Journey to Hawaii- Day 1

The trip from Taipei to Honolulu was exhausting primarily because we had to wait nine interminable hours in Kansai International Airport in Osaka. However, all that was forgotten as soon as we stepped out of Honolulu's Airport. We were immediately greeted with soothing warmth, a nice respite from the cold weather in Taipei (yes Taipei can get cold). Looking silly in our heavy winter coats, we quickly doffed our coats and packed them in our suitcase.

Since we didn't have to board our cruise ship until later in the afternoon, we decided to take a stroll through Waikiki Beach and the shops nearby. Although we weren't hungry, we wanted to taste some sushi because the sushi in Hawaii is actually pretty good--an observation we reached from our last trip to Hawaii. Not to mention we really miss having American style sushi--rainbow rolls, dragon rolls, volcano rolls, etc....

After our afternoon "snacks" it was time to board the ship. There was a line but the line was definitely shorter than when we went 1.5 years ago. Overall, I noticed that not only were there fewer people, many of the people present were older. There were fewer children and fewer honeymooners, a deviation from our cruise. Is it the economy? Or the season? I'd say it's a bit of both.

Pride of America is very similar to Pride of Hawaii. However, Pride of Hawaii is noticeably newer and better maintained. Although Pride of Hawaii is only 15% bigger, it appears significantly larger to me. I enjoyed the shows on Pride of Hawaii better. As far as the restaurants are concerned, some are better and some are worse. But, I don't like how we have to pay a cover for Italian restaurant (which was "free" on Pride of Hawaii). I also don't know how Pride of America can claim that "East Meets West" is an Asian Fusion restaurant when in reality, it's just serves Americanized Chinese food. I definitely would NOT pay $15 cover charge had I known we would be eating really bad Americanized Chinese food. Everything was either too sweet or too salty. It was without a doubt the worst restaurant on the ship.

The shows were good (the ones that I attended anyways). There was a really funny comedian and a really good magician. The rest of the shows didn't look appealing so we didn't bother going. I wish they had more dance shows or acrobatic performances--primarily because we went a bunch of people who didn't speak English very well.

In summary, I would definitely go on NCL again, probably not in Hawaii though. As much as I like Hawaii, taking two cruises is enough. Not to mention there are so many other places in the world to explore. I will post the pictures from the other island if/when I get around to it.

Waikiki Beach

Hitachi Tree

Random cute figure

Side view of Pride of America

Front view of our ship

Back view of our ship

Exhibition area inside the ship

Reception area

One of the main dining room

Upper deck

Our cabin with a balcony

Winter trip around Taiwan

Over Christmas break, we took a 5-day road trip around Taiwan (Taipei-> Kaoshiung-> Kenting-> Taidong-> Hualien-> Taipei). I'm not a huge fan of driving long distance so this trip was a bit tiring for me. But overall, I had a lot of fun. Some highlights of the trip:

-strolling through Kenting's bustling night market (lots of cute shops with handmade goods)
-sand dune racing in Ping Dong, Kenting (so much fun, but definitely wear a helmet b/c the sand will fly into your eyes)
-biking for 1.5 hours in Guan San, Taidong (also a lot of fun and the view is beautiful)

-food, food, have I mentioned all the delectable food?

Entire family at the entrance to Taroko National Park, Hualien

Mountain cuisine

Along the Tunnel of Nine Turns in Taroko National Park

Small eats in Hualien city

"Little Switzerland"

View along the biking path in Taidong

Kenting's night life

National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium in Kenting

Guan San, waiting for the sunset

HUGE bowl of shaved ice with fruits in Kaoshiung

Tainan

After hearing people rave over the small Taiwanese eats in Tainan (台南小吃）， I decided to give the city one last chance. I've been to Tainan three times but it was only on my third visit-- last week-- that I actually began to appreciate the city. Why did it take so long? Well, I'd say it's because I finally took the time to explore the city on foot and more importantly, to taste all the delicious food that Tainan is famous for. My conclusion? Tainan has a more Taiwanese feel to it than Taipei because the culture and tradition is better preserved. The food was definitely worth the trip. Taiwanese street foods may not be pleasing to the eyes but they are definitely palatable. Many restaurants have been open for generations.

A roadside restaurant

Sweet rice with pork sauce （米糕）

Stir-fried eel noodles (鱔魚意麵)

Taiwanese dessert place (shaved ice and warm sweet soup)

8 treasure sweet soup (八寶湯)

Anping Old Street (安平老街)

Anping Fort Museum (安平古堡)

Anping flower tofu (安平豆花)

Fried shrimp rolls (蝦捲)

Dan dan rice noodles (擔擔米粉)

Fried fish thick noodles soup (土魠魚羹)

Shrimp/meat dumpling with shrimp sauce (蝦仁肉圓)

A visit to Tainan is not complete without visiting family so here I am with my neice

The Christmas display in the lobby of Tayih Landis (our hotel) ho ho ho!

November events

Dennis recently celebrated his 32th birthday, which was marked by dinner at the Sheraton Hotel and a birthday cake at home. Hope your wish will come true!

Somehow, Dennis and I got everyone excited about having a "traditional" Thanksgiving dinner and we held it last Friday. Since Thanksgiving is not a national holiday in Taiwan, it was more convenient for everyone to have it on a weekend.

Finding the turkey was quite a challenge. We finally found one at the grocery store in Taipei 101 and it was NOT cheap (~$45 USD for 12. 7 lbs).

What was suppose to be a small family dinner of 6 evolved into a dinner for 13 (luckily, 13 is not an unlucky number in Asian). Since the turkey was relatively large, we invited our aunt, uncle, three cousins, one of the cousin's girlfriend, and another aunt.

Cooking together with so many people was actually a lot of fun. Everybody had a wonderful time. And yes, we were all completely stuffed. We couldn't even finish the turkey, despite having 13 mouths to feed.

I have so much to give thank for this year but I'll start with good family and friends.

So many people in the kitchen.

Jennifer is making seafood pasta, I'm supposed to be making gravy for the turkey.

Left to right: Carol, Cynthia, and cousin's gf (not sure what her name is)

Dennis carving the turkey with with from Cynthia

Dennis carving turkey with help from Cynthia and Carol (is it that hard??)

After dinner, dessert time! (all homemade, of course)

After dinner and dessert, everybody hanging around in front of the TV.