We took an early train back to Taipei on our last day. We headed to the Shida area for breakfast at Grandma Nitti's Kitchen. We got there before it opened so we killed some time walking around and taking photos. So clean & lots of plants! :)

After breakfast, we headed to the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. It's an impressive structure built to remember former president Chiang Kai-Shek. Much to my delight, there were also tons of blossoming cherry blossom trees nearby!

Our last stop before the airport was Ximending. It's a busy area, packed with shops and restaurants. It reminded us a lot of Tokyo and Seoul!

It was then time for us to head back to South Korea. We weren't able to go everywhere I had researched, but we were able to see quite a bit! We had tried to check out a few night markets, but they were all closed due to Lunar New Year. We also didn't get to to climb Elephant Mountain Trail, which offers a nice view of the city. I would love to visit Taiwan again one day, so maybe next time!

After spending a few days in Taipei, we took the train to Taroko National Park for two nights. Since it was Lunar New Year, we had booked train tickets in advance. The website was not very user friendly and was very glitchy! I think you'd probably be fine just buying them at the station. The train ride from Taipei to Hualien (close to the park) was about two hours and cost only about $15. Amazing! 

We stayed in Formosa Backpackers Hostel. We rented a scooter which made it a lot easier to get around the park. We spent a full day at the park and did the Swallow Grotto Trail and Baiyang Trail (both very easy). I read that the Shakadang Trail and Tunnel of Nine Turns Trail are both supposed to be great too!

At the end of Baiyang Trail, there is a man-made tunnel that has water gushing from the ceiling. According to the Taipei Times, while a power company was making the tunnel, they hit an underground water vein, hence the gushing water. Since the area is at risk for rock slides, there are signs everywhere telling you to enter at your own risk. I get super anxious about these type of things, but once I saw elderly women going in, I figured I could too. It was really neat (see a photo here) but I was so happy once we were back out! :)

We also checked out Xiangde Temple and drove to Qingshui to see the cliffs. It started raining at that point, so our view was not the best (also made for an interesting scooter ride!).

At night, we were pleasantly surprised with how much there was to do in Hualien! We went to Rainbow Night Market and Cultural and Creative Industries Park. We also had a very non-traditional Taiwanese dinner at Salt Lick (American barbecue!) - so good.

Next up - Ximending and Chiang-Kai Shek Memorial Hall in Taipei!

On our third day, we headed north of Taipei to Xienbeitou. The area is well known for its natural hot springs. It was easy to get there via the MRT (check out detailed instructions here). We first checked out Geothermal Valley (地熱谷). It was beautiful but spoiler alert: smells like rotten eggs! :) You can't go in the water here because it's way too hot, but there are other spots in town where you can.

We then popped by Millennium Hot Springs. If you can believe it, entrance was only about $1.50! It was a neat experience. There were multiple pools of varying temperatures (some were crazy hot!). If I were to do it again, I would definitely wear a one-piece. I stuck out a bit in my bikini! Also, you'll notice in the photo below that a lot of people are sitting on the side of the pools, but whenever we tried to do that, old men would tell us we needed to totally sit in the pools. Haha, just gotta roll with it.

Once we got our hot spring fix, we walked around town & had some amazing noodles.

We then hopped back on the MRT and carried on to Danshui (淡水- also spelled Tamsui). Shirley, a blogging pal from Singapore, had recommended we check it out. We rented bikes and biked along the Golden Shore Bike Path.  It was a great way to see the area!

After we brought our bikes back, we walked along the pier and stopped by La Vie Revee Des Anges Cafe 天使热爱的生活咖啡馆 (a bit of a mouthful!). Shirley mentioned that it was a prime spot to catch the sunset.  Unfortunately, it wasn't a great sunset that night, but it's a really cute spot. If you're in Danshui, try to check it out!

After sunset, we made our way back to the MRT station. There was the cutest girl dancing just outside the station. I had totally forgotten about her until I was going through our trip photos. I love when a photo brings back a memory! It was a really sweet moment.

Next up: Taroko National Park!

