3 Days Of Fireworks-Qingshan King Festival-青山靈安尊王-Taipei, Taiwan

The Qingshan King Festival takes place every year in Taipei’s Wanhua District on the 23rd day of the 10 month of the lunar calendar.

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Zipling-The Gibbon Experience, Laos-Is It Worth It?

Many people ask me once they find out I've taken a trip to The Gibbon Experience in Laos if it's worth it. I always say yes, but there are a couple of things I make people aware of, just minor mostly but I've always felt better mentioning these points as everyone usually has different expectations going into one of these adventures.

I think the Gibbon Experience is truly one of the great authentic adventures of Southeast Asia and definitely worth the money. You can also feel good knowing that you contributed to the conservation of this forest which employs local people who at one time might have had to poach wild animals in order to put food on the table for their family. There are over 100 local people employed as a result of the Gibbon Experience. I highly recommend you book ahead before you leave Luang Prabang or if you're coming from Chiang Rai.

Finding Christmas in Taipei, Taiwan

Seems like there's less decorations for Christmas this year in Taipei. I went on a search to find signs of Christmas. Granted Taiwan doesn't officially acknowledge Christmas as a holiday and the culture is definitely geared toward Chinese celebrations and rituals being an island of Buddhist/Taoist followers mostly. Still it's usually recognized by the retail and commercial industries. Often people will have a Christmas party at work, or go out with the family on Christmas Day but I would compare it to Halloween in importance and the way it's viewed. Usually though the shopping and entertainment districts will deck the halls and offer lots of opportunities for people to come out and take selfies, as you can see in the video.

Is It Safe To Eat At Food Stalls/Humble Joints In Asia?

I often see travellers, mostly from Western countries gravitate to what I call the stainless/glass joints across East Asia and Southeast Asia. Some of it is familiarity, they look alot like places back home where they're used to dining. Also because many food/travel guides or bloggers recommend them because they may be a little more foreigner friendly, flavors, and English speaking staff. 

Venture out into the more local places, the food stalls and humble family restaurants and you are certain to get more authentic flavors and feel more like a local and less like a tourist or traveller.

In Taiwan where I shot this video there are thousands of places like this one across the island. Simple looking place, basic tables, plastic chairs, but good food at very affordable prices. It's how many Taiwanese are able to eat out 5 times a week or more!

Often Westerners confuse simple places like this with being unclean, and not safe  but this isn't the case at all. Speaking from personal experience I've never been sick from eating at any of these places in East Asia, or Southeast Asia over the course of several years. Even when I lived in the West and would travel here I would never get sick.

South Asia though is a little riskier depending on which city you're in.  Varanasi has a reputation of making foreigners sick with it's street food. But I ate so much street food the last time I was in Mumbai and never became sick.

Just recognize why you are not feeling comfortable with a place. Is it because it really doesn't look like a place that looks appetizing?  Few people around at a busy time? Or is it because the surroundings aren't familiar? 

In some cities in Southeast Asia I really haven't noticed much difference in the food quality from the simple restaurants to the more upscale versions, with fancier dining rooms and uniformed waitstaff. Unless I'm wanting to impress someone or just looking for a place that would be comfortable to linger around for a few hours i was usually disappointed with the food quality considering it was at least twice as much as the humble joint. 

Also these more upscale versions quite often cater to foreign tastes, in some cases leaving out important authentic ingredients like fish sauce.

Along with the food I also want to feel like I'm really in a different place, and if I simply just go by what the person that writes in my language recommends, I might end up dining with a bunch of foreigners and never feel the local experience. Even if there is a language barrier it's very rare that the local people didn't really try hard to be helpful or make me feel at home. And usually there's always someone around that can speak English and help out. 

Get out there, bust out of your comfort zone and really experience the food and dining culture of Asia!

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Tour-Traditional Morning Market-Taipei, Taiwan

I'm going to experiment with some different versions and exclusive content for the video podcast. In the past I've repurposed previous livestreams but I would like to share more high quality content and with my new podcasting platform, Podbean, I can do that! Would love to get your feedback on what kind of content you'd like to see. 

Binjiang Market is by far my favorite morning market in Taipei for the sheer variety of produce, fruit, and seafood! It's right next door to the wholesale markets and I find the quality at most of the vendors is quite high. Addiction Aquatic Seafood is probably the most famous seafood in the area and it was my introduction to this neighborhood four years ago. It seems enough vloggers and YouTubers have visited the place now to attract it's fair share of foreigners. It definitely wasn't the case four years ago. 

Taiwan has some of the best quality fruit in Asia in my opinion and I believe this is one of the best places to shop for variety and quality in Taipei. Dragon fruit, bananas, pineapple, wax apples, buddha's head fruit,(custard apple), and in the summer one of my favorites, milk pineapple, a white fleshed version that contains less acid and is super sweet! You can even get jackfruit here, not grown widely in Taiwan, during the summer months.

Thanks so much for watching!

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Tasting The Stinkiest Tofu In Taiwan-Stinky Tofu Challenge-Taipei

It's just something you have to try the first time you visit Taiwan-stinky tofu. Every local will ask you if you've tried it yet. That along with bubble tea and Din Tai Fung, dumpling house. Stinky Tofu is originally from Ahui Province, China. Brought over with other special and unique dishes to provinces and regions from around China throughout it's history and with even more of a fervent pace when Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek and his KMT army retreated to Taiwan after losing the civil war in 1949.

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Everest Base Camp Trek-Best View Of Everest-Kala Patthar-5643 Meters

Exhausting, especially after a roundtrip trek to Everest Base Camp the previous day, a hike up Kala Patthar could be the real highlight of your EBC adventure. This was my second EBC trek in four years so I was familiar with the challenge of walking to base camp, then turning around back to Gorakshep for a night's rest before trekking up Kala Patthar. As much as I love the mountains and the challenge, I'm not particularly fond of walking in the dark, which is what is required should you desire to make it to the top for sunrise. It's all of course worth it once you're up there, staring at the highest mountains on the planet and the expanse of the Khumbu Valley. Ama Dablam peak literally looks like a painting with it's surrounding backdrop. I've met people who were too tired to climb Kala Patthar after the long day to reach Everest Base Camp. It's a shame because this really is the highlight of the trek, at the least, equal to reaching EBC. Please give the video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it and subscribe to the podcast and watch more videos from East, Southeast, and South Asia.

Everest Base Camp Trek Reward-Best Apple Pie In Nepal

I was thinking about this piece of pie ever since we left Tengboche on our way to Everest Base Camp. Now that we were heading back after a successful trek to base camp and a climb up Kala Patthar, I wanted to reward myself with that big piece of apple pie from the Tengboche Cafe. Unfortunately on the way down I tripped over some rocks on the trail just after leaving Pheriche leaving me with a gash on one of my fingers and a bruised knee. As well as a dented but functioning camera. Still, even after taking that fall, I still couldn't stop thinking about that piece of pie! It was every bit as delicious as I imagined. Actually there are lots of bakeries in the Khumbu Valley that bake apple pies everyday but this one stood out. Thanks so much for watching! If you haven't checked it out yet don't forget to watch the podcast episodes Everest Base Camp, Nepal-Ultimate Trekking Adventure Parts I and II available.

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Everest Base Camp, Nepal-Ultimate Trekking Adventure Part II

One of the greatest adventure destinations on the planet-Everest Base Camp, Nepal!

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Everest Base Camp, Nepal-Ultimate Trekking Adventure Part 1

One of the must do adventures on the planet, Everest Base Camp! I've been lucky enough to have trekked in several regions of Nepal and EBC is still one of my favorites.