Dragon Boat Festival and Fisherman's Wharf

Hello everyone!

I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July!  We had a great time having a BBQ lunch/dinner with April's family at our place before April and I left together once more for Virginia.. Music calls, ya know?  =)



So right now, we are sitting in Chicago airport having just done a red-eye...  But I wanted to keep going on Taiwan blogs!  so here is the Dragon Boat Festival installment!  =D

Dragon Boat Festival is an annual festival in Taiwan, and I am so glad that we got to catch it on our trip this time around!  There are multiple boat races happening all over Taiwan (like the one that was happening by the harbor) but the one we saw at Bee-Tang (Green Pond) is the biggest one, I believe... 

There were people everywhere! There were people getting good seats for watching the actual boat race along the banks, there were people in the markets area, there were people starting to congregate up on the bridges...We got there earlier, so we missed the majority of the crowd, but we still got the full hustle and bustle experience I think  =) 

After going around the market a little bit, we got comfy to watch the first couple of batches of the boat race.  They started all the way back where we couldn't see, but the finish line was right in front of us, so I think we got a pretty good seat  =)

I never thought I would get so excited for a boat race, but when you catch them doing stuff like this, it is pretty darn exciting!  haha  =)

Thankfully we were in the shade so the heat was bearable, but some refreshing bubble tea is always, always welcome  =)   Taiwanese bubble tea was also different than the ones we get over in the states, so it was really fun to try!

David and his familia~  =D

After the boat race, we visited the Fisherman's Wharf and the Lover's Bridge during the sunset.  And seeing as the name of the bridge was such, we couldn't resist a little (or a lot of) cheese  ;)

David and Mama  =)

Isn't the architecture of the bridge so interesting?  I kept expecting there to be another point on the opposite end of the bridge  haha

By this point, we realized that we had not had dinner yet, and that perhaps we should go get something since it was close to 9 P.M.  I know, so late for dinner, but we had just been eating constantly that none of us were all that hungry until then.  Our choice of restaurant?  Din Tai Fung! It is one of the most well-known dim-sum places in Taiwan, and actually, I had been to its Bellevue branch here in Washington before!  It is a giant chain (big enough to have stores near Seattle), but it is also Michelin rated!  I'm not sure if the Taipei one was the specific restaurant that had the Michelin star, but either way, it was delicious!  

Once you get in, you are given a number, and I've heard that sometimes you have to wait an hour before you can get a seat.  Thankfully for us, since we were so late in coming to the restaurant, the line wasn't too long, and we got seated pretty quickly.  The environment was truly something else; there are waitresses and waiters all in matching uniforms and ear pieces milling around like highly trained dancers getting orders and delivering orders...  It was fascinating to experience such impeccable (not to mention, high tech!) service!

We ordered so many dishes, and again, I don't know what they are called, but they were delicious!  =)

My first experience with bitter melon!  it really was bitter haha

and the famous dumplings!

I guess the Tzong-tze is a Dragon Boat Festival food, so of course, we had to have some!  =)

where magic happens!

stuffed and happy  heh  =p

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend!!

--Janny