Paul and Christine's Journey to Anywhere: Taipei, Taiwan

We have been in Taiwan - specifically Taipei for 24 days and in that time you might ask why only one post a few days ago just saying we arrived?

Well, we haven't been sight seeing very much but we have been spending time with (in the form of meals) different family. Which, to our disappointment has resulted in some weight gain - which hopefully we will lose when we get to Japan. Everything will be super expensive so the starvation period will begin soon enough. In addition to family gatherings, we have been watching movies and going to the mall. We are also living with my mom...it feels a lot like my teenage years. Having Paul with me makes it much more fun though. Our first weekend, my mom treated us to some massages.

Then one of her good friends, Marie, treated us to Din Tai Fung - a famous soup dumpling place that everyone loves. It is truly an institution. There are three in the U.S. - two in Los Angeles (right next to each other) and one in Seattle. But there are tons everywhere else in Asia. We have gone there three times since we've been here. Tom Cruise has even been to one.

Here they are making the dumplings

I like that they are wearing masks

mmmmmmm - soup dumplings

Here are some shots of the yumminess. With Paul's allergies, he was only able to have the chicken soup, pickled cabbage and the veggie dumplings.

Veggie dumplings

Fried pork chop

Chicken soup for Paul

Beef noodle soup

Red bean dumplings for dessert

Pickled cabbage

Soup dumplings

Spicy beef noodle soup

Sticky rice steamed in a bamboo leaf

Can you see the pictures of Tom on the window?

I've also been trying to organize the thousands of photos that I've taken since we left for our trip. I have taken over 20,000 photos within 6 months - almost 10,000 of those photos are on my iPhone! Which, by the way, I finally got fixed. A before and after pic to come in the next post...here are some snapshots of what else we did the first week.

Paul trapped in a telephone booth

Costco run...

The first of many Taiwan statues abused by Paul

This one was hit many times...you'll see

We visited Taipei 101 on June 10. Third tallest building in the world (at 509 meters) and the world's fastest elevator (so they say). We made it to the 89th floor in under 40 seconds. It goes 1010 meters per minute!