Here is the second update from our trip to Taiwan.

Today is Friday, and we leave tomorrow (boo!) for Tokyo. We have gotten to spend a fair amount of time with M, who comes to meet us every day after she finishes school. It is a lot of schlepping around for her, and we are very grateful to her for making the effort! Last night, she slept here at the hotel – not sure how she managed that with her curfew but she did – and it was great to wake up in the middle of the night and see her sleeping on the very narrow window seat. Tonight she is going to sleep here again and she and A are going to go out together.

Last night we had dinner with Simon Imbot, who is the son of my friend Susan Toffler. He is 27 and has been living here for about 4 years. It was nice to see him and talk to a local. We had a lot of questions for him. He took us to a delicious restaurant that serves traditional Taiwanese food. He ordered and it was all very yummy. The night before, we had dinner with an old friend of Dad's named Virginia, and her husband, stepdaughter, niece and nephew. Despite all the young people at the table, it wasn't that much fun. 

Two days ago, we took a gondola way up into the hills right at the outskirts of Taipei and went to a teahouse at the top. We stopped at the zoo on the way back and saw only a few animals because we were pretty rushed. But it's a great zoo and we wish we could have explored more. Yesterday we went to the Palace Museum and saw a lot of very old and beautiful Chinese artifacts. 

Best of all, of course, is just being together. We've eaten our way through Taipei, gotten to know the city, and gotten to see M which is better than anything at all.

Pics! (As usual, all out of order)

Tomorrow we hope to meet M's host family and then we head to the airport for Tokyo. It will be hard to say goodbye to her again!