NI HAO!!
ZHE SHI GRACE!!! :)
Hoiii, i haven't blogged in such a longg timeeee, because life has been soo hectic recently with SAT and piano shiz and school work. mahnnn junior year is soo cray crayyyy. But now that i have a little more time on my hands, IT'S TIME TO BLOGG ABOUT MY TWO WEEK LIFE CHANGING ADVENTURE IN ZHONGGUOOO!!!
ya..i went like a month ago during spring break..but it took me a long time to blogg..hehe sorryyy
April 6th: Thursday Night....at like 1am...videochatting my aunt about my chinese honor society essay while packing for the trip XD
If onlyyy packing was this easy......LOL but for realzies..i missed Pooh soo much because i hug him every night to sleep and it wasn't the same without him. :(
hehe but a lot of our luggage was mainly presents and food to give to my family. XD
DAY 1: Friday, April 7th....the DEPARTUREEE DAYYY :D
WHEEE AT THE AIRPORTTT!!
mommy rushed us out of school around 10:45 and we panicked to get to the airport even though our FLIGHT WAS AT 3:00 because we didn't want to bump into traffic and get stuck in security and miss our flight with so many people traveling during break.
We ended up having an hour to spare 'till boarding because we got to the airport without traffic and the security wait was decent. :)
with our spare time, we went to this dumpling restaurant for lunch...
FIRST OF ALL...WE SAIDD DINE IN NOTT TAKE OUTTTT..SO WHY IS IT IN A FLOPPINGG TAKEOUT BOX?
SECONDDD..THESE XILONG BAOS LOOK PATHETIC. WE LITERALLY WAITED 20 MINUTES FOR THEM AND THIS IS THE RESULT? ITS LIKE THE DUMPLINGS HAVE BEEN DRAINED TO LIFE...EVEN THE MANAGER WAS LIKE WHAT IS THAT?!
lol...but we ended up getting new dumplings..but AHHHAHA I still find it soo funny.
shanghaibun needs to teach them what a xilong bao is. AHAH
BOARDED!
hehe i got to say my last goodbyes to jackie and nicole and fam in the plane.
our seats were right in front of the bathroom...except im not complaining because i drank so much tea and water and coke on that plane, that i had to pee like every 10 seconds.
La La Land was sooo gooddd and i'm learning city of stars on the piano now. :)
After i watched la la land, i decided to watch a chinese movie to get all hyped up about going to china, but it ended up being a japanese movie. HAHAH..whoops
The movie was called A Lie in April and it was about a boy who was a piano prodigy and after his mom passed away, he was never able to finish his pieces because of his memories and the ending was really sadd. :(
La La Land and that movie called, A Lie in April, both had really sad endings and i kinda like sad endings because it shows that life isn't always a happily ever after. XD
the first main entree was a choice of "ramen" or chicken with rice...but it was more like udon with some weird tasting sauce.
I OVERHEARD A MOM TALKING TO HER KID AND SHE WAS LIKE LOOK WE'RE IN THE NORTH POLE!
AND THE KID WAS LIKE WHERE'S SANTA? awwww <3
DO YOU SEE THIS? MY MOM AND JAMES MADE ME SIT AT THE END SO THAT WHEN THEY SLEEP, THEY COULD PUT THEIR STINKY FEET ON MEEEEE. lolol
HAHAHAHA I was watching the Life of Pets while eating animal crackers and i found it so funny that i was playing with the crackers and the animals on the screen.
HAHA my mom and i were cracking up because ITS SOO FUNNNYY
sleeping like a kinggg
lol i refused to sleep on the plane because we landed at 7:00pm and i wanted to tire myself so that i could sleep during the night in china. XD gotta beat that jetlaggggg..except it didn't work because for the first 2 days i didn't sleep until 2am.
HAHAHA I STILL DIE EVERY TIME.
WHOOO ALMOST THERE!
eggs and potatoes for brekkyfast
jackie and luke warned me about the airplane food being bad...but idk it wasn't that bad for me lol
WELCOME TO HONG KONGGG!!
-_- as if the suitcases weren't heavy enough
i tried pranking jackie saying that the airport lost our suitcases..i don't think she fell for it. LOLOL
I JUST I REALIZED I FORGOT TO TELL JACKIE THAT WAS A PRANK...LOL
HAPPY APRIL FOOLS JACKIE
DIXIII
LOL..i can never escape from dora lolol
this is my grandpa's older brother who i call di gong gong. :) He lives an hour away from our hotel, but he came out to see us even though it was 11:00pm.
