Adventuring in Taiwan – with Hanna and Michel

Taipei came with a real treat: Hanna, one of my oldest childhood friends, and her fiancé Michel met us at the airport. I was quite literally jumping with joy when I spotted their happy faces in the crowd. Don’t get me wrong – I love travelling with Adam. But there is no greater luxury than meeting one of your closest friends on the road and adventuring together. Luckily, Adam and Michel get along great as well (and developed quite the bromance in the following week), so my darling Hanna and I were free to happily chat away, catch up on big news and small while browsing through kitschy stores or speed walking well ahead of the guys (it’s our natural pace).

Neither Hanna, nor Michel had been to Asia before and witnessing their first impressions was a real joy – especially since we’ve been on the road for so long, we don’t even notice some of these things anymore. Crazy cab drivers, the best dumpling house in Taipei according to Tripadvisor (which, ironically turned out to be Din Tai Fung, whose Los Angeles branch we’d been to several times), crowded night markets and stinky tofu. Adam dared Michel to fish for live shrimp and they bravely tried their grilled catch; Hanna and I happily sipped on Papaya milk and tried to find the tackiest ring for her to wear instead of her engagement ring, which she had left at home for fear of losing it. We learned that if it is Mango, Michel will eat it (shaved ice, dried, smoothie, freshly cut – you name it!)

On a city hike Adam and Michel spotted the largest spider I have seen in my life – and really don’t care to ever see again, but Beitou’s hot springs, where we bathed until we were as wrinkly as the elderly Taiwanese folk who frequent them, calmed our nerves again. We explored Kenting National Park (where Michel and I tried to spot snakes, but found nothing but centipedes) and its crazy coral caves, that emerged from the sea centuries ago and are now overgrown with jungle and the hanging roots of banyan trees. During drinks in a mobile roadside bar, we tried to guess what the respective others would do if money were no object and we sploshed in the warm sea for the first time in months – too salty, Michel pronounced, we’d only give it one out of five stars ;).

Our trip together ended much too soon in Kaohsiung, with a night of hotpot adventures and explorations of the city. While it was incredibly sad to say goodbye so soon, I am so happy and grateful that we had this time together in the first place – it was like we were back on a school trip together again, without a care in the world and full of friendship.