The day before a trip is normally the most exciting and hectic day, which should be the 4th. But this is weird as the flight doesn't leave till 1:30 AM on the 6th. So today is the day before the trip, but we won't get any sleep till we're on the plane. It's going to be interesting as Sarah is only 3 months old, and the cabin pressurizing will mess with her ears. But we plan to feed her on the ascent and descent to help equalize the pressure.
We've been piling stuff up in the 2nd bedroom, to take on the trip. Trying to get it sorted out into stuff we need in the cabin and stuff that can be checked in.
Left Oceanside at 7:30pm. Got to LAX at 9:00pm and even though the flight wasn't scheduled to leave for 4 hours there was already a line at the EVA air counter. Got the bags checked in, and our boarding passes. We were assigned seats 20 A + C, these are bulkhead seats as we also had a bassinet reserved for Sarah. These seats are on the left-hand side, all the way in the front of the lower deck of the 747.
My mom and sister (Dina and Erica) drove us to the airport. They left us at the airport at 10:30 to make the long drive back to Oceanside. We went to the DFS (Duty Free Shop) to look around and made purchases of Cigarettes for A-gong and a bottle of XO for Baba.
We started towards gate 105 at 12:00am, as boarding was scheduled to start at 12:40am and we needed to hand check the camera and film around the security barrier. Also you do tend to move slower when you've got a stroller, diaper bag, and the carry on stuff. Boarding began on time and we left the tarmac at 1:30am bound for Taipei, Taiwan R.O.C.
Flew in an 
747-400a in Deluxe Class, the seats are extra wide with footrests, so the flight
is very comfortable.
We flew a straight route to Japan, then made a left turn and headed for Taiwan. They served dinner about half an hour into the flight, and a breakfast 2 hours before landing. The nice thing about this flight is the jet lag is to a minimum, as it starts late, and arrives early in the morning. So if you can sleep on a plane, this gets you there while you're sleeping.
We arrived at 6:17am on the 7th, so most of the 6th disappeared due to the International Date Line. We took our time getting off the plane, as we knew it would take some time to get the baggage to the baggage claim area. Proceeded to immigration and found out that we had miscalculated the return flight. So instead of a 14-day visa free stay, we were going to be there for 15 days. We proceeded to get 30-day, single entry visas for Sarah and myself, as Carrie still has a Taiwan passport. The visas were $100 NT apiece, and the process was painless. Went from there to the baggage claim area, got the bags and got through customs with out a hitch.
Mama, Baba and Gefou were waiting for us. Got all the hugs and greetings taken care of and headed for the cars. They brought 2 cars as with all the luggage and people 1 car wouldn't have handled it. We proceeded home. This time the trip home was in daylight, so I got a better view of everything. Also, things were familiar to me because of the first trip we took, I could pick out landmarks, and that made me happy.
The word for the day was:
Heat and Humidity
It carried over for the entire trip. Humidity was in the 100% range, and the temperature stayed at about 27 to 34 Centigrade (80 to 94 Fahrenheit) for both the day and nighttime temperatures.
We get home about 8:00am, and start unpacking. Called home to let them know we arrived and were getting settled in. We get all the gifts and other stuff distributed and put away. Went to take a shower at 9:45am, and at 10:00am crashed on the bed for a nap. Even though we slept on the flight over, I guess I just needed a recharge and slept till 2:00. Woke up and went for a walk, got home at about 4:30 and took another shower. Carrie and I took between 2 and 3 showers a day, just to try to keep from feeling too sticky.
At about 5:30 I heard Beethoven's "Fur Elise" being played on some vehicle coming up the street. I asked Carrie what it was, and she said it was the trash truck. I started laughing as I found it humorous. But the truck comes by almost everyday, so trash really didn't build up like it does in the USA.
Mama always has lunch ready at noon, and when lunch is done it's "siesta" time. Dinner is normally ready at about 6:00pm. This day is no different, even though I napped through lunch. Dinner started and various relatives started showing up. Gefou brought 10 bottles of Taiwan beer (it’s got a 10 day shelf life, so it need to be drunk quickly, so much for the idea of Budweiser's born on dating for freshness). So between Gefou, A-gong and me we finished all the bottles. Then other uncles started showing up with many 24 oz. cans of Miller High Life, which we proceeded to finish off. We sat around talking politics and drinking till 11:30pm when I called it quits for the night.
Got up at 7:30am with the worse hangover of my life, took 800 mg of ibuprofen, drank some water and went back to bed. Carrie came up at 9:30 to wake me up, still not feeling right, but not tired. Had some tea, then went to the 7-11 to get canned coffee. Now I could have made coffee at home, but I'm normally too lazy to make coffee (even in the states I only drink coffee at my mom's), so it was easier to buy (the canned coffee is between 15-30 $NT) since the convenience stores are about 1 minute away walking.
