Taiwan & Dragon fruit

Chuseok, the equivalent to Thanksgiving in Korea, was the first weekend of September. This meant a long weekend, which meant an opportunity to set off once again. Chris and I decided to spend our time in Taiwan! Unfortunately we were not able to get the same flights, nor were we able to find one that left Friday night, so we headed to the airport Saturday afternoon instead.

Beside the check in counters for Thai Airways (my check in counter), was the check in counters for an Air Canada flight going to Vancouver. I must admit that this has been the first time, probably in my life that I have been at the airport where a part of me wished I was actually going back to Vancouver. It was a strange feeling knowing that I could have been on that flight (if I hadn't extended my contract etc.) and that I would have been perfectly happy going to Vancouver instead of Taiwan. It made me feel a bit sad and I was feeling emotional for the rest of my flight to Taiwan - luckily the excitement of a new country cleared that up ;)

After we both checked in, we grabbed a bite to eat and then Chris rushed off to catch her flight. I still had about an hour to kill so I wandered around before settling in by the gate to read my book. Soon after I received an e-mail from Kayak (the site I booked my flight through) informing me that the flight would be delayed by a half hour. I found it humorous that I was informed of this through an e-mail, before they even announced it in the airport. Unfortunately for Chris, who was landing in Taiwan an hour before me, she would now have to wait a bit longer. But once I did get on the plane, my flight was yet again, amazing - blankets, pillows, window seat, movies, dinner, WINE!! What a great way to spend a few hours.

Chris met me as I came out of arrivals and we found our way to the bus depot. We took a bus from the airport to a subway station (as the airport isn't connected to the subway), then took the subway to Main Station. Main Station was huge but we found the underground shopping mall that led us to the exit near our hostel, Apartment 10F. While I printed out the directions to find Apartment 10F, I did not print the pictures of the outside of the building that they sent me. So when we got out of the station, we looked a little lost until we walked by a building and the security gaurd said "Come in, 10th floor". Something tells me we aren't the only people who have looked a little lost outside of the building. 

The entrance to the building

Our cute room! I loved the wallpaper.

An American style bathroom!! (You don't know how exciting it was to have a separate shower stall.)

Apartment 10F was super cute and the staff was really friendly. We had our own private room, but we also had access to a shared kitchen and common room with this view:

Since the night was still young, we decided to check out the Shilin Night Market. We spent a few hours walking up and down the different alleys and streets, taking it all in. Honestly, one of my favourite moments from this trip was the discovery of the pink dragon fruit! 

Let's take a moment here to backtrack. A few years back I decided to start buying one new fruit or vegetable that I had never tried before every time I went grocery shopping. One day, I bought a dragon fruit. While dragon fruit looks really cool, I was a bit underwhelmed by its taste as it didn't really have much of a taste. Upon more research (cause apparently I research fruit) I found out that there is a type of dragon fruit that is pink/magenta inside instead of white like the one I had. I read that it would taste of a combination of kiwi and raspberries. Since that day I always kept my eye out for this magical sounding dragon fruit but never had much luck actually finding one and began to give up on my search assuming that this delicious sounding dragon fruit was a myth. 

So, to my surprise when I walked into the Shilin Market I found it!! I was incredibly excited to try it and so happy to have actually found it. Chris probably thought I was a bit insane. And I did send pictures to those who know of this funny dragon fruit obsession of mine.

I asked for a piece to try at almost every fruit stand we walked by! 

Shilin Night Market

There were spots to play games ... 

... spots for fishing for shrimp ...

... and tons of people going from stall to stall shopping and eating street food.

When we got in that night, we made a rough plan for the next day and called it a night. Day two would bring a lot of walking and a lot of pictures! Stay posted.

<3

Hong Kong - Buildings, Nature & Food!

We continued our adventure after leaving Disneyland Saturday evening. Mel had visited Hong Kong a few years ago and really wanted to go back to the Bubba Gump restaurant as she didn't get to eat there last time or take an iconic picture. If you are not familiar, Bubba Gump is the restaurant Tom Hanks opens in Forrest Gump, it is a chain with locations all over the world. Mel loves Forrest Gump. Conveniently the restaurant is located at "The Peak" or Victoria Peak which is home to a huge tower with a great view of Hong Kong. Being that it was a Saturday, the line for the tram up was HUGE but worth the wait. Except it was a bit scary because people almost got trampled getting on cause everyone was in a rush and pushed. When we got to the top, there was already an hour wait to eat at the restaurant but we put our name on the list and headed to the outside deck for some pictures of the city from above.

Lost and tired in the sea of people 

So pretty! It looked like I'm standing in front of a photoshopped picture 

After this we went back down and took some pictures outside of the restaurant. We only had to wait about 30 minutes to get a table after all. This place was decked out in Forrest Gump stuff, it was really well done. Bubba Gump is known for its shrimp, but I opted for a chicken sandwich. Fish are friends!!

