Taipei has the most extensive bicycle path in Taiwan along the Danshui River. The official report is that it spans over 100km continuously. It’s a bit narrow on certain sections, but most people are nice enough to share. The day isn’t too chilly, but a little windy, so isn’t too bad if wind wasn’t blowing at you.
Such a nice day outside. Taken in front of our condo front yard
Resting in front of a temple
Ethan napping in the park near the Daxi old street
The row of old building at Daxi Old Street
It was a beautiful day out at ~ 20 C and sunny. It is very rare at this time of the year in Taiwan. I still missed the weather and lifestyle in LA. We decided to visit the Daxi Old Street, a destination recommended within the Taoyuan county . Since it was a weekday afternoon, the street were pretty quite, there were not as many hawker stalls as the night market. Quite disappointing. Daxi is famous for their fried tofu and the Napolean cake. We didnt like neither of them.
There was a very nice park nearby where we took a walk. Ethan slept through most of it. He is a happy baby as long as you keep moving!
Ethan is just shy of being 2 months old. He is beginning to smile purposefully at us and play with toys. Thanks to the Safari Jungle play mat that Yumin sister and Wick brought for us, Ethan was fascinating with the colorful object and different sounds. I am sure he will spend more time on the mat as he grow older.
The weather finally had a break from a string of rainy days, so Pei and I went out for a 33 km bike ride starting from home. Most of the route was very nice except for a section with lots of truck traffic. This was Pei’s first ride after the 1st trimester, so she was very excited. Pei got to try out our new aluminum aero tri bike, weighing in at 8.8kg (complete with a heavy pedal!)… we are hoping this bike will make a strong showing in the tri community although several people had said tri bikes are only for upgrade, which means people will only upgrade to something expensive. We will see.
We then went out to lunch after Ethan had his meal. So crazy that a Thai restaurant said they closed at 1:30pm on a Saturday! I think they didn’t want to have a baby in the restaurant… we are never going back there again. Ethan woke up toward the end of our meal. We managed a diaper change and a breast feeding right there in the store (it was thinning out), so we had some fun burping him and taking a few photos…
After nearly one month in the “confinement center” – a glorified hotel stay with 24×7 nursing staff to take care of the baby, all meals and clothing prepared for mom – Ethan and Pei heads home. Pei was not too lazy to let the nursing staff take care of Ethan all the time, but it was nice to get a full night of sleep on those days to recover and also being free to leave to run some important errands. Most moms here don’t leave the center at all unless for doctor’s visits (for tradition and/or being in a weakened state), but Pei went out for a few walks and runs since the weather was so nice in November. Confinement centers are really popular now in Taiwan, but we considered really hard before deciding to do it. We liked the fact that it gave Pei an opportunity to recover and having a chance to learn from professionals on how to take care of Ethan.
Grandma Lim timed her arrival all the way from Malaysia to help with our adjustment to the 2nd month. We are very lucky indeed!!
Grandpa Jack and Grandma Mei came over to celebrate his ‘full month’ – traditionally a measure of healthy baby. Grandpa Jack finally got a chance to hold Ethan, although he was still a bit timid so we didn’t even get a picture of him holding Ethan.
佩雲跟Ethan住在林口做月子中心大約一個月。雖然它們會24×7照顧Ethan，佩雲還是盡量在白天自己照顧。