Note: The exchange rate was $1 US = $32 NT.Various aunts and uncles came by to visit us and see Sarah. Everyone thought she was the most precious baby they had seen.
Had lunch, food is a lot different than the food that was fixed during our New Years visit. A whole different set of vegetables was in season, and everything was delicious.
Yesterday it sort of rained more like drizzle. Today though, it was really pissing down. It started at about 4:30pm with big heavy drops of rain, accompanied with the rain was thunder and lightening. It also cooled down to 27c or 80f.
Took a shower and went to bed about 10:00pm.
Got up at 6:00, grabbed a can of coffee out of the fridge. Normally I like my coffee and tea hot, but I drank everything cold to keep from melting down.
At 8:00 I went for a walk around town. Everywhere I went people did double takes, but everyone was friendly and helpful. I met "Larry" a retired schoolteacher. We talked for a little bit and he said he knew my mother-in-law. We were near a fruit stand and I was going to buy some Lian-Ous (it's like a cross between an apple and a pear). Larry picked out the best ones, and bought them for me. He said he'd stop by later to see the baby and Carrie.
Went to get some cooler clothing, nylon shorts and tank tops. I bought a bunch of new clothing for the trip, but didn't wear half of the new stuff. Had lunch and at about 1:00 it started raining. About 2:30 it cleared up for me to go to Gefou and Dageae's house to use the computer to check my email. The only problem was that it was to far to walk, so had to get the ball's to ride the scooter there. Now I know you say well how bad can traffic and drivers be? Read my little bit on Driving in Taiwan, and you'll see. But, I left and it turned out not to be so bad, maybe next trip I'll try driving a car (he he right). In any case got the email all taken care of, and headed back home.
Before Larry showed up 2 Mormon Missionaries stopped by to talk (they noticed me as they were riding around). We stayed off religion and talked about the States, Taiwan and computers. Larry stopped by and visited for a while. Since I didn't get his Chinese name I had been trying to describe him to Carrie and her mom. I guess I described him good enough because it turned out to be the person they thought I was describing.
About 4:30 the sun tried to break through the overcast sky. At 5:00 Aunt Jenny showed up to take us to dinner. We drove to Jubei to pick up Uncle Howard from the Hsinchu county offices. He works in the agricultural office. The restaurant we went to was fairly close to the government offices. I met Jenny's daughter for the first time. The meal was really good, when we were done they drove us home. They came in and looked at some of the pictures of Sarah, as she was asleep. Not to worry as Sunday the 13th was Tse-gongs birthday, and we'd all be there for it.
Went to bed at 9:30 after giving Dina a call to say hi, and let her know I sent email.
Got up at 5:45. Mama had already left for swimming, so went out front to watch the morning commute start. The reflexes of some of the drivers would make some drag racers proud. They time their starts to coincide with the light going green to make left turns before the other cars can get across the street. Of course the cars that are going straight also are rolling while the light is red, to beat the cars turning left. It is like one big machine, as all the vehicles thread around each other, with only millimeters to spare.
Had lunch, then went to Gefou's house to send and check email. Since a lot of people take naps after lunch, this is the best time to be driving around. Got home and A-gong had just come back from the mountain, with a load of fresh bamboo shoots. Mama starts preparing these for dinner. Dinner also has Drunken Chicken on the menu tonight, which is like chicken soup except it'll kick your ass. The chicken is cut into pieces and put back in the soup, along with distilled rice liquor.
One of the uncles comes over with large cans of beer to drink. He needs to go to Hsinchu to pick up his kids from school, and wants to know if I want to go along. I say sure, and we head to Hsinchu. We kill some time at another aunts house, have some tea and beer there. The tea is made from melons, and is very good, so the auntie gives me a can to take home.
Got back home about 11:30 and went to bed.
Got up at 6:47 and watched some news. A-gong shows up with corn from the mountain. Every morning the laundry is done, and taken to the third floor covered balcony to dry. Every afternoon we collect it and fold it.
Went to check email but Hotmail is down. Stopped by uncles house and talked with him, his wife and daughter and Gefou. The uncle's wife and daughter come by to see Sarah. Mama made Tsung-Tzu (I think it sounds like Tzonze when I hear it, and they were delicious).
Went to Meng-Ling's graduation (Masters Degree - Chemical Engineering). We left at 7:00, but I had gotten up at 5:51. Spent most of the day there. Had lunch at a restaurant near the university. The restaurants are a bit funny as they use mayonnaise on top of a lot of foods. This doesn't sound bad, until I add that they put sprinkles on top of the mayo. It shocked me the first time I saw it, but it's actually very good.
