It was sunny and warm during my last day in Hong Kong. I would have liked to stay there longer but my flight was departing around noon so I had to get to the airport around 10am. I had a wonderful view from the plane on Hong Kong. We landed in Osaka around 5.30pm on 15th November and I saw a sunset from the plane. I had to get to my host in Kayashima and it was a long way from the airport, I spent 2 hours travelling. I got in the train at the airport and I had to change at Kyobashi. There was a Japanese girl sitting next to me, she didn't speak English but she had a translator in her phone. She asked me where I was going and then she accompanied me to Kayashima. It was already quite cold in the evening and I didn't bring any warm clothes so she went to a shop and bought a hot coffee for me. I don't like coffee but I warmed up my hands at least. Then she called my host and he came to pick me up at the station. His house was around 15 minutes far by walking from Kayashima. There was a street with lanterns and I ate takoyaki there. Takoyaki are balls made of wheat flour and octopus sprinkled with seaweed and dried fish. My host was a Chinese guy who had been living in Japan 8 years. It was cold in Osaka and people in Japan usually don't use heating at home so I was freezing during my last week in Japan.
My host was busy on Sunday and I left his home in the morning to visit Osaka castle. I got lost on my way to Kayashima and I asked the way some people who I met but most of them didn't speak English. I walked along the motorway and there was a local restaurant where I went to have a lunch. I bought miso soup, chicken and rice for 550 yen. I was already so frustrated for not being able to find a way to the metro station that I decided to hitchhike. After 20 minutes of waiting I was picked up by an elderly couple who took me directly to the Osaka castle. I spent some hours there, it was sunny and around 16°C, but it warm only around noon and after 3pm it started to get colder quickly.

 
When I left the castle I bought milk tea and some chocolate biscuits in a shop and then I walked around the city. Osaka is a modern and industrial city with not many places to visit. I was getting cold and I went to a shopping mall and then I returned to Kayashima. I bought takoyaki again and I met my host. I went to sleep around midnight.
I woke up after 9am on Monday and I went to Nara. It was cloudy whole day. I walked to the motorway again and I hitchhiked, A guy picked me up soon and he dropped me at a petrol station. I waited around half an hour there until two women stopped. They were mother and daugther and they took me to Ikoma which is a city located close to Nara. I took train and I got to Nara around 2pm. I went to a Kofukuji temple firstly and then I walked in the Nara park with the fallow deer.

There were many tourists and also Japanese people in the park, I asked them to take photos of me. Many people admired colorful leaves (koyo in Japanese). It was a spectacular view. 

I went to visit Todaiji temple with the big statue of Buddha. When I finished visiting it was 4pm and it was getting dark already.

I still managed to do some sightseeing but it was getting dark quickly and I had to go back to Osaka. I hitchhiked again but I had no luck firstly, it was dark and nobody stopped for half an hour. Then I met two women from Osaka who were also sightseeing in Nara, they picked me up and they told me we were going to see more places. We were driving in the dark but we got lost on some hill and we had to return. We stopped in a shop and they bought me milk tea and sushi and then they invited me for dinner and we ate ramen noodles in a restaurant. They were so kind with me that they took me directly to Kayashima. I was very lucky to meet many helpful people during my journey.

My trip to Macao lasted only one day but it was an exciting experience. I took a ferry from the China ferry terminal at the Hong Kong island on 15th November. The journey lasted one hour and I arrived in Macao around 10:30am, but there were such long lines at the customs that it took me around 45 minutes to pass it. It was a bad luck because I set up a meeting with a girl called Kiko from CS and she had to wait for me almost one hour. When I met her we rode a motorbike around Macao, it was cloudy firstly but then the weather became sunny and it was around 23°C. Although it remained slightly foggy for the whole day it was a really nice weather. We went to an Italian restaurant at noon, I ate pasta with cheese and then we walked around the city, I saw a small temple firstly and then we visited the Ruins of St. Paul's.

We walked around the historic centre of Macao and we saw several casinos. We took a bus to the Taipa island and we went to the luxury casino and hotel the Venetian. There was a little river inside the building and a guy sailing on a gondoliere. 

