Monthly Archives: July 2012

Traditional Chinese door handle

Day 348: The Queens of Hong Kong

Hong Kong, China I think the three days I spent in Hong Kong had been perfect. I was able to see the different facets of community in Hong Kong: the busy central and touristy metropolitan; the posh coastal “riviera”; and today, the genuine residential district […]

Apple Cult

Day 347: The Other Big Apple

Hong Kong, China Not knowing exactly what I wanted to see in Hong Kong, Aunt Sylvia suggested that we went to Repulse Bay and Stanley. We hopped on a bus that drove a long way out of the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong metropolitan […]

The Lotus bud

Day 346: Flying Lotus

Hong Kong, China Back in 2001 when I backpacked around the United Kingdom, I met a Hong Kong-nese older couple with whom I struck out conversation that I didn’t expect to last more than our 9-day trip together. However, Aunt Sylvia had proven to be […]

Grandpa and grandson having quality time

Day 345: Chungking Express

Taipei – Taoyuan, Taiwan – Hong Kong, China One would think that I’m absolutely at ease when it comes to going to new places. This is not true. I always feel a pang of nervousness every time I move on to the next country. It’s […]

Wawa

Day 344: The Only Moment We Were Alone

Taipei, Taiwan I was supposed to leave Taipei today and fly to Hong Kong. I really did not feel like it. I was getting quite comfortable. But what made me decide to postpone my departure a day more was that I had not had the […]

Buffet in Taiwan

Day 343: Heavy Is As Heavy Does

Taipei, Taiwan Mmmmm, just realized I didn’t take many photos for the day. Only of these from my lunch: And this, when Juila and Rick visited me: I got awesome gifts from them for my trip. Super useful too. Julia gave me a big tube […]

Caution Banana

Day 342: Christina’s 台灣

Taipei, Taiwan I spent today with my cousin, Christina and I got her to guest-write this entry for me: Elys and I had not met each other for many years. I was so happy and excited that I could meet Elys in Taipei. We had […]

Mama and Wawa

Day 341: Mellow Yellow Mango Dream

Taipei, Taiwan Taiwan has shaved ice shop all over, but Ice Monster is THE place to get the shaved ice mango slushy. Why? Cos it’s soooooooooooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooo good…. apparently… I did not get to try it It’s 11pm on a Thursday and the line was […]

Jiufeng

Day 340: I’m a Food Digger

Taipei – Jinguashi – Jiufeng – Houtong – Keelung – Taipei, Taiwan Jinguashi is an old mining town. For a long time, it was left undeveloped. Nowadays, it’s a famous day-trip destination due to its proximity to Taipei and to another tourist town Jiufeng. Two […]

Fly

Day 339: Tree of Life

Lalashan – Yilan – Taipei, Taiwan We started the day with a big breakfast then onto the leisurely two and a half hour hike onto the Senmu (God Woods) of Lalashan. The park boasts couple dozens of huge trees going as old as 2,800 years […]

Sansia

Day 338: Shalala Lala

Taipei – Sansia – Dasi – Lalashan, Taiwan I didn’t have any plan of travelling around Taiwan at all. However, apparently, Aunt Ho’s relatives had it all planned for us to do a three-day trip in the northern part of Taiwan :] We left early […]

Black Swan

Day 337: Sightseeing Is For Tourist

Taipei, Taiwan Hehe, you’ve been warned. More food photos from lunch with Aunt Ho’s relatives: And desserts with Yuwan, a highschool classmate whom I hadn’t met for 13 years :]