CNY in Taiwan!

I will be heading back to Taiwan for CNY.
I think I shall explore the east side of the island and Kenting further this time!

Bruges, Belfrys and Belgian Boys!

I arrived in Bruges to Snuffel Hostel. Hands down, the most personable hostel on my trip. I was greeted by a very cute Belgian boy (who was also the most attractive hostel staff member on the whole trip...) The pros to the Snuffel hostel were location to the town, personality and the fun atmosphere. Lots of fun people, and lots of locals at happy hour in the bar. A nice fun place. But the negatives were... interesting. One, they have a very tall spiral staircase which could be a bit dangerous for travellers with suitcases on wheels instead of backpacks. Also, to get to the showers (which were co-ed, eep!) you had to walk outside in the SNOW across the backyard to a seperate building. I dreaded the shower I took here because you also had to do the walk of shame through the bar with your towel and shower caddy saying hi to all the non-lame people who were not about to freeze their asses off. Snuffel Hostel in Bruges, 5 out of 5 for personality and fun, 3 out of 5 for facilities. Boo...

Snuffel Hostel, note the cute Belgian!

I met two very nice girls at this hostel. One was Angel from Shanghai! The same Angel from Brussels. Angel is a very interesting girl. She studies in Milan, wears high heels in the snow, has very cute clothes to backpack in, and drink her beer dilluted with hot water. A character for sure, so glad I met her! I have never met a more stylish backpacker than Angel.

Brussels is more than a sprout!

After doing an emergency crash in Paris. I ran to the train station as soon as I could to see if I could go to Brussels that morning and cancel my Eurostar ticket and head off to Belgium a day early! I got on a train that was 2 hours late. (BRR...) Sub freezing train station, I should have stayed in the hotel! I left finally and went off to Lille, Flanders. (Home of Don Lillie's people.) It was a very pretty place but I was only there for about an hour so only had time for a short stroll around before I had to go back on my train.

I got to Brussels and hopped on the train to get to where my hostel was. Geez, was Brussels ICY! For some reason Paris wasn't so slippery. Then I proceeded to get lost... AGAIN. Poor me! I think I spent a majority of this trip lost and wandering. 1 hour later wandering in the snow I found the Hostel Van Gogh located in a dark alley of Brussels, pretty easy to find during the day time but at night time not so easy... The sheets were clean, the owners were (meh), and it was really well heated. I went off to find dinner and the only place close was a turkish resteraunt where I ordered something really yummy by pointing and smiling. (I still have no idea what it was, but it tasted great!)

Snt. Catherine's Cathedral, with shitty construction all over it's lawn!

Trains, Planes and Wedding Bells!

I went to Europe for my christmas vacation. My friend Gaelle was getting married in Strasbourg at a castle, and who's going to turn that down? So, I scrimped and saved- found a cheap ass ticket on Cathay Pacific and flew off to Paris for the wedding. I had made the decision once I got the invitation to backpack Europe afterward- why not? I made a big itinerery, booked my hostels and set off! Little did I know I was going off into the WORST blizzard in European History for my trip... This for the poor girl who has never been in snow! I was in for a wild ride.

This entire vacation felt like it was ruled by the train systems in Europe, and the snow...

View from a Ding Ding

Ding Ding at Wanchai

The Ding Ding is the oldest double decker trolley system in the world. It is a trolley system that runs from one end of HK island (Kennedy Town) to other (Up past Taikoo). It was built in 1904 as HK's first form of public transit and it has been running ever since! For 2HK (Amazing price!) you can go from one end to the other in what would normally cost you 6HK on the bus or 5-6HK on the MTR. The Ding Ding was also featured in a recent episode of the Amazing Race in a challenge where they had to search for signage.

In honor of that episode I have taken a long ding ding ride and taken shots of HK on my journey.

The Importance of Being Earnest

Trecking through Taiwan

My first backpacking experience happened last chinese year. A pile of my girlfriends and I decided to backpack through Taiwan from top to bottom over four days. We started Taiwan at Taipei with a night in The Eight Elephant Hostel. This is THE BEST hostel to stay at in Taipei. It is quirky, it feels like home and the people are lovely. It is conveniently located by the night market in Taipei where we had yummy food and lindsey bought a sweater because she was FREEZING! It was surprisingly cold in Taiwan for that chinese new year and it rained the whole bloody weekend. I'm surprised Lindsey didn't turn blue at somepoint during the trip.

This is the trip where I met, Juno! Juno has since become my Korean sister. I talk to her about everything. I have gone to visit her in Korea and she has come to visit me in HK. I am eternally grateful to Taiwan for giving me Juno.

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