We used the hotel shuttle to go visit the Grand Hotel this morning. It has become somewhat of a tradition for families adopting from Taiwan to have their picture taken in front of the 100 year old brass dragon that survived a fire during World War 2. The Grand Hotel is beautiful and very richly decorated. We enjoyed looking around at all the different items on display as well as visiting the gift shops.
After the Grand Hotel, we walked to a subway station and headed up to Beitou again. On the way to the subway, we passed a Taiwanese bowling alley and had to take a picture for Caleb (who loves bowling).
We had originally planned to go to Lion's Head Mountain via the high-speed rail, but decided we'd rather have a relaxing day doing things around Taipei before we leave tomorrow. Of course you can't relax with out a visit to the hot springs again! We came up with an interesting system for visiting the hot springs this time (obviously Myah couldn't go in them). While Rob relaxed in the hot water, Myah and I went to the hot springs museum which was closed on our previous visit. Then after we were done at the museum, we went back to the hot springs where Rob and I switched. He took care of the baby while I relaxed in the water. Myah enjoyed splashing her hands in a little tub of water while I soaked so we have hope that she will like swimming in Arizona. After finishing up in the hot springs, we walked about five minutes down the road to the Ketagalan Culture Center. It is a museum that is dedicated to showing all the different aboriginal tribes in Taiwan. We got to see where each tribe is located, their dress and what they are known for. We also got the chance to see hand crafted items by local tribes.
After the museum we decided to head back to the Danshui Night Market (our favorite night market) for last minute souvenirs and foot long ice cream for $10 (33 cents US). I'm not kidding about the ice cream - it is literally over a foot tall. Rob had chocolate and vanilla and I had green tea mixed with some kind of something else that was purple - probably should have taken a picture. So we're walking around the night market with a baby strapped on us, sweating profusely and dripping ice cream all over. I'm sure the locals got a kick out of that.
Once we had our fill of ice cream and sight-seeing, we decided to take the subway home since we were pretty tired and needed to get started on our packing for tomorrow. This is where the day gets really interesting. Let me back up to explain... Myah hasn't enjoyed going to the bathroom (number 2) since we got her. In fact I would say she flat out hates it - screaming, wailing and gnashing of teeth hates it. Which means we don't exactly enjoy it either. So, we get on the subway (40 minute ride) and we notice she is passing a little gas. At about the fourth or fifth stop she is turning red - we are definitely concerned at this point and wondering if we should get off the train. Before we reach a decision, the doors close - confining us, and everyone else in the subway car, to 3 minutes of hysterics. As soon as the doors open, we bolt out and head for the stairs. Once we get to the top, I ask the first person in a uniform where the bathroom is (keep in mind I'm holding a very red, very rigid, very loud baby in my arms). Question completely understood, he points in the direction of the restrooms which are down a different flight of stairs. We go down the stairs, into the bathroom (Myah now has tears streaming down her face and I'm about to follow) and I whip out everything I need to change her diaper. I have her diaper off and about to wipe her when two female subway employees come into the bathroom to make sure everything is okay. They are asking 'Is she hot? Is she cold? Does she want something to eat? Is she sick?' How do you explain that your daughter just hates to poop when you don't speak Chinese? I'm sure the three of us running through the subway station were quite a sight to see. I was afraid I was going to have to pull out her visa and explain that she's our daughter and we didn't just steal her from someone, but then I realized the ladies were just truly concerned about poor Myah - the Taiwanese people really love their children. As soon as the clean diaper was on she stopped crying and looked around at everyone like 'Hey, what's the big deal?'. So... that was our big adventure for the day. We got back on the subway, went to the hotel, ordered real Chinese take-out, put Myah to bed and started to prepare to go home tomorrow.
The End.
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