November Expenses

Life in Taipei has been a lot of fun but it can get expensive very fast if we're not careful...

Review of Christmasland in New Taipei City 2018

If you're a foreigner living in Asia, then Christmas can be a bit different. But there are festivities here...

The Cost of Moving to Taiwan: The First Month

How much does it cost to move a family overseas? One important question to consider when moving abroad is: How much will this international move cost?

How to compare cost of living between countries

Will I spend more money in Taiwan compared to my home country? Less money?

Toy bank - aka the Taipei City Parenting Resource Center

Those of you who are parents probably know that kids tire of toys very quickly. So the Taipei city government has this great resource for parents with kids ages 0-6 years old, the toy rental bank!

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Travel adventures: Taichung

 It's been a while since we were last in Taichung so we went with a group of families via car to Taichung's 木匠兄妹 Carpenter Woodcraft studio and An eco lifestyle (赤腳丫生態農莊) farm.

Here's the entrance to the carpenter's woodcraft studio. The entrance fee is 150 for 7 years old and above. We had to show ID that our kids were 5 and 6. 

Here's the studio room where you can choose your own DIY project and a personnel will help you through it at the tables.


We just went to the outdoor play areas where there were wood toys and a big sand pit. 

Here's the Instagram corner where you can use a tag to take pictures.

Next we went to the eco lifestyle farm. We ordered lunch at the restaurant on the farm and everything was really fresh.










Taiwan Lantern Festival

 

Taiwan's Lantern Festival was held in Taipei this year so we were able to visit once the lights went on at night. 

As this was the year of the rabbit there were a ton of light sculptures/fixtures with the bunny as the theme. 

My daughter really enjoyed it and myself as well. 

We were mostly in the Taipei 101 area but the sculptures were all over the city.


And I got some pictures with my favorite bunny idol: cony





Taipei International Book Exhibition

 

Seeing as this is the year of the rabbit, I posed in front of the book vendor with a lot of Peter Rabbit illustrations. 

But the exhibition itself was huge, going from 1/31-2/5 this year. The exhibit was huge and took place at Taipei World Trade Center Hall. 

We were mostly at the Children's area but were able to get a few books from the Christian publishers getting together at their combination booth. 





Beitou Fuxing Park (Hot Spring Foot-Soaking Pool)

 We have been visiting Beitou quite a bit recently so found this park with a free hot spring foot-soaking pool.


Here's the foot soaking pools: 


 The address is: No. 48, Zhuhai Rd, Beitou District, Taipei City, 112, type in Fuxing Hot Foot Spa or 復興公園 into google and you should be set. It's right next to the xinbeitou MRT station.

My kids really liked this large park with a good sized sand pit that's covered which is a rare site in Taipei parks. 



Taiwan Hanfu Festival - The 3rd International Hanfu Day

 We joined in on the Hanfu festival parade in November. Usually around this time the weather tend to be a bit chilly but this day was really nice. I couldn't believe the number of people gathered outside for the parade. 


We were at the Zhongshan square in Ximending area. 

Here's my son and I with a lot of other people walking for the parade. 



Travel adventures: Wulai hot spring - and other family friendly activities in Wulai


 Wulai is a beautiful place and is greatly blessed with lots of hot springs. 

The aboriginal or indigenous people still lives in this area and there's a great museum on old street that you can go visit to learn more about their history. 
We'd cross beautiful bridges like this one to get to the hot spring houses. 

And of course, enjoy the hotsprings. 



Travel adventures: Mid-autumn festival in Yilan

 So we went to Yilan to celebrate the mid-autumn moon festival and had a lot of fun.

We went to the following places:

Bambi land

https://www.taiwanfarm.org.tw/zh-EN/Front/Farm/Detail/174



National Center for Traditional Arts

https://www.px-sunmake.org.tw/index/index.html?lang=en


Jade rabbit pencil factory

https://www.rtaiwanr.com/yilan/rabbit-pencil-factory

2nd day

Yilan Cake factory

https://www.taiwannatravel.com/yilan-cake-factory/

Yilan one rice dessert factory 

https://www.onemit.com.tw/

We really loved the one rice factory since they had an outdoor park with lots of things to do for the kids and a nice covered area for the parents to sit down and rest. 


Yilan rock factory

https://www.facebook.com/chiilihmuseum/