This is a link to photos of the Taiwan Wedding trip

LINK TO WEDDING PHOTOS

Winding Down

Only a few days left in Taipei. 

Yesterday we went to a special hot pot and grill place to celebrate Kevin's birthday. Jason's parents and cousin joined us ( and of course suggested the place) .

It was delicious and interesting. It was not just a meal, it was an event. We sat at 2 large tables each with a charcoal grill and a boiling hot pot . It was an "all you can eat ", and more than you SHOULD eat, meal. 

We chose the flavors of our broths and then servers brought tray after tray of morsels to either grill or stew . There was everything imaginable including pork, beef, octopus, cuttlefish, seafood balls, clams ,mushrooms and so forth.  At the end you could add ramen to the broth and make a soup.

It was a low-key relaxing way to wind down., perhaps aided by the fact that beer was the only "safe" cold drink available. 

We have been doing a lot of walking in very hot and humid weather . Usually we have to take a midday break and lie down to cool off. It will be a nice change to come home to fall weather .

Today we took a trek to Beitou hot springs. The large hot springs are surrounded by older buildings from when the Japanese occupied Taiwan. Kevin, Bill and Jason tried out the baths . Martha and I figured since we were nearly dead from the heat that we would pass on this. 

It was interesting  to see the large lake steaming from the heat.

Tonight we end our trip with a home cooked meal at Jason's aunts place which is near our hotel. It will be a nice way to say goodbye to everyone and to remember the good times we had. 

( reminiscing is a bit of a challenge due to language barrier but we seem to have food  as a common interest to fall back on)

The Wedding Banquet

Finally the reason we are all here, to celebrate Martha and Jason's marriage with a banquet hosted by his family.

After getting dresses, practicing eating large feasts and having our natural beauty enhanced by an aesthetician , we headed for the banquet hall. ( to clarify not ALL of us did the dress and make- up part.)

It's hard to summarize the event but the room was full of energy, humor and lots of affection for family. 

The decor and food were wonderful but it was the mood set by the family and guests that really made this a special day. 

Martha had been a little nervous about performing her duties in the tea ceremony and we did not know what to expect having heard of several different versions of what was going to occur.

This is how it went  : Two aunties carried a tray of tea cups filled with diluted rice wine . Martha and Jason went around the room and presented a cup of " tea" to each elder. This included almost anyone older than Jason and Martha , so many people. The bride and groom held the cup in both hands, bowed 3 times and handed over the cup. Lots of "she shei-ing" ( thank yous) all around .  Then the elder gave Martha and Jason a red envelope that they handed over to the aunties . The envelop is a cash gift that goes to the parents  to cover wedding expenses. 

An unexpected part of the evening was the attention that Kevin attracted. It turns out he looks very similar to a popular  Taiwanese actor. When I saw a photo  of the actor at first I thought is was a photoshopped picture of Kevin. So every, and I mean EVERY , young person had to have their photo taken with Kevin. This glow of fame then extended to Joe because everyone wanted to picture with Joe and Kevin .  Finally all the young people took photos with Bill and I . We must have posed with 15 combinations of  young people  with a multitude of cell phones taking pics.   I am imaging Facebook and Instagram postings with theories of how this Caucasian  couple could have had 3  Asian  offspring one of whom is  a movie star. 

It was a wonderful celebration but now we are letting out a collective sigh of relief and plan on relaxing for a few days.

Day 6

Our plan today was to find something for everyone. Tea- related activity for Bill, shopping for kids and a temple for me.

Again Jason's cousin made our day.
There are a few tea shops in Taiwan that are in a traditional style from a certain area in Mainland China. Only one is left in the city of Taipei and Jason 's Cousin was able to arrange a visit for us.
The experience began with the proprietor giving us a large earthen bowl with a mixture of ingredients including peanuts that we took turns pulverizing with a thick stick.  Then she prepared a soup -like tea from the powder. It was unlike any tea we had had before but was tasty . This was followed by a many course  meal of small plates made of typical Taiwanese food . This is everyday food as opposed to the fancy Chinese banquet food we had been eating. Very pleasant and very filling.  

We then headed to the  Ximending area that is a favorite of young people. Our young people seemed to enjoy the little shops and picked up some souvenirs.

Next stop was the Longshin temple . It was much more crowded and  more active than the Buddhist temples we have visited in Korea. Supplicants make offerings to specific deities depending on their need. There is one for people seeking a spouse , one for parents who want their kids to get into a good school and so forth. People burn incense and bring offerings of food and flowers . Today amidst  the exotic fruits and flowers we saw a box of Krispy  Cream  donuts, Something for all tastes I guess.

