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Taiwan is an up and coming tourist destination and the country has so many beautiful places just waiting to be explored.
We went to Taipei on a small detour from our Hong Kong trip and we spent two days there. Indeed the city does not have a lot of landmarks to visit, however its charm lies in something completely different.
Due to not being the typical city with a lot of attractions, Taipei developed a very large coffee shop and restaurant culture. You will find the craziest, most interesting or even the cutest places to enjoy your coffee here. Also the city's charm can be mostly observed at night when everything comes to life.

Press PLAY to get the right Taipei mood.

Here is a short list of things to do in Taipei:

1. Visit Taipei 101
This landmark is by far the most famous in Taipei so you must not leave the city without seeing it. The impressive building holds the tallest Starbucks in the world, but you need to call in advance for a reservation. Like a lot in advance, as we tried calling a day before but the lines were busy all the time.


2. Hike to the top of Elephant Mountain
...and enjoy the amazing view from above this lovely city. It's a great place to put things into perspective and actually realise how tall Taipei 101 is.


3. Explore the city by night
...and be mesmerized by the colorful neon lights.


4. Check out the crowded night markets
Taipei has a night market at every corner...well almost, but for sure has the most night markets we have ever seen in a city. They are very lively and offer a lot of variety of products, especially food. Our top picks: Raohe Night Market and Ningxia Night Market.


5. Indulge yourself in some tasty local food
...and if you feel brave enough and have a hardcore stomach, try the stinky tofu. We couldn't...the smell was just too appalling.



6. Visit their crazy and eccentric restaurants
One of the most famous ones is The Modern Toilet...I guess there is no need to explain the main theme here, right? However, this is not for everyone, I guess.

7. Try a 3d art latte
...or visit any cute coffee shop you can find. Trust me they have them at every step. From coffee shops were you can play with alpacas to ones were you can feel like Alice in Wonderland and sit in a huge tea cup, without a doubt in Taipei you will find at least one to fulfil your childhood fantasies.


The colorful neon lights and the lively night markets will for sure make for an unforgettable experience in Taipei.

Hugs,
O

For someone who grew up with the American movie culture, visiting Los Angeles was somewhere really high on the travel bucket list.
For our first visit to the US we planned a 3 weeks trip that started with the City of Angels. We had only 3 days reserved for visiting LA and during the planning part of the trip we thought to ourselves that LA would probably be the least interesting part of it, considering Arizona, Las Vegas and Hawaii would follow, but boy did we love it!

We were so impressed about Kauai that I decided to write a post about all the interesting and fun facts that we learned about this island.

1. Kauai is the oldest out of the main islands of Hawaii and was formed around 2 million years ago.

2. There are no dangerous predators on the island. This means you get to do all the exploring you want without worrying that a snake might bite your…errrm leg ☺.

3. The islands national animal is a…chicken! Yes, you read that right. Apparently they were brought a while back on the island by a hurricane and they made a cozy home out of Kauai. Anywhere you will go (even on top of the mountain) you will see tons of them. Be careful of them while driving as they tend to get on the road.
I now know why did the chicken cross the street. To get to the other side! Duh!

4. Kauai was the filming set for several famous movies, including Jurassic Park. Actually while we were there we were able to see the filming location for The Rock’s new movie.

5. The island is home to the wettest place on Earth, Mt. Waialeale. If you take a helicopter ride it will take right in the heart of it! How amazing is that?

6. Kauai itself is also know to be the rainiest island of Hawaii (how else do you think it keeps itself so lush), however it never rains the entire day or on the entire island.

7. Aloha serves as both hello and goodbye and means “with love”. What a beautiful way to greet someone, don’t you think? Their mottos are “Live Aloha” and “Hang Loose”, a constant reminder to not stress over meaningless things.

8.    Waimea Canyon was named by Mark Twain, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

9.    I finally found the origin of my name. Apparently it comes from Ohana (which means “family” in Hawaii). This was one of the few places we’ve been to where people knew how to pronounce my name. And they all asked me if I was Hawaiian ☺. Maybe at heart…?

Do you know any other interesting facts?


xoxo,
O

If you feel like living in a real life fairytale for a few days and start believing that magic does exist, go visit the enchanted land of Cappadocia in Turkey.
We have seen so many incredible photos of this place and we could not wait to explore it all on our own. I can guarantee that this destination will not disappoint and will for sure bring out the romantic in you.
To best explore this region I would recommend at least 3 days, more precisely at least 3 mornings because as you will get to read below, all the magic happens at sunrise. Here are our top things to do while in Cappadocia:


1. Stay in a cave hotel

Cappadocia is well known for its stunning cave hotels that mix up the old way of living with the new and luxurious lifestyle.
As Cappadocia is a region formed of many small towns, I would recommend staying in Goreme as this is the centre of its all.
Many of the hotels have lovely decorated rooftop terraces from where you can revel in the beauty of the colourful hot air balloons floating in the sky early in the morning. Our top picks are:

Koza Cave Hotel - this is a family owned lovely cave hotel with a beautifully decorated rooftop terrace. What I loved about it is that having only 10 rooms the terrace doesn't get crowded as in other places, also people not staying in the hotel are not allowed up the terrace keeping the privacy to the maximum.


