Asia 2023

Hong Kong & Taipei

Checkins

    Last flight

    Pre flight meal

    Bibimbap!

    Bye

    Not the best Disney, unfortunately.

    Stuck

    O god were stuck.

    Small world

    Time to get the "its a small world" song stuck in my head for the rest of the day

    Castle

    Smooth entrance, scan qr code and 👍

    Layover

    13 hour layover in Hong Kong, so got tickets for Disneyland

    To Hong Kong

    Bike

    As a Dutch person, Im not sure if this is art or vandalism

    Breakfast

    And a coffee

    Dumplings and shaved ice

    Aka dinner

    Tofu Cheesecake

    Spotted some tofu cheesecake near the bus stop, it was delicious!

    Broken aircon

    Managed to find the only place in town with a broken ac. Tiramisu was nice, though!

    More razor edges

    Snake encountered count +1

    peaking

    Ropes

    Straight up!

    First peak

    Last hike

    Gelato

    Its so hot, found a gelato place to cool off

    Kimchi Jeon

    Found a Korean place that has Kimchi pancakes on the menu 🤤

    Slow morning

    Its 40 degrees again (feels like), so taking it slow

    Large curry

    Well deserved

    Longest hike

    6 hours in total, 30.000 steps and one box of oreos consumed.

    Volcano

    You know the drill

    Conveyer Belt Sushi

    Lunch

    Spent the morning buying Muji clothes (shirts/shorts), now time for a pre-lunch

    Breakfast

    As always, a nice breakfast to start the day.

    Local delicacy

    Pork chops and miso soup

    Most challenging hike so far

    Especially the 30-meter rope descent 😱

    Wuliao Trail

    Its steep sometimes

    Crap...

    Okonomiyaki time

    Lunch Dessert

    Custard bun.

    Is lunch dessert a thing? If not I'm making it one.

    Beef Noodles

    Lunch time: Beef noodles

    Feels like hot

    I can confirm it feels like 41

    Deja Vu

    Went to visit a place, only to realise it looked vaguely familiar.

    Turns out I already seen it three years ago 😂

    Nightmarket part 2

    Potato balls as a starter, then a BBQ pork sandwich, a huge chicken skewer, scallion pancake and an eggtart fresh from the oven as dessert.

    Nightmarket time

    There is a queue at this stand, so I joined it

    Lunch on the go

    Red Bean Bao Bun

    Sweat

    When your mosquito repellent doesnt stick, because you're sweating so much :(

    Also I drank 1.5 Liters of water already in an hour

    Hushan Peak

    142m doesnt seem like much, but its 37 degrees, no wind, and all the humidity.

    Dumpling Breakfast

    Burger Time

    Slight difference

    Slight difference between last nights hotel and todays.

    Laundry time

    Train to Taipei

    More rain today, so taking the train to Taipei

    Emer gensi

    Ramen

    Finally something positive after a rainy day

    Finally

    Train time!

    Bagle

    Found a coffee place to spend 1.5 hours

    Reserve the train

    It might save you a 2-hour wait for the first train with available seats

    No hike today

    Not the best time to be in the mountains, there's flood alerts too

    Beef noodles and Kimchi on the side

    Delicious Beef noodles with Kimchi on the side

    Banh Mi

    Banh Mi for lunch

    Danbing

    Taiwanese breakfast is the best

    Mountain Lunch

    Best Lunch

    Stairs

    European trails: this meandering path will take you up the mountain in about five to eight hours. It's not too steep and there's a "hutte" at the top.

    Asian trails: Stairs!

    Hike time

    Curry

    There was a CoCo's Curry literally around the corner soo...

    Street food paradise

    Bubble tea and red-bean filled waffles

    We got your back

    Missing person

    Missing person?

    Nope!

    Taichung

    Train to Taichung

    On to Taiwan

    worth the wait

    Michelin ⭐

    Lets try some Michelin star food

    Egg waffle

    Egg waffle as dessert

    Wonton Noodles

    Dinner today; Wonton noodles (wanted beef, but the waitress had very poor eyesight and even poorer understanding of English, so I got whatever she thought was on the menu there 🤷). It was good, though!

    Neon

    Not much neon left in Kowloon, shame because it looks amazing

    Old

    You know you're old when your childhood toys are in a museum

    M+ Museum

    Pineapple Bun

    Pineapple Bun, Milk and oats, and an egg tart for breakfast.

    Probably more sugar than I normally eat in a week, but so good!

    Dumplings

    Dinner consisted of delicious Dim Sum; soup dumplings and bao.

    Light breakfast

    A light breakfast to start the day.

    No English Menu

    Made it back from the hike with about 10 minutes to spare before complete darkness.

    Time for dinner and I walked into a random restaurant in the street where the hotel is. Had to use Google translate for the menu, and picked something semi-random.

    Sweet and sour beef with tomato and egg. It was pretty good and the staff was impressed with my "Thank you".

    Busride nature

    A great thing about Hong Kong is that a 20-minute bus ride gets you in nature.

    Overslept

    Slept for fourteen hours, guess I needed that. Time for breakfast at 1500 in the afternoon

    Beef Brisket Noodles

    With Milk Tea on the side

    Betsy

    Betsy is a beer specially brewed to taste its best at 35000 feet. You can only get it on Cathay Pacific flights, if available.

    Tasted good!

    An interesting trip

    This is going to be an interesting trip.

    The return flight was cancelled this morning, and I noticed a fraudulent transaction on my credit card, so that'll probability be replaced during the trip.

    This could mean issues with outstanding Hotel reservations. Fun times!