After visiting the Venetian we walked to a shop with a durian ice cream, durian cake and jelly. We bought it and we went to a restaurant where we were told not to eat that there because of the strong smell. Then we walked to the Galaxy resort located on the Cotai strip. 

There was a free bus from the Galaxy resort which we had to take to get to the ferry terminal. When we were crossing the bridge the one side of the river was illuminated by the hotels and casinos while the other side was very dark. Kiko told me that the dark side was China. When we got to the ferry terminal I met another couchsurfer but only for 5 minutes because I had to hurry to catch my ferry. I left Macao around 7:30, the journey was a bit scary because there was a strong wind and big waves. The ferry was jumping on the waves and it felt like riding a roller coaster. Some passengers were screeching while the ferry was jumping. When I got to Hong Kong it took only 2 minutes to pass the customs. I went to the Tsim Tsa Tsui promenade, it was an amazing view but the wind was very strong and it was drizzling. Then I took a metro to Causeway Bay and I got to my host's flat at 11pm.

When I visited Hong Kong for the first time in November 2013 I thought that it was probably the most beautiful place I have ever seen, that's why it was very disappointing for me when I got there again on 13th November 2014 and I found out that the weather was bad, it was windy and cloudy. It was around 18°C but the wind made it feel much colder. I had to change money at the airport and I was going to visit the Tai O fishing village which is on the Lantau island. I couldn't leave my suitcase to the airport so I had to take it with me. I took a bus to Tung Chung where I had to change to another bus to Tai O. The journey took around one hour and when I got there I went to a local restaurant where I ordered fried egg with bacon. Afterwards I walked around to see some shops and then I met a guy who was around 65, he was Canadian but his origin was Chinese. We bought wafers with herbal flavour and then we went on a cruise in the fishing village. This village was quite run-down comparing to the fishing village in Brunei, the houses were old and poor.

Then we took a bus to Tung Chung where I drank milk tea and I ate lemon cake. Afterwards I went to visit Ten Thousand Buddha Monastery, but it was already 5pm when I got there and the monastery was just closing, I saw just the road which was surrounded by the statues of Buddha.

Then I took metro to my host in Causeway Bay, he cooked some pasta for me and then we went out, we walked around by night and we went also to the shopping mall. The following day I took a ferry to Macao. 

My host in Brunei Darussalam was an Italian guy who was working for a food delivery company. He picked me up at the airport at 2am. He had bought some noodles for me and I ate them when we got home. He shared a house with other people and he also hosted 3 French guys that night. The weather was hot, around 30°C, and unpleasantly humid. In the morning I met a couchsurfer who came to my host's house to pick me up. We visited most tourist places in Bandar Seri Begawan, we went to Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque and Jame'ar Hassanil Bolkiah Mosque.

Afterwards we went to a shopping mall and then we took a boat to the water village. There were houses on stilts, some of them were modern while some others quite old. We went also to a jungle where we saw waterfalls and carnivorous plants. Then we had a lunch in a restaurant, I ordered chicken with rice. We went to the Empire hotel to see the sunset, I swam in the sea and the water had around 30°C. Then we met my host on the beach. The following day my host took me to the port and I took ferry from Muara to Labuan and then to Kota Kinabalu. The journey to Labuan started at 9:30am and it took around 3 hours. I almost missed a ferry to Kota Kinabalu because it was leaving at 1pm but fortunately I managed to buy a ticket quickly and I made it on time. The ferry was comfortable, they showed a movie during the journey, but the air conditioning was so heavy that it was only around 15°C inside the boat and I was cold although I wore my jacket. When I arrived in Kota Kinabalu it rained but the rain stopped soon. I talked to a tour guide in the port until my host came. I didn't have time to eat all day and he bought me sandwiches. In the evening we went to a local restaurant and we ordered a lot of delicious seafood, rice and seaweed.
The following day we visited a local market firstly where we bought some tropical fruit and then we went to waterfalls where we ate the fruit. We went to a restaurant which was called Taliban food centre and we ate bread with dip but it was too spicy for me.

