love and sunshine: Taiwan: Grand Hotel & Meeting Grandma (Day 1)

February 11, 2012 (Taiwan Time)

We arrived at TPE a bit earlier than 7:30am. Andrew's dad was already at the airport to pick us up. He had arranged car service to drive us back to his apartment in Hsinchu which is a good 45min drive from TPE and Taipei. We got back to his apartment and quickly showered and freshened up. By the time we were ready, it was still pretty early in the afternoon. We took the shuttle to the High Speed Rail (HSR) to go to Taipei. I'm not sure why but I was a bit excited to go on the HSR - maybe because I was just excited to be in Taiwan or that I heard a lot about this cool/convenient train system.

Waiting for the Shuttle to High Speed Rail

Hsinchu Station - Hsinchu is considered a college town

After taking the HSR to Taipei, we needed to transfer to the MRT (subway) and then another shuttle bus to take us to the Grand Hotel where we had a lunch buffet. The food was really good overall but being that it was a buffet, I always feel like there's the factor of quantity over quality. Though, it was very high quality food. I think it cost about $30ish USD per person which is pretty pricey for a meal in Taiwan. After lunch, we walked around the Grand Hotel - there were lots of lanterns in the lobby area (given that it was only a few days after Chinese New Year was over) and a small shopping area in one of the levels. We also got free vouchers from lunch for free pictures on the upper level, so we went to check that out. We lastly went to the outdoor deck to check out the view of Taipei.

The Grand Hotel

Really love the local fruits!! Wax apple was my favorite - it's a cross between an apple and watermelon. The green fruit was also really good - cross between apple and asian pear

Lunch Buffet at Grand Hotel

We went to visit Andrew's grandma in Taipei and as you can tell from the picture below, she was SUPER happy and excited to see Andrew. As per Andrew, he is her favorite grandchild. We stayed for a little while and then headed to the lantern festival in Taipei City Hall.

Grandma's so happy to see Andrew and vice versa

The weather was misty and foggy but we still managed to get by without an umbrella. Jetlag really started to kick in and I was exhausted by early evening. We took a quick stroll inside Taipei 101 and then took the subway and bus back to Hsinchu for some well needed rest.