The End of My Adventures...

So...I kinda really suck at blogging... Tonight is my last night in Seoul. I leave tomorrow afternoon for Seattle. I can't believe my trip is pretty much over! It's been a ton of fun and I'm really going to miss Asia, especially how cheap the food is! I don't understand why food is so expensive in the US. You can get a meal in Asia for like a third of the prices in the US. I'm going to miss the cheap shopping, the subway, the food, the age limit :P, etc....

Today the rest of my class left for Gyeongju, the capital of Korea during the olden days. But since my dad couldn't get me a later plane ticket, I couldn't go, which is okay with me... I've been traveling for a little less than 2 months now, but I think I'm ready to go home. I've had a lot of fun, seen a lot, done a lot, and now it feels like it's time to go home. The sucky thing is that I'm not actually going home home, but just back to Seattle...

While I've been in Korea, I've basically done a lot of sightseeing, touristy things. Climbing Mt. Dobong, going up the Seoul Tower, going to amusement parks, Korean folk villages, visiting the DMZ, palaces, etc. But I guess there has been some educational stuff. I got to get acupuncture on my lower back! That was an interesting experience... But my favorite thing to do in Korea is going to the Korean spa! I've been there four times this trip... :P It's so relaxing and nice, I wish we had something like it in the US! Well, I heard we do have it, but it's like 5 times more expensive =\ Why is Asia so much awesomer?

I'm really going to miss Korea a lot, and Asia in general (I miss Shanghai xiao long baos! D; ). But this has been a really great experience for me and I'm really excited to go on an exploration seminar again next summer (hopefully). For now, pictures and then off to bed for me! Just 11 more hours in Korea...

(below) it's my store! :P

yumm..best thing is it was only 1000won! (less than a dollar)

looking out towards North Korea

awww isn't it cute? it's a red bean bun! :)

most of the girls in front of the 63 tower (from "my girl"!!)

yayyy i love yunho :P

bulgogi burger! yumm

they were filming a korean drama at the folk village we visited

some path at the korean folk village..

kim hyun joong! <3

yay! i got to see my friend kanghee! :)

my professor and i at the teddy bear museum :)

you may not be able to tell..but the hand on the right is swollen....stupid mosquito bites.. (that's what all the bandages are for too :P) i kept getting like 10 bites at a time... you can kinda see the bandage on my face...yup they bit my face too X.X

i'm gonna miss korean food :(

Anyong! :P (This is for you, Ge)

Well, my first post in Seoul! So far it's been pretty fun here, it kinda reminds me of China, but I can't speak the language, people smoke way more, people are a little nicer, quieter, maybe more polite?, and it's cleaner. :P I flew into Seoul on the 25th around 4pm? then had to wait for the rest of my class to get here.

But I'm glad I didn't have to wait long for them! Because before Sunday morning, my ticket had been for arrival on the 24th because I had thought that my class was arriving on that day, only to discover Saturday night, the night before my dad left, that they were leaving on the 24th. So after much stress and confusion (and more money =\), my dad finally rebooked my ticket. Thankfully everything worked out okay.

So after meeting up with the rest of my class, we all boarded our bus to the place we're staying at. It was quite an..interesting ride... I'm pretty sure we were driving on the median because it was a bumpy road, like every two seconds, there was a bump. Then, our bus driver accidentally hit another car, which made our journey even longer! And I hadn't eaten for a good eight hours so it was kind of bad luck... But finally we got to our place and after settling in, we all headed out to get food, phone cards, and water.

It's been pretty much a week since I got to Seoul, so this post is kind of a long time coming.. There's just been so much to do that it's hard to sit down and just post about it all. I've been to the club once (I'm legal here! :P), but it was only on the second try that I actually got a chance to go. The first time, most of my class and I ended up walking for about 4 hours with most of us in heels trying to find a club, only to find that it was empty. So we went home. But the second time we finally found a club after about 10 minutes of walking. Clubbing in Korea is definitely a different experience, but it was fun nonetheless.

I've also been to the noraebang (karaoke) twice! :P Both times was with my professor and some of the group so it was a lot of fun, especially because my professor raps for us because she's the only that can read Korean fast (she's an older woman :P).

Yesterday, we went to the Korean spa which was realllly nice! A couple of us got full body scrubs which was kind of weird because everybody is walking around without clothes on (even smoking...), but it was worth it! After the scrub, the bed I was lying on had sooo much dirt, it was nice to see that it was all gone (probably not for long :( ). Also, they had sauna rooms with different temperatures for each one. The hottest one they had was about 92 degrees CELSIUS! That's almost 200 degrees Fahrenheit! The moment I went inside, I was sweating like crazy! After spending about 5 minutes inside, I had to run to the igloo, which was pretty much a freezer :P Overall, the spa was soo relaxing and nice.

I feel like I've done a lot of playing here and not a whole lot of studying....but in terms of studying, we got to go visit a pharmaceutical company, tour a hospital (a realllly nice one!).

