It was definitely a cultural extravaganza for Madisen since this was her first trip to Asia. In Taipei, we visited Aunt Mei Juan. We also went to visit Fang Mama who was our house helper when we lived in Taiwan from 1977-1981. It was very fun for Fang Mama to see Nelson all grown up and his beautiful daughter Madisen.
The trip to Hua Lian was fun as we were able to find Brother Chen, the tour guide, to take us in his taxi and toured all over Taroko Gorge. We'd be happy to share his contact information if you want to tour there.
Once back in Gaoxiong, we did a couple of night markets, traditional market in the morning and some shopping at the big beautiful shopping mall. We also took a boat ride on the Ai River. The place has become a tourist place since Elwin was a missionary here 50 years ago.
We also took Nelson and Madisen to Tainan and visited the Song village. Some cousins came to show them around while the others stayed to talk about family history. It was so nice to know that there are some Song relatives who are interested in finding roots. One of them was sure that some of our ancestors migrated to Xiamen 廈門 because one of the tombstones had a place inscribed and he was able to find the place in Xiamen. Xiamen is only a few kilometers from the original place of settlement for the Song family back in the 6th and 7th centuries AD. It's been nice to find more and more leads to our family history. Best of all, we are finding stories of the ancestors too, some good, some bad, but that's the way it was.
Nelson and Madisen enjoyed visiting the Confucius Temple and Koxinga Shrine too. They were able to get a few souvenirs there. Taiwan is not a bargain place like it used to be anymore. We could actually get a lot of things cheaper in the US. But, still, Madisen was able to find some cute shoes and clothes too. With the red envelops she received, she was all set for shopping.
Because they were leaving on a early morning flight, we took the bullet train and headed for Taoyuan the night before. The bullet train travels around 200 miles an hour making it only a 90-minute trip. Hilary reserved a couple of rooms at the airport hotel for us so we stayed instead of coming home that night. We had fun visiting TaoYuan night market. It was a very good trip indeed.
Once back in Gaoxiong, we did a couple of night markets, traditional market in the morning and some shopping at the big beautiful shopping mall. We also took a boat ride on the Ai River. The place has become a tourist place since Elwin was a missionary here 50 years ago.
We also took Nelson and Madisen to Tainan and visited the Song village. Some cousins came to show them around while the others stayed to talk about family history. It was so nice to know that there are some Song relatives who are interested in finding roots. One of them was sure that some of our ancestors migrated to Xiamen 廈門 because one of the tombstones had a place inscribed and he was able to find the place in Xiamen. Xiamen is only a few kilometers from the original place of settlement for the Song family back in the 6th and 7th centuries AD. It's been nice to find more and more leads to our family history. Best of all, we are finding stories of the ancestors too, some good, some bad, but that's the way it was.
Nelson and Madisen enjoyed visiting the Confucius Temple and Koxinga Shrine too. They were able to get a few souvenirs there. Taiwan is not a bargain place like it used to be anymore. We could actually get a lot of things cheaper in the US. But, still, Madisen was able to find some cute shoes and clothes too. With the red envelops she received, she was all set for shopping.
Because they were leaving on a early morning flight, we took the bullet train and headed for Taoyuan the night before. The bullet train travels around 200 miles an hour making it only a 90-minute trip. Hilary reserved a couple of rooms at the airport hotel for us so we stayed instead of coming home that night. We had fun visiting TaoYuan night market. It was a very good trip indeed.
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| Taking MRT subway, visiting Taipei 101, shopping at the traditional market |
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| Visiting Taipei, taking a train ride to HuaLian, Brother Chen, the travel guide took us to Taroko Gorge |
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| At Taroko Gorge, Gaoxiong Love River, and up to TaoYuan to go home |
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