Six months later, I'm ready to finish off my Taiwan posts! We have so many photos but I've decided to make a few longer posts, rather than drag it out forever. So here we go!

While in Taipei, we stayed at Mango53 Inn. It's quite close to Longshan Temple and a super quick walk to the MRT station. It was a nice spot! On our second day, we decided to head to the temple. It was a total madhouse - I think because of Lunar New Year. We didn't get to see much of the temple but we had some grilled sausages and milk tea while we people watched!

We then headed to the Taipei Zoo MRT station so we could check out the Maokong Gondola. The gondola ride was about 20 minutes! At the top, there were all sorts of food vendors, cafes, and tea houses. We had a delicious lunch at a spot that overlooked the mountains! It was a bit smoggy, but we could still see Taipei 101 peeking out in the distance. It was really nice to be somewhere less crowded after our chaotic morning.

Once we were back in the city, we went to Taipei 101. The building has the fastest elevator in the world! It zips you up to the 89th floor in only 40 seconds! (Mike's fave part, obvi.) We timed it so that we were there for sunset - so nice!

Next up - Beitou Hot Springs and Danshui!

Taiwan had been on our travel list for a long time but tickets were always more expensive than other places in Asia. We eventually decided to just bite the bullet and bought some tickets for over Lunar New Year. We were able to redeem points for one of the round trip flights so it wasn't quite as big of a blow financially. Taiwan was amazing so the moral of this story is: just buy the tickets, money be damned!

Whenever we gush about Taiwan (because we do anytime anyone asks us about our favourite trips in Asia!), people are always a bit surprised. It is definitely a bit off the radar, but absolutely worth checking out. There's so much going on in Taipei (especially in regards to food & markets!) and tons of amazing day trips out of Taipei. It is also really affordable compared to its hip cousin Hong Kong (I think our train ride down to Taroko National Park was $12!). We found Taipei to be really clean and had a cool, artsy vibe.

Additionally, it was just one of those trips where everything just went so well. We rode trains, buses, and taxis with ease and the weather was great (cloudy sometimes but never rainy). People were so friendly and we saw some really beautiful stuff. After our trip to Sri Lanka at Christmas, we were just so appreciative of how smoothly everything went.

So here are some photos of the first place we checked out. If you want to lose twenty minutes of your life, check out Yehliu Geo Park on instagram. That's how I first came across the park and immediately decided we needed to visit. Yehliu Geo Park, located on the coast, is home to many strangely shaped rock formations, formed as a result of years of geological movement. It really feels like a different planet! We took a 90 minute bus ride to the park and admission was under $4. More info here!

Hello again! Finally back to blogging, at long last. We've been settling into things here in Vancouver and trying to figure out what this new life of ours is going to look like. Starting new things is always hard but I have to trust things will work out!

So, Sri Lanka! It was honestly a bit painful to go through these photos because thinking of this trip always makes me a little sad. We weren't there nearly long enough and things just didn't work out. We were supposed to be there for 10 days during peak (sunny!) season, but it ended up raining A LOT. 

We started at the beach in Unawatuna and decided just make the best of it. However, the rain began to throw a wrench in all our plans. We checked out nearby Galle, dropped our Yala National Park plans and went to Lion's Rock (Sigiriya) instead. It was beautiful, despite the rain.

Then we were all set to head to Ella in the hill country, but some trains had run off course so all trains headed into the mountains were cancelled. Roads elsewhere were closed as well so we couldn't even get to Kandy if we had wanted to. We weren't really sure what to do for the rest of our trip and didn't know if it would turn into a potentially dangerous situation. So with heavy hearts, we packed our bags and headed to Thailand for the rest of the time. 

Weather is always unpredictable and there was no way I could have really planned around it.  Additionally, people lost their homes and some even died due to the freak weather, so I really shouldn't complain that our vacation was cut short. And as we were there, we realized 10 days wouldn't have been nearly long enough anyways. We could have spent more time there but I had been so obsessed with finding the cheapest tickets that I went with ten days. In the future, I think it's worth paying more money for tickets in order to really maximize our time in a place. Lesson learned!

