Continued from Taipei Day 3 & 4.

Taipei Day 5

Let’s see…what can we do in Taipei today…

In retrospect, we should have stayed a few days less in Taipei. We were hit by a few factors that made us even less active than we had planned. The weather has been rainy much, Aunt J has been busier than usual, so she hasn’t had much time to hang out with us. Also, my parents are also staying in Taichung while we are in Taipei, so it means we don’t have a baby sitter; therefore, all night time outings are out of the question.

Man’s gotta eat. Love the hearty breakfast here.

Shit!! I poked the running yolk with my spoon to pop it, and instead of breaking over the rice, it squirted out everywhere. Doh.

Still raining today.

While PL takes her morning nap, I came down to the cafe for some delicious coffee. Loving this coffee shop by the hotel. Gonna catch up on some blog. I’ve already made myself a regular here in just two days…ahhh.

After a long nap, PL wakes up at around 1ish. While we were getting PL ready to head out, we heard air raid sirens…Oh yeah, Aunt J had told us that there was an air raid drill scheduled for today between 1:30 to 2:00pm…you know, since cross strait relations has been on the rocks lately due to a newly elected pro-independence president. Anyhow, it was recommended that everyone stay indoors during the drill, so I guess we’ll do just that then.

Drill over, time to head out for a late lunch. Lunch spot can only be reached by taxi, so gotta use the car seat.

Taxi does not have a center seat belt, I guess daddy will have to forgo his safety.

Lunch spot.

For a country with so many English speakers, why do they still have odd translations like this? This translation is a literal translation, when it really should read, “Addiction Seafood”.

But man, look at this place!!!

So many live crabs in these tanks.

That’s one funky looking crab. No idea what it is.

More of those odd crabs. I wanna eat one!

Don’t even know what this is.

More crabs!!!

And even more crabs!!!! I wanna eat them all!

Spiny lobsters!

Crabs and spiny lobsters!!! AAAHHHH, So Much Want!

Redundant photo of more crabs and lobsters, yup. Must Eat!

OK, time to leave the live seafood area, and head to the market portion.

Sweet, their shopping car fits PL’s carseat. This will make our lives a lot easier with these narrow aisles and all the people here.

Fancy some fish heads?

Also have a meat counter here.

Want to eat everything here.

So many choices…what to pick…

OK, it was hectic in there. So many people so many selections, and we’ve got a baby who’s a ticking time bomb who can lose it at any given moment.

YUM!!! The splurge of this meal are the two spiny lobsters! So sweet and delicious!

My only complaint about this place is that you buy all the food, and they only have a few standing tables outside to eat. I wish they had a larger and nicer eating area outside. We actually felt so uncomfortable eating standing while having the baby in her carseat, decided to just pack everything up to go and eat back in the comfort of our hotel.

Quickly got a taxi and will be having our delicious seafood meal back at our hotel.

Of course, right when we get back to the hotel, we realized that PL had pooped while in her car seat. While changing her diaper, the unthinkable happened…a piece of turd rolled out of the diaper!!! The only saving grace is that the little piece of turd fell on her changing bad instead of the bed. That was close!!! After that, I ate some lobsters while PL spit up all over daddy’s side of the mattress…Then it’s nap time…

After nap time, we all made a visit to the nice coffee shop for some dessert and drinks.

The husband and wife owner of the coffee shop thought PL was the cutest thing ever. They even gave us a free slice of cake!! Winning! One of their employees said that PL should be a model on a commercial. Daddy agrees.

Model.

Model…if only she would sit still for her photoshoot…

Late lunch means not too hungry when dinner time rolls around. RL got a hamburger from 7-Eleven. She was not impressed. I was still full from lunch, so just ate random snacks for dinner.

Let’s review highlights for the day. Air raid drill. Got seafood takeout. A piece of turd fell out. Baby spat up on daddy’s side of the bed….yeah that’s about it. The biggest effort we made today was get in a taxi to get takeout lunch…hah…how pathetic. I think we are overdue to be home in Austin.

Taipei Day 6

Last day in Taipei!!! Yay! We are heading back home to Austin tomorrow, and we are very excited about it. As mentioned earlier, we wish we had chose to stay fewer days here in Taipei due to various reasons.

