We're Back From Taiwan

Lauren and I arrived on an early morning flight from Taipei yesterday. We got to the Chiang Kai Shek airport with plenty of time to spare, and Lauren spent most of the time before boarding our plane, playing in a wonderful children's playground area they have in the airport. Lauren did great on the flight from Taipei to Narita, playing with her toys for most of the 3 hour flight. We did some shopping in Narita, and she watched a movie, had ice cream before we boarded our 9 hour flight to San Francisco. After we got on board (around 5:30PM local time), Lauren promptly fell asleep and remained asleep for the remainder of the flight.

When we arrived in SFO, we cleared customs without too much hassle. Being the good boyscout that I am (or at least according to Lars, I'm a boyscout), I filled out the customs form truthfully stating I was bringing food into the U.S., which immediately flagged us for inspection. I told the agent, we had cookies and candy, along with tea from my relatives, and I had candy we had purchased for Lauren, and we still had left over granola bars, I had packed for Lauren in the U.S. before leaving for Taiwan. They x-rayed our luggage, and we're cleared without a hitch. I wasn't worried since I knew we had nothing that was prohibited, but I had heard some horror stories from friends and relatives about some of their recent adventures through customs. My Aunt Jen's friend, Lisa told me a story about her daughter and how she had forgotten she had a muffin in her purse - and the customs officer pretty much told her she could deny her entry into the U.S. (her daughter is a Canadian citizen), for having the muffin in her purse (muffin's are allowed, but she had declared she had no food on her form - and that's considered lying to the U.S. government).

Lauren stayed awake all yesterday, and went to sleep around the right time (8:30PM), but she stayed asleep until almost 11AM this morning. The travel across the dateline has been tough on her and she's slept over 12 hours everytime she's been asleep this week, but she's a trooper and handling it extremely well.

We had a great time in Taipei for 7 days, 6 nights at the Yomi Hotel, which really impressed me with their amenities, location (near a MRT station - Taipei's subway), and low cost. I had booked a package deal through Expedia, knowing what the airfare cost, the hotel room worked out to about $75 a night, a great rate for a 3-star Taipei hotel. The hotel rate included breakfast and was an upgraded room (something they call Deluxe Executive). The room included free snacks, bottled water, and fresh fruit bowl. The bathroom was equipped with a steam shower, granite tub, and Japanese bidet toilet. They also offered frozen yogurt in the afternoons free of charge but we were never in the hotel at the right time to take advantage of it. They also offered a washing machine and dryer for guest use with free detergent, which we did take advantage of. All the staff was extremely friendly and helpful, so if you're going to Taipei and need a hotel room, I highly recommend this hotel. If you stay 7 days or longer they also offer free car service to the airport. (Aunt Jen negotiated this for us, even though we only stayed 6 nights).

Many thanks to Aunt Jen who arranged our schedule for our time in Taipei. Without her assistance, we certainly wouldn't have seen as many relatives as we did, nor would Lauren have gotten to do as much as she did over our time there. Lauren got to visit the Taipei Zoo, visit a Buddhist Temple in the mountains, visit the Taiwan Traditional Arts Center, and explore the an International Chrysanthemum Flower Show, all in addition to visiting relatives and having banquet meals. It was great seeing Aunt Mei-Ling, her husband, their daughter Wen-Fong and Wen-Fong's son. In addition we saw 2nd Uncle Tao-Rong and wife Fong-Fong. We also had dinner with Aunt Lih-yen, her husband and their daughter Mimi. And we spent a couple of days with Uncle Tao-Yen's family, including his wife, and 3 sons families, and daughter Sui-Guin (Rey-Gen in mandarin), her husband Peter, and her son and daughter. Aunt Jen's daughter, Michelle was there as well and had a great time playing with Lauren. Our Canadian aunt, Lisa happened to be visiting Taipei at the same time so we shared some meals with her as well.

Lauren played with a lot of the little kid relatives, and was awake most of the waking hours (although she was asleep for most dinners) and awake by 5 am on most days. I'm really glad I had the chance to take Lauren and that everyone got to meet her. I'm also really glad the trip left a positive impression of Taipei for Lauren. I'm hoping it will inspire her to learn Chinese, and to ask to go again soon.