Well, that's all for now...pictures!!! :P

The whole group! :P

An amusement park we went to :)

A bboy performance we went to

Waiting in line for a roller coaster! (77 degree inclination!!) :P

Have to have an Asian picture! :P Until next time! (hopefully soon..)

hello, goodbye

Ah! I haven't updated in a while since blogging is banned in China! along with facebook and youtube...but I've found my way around that! :P... so this is my first post in China and probably my last...

It was bittersweet leaving Singapore. I got to hang out a lot with my cousins, going to a water park and going karaoke-ing and just hanging out. We even caused a blackout in my grandma's apartment building... The elevator in her apartment is super small and only carries around 11 people but since we had like 14 people, we decided to just squeeze and ride up to the 13th floor where our aunts and uncles were waiting for us. So we all got in, and as soon as it went up like a foot, it jolted and stopped. So we opened the elevator door and stepped down from the elevator...and the entire first floor was dark! The weird thing is that the elevators still worked. So we split up into two groups and went upstairs. But as soon as we got upstairs, we found out that the whole apartment building had no electricity. So we just sat around in the dark and played games until the lights came back on. That's the first time I've ever caused a blackout! Hopefully the last... :P

After leaving China, my parents, sisters, and I flew off to Shanghai. It wasn't as hot as I had been told it would be, but I hadn't thought Singapore was very hot this year either (probably because of the heat in Seattle!). After settling in at our friends' place, we got to skype with Sam who's researching in Greece during August and September. It was nice to see him again and have a mini family reunion over the internet. Since I've been here, it's been lots of food (especially KFC and McDonalds, which I'm going to miss cause it's A LOT better than in the US!), lots of shopping and bargaining, and lots of walking. Also, the temperature has definitely shot up since we started out here. My dad brought us to Suzhou and Hangzhou, to other areas close by to Shanghai. Basically it was a lot of walking around lakes and gardens. Not exactly my favorite, especially when the weather is in the 90s.

But some things that have been fun here...karaoke-ing with just the fam, shopping a lot! :P eating a lot of kfc and mcdonalds (taro pie and ice cream is the best! :D), hanging out with my aunt and uncle who we've never really hung out with before :) ummmmm shopping and eating are such a reoccurrence in my blogs...i think that's probably what i do best :(

I'm not exactly a huge fan of China, but I think I'm learning to tolerate it. In particular, I really dislike how people are really rude here, just pushing and not waiting their turn, littering and spitting everywhere, letting their kids go to the bathroom on the side of the street (some of the kids wear pants that don't have a front and a back so it's easier to do their business...), etc. For my first time in China, I was both impressed and not so impressed... I really love some of the food here, especially xiao long baos! I love bargaining at the little shops, even though I'm probably getting ripped off still... and I love the prices here! It's SO much cheaper than in the US! At McDonalds, my ice cream cone cost less than 50 cents! And a burger and coke is about 2 dollars! Ahh....I'm definitely going to miss the prices here.

Tomorrow morning, my parents and little sister are flying back to the States, while my sister and I spend one more day in Shanghai. Then it's off to Seattle for my sister and off to Seoul for me! At the same time that I'm super excited to go to Korea, I'm going to miss hanging out with my family, sans Sam... It's been pretty much a year since we did something like this, and it's always bittersweet leaving them again.

Well, it's my last night with my parents here in Shanghai and I probably won't see them again for another month....so, until Seoul!

:( no pictures for this blog post because my proxies won't allow it :( I guess next time then!

food poisoning makes for a not so fun day :(

The next morning after bowling was pretty slow, my aunt took my sisters and I out to lunch, a place where there were wayyy too many birds for my liking. Then, we stopped by a park to take pictures, then headed back to go swimming. After swimming, we went to another park with my dad's side of the family. It was pretty boring to begin with...but my sisters and I found a way to entertain ourselves with taking lots of pictures and finding a playground! :P Afterwards, we were all really hungry so we went off to a hawker center to eat. We got a ton of good food to eat and after finishing it all up, we headed back to my aunt's.

The morning after was terrible... or pretty much the day after. My whole family woke up with food poisoning. Only my aunt was lucky enough not to get food poisoning. She was the only one that didn't eat the sting ray, so that was probably what caused it. We spent pretty much the whole morning and afternoon in pain, and for my sisters and I, puking as well (first time since like fifth grade! =\ ). By the end of the afternoon, I was the only one still suffering from food poisoning. After having my temperature taken at 39.9 degrees Celsius (103.82F), my family took me to the doctor where I had to get a shot for the stomach cramps and then was prescribed like 10 different medicines. It really sucked getting food poisoning that particular day cause my cousins had arranged for all of us to go with them to a water park in the morning and then there was a bbq at night for my mom's side of the family, which would be the first time I had seen most of cousins since a year ago. But because I was sick, I had to stay home and sleep while my family got to go eat lots and lots of food and hang out with my cousins. For the next two to three days (basically the rest of my stay here), I'm supposed to stay away from milk and from oily or spicy foods, which pretty much rules out a lot of food here in Singapore :(. Ah, oh well, I guess I'll have to wait till Shanghai to eat more good food!

