Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 3 – We saw the lights!

December 24, 2013 4 Comments

“Guys! I think I caught the Northern Lights in my photo” yelled Tracy. Harshad, Elkan and I were making a snowman outside our cabin when we heard those words. We looked up in the dark sky, we saw nothing. I thought Tracy captured one of those many light pollutions from the nearby towns.

You can’t blame me for my skepticism. It has been a long and tough journey for all of us. It takes more than a clear sky to see the Aurora. Sighting the Aurora is like catching the rainbow or the shooting star; one cannot predict their appearance. One needs tons of luck to be at the right place and at the right time to capture it. We have been fruitlessly waiting and watching the dark sky at our mountain cabin for 2 long nights. Aurora forecast from Alaska has been disappointing too. We were told we were in the wrong time window to catch the lights. The staffs at the National Park told us that they haven’t seen the lights for a couple of days too. I told Harshad, we have done all the things we should do (picking the best possible location and the right season); now it’s in the hands of God.

Tracy showed me the photo in her digital camera. There was indeed a very faint green trail of cloud in her photo. It was blurry and it didn’t look like those light reflections from the nearby buildings. I quickly went into the cabin, setup the tripod and aimed my Canon DSLR at the direction where Tracy spotted the green trail.

Just before I fired off my first shot, Tracy ran to me excitedly with her second shot! It was a much clearer shot. It was the Aurora Borealis! And it was coming down from the mountain right in front of our cabin!

“We found it!!!!” I yelled frantically! “We finally found it!” I jumped like a little boy. The excitement was overwhelming. Elkan tailed me and kept shouting “Daddy, daddy, I want you to shoot one for my iPad wallpaper!”

I ran out of the cabin with my gears and set my tripod in the snow. And I fired away a series of long exposure shots to capture the lights. The first few shots came in beautifully! At that very moment, I thanked God and Mother Nature for answering our prayers. The Aurora flashed across the dark sky for almost a good 1 hour! There were a couple of minutes when it was very bright and illuminating. It was simply amazing!

We headed for the mountain, hoping to catch more of the lights. We took a 20-min chair-lift up to the 900m-peak. It was very cold out there in the mountain but the excitement of sighting the Aurora made us forgot about the coldness.

The moon cast a strange planetary-terrain at the top of the mountain. There, away from the town’s light pollution, the stars shined brightly in the clear dark sky. I took a couple of long exposure shots and they were out of this world. It was like hiking on the moon.

I posted a few photos online and they yielded over a hundred likes on Facebook. Many friends asked me about the Aurora Borealis and how to capture them. You still have lots of chances to catch the lights from now till March 2014.

Here is a list of tips for those who want to catch the lights:

1) It is all about location – We have read and researched on many publication. Iceland, Northern Alaska, Northern Norway and Northern Sweden were the best places to catch the Northern Lights. These places are within in the Artic Circle. We chose Abisko because it was the driest spot in the region. We want to be at a place with the least overcast and far away from the city light pollutions. Clouds are bad for Northern Lights sighting, it blocked out the phenomenon during a good Aurora night.

2) It is all about timing – 2013 Oct – 2014 Mar is cited to be the best time window (when the Aurora is in its most intense burst) in its 11-year cycle to sight the Northern Lights. In fact, the Aurora is there all the time. But during this period, the lights are so intense that you can see them clearly with your naked eyes.

3) Scanning the sky – It is difficult for the human eyes to detect them. Most of the time, the Aurora looks like a pale green mist in the sky. Scan the dark sky with your camera. From our experience, the camera sensor detected the Aurora much accurately than our human eyes.

4) Northern Lights Photography – To get a good clear shot, you need a steady tripod, a DSLR for manual bulb-setting, a remote control for shutter-release, extra camera batteries, a headlight (for navigating in the dark and to see the camera buttons) and a decent wide angle lens with an aperture of 4.0 and below.