Anyways, all this to say, I am eager to return to Sri Lanka (and check out India as well) in the future. We met such lovely people during our stay there and there is SO much to see. 

Two years ago, I checked out the Wonmisan Mountain Azalea Festival with some friends and it stands out as one of my favourite experiences of our first year in South Korea. I went again last year but we totally mis-timed it and all the flowers had shrivelled up. Heart-breaking! This year I was obsessed with timing it perfectly since it would be my last chance to see them. All my compulsive research paid off and we were awarded with rolling hills covered with the prettiest purple flowers. It was a purple cotton candy dreamland! I don't think the azalea festival is a major tourist attraction (we might have been the only foreigners there!) but I highly recommend checking it out, even if you're in Seoul!

I've gotten so behind on blog posts that I've been posting photos from months ago. However, I couldn't resist editing these photos from last weekend right away!

Last Friday, a group of us piled into a rental van and drove to the Boseong Green Tea Fields. The fields are at the southern tip of Korea - about as far away as we can possibly go on mainland Korea (which is wild considering 6 hours wouldn't even get us from Winnipeg to Saskatoon!). We stayed at the prettiest sea-side pension and spent the day wandering around the tea fields and the nearby bamboo forest. We also took an extended lunch break (which turned into an extended green tea ice cream break, obvi). It was incredibly relaxing and just so nice!

After our time in Morocco, we needed to head back to Canada. One way flights back to Winnipeg were atrociously expensive, but we managed to find a $600 one way from Lisbon to Winnipeg (almost half the price of other flights we were finding) and it's only a quick 1.5 hour flight from Marrakesh to Lisbon. Since Mike and I haven't spent any time in Europe together, we decided to add on two nights in Lisbon to the end of our trip. It wasn't nearly enough time, but any longer would've really cut into our time in Canada with family and friends.

Needless to say, Lisbon whet our appetites in a big way. It's such a beautiful, colourful, and CLEAN city. We had the best time and can't wait to go back to Europe one day when we have more money. :)

We stayed near Baixa/Chiado metro station. We went up the Santa Justa elevator, rode the old fashioned street car, Tram 28, checked out the area Alfama (had a great slice of pizza here!), and had a great dinner at A Camponesa. On our second night, we went to Miradouro da Senhora do Monte to see the sunset over the city. It was so beautiful and a wonderful way to end our summer travels.

After traveling for the last two summers, we're shaking things up this year! Right after school ends, we're going to Mongolia for a week. Our summer travels will end there as we need to make some money before our big move to Vancouver. Mike will be heading back to Winnipeg to work as an electrician. I'm going to be spending the summer in Seoul, working at a summer camp. We're not looking forward to the summer apart, but the silver lining is that my mom is coming out to Seoul to work at the same summer camp! So it will be a totally different summer than usual, but still memorable!

Essaouira was the perfect way to end our time in Morocco. It's a beautiful, breezy, sea-side town with a manageable medina and dozens of restaurants. We walked around and hit all the usual haunts - the harbour, the medina, the Portuguese Fortress, and the beach. One of our favourite memories of Essaouira is watching a beach soccer game go down at sunset.

We had to find a place to stay rather last minute since we had changed up our itinerary a bit (ditching a night at Dadès Gorge). We got a room at Riad El Mess which had such a beautiful roof top terrace! It was the perfect spot for a cup of tea & a book. 

To be clear - Essaouira is a very touristy town. I know that an ultra touristy place is often undesirable to travellers who want to get off the beaten path, but in this case it was really nice. It was just so easy! Restaurants were open even though it was Ramadan and we felt totally safe and comfortable walking around everywhere. After some uncomfortable situations in Marrakesh, we felt like we could let our guards down and just soak in our last few days.

After our time in Essaouira, we hopped on a quick flight to Lisbon! Photos of that STUNNING city coming up next. xx

We dropped off our car in Marrakesh which was a stressful little adventure. We were racing through the streets of downtown Marrakesh, trying to find the car rental place before it closed. That was the only moment of our road trip that we REALLY could've used that dang GPS. But we eventually found it with just a few minutes to spare.

