Category Archives: travel

Taiwan

January 21, 2015 Peneloping

Over the holidays my mom, sister, and I took a trip to Taiwan for the first time in ages. My mom went about nine years ago but my sister and I hadn’t been since we were five and nine years old. My mom’s entire side of the family still lives there so it was a bit strange to see everyone again, especially now that two of my cousins have had (adorable) babies.

We mostly stayed in Taichung at my aunt’s house and we took two trips, one to Taipei and Jiufen and that area, and another to Tainan. There was a ton of shopping and I pretty much ate everything in sight. And also a cat village and lots of indoor and outdoor markets.

Brushing up on my Mandarin was also an adventure! Normally when I speak to my mom, if there’s a word I don’t know I just stick in the English word. It’s much harder to do that when you’re speaking to relatives who only know a few English words here and there!

I also posted a bunch of photos on Instagram while we were there. These are mostly ones I pulled from my camera.

A giant Costco-sized maze of fabric on the second floor of a large building in Taipei.

Pretty sure this should say “This way lives an overwhelming amount of fabric.”

We went to Jiufen, which was the inspiration for Spirited Away! It was super crowded with lots of lanterns and shops. Also food.

We stayed at a shmancy hotel with hot springs outside and two in every hotel room. It was difficult to leave.

CAT VILLAGE.

They’re just sitting around waited to be petted.

And there’s lots of little shops selling cat-related things. (This one’s where I got my tights!)

We did a lantern! Each color represents you can wish for (health, success, love, etc.) and then you draw/write on it and they light a fire under it and it flies away .

We went to a town in Tainan called Anping, which happens to be my sister’s name and mine put together. Somehow no one realized this until my sister and I kept noticing our names written everywhere.

Even the disposable cutlery is adorable.

Bugs at a night market. I did not try these.

My cousin dug out a photo from when we were tiny. We used to talk about living on farms next door to each other and having a cat family together.

An Asian-style photoshoot may have happened. (My hair was HUGE.)

The most intensely painful massage happened here. The foot soaking/shoulder rub was ok but then they took us upstairs and I wanted to die. Afterward I felt amazing but I still can’t believe how painful that was.

A market near my grandparents’ house.

The outdoor market-ness on my grandparents’ street! I used to wander around here with my cousin when we were little and we’d go buy Taiwanese hot dogs on a stick (kind of like corndogs but different). Eighteen years later it was still somehow exactly how I’d remembered it.

tl;dr – I ate my way through Taiwan and bought all the things.

Insta-France

July 2, 2012 Peneloping

Holy jet lag, guys. I thought I was wide awake but a tiny snooze sounded nice, so I crawled into bed and set my alarm for three hours later, just in case. And woke up three and a half hours later with my alarm blaring at me. Whoops!

It was so hard to peel myself out of bed, except I knew that if I kept sleeping I’d regret it later.

It is so weird being back here! When I first lived here, the Host Sibs were 10, 14, 17, and 17. Now the youngest has just turned 14!!

Anyway, I’ll stop being an old lady now. Here are some things that made me smile today, Instagram style:

This is the view from my room. It never gets old. I used to open the windows at night and put a cushion on the ledge and just sit there looking at stars and blasting Explosions in the Sky.

Family dinners here are the best. It feels like you’re surrounded by trees in a little oasis.

I adore this chandelier thing. DIY inspiration? Methinks yes.

I’m pretty sure this kitchen is the most French thing I’ve ever seen.

I’ve been raving about all of the lovely hot weather things to do but this fireplace is the best thing in the world in the winter. When I lived here we would have hot tea and sit in our pajamas and watch English movies dubbed in French.

Look what I found in the living room! *tears*

I absolutely adore this rug. The end.

This little munchkin has been following me around all day. I might steal her; I’m 90% sure she’ll fit in my purse.

And right now I’m sitting in bed sipping a tizane brewed from some flower we just picked from a tree outside. It’s supposed to help you fall asle..zzzzzzzzz.

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France <3

July 1, 2012 Peneloping

Welp, I’m off to the airport soon! I’ll be in the south of France for the next two and a half weeks! I’ll have limited access to the interwebs so I’ll try to post but no promises.

Have a lovely few weeks!

PS Don’t you hate that nagging feeling where you can just feel that you’re forgetting something vitally important but you can’t even begin to guess what it might be? Gahhh!

France <3

July 1, 2012 peneloping

Welp, I’m off to the airport soon! I’ll be in the south of France for the next two and a half weeks! I’ll have limited access to the interwebs so I’ll try to post but no promises.

Have a lovely few weeks!

PS Don’t you hate that nagging feeling where you can just feel that you’re forgetting something vitally important but you can’t even begin to guess what it might be? Gahhh!

Montreal!

March 22, 2012 Peneloping

This past weekend Boyfriend and I rented a car and drove up to Montreal for a much-needed mini-holiday. Hooly crap, neither of us wanted to come home.

We got in really late on Friday night so we basically wandered looking for food and then passed out. The next morning we drove up to the mountain and walked around. So pretty! It was pretty warm out but still a bit foggy so none of those pictures turned out great.

There was, however, tons of SNOW! I was basically in heaven.

From there, we drove over to the botanical gardens to take a peek. There may have been varying levels of goofing around.

And lots of pretty plants!

There also were butterflies, which for some reason, I found terrifying. Boyfriend was amused by the butterflies nom-ing on orange slices.

There was also an insectarium but after all the walking we were pretty exhausted. There may have been a tiny nap to recuperate.

Afterwards we headed a few blocks down to Old Montreal for dinner. Super gorgeous and totally made me excited for our France trip this summer.

There may have been some St Patty’s Day celebrations after dinner, which may have involved some (i.e. lots of) amazing Canadian beer and bagels. On Sunday we did some last minute wandering and stopped at the store for maple syrup and car snacks and went on our way back to Boston.

Of course the trip back included some goofing off as well, especially when we found honey sticks at a gas station.

All in all, a totally awesome trip. We were only there for two days and we didn’t get to do most of the things on our list so we’ll definitely be going back.

Especially since everyone there speaks French! Ahhh I miss French! -le sigh-

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