family vacation
i'm currently uploading my photos...i took about 240 on my camera and my dad took about 80 more. =)
taiwan was lots of fun! i can't believe it's been 6 years since i saw my relatives...8 years since my sister's been back. she was 11 last time! everyone's still pretty much the same...the adults a little greyer and pretty much all my cousins are in college or graduated now. oh, how we grow up. i ate SO much food...
xiao long baos, spicy beef noodle soup, sashimi, fresh fish and shrimp from the local river and ocean, grandma's chow mi fun, wild chicken, rice balls, fresh soy milk, red bean mochi with a strawberry in it, omg it was unbelievable. we did a lot of sightseeing, like going to the ju ming outdoor sculpture museum an hr north of taipei and the taroko national park in hua lien. taiwan's a beautiful place. 
i've always recognized that i'm missing out by not having any of my relatives here in the U.S. i've forgotten how much it means to be around people related by blood. to see where your roots are. to watch our grandparents and know where your mom's ideals came from. to hear stories from your aunts and uncles about your dad when he was four. to see the family resemblance amongst you and your cousins. there's a special place for family...
japan was also gorgeous. our tour stayed in eastern honshu, one of the four islands of japan. we stayed in narita at an airport hotel the first night, then traveled across Tokyo Bay where the toll was about $137 for our bus to cross the bridge (~$60 for regular cars). japan transportation IS expensive. =D we crossed through kamakura where there is a great buddha statue and it is said the most artistic women in japan are from. next stop was odawara castle, which is the entrance to the fuji-hakone-izu national park. we ended up in akami where they have natural hot springs and we all bathed in them...naked! no, the guys and girls are separated, but it is a little weird to be naked in front of your mom and sister at first. then you see all the old naked women trotting around and you feel okay. the hotel was right next to the ocean so when we went to sleep you could hear the waves crashing against the cliffs. the next day we took a ropeway ride down the mountains. we were supposed to see mt. fuji, but it was too cloudy. still beautiful vistas though.
then we took a boat across the lakes at the base of mt. fuji. after lunch, we headed to tokyo where my family went shopping during our free time in shinjuku, where our hotel was. my mom bought an $89 hair dryer that steams and dries. while we bought it, the salesgirl tried to communicate something about the electronics and differences in voltage, but her english wasn't good enough. four more salespeople swarmed around us and couldn't help. finally, after much gesturing and random vocabulary, we figured out that the motor would run faster because of U.S. voltage so my mom would have to be careful not to leave it on for too long. =D that was the only major communication issue we encountered while we were there. the next day we toured tokyo: meiji shrine, a temple where an annual festival was occurring (lots of shopping stalls!), ginza, the toyota headquarters, and finally, the waterfront nearby. it was a warm breezy night, perfect for walking down the new boardwalk, enjoying the lights of the tokyo skyline with your dad. =) our last morning there, we took the subway to shiboya, power shopped at shiboya 109 where my sister and i spent $140 in 15 min, and walked to harajuku, spectating the japanese fashion the whole way.
it was an amazing trip. i'm a lucky gal to be able to experience so much of the world and other ways of life. japanese culture is so fascinating. now i want to travel back at least every two years and go to both islands. most importantly thought, i spent some quality time with my family, both the people halfway around the globe and the one i have right here.
posted by Jai at 12:00 AM
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