Dreams to South Korea

After having traveled to many different places, my next desirable destination is none other than South Korea. I was really into Korean pop culture and K-dramas (along with Japanese and Chinese too but my interest between the 3 goes back and forth sporadically). I still listen to Korean music and love Korean cuisine.

Here's some of my loves and reasons for wanting to go to Korea one day:

I love eating kimchi and kimchi fried rice so it'd be cool to eat it in Korea. 

I want to experience the night life and go shopping (just as I would anywhere)

This is Yeongdeungpo Times Square, one of the largest shopping malls in South Korea!  

I want to dress up in traditional clothes too.

Thailand

Ever held a tiger cub in your hands? Rode an elephant around the forest? Well if you haven't you can do all of that in Thailand. Going to zoos in Thailand was the most memorable probably because we went to at least 3 throughout our trip. Most times, it was just to watch the performances.

Sometimes I wonder if these animals are happy with performing or following what they're told to do.

 That is real corn; just all dried up

This was cool!

Attack on April!

Ok, so to change it up a bit, I'm going to talk about something else other than showing off the places I've been to. Madness Month is finally kicking in, as I assume it is for most (if not all) of you as well!

Things are getting crazy! One of my finals is tomorrow already!! (I will continue my studies as soon as I'm done with this post.)

Anyways, despite trying to balance work, school, and club/organization events, I've been really into this manga called Attack On Titans. I finished the 1st season of the anime recently, so I started on the manga since I can't wait for the anime's 2nd season to come out.


There's also a live action movie that's going to come out as well and the movie trailer is below, but I feel like it is more of a teaser trailer being that it's only 33 seconds. The film is set to premiere sometime between August & September 2015. A description of the story can be found below the video.







Attack on Titan, known in Japan as Shingeki no Kyojin (進撃の巨人, lit. is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama. The series began in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine on September 9, 2009, and has been collected into 15 tankōbon volumes as of December 9, 2014. It is set in a world where humanity lives inside cities surrounded by enormous walls as a defense against the Titans, gigantic humanoid creatures who eat humans seemingly without reason. The story initially centers on Eren Yeager, his adopted sister Mikasa Ackerman, and their childhood friend Armin Arlert, who join the military to fight the Titans after their home town is invaded and Eren's mother eaten. As the story progresses, the truth behind the origin of the Titans arises and the story shifts to one about political subterfuge.Attack on titan live action movie trailer,Attack on titan season 2,attack on titan ost,opening,trailer

Taiwan Time!

So after a couple days in Hong Kong, we joined a 8 day tour to Taiwan, encircling the island. Since there were 17 of us in our family-friend travel group, we had a tour guide and a whole tour bus all to ourselves.


I really liked our tour bus. During our longest road trip, which was 7 hours, we sang Karaoke to kill time.


This was one of the nicest hotels in the whole trip: the Hualien Chateau De Chine Hotel (Hualien Taiwan)
We stayed here the first 2 nights before moving. I had a very good sleep btw :)

Our 2nd hotel; same brand as the one above, but in a different city.

Part of one of our lunches: Yummy sticky rice stuffed in bamboo shoots =]

 Hard to see in the picture, but there is light shining out from the clouds above Buddha. 

Here's one of my favorite attractions: "Ai He"
Translates to "River of Love"

Taipei International Airport; You can get Hello Kitty tickets?!!?

One of our last pictures before we went back to Hong Kong after our 8 day tour in Taiwan

2015 Kawaii Kon!!

I also wanted to share that I went to Kawaii Kon for the first time!
For those who don't know what it is, it's an anime convention with a focus on Japanese animation and games. Many people attend as cosplayers, but it's not required. I cosplayed as Kiki from Kiki's Delivery Service, also a Studio Ghibli production by Hayao Miyazaki.

I tried to find a plush of Gigi, which is Kiki's companion, a black cat, at the Artist's Galley/Merchandise Vendors, but the closest thing I found was a coin purse of Gigi, so that was a bit disappointing. But I'm very happy I got to see characters from Sword Art Online!

 macaroons!

Some of my friends doing cosplay from RWBY

 Kirito & Asuna from SAO!
I wish they did a battle pose.

Sinon from SAO!

Island of Macau, Hong Kong

Hey guys,

So this week, we explore Macau, coined the Las Vegas of Hong Kong. The turbojet (boat) ride is about an hour to and from both places. Prior to going, we registered for a half day tour where they took us to several places in Macao, including the Macao Bridge, the Ruins of Saint Paul's, and did some shopping. After lunch at one of the hotels, we were dismissed from the end of the tour.

While at one of the hotels, we went to the casinos to gamble. I was 19 at the time, and since the legal gambling age in Macau is 18, I was able to enter the casino area and play for the first time ever! Upon entering the area, a security guard had to check our passport to make sure we were 18+
The security guard looked at my passport and back up at me at least 2 times before he said I look young, which I get a lot.

At night, we rode the turbojet back to Hong Kong.

 Here's our turbojet!

 Posing at the Macau Bridge :)

Ruins of Saint Paul's
I've seen this in Hong Kong drama's so it was nice to be there to see it up front.

On this same trip to Hong Kong and Macao, we also made arrangements for a 7 day tour to Taiwan, so that will be in the next post! 

Hong Kong

My first trip to Hong Kong was in 2008, 2nd trip was in 2010, and my 3rd trip was in 2012.
I have relatives in Hong Kong, so we like to visit them. On all three trips to Hong Kong, we also went to other places such as joining the tour to China that I had discussed in the last 2 weeks.
However, my post this week will be about my last visit to Hong Kong, in 2012.