Sitting at the Forrest Gump bench wearing his shoes

Forrest Gump's outfits

Part of the menu was on the other side of the racket. As for the "Run Forrest Run" sign, this was a neat part of the restaurant and a cool way to communicate with the staff. You kept the sign flipped this way if you did not need anything from the staff ....

... And you would flip it over to "Stop Forrest Stop" if you wanted anything from the staff. It was nice to not be interrupted for no reason and just a cute addition using the classic phrase. 

By the time we left here and took the tram down it was after midnight so we called it a day, grabbed a taxi back to the hostel and got totally ripped off by him - but hey it happens.

Sunday

Our flight was later in the afternoon so we wanted to make the most of the day. We were up early and found our way to Man Mo Temple. Unfortunately it was under construction but we were still able to go inside. We did not spend very long here as it was small, and although well known, more of a local temple. This temple pays tribute to the God of Literature (Man) and the God of War (Mo). 

Some streets we walked down

Graffiti

Man Mo Temple

Man Mo Temple was on Hollywood Road so we decided to wander to see if we found anything of interest. We ended up finding a French Cafe called Agnes B where we had breakfast as it was the only busy/open place around. It seems as if this was a foreigner area in Hong Kong though.

After eating a delicious grapefruit, avocado salad we took off to find the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens. We only had Google Maps to guide us, and after only one wrong turn, and asking a Police officer for confirmation of directions we found it! It was a relaxing spot to spend the rest of the afternoon before heading to the airport. 

The entrance

We saw flamingos and other birds

.. and turtles

... And an orangutan. Seeing this Orangutan was heartbreaking for Mel and I, especially since we had just been in the Malaysian jungle weeks prior seeing orangutans living free and naturally. This cage was small, and did not have any structures made of anything other than metal - despite having a sign stating that they "rarely leave the trees for the ground, swinging from branch to branch." Yet this poor animal is deprived of trees and the ability to swing from branch to branch or anything for that matter, and is stuck in a small metal cage. It made me really sad. 

Not in the park, but this is the Bank of China Tower which is lit up and part of a light show at night. This is Hong Kong's fourth tallest skyscraper.

Funny story about our flight home. We arrived at our departure gate an hour early. Finally we hear over the PA "Final call for immediate departure flight ..." - OUR FLIGHT! Somehow, despite sitting right next to our departure gate an hour early, we missed all of our boarding calls and didn't board until this announcement, potentially almost missing our flight! We still have no idea how we managed to not see or hear an entire flight of people boarding around us!! Unfortunately we still waited on the plane for an hour and a half before it actually left the airport. They said there was a document issue and they seemed to have kept counting the passengers. But we left eventually. 

The not so funny part. Due to the recent Ebola outbreak, before we landed we had to fill out a health questionnaire so the quarantine officers in Korea could see if we had symptoms or not. When we landed we were still stuck on the plane for an extra thirty minutes while they did quarantine procedures. I had a lot of empathy for all of the Nigerians who were called to the front of the plane over the PA during this time. When we finally were allowed to get off the plane, we were questioned individually by quarantine officers before being able to proceed to immigration and baggage claim. 

I really enjoyed my time in Hong Kong and of course, loved Disneyland. I feel completely satisfied with the amount of time I spent there and the things I was able to do and see! 

<3

Hong Kong - Disneyland!

This trip was not only spontaneous but also a bit special to me. I can still see myself sitting on the deck back home before I left for Korea chatting about all of the potential places I could visit in Asia during my time working in Korea. It was then that I googled a list of all the Disneylands in the world. I knew there was one in Japan, but I didn't know of the park in Hong Kong. I felt that going to the one in Japan was likely, as I considered Japan as a long weekend trip. I sat there and joked about how I would also maybe go to Disneyland in Hong Kong, in that moment feeling amazed about the opportunities ahead of me, but not truly believing that going to Disneyland in Hong Kong would be something very realistic. Everything in that moment, those thoughts of possibilities, felt more like dreams that wouldn't be able to be attained, but were welcomed fantasies.

Fast forward a year from then and I am sitting in a cafe in Korea with Mel with the intention of working on our online open water scuba diving course for our then upcoming trip to Malaysia. We order coffee and cake and get to chatting. The next thing you know we are looking for flights to Hong Kong and within the next hour flights are booked and tickets to Disneyland are purchased. Our course on the other hand, neglected. Oops.

Fast forward a month and a half and I am anticipating the end of my last class so that I can grab my bag, slip out of work and book it to the airport bus stop to catch my flight! How cool.

