An emotional day

It was a wonderful day. We found out just a few minutes before going to the orphanage that our son’s birthmother would be coming to meet us. I had known that was a possibility but did not think it would actually happen. I will post more about our special day later but wanted to go ahead and post a few pictures of our first meeting.

An extra-special dinner: Teppanyaki style

In celebration of our big day tomorrow, we went to dinner at the New Asia Teppanyaki Restaurant at the Tayih Landis Hotel in Tainan. Excellent service, wonderful food, a little expensive, but we figure we should take advantage of this time to enjoy a special dinner, just the two of us. . . and it will be a while until we visit Asia again and experience this type of culinary expertise.

One of six restaurants at Tayih Landis Hotel in Tainan, Taiwan

Our chef, skilled and professional

Blessed Be Your Name

In a land where idols are worshipped on what seems like every corner, we will give praise to the one True and Living God. We pray for the people of Taiwan, to know Jesus and accept His free gift of salvation.

Dinner and stroller shopping in Tainan

With Amanda in Tainan

Dave and I met up with an online friend, Amanda, for dinner tonight in Tainan. Dinner was delicious…she ordered three Chinese dishes and we ate family-style for dinner. The food tasted more like Chinese food we are used to eating at home…all very delicious.

Our dinner at the DuDu Cafe

Strollers at RT Mart in Tainan

As many of you know, we are traveling light on this journey and hoped to buy many of the baby items we need while here in Taiwan. Amanda was kind enough a few weeks ago to visit a few stores and price the strollers for me. She found some strollers at RT Mart for about $30 USD. After dinner tonight, We went with Amanda to RT Mart to buy a stroller for our son – it’s just a basic umbrella-type stroller. We had also seen a couple of strollers at the Carrefour store in the Tienmu area of Taipei, for about the same price. There was a larger selection of strollers at this RT Mart, though. The cheapest stroller at SOGO Department Store in Taipei was about $100 USD, but they were much fancier than what we need.

Journey from Hualien to Tainan

We have just arrived in Tainan. Our original plans were to take a train from Hualien around the southern part of Taiwan to Tainan. But the typhoon that hit Taiwan last month damaged the railway in some sections and the Railway Administration was predicting months before the train would be able to travel that route. So we decided to return to Taipei via train then transfer to the High Speed Rail for our trip to Tainan. It took about three hours on the train and one hour, 45 minutes on the high speed rail. This is where our son is living in an orphanage. We will meet him on Thursday. Our adoption agency has arranged a half-day tour of Tainan on Wednesday, and we are looking forward to dinner tonight with a friend who lives here.

On the 8am train to Taipei from Hualien

A look inside the high speed rail car (business class)

Dave with the Uni Lions mascot at Tainan HSR station

Beautiful Taroko Gorge

It is not possible to capture the beauty of Taroko Gorge in photos. I have never seen anything quite like it – if I had to compare it to something, I would say it’s a mix of the Grand Canyon and the Big Island of Hawaii. Our hotel hired a driver to take us on a half-day tour of Taroko National Park. The park entrance is about 30 minutes north of Hualien. We were in awe of the enormous cliffs and beautiful marble rock formations throughout the park. Here are a few photos – once I upload the photos to our flickr account I’ll post a link on our blog.

Hualien Coastline

View from hotel to the west

Dave on a trail at Taroko Gorge

Cindy on Taroko Gorge Trail

Dave on one of the foot bridges

A temple high up on the mountainside

We fought our way through a swarm of killer bees --just kidding - no killer bees spotted on this outing!

Itinerary change in Hualien

Train to Hualien

We made it to Hualien, on Taiwan’s east coast. It was about a 3 hour train ride from Taipei. It was a nice change of scenery from Taipei – with more views of the ocean and the mountains. When we arrived, a taxi took us to the homestay/bed-and-breakfast we had booked. We were surprised how far the homestay is from everything – it was not quite what we were expecting.

Park Taipei Hotel in Hualien

We decided to look into other accommodations and found ourselves at the Parkview Hotel in Hualien. This place is amazing! It is a full-service resort, with a spa, four restaurants, golf course, indoor squash court, pool, recreation center with a pool table and ping pong tables. The rate is only a few dollars more than we would have paid at the homestay. It’s probably one of the best hotels in which we have ever stayed. The rate listed in the Taiwan guide books is much higher than what we are paying for our room. If you ever make it to Hualien, I’d recommend this hotel.

At the waterfall on the hotel grounds

On Saturday, before leaving Taipei, we visited Danshui. It was similar to the night market atmosphere, with a few streets of vendor stalls and shops. I think the best way to describe it is as a little bit State Fair, a little bit beach boardwalk, and a little bit carnival. We picked up a few gifts for our kids and enjoyed the scenery along the river.

Along the river in Danshui

Weather in Taiwan

This is the first morning we have woken up to rain since arriving in Taiwan. We have been blessed with beautiful, hot weather. The first two days, it was relatively pleasant and did not seem as hot as everyone had said it would be. I think that is because we are used to humidity from where we live, and there were quite a few clouds in the sky. On Friday and Saturday, we realized just how intense the sun is here – it’s okay in the shade but the heat from the sun just takes your breath away at times. I compare it to a hot, July day in south Florida. It’s fairly common to see people walking with umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun. The picture shows a temperature reading in Danshui yesterday: 32 degrees Celsuis = 89 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat index was 98 degrees Fahrenheit. It was hot!

Photos from Taiwan

Here are a few interesting photos from our travels in Taiwan so far.

An interesting hat worn by a guy on the MRT (subway)

Common sight: People wearing surgical masks

Pizza delivery via scooter

Green Bean Cake

Asparagus Juice

Chili's menu: Some pretty expensive appetizers. . .those prices are in New Taiwanese dollars, but it can be shocking when you first look at the menu and see $320 for cheese fries. In US dollars, it's only about $9.

A squatty potty at a public restroom: Fortunately for me, there are plenty of Western-style toilets in Taiwan

Sightseeing in Taipei

We went to the National Palace Museum and Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall today. Here are a few photos from today’s adventures.

National Palace Museum

In front of Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall

Do you see the guy with the green shirt at the top of the steps? This building is enormous!