We then headed to our guesthouse in the Marrakesh medina. We stayed at Sindi Sud. It was very cheap and very basic. But we were totally happy with it our first few nights there. After we were in Essaouira, we stayed there one more night and had an unpleasant encounter with the owner (read my trip advisor review here for full details).

We had some delicious meals in Marrakesh and enjoyed wandering the alleys. We also loved checking out Maison de la Photographie & having lunch on their beautiful patio. 

However, both on the way to the museum and back we had sketchy experiences with "faux guides" who wanted to show us the way. Both times we were adamant that we didn't want a guide but the guys kept lingering ahead of us and then forced us to pay them. On our way back, the guy took us to totally the wrong area and then kept pressuring us to give him more & more money (his buddy also showed up so we really didn't have a choice but to hand over the money!)

It left such a bad taste in my mouth and those guys are unfortunately the first thing I think of when I reflect on our time in Marrakesh. By the end of our time in Marrakesh, we were pros at making ZERO eye contact with anyone who was offering to give us directions or calling out to us. I hate that because I want to be friendly and talk to people who initiate conversation. 

It's also left me really suspicious of anyone who now offers to help us with directions. In Sri Lanka in December, we were trying to find a bus station and some guy offered to bring us to it. I didn't want to follow him but Mike said we should give him a chance. Mike was right to trust him because he was so helpful and brought us right to where we needed to be. And in that case, I absolutely wanted to give him some money for being so kind and helpful - but he refused to take it! I don't want to be jaded, so I really need to shake off these bad experiences in Morocco.

On to Essaouira next (our last stop in Morocco!)

Well, let's continue on, shall we? After we left the desert, we drove to Todra Gorge. We stayed at Palmeraie Guesthouse which is located in the surprisingly lush valley of Todra Gorge. The three brothers that own the guesthouse were really helpful and hospitable. They also have a cute donkey hanging around!

The next day, we headed into Todra Gorge for our hike. A friend of the owners of the guesthouse had offered to do a guided hike with us, but we declined. There was an appealing route described in Lonely Planet and we felt optimistic about doing it ourselves. Bad idea! We missed the main lookout point and then had trouble actually finding the start of the path. So we just wandered along for a few hours. It was beautiful but we probably would've seen better stuff on an actual  hike. And was it ever hot!

After spending two nights at Todra Gorge, we planned on spending the night in Dades Gorge as well. However, we were feeling pretty defeated by the heat and one of the owners of the guesthouse urged us just to stop in Dades Gorge and then keep driving. This meant we would end up having an extra night by the ocean which sounded pretty ideal at the time. 

So we passed through Dades Gorge and made a brief stop at Ait Benhaddou, an ancient fortified city. When I was researching it before the trip, some people highly recommended the spot and others said to skip it. It's been fixed up quite a bit so it doesn't feel very authentic. We decided to stop by anyways since it was sort of on the way. When we got there, it was totally deserted. There were some random Moroccan guys hanging out by one of the entrances and charged us some money to get in. They didn't seem legitimate at all (especially for a Unesco Heritage Site!) but we didn't really want to argue with them, so we dolled out the cash. We wandered around for maybe half an hour and then left. Not a trip highlight, that's for sure.

We carried on to Telouet. We stayed at Maison D'Hotes Dar Aissa. It seemed over-priced for what it was and we got kind of weird vibes from the owner. However, he brought us by a nearby kasbah which was actually quite neat.

Next up: Marrakesh!

Ps. As some of you may have seen on instagram, Mike and I are moving to Vancouver at the end of the summer! As Vancouver is hailed as the most expensive city to live in North America (gulp!), our overseas travels will likely come to a grinding halt. On the upside, this will allow to finally get caught up with this blog. We still have photos from Lisbon, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, and Nepal coming up!

