Taiwan

Dec 12 - Jan 9, 2019

Taiwan, Ivan’s childhood home. Ivan spent the first thirteen years of his life in Taichung, Taiwan, and still has many friends and family here. It was great to show the kids Ivan’s childhood town, reconnect with friends and family, and enjoy amazing food only available in Taiwan. Since the family had a reunion tour in Taiwan a few years ago, and we wanted a break from the constant moving, we did not tour Taiwan this time. Instead, we stayed in Taichung, with two side trips to visit family and friends in Tainan and Taipei. For travelers looking for tips on how to tour Taiwan, I’m afraid this isn’t the best resource for you. If you’re interested, however, reach out to us, and we’d love to introduce you to the best Ivan’s home country has to offer.

Tainan

Train, art center and historical courthouse

confuscius temple and shopping street

lunch

aunt’s house

The main purpose of this day trip was to visit our relatives on Ivan’s mom’s side. Ivan’s cousin showed us around in the morning, we then had a fantastic lunch with everyone and hung out at aunt’s place before heading back to Taichung in the evening.

train, art center and historical courthouse

We took the high speed rail down to Tainan.

HSR is fast and smooth. It's not cheap though.

The #2 art center that was built is of modern design.

The historical courthouse is right next to the art center and only a block away from the Confucius temple. This is a great area where all the attractions are within walking distance.

Ashlyn's bug bites usually get big and swollen. It looked pretty bad at the courthouse.

Our uncle from Tainan is a volunteer tour guide at the courthouse, now that he's retired.

Three mean judges.

Regretting my decisions while awaiting trial in the cell block.

Who's the guilty one??

Ivan's younger cousin's family. Ivan has two cousins in Tainan, one older, one younger.

Ivan’s cousins picked us up from the High Speed Rail (HSR) station and showed us the #2 Art Center and historical courthouse. His dad volunteers as a tour guide.

CONFUCIUS temple & shopping street

Tainan is a city full of culture, and the Confucius temple is the embodiment of Taiwanese culture.

Ivan's cousin said Ivan should've learned this poem on the wall during middle school. Ivan has zero recollection of it.

The alley across the street is a great place to stroll around, with plenty of souvenirs for sale.

These are perfectly edible buns in cute character shapes. Ivan's cousin bought the panda for the girls to try. Tasted like... a bun.

Confucius Temple nearby to the courthouse is a popular tourist stop. The shopping street across the street is a great place to check out interesting traditional souvenirs and snacks.

lunch

The view from the restaurant, which is located at the top floor of the mall in downtown. It overlooks the train station and the railroad tracks.

Megan got a good luck charm to tie onto our day pack.

Peking Duck, yum.

They carve it carefully at table-side. For a few slices, they even remove the fat under the skin.

We had three big tables, separated by generation. This is the middle-generation table. Some moms were stuck at the kids table though.

The grand-parents table.

The tofu-hua. They pour hot soy milk into the bucket that already had powers in it, and 15 minutes later, the tofu-hua is ready. All the toppings on the side are available for customization.

Swinging by the celebration outside the mall before heading out.

Shangrila, the highest restaurant in Tainan, is located on the top floor of the mall next to the train station. The food was fantastic! It’s certainly not cheap though.

Aunt’s house

Hanging out at auntie's house.

Auntie's house in Tainan.

Ivan's been to auntie's house many times since he was a little kid. The older cousin's house right next door is newly built.

These fish are massive for the tank.

A fully enclosed ecosystem. Fish poop fertilizes the vegetation, then decomposed by earthworms, filtered, and fed back into fish tank. Fish food is the only input.

Multi-layer filtering system. One of the layers is earthworms.

Double-sided fan. Never seen it before.

The ab-wheel tested people's core strength.

The kids bonded over toys.

Apparently standing on these overpriced bamboo cans has massage benefits.

Ivan's mom looks identical to her sister in Tainan.

Ivan and his cousins... except for the kid.

The next generation.

It was awesome seeing Ivan's family. Time to head back.

We went back to auntie’s house to hang out and chat before heading back to Taichung. It was so nice catching up with everyone again.

Taichung - friends & Family

old city center & train station

disney light show & new years even

around town in taichung

sightseeing with friend/photographer/guide

niece’s Visit

Old City Center & Train Station

Childhood friend, fantastic food... Good day!

Strawberry shaved ice -- Ice shaved, mixed with strawberries, then re-frozen. Very unique! It's a workout to break it apart.

Urinals or sinks? What do you think?

Restaurant upstairs, shop downstairs, great decoration throughout.