Then my host took me to a beach and we spent nearly 3 hours in the water. I swam and I saw fishes and corals but the water was dim so they didn't look amazing. The water close to the shore was as hot as bath water and we stayed there till sunset, when we were going out we found out that the water was full of jellyfishes. I touched one of them accidentally but I didn't get hurt. My host cooked dinner for me, we had soup, seafood and also a local food called ambuyat which was a starchy bland substance. We drank rice wine called sake. In the morning on 13th November we had to get up very early because I had to catch my flight to Hong Kong.

I was supposed to leave Taiwan on 8th November at 1am, but the flight was delayed and we left around 3:30am. I arrived in Manila at 6am and I took a taxi to my host's flat. It was already 7am when I got there and we were going to the Taal volcano that day so I had no time to sleep. I slept only around 3 hours that night and although I didn't really feel tired while we were visitng the Taal volcano I was falling asleep very quickly in the car. We got to the Taal lake around noon, we had a drink in a restaurant and then we sailed to the island. We had to ride a horse to the top of the mountain, the road was very steep. When we got to the top we took many photos and we admired the amazing view. It would have been possible to go down to the lake and swim in a sulphur water but it would take much time so we decided not to go there.

On the way down it was windy and the road was very dusty. I had to lean back so much that I was almost lying on the horse. There was a traffic jam on the way to Manila and we got there around 7pm. I was supposed to meet my old friend who studied with me at the Wageningen university and we met at the Bacolod Chicken Inasal at Glorietta Mall. The dinner was good, I ordered a fried chicken. Then we went to a bar and my host showed me a food speciality from Manila, it was an unborn chicken which was cooked inside an egg. It looked disgusting because it felt inappropriate to cook a chicken which was already developing, but I tried it and it tasted like egg.
My host was busy on Sunday and I visited Intramuros, I took a metro and then I hired a rikshaw, I paid 200 pesos per half an hour. I went to a cathedral and also the Fort Santiago and afterwards I went to a park to see the Rizal monument. Then I returned to my host and he cooked spaghetti bolognese for me and in the evening he took me to the airport because I had to catch my flight to Brunei. I spent a good time in Philippines and the Taal volcano was a wondeful place.

Taipei is only 600 km far from Okinawa and the flight took around one hour. I set up a meeting with a girl from CS at the Taipei main station at 11am, but I managed to get a bus from the airport very quickly and I arrived there too early. While riding the bus I saw mountains and also old houses which looked quite poor. I waited at the train station for 45 minutes until Theresa and her sister arrived. I put my suitcase in a left-luggage office and we took a metro to the Tamsui district. The weather in Taipei was quite the same as in Okinawa, around 23-24°C, partly sunny, partly cloudy. When we got to Tamsui we bought a milk bubble tea which was very popular in Taipei. Tea was good but I didn't really like the starch balls. Afterwards we went for a lunch in some local restaurant and then we walked to the Fort San Domingo.

My camera was running out of battery because the plugs in Taiwan are different from the ones in Europe and I didn't have an adapter so I could take only a few photos. After visiting the fort we walked on the Tamsui river shore and we went to a shopping district. I tasted an egg which was hard boiled in a black tea. Then we visited a shop with sweets, there was free tasting so I tried many cakes, some of them were delicious while the others I didn't like. Then we returned to the Taipei main station. I found a host on CS and we were supposed to meet at the Ximen station at 7pm and then I scheduled a meeting for my friends in the Modern Toilet restaurant. I waited at the Ximen station for half an hour but my host didn't come. Later I found out that he mistook the date of my arrival, he thought I was going to arrive on 7th November instead of 6th. I tried to call him many times from the public phone but he didn't answer. I left the Ximen station at 7.30pm, but by the time I reached the Modern Toilet restaurant my friends had already left. I wasn't particularly angry that my host didn't arrive but I was very upset about not being able to meet my friends. Then I tried to figure out what to do, I was walking in Taipei and tried to find an internet cafe, it was very difficult because there were not many of them and I had to pull my suitcase. I was passing some hostels on my way, but I decided not to go there before I talk to my host and my friends. Finally I found an internet cafe and my old friend who studied with me at the Wageningen university in Netherlands invited me to stay at her home for one night. I took a taxi to the Neihu district, I reached her home around 10pm. Her husband bought for me a chicken and rice and we had a talk until midnight and then we went to sleep.
In the morning I met Theresa again and we walked in a city, we took a photo of Taipei 101 skyscraper and we went to a Hong Kong restaurant. I ate ice cream with red beans.

