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!