Got home at 3:30, and dinner was at 6:00. All of Baba's brothers (except the eldest) come over every Saturday to talk. Got to bed at 11:00.
Got up at 7:30, and started getting ready for the day. It was raining again, with thunder and lightning. Headed out to a private resort that had the restaurant where Tse-gongs birthday party was going to be. We had the place to ourselves, so the food and drinks started coming. Today a lot of family was drinking wine; it actually wasn't a bad red wine. The only thing I had a problem with was the way it was being drunk. They drank it like every other thing alcoholic, in small glasses with a lot of "Kom Beis" or "Bottoms Up". Also they were using ice cubes to chill it.
Got up at 6:30, and had breakfast. Breakfasts are one of those meals, which can be a little surprising. Most mornings mama made me a thin oatmeal like drink, and some mornings steam buns. This morning was a little different as they got me the equivalent of a "Breakfast Jack". It was toasted white bread (crust is optional), with an egg, sliced mystery meat, cucumbers and a ketchup like sauce. For a bit more they'll add a second layer with a pork sausage patty. The breakfast is $25 NT, with the patty it went to $40 NT.
Lucky is the family dog, he's part chow and part dachshund. Today I discovered his personal transport system. He'll hop onto the floorboards of passing scooters, at the light in front of my in-laws house. Since everyone knows him, they'll let him ride on the floorboards. When he gets where he wants to go, he'll hop off and go about his business. This way his territory is quite large.
Uncle invited us to dinner at his restaurant. We went and sat at the big table (it's supposed to be the largest round table with a lazy susan in all of Taiwan). It's mostly family members at the dinner, but there are some of uncles friends from the Chutung Police Department. It was nice to meet them as I didn't have a license to ride the scooter, and they said that if I had any problems to let them know. Its nice having friends in high places.
Cousin gave me a ride home on his scooter, as the rest of the family had already gone home.
Note: If we went to a restaurant to eat, "We Always Drank".Got up at some point that day, as Meng-Ling and his girlfriend Shin-Han took us to Taipei. First stop was Peitou, where we visited the hotspring there. It was warm that day, and walking down wind of the hotsprings it got really hot. The water is boiling from the geothermal activity in that part of Taiwan. It was also sulphurous so the smell was truly amazing. People used to boil eggs in the water here, but they've got it fenced off now as people were getting hurt.
Had lunch at "Alex's Café", it's a very nice place to eat.
After lunch we drove on to Yang Ming Shan National Park.
Yang Ming
Shan National Park - English
Yang Ming
Shan National Park - Chinese (Big-5)
Liuhuangku Geothermal Scenic Area
This area has a lake that 1 half is one color, and the other half is a different
color.
Spot near the back gate
Took a rest break here. Cooled of in the stream running through this site.
Kengtzuping Fumaroles Scenic Area
Amazing steam plume and other geothermal activity at this site.
Chingtienkang Scenic Area
This is a farm area, beautiful scenery and cool temperatures.
Got home had dinner, and went to bed at about 9:00.
Got up at 6:30 and stayed close to home. Went and visited an auntie. Had lunch, and napped from 1:00-4:00. Had dinner and ...
Next trip I'll take a notebook computer, so I can keep notes a little easier. Also, it'll be good to have as soon as I get a digital camera. I've got a Minolta Maxxum XTsi, that I'm taking pictures with, and then scanning the photos to include here.
Also looking at the holiday sales flyers that came in the mail. It's a whole different set of holidays as compared to the USA. The flyer I was looking at had stuff for the Dragon Boat Festival coming up on the 18th.
Got up at 6:00. Got a call at 9:00 from my mom to wish me a happy birthday. Carrie, Sarah and me went to visit Dageae at work. She works at a Stock brokerage, and all the people remembered us from our first visit. They were happy to see Sarah. Came home and watched the workers 2 doors down, renovating the shop there. While I saw nothing wrong with the construction methods used, I know that the building inspectors in the USA would throw a fit.
Went to a seafood restaurant for my birthday dinner. Since this place is near the coast all of the fish and other seafood is very fresh. On the drive to and from the restaurant got to watch the rain and lightning. Saw some pretty impressive bolts.
Went to bed about 11:00.
Note: Some one asked: Why do I wear pink things on my birthday? I do not know (but it may be due to alcohol). Check out my other picture pages to see what I mean.
Got up at 5:30, to get ready for the Dragon Boat Festival. Called my mom at 8:00 which was still 5:00pm on the 17th in California, so my birthday stretched out for a while. Relatives started showing up for the festivities and prayers.
