June 30 - July 11, 2011: Aurora is quite the globetrotter! In three years, she has gotten her passport stamped in
Taiwan, China, and Mexico. This summer, she went on her second trip to Taiwan. The big occasion? Kathy's Nai Nai's
100th birthday! Aurora was so excited to get on a big airplane and go see her Tai Nai Nai. We're not sure what she
was more excited about - the trip, seeing Tai Nai Nai, Isaac and Elena, or the prospect of a big bithday cake.
For other photos from the trip, click on one of the links below:
June 29, 2011: We drove down to New York the night before and spent the day with
Wai Po before heading to the airport that evening for our 11:30 pm flight to Taipei. Here Aurora is
checking out the mountains sticking up over the clouds after our short stopover in Anchorage. Despite it
being the middle of the night, the sun was already up!
Later, Aurora watches a DVD using noise cancelling headphones. Did I mention that she is
becoming an expert flyer?
July 2, 2011: What happened to June 30th? It got lost when we crossed the International Date Line!
Kathy, Jon, Aurora, Wai Po, and Aunt Amy all arrived in Taipei on the same flight early in the morning on July 1st. Uncle
Albert, Isaac, and Elena showed up late that night. On the morning of July 2nd, The cousins
had a blast getting reacquainted with each other before we all headed over to see Nai Nai.
Video: Hotel room hijinks 1
Video: Hotel room hijinks 2
Nai Nai opens a birthday gift...and the kids wisely come to find out what it is. Mmmm!
Godiva chocolate biscuits!
Eventually, Aurora must start dancing!
Video: Gotta dance
Video: Hokey pokey 1
Video: Hokey pokey 2
Video: Hokey pokey 3
Throughout the day, huge arrangements of orchids keep arriving for Nai Nai's birthday. Other
birthday presents include a bonsai tree, a flat screen TV, and a scroll from President Ma.
Happy cousins.
The tribute to Yeh Yeh in Nai Nai's house.
After everyone takes a nap, we meet up for dinner at the Taipei 101 food court. We found this
familiar sculpture outside.
After dinner, we take the bus back to the street the hotel is on, and walk the last half mile or so "home."
July 3, 2011: That morning, we all took the subway (and minibus Red 18) to the National Palace Museum. While
most folks went inside the main exhibit hall to see the famous artwork, Aurora, Jon, Kathy, and Elena
explored the newly opened children's room. There was so much to do there! They played ancient bells,
did puzzles, constructed bridges, pieced together pottery, and printed and bound books.
Video: Bells
Elena and Aurora build a rainbow bridge, then take it apart with a big crash.
Next, they put together a giant wall puzzle.
Video: Puzzling
Building an arch is easy compared to the rainbow bridge!
Checking out some deer before reconstructing ancient pottery.
Learning how ancient Chinese bound their books. Elena is a natural at it!
Outside the Museum, on our way down to the gardens. Glad to see Aurora can make fun of herself and her
thumbsucking! We had to walk down several flights of stairs - down is better than up!
For $10NT we bought a small box of fish food to feed the carp in the pond.
We took a cab back to the hotel to meet everyone for lunch at a small restaurant nearby. Aurora enjoys her noodles.
That evening was the big birthday banquet for Nai Nai's 100th birthday! Besides family and close family friends,
there were several dignitaries who came to pay their respects to Nai Nai. There were also several professional
photographers and videographers there to record the event. Before the banquet, a formal portrait of the whole Liu
family was taken, along with other family groupings.
Aurora spontaneously ran up to Tai Nai Nai to give her a big hug, sending the photographers into a frenzy.
Sitting down to dinner (finally!) This is the dinner menu.
Can you tell? It's President Ma, the President of Taiwan.
As the eldest son, Wai Gong gives a short speech welcoming everyone.
Then President Ma says a few words in honor of Nai Nai, followed by Vice President Siew.
There were lots of toasts as people moved from table to table. Here are some shots of President Ma with
Liu family members.
The Peking duck gets carved and a shot of the huge birthday cake, a present from President Ma to Nai Nai.
Tai Nai Nai looks like she's having a good time! Aurora, however, only makes it through the
first few courses before requesting to be put in her stroller and allowed to go to sleep. She
did leave explicit instructions that we should wake her when it is time for cake.
Longevity peaches.
Cutting the cake and thanking all the guests.
Aurora thinks President Ma has good taste in cakes.
July 4, 2011: Happy Fourth of July! We had planned to go to a waterpark that morning, only to find out it
is closed on Mondays. Instead, we buy swim caps and take all three kids to the hotel pool.
July 5, 2011: We go on the first of our day trips outside of Taipei. Today, we start off with a dolphin watching
trip. Before going dolphin watching, however, we get a tour (from the ocean) of Turtle Island. Everyone is
excited to start off, but soon jetlag and the lull of the waves takes over.
From this view, Jon decided to rename Turtle Island "Sleeping dog island."
Leaving Turtle Island behind to go find some dolphins!
Aurora wakes up in time to see her first dolphins swimming in the ocean. Those dolphins were
fast! They only surfaced for a second or two before diving back down. In the last picture, if you look
closely, you can see a dorsal fin in the middle of the photo.
Lunch at a winery. This is Aurora's kid's meal!
Playing around outside and checking out the wine shop after lunch.
The next stop was an orchid farm.
And finally a chance to soak our tired feet in a hot spring.
Video: Splashing
That night, we had a big family dinner out (at Red Bean Restaurant).
July 6, 2011: We spent most of the day at "Green World." This is part ecopark and part zoo. We weren't sure
what to expect, but everyone had a really good time. Aurora studied the map and made sure to point out
everything she wanted to see.
