We head home today. We’re all very tired and ready to end our vacation. This is likely the longest vacation we’ve taken together. Tyler said the “next one” is one week max. Nat is excited to go home and eat Chipotle.

After breakfast, I had Natalie navigate us to a Hello Kitty store I found on Google maps. It was in a mall so we were able to do some shopping as well.

We headed back to Ximen, and stopped at a cute boba shop

Then we walked around and picked up some snacks for a light lunch. Nat had a few places in mind. This bao shop was really good.

In the afternoon, we took an Uber to Jiufen Old Street, a tourist attraction popular for its narrow streets, food stalls, and views of mountains and sea.

Nat has been collecting postcards throughout our vacation

Nat selected this tea shop for us to relax and enjoy some tea.

In the evening, after we got back to Ximen, Nat went out to dinner with her roommate, so David, Tyler, and I went out on our own. We found a ramen shop in the area.

Favorite part of the day:

Tyler – shopping at the Hello Kitty store
Me, David, and Nat – Jiufen tea shop

One of Nat’s college roommates lives in Taipei. She is meeting us today for brunch at Din Tai Fung. Because we’re having brunch, the kids decided to skip breakfast. David, will never pass on free food. I joined him, but just had coffee.

There are few Din Tai Fung’s in the Taipei area. They open at 11AM, but the line starts forming much earlier. We got there at 10:45 and there was a long line but we made it in for the 1st seating. We ordered a lot of food and the cost was still less than 1/3 the cost in the US!

After brunch, we did some shopping in the area and then David and Tyler split off to go to a golf range.

Nat and I shopped around near our hotel. She was looking for cosmetics. I was looking for tea. We also stopped at a Hello Kitty 7-11!

For dinner, David, Tyler, and I went out on our own. Nat had an interview at night she wanted to prep for and wasn’t in the mood to eat.

We found a different beef noodle place called Papa Chiang Noodle. This was place better than the one we tried our first night in Taipei.

Favorite part of the day:

Tyler – golf
Nat – getting her interview done. She had an interview with Pepsi late at night to match US time.
David – navigating the bus system to take Tyler to golf (no help from Natalie!)
Me – Din Tai Fung

After having breakfast at the hotel, David and I did some laundry (the hotel had a self-serve laundry which was convenient!) and the kids hung around in the hotel room. We also wanted to stay in in the morning to watch the Democratic National Convention (which happened to be airing live during our morning) and catch the Obamas speak. Both of their speeches along with the VPs husband’s speech were very inspiring!

Our first stop today was Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall & Liberty Square. Tyler was still low on energy, so he skipped this.

For lunch, we went back to Ximen and picked up some snacks and food for Tyler.

Nat said this place was popular. I did not like it.

Our hotel

Next stop, Lungshan Temple. Just as we got there, it started to rain. The rain came down heavy with thunder and lightening. And even with the rain, it was still hot.

I prayed for Tyler’s health

We headed back to the hotel, picked up Tyler and headed to Taipei 101, a 101 story skyscraper with a mall inside. The kids wanted to buy shoes from this place because it was cheaper in Taiwan, but they didn’t have their size.

For dinner, we ate at the food court at the bottom of the mall.

After dinner, we went to a night market. Just as we got there, it started to rain!

On the walk back to the subway station, David saw this giant snail!

Nat and Tyler went out for dessert on their own after we got back to the hotel

Favorite part of the day:

David: Chiang Kai-shek Memorial
Nat: snacks for lunch
Tyler: dessert with Natalie
Me: having Nat navigate everywhere we went. It was nice to not have to think and just follow her around.

We left Krabi today and headed to our next destination: Taipei. Tyler woke up feeling much better today but still off. The stronger medicine and rest helped. We think he got heat stroke from playing golf.

Checking out of our hotel and waiting for our driver to go to the airport

Breakfast at the airport lounge

We arrived in Taipei close to 6pm. Our hotel is in an area called Ximending. It’s a great location close to shopping, restaurants, and the MRT.

For dinner, we had beef noodle soup, one of Taiwan’s most popular food.

After dinner, we walked around the night markets and shops in our area.

Favorite part of the day:
Me, Nat, and David: walking around Ximending, shopping
Tyler: the airport lounge. There was a delicious curry & rice he really liked

Tyler woke up with a high fever this morning. We gave him some medicine and drinks and he went back to sleep. David, Nat, and I went to breakfast and brought some soup back for Tyler, then David walked to a nearby pharmacy to get other medicine. He was able to get a stronger dose of Tylenol after talking to the pharmacist.

While David was away, Nat and I went for a walk on the beach. We saw lots of small crabs.

Our excursion today was a private long boat tour to Hong Island, Hong Island lagoon, and Paradise Island. Tyler sadly had to skip since he was too sick.

We got to go to two secluded beaches

Had a picnic lunch on the boat while parked at a lagoon

BEST. DAY. EVER.

