jason is a prime example of how people should do a little research before trusting travel agents with their bookings. their annual family trip for two years in a row has been a disaster. as we sat up in the mountains at the local 薑母鴨 joint in the middle of nowhere...where him and his family decided to take a vacation and book a hot springs hotel for the weekend where there is nothing to do but hot springs and eat at the hotel restaurant and the only wifi is in the lobby....he was so excited to see us and drink with us...and while we wondered why they didnt just stay in taipei and drive up for hot springs...only 30km, he explained how his uncle booked last years trip as well....where they were supposed to go on a cruise but due to bad weather, the cruise just stayed docked in HK. with the port being so close to work....dad ordered everyone to go to work and come back to the boat to sleep...HAHAHAHA....OMG...

so we got drunk. off a bottle....and then beers....and made some drunk calls to some mutual friends...and then another trip to 711 for more whiskey and then went to the stinky tofu truck and over ordered....and when i hit the hot springs...i was. DONE.

11:19 PM

信義三井－ having allergies 真的很可憐。 there's nothing u can do about it. man made foods don't help human evolution but u just eat and ur body doesn't react well. uncomfortable and can be life threatening. while making sustenance not only a nuisance but takes a lot of a joy out of life. and with soy allergies and fermented foods barred from the list...when ordering drinks with dinner we had to opt away from sake rice fermentation but rather a bottle of whiskey. cuz that was the only option.

11:46 PM

lex_benzeneHoly sh*t! This is the best#beefnoodlesoup #牛肉麵 #소고기국수 I've ever had!!! It's a renovated hut on the side of an empty road that locals will confidently recommend then double check if you've found it and tried it and liked it. There is no#半筋半肉 option but they use a beef shin#牛腱 that melts your mouth without falling apart. It's an insane tender piece of meat sitting in this super rich Braised beef broth. It's simple and clean yet salivatingly complex. The broth coats your entire mouth and soothes it's way down to your belly before you even realize the hint of spice. I drank half the soup and ate all the beef before I even started on the #핸드메이드handmade noodles. 又 #Q 又 #彈牙很有 #嚼勁 . Once I can breathe again, I'm gonna order a third bowl. #맛집 #먹스타그램#taiwan

2:19 AM

just some time with the pooches and a lot of food...

2:14 AM

hanoi has been a long time coming. i kept trying to make it to hanoi for 2 years...and finally the perfect storm arose. david was around. we had three birthdays....so hanoi/halong bay here we come!!!

i went with concerns about vietnam, as my previous few trips to Saigon weren't enjoyable. a developing nation i had no social ties to and everything tasted like fish sauce. an emerging market i couldn't tap my way into. but that was 7 years ago. this time around, even with a slight hangover from the night before, with david leading the charge, who's lived in hanoi for 10 years and the mother of his twins is vietnamese, i felt at ease.

hanoi is the capital of a communist nation. but modern day communism is capitalistic. and as china boomed...vietnam boomed. and as the commodity boom hit, so did vietnam. i brought summer clothes, but the north is a much cooler climate than the south...and it was definitely not beach weather. it was hazy all throughout. a coal conference was going on and the koreans were flooding into my hotel. i even had an old colleague message me on instagram oddly enough. but the days of trading are long over. and i had other things on my mind for my thirty fifth birthday...so we headed to birthday french cuisine lunch. it was good but i'd rather have vietnamese food....when the others arrived, we went to see the the twins....had a huge dinner (it seemed huge but viet cuisine is filled with vegetables) and then hit the club. and the snowball started rolling from there...

the twins...

this spread was at a local franchise in a mall....it was exactly what i wanted....lots of everything.

and then there was the club...which shall not be posted.

and then the street food....and another club...which i just chugged a bottle of wine myself. and left after 15 minutes...hahaha...

4 hour drive to halong bay for this....

reminds me of jeitta grotto

kissing cocks

some touristy kayaking...

this msg salt lime pepper chili combo....is to die for. now used for hot pot....

foot massages....

and more karaoke...

david and i woke up crazy early to visit the jetty site. by the time we came back people were still sleeping. but as a consolation...i got to eat banh cuon!!! my favorite!

banh mi is just a greasy meat egg sandwich. i prefer the modernized hybrids in the states where the meats are grilled and the pickled vegetables are fresh.