At the end of our time in Fez, we picked up a rental car. I was scoping out options online before we left and booked a little Hyundai for $250 for 8 days. Awesome! However, picking up the car was not so awesome. They didn't have any GPS units even though we had booked one and they wanted us to take a car that had the ominous "check engine" light blinking. We were not keen about taking said car into the desert so we asked for a different one. They kept saying they didn't have another one and we kept saying we didn't want to take this one. Then suddenly another one drove up that was in perfect working order so crisis averted! And we bought a map.

We drove to Midelt, stayed overnight, and then took off for the desert the next morning. There was a bit of a sand storm the afternoon of our arrival so the overall vibe was super creepy. It's such a desolate landscape! We checked into Hotel Kasbah Mohayut and hung out by the pool a bit before the  blowing sand forced us into our room for awhile. Desert treks were cancelled that night due to the sand storm. Thankfully we were staying more than one night so it didn't affect us. I was just praying that the wind would stop blowing so we could head out in the desert the following day!

The next morning we woke up for sunrise... and totally missed it. We were misinformed of the time, but it didn't really matter as we just amused ourselves by scampering around the dunes right behind the hotel. The rest of the day was spent lounging by the pool. I cannot recommend enough booking a place with a pool! It was insanely hot (low 40s!) and pretty unbearable to sit in the shade for more than 20 minutes or so.

That evening, we headed out into the desert on camels! It was the perfect evening to do so. It was a bearable temperature once the sun went down and there was no wind! We were on the camels for about an hour before arriving at our camp. We had an awesome meal under the stars and then we all lugged our beds out of the tents so we could sleep outside. This sounded quite romantic but in reality it got quite windy so it was a fitful night of sleep. But the morning! Waking up in the desert was just unreal. The light was so soft and the dunes seemed to go on forever. I can't even describe it. This absolutely stands out as one of the most phenomenal things we've done in our travels.

Eventually we had to bid the dunes adieu. We had some mint tea and then hopped back on the camels. The hotel was awesome and let us keep in our stuff in our room during the camel trek and use it the next morning to shower/clean up. We packed up our car and then headed towards Todra Gorge. Coming up next!

Mark down Fez's medina as one of those places that I'm glad to have visited, but not sure if I'll return to.  On one hand it's colourful, energetic, and exotic. On the other hand it's chaotic, overwhelming, and claustrophobic. We spent a few days wandering (and sleeping) in the medina. I guess I had a bit of a romanticized idea of the busy markets and leather tanneries. The reality was harsh. "Guides" were constantly popping up, trying to lead us to places we didn't even know if we wanted to go to. Likely due to Ramadan, many people seemed on edge. The medina's walls were high and the passageways were narrow. I kept waiting for it to open up into a main square (like in Chefchauoen) but we didn't find one. Also, people (as we found everywhere in Morocco) were very resistant to having their photos taken, hence the lack of portraits in this post.

However, I would still recommend it on anyone's Moroccan itinerary. Fez seems like a key piece of Morocco's puzzle and I'm glad we got to spend a bit of time with it. We stayed at Riad Mikou - a really beautiful spot in the medina owned by twin brothers. They were so kind to us and frequently offered to share meals with us. One of the brothers picked us up from the medina's main entrance on our first day and also helped us catch a bus on our way out. It was so nice to come back dirty and dusty from the medina to their beautiful guesthouse. I also want to give Cafe Clock a little shout-out. It is another oasis in the medina. Their servers are laid back and really open to chatting. The food was delicious and the whole vibe was just awesome. Lastly, they serve camel burgers so you can cross that off your bucket list!

Coming up next: the Sahara desert!

Here are a few more snaps of Chefchaouen. Favourite food & drinks in Morocco (some pictured above): mint tea, chicken tajine, harira soup, and banana shakes for breakfast. So good!

Hello again! I know it's been awhile since I last posted, but I'll just pick up where I left off. After Pamukkale, we flew to Morocco!

Morocco was so incredibly different than anywhere else we've been. Many other places we've been to (especially in South East Asia) are extremely set up for tourism and it's just so darn easy to get around. In Morocco, even though we definitely went to some touristy spots, things were a lot more difficult. There were also a lot of cultural differences to figure out and then on top of all that, we were traveling during Ramadan. I wouldn't recommend doing so if you were able to choose when to go, but it's just what worked out with our holiday time. Some of my favourite travel memories are from this trip, but I also came away with some tough, uneasy travel experiences. However, we learned a lot, got out of our comfort zones, and navigated through some crazy medinas!