After lunch we went to Lung-Tan to watch the Dragon Boat Races. I was trying to get some photos of the racing but the shoreline was clogged with people. Carrie suggested I get up on the Officials stand to get the photos. I was a little hesitant as it was the "Officials Stand" and I didn’t want to get in trouble. Well it turns out that once I got up there, one of the judges saw me and he got me a chair to sit in right on the finish line. I did get some great pictures. There is also a suspension bridge spanning the water there, which made for some good over head shots.
After dinner we headed to Hsinchu, to look for gifts and get some snacks. I LOVE the nightmarkets in Taiwan.
Got up, and Dageae took us to the fish market. Had lunch there, and headed back home. Meng-Ling then drove us to visit the uncle near the airport. We had dinner at the uncles house, and visit with the cousins.
It’s Fathers day in the US, and since I just became a father this was my first fathers day. Unfortunately Fathers day in Taiwan is on August 8 (8-8, or Ba-Ba which is the same sound as Father = Baba).
Went to visit all the local aunts and uncles, and drop off thank you cakes. After lunch Gefou asked if I wanted to go for a hike, or go shopping with the girls. I opted to go hiking.
We were picked up by his friend Kern, and then drove to collect Yi-Chin (who is an officer in the Taiwan Marines). We drove to a temple and parked, and then started up the path there to the top of the mountain. Gefou and I are out of shape, so we move a bit slowly up the path. The view is spectacular from the path and even better from the top. We relax for a bit at the top, and then head back down to the car.
The next stop is an indoor swimming pool. They make you wear a swimming cap, which I can understand. But what is really funny is that I have more hair on my body and face than I do on my head. We move between the pool, hot tub, sauna and the water slide. Once we're done we drive to go get something to eat.
We find a restaurant that's not to packed, and have a really good meal. We then head home.
Get up and head to Hsinchu to drop thank you cake off at aunt's house. We head to the fish market, but they've started a renovation project on it. We go to downtown Hsinchu to do some additional shopping for gifts.
Start packing stuff up for the trip home.
Uncle comes by with a case of "Taiwan Beer" (12oz. cans). Meng-Ling goes to get some nibbles to eat while we drink. We finish the case of beer.
Final score is:
Me - 8 cans
A-gong - 7 cans
Uncle - 5 cans
Various - 4 cans
Get up and finish packing. We head to the airport at 2:00pm. We stop by the uncle's house to drop off thank you cake. Get to the airport and get checked in. Some time to kill so we do some last minute shopping.
We say our good-byes (a lot of tears), and head for Gate 17 at 5:30pm. Boarding begins at 5:45pm. They start the push back at 6:15, once the plane is ready to move off on its own the ground crew waves to every one in the plane. We're airborne at 6:25pm.
What proceeds is one of the most miserable flights I've ever been on. Carrie gets her meal (she always gets the vegetarian meal on EVA flights), and we're trying to feed Sarah also. They start serving the regular meals, and Carrie and I are juggling her tray back and forth as we feed and change Sarah, so my meal is delayed. After an hour a flight attendant comes by and asks if I want seafood or chicken, I say seafood, and she goes away. Half an hour later another flight attendant asks me the same question, I tell her seafood. I finally get my meal and the foil on the entrée is patched with another piece of foil. I'm starving at this point so I eat it. The flight to Taiwan was great the flight attendant brought us diapers, a baby kit, slippers and a bag for the dirty diapers. Also the flight attendants on all the EVA flights I've been on have been some of the most wonderful and cheerful people (except this flight, the attendants were bad). The flight home the flight attendant brought us just the diapers. They told us to put the dirty diapers in the trash receptacle in the lavatory after we had asked for a bag (Note: the attendant didn't believe my wife when she said they gave us a bag for the dirty diapers on the flight over). About 6 hours into the flight I had to go to the bathroom with a severe case of the runs (I think the seafood was bad). They bring us a breakfast 2 hours before landing. We finally arrive at LAX at 3:17pm, and we wait as all the other passengers get off the plane.
We proceed through immigration, baggage claim and customs. Dina, Erica and Suzie are waiting for us to take us home. We get home to Dina's, get some coffee and start handing out the gifts we had brought back. We then head to our house to get settled.
Just some minor notes here. You don't realize how used you get to things. I got out of bed and was expecting cool tile under my feet, but stepped down into fuzzy, warm carpet (scared the hell out of me for a second). Light switches in all the wrong places. I do miss Taiwan, but it’s good to be home.
Next tentatively scheduled trip to Taiwan, Feb. 2000. Chinese New Year (Dragon).
Alex, Carrie, Yachi, Bud and Dina's Trip to Taiwan (Jan 29 - Feb 20, 2000)
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