Shing and I took the kids to the Taipei zoo today. An amazing place! Though not a zoo expert, I would rate it higher than any other zoo I have been too, including SF zoo. It's definitely world-class in its size, scope, cleanliness and vegetation. Noah and Ben were undetered by the constant rain, and walked around with their plastic rain cover, visiting animals of all sorts and sizes. We only got to 1/3 of the campus so will definitely have to return some time.
Paul went straight from the airport to Taipei and took the MRT to the zoo to meet us. Seeing their daddy in a pouring rain near the entrance of the zoo, the boys, especially Ben, were stunned: how did daddy, whom we haven't seen in four days, ended up here?
We were going to go for our favorite scrumptuous vegetarian buffet (the one we were treated to before) at half-price during the afternoon hours, but the soaked socks and shoes and pants meant we had to go straight home. It actually made a pleasant drive home with both kids completely "out cold". I love driving long-distance with sleeping children in the car. It's so relaxing!
For dinner, Paul craved "lots of good stir-fry dishes". We decided to check out Xing-tao-fang at the city center by the canal. I have gotten into the habit of reading blogs on restaurant reviews and this is supposed to be a good place for fresh stir-fries Cantonese-style.
Remembering our last towing experience, we were cautious with parking: it looks like there were plenty of (illegal but convenient) spots right in front, but we asked the owner whether it's okay to park there. She said, pointing to the car outside, "That's my car, so if you park behind me, with another car behind you, you should be safely sandwiched". So I told Paul to leave his car there while keeping alert to signs of tow trucks.
After quickly eating up (we barely ate anything all day!) four small tasty dishes--beef with slivered ginger, a delicious mountain veggie with a raw egg (過貓), braised stuffed tofu Cantonese-style, shrimp with pea shoots, we began savoring our herbal tea and coconut pudding. Suddenly, I don't even remember who was the first person to jump up, the message of the tow truck approaching was disseminated, and up jumped one man from each table, including, of course, a very quick and urgent Paul. In less than 5 seconds--I am not kidding-- every car on the street had a driver sitting in it!! It was an exciting close call! Noah almost cried seeing such a swift action. Paul was safe, and when I went out, I saw the last car on the street hooked up, heading west towards the Nan-liao, where we got our car last time :(
Paul hollered from behind the wheels, "Pay and get the kids out, I'll just circle around until you come out". So I grabbed the kids and Paul's jacket (he still has one bite of food in his bowl!) and quickly paid. Ben and Noah were very good after the scare--they held hands tightly, looking nervously to the street for Daddy's car.
After we all got in, Paul said, "Well, that was an abrupt end to a great meal!" At least we didn't have to go to Nanliao again!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment