While I’m focusing on my family getting back to our daily routine and recovering from jet lag, I put together highlights of our recent trip To Taiwan from my Instagram between unpacking and several loads of laundry. Hope you enjoy!
Leaving for Taiwan
1) The morning of our trip. After many trips back home, I usually need 2-3 hours to pack for my family.
2) San Francisco International Airport (SFO).
3) Four suitcases total, checking in two.
Taipei, Taiwan (North of Taiwan 台北)
1) Taipei 101, the 2nd tallest building in the world.
2) The amazing view from the 89th floor.
3) Taipei 101 from the ground level.
4) National Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
5) Dr. Sun Yat-Sen and my daughter.
6) Busy street at night near Regent Hotel.
7) Subway ticketing machine.
8) Taking subways is fun – reminds me of my life back in Japan.
9) Lots of motorcycles on the street.
1) The view of Taipei 101 from our room at Regent Hotel.
2) View of Taipei 101 at night.
3) Japanese flavor macarons from Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki Paris: yuzu, hojicha, matcha, (strawberry for my daughter,) genmaicha, (blueberry for my son).
4) A friend took us to the best Peking Duck restaurant in Taipei (龍都酒樓).
5) We loved their thin wraps instead of buns!
6) Ippudo, one of the popular ramen shops from Japan (with locations in NYC, SG, HK, South Korea, Sydney, Taipei), happens to be close to our hotel.
7) Shiromaru – original ramen .
8) Akamaru – modern ramen (I prefer this over Shiromaru)
9) Pork belly bun.
Train Trip to Taitung, Taiwan (East of Taiwan 台東)
1) Taking a train to Taitung (East of Taiwan).
2) Traditional bento box on a train with pork chop, seasoned egg, veggies, and rice.
3) Surrounded by the rice field.
4) Peaceful view near the resort.
5) Papago Resort, where we stayed.
6) Our spacious villa with a private pool.
Kaohsiung, Taiwan (Southwest of Taiwan 高雄)
1) Our first meal, Tonkatsu at Shinjuku Saboten.
2) Traditional breakfast stand.
3) 2 egg pancakes and 6 pot stickers with garlic sauce for $3!
4) Dan Zai noodles, pork ball soup, and pig feet.
5) Black chicken soup (skin and bone are black).
6) 7 ingredients soup including shark fin and frog ovary.
1) Sweet rice with crab – my favorite dish at the wedding reception.
2) Another day with crab.
3) And more crab!!
4) Mullet soft roe – not really my favorite.
5) Braised pork belly with bittermelon.
6) Traditional Taiwanese stew dish.
7) Famous Chou’s Shrimp Roll from Tainan.
8) Fish and fish ball soup.
9) Deep fried stinky tofu – I love this particular restaurant where they serve special sauce over the tofu.
1) A Taiwanese wedding reception. It reminded me of my wedding in Taiwan 7 years ago with 500 guests (which I don’t know most of them).
2) One of the most beautiful subway stations I’ve seen, in Kaohsiung.
3) Visiting a temple with Ama (“grandma” in Taiwanese).
4) Kids praying for education.
5) Taiwanese opera on the street at the temple.
6) Playing at a park. Besides that, we went swimming almost everyday.
7) VIP room at cinema – my husband and I watched Skyfall and Breaking Dawn Part II.
8) My most favorite thing to do in Taiwan: foot and whole body massage (went 3 times!).
9) Going home, at Taoyuan International Airport, Taipei.
If you are interested in other Taiwan posts, check out 5 Things to Eat at Taiwan Night Market (Travel Vlog).
Last but not least, I want to thank my friend Sonia of Nasi Lemak Lover for sending me beautiful wooden plates and bowls. On her recent trip to Bali, she remembered that I have hard time finding wooden products here in the US so she bought some for me and shipped these along with other kitchen gadgets to my in-laws in Taiwan from Malaysia. Thank you so much Sonia!
