Asia 2023
Hong Kong & Taipei
Bibimbap!
Not the best Disney, unfortunately.
O god were stuck.
Time to get the "its a small world" song stuck in my head for the rest of the day
Smooth entrance, scan qr code and 👍
13 hour layover in Hong Kong, so got tickets for Disneyland
As a Dutch person, Im not sure if this is art or vandalism
And a coffee
Aka dinner
Spotted some tofu cheesecake near the bus stop, it was delicious!
Managed to find the only place in town with a broken ac. Tiramisu was nice, though!
Snake encountered count +1
Straight up!
Its so hot, found a gelato place to cool off
Found a Korean place that has Kimchi pancakes on the menu 🤤
Its 40 degrees again (feels like), so taking it slow
Well deserved
6 hours in total, 30.000 steps and one box of oreos consumed.
Spent the morning buying Muji clothes (shirts/shorts), now time for a pre-lunch
As always, a nice breakfast to start the day.
Pork chops and miso soup
Especially the 30-meter rope descent 😱
Its steep sometimes
Custard bun.
Is lunch dessert a thing? If not I'm making it one.
Lunch time: Beef noodles
I can confirm it feels like 41
Went to visit a place, only to realise it looked vaguely familiar.
Turns out I already seen it three years ago 😂
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.
There is a queue at this stand, so I joined it
Red Bean Bao Bun
When your mosquito repellent doesnt stick, because you're sweating so much :(
Also I drank 1.5 Liters of water already in an hour
142m doesnt seem like much, but its 37 degrees, no wind, and all the humidity.
Slight difference between last nights hotel and todays.
More rain today, so taking the train to Taipei
Finally something positive after a rainy day
Train time!
Found a coffee place to spend 1.5 hours
It might save you a 2-hour wait for the first train with available seats
Not the best time to be in the mountains, there's flood alerts too
Delicious Beef noodles with Kimchi on the side
Banh Mi for lunch
Taiwanese breakfast is the best
Best Lunch
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!
There was a CoCo's Curry literally around the corner soo...
Bubble tea and red-bean filled waffles
Missing person?
Nope!
Train to Taichung
Lets try some Michelin star food
Egg waffle as dessert
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!
Not much neon left in Kowloon, shame because it looks amazing
You know you're old when your childhood toys are in a museum
Pineapple Bun, Milk and oats, and an egg tart for breakfast.
Probably more sugar than I normally eat in a week, but so good!
Dinner consisted of delicious Dim Sum; soup dumplings and bao.
A light breakfast to start the day.
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".
A great thing about Hong Kong is that a 20-minute bus ride gets you in nature.
Slept for fourteen hours, guess I needed that. Time for breakfast at 1500 in the afternoon
With Milk Tea on the side
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!
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!