Early in the afternoon we travelled to a district with restaurants which offerred turtle and snake meat. We bought a snake soup with ginger flavour. I was surprised that the snake meat tasted like fish and it had also many bones. Then we ate turtle soup but I didn't like the taste because it was dark meat and similar to beef. Afterwards Theresa had to leave and I went to the Beitou hot springs. The entrance was very cheap and the place was crowded, there were mostly local people. They were friendly and I talked to some of them. There were several pools with thermal water, one pool was with a cold water, the other one had around 35-38°C and the last one 42-45°C which was terribly hot, I couldn't stay inside the water. I just sat down and I had to go out immediately. I spent there only one hour, then I had to go to Ximen to meet the guy who was supposed to host me. We went to the Modern Toilet restaurant, I ordered pasta and ice cream, but the food was average. Then we walked to the Main station and I took a bus to the airport to take a flight to Manila. 

My flight to Okinawa departed at 9am from the Narita airport on November 3rd. Soon after we took off I saw the Mount Fuji on the right side of the plane. There was an American woman sitting next to me who worked for military and she has been living in Okinawa 34 years. She told me many interesting things about Okinawa and she showed me photos on her phone. Our flight lasted 3 hours and when we landed I ate noodles at the airport. I don't remember the exact price but it was around 700 yen. I had a contact with a guy from CS who was from the Czech Republic and he has been living in Okinawa since 2005. He does research at the university and he married a Japanese woman. He invited me to a party in a hotel at Makishi with a buffet and free liquor tasting. We had a drink firstly in a cafe nearby and I ordered a milk tea. I drank a lot of milk tea in Japan and I liked it although I am not used to drinking it here in Prague. Then we went to a party and his wife sang there. In the evening I had to return to the airport because my hosts just returned from the trip in Tokyo. I was hosted in Okinawa by an American couple. I had only 2 days to visit Okinawa but I had a good time. On Tuesday my host took me to the aquarium in the north of the island where I watched a dolphin show and I saw many sea animals including whale sharks. It was around 24°C in Okinawa, when it was sunny it was hot, but when it was cloudy and windy it was cold and I had to wear a sweater.

After visiting the aquarium I found out that the public transportation in Okinawa was scarce and I couldn't find any bus which would take me to the south of the island. I had no choice but to hitchhike. It took around 20 minutes until a car stopped. The driver was around 70 years old guy and there was also a young woman with him, she could be around 25-30. They asked me where I wanted to go and I said hotel Moonbeach. They took me there, but the guy spoke only a little English and the girl didn't speak English at all. There was a nice beach at the hotel with white sand, water was warm, around 25°C, I spent one hour in the sea. There were many Japanese people swimming but all of them wore neoprene. My host came to pick me up and we watched the sunset. Afterwards we had dinner in a restaurant, I had a soup with egg and noodles, fried shrimps and rice. In the evening we watched a horror movie Saint Ange.
The following day I wanted to go to a beach on the Pacific coast. My host told me that the beaches on the East China coast were much more beautiful and that was certainly true, but I wanted to see the Pacific ocean. My host took me to a beach in the south of the island. The beach was completely empty. I swam in the sea but the water was colder than the day before and I spent only 10 minutes in the water. Then I wanted to go to Naha but there was no bus around and I had to hitchhike again. It took around half an hour until a guy picked me up. He was around 50 and he spoke English well. He took me to Makishi where I walked in a market and I then I had a lunch in a restaurant. I ate cuttlefish noodles and a mango pudding. Then I took train to the Shuri castle. It was already late afternoon when I got there, I walked in a garden next to the castle and I watched a sunset.

Then I returned to Makishi where I met my hosts and we went to restaurant for dinner. We ordered tacos with chips. Afterwards we bought some Japanese sweets in a supermarket. Most Japanese sweets were made of rice and red beans. Then we watched the horror movie The taking of Deborah Logan. I left Okinawa on 6th November early in the morning when I took a flight to Taipei.