Back to Taiwan

We got a chance to go back to Taiwan last week for a business trip, and our last visa trip out of the country. April will be two years since Nick graduated so we can get a working visa here. Maybe when we aren't forced to leave every 60-90 days we will actually get around to visiting some of the places in China that I keep hearing about...

Taiwan was lovely. The weather was warm, and the air was deliciously clean. We left on a particularly smoggy morning and it was so nice to shed our winter coats and see the sky. Nick had a meeting soon after we landed so I wandered around downtown Taipei window shopping and people watching.

Our first night we went to a night market and ate all of Nick's favorite things. Basically our whole vacation revolved around food. The next morning Nick had meetings, but that afternoon we got to go see Hunger Games! We were so excited when we saw the advertisement. We kind of forget about movies since not many of them make it to the theater in China. The timing of our trip was perfect.

The next morning we did some shopping to pick up some things for some friends in China then we headed to the airport. It was a quick trip, but we had a great time. I think in the 2 1/2 days that we were there I drank about 20 gallons of fresh fruit juice! It is one of my new favorite things. Lucky for me Nick just discovered that there is a "CoCo" here very close to our house. That is the name of the chain where I got my favorite kind of juice. With the weather warming up, I think I will quickly make it a habit to walk over there in the afternoons.

Here's some pictures of the trip. Most of them have something to do with food, it's amazing we don't weigh 400 pounds each!

Ji Pai! (fried chicken with a little bit of crack sprinkled on top according to Nick)  I think this was number one on Nick's list of things to get while we were in Taiwan. I think he ate it at least 3 different times.

Dongguacha and fresh lemonade. Yum!

Fried dumplings and juice from Coco

Pure bliss :)

I can't tell you how excited I was when I saw the advertisements and realized we would be there for the opening. It didn't take much convincing to get Nick to go see it with me and cancel our other sightseeing plans.

Doner Kebab. We had to work for this one. We bought it off a man with a little cart on the street. While he was making it, somebody sounded the alert that the police were coming by, so he and all the other carts next to him took off running. We just stood there laughing for a second since we had already paid and then watched our food run off, but when we walked around the next corner we found him and got our kebab.

Out at night. We just found out that when we apply for baby's passport/visa after he is born we will have to also submit 4-5 pictures of us together while I am pregnant. Kind of a random thing. This picture will probably be one of them since we don't take too many pictures together when we are just hanging out at home.

Taiwanese buffet. This was a quick lunch. We only had about 20 minutes before Nick had to be at a meeting. There was a big buffet with probably 40-50 different dishes. You take your tray and walk down the line and point at what you want (or I guess tell them if you speak Chinese). At the end there is a woman who looks at what you chose and decides how much it costs. I was impressed with how clean everything was. I would like to go to this type of restaurant in Beijing, but I just don't think it would work as well. It would probably only be nice for about a week, then it would be too dirty for me to eat at.