New Pictures from the USA !!

For all the Olivia and Kendall fans, here are a few new pictures I haven't sent you yet.

Kendall in Los Angeles, CA. After going through immigration, we had a 4 hour layover at LAX. We found our way to a Chili's and had a big dinner before getting on another plane later that night to Miami.

Olivia at Chili's in LAX.

Kendall and Olivia in our front yard on 7/19/2012. We were just on our way to the grocery store, but Olivia insisted that they dress alike. When I asked her why she wanted to dress alike, she said, "so people know we are twins". LOL !!! So cute !!!!! By the way, these dresses were a lovely gift from our guide, Wen, in Taiwan. She gave us these dresses, and two other matching dresses, on our way to the airport.

Kendall and Olivia at the grocery store, July 19, 2012.

 

Sunday, July 15th, Last Day in Taiwan

These next few pictures are some weird things that were on our breakfast buffet every morning. There were tons of choices, but these were the most um...... Interesting. Ok, so you've all heard of Green Eggs and Ham? Well, here they are. Not all of the eggs were green, so David picked around them for himself and the girls. They were seasoned either with seaweed or some other concoction to make them green. WHY???? the little round balls were called has browns, but they were really like little balls of mashed potatoes that had been deep fried. They were actually not bad !!

 

Here is the ham, in the middle is smoked duck breast, and the last one is pork sausage. Pass.........no thanks.......no way on any of these.

 

Steamed pork buns for breakfast. These were pretty good, per David.

 

And of course, the Chinese Dessert which was actually steamed dumplings stuffed with shredded carrot, peas, and pork. David tried them and didn't care for them.

 

Steamed cabbage, roasted sweet potato, "hash browns", and red bean bread. The steamed cabbage was AWESOME and all of us, except Olivia, ate tons of it for breakfast everyday. YUM !!!! I asked David why we don't eat cabbage for breakfast at home. He said "who is going to cook it???". Good point. However, since we have been home, we have mastered the art of making steamed cabbage, Taiwanese style. It is so good.

 

Beautiful Kendall standing by the luggage in our room, right before checkout. Wow, we were so ready to get home.

 

The massive tub in our bathroom at the Pacific Business Center. It was an amazing tub. The shower was awesome as well. We highly recommend this hotel as it far exceeded our expectations.

 

Kendall and Olivia in the hotel lobby at 1pm, right as we were checking out. The lobby was on the 11th floor of the building.

 

Olivia and Kendall in front of a gorgeous glass sculpture at the Taoyuan International Airport.

 

Killing time at the airport. LOTS of time !!! We were at the airport many hours early.

 

 

Wi-Fi seats at the airport !!! How cool is this? In the USA, people are sitting all over the floor, huddled by electrical outlets. But here, they are in each of the seats.

 

 

Olivia at the Hello Kitty entertainment area for kids in the airport. They think of everything here.

 

Mommy and the girlies at the airport. So many orchids were everywhere.

 

Getting a bite to eat at the airport in Taiwan.

 

 

Kendall and David on the people mover.

 

Olivia running on the people mover. She had such a good time running on the different ones throughout the airport.

 

Are we there yet? Oh wait, we haven't even got on the first plane yet !! UGH !!!

 

 

 

 

 

New Pictures of the Girlies !!!

These pictures were all taken on July 14th in Taipei during a long, long walk around the city.

Heading out of the hotel for our day of wandering.

Kendall and Olivia in front of the Honda dealership. Olivia had noticed how many people on the streets wore face masks. I think more people wore them when we were here in 2008 than now, but still, a great many do. They sell them at every convenience store, so I picked up a package for the girls to play around with. In 2008, the smog was fairly noticeable, but this trip, it wasn't noticeable at all. Maybe that is why less people are wearing face masks.

 

Olivia

Kendall and Olivia hamming it up.

Kendall got tired of wearing hers pretty fast. Olivia insisted that I wear it with her for a picture.

David, Kendall and Olivia. Kendall was enjoying an awesome chocolate steamed cake we bought from a street vendor. Olivia wouldn't try it. David and I split one and Kendall gobbled up a whole one on her own.

 

David and the girls. This was right before his massage. So after this, I headed off with the girls to go to the fountain at Taipei 101 again. The following pictures are of Olivia and Kendall having a total BLAST again in the fountain, for the second time. This was our last full day in Taiwan as we left the following afternoon.

 

Olivia

 

Kendall and Olivia

They were squealing and laughing and having the best time.

About 8pm, on Saturday night, outside of the Taipei Main Train Station. It was packed with a million people inside and out, like a giant flea market on steroids. We went underground into the subway shopping center in order to get a few last minute gifts that I knew I could only find here. Plus, I wanted to go

into the subway again this trip, despite David's many, MANY objections !! It was a blast !!!!

More Taiwan Pictures !!

 

Traffic outside of the 2 story TGIFriday's in Taipei City.

Mountains in the distance.

Buddhist Temple near our hotel.

Inside the temple, people had left offerings to the gods. There were all sorts of snacks, drinks, money, fruit, incense, candles, presents, etc.

On the walls of the temple, there were there rows and rows of tiny little prayer boxes.

Offerings

Beautiful tiny wooden boxes built into the walls.

Street market

How much is that doggy in the window ????? A whole freakin' lot !!!! Awwww.... Isn't he cute, though ?? Pets and pet food and all the goodies that you need to take care of a critter are SUPER expensive !!!! For example, a tiny 4oz. can of cat food cost about $4 USD !!! That is outrageous. We figure this is about the best deterrent to having pets. Perhaps only the wealthy have pets, or at least those who are well off enough to spend that kind of money on them.

So cute !!!!

Scottish Fold cats are so popular here !!!

So sweet !!!!

 

Upstairs pet store

 

Look at these fancy, handmade animal treats !! "We Care Your Pet ".

Ok, here are a few more gross food pictures. These are the hard boiled eggs that are so popular here. They are in every single corner store, every grocery, restaurant, just basically everywhere. We never tried one in 2008' and we didn't try one this time either. Neither of us could muster the courage. Our translator said they were brined in a mixture of mostly tea. That doesn't sound too bad, but it doesn't smell like tea !!!!

Inside a Family Mart, like a 7-11 convenience store. They are everywhere and very popular. These big vats are full of boiling hot broth, and all the different bits and pieces are floating in it. Whatever mystery food it is doesn't smell great, doesn't look good, and you guessed it, we passed it up for McDonalds !! LOL.

Yamaha junk shop.

$333 -$533 USD per month for a totally high end, super classy, studio apartment.

Gas station

 

 

Social Services in Taiwan

Car dealerships in the city. There are no visible cars from the street. You have to enter the

building to see any vehicles.