When I was flying over to Hong Kong to transfer to Beijing, I had no idea how my trip was going to plan out. I didn't plan much and I pretty much winged it. I had no expectations, I packed a day before I left. This was the best way to handle it before a trip! I realized that having no expectations before a trip will usually work itself out.
Beijing was pretty awesome. I walked a lot...a LOT. It got to the point where my back heel on both of my foot the skin was starting to come off..but it was all worth it! I used a lot of broken mandarin/cantonese/english and managed to get around so it wasn't too bad! The best part of Beijing was THE GREAT WALL. It felt so awesome climbing to the top of mountain with Michelle and her friend. The weather was PERFECT that day. I got real lucky because it wasn't too hot, it was perfect at 75-80F. Coming back down was also a trip. It was super steep and it was completely unexpected. I have to admit I had that adrenaline rush, but at the same time it was exciting. The rest of the days I went to the usual tourist spots, checked out new places, ate weird food like DONKEY, and peking duck.
After 4 days in Beijing, I headed off to Taiwan for 3 days. Taiwan was also very fun. During this part of the trip, I completely winged it. I basically traveled with the use of the travel brochure that the subway provides for free. Man that book helped a lot! I went to 2 famous night markets but too bad everything was wet because it rained so hard the two days I went. I wasn't able to get on top of Taipei 101 but I still managed to drink a lot of Tapioca, eat stinky tofu, and see a lot of Taipei. I must say though, I've never seen so many pretty women and people who were very considerate on the subway than any other place that I've been to. goddamn!
After Taiwan, I went back to Hong Kong to visit my sister, grandma, cousins, met up with a friend who I haven't seen since 2007, kirbs! Hong Kong was cool this time I went. I went to all my childhood places, went to the temples that I usually go since I was a kid. I bought all the clothes I needed. I ate all the Hong Kong food that I've been craving the last 2-3 years! I was also kinda surprised this time around, I actually had clothes that I like from Hong Kong. I also went clubbing in LKF the first time in HK. It was funny and weird at the same time. People definitely club a little differently in Hong Kong..but it was still fun nonetheless.
After my trip ended, I really did not want to go back to the states. I was so motivated to learn my chinese..at least learn a bit of chinese characters of food! I literally took the menu from ABC restaurant in San Mateo to try to get the characters down. But knowing myself, being a halfass all the time, I ended up doing other stuff: Moving out.
Two weeks after my trip..I realized my sister was moving out soon. This was when I randomly started talking to a coworker who was looking at apts in the lab at work. It all happened randomly, we started looking for apartments and see how it would go. After looking for two weeks, we decided we'll just move in since we both had the same budget and wanted to live not too far from the beach. Hella random. All moved in now, and I gotta say I love the place and the location, but I do kinda miss my sista and my dog! It's nice to change it up I guess. I hope the next year is going to be great..but what am I to say? I have no idea whats gonna happen! Hope everythnig goes well...!
