Trip Recap: Visiting Popo’s Final Resting Place in Taiwan with My Six-Year-Old

I was raised by my grandmother (“Popo” 婆婆) in Taipei, Taiwan, and moved to San Jose, California with my parents at the age of nine. The last time that I saw my grandmother–my last living grandparent–was in December of 2019, just months before COVID-19 tore through the world. She was in her late 80s, recovering from a fractured hip, and not very lucid. I decided to take a three-day trip to Taiwan from San Francisco, cringing at the thousands of dollars I spent on last-minute airfare during prime travel season. I had a feeling that this might be the last time I saw her alive.

I was right. Popo passed away a year later, at the height of the pandemic. At that time, vaccines were not yet available, our second daughter was just three months old, and I was not brave enough–neither mentally nor physically–to fly halfway across the world to my grandmother’s funeral, despite my every desire to do just that. And so I stayed. Being halfway around the world from Taiwan, grieving Popo’s death was a lonely experience.

About three years after both the start of the pandemic and after Popo’s passing, as restrictions began to loosen and Taiwan did away with its quarantine requirement, I decided it was time to return. Only this time, I wouldn’t go alone.

In December of 2022, I took Corinne, my then-six-year-old daughter, on a two-week trip to my homeland with three goals: visit Popo’s resting place, introduce and re-introduce Corinne to family members, and show my first-born the place where I spent the first nine years of my life, my first home. Corinne had been to Taiwan twice before—at 10 months and again as a two-year-old. I hope that this recent trip stays in her memory lane for decades.

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Taipei’s indigenous inhabitants include the Basay peoples. Tainan’s indigenous inhabitants are the Siraya peoples.

Trip Purpose

We went into this two-week trip to my homeland with three goals:

visit Popo’s resting place,
introduce and re-introduce Corinne to family members, and
show my first-born the place where I spent the first nine years of my life, my first home.

DESTINATION: Taipei and Tainan, Taiwan

AGE OF MY KID: 6 years

LENGTH OF STAY: 2 weeks

TIME OF YEAR: December

Trip Highlights

Read my full list of recommended family-friendly activities in Taipei, here.

Solo Time with One Child is Priceless

Corinne is now seven, and I already feel like she’s slipping away from me at times, especially when her teenager tendencies kick in. So it was really special to have a few weeks of solo time with her. We had the best time on the trip together; she had my undivided attention and she was able to feel like an only child again.

We planned our days over Coca-Cola (for her) and coffee (for me) during breakfast, walked/metro’ed/taxi’ed to our various destinations, and took the time to zipline at playgrounds and shop for souvenirs. She didn’t have to share her boba or any treats with her little sister.

We journaled together, and I watched her develop her confidence in Mandarin through conversations with our relatives and shopkeepers. When my younger daughter Adeline is a bit older, I will look forward to taking her on solo trips, too.

Standing up to family members, however difficult, is the right thing to do

I love my family, but they can be mean. Culturally, it is disrespectful to talk back to our elders. Many times, I witnessed my aunt and uncle scold and shame one of my nephews, and while I would check in on him after, and occasionally tried to divert the conversation away from him, it wasn’t enough. It was hard having to explain the acts of unkindness to Corinne. I can and need to do better in the future.

Tiny, useless things often bring the most joy

…It’s just too bad they’re usually made with plastic!

Corinne’s favorite parts of her trip were her time with cousins Lucas and Dodo, mastering her claw machine skills, and the dry noodles at the mall. Does she still play with any of the stuffies and toys she won from the claw machines? No, but that memory will forever bring a smile to her face.

It's OK to feel disappointed if you feel underwhelmed by something that mattered a lot to you as a child

Growing up, soy milk was served in plastic bags with a straw inside and a string tied around the bag to secure it. Nowadays, they come in plastic cups with sealed lids. No matter how many cups of soy milk I tried, they just didn’t taste as good as when they were served in plastic bags. Oh well, at least now we have boba.

The most memorable spots are unknowable to tourists

My cousin is a teacher for children with special needs, and while we were in Tainan, Corinne and I did a powerpoint presentation about San Francisco to her students in English and in Mandarin, complete with Ghirardelli chocolate, and got a taste of their school lunch.

We also visited a pool with 20 stations of massage spa features and three hot tubs at different temperatures. Corinne got to ride on mopeds, harvest corn and turnips and feed chickens in my aunt and uncle’s farm, and eat delicious home-cooked meals by my aunt every night.

While I will never know what it’s like to experience Taiwan as a true tourist, I’ll always be grateful for my extended family there and the ways in which we make unique memories together. I look forward to discovering different layers at each of my future visits. And next time, the other half of our family will come along, and my little one will get to burn paper money for my grandmother too.

What We Did

During our two-week trip we visited some of Taiwan’s highlights and spent time with family. Read my full list of recommended family-friendly activities in Taipei, here.

