We arrived at Mulia Hotel around midnight. Only a 4 hour flight from Manila and the hotel was wonderful.

Our view of Jakarta from our hotel window

Happy Chinese New Year…year of the Horse. Our first stop of the day was to a Chinese Temple “Vihara Dharma Bhakti.” There were so many people there and the air was full of smoke from the incense

We spent time at Sunda Kelapa seeing huge wooden boats and then taking a 15 minute boat ride with this older gentleman

Next stop was to “Old Town Jakarta” where Matt was approached by a few teenagers asking him questions for a school project

In “Old Town Jakarta” there is a European feel since the Dutch where here. You can rent these bikes with matching hats for an hour and ride around the square

We bought this painting off the street from the artist (middle) on our way to another attraction

This Cathedral is built directly in front of the largest Mosque in Southeast Asia

Istiqlal Mosque is the National Mosque of Indonesia (3rd largest mosque in the world) and we were told President Barack Obama visited here in 2010

People still enjoying their time at the mosque after the Friday noon prayer

Istiqlal tower as seen from within the mosque grounds

Holding the National Monument…maybe she can get us some of the gold off the top

A late lunch at D’Marco where our tour guide is part owner. We enjoyed all of the food that she had prepared for us and these are the “dessert pizzas”

In the evening we went to Grand Indonesia Mall where there were “Chinese New Year shows”

Also at the Grand Indonesia they have this music/water show that lasts about 5-10 minutes and was pretty fun to watch; and it was right next to Baskin Robbins ice cream

We drove out of Jakarta for our next adventure. In some areas beggars are sitting between the lanes of cars

Taman Safari was our first stop of the day where we were able to feed animals from our car window…guess he didn’t want to feed the zebra though

There were lions, tigers, and bears (oh my)…plus many other animals we could see up close from the comfort of our car

We found a komodo dragon in it’s own country at Taman Safari

Predator vs. Prey. We were in the reptile exhibit during feeding time.

Driving to our lunch appointment we were able to see the traffic that everyone talks about in Indonesia. It was the worst traffic we had ever seen; people were sitting here for a couple of hours waiting.

We had lunch up in the mountains, but it was too cloudy to enjoy the view. After lunch we bought some souvenirs and the other vendors would not go away

Our last stop in Indonesia was to the Flower Garden

The kids could have spent another hour or two here enjoying the garden. They really liked doing this maze

First impression of Taiwan is that it is clean. This lady was mopping the sidewalk outside of her store!

If you are going to stand on an escalator, stay to the right…everyone follows this rule

Some street food that we tried that was pretty good

Traveling with a Tech-Savvy guy like I do means checking out electronics. However this was not like Fry’s. Many small electronic stores, but at least they were all near enough to each other at an area called “3C”

SCORE! We found the padfone…one of the reasons why we chose Taiwan as a get-away.

Happy Birthday, Merry Christmas, Happy Anniversary…all in one with a new phone and dock/tablet

Dinner at Din Tai Fung Dumpling House. Really yummy food and a pretty famous restaurant

After dinner, we asked our tour guide if she knew where the “Mormon Temple” was at and she took us right to it. We have a friend serving an LDS mission there now, but sadly we didn’t see our friend.

Ended the day by watching a puppet show and opera at Taipei Eye. We got to take photos with members of the cast at intermission

Started off the day by visiting Mengjia Longshan Temple

Outside of the National Palace Museum with our guide…no photography allowed inside

Chiang Kai-shek memorial hall grounds. He was the former president of the Republic of China.

We were able to watch the changing of the guards in front of the Chiang Kai-shek statue.

Beitou hot-springs. You could smell the sulfur and supposedly you can boil an egg in seconds there at the main source.

We opted for our own private hot-springs at Villa 32…and it was a perfectly romantic location; away from the free and/or public hot-springs.

Last stop of the day was at the Shilin Night Market. We have so much fun trying to get the best deal on things.

We rented a car and drove north-east to the mountains and ocean. The wind and water created these cool rock formations.

From the minerals in the water, these are known as the “Golden Waterfalls” in Jinguashi.

The three of us explored Jinguashi mining grounds.

We walked through the crowded Jiufen market.

We walked around Ping Hsi “Pingxi” branch rail where we saw people “play sky lantern”. They would write sayings or wishes on a paper sky lantern and then release it.

We walked to Shifen falls and it was lovely. If it was warmer we may have been tempted to swim there, but it was a chilly day.

We ended the day by having dinner at Taipei 101. We had this whole room to ourselves for about half of our 7-course meal.

