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A Globetrotting Glamour Of BOHO Style From Hualien!!

We traveled to Hualien for 3 days w/ my family. We stayed at Promiseland Resort/Hotel and absolutely loved the service from hotel staff. Their welcome greeting, room arrangement, house cleaning, both food preparing of Western style and Chinese style, etc. are all very professional. We especially love riding little golf car back and forth our rooms which is a complimentary rides from hotel just so we can save some energy and avoid sweating profusely by walking.


Taroko National Park


The yellow skirt styled pants is made from India which I bought at the hotel.


There are lots of activities we can do inside Promiseland hotel.


I only brought ONE pair of sneakers and you know, you really don't need to bring much clothes or shoes when traveling Taiwan.


Splish, Splash!!


They also have couple salty spa behind this swimming pool.


Nothing is better than knowing a place when traveling w/ locals. We visited my aunties' family and had dinner and lunch the next day. We visited Kwang Fui sugar/ice cream factory and had lunch today at Cifadahan Cafe and they serve everything organic in the menu. I feel I am so close to the nature this whole trip.

Entrance of Cifadahan Cafe!


I didn't have the chance to try their coffee since I already had two cups during breakfast buffet.


I always feel very mysterious n' curious about natives culture when seeing those hand-carved wooden status.


Inside the restaurant.


After lunch, we walked around the neighborhood. Niel and Abigail are curious about why does the mother dog have breasts. lol

My kids are stoned when I told them the mother dog is nursing her puppies after birth.


I saw almost everyone wears "harem pants" in Taiwan and indulges themselves w/ all kinds of prints or embellishment. I am so amazed by our native's braiding skills who made all baubles so unique and so intricate. Our native deem "owl" as their night guard and they made lots of cute patchwork "owl" into keychains, decoration, or even little coin purse. I bought couple things as suvieniors and wish I had bought more!!

Last pic. before we are heading back to Taipei.


They are all my little memory of Hualien city.


Comments

Wow Rachel! So many beautiful pix! I'm sure you & your family had lots of fun in Hualien! I haven't been to Hualien before, didn't know that it's such a nice place! I really love that owl wood carving! Did you buy 1? I love owls....hehehehe! Anyway, nice skirt/pants you have there! Yellow and green combo is so refreshing! Bravo! And I like the picture where Ilona is on the horse. She's so cute! How old is she now? Was she scared when she first got up the horse/pony?

Anyway, I left you a message in one of your May posts. I was actually asking what is the size of the Stella Luna Zebra flats that you have bought. I really like this pair of zebra coz of the nice ribbons in front. So, I am asking Charm to help me buy it in the Philippines. I'm just going to buy half size larger than the size you have bought. Hehehehe! Thanks for posting the shoes! It's really pretty!
Anonymous said…
Hey, remember me? HAHA, hi Rachel (isn't that your name?)!

Your kids are so cute! I can't believe Ilona had the opportunity to ride the horse! I've always wanted to ride one!

The dog with breasts looks more like a cow!

I was reading your previous entries. You and your kids are very artistic. Nice sculptures. :)

I feel like writing Chinese, but even though I know you can read it, it feels weird 'cause I've never seen you use it? Haha, okay, that's going to be all for now.
hi, Michelle:
I was going to reply you when I saw you asked about the size but the internet is too slow, besides, DH needs the computer for work so I dare not to bug him. haha..Sorry...so I want to let you know I got size 38...since it is flat so I don't think size you need size 40...probably just your regular size. like I wear size 38.5..I go for size 38. If you wear size 39.5, then go for 39. I guess you need half size down. hah..

All of my kids love riding horses and they never scared of riding them in my memory. Maybe I should send them to learn horse riding skill.....that's the last contest in Olympic games.
hi, star:
how have you been? you know, I want to ride a horse and I even want to learn horse riding skill since I always think it will sculpture women's body as we have to sit very straight and tight. Plus, we can exercise the muscles around the butt more to have a fuller bottom. haha.....

Oh, what's your name by the way? How is your mom?? Do you visit Taiwan w/ your mom often? haha.... I think "suburban" for my kids is a strange but fun part of this world to explore, maybe I will take them to milk a cow in the future. :)
hehehe......

You can write me in Chinese and I think when I introduce Common de Gartons clothes, I attached some Chinese letters as my Chinese typing is as slow as the snail. :P I just bought Apple's keyboard here w/ Chinese Phonetic so I am going to practice Chinese typing after I go back to USA. :)
Anonymous said…
My name is Esther (means "star" in Persian/Hebrew) but ever since I was twelve years old, I had people call me Sturr because many people have trouble pronouncing/spelling the real name.

Yeah, but, better not fall off! Or else it'll be a lot of trouble.

My mom is actually from Malaysia but full Chinese (like your DH and Indonesia), but most of her family lives in Singapore now.

Oh yeah, it is very hard to put Chinese onto the computer because we did not grow up learning the "Pinyin" systems. We only know the characters (mostly traditional, too).

這是中文。你明白嗎?

那個牛很漂亮。

我是梁燁文!

Haha, oh... I am going to have some Vietnamese coffee now.
Hi, Esther: it is funny that people simplified your name....star.


wow,...it is unusual that you can write Chinese...especially traditional Chinese. I can't read much simplified Chinese either since we teach traditional Chinese in Taiwan. BUt I think in your Chinese typing, you mean "Horse" is pretty not "COW" HAHA......

