wake me up

I think I have been very ignorant lately.  Before, I used to check up on CNN pretty frequently but now I'm just caught up with things that are immediately before my eyes.  Time to zoom out. Change in perspectives can flip the situation 180 degrees. Watch Soul Surfer if you don't believe me.

From my generous friends who love to share their knowledge with me (whether historical or current events), I learned that there was a bullet train accident in China a few days ago that killed 35. How fleeting and unexpected life can be! How unknown the future is.  Also, I would have bought a bottle of water this morning from a certain brand if it weren't for my friend telling me that the media recently reported that water having eggs in it.

Maybe the independent life isn't so safe and desirable. Maybe having a community is an essential.

no regrets

A very fun weekend :)

Hot pot for the first time (it's like shabushabu but chinese style) and it was bombb. They give you bibs and everything like boiling crab. They say when life gives you lemons, make lemonade. I say when you go to China, eat hot pot (even when it's past 11pm).

Hutong night life. Yes. 

Saturday woke up with no rush. Lunch at pizzahut at some indoor mall with few. Pizzahut here is so faaancy. They serve gourmet food, have nice interior design, and is just awesome compared to the ones in US.  Went to hutong and houhai lake again after with some more friends. Chilled at the best place in Beijing- the dock at Houhai Lake. My favorite♥ Tranquil water, nicely lit lights, and with the first 2 buddies I made, talking about LIFE. I love. (except the scene of naked people swimming on the side)

Kungpao chicken with rice. Yes.

Today is Sunday and just got back from the market and 85degrees again.  Food is very very cheap here in comparison with US. Got some noodles for $1USD and many drinks for around 50 cents each (my 2 favorite are minutemaid aloe with green grapes and grapefruit tea with honey). Bakery bread is equivalent so not too great but I cannot live without bakery bread.

Supposedly the worst rainfall in Beijing this year will be here tonight. It started on the way back from the market. It's like jangmachul ugh... the worse thing here is that the ground is infested with who knows what, and when it rains........ yeah. GG. Esp for germaphobes like me!

Seems like everyone's been counting down days for HK. SIX MORE DAYS

ANOTHER NIGHT OF THUNDERSTORMS HERE WE GOO

OH and great wall this week wahooo

my greatest fear

I found it at last. Thunderstorms.


Last night I woke up to some CRRRAZY thunderstorms... felt like the world was going to end anytime. yikes. it's so unpredictable. the lightening strikes, and the wait for the thunder is horrendous to my soul.  the worst part is you never know whether it will be quieter or louder than the one before.  An absolutely unpleasant feeling.

Anyways, I'm finally adjusting to this life of a traveler. Taking life easy and slow right now....... gotta build some stamina first.

These are some pictures from the Summer Palace and the Temple of Heaven, two of which the royal family accessed occasionally.  Such leisurely lives.

Beautifully peaceful- summer palace

Lotuses. Don't know why people go crazy over them and still don't know why.

common scene in China- many many people and a GUARD (ugh even in elevators)

looking out into the Kunming Lake

Temple of Heaven for the emperors

I found a smokin' buddha.

until next time!

wait for me, seoul

I'm a new soul, I came to this strange world
hoping I could learn a bit abt how to give and take.

See I'm a young soul, in this very strange world
hoping I could learn a bit abt what is true and fake.

But why all this hate? Trying to communicate
finding trust and love is not always easy to make.

threw a bday dinner for our TA at Kbbq (not unlimited which sucked btw)

Tea overload

Two days of downtime eating nothing but bread with jam, tasteless bananas, biscuits, water, and chinese medicine.  Decided to suck it up and go out again. It was a great choice.

Went to Yonghegong Lama Temple, a type of a buddhist temple.  It was intricately designed and inside were placed many, many buddha statues of different purposes.  This reminded me of a time when I went to a museum in Korea, where there was a room of 1000 buddhas or more (eerie atmosphere).  This time when I saw so many again, I was more prepared.  Many chinese people came by with incenses and burned three, bowing to the buddha of their preference and praying to it.  It would be interesting to take a class on buddhism maybe in the future... just to see how far it's been carried and what's been drawing people to it.

After that, my good company and I went to a Confucius Tea House, where we got to see the art of tea ceremony and got to drink some of the legit Chinese tea.  This was where I learned that:

• Packaged tea may hold much additives, flavorings, and/or preservatives
• There are many different variations within the green tea family
• White, green, and oolong tea are good for summer to cool down the body heat
• Black tea is good for winter and can be brewed multiple times
• Most Americans who visit teahouse tend to undervalue tea whereas Europeans know how to appreciate.. you can guess why.
• Asian tea probably originated in China or India (in contrast to my previous assumption in being Japan)
• Mastering foreign language is good for you.

