March 14, 2011

This morning we ate at a better rice roll place. It is near the 7-eleven near our hotel. Ron’s mom mentioned it yesterday but we had already bought our breakfast so we went in search of it today. They were sold out of a few items already so those must have been good. This one had much better pickled vegetables and a crispier dough stick.

Today was pamper mommy day. Well, at least pamper mommy’s hair day. I haven’t had a hair cut since before Simon was born and haven’t had a color either. My white hairs seem more visible lately now too. So I thought it’d be nice to have my hair done while in Asia. Ron had to do the translating for the stylist and it turned out pretty nice. First round of coloring.

While I was being pampered, Ron and Simon waited around and also went out to get something to drink. Here Simon is with the bubble tea logo. Don’t they look alike?

Completed color, cut, and style. Not sure if I’ll be able to restyle it this way or if I’ll have time… but at least it will be like this for about 3 days since I’m not allowed to wash my hair so the color will last longer.

Simon was really tired once I was finished and fell asleep quickly in my arms. Here is the color of my hair in the daylight.

We met up with Ron’s mom and went to lunch at the original Din Tai Fung.

Fresh cucumbers with slight spiciness.

Simon checking out the menu.

Truffle dumplings… mm-mm good!

Shrimp and winter melon.

Crab.

Original flavor.

Din Tai Fung mascot.

Then we went to do some shopping, looking for baby stuff. We happened along to the hospital where Ron and his brother Henry were born.

After finding some educational toys for Simon, we headed to Raohe St Night Market to meet up with Grandma Chung’s youngest sister and niece. We had some beef noodle soup for dinner.

Ron’s cousin has this very unique pet called a sugar glider. According to wikipedia, it is a popular pet in the US but I’ve never seen one… maybe because people don’t bring them out of the house and they sleep during the daytime… it’s pretty cute.

We had plenty of snacks during the night including this okonomiyaki-like item.

It was piping hot and the wasabi gave it a nice kick.

The famous fried stinky tofu. We each had our own plate. Although tasty, it could be improved by smaller pieces of tofu and a thicker sauce. The tofu was quite airy so soaked up the sauce pretty well but was difficult to eat because each piece was so large and the outer shell kind of tough to chew through. Maybe local Taiwanese have sharper teeth?

About to leave the night market.

Thank you Auntie and Cousin Tina for coming out to hang out with us.

We went back to the hotel so Simon could get some rest before our early morning flight to Singapore tomorrow.