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post #453

- woke up around 8am from jet lag still. used some CMB and hinge in bed, then got up and went to starbucks across the street

- got ham and swiss sandwich + white chocolate coffee. then walked over to bed bath and beyond to get cleaning supplies like swiffer and 409 cleaner and brita filter, etc. remaining items that i needed. fortunately dad had gotten me some of the stuff before we moved in yesterday, like paper towels, toilet paper, toilet cleaner, etc. he is a great father :D 

- walked back home and facetime’d dad to try to find my bed sheets from BU senior year. they were nowhere to be found. i faintly remember them being in a trash bag when i moved out...? it’s possible they got donated by accident when i was cleaning out my wardrobe... anyway, dad said he could bring my current bed sheets at home and blanket and other things. i was like okay sweet that’d be great. and remaining items like humidifier, monitor, PC, some more cooking supplies, etc

- i spent the afternoon cleaning up the entire apartment. swiffer everything first. then wiped with cleaning wipes. then used drano on the shower drain to see if it would work (it did, yay). unpacked my clothes into the wardrobe. whew, it was great finally starting to unpack everything cause i was getting stressed out about it last night/also tired

- went to get lasagna next door at justino’s

- came back and continued unpacking my stuff. like cooking utensils/supplies, etc. the rest of the stuff i have are all related to my computer desk, which i need to build first

- dad came in around 5pm with my stuff. he also stopped by ikea to pick up the table top LINMON cause when we went to ikea yesterday they didn’t have that piece. and he also brought the TV from the master bedroom cause we discussed it and he said he and mom don’t really use it so they can give it to me for now. and he brought all my other stuff. and he sat through traffic in lincoln tunnel to get here. i felt really grateful that he did all of this for me

we also had good timing and he got a parking spot. so we unloaded the car and dropped off all my stuff in the apartment. then he headed out, getting back around 7pm

i focused on my computer desk. around 6pm, i hopped on a call with brian and he told me what happened with yvonne. while we were on the call i was building the drawer unit of my desk since that was the most complicated part. he also told me how things were going in LA in general. it was nice to catch up. by 8pm i attached the two legs on the tabletop, and then finally put it all together and finished it :D wheeeew so glad i finally got all that done

ordered bulgolgi at a korean place nearby. without realizing it’d cost $18... sigh. picked it up and brought it back and watched patriot act episode on Supreme. very interesting

- took a shower, shaved, then chilled in bed. hopped on discord again with brian as i shopped for a desk chair. i just wanted something cheap and simple but at least decent quality, eventually found something on amazon

also chris tucker posted a photo of him and jackie holding 4 fingers up to signify rush hour 4. HYPEEEE. it was posted like 10 hours ago

that’s about it, i went to sleep around 11:30pm, getting ready for my first day of work tomorrow

post #452

- woke up at 9am ish. partly from jet lag and partly from the construction guy tearing out the floor boards downstairs. dad made some bacon for breakfast so i ate that + some bread

- this really cute girl liked me on CMB. i was so surprised cause it was the first time i used the app in like a month. and i was like... ??? she liked me???? maybe it was an accidental press but i messaged her. i’m writing this on wednesday april 10. after our initial conversation she stopped responding :(

then sheena suggested panera cause she needed to head to the musical and i was like oooh okay. so we went to sunoco first to get her gas. while we waited i helped her download the starbucks app to help her earn points. then we went to panera to pick up our orders that i put in on my phone (i just got chicken noodle soup. she got a chicken caesar salad). then went to starbucks so she could get some coffee and she paid with the app to get points yay

- then she dropped me off back at home and went to school for a 2pm showing of the musical. she had to be there around 12pm but since we were running late probably got there around 12:30pm oops :p

- i ate my chicken noodle soup. then helped dad move out the latter half of our living room. the original plan was for the construction guy to only do half of the living room. but as he tore down half and started filling it in, he told us the floor board heights weren’t even :o so then my dad was like... hmm guess we’ll just do the whole living room. so i helped my dad move the center and left piece of the TV stand

- then went to ikea with my dad. we bought a computer desk, night stand, shoe rack, welcome mat, bathroom mat, other miscellaneous things i might need

- went to check out and then drove back home. i started loading up the car with my stuff while dad cleared out the fish tank of water to get ready to move it.  then we moved the fish tank and refilled it halfway with some more water. whew that was a lot of work but we got it. there was one or two spills :s

- went to the buffet on easton for dinner. it was just me and dad so mom could stay home and oversee the guy’s work/help him pick the right floorboards. he moved onto to the study room while we unpacked the rest of the living room today

- came back home, loaded up the mattress onto the car, and then we were on our way to NYC

