the taiwan bubble tea industry back in hawaii is booming. here’s the origin. the real thing!

who ever thought of this is a genius!

pretty much the exact same system taken over to hawaii. the only difference is price. it’s $5 in hawaii, and $1 in taiwan.

Naoka and Saito-san enjoying the afternoon refreshing drink.

gosh, i’m going to miss the food. very cheap and very delicious.

what’s a magic board? a magic board is a board where you can jump on it at anytime and it will work good. i had this Matchi shape for about 6 years. it’s a little to thin and narrow for me now, but it’s still magic. from my first wave, i felt the old school of me coming out. this board works excellent on rail.

and it was the first time i tried it with 5 fins. and it worked super good!

this is called back to the basics. riding this board on this trip made me realize that the basic dimensions will never let you down. i can’t wait to ride it again!
anyway, stuck in the city of osaka today. flying out tonight so going to walk around and play tourist. no rush, no stress, just going with the city flow. taking it easy because once i get back to hawaii, it’s going to get crazy again! but i can’t wait for that! have a wonderful day!

if you come to taiwan, you must get a taiwanese massage. one hour for only $26. cheap and really good. just ask Saito-san.

and just ask Naoka too. gosh, looks so peaceful!

if you ask me, it hurts! this lady was digging her fingers deep into my muscle. ouch!

well, every trip must come to an end. now it’s the fun part of catching 3 flights back to hawaii. and yeah, it will take a couple days so see you in a couple of days.

pretty cool riding propeller airplanes. you can feel every bump in the sky. kind of feels like surfing choppy conditions. i use to be scared of it, but now i love the ride!

first time i ever flew this chinese airplane.

always watching carefully when they are loading the surfboards.

Naoka and Saito-san’s surfboards look safe. my board is even safer in Mori-san’s house. i’ll be back soon.

raining on the runway.

it was pretty freaking hot the whole time! 36C or 96F. i must have sweat a few kilos. i’m feeling pretty light now.

and now that i’m running away from this typhoon, i’m heading back to another one heading to hawaii. hopefully get some good waves from it!
it’s been a really busy trip for me. but loving my flight time because all i do is sleep. goodnight as i board another plane heading to japan.

when i came here 2 years ago, Mori-san’s dream house was half built. was cool watching it come together. now, it’s fully built! freaking amazing! if i built my own dream house, it would look exactly like this. in fact, i’m going to ask Mori-san for the blueprints. haha. than i can dream big!

rented this brand new car from the airport and having fun driving around. feeling a little local. drivers up here drive crazy!!!

after an awesome evening surf session, the taiwan beers go down really good. we surfed until pitch dark! only us again as our dream surf trip continues.

when in taiwan, drink taiwan beer. simply said.

woke up this morning and OMG! solid 6′ perfect rights and nobody out!!! we scored again! felt so good riding a huge wall and carving it up. so stoked!

this typhoon is sending waves everywhere! and it’s not even done yet!

now i have to think about how to get home through this typhoon. changing airports by the minute and hopeful will be able to fly right through it tomorrow. we shall see and we shall hope because i work on tuesday morning. OMG!

more spots, more waves, and more memories. i love this place! thank you Mori-san for the wonderful experience. i’m sure i will see you again really soon. haha.