Greetings from Taiwan

We finally made our long awaited postponed trip to Taipei. I am writing this from my hotel in Taipei, which surprisingly has free WiFi in all rooms despite it being only a low medium range hotel. Together with another couple friend, we arrived last Saturday at about 4pm at the hotel and things have been rather rough so far. We had traveled with Yiu Yiu to Hanoi early last year and it was such a breeze but this time round, the weather has not been kind to us. It has been raining daily since the day we arrived, with only brief respites.

But since we've come a long way, we went ahead with our planned itinerary instead of just staying in the hotel. It's really tough trying to walk around to take in the sights while carrying Yiu Yiu around everywhere since we can't put her in the stroller as ours does not come with the plastic rain cover. It's also a difficult task sheltering her from the elements as the wind comes in different directions, bringing along with it rain droplets. And each morning when Yiu Yiu wakes up, I pray that she doesn't wake up with a fever. Touch wood!

Despite that, we've been to some famous sights around Taipei such as Taipei 101, Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall, Longshan Temple and the various night markets. We also made day trips out of Taipei to Yehliu, Danshui, Jiufen and Jinguashih. Today, we'll be visiting the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall, Presidential Building, 228 Memorial Park and the famous Dihua Street before heading for an overnight stay in Wulai. Our next destination is Hualien and Taroko Gorge on the East Coast before returning to Taipei to visit the National Palace Museum and hopefully, Yangmingshan National Park. We actually headed to Yangmingshan last Sunday but due to heavy rain and the cold, we abandoned our plan of going up the mountain. I'm hopeful that the rain will stop on Saturday, as the local weather bureau forecasted so we can go up Yangmingshan.

More stories and photos coming up as soon as I have them sorted out.