- we left around 7:30pm. got to the city around 9:30pm ish. dad talked to me more about always keeping an open eye for opportunity. especially at bigger companies, like if it’s your own idea you should pursue it

once we got into the city, fortunately for good timing, we found a parking spot right outside the door. we unloaded everything, then dad helped me set up the mattress. then he headed back home. i thanked him a lot for helping me move everything and then he left around 11pm, getting back home around 1am. i feel very appreciative for my parents, they’re willing to put in so much time to help me move and get settled. and he also planned to come back tomorrow on another trip to move remaining stuff depending on if i needed it. i felt so indebted and thankful

- i was exhausted, it was a long day of moving stuff. and then when i went to put on the mattress sheets, i realized they were the twin sheets for my BU bed... not my queen bed. RIPPPPPP. i called my dad about it and he said we can discuss tomorrow for his second trip back 

so i slept in a sleeping bag for the night on top of the mattress. fortunately i brought my pillow with me in my suitcase

that was about it. whew. also the apartment was really grimy so the first thing i need to do is clean it tomorrow. also the shower and bathroom sink drain are really slow to drain :/ aiyah so many things to do, it stressed me out

post #451

- shopped for wifi, gamecube adapter for sheena, and internet online

- spent the afternoon packing my stuff (camera, drone, desk stuff, etc)

- i also felt like i was back to 100%. like very very minor congestion in my head but for the most part no longer sick

- sheena got back from school around 3pm and asked if i wanted to play smash i was like yeah sure. we played for like an hour before she had to go back to school for her musical prep

- ate dinner with the fam at home. dad taught me about some history about chinese memorial day which was interesting. we went to the high school around 7:15pm for it to start around 7:30pm. my seat was separate from mom and dad’s so i sat down. then i realized in front of me was my high school librarian!! i said hi and it was very nice and wholesome. he was with his family and told his daughters about the videos we made together. i realized this later but it’s been like 5 years since we made those videos which is awesome and crazy he remembers it 

- the musical started and it was great. they did into the woods and sheena was one of cinderella’s sisters. she played the part of a bratty sister really well LOOOL. overall they really put on a great musical. lots of great singing and comedic acting at points (the baker, the narrator, the two princes). and they were synced with the pit orchestra very well too

- had a 15 minute intermission, then watched the latter half. it was a really long play, like 3 hours. i’ve also never read/seen into the woods and it was cool that they mashed every fairy tale together as like a satire 

- met up with sheena afterwards to congratulate her and then she went out to a diner with the cast and crew to hang out

- mom and dad and i drove back home. i helped dad move some of the living room furniture, mostly the right hand side of the TV stand. the construction guy was coming back to do the wooden floorboards tomorrow

- went back upstairs, watched zero’s high school story video which was really funny to me for some reason and i finally subscribed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcupADNkSk0

went to sleep around 12am. i used hinge in bed for like an hour though LOL

post #450

condensed post:

- woke up around 10:30am, and got out of bed around 11am. i went to bed around 12:30am last night. i woke up once in the middle of the night around 4am to pee 

- ate a banana muffin + milk as breakfast. and some chinese herbal medicine drink thing

- tried to practice some piano for a bit. reviewed claire de lune, deux arabasques. and also learned a bit of mia and seb’s theme from lala land

- dad came home with some panera bread cause he asked if i wanted anything. i gotta get me that chicken noodle soup to heal

i mostly had a stuffy nose for today. so i guess that means i’m getting better...? 

played smash from 2pm-6pm. i played wolf to get him into elite smash. then got pokemon trainer into elite smash by some unknown luck. then played snake in elite smash, got knocked out, then back in. i think i’m starting to get better at noticing people’s habits and trying to take advantage of them. i just wish people would stay longer than just one match. cause they’ll play and beat me. but then leave. i did play with this one mario for about like 6 games. he was really good. i kept getting juggled just cause snake’s a heavy character and mario can juggle really well. especially on battlefield. he up aired me and up-b’ed me to death

- ate dinner with the fam around 7pm. also typed up the past two days blog posts. sheena noticed that the carpet was wet near the sink and upon further investigation dad found that the pipe was actually leaking from the sink. it’s been there for several days now apparently :o dad fixed it up after dinner though and now we’re all good

also dad mom and i moved some wheels under the piano. dad thought of it cause we’re gonna need to be able to wheel around the piano for when the construction guy comes to redo the floorboards. also dad helped me figure out some stuff like apartment logistics (keys, signed lease), TV from their room since they don’t really use it, and maybe a coffee table (? not sure, i kind of wanna get a new one/my own)

post #449

condensed post:

- woke up pretty early, like around 8:30am. i also woke up again at like 4am cause of jet lag. then again at 6:30am. it was cause i had gone to bed at like 9pm last night LOL

