Shanghai Part 2

I feel like every city I go to I say to myself "I could live here" and Shanghai was no different. Shanghai amazed me, the people are very different from local Hong Kong people. Such a modern city, although it may be polluted during the day and looking a little grey, at night it lights up and is an amazing site to see.

Wuzhen Water Town

The amazing family I stayed with in Shanghai invited me on a day tour to this ancient water town in China called Wuzhen. Organized by their apartment's management staff, we took a bus 2 hours out of Shanghai to this picturesque town. Although the town was primarily preserved for tourists yet it had such a great feel to it. We walked around the quaint side streets and across the little bridges. Every direction you turned was a picture perfect moment. Here are some pictures I took while visiting Wuzhen. I would recommend this trip to anyone visiting Shanghai if they had a day to take a trip outside of the city.

Shanghai Part 1

Shanghai was a beautiful place, I was fortunate enough to stay with a friends family that works for Disney and are currently working and living in Shanghai getting the Disney Shanghai park ready to open. The Durr family gave me a warm welcome into the city and opened their home to me for the weekend. They even took time to show me around the city! The first day we went to Tian Zi Fang a fun shopping district with cute side streets and boutiques and then we ventured to Jiang'an a beautiful Buddhist temple. 

Jiufen Village

Jiufen is a mountain area in the Ruifang District of New Taipei City located on the northeast coast of Taiwan. Famous for its sky lanterns and an attractive tourist destination, I took a bus from Taipei and spent the day in the village exploring the side streets and beautiful views the mountain town had to offer. Unfortunately it was stormy when I visited but had a holiday feel that I've been missing in Hong Kong during this time of year. 

Midterms

It's been a month since my last blog post and that's because it has been midterm month and nothing too exciting besides studying has happened as of late. I finished my exams today & tomorrow I embark on my first solo trip! Planning to travel 2 hours over to Taipei then 2 hours up to Shanghai to visit a family friend who has graciously offered me a place to stay and fun trip to a water town on Sunday. I will stay in Shanghai for a few days and then will be continuing further north to Tokyo and taking the 3.5 hour flight back to Hong Kong after Halloween. Lots of blog postings to come as I am so so very excited for this trip! 

Phuket, Thailand Pt 2

The southern tip of Thailand was the most amazing place I have ever been. It had all the feels of dirty grimy Southeast Asia but with so much culture behind it. The Thai people were welcoming and kind, I even ate crickets and grasshoppers at the food market with Katrina and the locals got a kick out of it.  I cannot wait to revisit northern and central Thailand. It's a travelers paradise.

Phuket, Thailand Pt. 1

Arrived in Phuket, Thailand on Thursday & met some friends from Oregon State at their aunts condo in Bangtao Beach. I stayed with Emily and her boyfriend Andre at their condo Thursday night & met a friend from Hong Kong Katrina (works in HK and is from San Francisco) on Friday & shared a hotel close to the condo for the remaining 3 nights. Thailand was so fun & there was lots to do. The first day we surfed, drank coconuts and got Thai massages on the beach for $3 U.S. Dollars. We rented scooters to get around $35 for five days and it cost $4 U.S. Dollars to fill up the tank, they drive on the opposite side of the road in Thailand so after I got adjusted we were having a blast! I was shocked at the prices and how cheap it was to eat and do fun things around the city. Thailand is one of the most amazing places I have ever been, the people were so nice and welcoming and the city was full of life and excitement. Not to mention, I ate the best Thai food I have ever had, pad Thai noodles will never be the same anywhere else!