Our little family unit flew from Swaziland to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Hong Kong, and Hong Kong to Taipei. By the time we arrived, we were exhausted, but excited to be there.
Our first day, we went to the National Center for Traditional Arts, in Yilan, about 1-1.5 hours outside of Taipei.
Throughout Taiwan and Tokyo, I was very impressed by how child-friendly everything was.
The ubiquity of 7-Eleven is one of my favorite things about Taiwan. Maybe it's the surprisingly tasty Taiwanese snacks they stock, or the cheerful way they greet you when you walk through those automatic doors, but whatever it is, it's just so, well, convenient. The National Center for Traditional Arts included many buildings in decorated to look "traditional," including a 7-Eleven.
The day we visited the center, there was some sort of environmental awareness program. Some of the organizers spotted Peter and Aviva and asked them to be part of the group of dignitaries to adopt a tree. I believe they actually said (in Chinese) over the loudspeaker something along the lines of , "Let's welcome our special foreigner father and his little baby!" Heh heh. I was laughing so hard I was almost crying.
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| Who says you can't smile with a pacifier in your mouth? |
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| MUST...ESCAPE...NOW... |
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| Peter "Erinkranz" (pretty close, actually) |
After our morning there, we had lunch with some family friends at a place with lots of delicious local specialties:
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| Stir-fried clams with chilis and basil |
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| Deep fried taro root |
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| Deep fried chicken stock and corn starch (sounds weird but actually was amazing) |
We rounded out the day with a bit more sightseeing to Jiufen and Jinguashi. Tip: Everyone flocks to Jishan Street, in Jiufen, which is just a narrow lane crowded by stalls and kiosks. It's not worth squeezing through hundreds of other tourists for a peek. Trust me.
But the "golden waterfall" of Jinguashi was quite lovely.
And the coastline had some spectacular rock formations.
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