We got back to the hotel in time to change and head over to the cafe next door for a light dinner and a really cool fire show. Tyler was still feeling sick so he stayed in the room. Poor Tyler.

Favorite part of the day:
Boat tour

Tyler woke up feeling sick so he cancelled his tee time. There was no free breakfast at this hotel so David walked to 7-11 to buy some bread and drinks for us. Along the way, he met a woman selling mangosteen. He bought a ~ 6 lb bag for only $6 USD! He and Nat went to town on these.

Tyler said the golf course condition wasn’t good (poorly cared for grass) and I wasn’t happy with the hotel so we decided to check out and stay elsewhere, especially since Tyler was sick anyway and wouldn’t be able to play. Luckily, we were able to cancel the rest of our stay without penalty. So we said good-bye to this resort.

And said hello this one. Here we were able to get two rooms plus free breakfast for less than the price of 1 room at the other hotel.

After checking in, we went to a cafe next door for lunch. It was right on the beach and really cute and relaxing. Tyler was feeling a little better after taking some medicine and eating lunch.

Nat picked more shells on the beach

In the evening, we took a Thai cooking class. It was so much fun. We learned about Thai cooking and all of us got to make 4 dishes each and share dessert. Everything tasted really good.

I made papaya salad, pad thai, green curry with chicken, and tom yum soup

Favorite part of the day:
All of us: cooking class

We woke up extra early today to get to the airport for a 7:40am flight to Krabi. We had a lot of fun in Bangkok and were ready to go to another city to just relax. Tyler was excited to play golf at the resort I booked us at. It was a treat for him.

Hanging out at the airport lounge.

The flight to Krabi was short and we got to the hotel early. Check-in was 3pm and they seemed strict about this so we had to find stuff to do. Tyler immediately wanted to play golf even though it was VERY HOT.

Nat and David walked to a 7-11 nearby to get snacks and cold drinks.

We decided to change into our swimsuits and hang out at the pool since it was so hot. Tyler ended his golf game early because it was too hot and joined us. It was so hot, the pool was hot too and we had to hide in the shade!

After we checked into our room, we changed and decided to walk over to the beach across the street.

Nat picked seashells

For dinner, we ate at an Italian restaurant at the resort. The food was surprisingly good.

After dinner, we went to a night market where the kids got some desserts.

When we got back to the hotel, Tyler said he wasn’t feeling well so he showered and went straight to sleep. He has a tee time tomorrow morning!

Favorite part of the day:

David & Nat: walking on the beach
Tyler: golf
Me: hanging out in the pool

Today was more of a free day. We went to breakfast and then headed over to the Grand Palace. When we got there, we were stopped by a guy outside and he told us the Grand Palace was closed until after 1pm because the Kings lawyers were there. He suggested we take a tuk tuk to other temples and a floating market and come back later. We decided to ignore him and tried to find the entrance. Then another guy stopped us and asked if we were going to the Grand Palace. He said the palace was closed because the Kings son was visiting and to come back after 12. He also suggested taking a tuktuk to other temples and a floating market. He said it would cost $200 Bhat (USD $6) for all locations and the driver would bring us back to the palace. So we decided, why not? It was only $200 Bhat.

We got into this super cute Hello Kitty TukTuk. As soon as we did, the kids started barking at me and told me we I got scammed. How could I get scammed for only $6?

Stop #1, a temple. Here, the kids told me I made a mistake and we should just go back. So after a short walk around, we got back into the tuktuk and asked the driver to take us back to the palace.

It was open. It was incredibly hot so we didn’t stay very long.

We went back to the hotel and David and I went to do laundry. The kids stayed at the hotel and went up to the pool to get snacks and relax.

In the afternoon we went to a mall but not many stores were opened yet so we didn’t stay very long.

For dinner, David and I went to dinner at Sorn, a Michelin restaurant and was ranked #2 in the top 50 restaurants in Asia in 2022. Reservations are difficult and I was lucky enough to secure one two months earlier. The food was delicious!

Meanwhile, the kids had their own night out with a Thai massage, dinner at McDonalds, a trip to a mall, and a fun tuktuk ride.

Favorite part of the day:

Nat: mall & McDonalds
Ty: Massage
David: Dinner at Sorn
Me: Hello Kitty tuktuk

Today, we went to Ayutthaya, a Unesco historical park. We visited the Summer Palace and several temples. We knew temples required shoulder and knee coverings so David and Tyler wore cropped pants. Turns out the Summer Palace required long pants for men, so they had to buy these tourist pants ($3 USD).

It was really hot. Luckily some temples provided umbrellas.

For dinner we went to a placed called Rot Rue Dee, serving authentic local Thai food. Everything was tasty, but also very spicy!

After dinner, we went to two night markets

Favorite part of the day:
David: temples 2 & 4
Nat & Ty: night markets
Me: the tour overall