March 10, 2011

We leave our hotel room, ready to start the day. We have a bit of breakfast downstairs at the hotel cafe before heading to visit Ron’s aunt and cousin on his dad’s side.

We visited them at home for a while and paid our respects to the ancestors and grandparents then we went for lunch. We had lunch at a place called garden h. I didn’t have time to take pictures of the food since Simon was being a busy-body but everything was excellent in that they were uniquely prepared and very fresh produce.

After lunch, we visited their factory for a while and Simon enjoyed wandering around their open space. He fell a few times because the floor was slick but he’s learning to be a bit more cautious.

We went back to the hotel to rest up for a bit. On this trip, Simon has learned to say a few words. Here he says “cracker” and “xie xie” (thank you).

Then we went to meet up with my parents as they were also in Taiwan for a few days tour before heading to Hong Kong. Today was one of their free days. At their hotel, Simon tried on grandma’s hat for size. A bit big for now.

We went for a walk to shop a bit and Simon fell asleep with Ron carrying him in the Baby Ergo. He was still fast asleep after we returned to the hotel and laid him on the bed. Frogger, anyone?

We met up with friend for hot pot for dinner. Perfect for the cold, rainy day it was today. My parents joined us too.

A different type of pot was used at this place. I think the charcoal is in the funnel and there is an ash tray underneath.

This place had surprisingly good desserts, this is some sort of egg pudding.

Gui Ling Gao

This is some sort of milk pudding.

The place was a bit warm (from the hot pot steam) and noisy so Simon was a little fussy but eventually fell asleep.

We brought some additional dessert of mochi, from Hualien.

Comfortably asleep back at the hotel.