First Trip Home In 18 Years Pt. 4. Taipei, Taiwan

 January 24, 2004  Posted in Uncategorized

After I got my Green Card the first thing I did was get my paperwork ready (from a Taiwanese Resident to a Taiwanese Foreign National) to head back to Taiwan and visit my family. Finally in January of 2004, after 18 years away, I was home…

Hanging out with Megan and family… Tom (and Jess) was addicted to some PC game, while Megan watched her TV and played with the left-over fireworks from Guan Xi…

Tom’s latest addiction is Microsoft’s Age of Mythology (yes – Jess is addicted too)
Left to her own devices, Megan is passed out watching Thomas the Train videos which I brought from the U.S.
Megan got up for 2 seconds…
… then back to normal.
Let me show you my Thomas the Train set
Tom is still back in the same spot. He sat there for hours and had a back ache
Jess giving him a massage
“That’s what happens to you when you sit in the same spot for HOURS!”
Megan all dressed up to use the remainder of the fireworks
I’m the little red riding hood!
I’m not done yet!
Fine, I’ll go play with my other toys!
Tom plays with Megan in her room
Caught a bit of a cold!
Next morning… Megan still in the same sleeping pose 😛
Tom lives in one of the hirises in the center of Taipei
.. right by the Taipei 101 (101-story building in Taipei, tallest building in the world as of 2004)
People setting off fireworks on the street for Chinese New Year’s
Taipei’s street signals with its “running man” sign
“Don’t Cross”
Walk, Don’t Run
Kevin’s Saint Bernard, Dan Dan.
Kevin’s poodle Porsche
Kevin’s boxer (I forgot its name)
Dim Sum with my grandmother
My nephew
My aunt putting a bib on my grandma, whom I haven’t seen in years (Glad to be home!)
My cousin Lina and her husband
Kevin’s girlfriend and her niece (who is missing her front tooth)
Take a picture of me and grandma!
Auntie and Grandma
Hi grandma!
Why are you taking a picture of me?
My brother Philip and my nephew
Me and my cousin Lina
Me and my grandma


C’mon grandma – look at the camera!
This is my view from my bedroom where I grew up in Taipei
This is what happens when you leave knit hats sitting around a bunch of dogs 🙂

Stuffed animal monkey I bought for Savannah

Final evening in Taipei – heading home to Minneapolis tonight! Did my last-minute shopping at all the computer malls (stocked up on USB drives, laptop accessories, digital camera batteries).. My first trip home in 17 years is coming to an end… Had dinner with my family at one of my mother’s favorite restaurants in Taipei. Good bye Taipei, Thanks to Tom and his family for letting me hang out with them the entire time… Until next time!

Portrait of my mom.


Me and Megan in her room
Mini-family-portrait. My brother Philip, grandma, me, my brother Kevin, and my aunt Li-Chu


My auntie’s two dogs