Pieces of the WORLD: Taiwan (Wave of Wonder)

Another year another opportunity in exploring pieces of the World. This year we went to Taiwan. To be honest it's not really on my list. Somehow, I thought there's nothing much to see or explore in Taiwan. 

But I was proven wrong, it did surprise me for a small country there's a lot to see and there's a lot to do. It was a surprise for me. I went there with zero expectation, and I went home with a desire to actually work there! I didn't know that Taiwan would really capture my heart. I enjoyed the places that we went to. And it was such a delight to see all the dogs out in the public. Taiwan surely is a pet friendly country. 

The only thing that I somehow don't like is the food. To be honest, their food is not really tasty, but its more on the healthy side, I guess. But the food in Kenting was really good. We visited Taipei, Tamsui, Wulai, Yheliu Geo Park, Beitou Cape, Jiufen, a quick stop in Chaiyi for the Meteor Garden experience, then our last days we stayed in Kenting. I would say Kenting is the best place in Taiwan. Maybe I'm biased because I'm a beach person and anything that has a beach it would definitely be my favorite.

The Taiwanese people in general are helpful and nice; they may sound angry when they speak sometimes but I feel like it's their natural tone. They tend to keep to themselves, but we encounter some friendly locals. I also love how we visited a lot of nature areas, to see a "postcard" scenic views. 

It truly was a Wave of Wonder for our Taiwan trip. 

TAIWAN (Random pictures)

                                                                                                                                      

  

   

                                                    

                                                                                

Pieces of the World: JAPAN

Japan is the one country that people need to visit. And it's been 5 years since my cousin wanted us to visit her in Japan. So despite the odds we were able to visit Japan and experience it firsthand. I didn't expect that we would be able to pull it off with a little amount of preparation and money! As I've mentioned before in the previous posts, we are poor travelers and what we usually do is "suicide" travel, like we just travel with no savings and most of our travels are impromptu. 

Japan is a wonderful country, we went to the usual tourist spots to experience the main cities and attractions. We stayed for 12 days and went to 11 cities, it was hectic and bone tiring but it was all worth it. Being in Japan, especially in Tokyo it's like being in a real-life anime world. The people, the places, and the scenes I saw reflect what I usually watch in a slice-of-life kind of anime. The food was superb! all of the food that we ate is on another level of tasty. Everything in Japan is cool, on another level, and anime-like. We also visited my cousin's place which is outside Tokyo and we stayed there for 2 days. I would love to go back and explore the quieter side of Japan. 

Pieces of the WORLD (Koh Mak and Koh Kood again)

Koh Mak 

There is no doubt that Koh Mak is still the best island for me and Bangbao Beach in Koh Kood is still the best beach for me. I am glad to get a chance to go back to these beautiful islands. 

This time I went to my fave islands with some friends and my sister and of course Taylor. 

We stayed in Koh Mak for 3 days, and we had the best days at Coco Cape! 2 years ago there's no entrance fee, but now they have a 200 Bhat (per person) entrance fee with free drinks (any drinks). When we came back for the second time cuz my friends loved the place we paid 100 Bhat (per person) with free soft drinks. We stayed there the whole day. 

We stayed at Miss You Beach resort which is beside the pier, I thought it's a bad idea, but the place is nice. The beach is nice too just bring your insect repellent for the sand flies and all insects (lol). Well, the thing is I was the only one who got many bites out of us, I know I am prone to insect bites but didn't expect to have a lot. It kind of freaks me out, but I know it's normal, so life goes on. 

I thought we explored the island when we were there, but I was proven wrong because we still found some hidden spots. Maybe because my travel agent of a sister was with us (lol). She always wants to visit places whenever we go traveling, unlike me and Taylor we are more than happy to stay in our accommodation and swim all day long. But with my sister, she wants to explore more places whenever we travel. I think it's a good thing, now we get to discover more places that are off the beaten path like the Lost kingdom of Somchai's affection. WE get to have sunrise and sunset viewing, and it's always magical to witness both. We also really enjoy the food, all the food we had in Koh Mak was all tasty. Finally, we get to eat fresh seafood. A funny thing happened to us, so on our way to Banana Sunset Bar our golf cart broke down in front of the good man's house. He called the owner to inform them of what happened. Luckily the owner passed by from somewhere and the good man explained what happened. So they replaced our golf cart with a cute pink one (lol) and gave our thanks to the good man and the owner and off we go to our destination. Now, on our way back my sister was like let's ask the good man about his place (eatery) so we can have our breakfast at his place. So we went back to the good man's place and our golf cart broke down again (lol) it won't start. His place is closed, so we thought he's not there when we're about to leave the cart won't start. And so we called for him, and he was so kind enough to call the owner of the cart again. And when it was fixed they all drove behind us, even the good man drove behind us, I think they just want to make sure will make it home without another glitch (lol). That was so kind of them. The next day we went back to Coco Cape and enjoyed our last day. We swam to our heart's content. 

The lost Kingdom of Somchai's Affection 

Coco Cape

Around Koh Mak

Koh Kood

My third time in Koh Kood and the third time staying in Siam Beach Resort nothing beats the crystal clear water on Bangbao Beach. This time we were joined by new sets of friends. While the other two went home. We had a nice time until our second day when we had an accident. It was a rainy morning, we didn't really plan how to spend our day that day, but we were planning to do waterfalls hopping and the fisherman's village but since it was raining all morning we kind of just enjoyed swimming. Then suddenly they decided to go out and go to fisherman's village as it stopped raining, we kind of debated on renting the motorcycles or renting a pickup because I am not a confident driver but in the end, we got the motorcycles and the staffs were like against it cuz for one motorcycle there'll be 3 people riding,

but they just said okay. So Taylor, my sister, and  Lori in one motorcycle, then me and MJ (she's the driver). We went on, and I think after 20 minutes of driving the accident happened. MJ was driving slow and Taylor went on ahead of us. It was a curve road and what welcomed us was them on the road with blood. I kid you not that scene still haunted me, it was panic and chaos for all of us. I was a mess and it was just traumatic. We are thankful to that auntie who helped us, called the hospital, and stayed with us. I was trembling the whole ordeal while checking on my sister and my friends. I was closed to breaking down myself, seeing my sister there on the road, my friend Lori bleeding in the head, Taylor full of wounds. Yoh!!!!! it's not that easy. But we all stayed strong and waited for the ambulance. Thankfully, it was all minor injuries. PRAISE GOD!  And so after that, we went back to the resort and rested. I am so grateful to the staff of Siam Beach Resort for their assistance all throughout. We went back to the hospital the next day for check-up and cleaning of the wounds. And I think because we as Filipinos are resilient, and we have the ability to still be happy and laugh even in adversity, we still get to enjoy our stay in Koh Kood. We still went to Fisherman's Village in a pickup and had a sumptuous lunch with fresh seafood. Even the staff from the resort were surprised that we still want to go (lol). And after that, I still get to enjoy swimming, but poor Taylor can't even go near the water. Koh Kood definitely gave a hell of a remembrance. But I would still love to go back!

                     

Skye

"FROM EVERY WOUND THERE IS A SCAR, AND EVERY SCAR TELLS A STORY. A STORY THAT SAYS 'I SURVIVED' "