I have only been in Hong Kong 4 weeks and I have already travelled to another part of Asia and experienced my first typhoon. I am very lucky to already be feeling settled and at home in Hong Kong! I am starting to get into a set routine and the work has already started to pile on but this hasn’t stopped me from travelling and doing as much as I can.
Last week I ventured off to Taiwan for five days. After experiencing one of the best short haul flights – we were greeted with blankets, pillows, food and all the latest movies on the plane. All this came as quite a shock as our flight was just under an hour and half and if you compare it to easy jet then it seemed like we were flying first class. Once we landed in Taiwan we heard the news that a typhoon was to be heading our way, slightly panicked but excited we continued with our travels not thinking much of this ‘super typhoon’ as it would later become to be named.
Taiwan has a lot to offer from the amazing street food, to the massive night markets and the many temples. The food in Taiwan was really nice, unfortunately on some occasions I didn’t pick the best meals they had to offer but I can now tick fish balls from my list. We were also lucky enough to see the Longshan temple, Taipei 101, the CKS museum and the Shillin night market. One of the best places we visited, and somewhere I would recommend to anyone who goes to Taiwan is Wu Lai. Wu Lai is a beautiful town outside Taipei. Apart from the beautiful landscape, I got the chance to experience my first hot spring and to swim down the river with all the locals cheering me on. One thing I noticed about Taiwan is how friendly and welcome everyone is! On our final night in Taiwan the family who ran the hostel we stayed in were kind enough to give us presents, thanking us for staying with them!
After this incredible day in Wu Lai we came back to our hostels to hear news of this super typhoon and how it was set to hit us that night or the next day. It was also said to make course towards Hong Kong and was expected to be the worst storm HK had seen in 30 years. Panic started to spread, how would we get home? Was everyone in HK going to be ok? However, the super typhoon wasn’t that super and passed through Taiwan and Hong Kong with a lot of rain and wind. Apart from delayed flights and the occasional down pour of rain you wouldn’t have guessed it was a super typhoon. All in all I can say that my first adventure out of Hong Kong was a success and one of the highlights has to be the stamp I got on my passport as we passed through immigration! One of the goals I aim to achieve is to see how many stamps I can get in my passport during my year abroad and I think I am off to a good start!
Taiwan has made me realise how settled I am in Hong Kong and how I am starting to feel like more of a local here. Doing this trip to Taiwan has made me so excited for all my other travels during the year. Already we have potential trip to Singapore next weekend. I cant believe I have only been here a month, yet I feel like I have been here for 6 months and cannot wait to see what its next in store for me!
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