Algarve

What impressed me was the niceness of the local people. Even though we do not have a common language between us, through gesturing they managed to warn us not to park at the police parking space in case we get fined, and kayak instructors leaving us details and is keen for us to have a good time. Ofcourse some cynics would say that's just business, but I vote for the fundamental good nature of mankind.

Believe it or not, I'm beginning to realise travelling abroad at 3am on a Friday morning and coming back at 3am on the Monday morning ready for work the same day isn't really a good idea! Anyhow, no more crazy holiday travelling after this one, so might as well embrace what is to come.

Car's driving was excellent, and we certainly would have had a rough time trying to get from city to city without him. We flew into Faro, and with the interesting guidance from the GPS (SHARP left...turn left, and turn left, and turn left - isn't that just going in a circle?!) we arrived at Igrejade Sao Laurenco, Almancil. A brilliantly tiled church depicting the life of Saint Lawrence. After visiting the dinky church we head to Loule market, where we bought local peri peri sauce, honey and dried star shaped figs embedded with almonds. In the afternoon we visited Milreu Roman site in Estoi, where it is free to stamp on the tiles and hug the pillars. This site supposedly hosts one of the earliest Christian churches in the world, talk about lack of regard for conservation! The Rococo palace converted hotel at the top of the hill is definitely retreat destination, a point to note for revisit.

The second day we drove 70km west to Lagos, where the sea and cliffside sculped magnificent landscapes for photo opportunitites. Though the Baroque Igreja de Santo Antonio was fantastically embellished, the sun, sand and beach of Ponta da Piedad and Praia Dona Ana quickly stole our attention. We lazed by the beach before heading out to Sagres land's end, where we saw multiple sea carved coves.

Third day was jam packed! With a morning headed to Monique valley and the peak of Foia, the highest point in the Serra de Monique. I think rising at 8am on a Sunday morning was too early even for the locals; the only living things we encountered, aside from from the densely wooded canvas of eucalyptus, pine and cork treets, were one vendor selling potted honey at the back of this delapidated van, and one astrayed golden retriever on the cobbled street. We rushed back to Lagos and began our 3 hour kayaking session, seeing the cliff face from a different pespective. This had justified our peri peir banquet that afternoon, where our starved stomach inevitabily caused us to order way more food than we could possibly consume. With one peri peri chicken each in our stomach, we had the kilojules required to complete the rest of our itinery: Algar Seco rock formation at Carvoeiro, Sand festival at Pera, and finally arriving at Albufeira: seemingly the only town with in Algarve with an active nightlife. Unfortunately we were exhausted and didn't head out into town again...boooo

Last day! Woke up at leisure around 10am =p Went to a pretty little village Alte, with its cobbled streets, colourful window frames and cheery lemon treets planted at their front yard the village invvoked an unhurried air which was quite disarming. A few magnums later we headed out to find Sao Lorenco NATURE trail. It took us a good hour, following the convoluted instructions from the GPS, only to find ourselves driving through fields and fields of well groomed grass in the vacinity of golf resorts. Apparently some smart dude thought it a wonderful idea to integrate the nature reserve with nearby golf resort, and as one looked on the natural habitat of the wet mashland, you will be able to spot two giant forking trucks digging up the soil at the background. This has to be morally and ethically incorrect on all levels! After our shortest nature trail walk followed by the longest golf course trek, we head back to Faro to visit Capela dos Ossos - eerie little chapel filled with deceased monk bones...

Taiwan

Second time back in less than half a year! And I'm going back again in September! It's been one of the better breaks back home, salute to Shun for coming to keep me sane!

Took the chance to go and take vain salon photos before my 26th. It is not easy being a star afterall. Five changes of clothes and makeover took almost 8 hours. Taking shots at desired camera angle almost require the body to be in advanced astanga yoga positions. I loved the makeup piled on me, though removing the caked layer at the end of the day required scrubbing my face three times. Here's a preview!

