New Year Trip 2010

Dad and Mom went on a 3-day trip from December 31, 2009 to January 2, 2010 with Sandy's family. Dad and Mom took a taxi to meet Sandy's family at her house about 6:15 am to go to the airport together. All took a direct flight to Xiamen, China and arrived before 11 am. The first stop was the 集美學區, the campus of a famous university with a beautiful lake.


We visited the house of the founder of the university inside the campus. Mom really liked the flowers there and we took the only family photo on this trip here. Luckily Thomas and Ryan were quite cooperative for the photo.

The next stop was an famous temple, 南普陀寺, built a few hundred years ago. The stones and walls in the temples were carving from famed people long ago, quite interesting.

The group of about 30 people stayed at a hotel with over 1600 rooms. It has a large atrium and a giant lobby. We had to remember which entrance and which elevator to get to our rooms.

The new year eve dinner party was held at a beach front restaurant. The boys had fallen asleep on the way so Dad carried Ryan while Ivan carried Thomas off the bus to the restaurant. We did not realized that the group, including Ivan, had turned the corner as we were following our local tour guide B and the Taiwan guide. (There were two local guides, Guide A is for arranging all the trip details, and Guide B is for introducing the scenary spots). Guide B mistaken took Dad + Ryan, Mom and Sandy to a restaurant next door where we would have lunch the next day. Dad even carried Ryan up the second floor before Sandy realized we were with the wrong tour group! Guide B also didn't know where we were suppose to go!!! She had to call tour guide A to come over to get us. Dad was super upset as Ryan was getting very heavy after the long walk. It was the joke of the day as we got lost with two tour guides!!!

Everyone enjoyed the food, the wine and the karaoke at dinner. Dad joined the group dance, singing and clapping and had a fun and relaxing time. Thomas and Ryan just devoured all the strawberried they picked in the afternoon while the adults were busy having fun. Dad, though the only one over 60, could certainly mingled well with the group. Would upload some partying photos later.

During the trip, Sandy found out that Dad, among us all, was also the one who loved to take group photos the most. Mom and Sandy usually refrained from taking group photos, but Dad would be very enthusiastic and joined the group photo happily.

The next moring, the group visited another famous temple built from many giant rocks. Dad jokingly said that he was so strong that he pushed the two big rocks apart to form the trails for others to follow..........

We visited the island of Gulangyu in the afternoon. It is a small island off the coast of Xiamen with many different architectural style of mansions and buildings. It used to house 13 ambassies from England, Japan, Spain, etc. Most of the mansions had been preversed in very good condition. The walk among these buildings was relaxing except for the crowds at the docks and on the ferry.

On the third day, January 2nd, we took the ferry directly to Kinmen where Dad had served in the army 50 years ago. Back then, Taiwan and China were still at war, hostile toward each other with occassionally bombing attacks. It is hard to imagine that nowadays, a ferry of 30 minutes could take people to and from Xiamen and Kinmen, the shortest distance between China and Taiwan.

The first stop on Kinmen was 莒光樓, where the whole group took turns taking picture with the newly elected mayor of the town金城鎮. Mom really liked the unique telephone booth there as you could tell that you are in Kinmen!

It was shopping time after lunch, rouring and buying Kinmen souveniors like 貢糖 and 鋼刀. We were worried that we may have to stay over at Kinmen for the night as the rain and the heavy fog had caused the airport to close for a while and several flights were delayed. Luckily our flight departed on schedule and we headed back to Taipei tired but happy.