After my friends visited Miami, my friend Kim invited me to spend Memorial Day weekend in Orlando at her Airbnb.
Happenstance led me to eating a bunch of Asian cuisine from 3 separate countries in one day. We also visited a gorgeous botanical garden and kayaked lakes connected by canals.
This was an awesome, post-vaccination weekend and one I’d definitely do again sometime to see more of Orlando.
An Invitation To Orlando
I wasn’t planning on taking a trip to Orlando until my friend Kim suggested it.
Kim and I out observing the supermoon in April
Kim moved to Miami during the pandemic. She still has a home in Orlando that she rents out to tenants and Airbnb guests. She invited me to stay there for Memorial Day weekend when she would be visiting anyway. I took her up on the offer!
Kim has turned into a really great friend of mine in the last year. I am so grateful to have her in my new life down here in South Florida!
All The Asian Food
I didn’t intend to focus so much on Asian food my first day in Orlando—it just happened!
One of my Filipino students is from Orlando. She recommended Bread & Co. to me—a Korean bakery found inside an international Asian market called Lotte. I was going to try to stop there on my drive to the West Coast back in February. I drove through too late to catch it open. This time I was able to stop and pick up some international groceries, including my favorite Japanese treat: mochi!
Mochi is made of a gel-like, glutinous rice with cornstarch dusted on the outside. There’s usually a sweet filling like red bean paste. Mochi is traditionally made for the Japanese new year but it’s eaten all year round. I used to buy it fresh at the market near my apartment in New York. They are much harder to come by in South Florida. Hence, my craving!
Finally made it to Bread & Co.
The face of satisfaction!
After stopping by the Pulse memorial, I met Kim to settle into her Airbnb room. I put my things down and we immediately went out with her tenant, Tim and his fiancé Kate. They waited up for me to get dinner.
At first, we were going to eat Italian but the place required reservations. I’m not a huge fan of Italian so I was happy that we ended up at a Filipino restaurant. I really was missing indulging in great Asian cuisine. Orlando has a much larger Asian population (4.2%) than Miami (1.6%) and the largest in the state of Florida. So I was more than willing to get my fill of some authentic Asian food while in town!
Kate ordered a seafood pho and I followed. It was a rainy night in Orlando so this hot, broth-based meal was perfect.
Next we went to Royaltea. I don’t think there was a better way to top off my day of Asian foods than with a bubble tea! Bubble or Boba tea originated in Taiwan. Bubble tea gets its bubbles from the chewy tapioca balls that you suck up with a wide straw.
I had Royaltea’s signature Cheese Mousse Tea. I had no idea what I was going to experience but it was amazing! Sweet and a little salty. It hit the spot!
Mead Botanical Garden
The next day, we met Kim’s cousins at a beautiful park and botanical garden. Mead Botanical Garden is located in Winter Park which is a neighborhood of Orlando. We had a nice picnic in front of the performance pavilion.
The amphitheater in the park is a popular spot for weddings.
The part that I loved most was the main flower garden. There were lots of really unique flowers and plants.
One of the flowers had a really cute little green anole—a type of lizard. It appeared to be lapping up the nectar with a little pink tongue. Adorable! I love Florida for all its cute little lizards.
A separate area of the park has a boardwalk winding across a marsh. Winter Park has lots of waterways and lakes. I really enjoyed all of the vegetation here!
Kayaking The Canals Of Lake Maitland
On my last day in Orlando, we met Kim’s friend Fanny at Kraft Azalea Garden. I first met Fanny with Kim when they came to Sarasota to kayak the mangroves with me.
Not far from Mead, this spot has a kayak launch onto Lake Maitland here. We are definitely a kayaking crew now! The difference this time was we had Gaia with us. Gaia is Kim’s dog! This was the first time I ever had a dog on my kayak and she did great!
This lake is surrounded by big, beautiful homes. Small motorboats, kayaks, and paddleboarders frequent the lake. The day was a windy one but we made our way across the lake to a system of canals that were super fun to explore.
The canals were gorgeous, winding right through the backyards of some seriously beautiful homes.
We went as far back into the canals as we could go. One area had a very dense algae-covered surface. We would leave a path through the algae but it quickly closed up behind us. It looked like gliding across a carpet!
Eventually we made it back out and to our main destination—Dog Island! It seemed appropriate with Gaia in tow. We set up Fanny’s hammock, explored, and had a swim in the lake from the island.
Heading back to Kraft Azalea Garden was the toughest part of the day. The wind picked up and we were fighting against it on our paddle back. By the time we made it, my shoulders ached and I was exhausted but it was the good kind of exhausted!
In Conclusion
I really enjoyed the last time I visited Orlando, FL but this time it felt much closer to home—literally! Orlando definitely surprised me with its cultural differences from Miami. For one, I love the more expansive Asian food options in Orlando.
The gardens are beautiful and I really appreciate the lake-life culture being that Orlando is a land-locked city. This was the first time I was on fresh water with my kayak and the canals were awesome! I will definitely be back to explore some more in the future. It’s great to know I am not far from another great city in Florida.