Mithra Cave Hotel - you will find this one right next to Koza Cave Hotel. It also has a lovely terrace (although I found the one at Koza to be a bit more authentic), however this hotel is pretty big therefore the chances of you enjoying a quiet sunrise are a bit slim. The buffet breakfast here is however de-li-cious.


Sultan Cave Hotel - apparently all the best terrace hotels are in the same spot as this is the one next to Mithra Cave Hotel. We did not stay here as it was fully booked when we visited Cappadocia. This hotel is the most famous one but mostly because some big travel bloggers started this trend. You will find everything this hotel has to offer at the other two above.

Local Cave House Hotel - this is one of the most famous pool hotels in Cappadocia. The hotel itself is indeed beautiful, the hosts are super nice and the pool is a great place to cool off from the scorching summer heat.


To get a 15$ discount on your next trip feel free to use our Booking code: https://www.booking.com/s/35_6/oana6487

2. Witness the most magical sunrise ever

Imagine hot air balloons floating in the sky while the sun rises and starts warming your skin...breathtaking!
Without a doubt the sunrises in Cappadocia were one of the most beautiful we have ever seen! I don't think I was ever this excited about waking up at 04:30 in the morning.
If you stay in a terrace cave hotel, you can enjoy the sunrise in the most lovely decorated decor and see the balloons floating above the city of Goreme. Or you can head up to the balloons launching site and enjoy it from a more natural and dramatic scenery.


3. Experience a hot air balloon ride

I love hights! Contrary to popular beliefs, it's not because of the thrill, it's about the calm!
Because of this I've always wanted to go on a balloon ride, so what better place to do it than here?
The ride was so smooth and it felt like floating on thin air.
There are several balloon companies to choose from, most of them having baskets to fit 16 people on a flight. I do not recommend the ones that carry more as you will most likely feel too crowded.
We went with Butterfly Balloons as we read many good reviews and because it was also recommended by our hotel. They were pretty great throughout the entire flight, our pilot was extremely nice and funny, and at landing we celebrated with champagne and we received flight badges and certificates.
The one thing I did not like about the flight is that we left pretty late in comparison to the other balloons, therefore somewhere around the middle of the 1 hour flight we were amongst the few balloons left in the air as the majority of them had already landed.


4. Pasabag and Goreme Open Air Museum

There are so many impressive and unique structures in Cappadocia and I was left in surprise to find out that most of them were churches.
Goreme Open Air Museum is a complex of churches that best puts into perspective the simple life that used to be lived there. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the entrance fee is of 25 TL.
Pasabag is an alternative to this, however there are not that many churches, but you will find here the famous fairy chimneys.


5. Uchisar Castle

This is definitely not your usual type of castle, but that does not mean it's not impressive. The whole area around it is pretty beautiful and worth a visit.


6. Explore the lovely valleys of Cappadocia

The Rose Valley, Red Valley, Pigeon Valley or the Love Valley are all beautiful in their own way. They are characterised  by somewhat different structures, I will let you figure out by yourselves why the Love Valley is called as such.

7. Indulge your senses with the colourful Turkish rugs

There are numerous carpet shops in Cappadocia and although we don't have a single carpet at home, here we were tempted to buy a few. Unfortunately the prices made us change our minds pretty quick.
By far the most famous carpet shop is the Ikman Galerie and it's pretty simple to understand why from the minute you step foot inside. I have a feeling that there are towns that don't have this many rugs as you will find here.


8. Try the famous pottery kebab

Cappadocia is famous for its pottery, ergo their traditional dish is called Testi kebab (testi meaning jug in Turkish). Basically this dish consists of meat (usually beef or chicken) with a few vegetables cooked for several hours in a clay pot. The pot is completely sealed and by the time it is ready they smash it open with a small hammer and serve it on your place. The taste is definitely authentic and unique.
The best place to have testi kebab is at Dibek Restaurant. Besides the great food, the atmosphere is also very authentic there.
Another good place to eat in Goreme is at Kebapzade Restaurant. The food here is pretty cheap and tasty. I recommend here the hummus and the mushrooms with cheese hot appetizer.


How to get to Cappadocia

As mentioned above, Cappadocia is a region formed of several small towns. There are two main airports in this area, one in Kayseri and the other in Nevsehir, this being the one closest to Goreme, only 30 minutes away. There are several direct flights every day from Istanbul, with Turkish Airlines, to both airports. From the airport you can easily arrange transport with your hotel.

Needless to say this place impressed a lot, far beyond what we expected, and we recommend it to you all as a short but lovely getaway.


Sending magical hugs,
O