But never mind that, lets get to the good stuff!! My dad just was here visiting me and Taiwan!!! It was his first time ever to Taiwan and Asia! I was very curious to see what he would think of this side of the world, especially after hearing the thousands of stories I would tell him over the phone!! So when he finally arrived, it was time for the Bergers and Minnesota to 'take on Taiwan.' "You betcha!"
As I anxiously awaited my dad's arrival, I could help myself from getting so excited and thinking about all the wonderful places we would go together and all of the "father/daughter" time we would have (even though there may have been too much of it at some points, ha)! Finally, my dad walked through the doors and we were finally reunited and headed straight out of the airport to get something to eat.....at 7/11. WHAT? Did you say 7/11? Yes, since it was late at night, we went to the 7/11 in the airport and my dad's first meal in Taiwan was noodles from 7/11. It was so perfect and very Taiwanese. Don't worry, he enjoyed every last bite. As my dad says, "he doesn't remember a time when he didn't like something he ate." hah. So then we finally headed back to my house and hit the hay for our big day tomorrow.
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| Walking through the park |
The next day, of course, we had to do the typical touristy things, so I took him to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall and we walked around the museum inside and saw the changing of the guards and we also walked through a kids carnival that was being held right outside! The sun was shining and it was the most beautiful weather Taiwan has had in weeks (it is the rainy season right now)! My dad spotted a lovely bench and we sat outside on that bench watching the kids play and relaxing and enjoying the day! We then headed over to get lunch before we walked around the 101. We ended up going to this wonderful Italian restaurants that looks right out at the 101 and we sat outside under the sun eating our freshly made balsamic salad! YUM! We then headed into the 101 mall and checked out all of the shops that my dad and I go to all the time back home. Louis Vuitton, Burberry, Dior, Michael Kors....just the usual inexpensive places!!! haha. My dad really enjoyed it all and was very pleasantly surprised with how modern and westernized Taiwan is. After we were done site seeing, I decided since it was such a lovely day outside, I would bring my dad to this amazing park near my house (which I just discovered recently, 9 months later!) This park is enormous, it goes on for miles and has many wonderful trees, flowers and areas to take a break and sit and a little cafe nestled in the middle of it surrounded by botanical gardens! This honestly is one of my favorite places in Taiwan! We spent nearly 2 hours just relaxing there!
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| Part of the flower gardens! |
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| Dad at Longshan Temple |
The next day, we were off to the zoo!! We headed to the zoo, because Taipei's zoo is so large and it is located just slightly out of Taipei City in a beautiful area! We saw all of the animals and rode the free trolly that went from one side of the zoo to the other, because frankly it was really dang hot, so we didn't wanna walk all the way back to the entrance!! hah! It was so nice to just spend the day with my dad, drinking iced coffee, looking at the animals and especially not having to go to WORK! We then left the zoo and headed to the famous Longshan Temple! I thought this was very important for my dad to see, because this is the oldest, still running, Temple in Taiwan. This was one of my dad's favorite places out of everywhere that we went. Longshan Temple has so much history and active prayer ceremonies taking place that there is always something to look at and watch. My dad even had to take a closer look at take part in all of the action! hah...Don't turn Buddhist on me now dad!!! By the end of today, we had checked almost half of the things off our "to do" list. Not kidding, my dad and I kept a "to do" list, just so we wouldn't forget what to do....haha. We then went to bed early, because the next day I was bringing my dad to my Chinese school to take his own lessons.
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| Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall |
I'm kidding....but the next day I did bring my dad to my school where I take Chinese classes every morning. I showed him around the campus and he walked around the area as I was in class. After school was over we headed to the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall. If you didn't already know this is a very important memorial in Taiwan, if not the most important. Chiang Kai Shek was the leader of the revolutionary movement who lead people from mainland China to Taiwan. This memorial is possibly the largest that my dad and or I have ever seen before. It stretches on for miles and has 3 different buildings dedicated to him as well as 4-5 small gardens or parks surrounding the monument. It is really incredible and a wonderful place to visit! Once again we were blessed with amazing weather and there wasn't a cloud in the sky and we were able to enjoy the wonderful beauty of this place! But, we had to get going because we had a HUGE night ahead of us....I couldn't wait!!! Can you think of what we would be doing....any ideas....No?? Well, we were headed to eat dinner on top of the world!!!