I shot the Northern Lights using a 16-35mm lens with an aperture of 2.8 (shutter-speed of 15 – 20 seconds). To avoid having too much pixelated noises in the photographs, I selected ISO 200 and lower. As you will be shooting under Bulb setting, it is important to pre-set your lens to manual focus and adjust the lens’ focus on a foreground subject (be it a tree, a house or a tent). It will be very dark and your lens won’t be able to auto-focus on any object out there. If you don’t have a DSLR, you still can capture the Northern Lights with the point and shoot camera but those shots may be very faint and noisy – due to the camera’s auto-high ISO settings. And most importantly: REMOVE ALL LENS FILTERS FROM THE LENS AS THE GREEN LIGHTS WILL REVEAL FILTER RING-MARKS ON THE PHOTO. Many of my shots were spoilt by the filter marks. By the time I realised, it was too late. (For more tips, go to: http://www.alaskaphotographics.com/blog/how-to-photograph-the-northern-lights-with-a-digital-camera/)

Always include a foreground subject in the shot so it helps to illustrate the scale and enhance the perspective of the Aurora.

5) Dress Warmly – During the shoot, you may find yourself out in the open. The Aurora can last over an hour so you must be properly dressed to keep warm. Come with a good gloves, snow jacket /pants and a pair of snow boots

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Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 2 – Abisko

December 24, 2013 5 Comments

We took an 18-hour train from Stockholm to Abisko (1,329km). It sounded like a long ride but time flew surprisingly fast on the train. We ate, slept and even took a hot shower in the train. The Swedish train is very well-heated, clean and comfortable. (We were walking around the train in our summer tees and pants!) Despite its small and narrow sleeping compartments, the train offers clean bed sheets, pillows, drinking water and shower towels for the travelers. I am amazed by the quality of the public shower room. It was so clean, warm and spacious. Imagine having a nice hot shower inside a moving train heading cold icy Artic Circle!

On our way to Abisko, we saw the longest and most surreal dawn/dusk outside our windows. The rising sun illuminated the sky pinkish peach and set in deep twilight blue. There wasn’t any afternoon sun. Just dawn and dusk. It was magical.

There were 2 Abisko train stations and we alighted at the wrong one. We didn’t realize that until we called our hostel. Harshad and I were walking around the station to search for our cabin. It was freezing cold and there was no taxi or bus to bring us to our hostel. We were given 2 options by the hostel: Walk 2km in the freezing thick snow or wait another 3 hours for the next train. After assessing our current situation, we decided to wait for the next ride.

One thing I have learned from this trip – Never travel with trolleys to snow country. Dragging those wheel-trolleys across thick snowy path can be a teething back-breaking and frustrating experience. Never underestimate even the shortest distance on the snow. The distance between the train station to our cabin was only 500m. By the time I arrived at our cabin, I was panting and had exhausted half of the day’s energy.

We had a very big, double-storey mountain cabin by the Abisko National Park with unblocked view, facing the Baltic Sea and the mountains. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy on our first night and we couldn’t see any star. We unpacked our stuffs and Felicia cooked us a very sumptuous dinner (using our own electric hot pots and food we bought earlier at Stockholm).

The next morning, we decided to make full use of the short daylight to explore the National Park. The snow here was powdery soft and thick! While hiking along the snowy canyons at the bottom of the mountain, we found ourselves stuck in the thick snow. At one spot, the snow was a meter deep and I was struggling to get my feet out. It was comical to see us moving like this. And certainly, we couldn’t wander far. Walking in such condition drained our energy faster than we thought.

The frozen river and waterfall were spectacular. On our way around the canyons, we saw a group of people climbing the frozen waterfall. I wanted to try that but it was fully booked out.

We saw a lot of animal footprints on the snow. We couldn’t make up what were those. It could be the track of some of the wild animals that live in the National Park; the reindeers, dogs, wolves or brown bears.

Later in the evening, we took a 12km dogsled ride across the National Park. It was another amazing “first-in-life” experience! We got to harness the dogs to the sled! It was a funny sight to see how Harshad and Tracy struggled to get the dogs to its position. (Apparently, the dogs only understand Swedish and that’s why they couldn’t understand what Tracy and Harshad were saying!)

During park mode, the dogs were extremely noisy (like a sport car engine). Once the sled took off, these dogs went silent and ran amazingly strong and fast! We were travelling along the narrow and winding forest trails at a pretty decent speed of 25km/hour. Our driver was yelling the “go, stop, left, right” commands in Swedish to the lead dogs. The entire dog-sledding trip took 2 hours with a 20min coffee/campfire break in a tent. This was one exhilarating ride! Simply unforgettable!