TAIPEI

Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市): Here we tried the Fuzhou Black Pepper Bun and Corinne honed her claw machines skills over several days, resulting in a suitcase full of stuffies.
Songshan Ciyou Temple (松山慈祐宮): We paid for some incense and meandered through this beautiful three-story temple.
A day in Beitou District: We visited friends in Beitou, a place known for their hot springs. While Beitou is still a part of Taipei (~45 min by metro), it feels much more relaxing and green and scenic. We soaked our feet for free in Beitou Fuxing Park, walked around Beitou Park, and played at a number of different playgrounds. A great day-trip or even half-day trip.
Poya, various locations: A little girl’s wildest dream come true, this chain store across Taiwan has endless aisles of hair accessories, cosmetics, and other cute things.
National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall (國父紀念館): We got to observe the changing of the guards, which felt nostalgic because my father used to be one of those guards. However, Corinne didn’t care much for the ceremony. Instead, she had a great time at the gift store, where she purchased overpriced keychains of boba figurines.

TAINAN (& SOUTHERN TAIWAN)

Historic Harborside Park (港濱歷史公園): Corinne befriended a little girl who she stood up for (in Mandarin!) when another child didn’t let her friend take a turn at one of the trampolines. When we left the park, Corinne gave the little girl a hug, and the girl awkwardly–but ever so sweetly–put her arm around Corinne’s back (Taiwanese people don’t hug).
ShouShan Zoo in Kaoshiung City: As we were snacking on fries and chicken nuggets, a free-roaming mommy monkey with a baby clinging to her belly snatched our fries away. In another section of the zoo, we saw a monkey chug an orange Fanta on a rooftop.

What & Where We Ate

The food in Taiwan is SO good. Below were the highlights from our trip. Check out our full list of recs here!

大師兄銷魂麵舖-信義店(新光三越A11, B2), Spicy Noodle at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Xinyi Place A11: This kiosk at the food court was an instant hit with Corinne—we came here three times over four days!
Raohe Night Market (饒河街觀光夜市) (or any night market!): Great for stinky tofu, oyster omelet, shaved ice, and fried meat on a stick.
Yong He Do Jiang (永和豆漿大王): Great for the quintessential Taiwanese breakfast: soy milk, XLB (xiao long bao, pork soup dumplings), shao bing you tiao (sesame flatbread with fried dough), egg wraps, and fan tuan (rice balls).
Din Tai Fung (鼎泰豐): Great for a pilgrimage to the origin place of XLBs (xiao long bao, pork soup dumplings), which have taken the world by storm.
Le Meridien: Great for the breakfast buffet, which felt too good to be true. Who knew you could have soup dumplings, tater tots, three kinds of rice noodles, bacon, sushi, kouign amanns, dragon fruit, and roasted Japanese eggplant, all in one meal?
MOS Burger: A Japanese chain that is great for fast food. Try their seafood burger with rice buns.

Where We Stayed

In Tainan, we stayed at my cousin’s house.

In Taipei, we stayed five nights at Le Meridien using our Marriott points.

We spent our last night in Taiwan at the Novotel Taipei Taoyuan International Airport.

What We Packed

We packed two large suitcases; one was filled just with presents for my relatives (vitamins and supplements, face creams from Kiehl’s, chocolates and toddler toys that were probably cheaper and better in Taiwan, and Ghirardelli’s trolley ornaments)
I brought a mother-daughter journal and we spent ~15 minutes daily writing in them together.
A lightweight umbrella
Not much more to add here aside from daily necessities. Packing for a six-year-old is very easy!

Mishaps

When things don't always go according to plan...

On our first morning, I meant to take Corinne to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. As a young child, I spent many weekends here with my family feeding fish in their pond and watching people fly kites. However, we accidentally ended up at the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall instead; both were leaders of the Kuomingtang, I won’t go into historical details here, but Dr. Sun was technically the boss of Chiang. Just as well, we got to observe the changing of the guards, which felt nostalgic because my father used to be one of those guards.

Wishlist for our Next Visit

Bring my second-born to Popo’s final resting place.
Corinne is insistent that the next time we come to Taiwan with her dad, she wants Spicy Noodle to be his first meal.

Each time I visit Taiwan, I learn something new.

Through writing this blog entry, I learned that Taiwan was still under martial law the year that I was born (early 1980s). I also learned that the government designated August 1 as Indigenous People’s Day in 2016, where the president issued an apology for the displacement and mistreatment of indigenous peoples by the government and committed to pursuing justice through fair economic development, continuation of culture and education, and protection of indigenous health and legal rights. Indigenous history was largely erased from my history books growing up (both in Taiwan and the U.S.), and I look forward to educating myself and my girls through each return trip to my home.

We’re fortunate to have a Mandarin-immersion elementary school in our district, where Corinne is thriving, and that we have the resources to visit Taiwan every few years to be with family and fully immerse our children in Taiwan’s culture and history.

When I previewed this entry with Corinne, she beamed upon seeing the photo of herself at Songshan Ciyou Temple (松山慈祐宮). She revealed that she made a number of wishes that day as she prayed with incense sticks around the temple, and that one of her wishes was for me to be able to see my Popo again soon. While my children may never feel as at home as I do there, I hope they will always feel a sense of belonging, and know that Taiwan—and Popo—belong to them, too.

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Hana M.

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Hana (she/her) grew up in Taiwan and San Jose, and now lives in Redwood City (unceded Ramaytush, Muwekma, and Ohlone land) with her husband and two highly energetic and curious young children. Things she always looks for while traveling: delicious noodles, local bookstores, tasty sweet treats, and outdoor water features.