Taiwan: Taipei Zoo

By MAGGIE DING

We hit up Taipei Zoo today after much begging throughout the week from Sedona. She was determined to see all the cute animals in person after previewing them on my computer at the hotel. 

There is an elaborate panda exhibit, which was fun. (Side story: My dad told his best man, whom we call Shing-chan, we were at the zoo -- to which he responded, "I own the panda building, but not the pandas." OK. Not something you hear often.)

Some amusement was had at the display explanations about using "poo" to fuel the "zoo" in Taipei.

Despite one of the hotter days during our week, the kids were still racing around on our way out of the zoo. Afterward, we headed back to the XiMenDing district for some Chi-ga noodles and to check out some local shops. 

At our favorite hair-clip shop, Pier Mei, we took fun pictures with my mom and Aunt Kelly. (Maven fell asleep, so she and Kevin were back at the hotel.)

For dinner, we met some of the cousins and family up on the 12th floor of the family hotel. Many will not be attending the official engagement party hosted by Mary's parents tomorrow. The head table at this dinner featured Dad's fourth and fifth brothers and Mom's fourth, fifth and sixth brothers.

Table 2 (below) had Mom's third brother's family -- with cousins included but missing Luc. 

And our table (below) had Dad's fourth uncle's children. Oldest son is the white shirt. His middle sister is in the red sweater, and youngest in black next to me. My cousins Shing-I and Alex (Mom's 3rd uncle's children) aren't pictured but sat with us also. At our table we passed the time by calculating the number of cousins we had on both sides. For Dad's side, we counted 46 cousins! Mom's side has 24 -- so I have a total of 70 cousins! 

Dad's fifth Brother came from Japan and brought the girls some fun toys. 

The girls ended the night playing with their second cousins: Mom's third brother's grandchildren.