There is something fun about traveling with first timers. They are like babies, curious and easily amused. We went down to Pingshi railway for lantern floating. We got a two-colored lantern for health and wealth, wrote our wishes on it, and set it to fly. That was a lot of fun (that I usually won't so myself).... read more

This is Day 1 of my Chicago trip. OK, it's technically west of Chicago about 45 mintues (Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg) but I'm going in with the full Chicago spirit..... The minute I started driving down the freeway, the minute I realized, gosh, this is not California anymore.... it's so green everywhere, the cute suburbs that we see in movies with the prairie style houses. No Spanish street names. The clerk at the store actually said Hi to me and chatted a little. Of course all these charming characters comes with a price..... especially when I walked into Lou Malnati's Pizzeria, asking for a table for one. The waitress swings by, "Are you still waiting? Do you want to order something ahead?" I smiled and told her to get me an individual sized Lou Malnati Classic. ... read more

Today is dedicated to gluttony. Ambassador Hotel has excellent breakfast. They have their own bakery, so it goes without saying that their breakfast pastries were excellent. Which made me want to try more bread and pastries in Taiwan so we headed out to "Breeze" shopping center on Fu-Shin North Road. A very high end shopping mall (think Prada, Gucci, Loewe) and a high end bakery that complements. Can't remember the name (sorry!) but their Cookie-Croissant was just wow wow wow. Imagine your favorite fluffy airy buttery croissant, topped with a thin layer of crisp sweet cookie, baked together such that in every bite, you get a perfect harmony of cookie and croissant together. Match made in heaven -- an interesting mix of two distinctive types of crunchiness, the airy croissant and crispy cookie, not competing, but ... read more

This day started with a loud noise outside of the hotel room. The students from Taichung high school are lining outside of the cafeteria (long frgging line!) for their final meal before departure, so we had to resort to good old McDonalds. The great thing about Kenting is the convenience, a few minutes walk to all the little stores and vacation needs (scooter rentals and kayaking and scuba diving etc). Hsiao Du pork buns was on my to-do list in Kenting, so we got a taxi. "You might have to be in line for a while," said the taxi driver. Really? What is this place like? Ten minute drive to the place, lucky! No line, but we were faced with a menu with short description and a quick decision to make (the lady at the counter ... read more

4/20（三） 抵達 9:30PM入住淡水家附近旅館 April 20 Wed: Arrive in Taiwan, stay at a hotel close to my parents' house n Danshui 4/21（四） 9:30AM 搭高鐵1.5hr至高雄換車至墾丁2hr約中午一點到， April 21 Thu: Take the 9:30 AM high speed train to Kaushiung, est. arrival time 13:00 PM 下午玩海上摩托車，夜住夏都沙灘旅館 Water activities in Kenting beach resort, stay at Chateu Resort in Kenting 4/22（五）白天玩墾丁，再夜宿墾丁 April 22 Fri: Sightseeing in Kenting, snother night at Chateu 4/23 （六）早上玩墾丁，下午至高雄看高雄夜景~~夜宿高雄漢神酒店 April 23 Sat: AM sightseeing in Kenting, PM transit to Kauhsiung fsightseeing. Stay in Hotel Hanshin 4/24 （日）8:00早上搭高鐵1.5hr回台北~~整日在台北，中午吃鼎泰豐或台北北京烤鴨~~~夜宿台北六福皇宮酒店The Westin Taipei April 24 Sun: 8:00 AM high speed train back to Taipei. Sightseeing in Taipei, stay in Westin Taipei 4/25 （一）早上開車至后里看薩克斯風故鄉 夜宿台北六福皇宮酒店The Westin Taipei April 25 Mon: Drive down to Houli -- home of Saxophones to check out some new Alto's. Stay in Westin. ... read more