Now Jason is taking Joe to get a massage. ( I'm trying not to think about this too much)
Later Jason's friends here are taking Martha, Jason , Joe and Kevin  out to dinner Taiwanese place.
Bill , Patty and I plan a more sedate evening.

Day 5 | a Day of Diversity

Now that Patty was with us we started with the more high-brow activity of visiting the National Palace Museum . It is full of amazing treasures from mainland China that were brought to Taiwan mostly at the time Chiang Kai-Shek and his followers migrated from Mainland China to Taiwan starting in 1949. Later in China during the Cultural  Revolution the Communists  purposely destroyed much of the art and scholarly works in China so it is fortune at that these works of art in Taiwan were saved from  that fate.
The collections is vast. Seeing the sophisticated works of art dating as far back as 600 BCE underscores the fact that civilization in China was far advanced compared to that in the rest of the world at the time .
A signature  piece in the collections is a sculpture of Bok Choy in Jade. You have to see it to realize how special it is.
We had lunch at the museum restaurant , wonderful food again . The specialty
was beef noodle soup. An interesting feature is that  several dishes are based on items in the museum's collection. For example, there was a cute baby Bok Choy served in a soup spoon.

Then we did a 180, Shrimp fishing. This is a Taiwanese  thing that Jason does ever time visits . It 's like Trout Haven in Minnesota but completely different . ;-). For a small fee you get a fishing pole and some liver to cut up for bait. You fish for shrimp in a large rectangular pool. During our hour of fishing , or should I say shrimping , our family only caught 4 . Other people there must of felt sorry for us and gave us some of their catch.  You clean the shrimp, roll them in salt , skewer them and grill  them right on site . We saw groups of coworkers and families fishing . In the background , Taiwanese soap operas are on TV for people not too involved in the fishing. I picture doing this with our grandkids someday although I might have to turn away when Jason and Martha let them eat the shrimp.

We finished our day with a tour of Jasons's uncle's new banquets center and restaurant . It's amazing. Very high tech laser light shows and large banquet spaces for weddings . Then he treated us to yet another 10 course feast . The most special  dish was Peking duck. I have never had this before and I know I will never order it anywhere but Taiwan in the future  since I surely would be disappointed .

We returned to the hotel full , went to bed and slept well.

Day 4 in Taipei : Dumplings

We had 2 goals today.
Successfully meeting up with Kevin  and Joe who were flying in at 5:30  and eating dumplings at the famous Din Tai Fung .
Jason's cousin, who has made everyday special for us, made sure both goals were met.

After the guys arrived we headed for Din Tai Fung. This place is on the NY times Top Ten Restaurants of the World list  and has Michelin stars ,  however we chose it on the recommendation of our neighbor Lian . She loves the  dumplings so much she may make a pilgrimage to LA where they have a branch for  a dumplings fix until she can back to Taiwan again.

We went to the original restaurant that is 4 floors with a narrow entrance. The cousin who hosted us made sure we arrived at 10:30 so there was no wait. We only a had a glimpse of the young men making the 8 folded dumplings in a room by the entrance. As were were led  up the 4 flights of stairs to our table, servers bustled past delivering stacks of dumpling filled steamers to diners.

The most well known dumpling is Xia Long Bao which is filled with pork but there are countless varieties . We sampled some filled with green melon that were very good. It was a very satisfying meal.

Our next stop was Taipei 101 the second tallest building the the world. It has 101 floors. The public can go up to the 91st floor via the, you guessed it, fastest elevator in the world. ( there  is a Guiness Book of World Records plaque that verifies this claim.) . The  views from the top are great  of course but it is also a beautiful space .  In the center is a huge ball called a damper that keeps the building from swaying too much during winds and earthquakes.

On our way back we stopped at a tea shop were  we were fortunate to have a tea master brew and pour tea for us in the traditional manner. 

Sister-in-law Patty arrived from California  in the evening. A good ending to a perfect day .

In the AM Tuesday we went to Chiang Kaishek's memorial consisting of beautiful buildings and historical information. Apparently Bill was much a more globally aware child than I so he recalls his reactions to events in Asia in that era. ( I remember Girl Scouts and this cute guy in my 8 th grade class) . This place had many good photo ops and REALLY great air conditioning. 

In the evening we went to the wedding banquet venue. It's a huge modern looking place with many rooms for gatherings. The decor is quite attractive.  We met with the wedding planners and I learned the word for balloons. 

