Zoe in Taiwan

Our trip to Taiwan with Zoe in November has made a lasting imprint on me.  It was not only Zoe's first international trip, but also her first trip to my parents' home country.  Taiwan is also the first (and only) foreign country that I traveled to when I was a kid.  I did not get to go frequently to be too familiar, but I do have core memories from my visits, and I have stayed connected to Taiwanese culture because of my parents.  All of my life, I knew that Taiwan was a special place, and I think Zoe now does, too.

For four-year-old Zoe, who is half Taiwanese and half Cantonese, and mostly American by upbringing, the idea of Taiwan was pretty unfamiliar.  She did not grow up hearing as much talk about Taiwan as I did, but we read books that mention Taiwan, she knows where it is on the world map, and that it’s where delicious pineapple cake comes from.  She did know that I had gone there on a trip with just my parents and siblings when she was three, leaving her and Wes home without me for a week.  Ever since then, she has been asking to go too.  This year, I knew that the time was right and she would be able to tolerate the long flight and the time difference.  Also, her Mandarin speaking improved a lot after staying at my parents’ house for two weeks after the fire.  

The plane ride went really well and Zoe slept, ate, watched movies, and chilled in her seat by the window the whole time.  We did not even have to pull out the activities or snacks that I had packed.  She was quite enchanted by the flight attendants and drew them a picture.  We landed and I immediately kicked my Mandarin into action, contacting our driver using Line and typing in Chinese to let him know that we had arrived and were grabbing our luggage.  Zoe was full of energy as soon as we arrived.  Keeping expectations low, I had only a loose itinerary planned for the trip and on the first day, I just wanted to hit up the park across the street from our hotel and walk around the immediate area to get our bearings.  

My parents met up with us shortly after we landed at Da'An Park, and were truly elated to see Zoe.  I felt the chills too, watching them embrace on the other side of the world, in the place that my parents were born.  I was so excited to just be there in that moment, soaking in how surreal it all was.  Throughout the trip, there were many of these full-circle moments:  Zoe running around the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial grounds like how I did when I was a kid, Zoe taking her first bite of my childhood favorite peanut powdered mochi snack, Zoe riding the MRT, Zoe walking through the gate and up the stairs of my late grandma's place, Zoe frolicking around on the same living room floor I had spent summer days playing with my cousins.  Her commentary was also hilarious the whole time, it was so fun to see how she perceived things.  She loved pointing out the Taipei 101 (which was not there when I was a kid) and yelling out Chinese characters that she recognized on the signage.  The streets, the scents, the sounds... all of that sensory input sparked parts of me that hadn't been activated in years.  Before we had even left, I was missing Taiwan already, thinking about how I'd want Zoe to come back as much as possible, so that she would also grow up knowing Taiwan the way I do.

Zoe's trip to Taiwan also was different from the trips that I'd gone on as a kid.  I'd always tagged along with whatever the adults wanted to do when I'd go to Taiwan, and mostly just spent summer days in my grandma's living room, watching Chinese dramas with the aunties or Pokemon in Chinese with the cousins.  If we went out, it would be to Sogo (the mall) or down the street to pick up some essentials, then quickly back to the house for fear of that sweltering weather.  We all slept in one bedroom with the fans blasting, warm rain pouring outside.  My favorite thing to eat was my grandma's hot and sour soup, which she made all of the time just for me.  It was all very memorable--mosquitoes, motorcycles, Mahjong, and all.  We had maybe been to an amusement park once.  Last year, my siblings and I took a grown-up trip to Taiwan with my parents.  We rented a car and crowded into it, driving hundreds of miles around Taiwan to far-off areas that they had only ever heard of through word of mouth.  It was a fresh experience for them to be tourists in their own country, and adventurous for us, too.  I loved getting to take my mom to Sun Moon Lake and Alishan for the first time, places that she'd only fantasized about.  This time, with Zoe and Wes, I still wanted to see new places, but also wanted to find some sense of normalcy and routine.  It was not too hard to do, as we devoted two whole weeks to the vacation.  For the first week, we started each day with breakfast in the basement, a big or small outing, and a good amount of family time.  Then on our second week, we split off and did our own trip to Kenting down South, just the three of us.  I thought that it all worked out really well, and that I was able to accomplish the goals that I had in mind.

