Koplans in Moraga: Thanksgiving in Taiwan

For Thanksgiving break this year, the kids took their first trip to Taiwan so they could meet with their last remaining great-grandparent. I wasn't sure how the trip would go with Paige on her first 12 hour flight, vacationing in a not-exactly-kid-friendly city, not having Nick Jr., and feeding the kids without the option of plain pasta. But, the girls loved all the new experiences and we squeezed in a ton of family time and sightseeing in our 12 day trip!

At the Bart station, ready to embark on our great adventure!

I took Gwen and Whitney a few days before Adam and Paige joined us. The girls each got a window seat with an empty seat next to them on the way there (we weren't so lucky on the way back!) and were able to get a few hours of sleep.

Our first day in Taipei - we explored some local food markets, went to CKS's private residence and gardens (although didn't last long since it was scorching out!), hit the Children's museum nearby (thanks to our Lonely Planet recommendation) and stumbled across a great, practically empty amusement park across the street. Afterwards, we hit Shilin night market. I think it was the best night market we went to (and we went to a lot!), but unfortunately but 6pm we were too exhausted to explore the whole thing. We had all been up since 2am, running on about 2 hours of sleep!

We're not at Safeway anymore!

First street food experience

CKS residence

That's all one plant!

Children's museum where they had a replica of the human
digestive system - you go in the mouth and out... the other end

Great little amusement park across the street from the
Children's museum.

Shilin night market

On Day 2, the girls got their nails done and then we went to Keelung to visit their great grandma. We also went to see the ocean and hit the night market there. Afterwards, back at great grandma's house, we saw a little girl hanging out watching TV by herself - turns out it was their 6 year old cousin, Yoyo, who I didn't even know about. The girls didn't speak the same language, but hit it off immediately. The 3 of them quickly took to running around the streets of Keelung, screeching and laughing as they chased stray cats.

Street food sushi - eaten with a gloved hand

Shaved ice

Running through the streets of Keelung
with their long lost cousin, Yoyo

Meeting their Great Grandma

Now the days are starting to blur together... Before heading down to Kaoshiung, we hit the Taipei Zoo, and moved into the Grand Hyatt when Adam and Paige arrived. Now staying in the city, we were in a much more Westernized area. Our hotel was across the street from Taipei 101, which has a nice, high-end mall on the bottom that looked exactly like the San Francisco mall - only with higher end stores. We ate at the Taipei 101 food court (which was featured on Bizzare Foods), explored the CKS and Sun Yat Sen Memorials, went back to Keelung for a big family dinner, and went up to the top of Taipei 101, once the world's tallest building. Then, on day 7 of our trip, we headed down South to Kaoshiung.

Taipei Zoo

Taipei 101

Family dinner

Paige and her great grandma

CKS memorial

Feeding the fish on the grounds at CKS

Top of Taipei 101

Fastest way around Taipei

We took a 2 hour high speed rail down to the south side of Island to Kaoshiung, where my parent have a condo in a luxury highrise across from a big park with an art museum and a nice Children's museum. We continued to put our Lonely Planet book to work, following its recommendation to visit Cijin Island, Fu Guang Shan, the temples around the Lotus Pond and Monkey Mountain. Fu Guang Shan was the highlight of the trip - the area has a massive temple with nice grounds and a huge modern Buddha museum with shops and restaurants. And little did I know that my grandpa's ashes are kept up there so the girls got to go pay their respects.