We reached Taipei two days ago, and are staying at the Caesar Park hotel. The staff has been very nice and helpful; they upgraded us to a suite and also allowed us to check in early. We reached the hotel at about 8 am, and were expecting to leave our bags at the hotel and roam around a bit, but they had a room ready, and so allowed us to check in. We were thrilled, as we got a chance to freshen up and relax a bit before exploring the city. The hotel staff also sent us the crib we had requested, so we are all set for Ava now!

We spent our first day at Taipei exploring the area around our hotel. We discovered a LOT of eating places, probably around twenty within one block of our hotel, coffee shops galore, including Starbucks, and several 7-11s and other convenience stores. There are also a couple of malls nearby. One of the little gems we discovered was something like a dollar store and everything there was NT$ 39. We bought a lot of little things from there, including a little stool for us to sit in the bath tub and bathe Ava. We also picked up a little card from Starbucks that allows us thirty days of unlimited wireless internet access in Taipei, for NT$500. The only problem with that is that there is just one point in our hotel room where the signal is strong enough that we can access the wireless network, so we have spent a good amount of time on a chair near the window of our room, surfing and checking our emails. *grin*

That evening, we visited Taipei 101, the current tallest building in the world, and got a complimentary roller coaster ride on the way there. Our cabbie obviously had grown up playing a lot of action video games, and he zigzagged through the maze of cars, scooters and people at warp speed. Wifey’s heart was in her mouth a few times on the journey, but before we knew it, we had reached our destination, safe and sound, and as soon as we paid the cabbie, he zoomed along for his next adventure.

We reached Taipei 101 just before dusk, and got a few pictures in daylight as well as after night fell. The view was awesome, and we enjoyed a quiet cup of coffee in the observation deck on the 89^th floor. We also shopped a bit at a big grocery store in the plaza in the building, and hubby finally found the rice crackers that he had been looking for ever since we reached Taipei. We were finally done for the night and after dinner at the food court of the plaza, we took a cab ride home, though this driver was a lot less prone to reckless twists and turns on the road.

We started the next day off with breakfast at McDonalds, good old sausage egg Mcmuffins *smile*. We spent the morning exploring some more, and then went on a three hour tour of the city in the afternoon. We were very impressed with the beautiful architecture as well as the history of all the places we visited. We spent a good hour and a half at the Taipei museum, and decided that we have to get Ava here once she is older so that she can experience it too.

After a leisurely dinner at one of the hotel restaurants, we returned to our rooms to pack our travel bags for the trip to Tainan and make sure we had everything we needed. We then turned in, but one of us couldn’t really sleep and is currently up, updating our blog *smile*.

So, we finally, finally get to meet our daughter in about six hours. It is surreal! We have been looking at the crib and imagining Ava in there for the last couple of hours, and tonight, she will be with us. All these months and years, our daughter has been a distant, and then a not-so-distant dream, but in a few hours, she will become our reality and our future, and the thought is overwhelming (but in a good way, of course! *smile*)