Having been to Hong Kong 3 times, I've been to many places. One place in particular we went to was Sai Kung, Hong Kong; in search of a good seafood meal.

1. Seafood in Sai Kung, Hong Kong; very well known for their fresh seafood.

2. "Peeing Prawn" or also know as "Peeing Shrimp" (tasted like soft shell crab to me)

3. I don't even know what this is, but it was still alive; needs water though.

4. Green tea ice cream w/grass jelly in mango sago cream (so delicious!!)

5. What arcades in Hong Kong look like; it's big! (I got this pic before a lady worker told us no photography in the arcade)

6. Random picture I caught in Sai Kung after dinner

More pictures in Sai Kung area before and after dinner.

There's so much I want to say about my trips to Hong Kong, but to sum it up, I love going to Hong Kong for the food and shopping. Here, I'll compile some random pictures of what remind me of Hong Kong.

Hong Kong rail transit system is very efficient and one of the best in the world.

Most (if not all) of the trains I've been in were fairly clean and well maintained.

They have really nice and big shopping malls!

And we can't forget the durian! My family loves this stuff.

Next stop, we'll visit Macao.

Overseas Chinese Town East, Shenzhen

Hey guys!

Last blog post, I stopped at Zhangjiajie. This week, I'm taking you guys down to Shenzhen, specifically the Overseas Chinese Town East (OCT East); a popular tourist attraction of Shenzhen. My trip to China including the post from last week took place in early June 2010. Shenzhen was one of our last destinations before we went back to Hong Kong, which will be the topic of next week's post, so remember to revisit for that one too!

When I went to OCT East, many attractions and a hotel was still developing and under construction. Despite that, we still had tons of fun touring the area since it was so huge. We stayed in the area about a day and a half. The hotel we stayed at was designed very uniquely.

Here's the view of the hotel lobby standing from the entrance

Here's the roof of the lobby, that I thought looked really pretty.

Random picture I thought I'd throw in, but the shower stand reminded me of some sort of time capsule. 

Here's an aerial view of part of OCT East

My most memorable activity at OCT East was this boat bicycle thing. It felt like bumper cars (or bumper boats) when we collided. Luckily no one fell into the water.  

Tea cup rides are so relaxing. This tea cup ride took us around a nice little garden, with some figurines to entertain the younger kids.

As I conclude mys trip to China, the country side of China that we visited was beautiful and worth all the road trip hours. The views were spectacular and the air was definitely clean as opposed to what I hear about the central areas of China (such as Beijing, Shanghai, etc.)

Next stop, Hong Kong!

Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China

My family loves to travel together, so we made travel plans for 17 to the country side of China. It felt much safer and more fun to travel with family & family friends. 

One of the places we visited was the  Phoenix Ancient Town in Zhangjijie, Hunan Province. In touring the town, we road a boat through the waters that surrounded the buildings. After the boat ride, we stumbled upon a costume rental vendor where we could dress up in traditional clothing. 

We also went to the Tianmen Mountains of Zhangjiajie National Park, Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province. We hiked up the stairs to the top where the cave was.

Fun Fact: In 1999, professional stunt flyers from across the world went to Tianmen Mountains to perform stunts, while 7 of these flyers flew through the Tianmen Cave for the very first time. Since then, the landmark grew with popularity attracting many tourists and adventurers.

And here's the whole group!

Not everyone went up since it was really high up and the stairs were really narrow.

We are now all hiking back down. You can see how many people use the hand rails and some have to step sideways for better balance. Going down  was harder than going up. There's also a few rest stops along the way for people to stop and rest or take pictures.

More adventures from China to come!

Exploring Japan

Since we're on the topic of Japan, I thought I'd share a few experiences before I move onto the next culture/destination.


No Trash Bins
When I went to Japan, there were little to no trash bins. We carried most of our trash throughout the day until we came across a trash bin. However, we did come across recycle bins such as the ones shown below


After doing a bit of research for why there aren't many garbage disposals around, some of the more frequent answers were:

1. To prevent homeless bums from digging through the trash bins
2. To prevent a situation similar to the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995, where sarin (very harmful chemical) was discarded into public trash bins in the subway stations.

As a result, Japan is seen to be very clean and litter-free!


Nara Park
I also visited Nara Park, which was home to the city's deer. There were also small carts around the park for tourists to buy snacks and drinks, including crackers for to feed the deer.
When I went to Nara Park, I noticed the deer didn't crowd around the owner of the snack carts for crackers. Instead, they will monitor the people around the snack carts and once they purchase a bag of crackers, they horde around the person because they want to eat.
It was somewhat of a scary, yet exciting experience to be followed by a group of deer. If you run, they will come after you.

I remember there was this girl who bought a bag of crackers to feed the deer, but then she got scared after the deer crowded around her for the crackers. In reaction, she dropped the bag of crackers and ran away.




Botanical Gardens and more!
There is also some very beautiful scenery and gardens in Japan.

Hello Everyone

Welcome to my new blog!

About me:

I'm a lefty
Authentic Chinese
Hunt for shopping deals
Love to eat, sleep, and drink

Here on my blog, I hope to post about places that I want to one day travel to, so that I can shop their malls, eat delicious foods, experience new cultures and see beautiful scenery.

I've been wanting to go to Japan again, as the cherry blossom trees were all gone by the time I went in the Summer (June).

They say that cherry blossoms fall at 1 milimeter per second