Tagged: hiking

Statues at Ngong Ping 1

Asia / Hong Kong

31 Dec, 2012

Outlying islands in Hong Kong: Lantau Island and Lamma Island

Next up on the list was Lantau Island, the largest of the Outlying Islands, twice the size of Hong Kong Island and famous for its high peaks, wild landscapes, great beaches and the airport. Over the years the area has been heavy development in the shape of Disneyland and a cable car to Ngong Ping monastery. I joined a hiking group of who were going to hike the Dragon’s back in Shek-O. It was voted the Best Urban Hiking Trail in Asia by Time (Asia edition) in 2004. Just a short hop from the bustle of Hong Kong East, it...

Hong Kong Island skyline 1

Asia / Hong Kong

30 Dec, 2012

Bright lights and neons in Hong Kong, cliff jumping and visit to cat cafe

Hong Kong is my last stop on my 1 year travel around the world. It’s not a stop that I intended to visit because my parents are from Hong Kong and I’ve been here several times before. It was a required stop on my way back to Belgium. In the previous visits I haven’t ever really traveled around in Hong Kong. Most of the time, I’ve just been visiting relatives, taking care of paperwork, eating and shopping. So I had no idea what Hong Kong really had to offer. This time around I wanted to really TRAVEL in Hong Kong....

Everyday traffic in Jakarta 0

Indonesia / South East Asia

21 Dec, 2012

Jakarta aka The Durian and the white crater at Bandung

After the modern commercial metropolis of Singapore I was really looking forward to my visit to Indonesia and Jakarta. I did some research on Jakarta and apparently they gave Jakarta the nickname “The Durian“. Now for people that haven’t been to Asia much, the durian is a quite famous fruit around many Asian countries. It’s distinctive for its large size, stomach-churning odour, and formidable thorn-covered husk. Western people often are appaled by the strong smell before even letting it touch the their tongues, but in most cases, there are always people that love it and hate it. With this said,...

One of the art pieces in one of the many galleries in Insdadong 1

Asia / South-Korea

11 May, 2012

I’ve got Seoul baby!

Finally made it to Seoul, my last stop in South Korea before moving on to China. My travels in Seoul are actually divided into 3 blogposts since there was so much to do here and mainly because I took so many pictures. In this post I’ll just give you a general overview of Seoul for now. Check out the Heyri Art Village and the cat cafe and trick art museum. Being the capital of South Korea, there must be a palace for me to visit right? In fact, there were 2 of them! The most prominent one called Gyeongbok-gung also...

Panoramic view of Busan 10

Asia / South-Korea

4 May, 2012

Busan & Jeju island

Busan was the first stop in South-Korea after Japan. To be totally honest, I was pretty beat from traveling around so much in Japan. I’ve seen a lot of mountains, done some really nice hikes and visited a good amount of temples. And not to bring South-Korea down, but it is pretty much the same here, of course there are some cultural differences to be find. Nevertheless, the first couple of days I just chilled in Busan and figured out my plan for the next destinations. Though I did manage to find some stuff to do while I was here....

Made it back to the top near Cabanaconde after 2 days! 0

Peru / South-America

28 Feb, 2012

Colca Canyon

  The obvious destination after visiting Arequipa would be vising the Colca Canyon. To be honest, I have no idea how I came up with the idea of going to Colca Canyon since I didn’t even mention it during my research. But I’m glad I did though. After seeing what Cuzco and Machu Picchu had to offer, I was ready for another adventurous hike and outdoor activity! Besides, Colca Canyon is one of the top tourist destinations too. Since it’s a top destination, there are plenty of travel agencies offering tours to visit the site. But it is perfectly possible...

Father of the year near top of MP mountain. Kid enjoying the ride. 2

Peru / South-America

23 Jan, 2012

Machu Picchu (small change of plans)

As I mentioned in an earlier post about Machu Picchu, I said I’d do the Salkantay trek, a 5 day trekking to Machu Picchu. However, I made a last minute change to that plan. A few days before I was supposed to do the hiking, I met some people on Couchsurfing (yes again), they told me about their own itinerary and plan to go to Machu Picchu without the use of any travel agency or trekking. Which means cheaper! Considering the weather conditions (it was/is raining season) and the price of the hiking tour, I decided to cancel the tour...

Brazil beaches 7

Brazil / South-America

22 Nov, 2011

Experiencing Rio de Janeiro

So yesterday I finally got a taste of the real Brazilian sun and it wasn’t exactly kind on me… I got kinda burnt on my neck and slightly on my arms too. Though I was already kind of black, now I’m really getting closer to that fondant chocolate color. I didn’t think to bring sunblock on that day out since I’m dark skinning, I figured it wouldn’t effect me that much. But today I went to the beach again and tried to even it out a bit, but during my shower just now, I have some really ugly farmers tan...

Christ the Redeemer 0

Brazil / South-America

31 Oct, 2011

Brazil – Rio de Janeiro / São Paulo

My first stop of this year-long trip will be sunny Brazil. In order to get most of my time there, I’ve looked up some information in advance to avoid missing out on the good stuff what Brazil has to offer. First: they speak Portugese in Brazil. I know, everyone should’ve known that already, but I didn’t… and apparently Brazilians will feel a bit offended if you assume that they speak Spanish just like any other South American country. I’ve started to learn some basic Portugese in order to “blend” in as much as I can but I’m no Rain man...

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Peru / South-America

23 Oct, 2011

Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu

When you go to Peru, the main attraction would be visiting Machu Picchu. There are several ways of getting there, there are the adventures ways where you can hike your way from Cuzco to Machu Picchu and less adventurous ways when you have less time where you take the bus or other transport straight to Machu Picchu. Since I got some time, I decided to take the adventurous part and hike my way to Machu Picchu. But instead of doing the traditional and well-known Inca Trail, I decided to opt for an alternative hike-route: Salkantay trek. There are several of...

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