Escape to Taipei

After almost saying for two years I'll visit Taipei, I finally did.  Unfortunately Scott couldn't go, but that's because he had his only travel plans to Singapore and the Land Down Under for work so no need to feel bad for him.  He took my point-and-shoot camera and his assignment was to take pictures too, so we'll see what he takes and I'll share.  

The main reason for the trip was my good friend Emily and her husband Adam were visiting Adam's brother and family in Taipei for a last-minute trip.  I hadn't seen Emily since my wedding 2 years ago and my trips back to the US didn't line up with hers as she and Adam had been in Ecuador during the majority of that time working for the Peace Corps.  Now they're done and Adam will starting grad school this coming fall so it was perhaps the best chance for us to meet up in a while.  It was wonderful to see both of them.

Taipei was a nice break from China.  People are polite and the city is clean.  It brought back some old memories of Tokyo especially with all the cute shops and restaurants it had, so maybe you can call it a less expensive version of Tokyo where everyone spoke Mandarin instead of Japanese.  Everyday I took advantage of two things I don't get a lot of in Beijing - boba and donuts!  Yes, we have donut shops here, but Beijing doesn't have Mr. Donut's pon-de-rings or Dunkin' Donut's mochi donuts that Scott and I fell in love with during our mini tour through Japan eight years ago.

We visited Taipei 101, Shilin Night Market, a flower market, the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial, and National Palace Museum; rode the Maokong gondolas; and ate at a toilet-themed restaurant where the chairs were toilets and the food was served in mini-toilets.  It was a short 4-day trip, perhaps long enough to see the main sights and short enough to want to go back.

I'll post the rest of the pictures shortly...