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Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 1 – Stockholm

December 21, 2013 Leave a comment

The idea of this trip was conceived 3 years ago when all of us dreamt of seeing the northern lights. And here we are 3 years later, stranded at an isolated train station in Abisko. We actually alighted at the wrong train station and next train will only come in another 2 hours. Not bad for me, I found myself a nice cozy warm corner to type this blog. This trip is full of surprises starting from the minute when I booked the wrong plane tickets for Harshad. Every turn has been an enriching “first-in-life” experience like no others.

This is our longest and biggest trip ever, in terms of money, time and distant. In a span of 15 days, we will travel over 27,210km, covering 5 different cities (Stockholm, Abisko, Kiruna, London and Edinburgh).

I have spent a bomb gearing up for this trip. I bought a new Canon 16-35mm wide angle 2.8ft lens, 6 new Canon batteries and 1 battery grip, 1 carbon fiber Gitzo superlight tripod, 1 weatherproof Sony Action Cam, 1 weatherproof LED lantern for the night walk, 3 A3-sized waterproof/anti-condensation zip-lock bags, 1 weatherproof Bushnell binocular, 1 weatherproof Vanguard camera trolley, 2 portable electric pots, 4 sleeping bags for the family and a couple of snacks to last us out in the snow.

By the time we finished packing, we have a total of 14 luggage bags! Dragging 14 pieces of luggage bags was no small feat (even though it sounded quite manageable with 3-4 luggage bags per person). It was a nightmare for all of us to drag these heavy bags up the cab, on the train and in/out of hotels. No regret as all these equipment comes handy for us.

Our first stop is the capital city of Sweden, Stockholm – Home to some of the world’s most famous and notable museums like the Nobel and the Abba, Stockholm city is spread across 14 islands with many scenic parks, bridges, design galleries and beautiful bright buildings. It reminds me of Venice except Stockholm is much bigger and more artistic and “designer-centric”.

I love the streets and interior furnishings of Stockholm. Clean, earthly, natural and simple. I love the Swedish; they are very friendly, helpful and good-looking. My cousin Yei was right about the Scandinavian beauties, the girls here are extraordinary attractive. Even Felicia and Tracy agreed on this point.

We parked ourselves at a very cozy 466-year-old hotel (Hotel Anno 1647) overlooking Stockholm City Hall. I got a big nice room to house all 5 of us. The hotel’s location is superb! The hotel was just 15-min walking distance to most of Stockholm’s city attractions. The shops and subway station were less than 100m away.

We spent 2 days exploring the city, exploring museums and shopping lanes. Like most European cities, the gems are actually hidden within the narrow alleys. There are lots of interesting shops and window displays. This is what I love about strolling and getting lost in European cities – every turn a new surprise.

Here are our top 5 highlights at Stockholm:

NUMBER 1 – THE VASA MUSEUM
This is my favorite museum. The Vasa shared many similarities with the ill-fated Titanic. It was the largest warship built at that time and it sank during its maiden voyage. For over 300 years, it sat at the bottom of the ocean until it was rediscovered and salvaged in 1961. Tons of efforts were made to put all these together. Today, the original 69m-long vessel is being exhibited at the Vasa Museum and it is one of the most popular attractions of Stockholm.

NUMBER 2 – THE NOBEL MUSEUM
Put together by the Nobel Library and the Swedish Academy, the Nobel Museum celebrated the greats works of its past winners. It is very small museum but it showcases many great works/words of wisdom by legendary people from the past and present eras.

NUMBER 3 – THE ROYAL PALACE
This is the official residence of the Royal Family of Sweden. With over 600 rooms, it is the world’s biggest royal residential palace. We visited its Treasury, the Hall of State where we saw the Silver Throne, the underground Tre Kronor Museum and the Guest Apartments. It is grand but not one of the most glamorous palaces I have been. Some of these rooms are old and plain. Maybe it is time for a small little renovation. Photography is a no no in many areas. Just be careful with your camera. No touching on the glass showcases too. Elkan was caught and warned by its security.

NUMBER 4 – OUTDOOR CITY ICE SKATING
Tracy, Elkan and I had our rounds of fun at the city’s ice skating rink. It is one of those impromptu moments when we just put everything down and had fun! For 30sek, we rented a pair of ice-skating shoes for 1 hour. This is another “first-in-life” experience for all of us – our first ever outdoor ice-skating!

