The day after Christmas we flew to Taiwan. We were so excited to see Yeye, Nainai, and Uncle Lyndon’s family again! It was also special to have Cole visit Taiwan for the first time. My incredible mother even planned a big tour of the island for everyone so we couldn’t wait to see everything! After flying into Taipei, we took a train to Hualien City on the east coast. When we arrived, we were surprised by our family who came to meet us at the station. After dropping off our luggage we went out to a big family dinner. We had a great time together.
Our first dinner in Taiwan had so many different kinds of delicious Taiwanese dishes. Everything was so tasty!
Cole meeting my grandmother’s favorite little dog. She is a sweet puppy:
The next morning we visited a place called The Pine Garden. It is listed as one of the 100 historic sites in Taiwan. The Pine Garden is home to an old historic military building from the Japanese Colonial Period. It is now used as an art gallery, lecture hall, and venue for community art and literature events. For lunch we ate at a fantastic Myanmar restaurant in town. In the evening, my brother, Cole and I borrowed some bicycles and went off to explore more of the city and found some of our favorite Taiwanese street snacks.
We grabbed some che lun bings (named because they look like wheels on a car):
And of course Taiwanese salt and pepper popcorn chicken with basil leaves and peppercorn (Yan Su Ji). They are the best!
I absolutely had to stop and order a strawberry tapioca drink (cao mei bing sa jia zhen zhu). I cannot come to Taiwan without getting one of these.
And my favorite fresh guava with plum powder! Reminds me of staying at my grandparents home in Taiwan.
