We flew into Taipei last Sunday afternoon. That night we went to a Korean BBQ style restaurant where they cook your food on hot coals right at your table. It's all you can eat and it was delicious! This was my introduction to Taiwaneese food, and it was really delicious! They say the food in Taiwan is the best in all of Asia... We also met up with Xuanhong (Shchwin, one of Tim's really good friends from Taiwan who also lived with him in Provo for a year) He took us to the famous Taipei market and we had a delicious Taiwanees treat. It's kind of like shaved ice with condensed milk and fresh mango on top... So good! Unfortunately I forgot to go to the restroom before we left so I had the unfortunate experience of having to use a squatter for the first time... I had really hoped I could get through my time in Asia without having to use one... But when you gotta go, you gotta go right?
Monday Tim had several work meetings in the Taipei area. I went with him because we were going to make our way down to Taichung afterwards and change hotels. It was interesting to experience the craziness of Tim's job when he's traveling... When we got to Taichung that night we walked around the city looking for this teppenyaki restaurant that Tim loved when he served his mission in Taichung... He couldn't remember where it was so he kept asking different people on the street... After walking for what seemed like forever we finally found the place... It was well worth it. Delicious food. Taiwan food was 2 for 2 for me so far. We decided to get a taxi home since we'd walked so far getting there, but what's funny is that we found out it was only a few blocks from our hotel... We had just taken the scenic route on the way there. It was ok though, it gave me a really good view of the city. It smells pretty bad there... like sewer and stinky tofu. Lots of markets on the side of the road selling really weird gross looking food... There are so many scooters everywhere you look, and it's not uncommon to see a family of 4 riding on one scooter. Pretty different from home and even Hong Kong. It made me really grateful for the conviniences I have in the states... Like carpet, good air conditioning, a sophisticated sewer system... So many things. It was really neat to experience the culture though.
Tuesday night we visited the mission home. Tim found out that one of his new members he baptized in Taiwan was serving a mission in Koashong (Southern Taiwan) Tim got permission from the mission president to take Elder Zhung(His English name was David) and his companion out for dinner the next night. It was such an awesome experience for Tim to see his new member as a missionary. While we visited him he showed us that he still carries the English Book of Mormon that Tim gave him they day he got baptized... Had Tim's testimony on the inside front cover. Pretty special.
A funny story... On the way down to Koashung... while we were on the subway, we were standing next to this big group of High School kids. They were laughing and talking and I could tell they were talking about us cause they kept looking over, especially at Mylan (Everyone always looks at him) Tim of course could understand what they were saying, but the people of course never expect a white guy to speak Chinese... Tim told me later that they were arguing about who had the best English and who had the guts to come over and ask us if they could take a picture of Mylan... When one of the kids got the guts to come over ask us Tim said, before the kid could say anything... "You want to take a picture with the baby?" in Chinese... This completely shocked these kids and they just started screaming and laughing... Couldn't believe that not only did Tim speak Chinese but could understand their conversation the whole time... They all crowded around Mylan and got a picture.... We totally made their day. It was pretty funny.
Thursday a member who served as a counselor to Tim's mission president took us around sight seeing. We went to a Buddhist Monastary... Really cool. We also went to this beautiful place called Sun Moon Lake. Gorgeous view of the lake and mountains behind it. There was also a cool old temple there. Afterwards we went to Nontou where Tim served for 7 months of his mission. We had dinner with the Yang family. Tim helped reactivate them and baptized one of their daughters. After dinner she took us to this shaved ice place and we were surprised by about 25 people from the ward Tim served in. Sister Yang spread the word Tim was coming to Taiwan and they all came to greet him. It was pretty incredible to see the impact Tim had on these people. Such amazing and wonderful people. I can see how Tim fell in love with the people of Taiwan. They couldn't get enough of Mylan. He was a little overwhelmed by the number of strange people swarming him and wanting to hold him... (he's just started getting a little bit of stranger anxiety) It was cute though.
On Saturday we went down to Yuinlin, which was the last area Tim served. We met with and had lunch with the Kwan family. Such a neat family. Brother Kwan is now the 1st counselor in the bishopric there. He's just such a solid guy and his wife was so gracious and sweet! I loved meeting them. We also met up with another new member of Tim's, Brother Qiu, I loved meeting the people that Tim taught! They all just adored him, looked up to him so much, and even after 5+ years considered him the dearest of friends. It was neat for me to see this side of Tim...
Sunday morning we had lunch at the Wang family's home. This family was a member family that Tim got really close to when he served up in this remote mountain town called Shingpu. Sister Wung spoke really good English, which was nice for me. Most of the time I had to bug Tim to translate everything for me the whole week. It was nice to be able to participate in a conversation and know what's going on. haha. After lunch and a tour of Shingpu, Sister Wang took us to the airport.
It was such a fun trip! We had such a wonderful time... Especially for Tim it was really special reconnecting with the families he got so close to while serving there as a missionary!
We got back to Hong Kong Sunday night and spent Monday and Tuesday packing up. We had dinner with the Jensens one last time to say Goodbye, and flew out of Hong Kong Wednesday morning. It was an unbelievably long trip home, but we're so glad to be home. We really missed our condo and especially our kitties! We're going to take the next few days really easy and try to get re-adjusted to the time and recover from severe jet lag... Thanks for reading our Asian blogs... It was so much fun to have so many stories to tell! We'll keep blogging, maybe just not quite as often as our life doesn't have as many adventures as it did in Hong Kong!
We love all of you and hope to see you soon! Enjoy some pics of Taiwan! We posted lots!
Tim in Teppenyaki heaven. This was Tim's favorite place to eat in Taiwan. It was delicious. We ate their 4 times it was so good!
Tim and I at one of the many Buddhist Temple's we visited.
Such amazing structures!
Me at Sun Moon Lake.
The Boy snacking on his foot.
This building is called a Pagoda. A place where Monks live.
The Taiwanese people couldn't get enough of Mylan. He got swarmed so many times! He started to scream about 10 seconds after this picture was taken. Haha.
A big Buddha.
Mylan on the train doing his "Bitter Bink Face". haha.
Tim and his new member Elder Zhuang.
The Nantou ward members that met us for ice cream. They were so excited to see Tim!
"Jie Jie"(Big Sister) She couldn't get enough of Mylan. She carried him everywhere and we just about let her take him home with her. haha.
Tim and Brother Kwang, his little boy and Mylan.
Tim and Brother Qiu.
The Wang family.
2 comments:
Wow, it sounds like you guys had an awesome trip! Those bbq and teppanyaki places are seriously the best food ever. I'm glad you got to see so many of the members who love Tim!
Man I didn't realize we served in so many of the same areas! It was fun to see and here about the members in Taiwan. I took my wife and son back to Taiwan last summer and it was great!
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