When I started researching our trip to Morocco, Chefchaouen jumped out at me right away. And it turned out to be the perfect introduction to Morocco. The medina was much smaller than the ones we later encountered in Fez and Marrakech (which were... overwhelming to say the least!). Also, even though it was Ramadan, most restaurants were still open during the day. It was still a sensory overload, but totally manageable and enjoyable!

In Chefchaouen, we wandered the blue medina for hours, hung out in the main square, visited the kasbah, got some black henna (we later found out that there are some potential health risks involved, but we thankfully didn't have any problems with it!), and hiked up to the lookout to see the sunset over Chefchaouen.

We stayed at Casa Amina. It was a bit tricky to find but overall it was pretty nice and reasonably priced.

*Someone kindly pointed out on instagram that the Arabic was backwards. When Mike copied it, I guess it pasted backwards in photoshop. Strange! I think we fixed the problem, but let me know??

After a few days in Olympos, Krista and I took two buses to meet up with Mike in Pamukkale. Pamukkale is home to stunning calcium carbonate travertines. It was a surreal landscape! We learned that some of the travertines are left empty so that they can be further bleached by the sun. Consequently, a lot of them were empty which we were a bit bummed about (you can see the empty ones in the photo third from the bottom). However, we were still able to find some that were filled with water at sunset. We were treated to just a killer sunset and were running all over the place taking a million photos. We walked back down at dusk and then got some hilarious dondurma. HA!

After Cappadocia, Krista and I temporarily parted ways with Mike. He wanted to spend a few days in Istanbul as he had never been there before. Since we had spent a lot of time in Istanbul a few years ago, Krista and I decided to check out Olympos in the south. We took an overnight bus (which broke down, of course!) and then a mini bus to get to Olympos Orange Pensions.

Olympos is known for its treehouse accommodations, but from what we read, they're a bit over-rated. So we decided to stay in a tiny room with AC which turned out to be a great choice. The pension had a nice big courtyard to hang out in and communal dinners which were included in the accommodation fee. It was so nice to not have to worry about dinner each night! The dinners had lots of different options and were really tasty. The staff members were also really helpful and ended up not charging us for a lot of stuff  (free lunch & snacks!) so I will give them a ringing endorsement.

We hung out by the nearby beach one afternoon but then decided to go on a boat trip the following day. We signed up for one through our pension and it was just what we were looking for - simple, laid back, and lots of opportunities to jump off the boat and swim in that turquoise water.  And oh yeah, an ice cream boat!

One blustery morning in Cappadocia, we got up well before the dawn, bundled up, and got in a hot air balloon. The landscape below us was gorgeous, the lighting was amazing as the sun came up, and the hot air balloons around us seemed so magical. I had been told that we simply could not skip this in Cappadocia. So glad we took that advice.

Hello again! I'm happy to be back share some of our summer travel photos. At the end of June, Mike headed to Israel for a week and I showed my mom around Korea (film photos from Mike's time in Israel to come!). We then met up with our friend Krista in Turkey. Krista and I traveled to Turkey in 2010 (see old posts here!) but were keen to come back to visit some of the spots we had missed the first time. First on the roster was Cappadocia!

I have been wanting to see Cappadocia ever since I saw it on Julia & Yuriy's blog (Gemma also has some great photos). Cappadocia is home to some wild rock formations called fairy chimneys as well as underground churches and cities. We stayed at Shoestring Cave House (as recommended by Gemma) and loved it. The owner was so helpful and we thoroughly enjoyed the pool! Over the course of a few days, we did the Rose Valley hike, the Open Air Museum, and the "green tour" through our hostel (hitting up Derinkuyu Underground City, Ilhara Valley, Selime Monastery and Pigeon Valley). Cappadocia is quite unlike we have ever been before and I highly recommend it.

Coming up next - a hot air balloon over the fairy chimneys!