Taipei

Natascha and I made a weekend trip to Taipei as her last Asian adventure before she moves to LA.

We arrived Saturday morning. after checking into hotel, we went to Modern Toilet restaurant where food is served in ceramic bowls shaped like toilets or bathtubs and you sit in toilet chairs.

Then we went to Taipei Zoo area to take gondola ride to the tea plantations.

After that we went back to our hotel area to find someone to eat and have a drink. We ended up finding this tiny counter bar run by a Japanese man who had no menu but made you a cocktail based on your preference. It was very cool and he was so nice. He recommended a little place for dinner so we went for a local Vietnamese beef dinner.

Sunday we accidently slept in so guess we both needed sleep. We had brunch at Rabbit Rabbit. I had matcha toast and Oreo coffee.

We took the train to Dahu park to see the moon bridge. We didn't get to see the reflection though.

Being silly

Then we went to Taipei 101 area to do a hike with a view. Lots of stairs!!! Elephant mountain is the name of the hike.

Walk by the W hotel.

Random things on our walk.

Flowers!

Nope, zip ties.

Curved escalator.

After the hike we went to Creative Park which has a lot of design stores and galleries. Like the PMQ in Hong Kong or Hope Artist Village in Pawtucket.

After that we were hungry so we went to Shilin night market to get street food. Food on a stick.

Check out this building under construction.

Monday we we got up early to go to Beitrou to see the hot springs.

Breakfast

Unfortunately many things in that area were closed on Monday.

Public library.

I got me some bubble tea.

Then we went to Botanical Gardens.

We found a great little gyoza place before we had to go to the airport. Yum!

Cool architecture....

Gonna miss you Taipei.

Another Farewell

So Natascha is leaving Hong Kong to move to LA with Hasbro. Her 2 years are up and it's time to go....

So we got together on Saturday for a few activities.

First stop was an Escape Room. You have to solve a series of puzzles in order to get out of the room. There were 7 of us to tackle the challenge. We picked a Japanese themed room.

Perplexed...

Praying to the gods for answers... actually there were sundials on the ceiling that we were trying to decipher.

We escaped!!!

Such a quick 45 minutes. It flew by.

We then walked to the street with all the lanterns. Had to take pics!

Grabbing a drink after our escape!

Well deserved green tea drink afterwards.

Really interesting bar we went to with a cage in the middle of the place. Do you see me? They wouldn't let us in the cage so I improvised.

The ladies!

Then we met a bigger group for dinner. Korean tapas. Yummy!!!

Dragon Boat Season 2017

It's almost spring so it's time to start dragon boat practice again  Hasbro has a company team and the race is at end of May this year. The team has had 3 practices and I have been to the last 2.

A great way to hang out with co-workers, get some exercise and not work on Fridays! Hahaha! 

After practice celebration.

Here you can see my expert rowing skills!