Believe it or not, it is the first time I independently travelled in my home town! After getting lost at the Taipei train station and nearly catching the wrong train due south instead of north east (hardly my fault, 瑞芳 and 瑞穗 are only one character apart!), we made our way to PingXi. It was really good to experience what culture Taipei has to offer, with nice friendly locals and shops set up right next to the rail track. It was almost the individual shop owners' responsibility to ensure over excited tourists do not get runover by the oncoming train whilst sending hopeful-message-packed skylaterns up to the sky. We also managed to catch fireflies before we departed for the food extravaganza at the 基隆nightmarket that is conveniently integrated in with the local temple. The highlight must be the glaring stare of the slushy ice store owner when Shun told her he wanted a list of ingredients in his dessert, only to be told to go next door to get a bucket because the biggest bowl she had to offer would not be able to cater for half of his options.


We also went for a six star massage in Taipei. It felt so nice and I almost wanted to go home and nap after the morning massage.

Yino took cousin and I to 苗栗, where we visited the strawberry village and the famous tofu street. We then visited the land her fiancee bought and it was really exciting to pick your own bamboos and peaches. We left the mountain enchanted by hundreds of fireflies. The scene is uber romantic and something that will be imprinted in our memories.

The last weekend was devoted to climbing of 承天禪室, the temple that I was named after. It is the season of 古桐花 and there were so many flowers falling like specks of snow as we hiked. It was really touching to know my auntie came to climb the mountain just to see me, even though she had only recovered from an accident..

Iceland

Already a vague and distant memory from the Easter just passed.

Getting used to travelling directly to the airport and then to the final destination straight after work.

Golden Circle. After a stroll in the Thingvellir national park wich jagged stone cliffs, we head towards the Strokkur Geyser. The nature phenomenon begins with the temperatures near the bottom of the geyser rise to a point where boiling begins; allowing steam bubbles rise to the top of the column. As they burst through the geyser's vent, some water overflows or splashes out, reducing the weight of the column and thus the pressure on the water underneath. With this release of pressure, the superheated water flashes into steam, boiling violently throughout the column. The resulting froth of expanding steam and hot water then sprays out of the geyser hole. The air around the Gulfoss waterfall was freezing, makes me realise I was truely in Iceland.

Reykjavik city centre can be explored within 20 minutes. The Saegreifinn down by the harbour served delicious lobster tail soup with a wide selection of seafood kebabs. Two Asian girls occupied a good 30% of the restaurant space with our gourmet lunch compared to the buff locals with their one cup of lobster soup - that's a sight to see.

The blue lagoon was literally a giant onsen, where one can manuvre to different parts of the lake with respect to the central volcanic eruption to gain the most comfortable water temperature. All this without having to get out of one bath in the freezing cold and relocate to another as it currently is in a Japanese onsen. Volcanic mud face mask was also freely available for use at one of the stations. As much fun as a lagoon can be we soon grew tired of sitting in a pond of water and began snapping photos using my triple plastic bag layered Canon SLR.

B5 night lounge. With a giant horse and a lamp on its head at the window, it is suprising to see the fusia pink and ocean blue lined alcohol shelves. Along came a magician who lit up his wallet with fire, then sat next to us teaching card tricks and enlightening us about Icelandic life. Truely interesting evening.

Kaffitar: Iceland's own brand of Starbucks, only with more aromatic coffee beans and better brewing processes. Yum.

Glacier climbing. The jeep was so high to climb in! We really were not dressed for the part in my fitted coat, ugg boots and pom pom hat. The trip to the Snaefellsjokull glacier took almost the whole morning, which is later nicely refreshed by the two hour climb. We viewed the thousand year old black ice and dangerous seep holes.

The highlight has to be the oriental inspired Seafood Cellar. The seafood banquet just kept on coming. The presentation of the food was very pretty: a lobster tail platter with cream garlic sauce served in a chinese tea pot; lychee, mango sorbet served on a bed of dry ice. The food combination was also challenging to the tastebud: white cod served on plum and sake flavoured rice, lobster and truffle soup, fish roe served with lime froth and ponzu sauce. All this with excellent restaurant decor matches that of Fat Duck, only at a fraction of a price.