So my friends can speak English, Cantonese, and Mandarin and it's funny how they speak to me in Cantonese sometimes.  I'm learning more and more that learning additional languages can take you far.  Try it out for yourself.

We ended up staying in that teahouse for about 5 hours just talking amongst ourselves. Didn't even eat anything either, just drinking tea on repeat.  And when we were past the stage of hunger and about to head out to yoshinoya, a storm came by.  The rain was pouring so heavily and the thunder was so dang loud.  What the heck... and as if 5 hours of tea wasn't enough for us, the tea lady liked us so much she wanted to treat us out to more tea. Can you believe it..... MORE tea.  So the art of tea making started over as she brewed for us some "narcissist tea."  Stayed for 2 more hours. We gave her an English name by the way... she let me choose. Guess what I chose. Jasmine. HAhahaa. Perfect for a tea lady no?

 

Chinese tea party

One exception to stomachache "eat healthy" diet- when you're starving, eat ANYTHING at ANYTIME

Sick from fatigue and filth

Beijing is unexpectedly very dirty.... smog fills the skies so the sun is always only a hint of orange, there's never a cloud in sight, air frequently smells like urine at every corner of the street. to add to it, there are many men who walk around with fat bellies drooping as well as babies being bathed on the street.

So I shouldn't be surprised to have gotten a stomachache.  But I missed out on a US Embassy and 798 art district field trip today. Bleh.  But I realized that I'll be going to cleaner cities one after another.  So hopefully this will be my only sick day.

On a brighter note, I've been able to see much of the city already.  There is a friend who knows his way around and he's been guiding some of us to different places.  So the places I've been to-

Wangfujing, tourist area with all these department stores

hutong- narrow alley

hohai lake. one of the 6 well known lakes in beijing. got to paddleboat for around $3!

snack shop in hutong. Indoor food court kind of. Soo greasy in here...

Beijing exhibition center. Model of the entire city pretty cool

the blue line surrounds the man-made park. It outlines a dragon. Beijing is very intentionally and meaningfully designed

me and my singaporean friend from london in front of the bell/drum tower

Tienanmen Square up close with communist Mao who unified China

The forbidden city. Full of Asian history

Toodles. Gonna sleep again

Overseas

I've never been so happy to be able to go on Facebook and Blogger.

My first impression of China once I got off the plane- INTIMIDATING. I couldn't believe I was in China, the country of the ancient past, the power of the future world economy, the nation of the red communist party. To add to my intimidation, there were guards to every entrance in the airport. The bathroom lady even checked my stall after I got out......da hell. I'm no terrorist. Just Korean.

The feeling of cynicism came next as I got into the wrong, or rather fake, taxi. Even after my prof advised us not to follow drivers who approach us, I had let my guard down and had entirely forgotten. Yeah, got jipped but at least I caught on earlier and bargained the price.

I have to keep reminding myself I'm in China now, and must be on my toes...which reminds me of one culture shock: vehicles before pedestrians. Omg literally running and watching out for my LIFE!!

The picture on the left was taken at wangfujing, a tourist attraction area that some of my good companies and I went to last night. So glad to have friends who can speak mandarin.

Phrase of the post: ni ke yi geigh wo iwan mi fan ma? (can I have a bowl of rice?)

Battery's running out

Currently in Incheon Airport in Korea waiting for my ride to Beijing.

The start of my journey in Asia- noob much?

• accidentally stumbled into a men's restroom at lax. never thought I'd do this..
• asiana doesn't have prison break series... NOOOOo
• accidentally took a cup of tomato juice thinking it was some kind of a berry smoothie. it was just plain nasty
• no one thinks I'm Korean here until they look at my passport. I feel foreign in my homeland
• I should have reviewed some Korean airport terms before coming. What the heck is paegi? I got my scissors confiscated. Probably some meaning related to that
• hwanseung- definition of transfer- is my new vocabulary of the day. went through some trouble bc of this layover in Korea
• I brought some of my old daily contacts to get rid of them... who knew 1 vision off would create such a blur. I feel dizzy.. sigh.

Getting ready to encounter some major noob moments in China. Thanks for the phrase dictionary Mindy. Goodluck to myself on intonations and not getting embarrassed!