autumn in asia

i'm sure you know that fall is my favorite season. i love it so much that i got married in the fall, and i pretty much talk about it all the time!

but autumn isn't much of a hit on this tropical island. don't get me wrong, i'm a big fan of the palm trees and sunshine here, but i do really miss fall and seeing the leaves change. i sooo loved being home in october 2008 for our second wedding. and last year i got a great glimpse of fall when we had the chance to visit tokyo in early september. it was already pretty chilly there, and i'm sure the leaves were changing outside of the city, though we didn't see them. but there were still lots of signs of autumn all around. orange japanese maple leaves decorated a lot of stores and malls, and i was able to find fall decorations and stationery. fall/halloween stuff was out at tokyo disney sea. and there was even this tropicana "season's best" autumn blend juice that was sooo good. i got one at family mart almost every day we were there. 

a sign we found in an alley near our hotel

at a supermarket in Tokyo

while taiwan does have some halloween stuff...fall is pretty much a non-event here. well, at least from my very american expectations of what fall should entail. it hasn't bothered me too much, but i have to say that since i joined facebook, what i'm missing has definitely been brought to my mind more! people are always posting status updates about pumpkin spice lattes, posting pictures of visits to pumpkin patches and beautiful fall leaves, talking about pumpkin spice soy milk, raking leaves, etc. sigh. sometimes you don't miss something until you realize it's gone. out of sight, out of mind, right? anyway, of course i do love taiwan and i'm glad i'm here, and i'm thankful that i'll be able to wear my beloved flip-flops until mid-december. :)

but while we're on the topic, i thought i'd show some of my american readers what kind of fall things *are* available in taiwan. so you can see the contrast. a note about the first one -- they used to have PUMPKIN pocky here and it was so good. it was the only pocky that i actually liked. but of course they took it away. now there's halloween pocky and it's chocolate flavored. hmm, not so fall. :) if you don't know what pocky is, go here.

Halloween Pocky -- chocolate flavored 

Kirin autumn brew-- imported to Taiwan from Japan

Assorted Halloween-themed candy at 7-11

Autumn offerings at Coco, one of my favorite tea stands

the last sign says "fall in love with fall" and showcases two "fall" drinks-- a green bean slushie and a lemon yogurt drink. kind of along the same lines as taiwan starbucks' fall drinks-- mocha valencia and a special kind of oolong tea-- not so "fallish" to an american. {as a side note, i still don't understand why taiwan starbucks is SO different from the other asian starbucks, which all offer chai. taiwan is the only starbucks region that doesn't have it.} anyway, that's about it. i haven't seen many more signs of fall yet. but i haven't been to a mall lately either so maybe there'll be more decorations out this year. 

but fall or no fall, i love you, taiwan! i see God's handiwork in your tropical fruit and crazily large vegetables and delicious drinks and beautiful palms trees!