Lunch with the Meng Family and Taipei 101
July 18, 2010 (Sunday)
After a leisurely morning, we had lunch with my father’s siblings (other than Uncle George). To send off Uncle David, an avid vegetarian as a result of his Buddhist religion, we went to a tasty vegetarian buffet. The food was absolutely extraordinary, with delicate dishes prepared from fresh ingredients! As a glutton for diversity, I stuffed myself to near a near uncomfortable level trying to sample all the dishes. The kitchen kept on rotating in new dishes, so I kept on eating! The vegetables were cooked in a variety of ways, with subtle spices and cooking techniques enhancing the natural flavor. My dad had a chance to catch up with his sisters – a wonderful reunion after years apart!
Stuffed, I fell asleep for the entire afternoon, probably not the healthiest thing to do. To help settle our stomachs, we walked to Taipei 101 to browse the shops and the bookstore. As one of the tallest buildings in the world, Taipei 101 sticks out in the skyline like a sore thumb, especially since the majority of the city is very flat. Given the frequency of earthquakes and typhoons, the task of constructing the building constituted a colossal effort in engineering.
While we did not do very much sightseeing today, spending time with family in it of itself is a joy.
August 1st, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Yup, amazing, so vegans can have their field day here; they really miss nothing in food !! First, oh, yes, if you are craving for tender chicken breast or tasty duck meat, you have got your fair share in soy-made meat imitation: it gets better
. For vegetables, we no longer recognize the original shape and taste – they all got transformed to artistically something exotic, unusual and tasty dishes: we ran out of easy names. Just simply say mushroom will not do justice to it. This vegetarian display of food preparations and taste ensembles simply blow our expectation off: now we can really imagine, with a free mind without restrain, what can come from vegetables!
.
It seems the pride of the island goes up with Taipei 101; so when Dubai building overtakes 101 as the tallest in the world, residences here must experience a deflated ego burble, sigh. Visiting this building amounts to announcing each visitor’s license to participate the 101 pride; few actually shops here. A sweltering summer heat, sultry humility made the night as in tropical rain forest with buildings and heavy traffic. Profuse sweat drench our bodies like dipping and coming out of a river – let that be a typical Taipei night in July. Uncomfortable as it could be, as soon as I realized that we came for family, and this tropical drench came also as the necessary sent-along (or added benefit, sigh), it made it more tolerable
August 1st, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Yup, amazing, so vegans can have their field day here; they really miss nothing in food !! First, oh, yes, if you are craving for tender chicken breast or tasty duck meat, you have got your fair share in soy-made meat imitation: it gets better
. For vegetables, we no longer recognize the original shape and taste – they all got transformed to artistically something exotic, unusual and tasty dishes: we ran out of easy names. Just simply say mushroom will not do justice to it. This vegetarian display of food preparations and taste ensembles simply blow our expectation off: now we can really imagine, with a free mind without restrain, what can come from vegetables!
.
It seems the pride of the island goes up with Taipei 101; so when a Dubai building overtakes 101 as the tallest in the world, residences here must experience a deflated ego burble, sigh. Visiting this building amounts to announcing each visitor’s license to participate the 101 pride; few actually shops here. A sweltering summer heat, sultry humility made the night as in tropical rain forest with buildings and heavy traffic. Profuse sweat drench our bodies like dipping and coming out of a river – let that be a typical Taipei night in July. Uncomfortable as it could be, as soon as I realized that we came for family, and this tropical drench came also as the necessary sent-along (or added benefit, sigh), it made it more tolerable