Adventure and Snow!

The past weeks have been eventful! A long weekend trip to Hong Kong, midterms, and the first snow of the season! I even biked in the snow! It was chilling because of the cold wind and extremely wet because huge amount of rain and the melting snow.

 I'm slowly learning bits and pieces of Chinese culture.  I understand little things my parents do and why they do them.  The two cultures of my surroundings, American, and my home life, Chinese, clashed as I grew up.  Living and studying Chinese in China is helping me see Chinese culture in a new light.  It's helping to shape and change my perspective on how I see my parents. One thing I've learned is why some Chinese people like ot order so many Chinese dishes. It makes them seem as if they have a lot of money to give them more "face" or a kind of credibility. 

Hong Kong Trip

I went to Hong Kong during Halloween and ran into some Egyptians at the mall!

An old school Chinese vampire.

Eating at a mango Dessert place. It was so good! This is my cousin and her boyfriend. They showed me all around Hong Kong that weekend.

My cousin and I at the Lotus Flower statue.

At a street market with egg puffs in one hand and milk tea in the other! so good! I've never had egg puffs so crispy and fresh before!

One of the dinners in Hong Kong... I think it was a Shanghai restaurant.

 whoo! Dim Sum in Hong Kong! There isn't dim sum in the north of China, so it was awesome having dim sum again.

I was walking across one of the brides in Hong Kong and came along a San Francisco club! 

The buildings in Hong kong are extremely high!

I was taking the rollercoaster trolley (I have no idea what to call it) up to The Peak! This is like a San Francisco Cable car where it's pulled by cables up a steep mountain!

At the peak....

Avenue of Stars! It has a great view at night!  

A bakery with the cutest cupcakes that I would never purchase! They're so expensive but fun to look at (:

Charlie Brown Cafe! My cousin's boyfriend and I initially were looking for this cafe but gave up on finding it because we weren't sure how to get there. We wandered around looking for restaurants but weren't satisfied with the food choices.  After 20 minutes of walking around rejecting restaurants for lunch... we succeeded into stumbling upon Charlie Brown Cafe!

 A delicious Roasted Almost Latte.

The last lunch before I left for Beijing with my cousins and her boyfriend.

I had some time to facetiem with Nancy Wu who's at University of Michigan doing her masters. I miss her a lot.

It's snowing in Beijing! The first snowfall of many! 

中秋節 Break!

Mid Autumn Holiday is a national holiday in China. I had 9 days off (including two weekends!) Our coordinator planned a trip for us to visit neighboring cities of Beijing. Cities we visited were Jin Ling Shan Chang Cheng  (A part of the Great Wall), Cheng De, Bei Dai He (an east coast city of China), and Tian Jin. The last three cities have a population of over 1 million. We sat in a cramped bus for an average of 4-5 hours a day. The trip lasted about 5 days.

A look into the Great Wall.

The road to the Great Wall was a narrow road and sometimes people walked a little too slow.

There are so many bugs at the Great Wall. This one is of Ben, a Humbolt student in my program with a spider on his shoulder. 

One of the entrances to the Great Wall

 Am Empress' tomb! It wasn't yet opened to the public but we went anyway! The temple was lined with crazy looking animal statues.

This is the end of the great wall going into the ocean! We traveled to another city to see this part of the great wall.  

Crazy mosquito bites!! They get really red and swollen and then after a few days, they dissipate slowly. They end of looking like bruises for a little while. 

Night Lights in the city of Cheng De

I forget the name of this, but it's some kind of special bridge.

I also forgot where this was..... but it's really pretty.

Paddle boating with Fanny!

At a cool park. It was a big park with temples that are intact with some restoration.

I tried to imitate a picture our dad had of china a few years back.

1976 earthquake of TangShan memorial.

They had large granite walls about 50 feet high filled with names of those who passed away.

Look, a puppy in a rolling bag!

A guy paid to dress like an emperor from the traditanal times and saw my white classmates.  He motioned them to come over to take a picture.

At an entrance by Bei Dai He

At TianJin. This is a place where shops line up in the middle.

Dried meats and sausages

Dried fruits!

I was trying some sort of noodles that were dry and once a sauce was put in, it became a moist salty noodle.

A higher view of the market.

My friend and I wondered off to a mall nearby and there was an ice skating rink... in the basement level!