Taiwan Day 10: last day in Taiwan. Visiting Grandfather’s resting site

honoring the ancestors

7am: off to Taipei. We are heading the my grandfather’s resting site which is in these mountains, and a little far. The most difficult part of this venture is getting up the small winding road up the mountain. For those that know me, I was that motion-sick kids on the bus.

YS and I opted to take the train/rail down 1.) reduce me getting sick with my dad driving, and 2.) his RAV4 can only fit 5 people.

Riding the MRT can get packed but we figured out a great hack to get seats!

807am are we there yet…still have 50 min

The girls are in the car with the grandparents.

So Taiwan cemeteries are usually on top of mountains.

… hillsides were historically less valuable for farming but offered good drainage and spiritual significance, with mountain slopes providing ample space and auspicious placement for tombs…

-Google Gemeni

Often there is a lot of shrubbery that can over grow. It requires a lot of upkeep. On top of that the stairways up are very treacherous.

So we had to cut back all this growth to get to the tomb.

The path.

Banana

Checking out Ximending before we get packing. One of my favorite places in Taipei to go. Lots of food and stores/nightlife.

I posted about this before but they have air raid shelters everywhere. Apparently the MRT subway station is a commons one.

We made a stop at Ximending. Very popular spot especially for the younger crowd. Apparently they film a lot of the Taiwan Dramas here too. Definitely a spot to check out if you are in Taipei.

This large door swings over and seals up

December 27, 2025December 30, 2025

Taiwan: day 9 wharfing/exploring before we get ready to go back

Ride the Light Rail in Taipei for 1NTD with any AMEX card

Here are the restrictions for the promo:

1. Only one American Express card can be used for payment. The card must be tapped on the card reader at the station entrance/exit to complete the payment and receive the discounted fare.

Taiwan Day 8: haircut, Taipei adventure, and late night ramen

830am: headed to get the workout in

1000am: got to get my Taiwanwse breakfast

1130am: Haircut for the girls

10pm: late night dinner stop on the way home

24 Hr Ramen shop. Yiguo Ramen

Interesting concept.

They have shelves of ramen that you choose a pack

Then you pay. And go back for the veggies which are included.

Some places around Taipei leave sticky notes and pens for people to draw and leave notes behind.

Some of the drawings other people have made

Well we just felt that earthquake. 5.4 mag. Video doesn’t really show much though.

You can see the lights moving. It was definitely more notable than the videos lets on.

December 18, 2025December 23, 2025

Taiwan Winter 2025: Day 0-1

Semi Live Blog

12/18/2025 520am it begins

On the way to ORD. Slumming it in first (we got upgraded) of course its the shortest leg of the trip.

Vivi and Juju were in Taiwan already this summer, but we all didn’t get to go. We opted to do a winter trip to avoid the excess heat and humidity.

My first winter in Taiwan was a slap in the face. I remember wandering around looking at the shops stocked with heavy winter clothes, and locals wearing jackets. It was still hot! At that time I’ve only been in Taiwan during the summer. I was wondering what the deal was. Maybe it was just a way to participate in what “winter” is like. Well I was putzing around in a t-shirt and shorts one day. Day started out nice and warm but the temp precipitously dropped. Who knew it got cold in Taiwan. Ill be ready this time!

On another note, we recently ventured in to the travel phase of our lives. Everytime we would walk pass those snazzy cubicle seats in the United Polaris 1st/business class, or the United Polaris Lounges, I always lamented. Thinking never for me:-(

We then discovered having those premium credit cards/co-branded cards can get you perks to make traveling much more comfortable.

A great place to learn to “hack travel” is at ThePointsguy.com

We currently have the Chase United Club Card, (ill save that for another post) that gets us in the the United Lounges. Definitely a plus to have during layovers instead of sitting on the ground or standing at a crowded gate.

1130 am Pacific Time @SFO awaiting departure for Taiwan.

The complementary beverages are a bonus too.

So apparently the current US administration announced they will sell Taiwan. $11.1 billion dollars worth of arms.

https://www.threads.com/@globeviewnews/post/DSY5LXNE8LF?xmt=AQF0JW2fJtTt8pupj6t4oQ4aCEwjP1slcwo6sozhHxVdLviiyy3q6F_bULnR8tjE3JlA6-8Y&slof=1

There may be a chance the CCP will take over Taiwan while we are there. I wonder if that means I won’t be able to get back:(

Back to the topic, if you are at SFO, United Lounges at F terminal is better than G. Bigger and hot food.

Overall a little dated.

Bathrooms are nice and private

As the fam goes get food, this little Asian boy plops right down in vivi’s seat. He stares at me. I stare at him. I figure he’d relize I’m not with his group/family and he would run off. After about a minute he runs off when his mom calls him over. I guess maybe he thinks all Asians do look alike?

Polaris Lounge. One day I will be admitted…

Polaris: I’ve always wanted to get my own little cubby tp lay flat for a 14 hr trip to Taiwan. Alas no credit card or status would get us there this year. (I suppose we could have paid $10k plus a seat)

Its not Polaris but it will get us there

12/18/25 155p pacific time. And we are off.

433 p pacific time. (7p eastern?) 11hrs left…the flight attendant questioned vivi if I was her dad, because it seemed like a random Asian guy was taking a picture of her.

And we are here. After >24 hr total time traveling.

June 23, 2018June 28, 2018

First (whole) family trip to Taiwan: Day 1

Semi live blog:

It has been 13 years since MommyMd and I went to Taiwan. Vivi was fortunate to go back with Nainai right after her 4th birthday.

5/2016 vivi’s first trip to taiwan

Now 13 years later with a Juju, we venture back to the humid hot island of Taiwan.

