The most special event was probably the anniversary professional photo shoot. We had taken formal engagement photos in 2006 and wedding photos in 2007 in California, and we wanted something more casual this time. I had done some research and printed out sample pictures to show the photographer what we were looking for. The pictures turned out exactly what we wanted! We felt that they were realistic portraits of our relationship - simple, loving, and romantic... It was a nice snapshot as we start the second year of our marriage.
In this short 10-day trip, we ended up taking 600+ pictures! To spare everyone from picture hell, here is a summary photo album with just 96 pictures, and a short video of a few random clips. We were very busy everyday, visiting all kinds of tourist spots and meeting most of my family and friends for lunches and dinners. It was so nice to see many of my old friends, tracing back between 3rd grade and high school! Michael also got to meet my grand father on my mom's side who is 85 years old, still in excellent health! It was so good to be home and we were so terribly short on time.
Upon arriving Taipei, our first stop was of course Taipei 101! Taipei 101 is currently the tallest building in the world constructed in the new millennium! It stands 509.2 meters tall, and has the world's fastest ascending elevator at 16.83 meters per second! Our ears were slightly hurting as it rose. This was the first time for both of us to get onto the observation deck at the top - the view was breathtaking! Although I grew up in Taipei, I never figured out the geography of the city. Being on the top gave me a much deeper appreciation of the city I grew up in. We later realized that the day we went (the first day we arrived at Taipei) was the only day the weather was clear enough for us to see the whole city. What perfect timing.
Even though I loved shopping and eating at the night markets, Michael wasn't such a big fan of them, probably because he is such a neat freak! But he LOVED the hot springs and spa treatment at Orient Retreat Spa in Bei Tou. We loved the smell of sulfur and soaking in the hot spring was very relaxing. Spa treatment followed the soaking -it was the most perfect day! We also visited the old homes where my family used to live, my elementary, junior high, and high schools, and visited a couple of teachers that still teach there! Things looked a little different around the old homes since a lot of new buildings added to the neighborhood. I used to walk to and from school and the road seemed a lot wider back then. Now it feels a lot narrower and I feel like a much bigger person! How funny things always seem a little different in memory.
Michael loved anything that has to do with history, like the National Palace Museum, Dan-Shui old streets, Fort San Domingo (from Dutch occupation), 228 Peace Park, Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, Sun Yat Sen Memorial... He loved reading all the stories in the exhibit halls about the history of Taiwan. At first he really wanted to buy a piece of jade to bring back to the States. But we discovered at the Handicraft mart that the "liuli" (crystal glass) is more representative of Taiwan because it was re-developed by Taiwanese artists. We brought a beautiful dragon sculpture from Liuli Gongfang back with us and now it is being displayed in our glass cabinet.
My favorite part of the trip is of course - eating! We had things ranging from street vendor to cute cafe to fancy sit down restaurant, traditional Chinese to Japanese to French fusion. Michael's favorite was the Tea Restaurant where everything was made of some type of tea - appetizer, entree, dessert, beverage... One of our favorites is Ding Tai Fung, a famous traditional dumpling restaurant. It is so good that it has chain restaurants all over the world! We didn't have a lot of time to shop, and only spent the last day shopping. We still got quite a few things and snacks to bring back - we can't wait to go back again to eat and shop some more!
Before the trip, we were really excited to find out that the Japanese magician Cyril Takayama was going to have his first performance in Taipei - starting the last day of our trip! He is made famous by You Tube for all the street magic performances he did in Japan and Asia. My dear friend Shui bought the tickets for us in advance so we could get the front row seats. Michael loved the performance and this was the perfect end of our first international trip!
a.jpg)