After Green World, we stopped at a teahouse, where we learned about how tea is grown and made. We even
got to grind our own special blend of herbal tea. It sure was hard work breaking up all those peanuts
and sesame seeds! Good thing everyone pitched in to help out. Having a snack of moshi also helped.
Video: Aurora faces the grind
We briefly left the teahouse to go explore the old part of the town and the temple. We also
had cold drinks at the local OKMart before having dinner (back at the teahouse).
July 7, 2011: Aurora is up early and has a banana before breakfast. We then head out to an area
historically known for coal mining. We get to explore the old Jingtong train station (a historic site - built
by the Japanese without the use of any nails!) and ride a train to an old mining town.
Your train fare is dependent on your height.
Aurora and Jon cross to the wrong side of the tracks in Pingxi. On the other side, we climbed up a small hill to see
the remnants of an old coal mine.
Jon told Aurora that there was a small person inside the mailbox, sorting the mail. She wanted to look
inside to see him. Then Karen and Dave bought a "twirly-whirly flier" and let the kids try it out.
All aboard! Aurora is determined to hang on to the straps.
We get off in Houtong, famous for it's "Cat village"
Back onto the train and we return to Shifen, where we pick out, decorate, and release sky lanterns. Different
colored lanterns represented different types of wishes. For example, red is for good luck, green is for financial success,
white is for success in school, pink is for friendship, etc. Kathy and Jon choose red, and decorated their lantern with
wishes for health, a bigger house, and a happy family. We asked Aurora what she wished for, but all she wanted was to
take a nap.
Once we were done decorating (and it was much harder than we expected to come up with 4 wishes - one for each side), it
was time to release them. This is the one Wai Po and Aunt Amy made.
Video: Fly away!
Here is Karen and Dave's lantern.
Video: Take off!
This is Elena's lantern.
Video: Floating up!
And Isaac's lantern.
Video: Up it goes!
And here is Kathy and Jon's lantern being launched. We tried to wake up Aurora to see it, but
she was sound asleep in her stoller.
Video: An auspicious start?
Video: Heavy wishes
The dot in the sky is our lantern floating away.
After lunch, we walk over to see the famous Shifen waterfall.
Hellooo there!
Walking back over the suspension bridge.
Sky lanterns decorate the visitor's center.
Another big family dinner (at Formosa Restaurant).
Again, about halfway through, Aurora decides she is full and goes play a video game. She is not the
only toddler who is through with dinner early. By the end, all the kids are exhausted.
July 8, 2011: This is Uncle Albert, Isaac, and Elena's last day in Taipei. They head to the airport
very early in the morning. We all get up to say good-bye.
After breakfast, the remaining group heads off to the Taipei Zoo. Aurora studies the map to point out
which animals she wants to see.
Video: Strolling along with Aunt Amy
The Panda House is nice and cool! Kathy can stay here all day, and not just to watch the pandas! We were
very lucky to arrive during an active period for the pandas and we got to see them eat, play, and climb a bit
before they settled in for a nap.
Video: Panda on the move (with commentary by Jon)
To get to the other side of the zoo, and the penguins, we took a tram.
Aurora and Jon compared themselves to pengiuns (height-wise).
And another tram ride back to the entrance.
That evening, Aunt Amy heads back to the US and we have dinner at Nai Nai's. On this trip,
Aurora has discovered that
she really really likes peanuts. Here she is getting Wai Po to get the last ones out of the jar
for her.
July 9, 2011: That morning, Kathy and her parents go "baibai" at the tombs of her ancestors. Jon and Aurora stay
at the hotel and play in the pool for 2 hours. Here is her paternal grandfather's tomb in the Air Force cemetary.
Yeh Yeh was a General in the Nationalist Air Force.
This is Kathy's material grandparents' graves, along with her great-grandmother's, on Yangmingshan.
Dinner at Nai Nai's. Aurora and Wai Po play with an orchid that fell off one of the plants. Don't they look pretty?
July 10, 2011: We finally make it to the waterpark at the Taipei Municipal Waterworks! After a week of
sunny, 95-100 degree days, this morning is cooler and cloudy with a few sprinkles. But Aurora (and Jon) did not
mind one bit. By noon, the sun had come out and it warmed up considerably. The park also got much more crowded
by the time we left shortly after lunch. Thanks for packing towels and snacks and watching all our stuff, Wai Po!
Video: Water park 1
Video: Jumping
Video: Mushroom 1
Video: Water park 2
Video: Spiral slide 1
Video: Mushroom 2
Video: Spiral slide 2
Video: Kathy's final splash
Video: Jon & Aurora - final splash
After lunch, we went on a short tram tour of the water treatment site. Aurora was exhausted by the time we got
back to the hotel.
One final family dinner at Nai Nai's house. The scroll on the left is a present to Nai Nai from President Ma.
July 11, 2011: Our last day in Taipei. Jon actually went to work at EInk in Hsinchu that morning, so Aurora joined Kathy
in the gym for a workout, then watched Sponge Bob Square Pants in Chinese while Kathy finished packing.
We all met up for lunch at Nai Nai's before heading to the airport. This is her building - her apartment is on the 6th floor.
The airport has several different themed waiting areas. Jon went to look at the e-reading area (instead of the
video game area!), then we all went to the Hello Kitty area and the "green" area before boarding the plane back
to the US.
On the plane, everyone got their own video screen. Aurora enjoyed Pingu so much she watched it 2 times in a row.
Wai Po and Wai Gong sure know how to travel in style! We were picked up in a stretch limo and arrived
back in Yorktown around midnight.