Taipei 101 is super tall with 101 floors…we ate on the 86th floor (or there about).

Good-bye Taipei, Taiwan. It was a wonderful weekend get-away.

My schedule for California. Shopping was very important since I needed to stock up on items not found in the Philippines to last me for the next 1-2 years.

The home I grew up in is surrounded by 3 rice fields and a canal in the back. My dad, uncles and grandpa built our home about 28 years ago. Now my brother and dad are building an “Ag Building” that will be converted into an apartment.

The joys of living out in the country. Exploring for critters with your uncle.

Cousins having fun on the trampoline ages 9, 5, 5, 4, 1

Mason LOVED playing with all of the toys at grandma’s house.

We had a bonfire at my parent’s house a couple of times and even roasted some marshmallows and made s’mores.

I had lunch with my grandma.

Dinner with my friends who I have known for over 25 years…I brought them a “bra organizer” from the Philippines.

Afternoon at a pumpkin patch to choose pumpkins to decorate.

Dinner with ALL of my siblings and their spouse who were in California for the week.

My brothers…just missing Seth who is the youngest.

My sisters…just missing Lei who is number 4 sister.

Ninjas are invading the house. Both kids wanted to have the same ninja costume this year.

Ready to go Trick-or-Treating with cousins. We only lasted about an hour or so, but everyone was happy with their loot.

The family who watched Jeffrey’s football game. He scored 4 touchdowns that night!

The kids thought looking at the stars and running around with other kids was more fun than sitting in the bleachers and watching the football game.

Before we left my sister took photos of the kids per my dad’s request. Here is our Hawaiian princess.

Our Big Kahuna!

Waiting for to board the plane at the airline lounge. There are some perks to flying so much, like the free food, drinks and Wi-Fi in the frequent flyer lounges.

Spent the day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium before everyone arrived.

While waiting for family to show up at the hotel, we decided to take the short walk to the beach and go exploring.

The night before the wedding we had a nice dinner with close friends and family.

While waiting for Matt to arrive from the airport and the wedding to start, the kids enjoyed the nearby park and playing with their cousins.

The wedding was held on the beach at Asilomar where my in-laws first met each other.

Daddy/Daughter dance during a small reception…her dress was lovely. She had commissioned custom sleeves to be made by a tailor, but unfortunately the end result did not properly match the dress.

The best photo that I had with the happy bride and groom…good thing I wasn’t the photographer.

Matt using the decorations for a grill. We got to see him at 2pm Saturday afternoon and then he left for the Philippines at 7am on Sunday morning.

Dinner with Matt’s co-worker and her family at Cuc Gach restaurant. Apparently Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have eaten there.

Our first stop on our city tour was at the local market. Vendors inside and out. Outer portion is food and the inner area is clothing, toys, etc.

Items for sale inside the market.

Thien Hau Pagoda had amazing artistry.

Vietnam War Remnants Museum…not sure how accurate the information is that is being displayed, and some photos and stories are pretty graphic. Still it was cool to see a big tank! (Mason thought all of these were Transformers)

These teenage boys wanted a photo with our 9 year old girl! Kalani kept being told by men and women old and young how pretty she is.

Inside of the Saigon Notre-Dame Basilica.

In Vietnam the farmer’s family members who pass away are buried in their fields.

Ready to go on the Mekong Delta. A long river that starts in China and goes through most of the countries in South East Asia and finally reaches the ocean in Vietnam.

Along the Mekong Delta we saw this lady making rice paper for spring rolls. We also saw them making coconut candy, extracting coconut oil, making rice cakes, etc.

We rode in this smaller canoe to go down a channel of the Mekong Delta.

We went to a pottery warehouse where we saw them molding pots and then firing them in the kiln.

Crocodile feeding. Everyone had a great time give the crocodile chicken meat.

We went to a wet market and there were a ton of snakes ready for purchase…plus other types of meat and produce.

End our second day in Vietnam by getting our hair washed at a salon. My lady felt like she was clawing my head and then she stuck her fingers in my ears a few different times…I could have done without this experience, but at least they straightened my hair for me.

Our last full day in Vietnam we spent the morning at Dam Sen water park.

Our last night in Vietnam we watched the Water Puppet Show. It was only 1 hour long and pretty entertaining although we didn’t understand a word being said.

We drove past about a half a dozen Baskin Robbin stores. Of course we had to stop and have some ice cream…it has been over a year since we had some 31 flavors and we weren’t disappointed!

Vietnam has a TON of motorbikes. I don’t understand the traffic rules and I am grateful we were in a car. Still it was impressive to see so many motorbikes on the road.