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| Dinner on the 85th floor of the 101 |
Well, not really on top of the world, because The Burj in Dubai is taller, but we were headed to eat dinner on the 85th floor of the Taipei 101! YAY! Finally I get to wear that fancy dress I bought a while ago, hah. So we got dressed and headed out early to catch the sun setting while on the 85th floor. This was possibly my favorite thing that my dad and I did together while in Taiwan. Sipping on the bottle of red wine we ordered and slowly....I MEAN SLOWLY, making our way through the 5 course meal, it could not have got any better, and like my dad liked to say, "the company couldn't have got any better." Ah, thanks dad! We first were served complimentary garlic bread with a cream dipping sauce and then it was on to our 2 appetizers, soup and salad then a small entree and finally our main dish. (I had the fillet and my dad had the pork wrapped in bacon)!! YUM! Can I go back every weekend?? Then we were served complimentary tiramisu and coffee. It honestly was incredible, I never wanted it to end! So as the night came to a close we would be headed out of Taipei City the next day to visit another town 40 minutes away.
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| In the town of Yingge |
The next day, I took my dad to a town that is know for its pottery and ceramics called Yingge. Yingge has hundreds of small shops selling beautiful ceramic items and pottery along a very modernly designed street and is very quaint and quiet. We spent the day walking around this town and through these shops and we really enjoyed it, then we headed over to the Ceramic Museum which provided all of the history of ceramic making and what things are making out of ceramics. I think my mom would have thought that I was crazy bringing my dad to this town, because she always says that he is a "bull in a china shop," haha. But, I made sure he was careful! That evening went out to dinner and my roommate Brittney came along! We decided we wanted to go out and try really strange food and be very daring, so we got PIZZA!!! hah. Oh well, better be safe than sorry....right? It was great though, having my dad meet my friends over here in Taiwan and be able to see the life that I have been living for the past 9 months! I really makes people understand what living in Asia is like, if they have never been here before!
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| At the sulfur spring in Xinbeitou |
The next day, we decided that since we had been having such a strenuous, hard week, we needed to get massages and treat ourselves, hah! So we headed up north to the infamous area of Xinbeitou Pronounced: SHIN-BAY-TOE). This is also one of my favorite places in Taiwan, because it is filled with so much nature! It has hot springs and the air all around the town smells like sulfur. We walked to the naturally created sulfur hot spring and it was so beautiful because, the air was slightly cooler this day and the heat from the sulfur spring and the air outside created a massive amount of steam in the air and it was truly beautiful to see. While we were up in Xinbeitou, I had my dad try and traditional Milk Bubble Tea (you have to try one when you're in Taiwan!) He LOVED it! But, come on...who wouldn't love sugar, milk, cream and tea mixed together? We then headed up to get our massages. After a 60 minute massage and 30 minute private hot spring, let me just say, we were more than relaxed, practically falling asleep on the train ride home, hah. I know I sound repetitive, but yet again it was such a wonderful day, although it was raining that day! My dad and I had done so many things together and our time together was coming to a close and I couldn't have asked for anything more!
I meant so much to me that not only my dad, but my sister and cousin and Courtney have taken the time to come visit me here in Taiwan. It has really broken up my time here and made the time gone much faster. It also allows the people who I care the most about the ability to understand my life here in Taiwan and be able to understand what I talk about when I tell stories of Taiwan. It makes "relating" to my life a little bit more understandable and easier. So, the next day, my dad was off and I was very sad to see him go. It just feels like yesterday that we were talking about him coming and his time here came and went too fast! :( But, on the bright side I only have a couple more months here and then I will finally be back in the good ole' USA!!!
Once again, thanks for all of your support and thank you for continuing to read my blog!! I can't believe how many readers I have!! Stay tuned for more in the coming months!
Olivia!!!