NUMBER 5 – SIGHTSEEING ROYAL CRUISE
We boarded a 50-min sightseeing cruise where the boat took us along the key water channel of Stockholm. Along the riverbank, we saw many iconic houses for the rich and famous (holiday homes for Abba, the royal families and the local tycoons). With only 850,000 people staying in Stockholm, it is a very quiet, beautiful, peaceful, safe and comfortable city to live in.

Next stop – Our long 15-hour ride from Stockholm to the northern tip of Sweden, Abisko! And hopefully, we will be able to catch the magical Aurora Borealis (Named by the French scientist in 1621, Aurora is the name of the Roman Goddess of Dawn and Borealis is the Latin God of the Northern Wind! We certainly need tons of divine’s blessings in this. We can have the best planning but without Mother Nature’s luck, we might just end up here fruitlessly waiting in vain. Crossing my fingers now!)

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World’s most beautiful swimming lagoon

December 3, 2013 Leave a comment

(Photo Taken – A man-made swimming lagoon out in the sea at Maldives)

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Something from the Archive – Our First White Christmas 2008

December 3, 2013 Leave a comment

The recent Maldives video editing gave me so much joy that it motivated me to dig out all the past video files from my photo/video archive. This is one trip that should earn a special spot in my blog. That place was YongPyong, Korea – it was there where we celebrated our first white Christmas. And this was the trip that set off our tradition of Christmas traveling since.

Took me a couple of days to locate the messy archive and went through more than 460 video files. These footages are priceless. It captured a very chatty and playful young Elkan and a chubbier Tracy. Of course, Felicia and I looked so much younger (and fitter) then. Last night while editing the video, the family was having a great time watching these “almost-forgotten” fun images. It was a good experience to revisit the past – especially the beautiful and significant ones.

During the edit, I didn’t show much of Korea or the ski resort we went. I put in a lot of footages of young cute Elkan and all the funny things we did. It is less of a travel video but a very precious family Kodak moment. Bet the grannies will enjoy this post.

Filed under Family, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Back from Paradise – Maldives (HD Video)

December 1, 2013 Leave a comment

Filed under Family, Travel

The Most Romantic Paradise of Asia – Maldives

November 29, 2013 17 Comments

There is never a more perfect 20th Anniversary gift for Felicia! Thanks to my lucky star, I flew my loved ones to one of the world’s most beautiful paradises – Maldives!

It was supposed to be a sweet surprise for Felicia but my cousin unintentionally leaked out the big secret during a family reunion dinner 4 days before the trip. It drew big smile on Felicia’s face when the secret was out. There were mixed reactions from Elkan and my daddy. Elkan was excited about the ocean bungalow and swimming with the fishes. My daddy wasn’t too keen about the destination as he was unfamiliar with Maldives and questioned why do we need to fly half the world just for a simple beach holiday. He frowned when I told him that we may not be able to buy beer as Male is a strict Islamic city. I loved his expression at that moment. I was looking forward to see his amazement when we touched down at Maldives.

Thanks to Cathay Pacific, there is now a direct flight connecting Hong Kong to Maldives. Our flight took 7 hours and we arrived at 9pm. Maldives was 3 hours behind Hong Kong. As it was nightfall, I parked all of us at a nearby budget airport hotel. Flight tickets to Maldives were relatively affordable, it was the accommodation, food and cross-ocean transport cost that caused a big dent in my travel budget. VAT in Maldives is a high 18%. I paid about HKD6,000-HKD8,000/room per night for lodging and HKD900/pax for speedboat transfer. Is it worth the money? I will give a big YES – provided you are there at the right season, on the right island with the right company! The best time to visit Maldives would be during its driest season which is between late December to early April. Avoid June to Sept as you don’t want the wet weather to spoil your expensive dream trip. There are over 1,000 islands across Maldives, therefore it is of paramount in your selection to choose the right island. Every island promises a different experience, ignore the big hotel brand names and choose wisely.

Maldives deserves its reputation as the Paradise of Asia. Friends who have been to Maldives used to tell me that you don’t need a fancy top-end camera to capture stunning photographs. They are right. The sun, white powdered beach, blue sky and turquoise water of Maldives are so unreal. There is no place for Instagram filters or Photoshop. Its colours are so vivid and it is like being teleported into the movie world of Life of Pi. Seamless horizon of the blue sky and smooth calm water, it brings a new level of zen in you.