Alright, we are heading back to USA next Tue. and can't believe it is already almost 2 weeks since we visited Taipei.
Lily Goodwin said…
All the pics are so beautiful, you are truly blessed to have a beautiful family!

I particularly adore the pic with your little girl on the pony! She is so cute!!!
Hi Rachel!! Thanks so much for your size confirmation on the zebra flats....really appreciate it! :D

Hahaha! 馬術 is great for your kids. But then, isn't it that those people who ride horses "professionally" tend to be shorter in height coz that's the requirement? Hmmm...better not then.

So, when will we see your modeling pix again? You're heading back to the US this week or next week?
Anonymous said…
My parents chose it because I was born on a warm spring night in April, two days after Easter. They thought "Easter" sounded like "Esther". It also means "star" in Persian/Hebrew.

I actually told them to call me Sturr instead of Esther. I thought it would make it easier for them. I guess it did? Everyone calls me that now.

Yeah, everyone who is not from mainland, we all do Traditional Chinese and can't do the Pinyin/Romanization. It's sad.

Well, I did mean "cow" because like I said before, the dog looks like a cow. But yes, the horse looked nice. 馬, like President Ma (馬英九)... OOH what's his name, haha I don't even know it in Romanization. Ma Ying Jew???

Anyway, keep writing. I'm going to sit back and read.
Unknown said…
Hi Rachel;

Hualien looks interesting and fun especially for the kids. You have a good looking family :)
We made it to taipei!!! I can't believe it's been a week already. I miss San Diego's nice weather. It is so humid and hot here.
Anyway, can I ask you where did you get Stela Luna shoes? I want to go check them out since I hear so much about it in the mommy thread. I'd like to go see their styles. Is it in the Xinyi district? I've been to the Eslite bookstore but we realized we need several days to go to each section of that area. One day to one of the dept stores, the next to the bookstore, and so on. There's just way too much to see and eat!
Btw, love your B bag. I think is perfect for taipei. I'm thinking of getting the red one for fall.
anyway have fun the remainder of your time here! :)
Hi, lily: yes, my little daughter seems to be everyone's favorite. :)

BTW, I like the white tiered dress and purple (eggplant) color on you. I also bought two pairs of flip flops and one of them is purple too. :)
Hi, Michelle:

hey, hope you read this meg. before you place your order of stella luna....I found out in hot weather like Taipei, feet tend to "swell" a little and I felt my zebra print flat is a little tight...so you might want to make sure if 39 or 40 fit you better.....Oh, I hope it is not too late for you.... :(

So....I never know the height limitation for learning horse riding skill....if so, then I guess my kids won't meet the requirement...since I expect my girls to be 5'8" at least and my boy to be 6". haha...
Hi, Susan: How are you doing? did you adjust the jetlag?? Hey, I just went to Mitsukoshi depart. near 101 today again. They have A4, A9, A11....and stella Luna is located at A11 where I bought my shoes. However, I am not so impressed by their shoes since they are not "fancy" at the first sight. You just have to try THEM ALL on to think about style to go w/. hahah....

How do you like Eslite so far? I love that place but I hate all my kids are feeling bored when I shop other floors other than 5th floor where is dedicated for kids. oh, well.....

Tomorrow, we are going to suburban of Taipei city w/ friends and kids can have a water fun again. Hope it won't be too hot. You know, we are lucky that Taipei is not so hot at this moment and we feel some cool breeze at night.
Esther: I like your name very much. It is very special and your parents pick up a great one. I have 3 kids so Dh and I have a hard time picking names....I guess too many population ...but too little name to pick from. hahahah.....
Hi, Esther:
Just checked your front page of blog...and found that I can't leave you a mesg. so I just drop it here instead. Is that you and your sis. pic? You two look very pretty and YOUNG ...yah, 16. :)
..... hehe, I love frozen yogurt but totally can't indulge myself in it here in Taipei....I think I don't have time to find if they have it in Taipei.

Anyway, it is a nice start and you can do blogging as a diary like you did already. Great to have memory in written. :)
Anonymous said…
Yeah, I didn't think anyone was going to actually read my blog. Somehow the layout disabled comments, too. I did not think I was that interesting, but then I started commenting here.

Yeah, froyo is good, but I don't like it when it's too sour. I've tried almost every joint around LA (PinGo (ironically, they don't serve apple, just peach and mango), SweetBerry, Cefiore, Yogomo, and Nubi... but NOT Pinkberry, the original! It's too far away from me.

Yeah, just sixteen... just half of your age now, eh? Time flies... so we better ENJOY it! Hahaha.

I think that you and DH chose very nice names. Niel, Abigail, and Illona. So when each child was just a few months old in diapers, you were pregnant AGAIN? MY GOD! Hahaha.
Unknown said…
Thanks Rachel! I think I will head out there today to check them out. I love Eslite however I was sad I didn't get a chance to shop around the other floors since DS has no patience yet for my shopping LOL.
DS can tolerate the shopping better isn't it funny how girls just love shopping even when babies? hehehe.
And of course DH gets bored too. hahaha.
I'll let you know if I get something ;)
So, Susan: I didn't read your reply until I am back in USA...like right now. Sorry about the delay...but well...you didn't update me what do you got neither....??? So? What exactly you got so far?

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