NI HAO~!

I have arrived!

We landed at Taiwan Saturday night at around 8:40. It was a long and arduous journey but I'm finally here! I couldn't stop smiling and staring out the plane window the entire trip (when I'm not sleeping/reading/writing/watching movies/eating, of course) but I just can't help it. Who else gets to spend a whole week perusing one of the busiest and coolest cities of the world? I'm so blessed.

THE PLANE RIDE:

Seeing as this past weekend, Taiwan was all aflutter from electing their newest president, Ma Ying Jiu to the office, kajillions of Taiwan citizens fulfilled their democratic obligations by flying back to vote. We got lucky and headed to Taipei after the election was over and missed the crowd. Our plane was nearly half empty and allowed my mom and I the privilege of stretching our legs a little. Not that there were that much room to spread it anyway. When I was sleeping, I felt like Will Ferrell in "Elf," squashing my legs up against the seat in front of me. It was of the utmost discomfort.

But breakfast more than made up for it! I don't know why but I do believe I am one of those rare individuals who adore airplane food. I must admit, though China Airline's meals cannot compare to that of the more tasty American Airline or JAL Japan Airline (their cold soba noodles? To die for), there's just something about having everything arranged in neat little cartons and containers that strike my fancy.

But what China Airline lacked in fine dining, they made up for with their....

plasticware! They had the coolest translucent utensils that made me sorry to see get thrown away after only one use. I wanted to take them home with me and preserve them as art or something because they were so pretty. But alas, I couldn't do that so I just settled for taking some pictures with them.

Um...so about that. About the taking pictures part. Yea, you know you may be going just a bit overboard with it when your MOTHER who has to take at least 500,000 shots of you whenever you leave the house looking a little attractive (Helen can attest) calls you a tourist. A TOURIST! (actually, she called me a "tu bao zhi" which means like..country bumpkin). But wow...I didn't know I was that bad. Maybe taking pictures of the utensils on the plane is just a tad too much but it's all for the sake of this blog. We all must do what we can.

And besides, if I weren't constantly snapping away, I wouldn't get really cool/cute pics of my parents like this...

It's worth being called a country bumpkin I guess.

THE FIRST NIGHT:

So after my dad picked us up from the airport, we went to grab a late-night snack/birthday dinner for my dad. We settled on some yummy egg custards and tea at a local restaurant.

I haven't yet tried anything authentically Taiwan yet so if you have any suggestions of where to go/what to eat, shoot 'em out. The more exotic, the better. My iron stomach can handle it!

After one last touristy shot, (that's how my mom and I look after 13 hours on the plane. Can you believe it? Yea, neither can I ;)) we went back to the hotel and caught some much needed sleep. Lemme tell ya, it felt good finally being able to stretch my legs!