Happy Year of the Dragon! Taiwan Trip Part 1 (Taichung)

It's hard to believe it's already mid February!  

We have been in Taiwan for the Chinese new year holidays since last Thursday.  Siti and I flew with the kids on HK express leaving Thursday morning.  Michael then met us here on Saturday morning, having flown straight to Taipei from JFK.

The first day that we arrived we fought delays and traffic and were pretty wiped by the time we checked in to The Lin Hotel.  Other than walking around the opera house and doing clay artwork near Sogo, we ate a quick dinner at a nearby mall and called it a night.  It was pretty cold in Taichung the first couple of days we were here. 

The second day was probably the coldest and slightly rainy so we opted to go to the nearby Lipao outlet mall. We all ate hotpot, rode the huge ferris wheel, then ran around the indoor playroom for 2 hours before heading home for a new years eve dinner. I can't get over how easy and individualized hotpot in Taiwan is. It really is fast food here, really available at all restaurants, chains, meals and children's playrooms.

Saturday started off early with picking up Michael at the Taichung train station as he arrived from Taipei on a high speed rail.  I think the efficiency and speed of the gaotie juxtaposed with the inefficiency and headache of the LGA and JFK airports was especially jarring. We spent the morning exploring our hotel,  wandering around the Taichung Industrial park, checking out huge swans,  opening presents from the US, and generally relaxing, until we headed to an indoor playroom with the cousins, followed by a quick dinner.  Our rooms actually had really great views of Taichung, with airplanes flying overhead and the high speed rail whizzing by in both directions, much to all of our delight.  

The second day of the Chinese new year is traditionally set aside for "hui nian jia" which is when the women of the family return to their families, or their ancestral home. On this day we chilled in Taichung by heading to lunch and a playroom at Shineworld11, 

followed by a trip out to the Gaomei Wetlands, a super cool wetlands park in the coast with lots of windmills. 

It was really windy though, and probably contributed to Teo being really sick today, both with a fever and stomach and head upset.  After breakfast and a loud and traditional lion dance with incense, prayers and firecrackers, we got on the road to Puli Township, where we will spend the next two days exploring the central part of Taiwan, and Sun Moon Lake.  On our road trip, Al got to try a Taiwanese sausage grilled by the roadside, which he declared very tasty.  Lola got to eat tea flavors eggs, one of her favorite snacks.