Being away from Temagami and not enjoying Canadian Island life - Marg and I headed off to the Island of Taiwan - we are now here in Taipei visiting Jess, Lukin and Abel.  It's been a cavalcade of fun and informative times - and a fabulous chance to do a little relationship-building with our grandson - that's today's theme.

Uncharacteristically, I'll let the pictures do the talking - - -

                                                   Lewises in the Far East

Abel is going on six-months old, so it's time for the crawling to begin - 24 hours ago, and with that comes some instruction with reading - 2 generations of the family taking on the instruction -

Marg and I settled into a hotel about four blocks from Lukin and Jess's apartment, right next to a tea house, 1 1/2 blocks away from a fabulous baozi stand (dough shaped around a pork mixture in the center and steamed in bamboo baskets), only a few blocks away from a street market that affords the opportunity to buy everything from sequined clothing to a full-experience poultry purchase - yup, right before your eye, from walking around to cut up and in a bag - they know the real meaning of fresh here.

Going farther afield - - involves public transportation - fabulous combination of buses and trains - Abel loves both the train rides and the store outings - this one in something Jess and Lukin call The Everything Store - 4 stories of pretty much everything except construction materials.

Lukin and Abel in training

Here's a sample of a typical street vendor  - they dot the landscape and offer an indescribable variety of foods

Wherever we go, you can count on an admiring audience stopping us to ogle and seek to hold Abel.  While we know he's the cutest baby in the word - we're kind of astonished that he is such an attention magnet - maybe the people in Taipei don't see that many western babies his age - lots and lots of fun .

 And where we go has been informative, fun and exciting - we've walked in the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Gardens and visited the CKS museum - toured the National Palace Museum - had a fabulously interesting few hours in the
Indigenous Peoples Museum - walked miles through the street markets, sampling most interesting foods, the likes of which we've never seen before, offered by vendors most eager to see our reactions - - today we're off to a combination artists and flowers market - then off to the 101 Building, the second tallest building in the world.

CKS Museum

Parks and Walks abound

We're having a great time with Abel, Lukin and Jess - they are awesome hosts and gracious beyond words in giving us exquite tours - linking us up with local cuisine, and tending to our every need.

I'll let Jess and Abel sign off until next time.