Last day in Taiwan ...

After counting down to our temporary departure from Taiwan, now it's time for the real thing. Tonight, at 11 pm, our EVA flight will leave from Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. Tomorrow at 9.40 am we will be in Amsterdam.

We spent our last two days in Taiwan saying goodbye to quite a few people (and places). Breakfast Monday was at Brunch Bagels with Susan and Sarah (and Niamh and Philip), lunch at Starbucks, dinner in ZhongHe, with TPV.
Breakfast Tuesday was in Chungli, with Pieter's former Philips group. This was an especially heartwarming goodbye, with lots of thank-you's, gifts, speeches, pictures and cake.
Lunch today we had at Pieter's favorite Italian restaurant, Turin Ristorante, also in Chungli. Tyron, the owner, made us a delicious calzone, just to make sure Pieter would really miss his great pizza's :-) Finally, this afternoon, I picked up the last skirt YuJu has been making for me (I almost forgot). And the very last thing we'll do here is go to a playground one last time and then have dinner at the hotel. The car has been picked up already and the taxi will be here at 8 pm.

Next post will be from the Netherlands.

Chips on a stick

Last night, we had our last dinner at Outback Steakhouse (snif, snif), with Sarah and Oliver. We had a great time and it was way past Emma and Janne's bedtime when we got back to the hotel. This morning, we had to wake Janne up at 9.15 am, so as not to miss breakfast.
We made it just in time and right after that left for Taipei. We spent a very nice afternoon in Danshui with the Els, John and their three children. Danshui on a Sunday is always a very Taiwanese experience, with lots of food, lots of people and lots of noice. We had lunch at Fort Antonio and icecream for desert at BigTom. And, we had chips-on-a-stick; very nice! All in all, a fitting way to say goodbye to Taipei.

Back in Hsinchu

Well, we're back. In Hsinchu, Taiwan, that is. Even though we are in a hotel, it does feel like being back. It does also feel a bit strange, to live in a hotel in your own town.

We're quite lucky, as the weather is very nice. During the day, it's over 20 degrees C, in the morning and evening a bit cooler. Nice transition towards the still wintery weather in Holland.

Today, we spent almost all day getting all docs and and info together to file our 2007 taxes. Monday, we'll file our 2008 taxes and then we are good to go. Pieter went to the foreign police, to get some kind of statement/evidence of us living in Taiwan for the past 7 years. What he ended up getting is a LONG list of entries and exits in and out of Taiwan. Dating all the way back to 1987, when he first visited Taiwan, and including our most recent entry, yesterday.

Tomorrow, we'll do some vacation laundry and send the last 2 or 3 boxes to Holland. This time, we'll send them to our own (temporary) house in Veldhoven, instead of to oma Rommers in Hoogerheide. We already sent 10 boxes to her house, so her spare bedroom now probably looks like a storage facility.

A little something about sending these boxes to Holland here. The boxes we use are regular moving boxes (medium size) and they weigh about 10 kg each. For the amount of about 35 EUR, they are shipped to the Netherlands in only 7 days! This amazes us so much, because packages from Holland usually take 2 weeks or more to get to Taiwan and it's much more expensive. But, we're not complaining. So far, all our boxes arrived safely in Hoogerheide, so we'll have our winter clothes and toys when we get there.

The next few days, we plan to eat at as many as possible of our favorite restaurants one last time. Tomorrow, we go to Squares for lunch and to Outback Stakehouse for dinner, with Sarah and Oliver. Sunday, we go to Taipei one last time, to Danshui, with ASML colleague John and his family. Monday, we'll have lunch at Brunch Bagels and dinner in ZhongHe, with Pieter's boss. Tuesday, we'll have a goodbye breakfast in Chungli, with some TPV people there (Pieter's old Philips group) and maybe we can squeeze in a dinner at Friendy's Pizza. Or even better, at the Shrimp House ...

Singapore (2)

Despite the cloudy/rainy weather, we are thouroughly enjoying our time in Singapore. Especially since this is our last visit for a loooong time. We've always liked going to Singapore, from Taiwan, because it's like going to Europe without having to fly 12 hours or more :-)


Yesterday, we went to the Jurong Bird Park, which we've never visited before. The park houses an amazing collection of birds and it is very well laid out. There are several opportunities to interact with the birds, which we could all enjoy, because it was a week day and there were not many people in the park.
Today, we went to the West Coast Park, because we had heard that there was a very nice playground. And a very nice playground it was. Or actually, a series of playgrounds, for all ages. Even Karin and Pieter had a go on the climbing equipment!
Finally, no visit to Singapore would not be complete without going to Borders, Karin's favorite bookstore. It looks like Emma and Janne like it as well.

This is the last day of our vacation; tomorrow, we're off to Taiwan for a couple of days. Pieter has already been preparing a lot of things during our days in Singapore. He has been e-mailing every day, to TPV, to Crown (the movers), even to the Dutch Customs. It's quite different to return to Holland as an employee of a Dutch company, as compared to doing the same thing working for a Taiwanese company ... Hopefully we can get all the tax/bank/other things completed in the next week, so we can catch our plane to Amsterdam next Tuesday!

Singapore

After an 8 hour day flight, we arrived safely, but very tired in Singapore. Emma and Janne slept very well from Broome to Perth and from Perth to Melbourne, but of course not at all from Melbourne to Singapore. They even slept very well at Melbourne airport, where we had to wait almost 5 hours for our next flight.
In Singapore it is cloudy and rainy, but still about 26 degrees. Actually, a perfect day to visit the Singapore Zoo. Especially as it only rained when we were having lunch and when we were at the elephant show.

Melbourne Airport

After a 3,5 hour night-time flight (!) from Perth to Melbourne, during which Emma and Janne fortuhnately slept the whole time, we are now waiting at Melbourne International Airport for our flight to Singapore. At Melbourne airport, they have another type of public internet kiosk, much more user friendly. It doesn't only have a normal functioning keyboard, but even a CD player and USB port. Hence, some pics have been added to earlier posts. Croc pics will follow later :-)

Broome

The day before yesterday, we arrived in Broome, after only a 360 km drive from 80 Mile Beach. Broome is very hot and extremely humid. The first night we spent in the tent, the second in a comfortable, so called 'fully contained appartment'. The first night in Broome, we did the world famous sunset camel ride, which Emma and Janne LOVED. Karin got some nice sunset pics, so was quite happy too :-)
Next day, we went to the Malcolm Douglas Wilderness Park, where we saw alligators, crocodiles, dingo's, kangaroos and various other Aussie animals. Emma and Janne were allowed to hold a joey (baby kangaroo) and Pieter and Karin a baby crocodile! The feeding of the crocs is a very impressive experience.


Now it's 23.20 on Sat Mar 2 and we are at Perth Airport, waiting for our flight to Melbourne. Emma and Janne are fast asleep, which made it a bit difficult to get them off the plane (from Broome) and over to the departure lounge. But we're here. Tomorrow, we'll be in Singapore.