My dad who was skeptical and complained about the unnecessary extravagant travel cost was speechless when he saw Paradise the next morning. While waiting for our speedboat transfer to our first island, dad was busily snapping photographs of the jetty and its turquoise clear water. He was amazed how clear the water was at the jetty. The thought of no beer didn’t exist in his mind anymore. That smile on his face was priceless!

In total, we spent 3 nights at Maldives. Picking the right island was a challenge for me. It was more difficult than my last Europe trip planning. Every island is so beautiful. In the end, I picked 2 different islands located at the nearby North Male Atoll region.

Our first stop was at Angsana Ihuru. It was part of the Banyan Tree resorts and I will highly recommend this place to all my friends. I booked 2 private beach jetpool villas with our personal private beach front. The sea view was truly beautiful and breathtaking. Super white powdered beach, shallow crystal clear water and spectacular house reefs. Our resort guide was a young Malaysian lady. I told her she had the best job in the world! Isn’t it marvellous to work on this island?

Everything was so calm and peaceful in Maldives. It was the perfect spot for a lazy afternoon siesta. Dad was floating on the shallow water and Elkan was snorkelling, chasing after the fishes. Felicia was relaxing on the swing. I was walking around the island, capturing the beautiful sights.

Angsana Ihuru houses one of the best house reefs in Maldives. Located just 30m away from our beach villa, we immersed ourselves in a rich, vivid colourful world of coral reefs. During our snorkelling, we spotted lots of fishes, sharks and sea turtles. There was no need to scuba-dive to see all these magnificent creatures. They were just right outside our doorstep!

Later in the evening, we took a ferry across to Banyan Tree island where we saw many wild eagle rays by the beach. Every day without fail at around 5pm, these eagle rays come by the beach for a free treat. The staff at Banyan Tree drew them close with fresh cuttlefish and gave us a short induction about these gentle creatures.

The next morning, dad woke us up at 5:30am to watch sunrise. We took many beautiful photographs by the beach and at the jetty. By noon, we checked out of Angsana Ihuru and headed out for our second island resort – Sheraton Full Moon Maldives.

Sheraton Full Moon Maldives offered us a different experience. I booked 2 water bungalows on stilts, overlooking 200m of 1m-shallow-deep crystal clear water. One of the biggest draw to this resort was its close proximity to the water. You can simply jump into the ocean from the resort. Water was very shallow at only 1m deep and it was safe to swim underneath the bungalows. However, there wasn’t any corals around the bungalows. The seafloor was covered with dead white broken corals. Nevertheless, there were a lot of stingrays, eagle rays and reef sharks taking shelter underneath our bungalows. Just make sure you don’t accidentally step onto one of the dreadful stingrays.

4 days 3 nights was just perfect for all of us. By the 4th day, I was resting by the deck, watching the sharks and eagle rays with lesser excitement. Time passed by slowly. I was like living in another different world, on a different pace and leading a very different life. It wasn’t boring at all. Doing lots of self-reflection and cherishing my loved ones beside me. No matter how much it cost, it’s worth it. This is no doubt the best and most memorable travel gift I gave to my wife, my dad and my son ever. Counting down to our next stop: The aurora borealis.

Filed under Cool Stuffs, Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Finally, a good-looking retro camera for old man like me – The New FujiFilm Instax Mini 90

October 10, 2013 Leave a comment

For years, I didn’t have the courage to bring out my kawaii-looking FujiFilm Instax Mini. Those things weren’t designed for men. I was worried what onlookers will think of me – a big sized chubby old man snapping away with a small girly instant camera.

Finally, FujiFilm answered my prayers. Last week, FujiFilm launched the new Instax Mini 90 in all its vintage glory. When I saw this new design at the Hong Kong Airport duty free shop, I bought it “instaxly” within seconds! This was one of the fastest and most impulse shopping decisions I have made.  I bet this is going to be a sell out – for both women and men! Now, men like me who enjoy instant photography can proudly swing this over our necks and parade this classic-looking camera.

This is more than just an outer-changeover. The new Instax Mini 90 comes with improved features such as auto ambience detection that control flash brightness, a macro mode, and double-exposure shooting, and bulb mode for up to 10 second exposures. Perfect for my next Europe tour this Christmas!