- ate oatmeal + banana + pb then got changed. mom was wfh and she said the cleaning people were coming/she needed the car later in the afternoon. so i took it to ikea to go shopping for my apt

i stopped by a panera near ikea around 11am to get some lunch. bbq mac + cheese and chicken noodle soup. and i watched patriot act episode on chinese censorship in season 2

then i went to ikea and i spent a while looking at desks debating on what i should get. i also visited the couch section to think about what kind of couches i should get. snapped some pics of all of them. i think i’m set on the linmon alex computer desk. then i walked through the rest of ikea, taking note of everything i’d need (i.e. towel mat, couch table, rug, garbage bin, etc)

- drove back and then stopped by panera again to pick up another meal cause i was still kind of hungry/wanted more soup. i got a fruit salad and chicken noodle soup picked it up and got home by like 1:30pm. then watched another episode of patriot act on student loans season 2. it’s an interesting show, kind of like a millenial feel of last week tonight with john oliver

- took a long shower and then spent some time looking at which credit cards i should get. i applied for a chase freedom plus and then got rejected. rip. but i found my check book for bank of america at least so i can pay for rent. i’ll figure out the credit card later once i have enough monies in my bank account

- went downstairs and talked with dad. we chatted about the food that i had in shanghai and beijing. i showed him most of the pictures i took and he could identify all of them :) he seemed really happy and it was a wholesome time

- went upstairs and was about to play smash but sheena came home early cause rehearsal started earlier today. she was like wanna play?? so i was like hell yeah so we played doubles for like 10 minutes

then went downstairs and ate dinner with the family. mom shared an interesting story about when she went to shanghai with her company in 2005 and what an experience that was. it was really funny cause all her coworkers were so uncomfortable by the cultural norms in china at the time. i.e. they walked into a shop and a guy started tape measuring the person without even asking. in america there’s this sense of personal space but in china they don’t really think about it. at least back then. also had a brief conversation about the wage gap with sheena and highly recommended she check out Vox Explained on netflix

- we played some more doubles after dinner until about 9pm. then sheena went to sleep. i played smash solo with wolf until like 11:30pm. i played in elite smash then lost a lot all the way down to like 3.9mil GSP. rip. oh well. i was waiting to hop on a call with brian and tyrone cause brian and his gf broke up :/ 

but i didn’t wanna go to sleep too late cause i’m still kind of sick it’s mostly just been a stuffy nose, just kind of mild. but yeah turns out brian went rock climbing and i had fallen asleep by the time he had gotten home (time zones). oh well, we’ll call tomorrow

#post #448

condensed post:

- woke up at 4am in the middle of the night due to jet lag. then woke up again at like 8:30am ish. still had a somewhat mild sore throat and starting to get a stuffy nose

- watched some youtube and ate pb + oatmeal + banana. then went out to panera to eat lunch. i got the baja mac + cheese and chicken noodle soup. i watched patriot act season 2 on “civil rights under trump”. it was an interesting/solid episode

- came back home and spent a while updating all my blog posts around 1:30pm. i did all the remaining stuff in beijing from march 28 ish through april 1

also shifted and backed up the backup of my asia travel videos. officially signed up for internet for my apartment and also figured out the energy bill (why it was $42 despite not living there—it’s cause there’s a flat fee for gas and electricity T.T)

- played smash online from 4-7pm. i think i mostly just played wolf…? and snake a bit in elite smash. i kind of forgot. nothing too noteworthy i guess

- ate dinner with the fam at 7pm. sheena wasn’t home again cause she was at rehearsal cause it’s coming up this weekend

- took some medicine. i took like a chinese herb medicine drink thing. then drowsy night time medicine. and then nasal decongestion. after i took a shower, i felt insanely exhausted. i passed out by like 9:30pm loooool

that’s about it. just trying to recover mentally and physically by next monday

post #447

- woke up around 8am due to jet lag. ate breakfast with mom and dad. i just ate like two bananas :p they both went to work. i was most definitely sick with a sore throat. so i started drinking a bunch of hot water. dad told me to take some medicine so i did that. plus took some tylenol

- took a long shower. then watched some youtube videos. like peter mckinnon’s hollywood magic reaction video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6m0agKATUU

very interesting stuff

- dad came home with panera. i asked him to get baja mac+cheese and chicken hoodle soup and he brought it home for me :D i ate that and it helped my sore throat feel better. he heated up dinner leftovers as his lunch and talked a bit more about china/the political system in relation to america. there are pros and cons to each system

- he went back to work and i went to sleep from like 1:30pm-4pm. then started to try to set up my internet in my apartment, looked a bit into wifi routers, then played smash online for two hours from 5-7pm. i got wolf into elite smash :D at like 4.27mil GSP

- ate dinner with the fam. dad made tofu + bean curd in a soup thing so it was easier on my throat. it helped a bit. wai po also called us near the end of dinner and i got to say hi to her :D 

- played smash online with deepak and tyrone from 8-10pm ish. then 1 on 1 with tyrone until 11pm. then i went to sleep

i was tired and felt kind of sick. i tried not to talk too much on our call but occasionally did chat so my throat was a bit sore

sigh. i guess if i’m sick it might as well be now. so i can have at least like a week to recover before i start working

post #446

condensed post:

- woke up at 4am. i slept 12-4am, then woke up naturally from jet lag. took an uber to the airport. checked in, got some dunkin donuts, then was told there was maintenance issues and they wouldn’t have an update until 9am... our flight was scheduled to leave at 6:47am... then they were like “okay we’ve found you a new plane, go to gate b12″. so we switched gates then boarded. and departed at 7:30am. so overall just a one hour delay

- got back to the philly airport and dad picked me up. we drove back to the house and he made some egg fried rice for me. sheena ate some bacon, then went to rehearsal at 12pm

- i chatted with mom and dad a bit about all the things i learned/saw in asia. took a long shower, started some laundry and went upstairs to chill for a bit. then slept from like 3-7pm. i was still really jet lagged. also just tired from traveling on the plane cause i hadn’t gotten an actual good night of sleep. when i woke up, i had a bit of a headache. i didn’t think anything of it and went downstairs to eat dinner with mom and dad

- sheena got back from rehearsal and then i talked with her about how she’s doing. she’s really excited to apply to colleges and move on to the next big thing. the school district’s making them write a common app essay draft so she said she just needed to write something down (even though it’s not being graded)

then we played smash doubles online until about 11pm. we talked a lot about politics in the U.S. vs china. it came up after she asked me about asia and we got into a bit of conversation around that

i played some wolf online to try to get him into elite smash 4.1 mil gsp currently, cutoff is at 4.2mil gsp

went to sleep around 1am. i was pretty sure i was a bit sick cause i started feeling a sore throat. i went to sleep hoping it wouldn’t develop too badly

post #445

condensed post:

- woke up at 10am. cleaned up all of our stuff, got ready and left the airbnb around 11am. the host said we could leave our luggage there until 2pm

- took the subway over to the silk street market. we found a pizza shop and ate pizza there. dimitri got greek pizza (but there was sausage on it so he picked it off) and i got hawaiian pizza. yummyyyy. it was my second time eating western food in asia in the past month. the first time was when we got burgers in HK. it makes me happy that i didn’t eat too much western food while i was there (even though it might not really matter too much)

- dimitri tried to get a gucci belt for his friend but the vendor said at least $400 USD... rip. so we went to the upper floors and found a jade shop. dimitri bargained/haggled which was really entertaining. he got 5 pieces of jade things for about 350 yuan. that’s pretty impressive considering the vendor started at like 4000 yuan. dimitri came prepared, he said he found online that it’s common for them to charge at least 10x. so you have to aim really really low. that was cool :D 

we browsed around other shops for a bit. there was a tech shop that was selling iPhone look alikes. i swear on the outside they looked so similar. like it was craaazy how similar. i asked the vendor if i could see it/play with it (cause once we play with the software we can tell if it’s real or not) and he said no. only if i buy it can i play with it :p so that was kind of a red flag that they were fake

- took the subway back to the airbnb, got our luggage around 2pm. we met the host briefly, since he was cleaning up the airbnb for the next set of guests

- took the subway to the airport. it took a while to get through security. when i first went to check my suitcase, they made me open it. the software saw some round looking thing that they weren’t sure about (it was just my camera lense). then once i got checked in and got my ticket, security also took a long time. they made me empty out basically my entire backpack. the first time it passed through, they asked me to pull out my charging cables and loose change. so i pulled those out. then there was my drone battery charger cable which i forgot to take out so they made that go through again. then my portable battery charger which i barely used this trip -- they made me take that out too. finally i was cleared. jeez. everyone else was waiting in line too because of this strict security

- ate at a restaurant in the airport. i got some more niu rou mian. dimitri got some spring egg rolls. then we chilled near the gate. our flight was delayed by an hour. it was supposed to leave 6:30pm but left closer to 7:30pm. i just watched some youtube videos

- we boarded the flight and then we were on our 22 hour long journey. we watched avengers infinity war together on the plane. we synced them together. what a dope movie. now we’re both really hyped for end game to come out later in april!! napped for about 2 hours. i started in the middle seat, dimitri started in the window seat (we were gonna switch 50/50 halfway through the flight)

got some food, then switched seats. i was in the window seat and slept another hour or two. dimitri was watching johnny english 3 when i woke up. and they also served another meal. so i synced and caught up to him and watched johnny english 3 with him while we ate our meals

- we landed in detroit around 8pm. everyone was panicking cause they had connecting flights to make. dimitri and i were in a rush. but me less so cause it’d actually be nice if i missed my connecting flight cause i could take detroit -> philly instead of detroit -> boston -> philly. i rushed through anyway to keep up with dimitri. delta seemed to delay all the connecting flights (or else they’d have to lose a lot of money). after sprinting through baggage re-check and security, we got on the connecting flight. whew

watched ocean’s 8 on the plane. it was meh... got to boston around 12am. got our bags. dimitri’s luggage was left in detroit but somehow mine was still with me

- ubered to dimitri’s house and said hi to alex. then both of us passed out. dimitri let me crash on his couch until the next morning. we had a 22 hour long journey but in real time we left march 30 6:30pm and got to boston march 30 11:30pm. how interesting time zones are

before we went to sleep dimitri and i did our lee + carter handshake from rush hour one last time :’(

this past month of traveling has been so much fun. i’m sad that it’s over :( i feel like i learned so much talking with the tour guides and traveling these different asian countries. especially about china. dimitri and i also had a lot of great philosophical and other interesting discussions, ranging from us being in a VR world to talking about our past relationships, how people mature, dumb conversations like “idiot”, but also so many other topics. it’s been such a great opportunity and i kind of wish it went on for a few weeks longer. but also i’m ready to be back at home and ready to crash and sleep. it’s nice to be back in a country where i can also speak english normally :p

post #444

condensed post:

- woke up around 10am. lazed around for a bit and then took the subway on our way to the great wall. we followed a guide and took the subway to dongzhimen station. then got some food in a mall area. i got some niu rou mian and dimitri got some pastry + sandwiches. then he got some garlic bread for the road

- we took the 916 express bus for about an hour. then when we got off, we were bombarded by private taxi drivers trying to give us a ride to the great wall. we refused. but eventually had to cave in cause the h23 and the other buses would take forever to get to us. they were really infrequent. we hopped on a taxi (like a licensed taxi) for 40 yuan to the great wall, it was like a 10-15 minute drive and kind of smoggy when we arrived

- we bought our tickets and it started raining :o but we took the shuttle up to the start point. instead of taking the gondola we just hiked up, which took maybe 40 ish minutes? it was a lot of stairs but not too bad. dimitri and i felt confident after the suicide cliff hike -- nothing could possibly be as hard as that hike :p while we were in the shuttle up to the base of the hike, the sun also cleared up and the smog too. interesting how fast the whether changes :o

- we walked around for about a mile or two, starting from point 10 to point 6, where the toboggan slides were. we were enjoying the walk so we walked backwards a bit, then back to the toboggan slides and slid all the way down. it t felt very safe and it was a lot of fun. but it was $15 USD... oh well, it was worth. we had some good conversation along the way, mostly talking about what it’s like to be “cool” and different types of personalities in people. and some other random topics.. i can’t remember cause it’s april 2 right now as i’m writing this, but i really enjoyed the walk/hanging out/talking 

- we left the great wall around 5pm. this woman was in a van and was driving on the way out and asked if we needed a ride to the 916 express stop. we were hesitant cause it seemed kind of out of the blue but she looked like she already had passengers in the car so we were like sure why not. we paid 20 yuan (10 each) and she dropped us off at the bus station

- took the 916 express for an hour back to downtown beijing. then went to da dong duck restaurant, recommended by danny. the duck was very very good :) 

- went back to near our airbnb to the pizza hut, dimitri wanted some cheese pizza. but on the menu, the waitress said they don’t have cheese pizza as an option... dimitri was annoyed so he left to go to family mart to get some dinner. i stayed to order the green tea ice cream cake. then dimitri found out family mart was closed and got more annoyed :( so he went to luo gu alley where we passed by yesterday. once i got my green tea ice cream cake to go, i met up with him and helped him find a place that had vegetarian options 

- headed back to the airbnb and then watched baby driver. it was such a gooooood movie. it was so different and weird which made it so interesting. it reminded me of quentin tarantino type movie but it’s by edgar wright, who made scott pilgrim vs. the world. such a good movie, A+ dialogue. i really liked the “fuck you buddy” line. and the intro musical dancing that was synced to things in the background

post #443

condensed post:

- woke up at 7am. got ready and then headed out to meet up with our host. we stopped by a pastry/coffee shop for breakfast and then met up with our host. instead of emma, we met andy who was very nice!

we started out with the temple of heaven. andy was extremely knowledgeable about the history and culture of everything we covered. we looked around at different types of temples. he told us how there were phoenixes and dragons to represent empresses and emperors. also the other types of temples like temple of sun, temple of moon, and something else at each of the different entrances. there were so many different facts that he told us about and the history as well. it was so insightful. for example the different dynasties and what each accomplished. we went to an echo wall too, and the use of buildings/pots for sacrifices

then we took a bus over to the tiananmen square area which was huge. it can fit up to 100,000 people. also they repaint the painting of mao every year, even though it's 8 tons. we didn't bring our passports cause we didn't know we had to but andy was really clutch and helped us get into the forbidden city. the forbidden city is actually massive. i didn't know it was that big, i thought it was just one plaza. he showed us around the hall of supreme harmony. we learned that the big gates had 9 by 9 dots because 9 was the highest odd number/no other people could. we went from the outer city to inner city to imperial city. no common people were allowed in there. also the black roof of the library to symbolize it for knowledge/not to catch on fire. there's so much symbolism behind the architecture in the buildings, it was really really cool to learn about. also the infrastructure that they build for fires from lightning or to handle earthquakes; we learned a lot. also one of the emperors fled when foreign invades invaded the country so the soldiers scraped gold from the golden statues on their way out (or something like that)

then we walked across the street out of the north exit to a top viewing point. the forbidden city was magnificent. it was so big and so many yellow roof tiled buildings :p

then we took a bus to get lunch near the drum tower. andy paid for our lunch and we got to learn more about him. he shared some stories about his personal life with his dad and aunt, as well as christianity. and we asked a bunch of other questions related to china in terms of college/education and jobs. over the past five hours we asked him a lot of questions related to history/points he was talking about but also politics/perspectives on china and the US. dimitri and i feel like we both got a very good perspective from talking to our tour guides the past few days. they seem to share the same sentiment in many regards which was very interesting

walked around drum tower and the surrounding baochao hutong roads, stopping by some small shops here and there

currently writing this at 5:46pm. dimitri's napping and i'm catching up on march 24 to today (march 28). all caught up :) also watched an interesting video interview of mr. beast with casey neistat

we're gonna get hot pot in a bit for dinner, will update later tonight

update:

we went to get skewer hot pot and it was very solid. i was very full by the end. then we went to pizza hut to get dessert. dimitri got some bubble tea and cake and i got a green tea ice cream cake

- came home and watched rush hour 3. i hadn’t seen it in a while but dimitri thought it was hilarious (and it is hilarious). i just have seen it so many times now LOL 

post #442

condensed post:

- woke up at 6am. my aunt prepared some boiled eggs and some reheated bao zi from yesterday for dimitri and i to eat. then my uncle's driver drove us to the shanghai train station, picking us up around 6:30am. i said good bye to my aunt and we hopped on the train for 8:15am

- it was about a 6 hour ride until 2:15pm, making occasional stops at cities along the way. i napped, then dimitri napped. i just listened to some lala land soundtrack music. also we played smash. and then planned what to do in beijing the next few days, booking an airbnb experience food tour for later tonight and day tour tomorrow

- figured out the subway system with google maps and took it to our airbnb which was about 30 minutes away. it was like 6 yuan, which is ridiculously cheap (a bit less than $1USD). just like taiwan :p

- chilled in the airbnb for a bit. i started catching up on my blog posts, typing up march 19 last day in thailand through 3 days in HK and then first day in shanghai march 24. and then we met up with danny, our food tour guide!

- we walked around and tried a bunch of different street food. learned about danny and how he's been in bejing for 25 years. he's a world traveler. he showed us 4 different cuisines, starting with bao zi and porridge. then cold noodles which were great, then scallion pancakes and finally a dessert place with an interesting selection of fermented bean something, sugar ear, sugar bean and something else i forgot the name of. part of it was cool cause of the food, but most of the interesting part was just getting to chat with him and learn about china/himself. he’s cycled from seattle to san diego O_O and also long distances in china. we also talked a bit more about the chinese government/politics, learning more about local perspectives on how they feel about the government/USA. it seems like the general consensus is that the US is still better for its opportunity and freedom of speech. the tour went from 6:30-8pm

- got back to the airbnb and chilled on our phones for a bit and then played some smash. our TV in the airbnb doesn't have an HDMI port rip. so we just played with the switch itself

post #441

condensed post:

- woke up at 7:30am and headed out to our bike tour. my aunt got us some bao and cooked some scrambled eggs. i ate at the table with my uncle, my aunt and dimitri. the water wasn't running when we got up but then came on shortly afterwards around 8am so dimitri took a quick shower. my aunt was on a call with my mom and dad so i got to say hi to them :D

- dimitri and i took a Didi cab around 8:15am and due to traffic and initially being unable to find a cab, we were late, getting there around 9:15am. but it worked out cause our host assigned us to another person for our own private tour

our host's name was Julia and she was such an interesting person. she had a lot of opinions about the chinese government and the USA, we learned so much throughout the day from her perspective we got to bike through and see the japanese concession, british concession, and french concession. every so often, we'd stop for a bit so she could take our picture or give us some more information about what we were looking at. we stopped by at a very local place for breakfast which was you tiao and a type of milk thing. we sat with an elderly guy since there were fewer tables and got to learn a bit more about his life/cultural revolution. Julia acted as a translator and just also in general was really friendly with all the locals

we also biked through the old town and then into the slums. she said that people were being moved by the government to build new skyscrapers which was unfortunate and sad :/ she showed us a lot of really local/historical aspects. for example describing the cultural revolution and how poor people were moved into the elite's houses to try to make everyone equal. and also bought fish from a local vendor. and also chatted with the locals, seeing their birds and two chickens (which i thought was interesting)

we stopped by for boba at heyjuice on the way back. i tried mango juice cheese tea, it was meh (not as good as heytea). then we biked all the way back to where we started

it was a REALLY great tour, i feel like i learned so much. Julia is also just such an interesting and adventurous person. she's really friendly and curious, wanting to appreciate much about history and chinese culture. but also very interested in learning about perspectives from other countries and hanging out with young people cause it makes her feel young. she told us how she tried to apply for a US visa 3 times but got rejected :/ maybe some day she can get it. also the tour charges very cheap, so dimitri felt like we should tip her a lot (we gave her around 200 yuan). she was so humble about it and said she's interested in sharing the culture of shanghai, not necessarily the money

the past two days, i felt like shanghai was just kind of like, "cool, this is a modern city”. but with the tour, it really felt like i learned a lot about the culture and history of the city, which was a perspective we could've only gotten from a local like her

she pointed us to some nearby shops for lunch for around 3pm and we said good bye. it was a full 5/6 ish hours of biking. dimitri and i ate food at a xiao long bao type place, then took a Didi back to my aunt's place around 4pm

we each took a shower and then napped until like 6pm. i did my laundry cause why not :p

my uncle went on a business trip to beijing for the day. my aunt was planning to go out to dinner with me and dimitri after we finished our nap. but she was like, what if we just ordered food on her phone. i was like booyah heck yeah that sounds great. she ordered a lot of really good hunan cuisine. i really like the mei gan cai, which is like pork + something else. and there was tofu and vegetables and scrambled eggs and just so much good food. SOOOOO good ahhhh

post #440

condensed post:

- woke up at 7am getting ready to go on the bike tour. but got a message from our airbnb host that it might rain later in the day. he said we could either get refunded or reschedule to tomorrow. dimitri and i decided to just reschedule to tomorrow cause we were sleepy and tired, plus it makes more sense to reschedule if it's gonna be sunny tomorrow anyway. went to sleep and woke up around 10am

- my aunt called me to confirm for dinner and asked me if we wanted to stay at her place for the next two nights since she was in town. once dimitri woke up we were like yeah let's stay with her :P

- we played a bit of smash on the TV until 11am, then went to get breakfast/lunch at Shanghai Grandmother, which dimitri saw had good vegetarian options/was near us when we were doing logistical stuff yesterday. then we went to the airbnb to get our stuff and took a cab to my aunt's place

- got there around 3pm and then settled down. she gave us some tea and snacks and we chatted for a bit. their place is sooooo nice. i saw pics from mom and sheena last summer when they were in shanghai but dang it's really spacious and big

- my aunt, dimitri and i went to walk along the pudong board walk area. it was nice and sunny most of the day. it never ended up raining in the morning but oh well. we walked along for about 2 miles, then my aunt dropped us off near the shanghai tower so we could check it out and she headed back. dimitri and i went to the top (to the 110th floor i think) and saw some of the views. it was really sick. the only thing was it was kind of smoggy so we couldn't get the full views of everything. we saw the shanghai financial center below us and the building that looks like taipei 101. also the oriental pearl tower

- went down around 6pm after my uncle called me, he just got off work and was on his way to pick us up with his driver. then we went to get dinner at a place in a mall just near my aunt's place. the food was pretty good, my uncle ordered us a lot of food LOL. we finished most of it but had some leftovers that yi ma packed to go. dimitri and i learned a bit based on how they ordered to accommodate for vegetarians cause that seems to be something i was struggling to translate to chinese

- my uncle had to go to another dinner meeting so he left a bit early after paying for our meal. my aunt, dimitri and i went to a nearby market to buy a bunch of asian snacks like crackers and pastries. then dimitri and i went to a nearby mall to get some more heytea. i got a berry + strawberry cheezo which honestly didn't taste that different from yesterday. it was also pretty good. also the wait was significantly shorter, like 15 minutes. it was late like 8:30/9pm ish so i'm guessing that's probably why there wasn't anyone around

- went back home and took a long shower, then dimitri and i started watching rush hour 1. we watched maybe the first 45 minutes or so and we were feeling sleepy so we went to bed around 10:30pm

post #439

- arrived in shanghai at 12:30am. after customs and everything, got to airbnb by 2am. then passed out around 4am

- woke up again around 11am and needed to do some logistical things today first. we started by walking towards the bund to check it out/stopped by a scallion pancake shop on the way. it was a street shop and honestly was so good. it was like cooked in a stove type thing kind of like prata which is unique

- we went around to about 3-4 banks trying to withdraw cash from ATM, eventually finding one that accepted visa. then got some SIM cards. it was 200 yuan for unlimited data from china unicom which was honestly very worth. dimitri had to get his phone unlocked and then got his SIM set up too and then we were ready by around 3pm to actually explore around

- walked around nanjing road looking around at the surrounding area. then stopped by a hot pot place cause we were like why not. i accidentally ordered a frog broth... LOL. we went to get our toppings like scallions and soy sauce and when i got back there were 4 dead frogs sitting on a plate for me to put in my broth. my chinese wasn't good enough to understand what they were asking me when i ordered so that was a big whoops. the waitress was understanding and helped me out by giving me something else that looked blue and bony o_o i think it was shoulder or knee bone of beef maybe…? idk but it was interesting. the hot pot itself was very filling, dimitri and i accidentally ordered way too much cause we weren't expecting such large portions

- went to hey tea in a mall nearby cause my friend said it was super good. we thought the wait would take forever but when we got there the line was decently short. it was only after we put in our order that the guy said it was a 50 minute wait for them to get us our order looool. so we just wandered around the mall for a bit and got it 30 minutes later. i guess they overestimate the wait time. we both got strawberry cheezo it was really goooooood. yummy. the salty cheese + sweet strawberry makes for a very interesting flavor/combo

- walked around the nanjing area some more and got some fried dumplings and xiao long bao to go. dimitri got some scallion pancakes and three oranges, then we walked back to the airbnb. the fried dumplings were pretty good but they were a bit cold by the time i got to eat them. the xiao long bao was eh in my opinion. it was beef + lobster but it tasted very seafood-y, like the really strong fish smell you smell at the supermarket

post #438

condensed post:

today was basically a rest and recover day

- woke up around 10:30am. checked out of the airbnb and left our luggage downstairs in a luggage room our host told us to go to. so many suitcases, he's running a full airbnb business here it seems like

- got some japanese style pancakes in K11 for breakfast which were pretty solid. mine was so sweet (banana + chocolate + whipped cream) i was starting to feel a bit sick

- went to get massages. dimitri got a foot massage cause his feet were so sore from the hike two days ago. i got a full body massage with the hope that my back would be fixed. it definitely improved but still not 100%. we each did 45 minutes for our own thing then went to get lunch

- i got mak's noodles one last time. i got beef brisket and wonton thinking there would be noodles but there wasn't :( sad. dimitri tried to go to a vegetarian place nearby but it was closed. like he walked in on a construction worker cleaning up rubble LOL. so he went to one peking mall to a vegetarian place so i went there and met up with him while he ate

my lunch wasn't too filling but oh well

- went to watch captain marvel in HK.  it was really dooooope. there were subtitles in chinese at the bottom but otherwise same exact experience you'd see in america. i thought the plot arc was great, i thought the cat thing was hilarious. i didn't see it coming at all. i thought fury's scar for his eye seemed like kind of a waste. i thought it'd be more epic but it was really just from the cat scratch...? also i teared up when the scrolls were reunited on the ship. also the framing near the end when she blasted her mentor was funny, i could appreciate how they framed it with a wide shot and made his mentor look small, so you could anticipate what was gonna come up next. also the post credits scene get hypeeeed for avengers end game

- went to an AYCE hot pot buffet across the floor in the iSquare mall. it was reaaaally good. so filling. my stomach was so happy. they also had curly fries with some mayo dip which was great. we both stuffed ourselves and left after our 90 minutes were up (just in time)

- grabbed our luggage and took the subway to the airport. took a flight to shanghai at 10:30pm, arriving around 12:30am

post #437

condensed post:

- woke up around 10am. got some breakfast at a pastry shop. i got a hot dog and red bean pastry. took the ferry to macau for 12:30pm

- got to macau and walked for about 20 minutes towards the old ruins. we stopped by a vegetarian place and we both got a vegetarian chicken japanese curry thing with cheese. soooo good. i couldn't tell it was vegetarian chicken

- browsed around the ruins, saw some dank cannons. then went to an older wall thing that was nearby. then walked around the surrounding area/alleyways. it was really cool, it felt so european (which makes sense cause macau was a portugese colony until 1999). the architecture looked so interesting. except the people were asian instead of white

- took a bus over to taipa for 6 HKD. we went to a hotel resort to get to lord stow's bakery cafe. we ate some egg tarts. it was aight, mine was really hot and fresh and burned the roof of my mouth a bit :/

- i ate dinner at tim ho wan since it turned out to be in a cafe in the hotel resort. dimitri went to get pizza but the place he found wasn't available. then he tried to go somewhere else but they were out of cheese pizza. then he gave up and decided to meet me since i had finished eating by then. when i met up with him he actually did find a restaurant nearby with pizza so i chilled there while he ate some pizza

tbh macau was pretty cool but we were so exhausted from the hike yesterday because neither of us were expecting it to be that physically draining. (totally worth it though)

- took the 10:30pm ferry back to kowloon and went to sleep afterwards