My Taiwan: It's how they roll

International Flora Expo

International Flora Expo was held in Taipei this year. The event lasted about 6 months with acres of outdoor gardens, indoor displays and cultural performances.

Street Celebration

I was in Pingtung in southern Taiwan where my dad's family is from. My aunts and uncles still live there. It's a bit more countryside than then big cities. Taiwanese, rather than Mandarin is spoken here much more than in Taipei. So I'm trying to pick up some more Taiwanese when I can. Anyway there was a celebration for the birthday of the child deity in Taoism/Chinese Folk Religion.

I also happened upon a random parade, too. People were setting off fireworks in the middle of the street. See the boxes and boxes of fireworks! They really know how to have a celebration.

Maokong Tea Gardens

My old college friend Justin has been coming to Taiwan for business trips for the past few years. We got the chance to take the Maokong gondola into the mountains for tea, right outside of Taipei (reachable by the metro).

We're about to take the gondola. The route is about 2.5 miles into the mountains.

Tea Garden

There are lots of tea houses in the area - here are tea leaves being dried.

There's an art to brewing and serving tea. Glad Justin knew what to do.

The tea was cute and delicious!

Taipei 101
Taipei 101 had the title of tallest building in the world from 2004 - 2010. Here it is from the Sun Yet-Sun Memorial (Founding Father of Republican China. It was constructed to represent simultaneously segments in bamboo, a stack of ancient Chinese money boxes, and pagoda. Also, the number 8 is very lucky in Chinese culture-the building is made up of 8 segments, 8 floors each.

101 is lit in a different color each day of week for a few hours. I guess it was a Sunday when I took this picture.

HotPot

All you can eat hot pot. All kinds of veggies, mushrooms, tofu, mochi, noodles and if you are into seafood and meat - all you can eat, too. Spicy soup and not spicy soup - half and half.