Sonia Sui Has Been Living In The Countryside With Her Family For Two Months Since COVID-19 Broke Out In Taiwan

Back in January, Sonia Sui, 39, took her family to Hengchun, a small township which is a good five hours drive from Taipei. What was supposed to be a short trip for her turned into a two-month stay after the COVID-19 pandemic hit Taiwan.

The model-actress who had contributed to the book Hu Hu Duo Duo (loosely translated as Butterfly Blossom), which talks about how young girls can be protected from would-be predators, was there to give lessons to school children about sexual assault prevention. 

Now she and her family — her businessman husband Tony Hsieh, 41, and their kids Max, five, Lucy, three, and four-month-old Olie — have been living in Hengchun for over two months.

On Monday (Apr 13), Sonia updated her fans via Facebook, writing: “What started off as questions on ‘What are you doing here?’ became ‘Why are you still here?’ Now, there are so many familiar faces, familiar restaurants, familiar convenience stores and familiar pharmacies [that I see every day].”

“Taking my kids away from Taipei, away from their schools and away from their normal lives has made my husband and I wonder if we’ve lost our right to be parents. But when we see our kids learning to embrace the great outdoors when they see the mountains and the sea, and taking the initiative to pick up a stranger’s trash from the floor, our hearts felt full and we realised that we had no reason to doubt ourselves.”

She continued, “Every day when we go out, our kids compete against each other to see who sees more coconuts and who can point out all the different plants. These seemingly boring moments that we spend under a sky full of stars are the days we will remember.”