the baby was wearing a helmet but I still don't know that it was the safest ride for them. But when you're in a city that discourages lots of cars you gotta do what you gotta do.

The red ribbons on this car signify that they are part of a wedding procession. All of the cars in the procession had them on the car handles or radio antennae. Pretty ingenious!

Finally, we arrived at the Presidential Palace. The architectural design was simply beautiful. We weren't allowed to go inside, similar to how you view the White House but are only allowed in for special tours or events, but from what we could see I'm glad we stopped by. 

My camera isn't unfocused on broken, the day was that hazy. Not from smog, either, but from Taipei being in a valley and once the haze rolls in it takes a lot to roll out.

It was while viewing the Palace that we got a good chuckle for the day. A Chinese tour bus showed up right as we were walking towards a memorial area across the street. The tourists started following us and eventually encircled Nate who was holding Abby. Then a few popped up right next to them and started motioning to the other tourists to take their picture next to Nate and Abby. My family were celebrities! Tim explained that since a direct flight from Beijing to Taipei had been created a whole bunch of Chinese tourists have started making their vacations in Taiwan. This includes many who otherwise would not have been able to afford to travel. So for many, Abby may have been the first white child they'd seen in person.

Abby wasn't too sure about others getting close to her. I'm thankful she was on Nate's shoulders because these Chinese tourists got super close at times.

Next up...Taipei 101 Tower. This is the tallest building in Taipei and was once the tallest building in the world. The locals affectionately call it the Chinese Take-Out Box Tower. I can sort of see the resemblance. :-) 

Mom standing in front of Taipei 101. It was so tall I couldn't get Mom and the whole building in the picture.

Nate and Abby walking to the mall located in the bottom of the tower. We stopped her for lunch and found a McDonald's! 

After lunch it was time to pick up Jane and head to a Whiskey Distillery. Nate and Dad were very happy to learn of our itinerary stop! :-) We first toured the "behind the scenes" of the distillery, learning about the type of whiskey they make and seeing their vats and barrels.

Abby taking her afternoon nap on Nate during our distillery tour.

Then we waited for a bit in the gift shop while we waited for the next tasting to begin. While in the gift shop a sweet lady handed Abby a candy stick! I was just amazed at how kind everyone was to Abby, even when she wasn't behaving her absolute best (a tired toddler isn't the greatest to be around). When it was time for the tasting we all piled into our seats, then Mom, Abby, and I immediately piled right back out as the lady telling the group about the whiskey we were tasting had the microphone turned up so loud our ears where hurting. While outside Abby had fun running around the grounds Mom and I trailed slowly behind. She even found a little boy that she tried to befriend. She kept running up into his face saying "hi, hi" and the little boy kept backing up towards his Dad with a very concerned look on his face. I love how Abby just loves to meet people and doesn't have a shy bone in her body with kids.

Learning to jump off of something.

Hardly any time had passed before we were joined by everyone else. Taiwanese whisky tasting is different than the tastings we're used to here in wine country. We're used to trying a bunch of different wines (some places here literally have 15+ wines for you to try when you visit them) but it turns out that this distillery offers one sample of one whisky. They rotate out the whisky they sample occasionally but one taste is all you get. As we were planning on taking a bit of a trip to our next destination, a local candy shop!, I decided to take a trip to the restroom and got a bit of a surprise.

A real squat toilet!

After opening multiple stalls I realized that if I wanted to go, it was in this type of toilet that I'd go. So I go'd. Now, I had a few questions once I was back out with the group. Like, which way do you face? The toilet paper is closest to the end that everything gets flushed down so you'd think you'd face that direction, but then there's all that extra toilet space that makes you think you face the other way. Jane and Tim thought my question was hilarious with a capital H. I don't think I'd heard Tim laugh like that in a long time. Turns out you face the end that everything gets flushed down. Good to know for future reference! Another thing good to know was that you don't flush the toilet paper, instead you throw it away in the garbage can. Let's just say that I got to experience the gamut of squat toilets in various locations and this was by far the cleanest, which is why you're seeing this one. Others were....eww. And that's all I'll say on that.

We visited a candy shop/ice cream parlour next and picked up a bunch of chocolate and others sweets for Nate's work and various family members. Then we headed back to Taipei for a fantastic dinner where the main course was Peking Duck! I had Abby asleep in my arms (which ended up being the way I ate dinner this trip as we usually ate around 7-9pm, which is normally Abby's bedtime, so I wasn't able to partake too much of dinner. I discovered that while it's hard for me to use chopsticks with two hands it's pretty much impossible to eat using chop sticks with just one. I know that technically only one hand is needed but that's for experts, of which I am definitely not one. Since the restaurant didn't have any forks (which, really, I didn't expect them to anyways) I stuck with rice as that was pretty much the only thing I could pick up without having to readjust the chop sticks after every bite. I did get a quick taste of the duck since Nate fed me, but, well...I at least tried it, right? All too soon dinner was over, the dishes were cleared, and we were heading back to Tim's house for bed. And so began our first of many nights learning that Abby was not content to sleep in a bed beside us, but wanted to be cuddled up right in our arms. Oh, well. Pretty soon I'm not going to get any night time cuddles, right? So our second day in Taiwan ended with my baby girl snoring her little snores and using my arm as her pillow. A good ending to a good day.

Day 3 includes the neatest slide I've seen in a long time as well as some serious precision marching. Stay tuned!