If you haven’t seen her blog Nasi Lemak Lover, I hope you stop by. She has a wide-ranging collection of Asian and baked goods recipes from her kitchen in Malaysia.
What a wonderful and delicious trip!! Your kids are world travelers!! Mine have yet to be on an airplane. 🙂 Now you have given me another place on my list of places I must visit someday. Taiwan is a Beautiful country. 🙂 Glad to have you back. 🙂
Welcome back! Love all the photos, and I’m jealous you got to eat prime Peking duck. And eat at Ippudo! The one in NYC is great. Your kids are so cute!
Looks like you had a blast on your trip. I can totally relate to the 2-3 hour packing. I used to travel the world with one carryon and wouldn’t take more than 30 minutes to pack until I had a baby.
Beautiful pics by the way.
Such a beautiful trip and I am glad you took some time for yourself too. Food looks amazing, and every picture speak for itself. Wonderful post…I am glad you are back!!!
What a fabulous trip, I enjoyed following you on Instagram-you’ve shared some great photos that give a taste of your amazing trip! Welcome home 😉
Like like like Nami wish I was with you I have never been to Taiwan how many hours is the trip hope I can visit one of these days! The kids must have loved the trip they are adorable Nami. I also love the food except the crabs since I am allegic.. Thanks for the wonderful pictures like I am there with you I can see and smell it…
Thank you Tina! I’m actually allergic to crab too (I found out around mid 20s), but I enjoyed eating a little bit. 🙂 I couldn’t resist! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my post. Thank you for your kind feedback!
Welcome home, Nami! What a great snapshots of your trip…looks like lots of wonderful memories were made 🙂
Nami, what a fun trip you all had I loved seeing the photos on instagram but of course I did not see them all so, it was nice to see them. Such interesting food with so much seafood sounds great. Glad you made it home safe and now trying to catch up on things.
Hi NAMI,
nice pics and even better ideas for the kitchen! I envy you for this trip.
My main Thank-You! to you is the historical aspect of your trip. I’ve never heard of Dr. Sun Yat-sen before. I looked him up and (for all readers, just google him – he was a very intersting character who lived in rather turbulent times).
I very much like the picture with your daughter infront of his statue.
So cooking and preparing food is central to the human condition. And this has been the case for the past 8,000 years or so.
Love your blog!
Hello Karina! Thank you for your kind message. I’m glad to hear you enjoyed my travel post. I wish I could have more time to explain in details but with the limited time I had I failed… Thank you for following my blog! 🙂
Great photos! It appears that you saw some great sites, and had some amazing food to eat! Really fun to read about your trip (and look at the pictures) – thanks so much.
looks like you had a fun filled trip. So much food and so much to see.
Your trip looks amazing, Nami! Happy you’re back safe and sound 😉 Good luck with the laundry haha
By the way, I visited Sonia’s blog at Nasi Lemak Lover. She’s Hokkien – just like me!!!
My husband is Hokkien too. 🙂
Nami, what a gorgeous collection of photos! Looks like you had a food-filled and fun-filled time away! First off, they have Patisserie Sadaharu Aoki in Taipei??? Lucky them! And all the food you ate…oh, all the food! Very nice…especially the fried stinky tofu! How was it? And yes, full body massage!!! WOW! It’s so nice that your kids got to spend time with their Ama! I miss my Ama 🙁 She passed away in 2009, but since we moved to Canada in 1995, I only saw her once in 15 years before she passed away. And to think that I lived with her and slept in her bedroom for the first 20 years of my life before I moved to Canada!!! Anyway, take care :)2
I enjoy living abroad but when it comes to family, I really wish that I can live closer to home. I miss all the holiday family get together and some important celebrations. You must have wonderful memories of your Ama. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your story!
Hi Nami,
It looks like you had a wonderful trip. Makes me want to hop on a plane and go to Taiwan. All of the food looks delicious but particularly the crab dishes -yum! Have a great weekend:)