6/2018 family trip, Vivi’s second adventure

Waiting for the plane

Up at 3 am finishing packing. Vivi and Juju we’re a little difficult to rouse but the excitement set in and we were off to the airport.

First let me tell you TSA Precheck is amazing. First time using.

There was a super long line to get through security, and no line at the PRE check. If you don’t have Precheck, get it!

6am: Now that we got here super early, we got 2 hrs to wait.

Might as well explore

Exploring concourse B @CMH: family bathroom

731am:

Things are getting silly now: “I’m queen of the world!” ~Juju

8:13am

8:20am local Chicago time (9:20 in Ohio)

Excited to be enroute to the next flight.

Going through that lighted path at ORD

I used to love running through here

Enjoying the United club. If you happen to have an extended layover anywhere, access to the United Club is very nice.

9:37am Chicago time: on the plane, let’s go to SFO

Sisters

1215pm (315pm ohio) touchdown to SFO.

Short layover then on the Long haul.

And after a 1hr delay

225p:Ready to board

So grandma got upgraded to a better seat so it left a gap in our eating. Somehow I got screwed with a center seat between strangers. Yay.

12hrs + of fun

They look like they are having fun

Must be nice

Complimentary treats with the international flights.

So I caved and purchased the inflight internet. I can only watch so many movies nonstop.

Finished Geostorm, Justice League, 12 Soldiers, now watching Downsizing.

Very hard to sleep and not end up leaning on your neigbor.

The girls are splayed out and are out.

I’m not even sure what time it is. I thinks it’s 1018p Ohio time. Still 9 hrs left.

6.5 hrs left. Just finished I, Tonya and now Hostiles

Done with jumanji. Less than 2 hrs left

Less than 1 hr left.

June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

When to start training a baby… to use chopsticks…

Vivienne loves to mimic us and do things we are doing. It’s rather cute. We were at Sunflower Chinese Restaurant this past weekend eating some Dim Sum, and ViviBear really wanted to play with our chop sticks. Well I figured what the heck. I let her have mine, since she already threw hers on the ground. The first thing she did was stab some shrimp dumplings [Hsia Jiao] (i was never good with the phonetics) and proceeded to feed herself. She stopped, and gave me a sly look and offered to me. Not a bad try. Heck I still stab food with my chopsticks too. Actually, I apparently do not even use chopsticks properly. When I spent a month in China a 4 years ago, the servers or owners at the local restaurants/food carts would love to point out to me how I use chopsticks really weird and like a child. Well whatever. Back to the point. I wonder if it is too early to start training Vivienne how to use chopsticks. Well, it’s kind of like me teaching her Chinese I suppose, or a penguin teaching a pomeranian how to fly. Well I at least can kind use chopsticks to move food from point A to point B, no matter how improper my technique.

“Vivi trying to use chopsticks”

On one of her attempts she actually grabbed some sticky rice with the chopsticks, but I unfortunately did not record that part. I dont really remember when I learned how to use chopsticks. maybe it’s innate in all Asian people (hah). I still find it amazing to watch ViviBear grow up, and start doing new things. I fear the day when she starts doing things I dont want her to. shudder.

On a similar note, it’s funny to hear some people’s reaction to things like potty training. Vivienne has been using the baby toilet since about… 6 months? maybe earlier. I dont remember. There is a picture somewhere with a censored ViviPoo After re-reading that post, I think she was around 6-7 months when she first started.

I figure, if we can train our offspring to do things early as possible, why not? I mean I do not forsee any sort of “traumatic experience” as long as we are not berating and yelling at them. I figure if I see her doing something, we can give her positive reinforcement such as fetching slippers:

I mean she started washing windows on her own (after watching Nai Nai do it) as soon as she could cruise:

“10 month old window washer (from MommyMD)”

Now I just need her to start mowing the lawn.

January 22, 2012January 22, 2012

Happy Chinese New Year! do i still get red envelopes?

新年快樂, 恭禧發財! 紅包拿來!

“happy new year, be rich and prosperous! Give me the red envelope!”
Happy year of the dragon.

Do you know what would be better than one dragon? 2 dragons!

Anyone know this reference?

Some may be familiar with Chinese New Year and the traditions entailed. Actually some people do not even realize there was even a Chinese New Year. There are multiple different new years depending on the culture which I definitely am not familiar with. A quick google search will bring up many results. The day of the Chinese New Year always changes relative to the roman calender we all use, since the Chinese New Year follows the Lunar Calender. My parents always seem to know when it is (probably because they seem to always have a lunar calender), but with the help of google, I can find that it is actually: Monday, January 23, 2012. [If you havent noticed yet, I am a huge fan of google]

The most familiar with the Chinese New Year is what my family mainly followed. Aside from that my knowledge is limited. What I do know is that every time this year, I could count on one thing: Getting the “Hong Bao” [紅包], or red envelope. It has been Chinese tradition to hand out red envelopes of money to children during the new year. Something to do with good fortune and prosperity.

"Hong Bao" - the Red Envelope that bears fortunes

From what I understood kids get the envelopes, and they are usually given by parents or other adults. Criteria would be once you have your own kids, you no longer get the envelopes, and if you have kids, you are expected to give out envelopes. This is just from what I gathered, and I don’t think is by far any credence to this. There probably also isn’t any hard fast rules at all. A mighty google search brings up some history behind this blessed envelope. That link will give you a more adequate explanation.

So what we had to do was get on our knees and in a sense beg/kowtow to our parents and exclaim: “恭禧發財! 紅包拿來!” or “be rich and prosperous! Give me the red envelope!”

So to the point, can I still expect to receive these red treasures? Am I supposed to be giving them out now?

I guess if you are within the criteria (younger generation) and kowtow to me and exclaim the magic words (in Chinese), you may find yourself the owner of a red envelope.

for proper pronunciation you can check out google translate.