Observations

I'd forgotten what it's like to have little ones around. Even though I work with a group of active school age children, there's a noticeable difference in energy levels when comparing my classroom and home when there's a toddler visiting.

That said, it's been a delight to see how much my niece has grown and changed since our visit last summer. She's nearly two years old - I've forgotten what milestones are achieved when, but I've noticed her fine motor skills when (trying) to turn the key on a little wind-up toy, balancing little pattern blocks (modeling her mom), and eating with her (tweezer-like) chopsticks, as well as how she's learning and saying the names of colors, shapes and numbers (pattern blocks again, and upon noticing our big clock). I've also enjoyed observing her (quirks and) expressions.

*chopsticks photo by Alex

*crab photo by Alex

In transition

I've noticed that this blog has turned into more of a travel log than "a day in the life of Maggie and Alex" how it first started here in 2006. There's nothing wrong with that, but now that Maggie and Alex have grown and have their own ways to document what's going on with them via their own blogs, Facebook, Instagram and other accounts, I've been thinking whether and how to change direction regarding what I post. I started by changing the original tag line.

While considering, I've been reminiscing. Before this blog, I had a website on Geocities (from perhaps 1999) to keep family and friends up to date on what was happening with our family half a world away. To put content up I was dabbling in HTML and on DTP Adobe Pagemaker before WYSIWYG and had photos on Zing and Ofoto - any of those names ring a bell?

I found some of the old site on the Web archive Wayback Machine.

Christmas break 2015

This year, we went to Vietnam and Cambodia during Christmas break. 

We flew to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) first for a couple of days. Walked lots around the historic downtown area, went to the market, ate at restaurants and street stands, and drank iced coffee near the riverside. 

Bloom was the name of one place we ate at that served modern Vietnamese cuisine. The restaurant is in a renovated French Colonial home and the staff and two head chefs train local youth in the hospitality industry as cooks, waiters, etc. to give them a possible career and a way out of a life of poverty.

Next, we flew to Siem Reap for a couple days where we went to, up, down, around, and through the many temples around Angkor Wat and for an excursion out to the floating village on Tonle Sap Lake. 

We watched sunset from atop a hill at Phnom Bakheng on the first evening and gazing at Angkor Wat the second. We all took so many photos!

We flew to the port town of Sihanoukville Christmas eve in time to join the "gala BBQ buffet dinner" at our resort with private access to Sokha Beach. Christmas Day we went to check out the local market, a Buddhist temple, a Christian university on a hill overlooking the sea and St. Michael's Catholic Church - one of only two in Cambodia to survive the Khmer Rouge. Saint Michael is the patron saint of fishermen and the structure, being shaped like a ship's sail reflects that.

Our last two stops were to be work-related for Paul, so on Boxing Day we rode in a van from the coast for over four hours on local roads to Phnom Penh in time for dinner with some people Paul works with, then checked into our hotel along the river. We went to the rooftop bar to enjoy a view of the moon and stars, as well as a view of a casino with flashing lights across the river (!)

We didn't have much time for sightseeing since we joined Paul at work and for a factory tour the next afternoon, but toured the Royal Palace grounds and went to the Russian Market to buy souvenirs.

After a couple nights, we flew to our original point of entry, Ho Chi Minh, for another dinner and factory tour, but we went for a massage and a stroll around a new mall while we waited instead of hanging around the office.

We enjoyed our family time and allowed a few days once home to rest and wash clothes before school and work started again.