My hearty breakfast. Well, it’s more like lunch for me. I was extra careful with the egg, so it did not explode this morning.

Model, hahahaha.

Look, it’s actually a beautiful day! Sunny, cool with weather in the 70s.

Awwww..how cute. Sigh…Reminds me of my dog 🙁 He had terminal cancer and I had to put him down a couple of days right before this trip. 🙁 🙁 🙁 🙁 I’m so sad about it but I’ve been so busy traveling that I haven’t had time to really process his passing. Sigh…I miss my terrible mutt, especially when I see other dogs that reminds me of him.

At the subway station, we are getting a refund for the remainder value on our subway cards.

They also have a lady selling roasted sweet potatoes at this exit as well.

This is the one place on our sightseeing agenda today, Huashan 1914 Creative Park. Built in 1914, it was a wine factory that had been abandoned. In the late 90s, theater groups still using the empty space to stage plays, and one thing led to another, it’s now been renovated and now houses all sorts of cafes, shops, and creative spaces for artists, etc.

Love these trees, reminds me of my time in India.

Lots of construction here. I think they’ve got new exhibits happening all the time.

Just like the cows that we had back in Austin a few years back.

Milk tea, it’s actually a little hot out here.

There were several wedding photo sessions over here.

Cool, a plant had grown inside the downspout that had rusted away except for the top.

Lots of shops and little performance spaces here.

More exhibit space getting setup.

Me carrying PL on my back with RL feeding her while we continue to walk. We are awesome.

Risque, this bride is taking photos in a black dress with shear top where it shows the black bra underneath. Scandalous!

Another cow.

Apparently, drainage down sprouts are ideal places for plants to thrive.

Oh no…blurry!

Really cool renovated industrial space.

Love the art work on the tiles.

OK, we’ve made one full circle.

One of our goals today is to get a family photo….This is the selfie that we ended up with. Mommy and daddy looking at the camera while PL only cares about STRAPS!!!!

Fed PL the rest of her bottle.

Strap!!

Loves straps! Also, doesn’t she look like a pirate with her hat?

We spent enough time walking around that we got a little hungry for a light lunch. There’s this bustling Italian restaurant here, looks good.

Pretty cool space inside.

Instead of a normal table, we got a sweet little corner spot with two single seat lounge chairs. This will be perfect for us with the baby.

PL gets super fussy…what’s going on…

Our table is part repurposed fan frame.

There we go. Think PL got hot and thirsty, more milk for her calmed her right down.

We had a great time chilling here at this restaurant. Gave us a small glimpse of what it was like to travel pre baby. Huashan 1914 would be cool if we came two years ago while we had the energy to stay up late. Apparently they also hold swing dancing events here at Huashan 1914. We’d probably come here at night, have dinner, dance, drink at a bar until we close it down, then stumble back home to the hotel. Those were fun days…

As we were leaving Huashan 1914, look who we ran into!!! My cousin(left) and her son. We just saw her at the family dinner in Taichung a few days ago, what a funny coincidence that we’d run into her here.

Wait, this is the perfect opportunity! We asked my cousin to take a family photo for us!!!! Yes, much better than our selfie effort!

And now photo with my cousin and her son! If only we can get babies to both look at the camera at the same time, heh. We kept our visit with with my cousin short, it’s time for PL’s nap…like an hour ago.

Those panels are computer motherboards. I assume defective ones.

A nice way to finish up our time in Taipei. Sunny day visit to a neat creative park within close walking distance from our hotel. Also as a bonus, no turd fell out of a diaper today…so far…

After coming back from our outing, PL went to nap and I came down to the coffee shop to blog. Going back home tomorrow, looking forward to it. Though, dreading the long, Long, LONG travel day ahead.

We had saved dinner at the hotel restaurant for our last night in Taipei. It’s in the same restaurant where they serve breakfast. PL discovers herself in the mirror.

Who is this…so fascinating…

Surprisingly, they had a pretty small menu. It was essentially dim sum items and some Western cuisine items(steaks, salmon with a side of starch and veggies, etc.). We were expecting a more extensive menu, but we like dim sum, so it’ll do.

We did splurge and order the fried soft shell crabs though. Look, an entire fried crab!! Yum!!

After dinner, we pack pack and pack. Tomorrow, early wake up time, then head to the airport.

To be continued at Home, Sweet Home.