At HortPark..just missing Sam :(

My cousin trying to catch bubbles :P

I'm on a boat! XP

What caused all the pain...

Probably my last actual good meal in Singapore since no more spicy or oily food for me here :(

h1n1, haircuts, and durian

The third day of my trip was more shopping and eating...and exactly where we were the day before. But this time, without my dad and with my grandpa who was super hilarious. Back in the US, H1N1 doesn't seem like that huge of a deal, but here it's definitely a bigger deal. It's not like everyone's wearing a mask, but there definitely are people who do wear masks around. And my grandma was pretty adamant about wanting my grandpa to wear his mask when he went out to lunch with us. Just the worry that everyone in my family has about H1N1 makes it feel like a lot more serious than I've thought it's been. After shopping, eating, and visiting with my relatives, my sister and I went back to my aunt's flat and swam. :) Swimming in the dark after hours is probably one of the best things ever.

Today, my fourth day, my mom brought my sisters and I to two other malls where we shopped for a total of like 7 hours. After getting a haircut (10 Singapore dollars! :P which is $6.95 in the US) and shopping a lot, we went and visited my mom's side of the family. After watching some dramas on tv (a favorite pastime of both sides of my family...), we went to eat durian and then went bowling :) It's always fun hanging out with my mom's side of the family cause there are a ton more people and kids. Even though I pretty much suck at bowling...it was a ton of fun. Picture time! :P

Lunch! :) 小笼包 and other stuff...

Huge toy sale at Takashimaya

Some cool fake aquarium thing at the mall

Snack again! Coffee (they call it kopi here for some reason..) and kaya toast :D

My breakfast pretty much every single day :)

One of my favorite foods in Singapore! (but then I have a lot...) called chwee kueh.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chwee_kueh :P

Another favorite...roti prata with curry.

Chendol with durian

Getting a haircut...

Time to eat durian! XP

We ate quiteee a bit....like at least 12 durians for 10 people?

Eating, Shopping, Eating...The Never Ending Cycle

The weather has actually been pretty decent here in Singapore, not being too hot or humid. Perhaps it's because Seattle was just way too hot the last week I was there. But even then, my family and I kept cool by staying indoors with a never ending cycle of eating and shopping (basically two things that Singapore is probably known for :P). I convinced my parents to bring us shopping at a mall called Plaza Singapura just so that I could see the music store that my friend Thad's parents own. So, my family and I rode the MRT to go shopping and eating at Plaza Singapura. We spent the day shopping there and along Orchard Road, which is basically shopping central of Singapore. :) Even though it was a lot of fun shopping and eating, it was a surprisingly tiring day. To make it even more tiring, it took us at least an hour to get back to my aunt's house, transferring three times on the MRT, figuring out the bus system, then climbing a hill to her place. Perhaps tonight I'll actually be going to bed early :P I guess shopping and eating doesn't make for a super interesting post, but hopefully pictures make up for it! :)

The creative way for taking family pictures (minus Sam) on the MRT :P

Time to shop! :D

Some of the many escalators at Plaza Singapura

Lunch time :)

I found Thad's parents' shop!!! :D

Playing games at one of the awesome shops at Plaza Singapura :D

My dad and my typical stop...the bookstore (This picture is dedicated to Alvin Chang XP)

Snack? :P Coffee and toast

next (super expensive) mall! :P

dinner :P

and more snacks! :)

favorritteeee <3

Until tomorrow? :P But for now...it's time for bed :) (11:30PM...amazing! XP)

The Beginning of My Adventures! :P

After spending about seven weeks in Seattle hanging out with friends and doing not much else, I didn't realize how much I would miss Seattle and all my amazing friends. But now that I'm in Singapore, I'm ready for the second half my summer to begin :P

At Golden Gardens Beach <3

Hanging out by the fountain :P

At Seattle Center :)

I flew into Changi International Airport at around 11PM and like usual in Singapore, my mom, my aunt, and my sister took me to eat right away. This is my fourth time visiting Singapore, and after every single visit, it's always the food that is one of the things that I miss most. So it was nice to be able to go eat real Singaporean food again even if it was just something small :) I've never really had a problem with jetlag on my way to Singapore, which is a good thing...but on the way back is a different story.

Today was a pretty slow day, just full of eating and pictures. It was my grandma's birthday, so my dad's whole side of the family went out to eat at a seafood restaurant and basically just ate and took a lot of pictures :) Plus it was my first time meeting my youngest cousin, who is just three months old, so that called for lots of pictures :P And then my camera died...so here a just a few pictures from today :)

First picture in Singapore! :P

the crab got me :(

My cousin! <3

One thing that's different about traveling then staying in Seattle is bed time.. in Seattle, I'd be up till 3-4am but when I'm with my family, bed time is much earlier. Even though 2am (the current time...) is still later than the rest of my family (who are all in bed right now..), it's much more difficult to stay up late when they keep coming out to tell you to go to bed.. So I guess that's it for now! Time for bed :P