Shawn and Tarisha; Part One

They have arrived! And I don't think my days have ever been so full of adventures before they got here! Normally on a day where we teach, we don't do much. We hang out at the apartment, maybe eat some lunch, and that's about it. But Shawn and Tarisha are here so we kept them busy! Hiking before class, and then finally we had our days off!

Saturday was our first full day with Shawn and Tarisha so off to Taipei we went. Our first stop was the National Palace Museum (a first for all of us), the grounds were beautiful, and the museum was also really interesting. There was so much stuff there, it was a lot to take in and we had a full day planned so we didn't visit every exhibit. There is always next time.

Next we were off to the Ximending area of Taipei to eat some food, and do some shopping. I really wanted to try out the Modern Toilet restaurant (they serve all your food in a mini toilet haha) but Shawn felt that his stomach couldn't handle the idea of that. So we went to Chili's. This was the first time that Rick and I went to a Western-style restaurant (other than fast food) so we felt pretty boring haha. Thus we compensated by buying some very Taiwanese clothing!

Off to Taipei 101. It was so beautiful. Rick and I had already been once during the day but when it was darker, it was even more beautiful. The view is extraordinary. After Taipei 101, we went off to try some shaved ice for the first time. My friend Darren had told me about this restaurant called Ice Monster in Taipei that is apparently pretty well known for their shaved ice and he raved about how amazing it was. They did not disappoint. Tarisha and I shared the Strawberry Avalanche and good thing we did share because there is no way we could have finished it alone, we didn't even finish it together. Rick and Shawn shared the Fresh Strawberry Sensation. Safe to say, I'll be back to Ice Monster many more times.

Fresh Strawberry Sensation

Strawberry Avalanche

Tomorrow we are headed to Hualien pretty early so I will have to update about our second day in Taipei later. I'll say this, it involved tigers, gondolas, and tea.