Hello again, everyone!  After nearly 2 incredible weeks in Tokyo last month, we headed to Taipei, Taiwan.  🙂  This was why I was able to go to Asia in the first place: to design/style a wedding for this amazing couple:

photo by sweet stephanie williams, who shot b&t’s taipei wedding with her husband isaac.  cannot wait to see the pics!!!

T&B are an incredibly stylish and sweet pair and I’ve had the joy of working with them for over a year in planning two exquisite celebrations.  The first was their 500+ guest wedding in Taipei, full of feminine details in a romantic palette.  The second is this weekend — a funky, masculine-styled reception that is going to blow minds.  🙂  I will share much, much, MUCH more about T&B and their two weddings in future posts. Today I’m going to highlight the fun I had exploring Taipei for the short time I was there pre-wedding.  We were in Taipei for only 6 days, so our leisure time was brief. Nonetheless, we took in some great sights & experiences.  I had a pretty strong affinity for Taiwan going into the trip because of my exposure to the culture over the years.  In college, many of my closest friends were Taiwanese and I lived with four Taiwanese girls my sophomore year.  😉  Eating tsong/cong you bing and listening to Jay Chou was commonplace back then.  LOL  We also have friends who live in Taipei and we were able to visit them, which was very, very special.  <3

Here is a quick look at our time in Taiwan!

National Palace Museum.  INCREDIBLE collection of Chinese art.  They say that this museum trumps the Palace Museum in Beijing’s Forbidden City because all the best pieces were “evacuated” (looted) from Beijing to Taiwan in the 30’s by Chiang Kai-Shek’s peeps.  🙂

Urban sprawl meets wild jungle.  View taken from on-board the Eye of Maokong gondola.

Us in the tea township of Maokong.

Stall shopping in Wulai.

Wulai Falls

serene snaps from the yun hsien holiday resort in wulai — fun daytime escape!!

taipei 101 – the second tallest building in the world, and the fastest elevator.  🙂

Highlights in Taiwan included…

• Visiting the tea township of Maokong, where we sampled (and then purchased!) tea grown in the terraced hillsides
• Taking the gondola up to Maokong, enjoying the incredible views
• Dinner at Shin Yeh 101, on the 85th floor of Taipei 101 (amaaaazing Taiwanese cuisine)
• Enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the famous hot springs of Wulai (we went to a hot springs hotel instead of getting straight into the river — they siphon the water up directly to your tub!)
• Sensory overload at Shilin night market!  A million and one sights (and smells!) to take in at once.  I tried to be brave, but I could not stomach trying stinky tofu.  It was just too… stinky.
• Sharing traditional Western-style Thanksgiving dinner with our college friends Matt & Sanny.  Thanks for having us — it was such a comfort after nearly 3 weeks in Asia!  🙂
• MOS Burger!!!!  YUM.  Kaisen kakiage rice burger… yes please.  (MOS is a Japanese chain, incidentally, but we didn’t see any in Tokyo!)
• Danshui — we actually stayed here (and not in Taipei proper) during our stay and loved it!  Beautiful.
• And of course… the wedding of Tina and Brian.  Stunning and a fabulous time.  🙂  I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard… honestly.  We were seated with the bridal party and could not.stop.laughing.  <3  Great times!!!

I wish we had had more time to stay in Taiwan, but after 3 weeks abroad we were definitely eager to come home.  The first two things I ate upon return to the states? In-N-Out and Zankou Chicken.  Obviously.  🙂

Here’s a little bonus picture from Tokyo as well:

Erik made a new friend in Tokyo.  🙂  We ran into Rupert Grint (aka Ron Weasley) at Nakamise-Dori in Asakusa.  This was quite possibly our favorite place in Tokyo — we went 4-5 times in two weeks.  🙂  Rupert picked up a pair of nunchucks, in case you’re wondering what a wizard buys in Japan.

Hope you all are having a fabulous week!  On Friday I will be back with my post on how to plan a shower!  🙂  Thanks for reading!  xoxo