Tea bags inside the record sleeves of old classic songs. Very nostalgic.

Lots of traditional Taiwanese snacks here. Great for tourists and locals alike.

Icecream shop downstairs, with an eye chart as a nod to its "eye clinic" root.

Crazy long line on the sidewalk for this ice cream shop.

The new modern train station is built right next to the decommissioned old train station.

The old train station is decommissioned but preserved for tourists.

Do we look like the pyramid behind us?

A hot air balloon that's not going anywhere.

There's gotta be a better way to go down the stairs.

The old “Eye Clinic” building is now transformed into a retro-chic building with stores at the bottom and a restaurant upstairs. Ivan’s elementary school friend introduced us to this cool place. The train station a block away has Instagram-worthy decorations during the winter holidays, making it a fun quick stop.

disney light show & new years eve

We met up with Ivan’s childhood friend; M and A had fun playing with her kids. We visited Chong-Hsing University, the Disney light show, and went to a restaurant/bar with aborigine Taiwanese themed food and live band. Good times!

around town in taichung

We went shopping for toothpaste, ended up with a cart full of Taiwanese snacks.

Gogoro - The Tesla of scooters. When the batteries are depleted, you plop two in to recharge, pick up two full batteries, and off you go. An 8-second process.

First time seeing this... You drive into this little pod, then the doors close and the car is moved to a random spot. An "automated random put-away" system for cars!

The girls finally got to see Frozen 2. They loved it!

The food court in the malls are quite fancy.

Ivan loves his teppanyaki, we had it many times while in Taiwan.

Mopeds/scooters everywhere, making it challenging to drive.

Ding Tai Fung, possibly the best xiao long bao in the world! This one is a Michelin Star restaurant. The efficiency is amazing!

More teppanyaki!

Hot pot meal to celebrate Christmas. Yum!

The "Jade Market", great for buying souvenirs.

Tao Ban Wu, Ivan's mom's favorite restaurant in Taichung. The set meal is fantastic!

For women's safety -- Reserved parking for women, close to the stores, during night time. Brilliant!

No need for parking tickets or tokens, the camera picks up your license plate number when you enter and leave. You can pay at machine by license plate number. Brilliant!

Helmets are required for mopeds/scooters, so plenty of choices for kids helmets.

This sports goods store is great, they encourage customers to play with their on-display merchandise.

Hold it... hold it...

Jump-rope is a good exercise.

This is the street Ivan grew up on!

This is the house Ivan grew up in. So many memories...

While we didn’t do any real sightseeing in Taichung, we certainly took advantage of things the city has to offer, especially when it comes to food! We noticed lots of interesting ideas and technologies that would really benefit the U.S. if we implement them here.

sightseeing with friend/photographer/guide

Traditional Taiwanese breakfast is the best! Ivan's niece and her boyfriend joined us.

Alyssa did well in her calligraphy attempt.

Ivan's middle school moved to a place that was formerly a prison. What??!

This neighborhood is full of paintings of popular comics.

Lunch at a day market eatery before the young couple heads down south.

We moved on to a remote village, built to give tourists a taste of traditional Taiwanese village of the old days.

We went into this shop to get shaved ice. They still use the traditional machine not seen often today. The owner was happy to let Maren behind the counter while he snapped pictures with us.

Interesting way to wait for the bus.

Is that Totoro?

Ivan’s dear childhood friend is also a photographer and local guide. Ivan’s niece and her boyfriend from the U.S. came for a brief visit, we took them to nice restaurants and had the photographer/guide show us around. He was nice enough to take us to many cool places as only a local guide could.

Voyagers tips: If you want his service, let me know, he’s a great guy and is open for business. He can take you to the coolest places and take pictures for you with your camera as well as his professional gears.

Taichung - Night Markets & Shopping

Dec 12 - Jan 9, 2019

This is our favorite food stands at our favorite night market. Stinky tofu and rice noodle stew at Zhongxiao Rd night market is what Ivan grew up on and is as good as ever!

Stinky tofu and rice noodle stew. The girls love it too.

Traiditional Taiwanese burrito, very unique.

Enjoying a Taiwanese burrito.

Oyster egg pancake, yum!

Taiwanese pork sausage wrapped in rice sausage. Name of the dish is literally "big sausage wrap small sausage".

The girls gobbled this down. This is one of their favorite night market dishes.

Cantonese-style stews. You pick what you want, they cook it together in the stew. Tasty!

This used be a steakhouse where Ivan's family would go for birthday celebrations. It's now a teppanyaki restaurant, still the same owner.

Fengjia night market, the most popular night market in Taichung.

This market gets crowded at night.

Ivan's dad came with us. Stinky tofu is tasty.

Pork blood cake.

Grilled scallop.

More "big sausage wrap small sausage".

Guabao, buns shaped like taco with meat and condiments inside.

Yam ball stands are a dime a dozen, but this particular stand has lines wrapping around the street. We couldn't tell the difference, to be honest.

Ah, night markets! A visit to Taiwan is not complete without visiting a night market… or two, or five. The food is absolutely amazing! There are several night markets in Taichung to try, here are some of the most popular:

Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市)
Tunghai Night Market (東海夜市)
Yizhong Night Market (一中夜市)
Zhongxiao Road Night Market (忠孝路夜市)

Fengjia is probably the most popular night market in Taiwan, and Zhongxiao Road is a bit past its prime, but we still think Zhongxiao Road has the best, real traditional Taiwanese night market food. Some food stands have been there for decades, and they have really perfected the few dishes they’ve served all this time, like stinky tofu, meatballs and rice noodle stew. Fengjia is more crowded and has the newer food choices, like cubed steak and grilled scallop. It’s worth visiting different night markets, because they each have something unique to offer. For day-time visits, Yizhong market is best, as it’s open during the day as well.

Taichung - Our Apartment

Dec 12 - Jan 9, 2019

The table can be electronically lowered to make a flat floor.

Beautiful view of the city from the 48th floor balcony.

We celebrated Christmas here with Ivan's parents.

A very nice top-floor gym, usually empty when we use it.

You can enjoy birds eye view of the city from the treadmill.

Massive pool and jacuzzi were so nice. We didn't try the steam room and dry sauna though.

Ivan's niece and and her boyfriend from the US got to enjoy this building too.

Qi-Qi (7th section") is the high rent district of Taichung, and our Airbnb was in a fancy high-rise building in this most exclusive area of the city. The condo is valued at around $1.6M-$2.0M USD. It is by far the nicest vacation rental we’ve ever had. We enjoyed it so much and was so comfortable here, we didn’t want to leave. Not only was the condo itself nice, but the servicing staff were super friendly and the amenities were amazing. Just a fantastic place!

Taipei

It’s been ages since Ivan last saw his college friend and ex-roommate Kevin Wong. We took up on Kevin’s offer to host us in Taipei. We requested for more outdoor activities away from the malls, and Kevin delivered and showed us a great time! It was great visiting New Taipei City and its surroundings, as well as meeting Kevin’s kids. Too bad we didn’t get to meet his wife Victoria, hoping to meet her when they come to L.A. to visit us!

Japanese Restaurant

Bi-Tan & dinner

Japanese Restaurant

This sushi restaurant is the bomb!

We took the high speed rail to go to Banquio station to meet with Kevin.

The inside of the high speed rail (HSR) is very nice. The ride is smooth and super fast.

The food here is fantastic! It's super popular, we had to show up before the restaurant opens at lunch time just to get a spot quickly... and this was a weekday for lunch!

Raw oysters. Yum!

Mini corn, still in wraps.

This was the wait when we left. Weekday lunch. Crazy.

Since many kids ride on scooters with their parents, the selection of kids helmets here are impressive.

This was one popular restaurant. Even on a weekday, people line up outside before the restaurant opens at 11:30am! We understood why as soon as we bit into the sushi. So fresh!

Bi-Tan & Dinner

We rented bikes and rode around Bi-Tan. It's beautiful here.

The girls tried out hitting at a nearby driving range for the very first time. Fun experience! They'll need more lessons for sure.

This was a cool obstacle course. Low level of difficulty, which made it fun for the kids.

Crossing a no-car bridge to the other side of the river.

We rewarded ourselves to some nice drinks by the river after the bike ride.

It was great meeting Kevin's kids and enjoying dinner with them. The kids' friend's dad owns this restaurant.

The HSR station is underground, accessible from this plaza. Cool Christmas tree is still up.

Colorful entrance to the HSR station.

We tried using the HSR tickets with no assigned seats. Big mistake. No seats for the first few stops. Ashlyn and I got tired of standing and sat in the luggage area.

Standing room only.

Bi-Tan is a popular spot for weekend-getaway. We rented bikes to ride along the river, the kids were so happy to ride around the bikes and to explore the outdoors instead of the typical walking and shopping. They also tried golf driving range and a bicycle obstacle course for the first time. This was a fantastic place!

We picked up Kevin’s kids with him and headed to dinner together. The kids, elementary-school ages, were picked up from their after-school tutoring places at 6pm! School is no joke in Taiwan.