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Teleported to Magical Dragon’s Treasure (Macau City of Dreams)

October 7, 2013 2 Comments

With more than 6 hours to spare before our show, Taboo, I decided to visit the Panda Park in Macau. Tracy and I decided to take the local bus as it was difficult to get a cab during the Chinese Golden Week. Unfortunately, that was the wrongest decision we made that day. We missed our bus stop and alighted at some remote location of Macau. Unable to get a cab, we ended up walking 2km back to City of Dreams.

Since we had no fate with the pandas, we decided to catch the award-winning 360° “Dragon’s Treasure” show at City of Dreams Bubble Theatre. We paid MOP$50 each (Free ticket for every MOP$200 spent at City of Dreams). We entered one of the world’s largest projection dome theatres (measuring 27m tall, 40m wide) and it was free standing format so audience can walk freely to watch the 360° projection show.


It was a very entertaining and unexceptional 3D projection show! Fantastic audio and visual effects! Throughout the 18-min show, the audience were teleported to different magical worlds of dragons. Worth every cent and expect 100% multi-sensory experience! A must visit for all new visitors to Macau.

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Spirited Away at the City of Sadness – Jiufen, Taipei

October 2, 2013 4 Comments

I cannot remember when was the last time I visited Taipei. Or what brought me there. It is good that I keep a blog. Within seconds, I got my answer. My last Taipei trip was almost 3 years ago – with Hovman! (It was the day Mrs Lee Kuan Yew passed away). Instead of switching screen to continue writing this new post, I spent 1 hour browsing the old blogs of 2010. Time flew so quickly and it was only when I read the old blogs, I realised so many major life episodes happened since my last Taipei visit.

There have been many small changes around in Taipei. The airport had completed its new facelift less than 2 years ago. I thought I arrived at a different new terminal. New Taipei taxis are equipped with multiple innovative external cameras that alert drivers of potential “blind spots dangers”. Newer and bigger condominiums sprouted along the streets. The city seems greener and cleaner without the massive road construction blockage of 2010.

3 years seem like a long time. I couldn’t remember some of my favorite dining haunts. By sheer luck, I managed to find my way back to one of the first fancy restaurants I visited back in 2007 – The Herbs Villa. The night markets (通化街夜市 & 士林夜市) and Ximending (西門町) remain the same. Most of the major malls (Sogo, Eslite, Bookstore, Taipei 101) stay unchanged too. With only 2 short days, I decided to visit a couple of places that I have never visited.

First stop, I made my way to the top of Taipei 101. I wanted to experience the “Ferrari” of all elevators (world’s fastest elevator at Taipei 101) and to capture the sunset view of Taipei city. I arrived at the tower 30 minutes before dusk. Unfortunately, my journey up to the top deck was delayed by a long queue of Chinese tourists! It only took the world’s fastest elevator 37 seconds 382m up to the 89th storey but it took me 45 minutes to clear the 50m queue. In the end, I didn’t get my sunset and the rain clouds blocked most of the good views. What a pity.

The next day, I booked a “Spirited Away” tour to visit a northern coastal town of Taiwan – Jiufen (九份). I have no luck with the weather. Despite sunny blue sky weather in Taipei, it was stormy wet at Jiufen. I had lots of expectation of this place. It was an old gold town littered with rich Japanese and Taiwanese history. It was said that the enchanted town in animation “Spirited Away” was inspired by the meandering Japanese and Chinese-styled buildings of Jiufen.  It did strike a close resemblance of the animation except the lanes were cluttered with bargain-hunting tourists. I wished I have more time to explore this place at dusk when there will be much lesser crowd. This place was full of characters with lots interesting shops and different local delicacies to try. Jiufen was the venue where the award-winning (Venice Golden Lion Winner) film “A City of Sadness” (悲情城市) was shot. Given the history and setting of this place, on second thought, the rain and mist set a very nice ambience for my first visit to this “city of sadness”. (Thanks Brandon for reminding me that!)

Strange but true – this was my 8th trip to Taipei but the first time I explored the “rustic sites” outside city (excluding my past trips to Taichung, Kaohsiung and Kenting). I will be making more frequent trips back to Taipei in 2014 (since it is only an hour away from Hong Kong) to explore the northern and western towns of Taiwan. Accommodation and food are fantastic and value-for-money. Best of all, Taiwanese are extremely friendly, chatty, honest and warm.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong, Travel

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