Goodbye for now...and on to Taipei

The ‘Longtan Scooter Shuttle Service’ was in full swing this morning as we headed to the bus station for the trip into Taipei – with people and luggage it took a few trips, but we all made it in one piece.

Always sad to say goodbye to family, but over the years we’ve tried our best to visit as frequently as we can, so hopefully we’ll see them again soon. Shirley’s family has never visited us in Canada, so we’ll see if our home in North Vancouver can be the next reunion spot.

The bus ride back was fairly uneventful, but I couldn’t help noticing how the scooter culture hasn’t changed in the 20 years since I was living here – this is the ‘park-and-ride’, Taipei style.

After we unpacked our bags, we decided our daily dose of exercise would be another bike ride. This time we were a bit more ambitious, and embarked on a 25 km ride from Taipei city out into the coast suburb of Tamsui, where Shirley went to college.

The great thing about Taipei bike rentals (apart from being cheap) is that you can drop them off at a different location from your starting point, saving us the effort of tackling a return trip.

I decided that this was a perfect time to use my GoPro – although I looked like a complete dork with the device protruding from my forehead, I knew it would be worth capturing a great family ride. However, when I got back later to review the video, I realized that I had tilted the camera up too high. This is what my rookie mistake looks like – 20 minutes of clips of the great white sky of Taipei – lesson learned!!

Tamsui is a food-lovers paradise – endless stalls of delicious snack food. And on this particular Chinese New Year holiday Sunday, it was an endless sea of people, too.

We started with ice cream – perfect after a long ride (and quite an impressive size)

These are the kind of snacks we just don’t get back in Vancouver, so they’re always on the list of ‘must-haves’ when we come back to Taiwan.

Owen is a great travel companion because he is willing to eat anything (just about) even when you tell him what it is in advance. This was his first bite of the pigs blood cake – and his last !! But top marks for effort !!

But one thing they will never say no to is Bubble Tea – and given how inexpensive it is here compared with Canada, they usually have one every day (funded in part by our good friend Shirin’s generous donation !!)

By the end of the day we were heading back home – sharing the train with the other thousands of New Years revelers – Annie barely managed to survive the cramped ride, but we all made it home in one piece.

...and in time for a good night's sleep - we've got to get up early for the big Seahawks game tomorrow!!