During our first week, we took Zoe and my parents to the Maokong tea fields, Wulai Mountain District, and Shifen Old Street.  My parents also suggested Yehliu Geopark, which was a mindblowing natural wonder!  It helped to have a driver connection, my uncle's friend, Da Bao.  He was a great local resource and did our airport transfers too, not to mention a single origin coffee dealer with a huge roaster on his front porch.  Wes and I had done some of these same day trips during our brief honeymoon in Taiwan, so it was really fun to see Zoe exploring the same places we did ten years back.  We also capitalized on some quintessential, authentic experiences that I didn't ever get to try as a child in Taipei, like confronting the night market crowds to line up for street food and playing those cheap carnival games.  Zoe even caught two live shrimp in those shrimp pools with a chopstick fishing rod and they cooked it for her to eat!  She went to a city-run, free parent-child play center (which was, by the way, extremely nice).  She got to pop into the 7-Eleven's and Family Marts to pick out snacks and fruit.  We also let her purchase her own street food with actual coins at the more chill food stands, like the green onion pancake at Yongkang Street and the red bean wheel cake in Kaohsiung.  She peed into a squatty potty.  She played at parks with other kids.  I am proud to say that got so much more comfortable with conversing in Mandarin and was even waking up speaking it!  The potential is definitely there.

Going back to Taiwan at this stage of our lives and with our current means really hits very different.  It is obvious that we can afford to do so much more than we ever could before, and that we can give everyone a more comfortable and elevated experience.  We got tickets to go all the way to the tippy top of the Taipei 101.  We indulged in exotic whole fish, clams, crab, and prawns at the port. We went to Yongkang Street and bought souvenirs and artisanal ice cream.  We signed Zoe up to participate in one-on-one slime-making and purse-sewing sessions at Sogo.  We went to a tea house perched high on a hill in Maokong with a striking view of the Taipei 101 against the horizon.  Heck, we stayed at an actual hotel with air conditioning and a breakfast buffet included.  Zoe even got to sit in business class on the High Speed Rail going to Kenting!  All of it was kind of a dream turned reality, making me stop and think about how privileged and fortunate we are now, to be able to do this for her, for my parents, for ourselves.  At times during the trip and with Wes's reminders, my parents and I had to stop ourselves from falling into the habit of restraint, in order to embrace it all.  I truly loved getting to see and feel my parents' joy as they experienced everything through Zoe's eyes.  I think that is why this trip was really so special to me--I was viewing things through triple lenses.

The following week in Kenting was also such a great learning experience for me.  Initially, I was super anxious about whether it was the right choice or not, in terms of where to take Wes and Zoe.  It sounded cool when I first researched it, but the locals apparently didn't seem to think much of it aside from it being a party town full of tourists.  My brother recalled going with my dad and just passing through.  It turned out to be amazing though.  We took Zoe to a cacao farm that can only be found in this part of Taiwan so that Zoe could live out her dream of eating a cacao fruit; we went to the beach (Xiao Wan) every day to find extraordinary seashells and peculiar rocks; we visited a capybara farm and fed them; we did a spontaneous spin around the track at a Go-Kart place; we ate at the most hip Italian place I never thought we'd find in this corner of the world; we walked the main drag after sundown and discovered fun shops and more delicious food.  I still salivate when I think of the garlic butter at the seafood place that we went to twice!  We also loved the hotel that we stayed at, which turned out to be a sprawling resort with an entire floor dedicated to kids' entertainment.  Zoe got to go there and play after dinner almost every day, and I just felt my inner child beam with delight.  She also had bacon and pancakes for the first time in a while--she rejoiced.  Overall, yes, it was more touristy than other parts of Taiwan, but hey, we are tourists and we gotta admit that.  The relaxed and chill vibe of the town was also such a welcome change of pace from Taipei, and we didn't mind hearing English spoken by visitors from Australia, England, and America.  I learned that no matter where we go, having an open mindset is what matters most, and that it is those unique personal experiences that make a place memorable.

We spent one day in Kaohsiung to break up our trip back to Taipei from Kenting, and it was mostly rainy there but we did get to see some sights and eat some eats.  Zoe was in love with the hotel room that Wes booked, which included a little loft and a banana bean bag chair!

It has been eight months since we returned from this trip, and I've finally sat down to write this recap.  I really don't want to forget any of it, though already some memories are fading.  My hope is that I was able to capture the poignancy and impact of it all, as I reflect back.  We are already looking forward to the next time we can take Zoe to Taiwan.