Taiwan

I'm back in California, and I may or may not get around to writing a "goodbye Korea" post, but I did want to share some of our pictures from our Taiwan trip over Labor Day.  (Be forewarned--most of what we did was eat, so there are a lot of food pics.)  We spent two nights in Taipei, then went south about an hour for a day of luxury at a hot-springs resort.

Asparagus juice at the airport

Awesome little egg tarts from a street stall

Taipei.  We were pretty lucky with the weather; it was warm, but not too steamy.

At the flower market, attached to the stadium-sized jade market.  Have I mentioned I have a wonderful, long-suffering husband?

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial area

The memorial

HUGE watermelon, at a stall where we bought some delicious fresh watermelon and pineapple juice.

Night market 1, near our hotel.  Kind of seemed like a local hang-out.

Did I mention we ate a lot on this trip?

Breakfast, day 2

We spent part of the morning exploring a local temple, which was really busy with Buddhists and not just tourists.

Afternoon was the National Palace Museum.  When the Nationalists fled China after the Communists defeated them in the civil war, Chiang Kai Shek and crew took as much of China's treasure as they could carry.  Consequently this museum has some of the best art and archaeological treasures anywhere in Asia.

Street market 2, at Shihlin.  This has to be one of the best traditions in Asia...

The food court.  Pretty upscale with the escalator, but I image the people working the food stalls have been doing their thing the same way since long before there were escalators.

Finally worked up the nerve to try stinky tofu!  Tastes better than it smells, thankfully.

Boba tea, a local specialty that's been exported all over Asia.

Breakfast, day 3.  We were still pretty full from the night market the night before, but had to try another local specialty--fresh soy milk, dumplings, and rice-wrapped crispy bbq.

After breakfast we took the subway and a bus down to Wulai, an area famous for aboriginal culture, hot springs, and resorts

Oh, and a waterfall.

The hotel was pretty swanky.

Our digs

The hot-spring-fed outdoor pool, with a corner of the third-floor restaurant in view in the top left.

Afternoon welcome tea.  Yep, still eating.

Tea was delicious, but not filling enough, so we went next door to sample some of the Wulai specialties:

Wild boar, noodles, and mountain veggies.

We spent the afternoon swimming, lounging, and getting a delightfully indulgent massage.  When we got back to the room that night after a delicious French dinner, there was a rose and a "pillow menu" on the bed...

which concerned me for just a second, but it really was a menu of pillows.  Told you the digs were swanky.

The next day it was back to the airport.  Upon checking in, we were informed that we were booked on the Hello Kitty flight.  What??  This is the check-in counter.

Gate.

We skipped the mini-size pink chairs and oped for the orchid garden farther down in the terminal.  Beautiful, no?

It was a pleasant journey, in fact.