Mel and I booked flights Friday night, return Sunday evening. All week we had debated the best way to get to the airport as we were both off at 5:30pm and our flight was at 9:00pm, not entirely a lot of leeway there. In the end we decided that we would both catch the airport bus that was closest to each of our respective work places. So I headed to the bus stop from work, a bit nervous about making the flight in time if traffic turned out to be bad that Friday. Mel (who lives a bit further) had already gotten on the bus, but I was still waiting for mine to come. A half hour after the digital sign said that it was arriving soon, it did arrive. I walked on the bus to find who else, but Mel! Turns out the bus by her is the same one that runs by where I live. This worked out perfectly as we didn't have to worry about finding each other at the airport and we got to enjoy the 1.5 hour ride (usually only one hour) to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 7:30pm and were flying by 9pm.

The trip was already starting off amazingly as the immigration officer at Incheon allowed us to stamp our own passports. I was giggling with excitement and not ashamed to admit it.

Now keep in mind this was only about two weeks after being home from Malaysia and we were very accustom to the budget airline which is Air Asia - no pillow, no blanket, no food, no drinks, no entertainment and a very cold cabin. So when we boarded onto the Ethiopian Airlines flight, stocked with snacks and sweaters, we were blown away to find a pillow, blanket and our own mini screen at our seats! I felt entirely spoiled. We did not get seats next to each other, but I did end up getting the whole row to myself which was so nice. I decided to watch Winters Tale, and while I was watching that, they came around with dinner and drinks! It just kept getting better. I was feeling pretty content with my Friday night at that point.

When we landed in Hong Kong it was a little disappointing as they did not stamp our passports - and let's be honest, we all live for the stamps - apparently they have stopped doing this and instead you are given a paper about the size of a third of your credit card that you are supposed to keep with you the entire time and not lose. It was a bit bizarre to us and doesn't seem as efficient. As we arrived after midnight, we took a taxi to our hostel. It took a second after the taxi stopped for my door to be opened by someone on the other side and we were bombarded with people offering rates to their different hotels. We stayed in a building called Chungking Mansions, which is home to several floors and different blocks of stores and living spaces. We didn't quite know about the different blocks until we went up the elevator to the wrong block and a helpful man from another hostel directed us the right way. One thing that was interesting is that their elevators are based on floors. So each block has two elevators, one for the even floors and one for odd floors. Of course, we were the elevator that seemed to always have the most people going up and down it. At one point we stood in a line at the bottom of the elevator of people waiting to go up. We also learned that it was faster to go into an elevator that was going up just to go all the back to the bottom floor to get where you wanted to go. That night we quickly headed to bed, eager for Disneyland the next day.

The extent of our room aside from a small bathroom.

Saturday morning we were woken up at 6am to what I initially thought was Mel's obnoxious alarm on her phone. Turns out it was the fire alarm. Some will say that this is a sign we have been in Korea "too long" but I will just leave it at saying it is bad when you think "ah I'm sure there isn't really a fire" and roll over to try and fall back asleep. But the alarm kept ringing, and ringing, and ringing. So we got up and peaked out our door. A few other guests were up checking out the situation as well. Turns out there was just a faulty alarm in our corridor. We went back to sleep for another hour before getting ready for the day listening to a Disney playlist. 

Disneyland was amazing - as always. Depsite being to a few different parks now, there is something still so magical to me about Disneyland and I still get just as excited each time I go. I love it. 

View from the subway heading to Disneyland

Hong Kong! aka Kong Hong

We made it!! Happiest place on earth!

In front of Cinderella's castle - honestly compared to the one in Orlando and the one in Japan, this castle was a bit sad. It was so small comparatively and not very well kept. I think that would be my only criticism of this park. 

I forget what this ride was called, but I legit had to drive the car which was so cool and it really made me miss driving!

Mickey Pizza!

Mickey & Minnie <3 ... Mickey checked us out which is a tad creepy

Goofy!

Hanging out in Tarzan's home

View from Tarzan's home

Gorgeous right?!

Mel and I were dying in the heat as we waited for the parade to begin. It was almost 40 degrees that day, our butts were burning sitting on the pavement. 

It was so hot, my 80 SPF waterproof sunscreen was melting off my body - but still no sunburn!

My favourite "land" at this park, that I have not seen at others was Toy Story Land. It was really well done in terms of decorations and theme. 

Disneyland was an absolute blast. We went on almost every ride, my favourite was Big Grizzly Mountain Runaway Mine Cars. It is a big wooden roller-coaster that takes you backwards for part of the ride. Ooo and Space Mountain! 

By the time the sun was setting we were ready to head out and do some exploring in Hong Kong. My main goal for Hong Kong was to do Disneyland, anything on top of that was going to be bonus. I could have left on an airplane that moment and still would have felt completely happy. Do check out my other Disney/HongKong/Malaysia photos on Facebook as they are all posted now! 

<3