Taipei eats

Our favorite food in Taipei, Taiwan (originally drafted Dec 2012 for friends wanting to know what to eat and where to go; photos from various trips)

Yong He Dou Jiang 永和豆漿 - the breakfast shops that have this name have the same type of breakfast goodies: dou jiang (soybean milk), mi jiang (thicker nutty-flavored rice milk), shao bing (flaky pastry with sesame seeds) often stuffed with you tiao (fried dough stick like a churro), dan bing (omelet in a flaky scallion tortilla-like pancake),

luo buo gao (turnip cake), fan tuan (sticky rice stuffed with shredded dry pork (rou gan), pickled turnip, you tiao), xiao long bao (steamed juicy pork dumplings)
  

Two of Paul's favorite beef stew noodle places:
He's eaten here since he was a child - 老王記牛肉麵大王, Lao Wang Ji on Taoyuan Street off Heng Yang Road walk fr Xi Men or NTU Hospital train station. It's a little hard to find since there's no sign. Look for the open kitchen and enter from the alley on the left side. Here's a snapshot from Google Maps.

永康牛肉麺館, Yong Kang Beef Stew Noodle is one blk south of XinYi Sec 2 on Alley 13 Jin Shan S Rd in between Jin Shan and Yong Kang St

Din Tai Fung (known for their xiao long bao dumplings) is also near there on Xin Yi and there's another dumpling place around the corner fr Din Tai Fung on Yong Kang - less people, less waiting. 

An old favorite dumpling place 常青餃子館 Chang Qing dumpling shop owned by a family friend is by Qing Guang market near our old office. They have delicious dumplings and potstickers, pork chop fried rice, and clam soup. Chung Shan N Rd, Sec 2, Alley 183 #1-4
 
牛肉餡餅 - niu rou xian bing (a type of beef pan fried dumplings) at
Zhu Ji 朱記餡餅粥店 No. 106號, Section 3, Rén'ài Road, Daan District, Taipei 

 A refreshing treat is shaved ice. Monster Ice on Yong Kang is probably the most famous one - try mango or with 'bu-ding' (creme caramel) and drizzled with condensed milk.


Classic Taiwanese - Shin Yeh Restaurant 欣葉台菜 (several branches) - favorite dishes are hong shao yu (braised fish, hong shao rou (braised pork belly), and dan zai mian (noodle soup topped with ground pork and a shrimp):

There are lots of street food stands, some in local markets selling daily necessities as well as food, some are only open at night. Near our old office is: 晴光市場 Qing Guang Market and Nong An Night Market. The most famous one is Shi Lin Night Market, and another night market is Rao He. If you want a little adventure, hop on a train to Keelung and try the market there spreading out in front of a temple, hence it's name: Keelung Miao Kou 基隆廟口夜市

Favorite street market food: lu rou fan (stewed saucy pork on rice), you fan (steamed sticky rice),

rou gung (thick soup with meatball), liang mian (cold noodles with sesame/peanut sauce, shredded ham/chicken, cucumber/carrot), gan mian (dry/little sauce noodles), you mian (yellow noodle with light soup),

wonton soup, fried chicken, fried pork chop (pai gu), beef roll, tsong you bing (green onion
pancake), hu jiao bing (pepper pork bun cooked on side of a tandoori-like oven)

rou bao - pork or chicken steamed bun, stinky tofu, lemon ai yu bing (refreshing fig jelly with lemon syrup and ice), sugar cane juice, ji dan gao (little cakes shaped like chicken eggs)

It seems like every neighborhood has little restaurants or cafes that may not look like much and often they cook at the front, on the street, but food is not that expensive and usually quite tasty! To try a variety, look for a buffet - lunch box "bian dang" place. Here's one of our favorites - a pork chop set.

Although Starbucks is there, there are other local shops and specialty shops that are serious about their coffee. They use all sorts of methods to brew - vacuum, ice drip...not cheap, but good coffee - usually quite strong. I had my first ice dripped coffee at one called Charlotte Cafe next to Zhu Ji. There was a classic bicycle as part of an eclectic display of collectibles at the back.

Let's not forget about bubble tea - there are lots and lots of places that make milk tea with tapioca pearls. The place that supposedly started it all is called Chun Shui Tang. Other popular shops 50 Lan (offers smaller size bubbles as well), CoCo and Ten Ren. 

There are so many places we've eaten at to list them all - explore and you'll never go hungry!

Here's a map of places mentioned in this post: Taipei eats