Addiction Aquatic Development is a 2,000 sq meter space with 10 different areas – Live Aquatic area putting together fresh seafood from all over the world, sushi, hot pot, grill, supermarket, deli, fried cooking, flower shop. LOVE it #addictionaquaticdevelopment #H2HTaiwan
This is the grill area which I hope to try next time
Make sure to have the yummy soft serve in the grocery there 🙂 YUM!

First meal in Taipei! Italian! haha!!! It is just more convenient as we arrived late afternoon already
Beautiful interiors!!
I love the blue doors!!

Wine bottles chandelier
Bar and open kitchen
Dad asking our server Woody why his name is Woody haha!! Woody is French 🙂

Cipolla di Tropea
Cappesante, Broccoli E Bottarga

Carbonara
Tagliatelle Bolognese – they take their bolognese very seriously at Bencotto 🙂 


It’s so special we only get this portion! haha!! Kidding! We were plenty so we divided it
Bistecca alla Fiorentina

Risotto Ai Ricci di Mare
Bencotto pizza yum!
Toscana
Margherita for the kids
My sister asked me if she could borrow my glasses but I didn’t bring it. Our handsome 🙂 French server Woody heard her and next thing we knew he came back with glasses. What service!! From Bencotto @mo_tpe #mandarinorientaltaipei #bencottomandarinorientaltaipei #H2HTaiwan


The Mandarin Oriental Taipei is relatively new – it’s 2 years old 🙂
Fresh Christmas tree!!!
Reception
A hallway in the hotel
Marble everywhere
Lift
Birdcage lights by the mirror – like a Mark Justiniani artwork 🙂 – beside each room entry
I like it that when you enter the room, the lights automatically turn on!
Very spacious!
I missed taking the photo of the shower and tub but it was beautiful – almost everything marble
Dressing room with vanity table!
Hoarded all the Diptyque toiletries 🙂
Some rooms have a separate toilet from the shower area
Facade of the hotel at night from one of the balconies


Near the Four Seasons hotel is the Kiyomizudera temple and around that temple are quaint streets with souvenir shops, quaint cafes, restaurants, soft serve 🙂 and tourists dressed in kimonos! It’s so beautiful! There are several streets and pocket alleys. The streets we went to were Ninnen zaka, Sannen zaka, Kiyomizu zaka. Gion is the Geisha town and I hope we can visit another time #H2HKyoto

There are places in Kyoto where you can witness and partake in a tea ceremony
You will dress up in a kimono of your choice! with lots of designs to choose from – from the kimono to the bow to the hair piece. An opportunity to take photos as well. There are several kimono shops around the city where you can rent kimonos to wear and walk around the city and feel like a Geisha 🙂




We drove an hour or so from Kyoto to Nara to be surrounded by deers 🙂
There are around 1,200 tame deers around Nara park ( one of the oldest parks in Japan). The deers are considered sacred. Visitors feed the deers in the park as they roam freely around #NaraPark #H2HNara #H2HAnimals
Nandaimon Gate, a large wooden gate watched over by two fierce looking statues. Representing the Nio Guardian Kings, the statues are designated national treasures together with the gate itself.
Todaiji temple, the world’s largest wooden building and home to Japan’s largest Buddha
Todaiji (???, T?daiji, “Great Eastern Temple”) is one of Japan’s most famous and historically significant temples and a landmark of Nara. The temple was constructed in 752 as the head temple of all provincial Buddhist temples of Japan and grew so powerful that the capital was moved from Nara to Nagaoka in 784 in order to lower the temple’s influence on government affairs.
Todaiji’s main hall, the Daibutsuden (Big Buddha Hall) is the world’s largest wooden building, despite the fact that the present reconstruction of 1692 is only two thirds of the original temple hall’s size. The massive building houses one of Japan’s largest bronze statues of Buddha (Daibutsu). The 15 meters tall, seated Buddha represents Vairocana and is flanked by two Bodhisattvas. ( Japan-Guide.com)
The Kinakakuji Golden Pavilion made out of 20 kilos of 24 karat gold leaf. It’s really shining!! The emperor built this to put the ashes of Buddha and to regain trade business with China. It was was originally built as a retirement villa for the shogun. They spent $7.4m to refurbish it in 1987. Super beautiful and really shining like gold #H2HKyoto #thegoldenpavilion
From different angles!! I can stare at this all day 🙂
A beautiful 600 year old pine tree shaped like a boat at the Kinakuji Temple ( Golden Pavilion ) It started out as a bonsai #thegoldenpavilion #H2HKyoto #H2HTrees

























































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