Then we had what seemed to me to be an  "eating rehearsal " . We ate all 10 courses that will be served at the Banquet on Saturday. Twelve family members sat around a huge round table with the classic rotating disc in the center to pass food. In the background music was playing that we thought might have been chosen for the benefit of the non-Taiwanese people in attendance ( Bill, Martha and me). It was all instrumental music but we recognized "The Way We Were" and several Christmas carols . I mentioned to Bill that little did I know when I watched  Barbara Streisand's film in 1973 that I would one day be listening to the movie theme in a banquet hall in Taipei at my daughters wedding celebration. 

 The presentation of the dishes was amazing. Very artful arrangements of a wide variety of delicious food. We tried our best to just taste a little of each but apparently strategies such as  splitting a lamb chop are not allowed or are bad manners . Now, 8 hours later, I still feel full. I am going to try to stick with only coffee all day today, but no, wait, we are going to a famous dumpling place today for lunch.  This was my idea but I planned it before I knew that I needed a couple days of fasting to recover before the wedding. 

We expect a fun day today because Joe and Kevin arrive at 5 AM. We look forward to seeing them because we love them and because they are really good eaters!

Day 2 Taipei or "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger."

We had a fascinating but utterly exhausting Monday , pushing the limits of our endurance particularly when it came to the capacities of our stomachs.
Jason's family went all out driving us ,places, exposing us to new experiences and treating us to a huge variety of good food.
The highlights:
Selecting Martha's wedding dress at a small well-stocked shop involved a "committee " of approximately 10 including Cousin Asha who voted via text from Minnesota. All of us were happy with the final decision of a red sequined dress. Martha is able to sit comfortably in the fitted sheath dress but noted she will not be able to overeat at the banquet .

We visited the city of Yilen where we stuck our feet in the water of hot springs followed by hanging our legs into a metal pool of small koi who nibbled on us. This tickled, provided many good photo ops and made me wonder if the physician I saw at the Travel clinic before my departure could have given  me more detailed information on exposure risk.

Family treated us to lunch at a place that uses tea to prepared many tasty dishes. We left thinking we would not eat again that day. But no. After a visit to a beautiful waterfall, we headed to a popular Japanese seafood buffet. The array of food was unbelievable . They served everything imaginable and then some. We discovered a lot of very good dishes that we had never tasted  before e.g sea cucumber.

Hot, tired and stuffed, we got into cars driven by uncles for  the 2 hour drive back. I woke sometime later to the sounds of Chinese rappers and GPS directions in Mandarin as we arrived at the hotel.. Jason's family is amazing,we had fun sharing their energy but it was clear the we had run out of steam . Bill and Martha and I headed to our rooms for a shower and bed as Jason and family loaded back in the cars to go to an Aunts house.

We hear that tomorrow there is a 10 course dinner....

Trip to Taipei

I'm temporarily resurrecting the Blog while we are in Taiwan.
We'll see if this works better than emails.

We left Sat at 230 and arrived at hotel in Taipei at 11PM Sunday.
Most of the flight was good but Bill and I were involved trying to help a passenger who had a psychiatric crisis. She and her husband were actually on both of our flights. Things deteriorated when she decided to stand by the exit do of of the plane and refused to sit down.
The flight crew was concerned that she would open the door. We spend a long time trying to calm her down to no avail. The crew had to place her in handcuffs. While in the handcuffs she started to choke a female flight attendant so needed further restraint. We did not have to be in attendance during the the time they restrained her which was a relief for us but we felt very sorry for her and her husband.
When we landed police boarded the plane and we had to talk to them briefly.  They did seem to agree that she needed to go to the hospital, not jail.

On the brighter side we had a warm welcome from Jason's parents and extended family on arrival at the airport in Taipei . It reminded us of our arrival  in Seoul years ago with Flowers, hugs and the royal treatment .
Family escorted us to the hotel which is very nice. It is convenient to public transportation but is not in the most crowded central city so that is nice.
Jason's family has a jammed-packed day planned for us Monday starting with Martha's dress fitting . ( when Martha's mother in law heard that Martha did not bring shoes for the wedding but planned on getting some here she was a little excited. Despite my extensive knowledge of a Mandarin the only part of the conversation that  I could understand was "OH MY GOD!" . It sounded a lot like OMG in English, as a matter of fact I would say it was identical. )

Bill is doing a wonderful job of sleeping now, me not so much which is why I decided to blog a bit.  
More later....