the city that never sleeps..seriously it was soo busy and this was at 12:30am
jackie and luke told me to take a picture with my first bubble tea. :D
except i ordered the wrong one and it ended up being red bean instead of tapioca. IT STILL TASTED SOO GOOODDDD
DAY TWO: APRIL 8th, Saturday
WHOOO DAY TWO! we woke up at 6am because we were so excited to start our first full day in hong kong!!! The first thing we did was go swimming in the pool and the hot tub. :D
While being in the hot tub, we started talking to other tourists there. I found it really cool how so many people from all around the world are traveling in china and exploring the culture and lifestyle. :)
i want you forever even when we're not together :)
hehe videochatting with jackie and luke because i missed them so much <3
Matthew and Patrick's flight was a day after us...so while we were swimming in china, matthew and patrick were on their way to the airport to the other side of the worlllddd :)
KE AI!!
we were going to go to this restaurant for lunch, but we ended up having ramen instead.
the ramen is sooo much spicer and better in chinaaaaa. Our face literally turned red on the first bite and james was screaming and dancing around the room because his mouth was on fireeeeee. Hahaha..and james' was the least spiciest...
AND AFTER WAITING A WHOLE DAY OF WAITING FOR THEM TO ARRIVE, THEY'RE FINALLY HERE!!
whoooo!! now that everyone is here in hong kong, di gong gong took us out to dinner!!
NASTY NASTY NASTY
THIS VEGETABLE IS CALLED BING CHOY WHICH TRANSLATES TO ICE VEGETABLE BECAUSE IT LOOK LIKE ICE CRYSTALS.
NASTY THERES DOTS EVERYWHERE ON THIS CHOY.
IT LITERALLY GAVE ME THE GOOSEBUMPS.
BUT EATING IT WAS EVEN WORSE.
THE TEXTURE WAS SO NASTY. EVERY TIME YOU CHEW, ITS LIKE YOU'RE POPPING THOSE DOTS. UGH NASTY. EWWWWW
after dinner, di gong gong wanted us to see the city view of hong kong. Off we go to the trainnnnn :D
BANAANANA PHONES ARE THE NEW TREND. bwiii apple phones XD
right after this, the security guards yelled at us for standing :(
how cool is thiss?? its a transportable treee!
...wait...am i in new york? XD
THE REST OF THE WORLD WAS IN BLACK AND WHITE, BUT WE WERE IN SCREAMING COLOR! ....no filter XDD
building structure made out of bamboo
Then when we got back to the hotel, matthew and patrick came over to our room and ate tons of chocolate and chips while playing chinese poker and listening to kpop until 3am. HAHA JETLAG IS SO MUCH FUN
DAY 3: Sunday, April 9th
LAST DAY IN HONG KONG..for now
AYY IS THIS PROFESSIONAL?
me laughing because my mom said i looked stupid HAHAH
bwi bwi hong kong!
we left early in the morning to the ferry/security area because we're off to GUANGZHOU!! (or guangdong in mandarin)
i felt like i was handling jet lag so well..even though i didn't sleep that much during the night, but i had so much energy in the day to last me till midnight. But eventually things caught up to me, and i felt soo lightheaded and felt like i was going to faint every time i stood up. so here's us looking like a hobo on the street while our parents were buying water and snacks,Thankfully, i got to sleep on the ferry, so i felt a lot better afterwards. :D
hehe the ride was actually really short, it was only an hour long.
During the ride, there was a TV that was showing chef ramsey cook and all i could think about were all those memesss. HAHAHA
meowmyy and meee
james' face is killing me
Once we arrived to Guangzhou, we had to go through security first because apparently hong kong isn't part of china, it is its own island. :O
dDuring security, the alarm went on and pointed at me. and i was like WHATTT? I'M AN INNOCENT LITTLE BABY EXCUSE ME?! THE POPOS WERE AFTER MEEEEEE...BECAUSE INSIDE MY CARRY ON, I HAD ALL MY SAT BOOKS IN THERE. HAHAHAA...apparently it's illegal to bring books to china because they're afraid i'm going to influence bad things in China :/ BRUH I JUST WANNA ACE MY TESTTTTT hehehe
when we finished security, my uncles were waiting for us to drive us back to their houseeee :)
AND THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME I MET MY LITTLE CUTIE COUSIN WHO I CALL MOY MOY. SHE'S THE CUTEST.
once we got to her house, all she wanted to do was play with me and SHE'S SO CUTE OMG I MISS HER
UGHHH I FORGOT THAT IN CHINA, THEY HAVE THESE AS TOILETSSS
AHAH EVERY TIME WE SEE ONE OF THESE, THE BOYS CROWD THE BATHROOM AND LOOK DOWN AT IT, AND ARE LIKE "WHY IS THERE A HOLE ON THE FLOOR?"
so after we got all settled and dropped off our luggage at the hotel and all, we went out to a restaurant. these restaurants are so cool, every party gets to eat in their own private room, and this was the view. :) except, the garden and the pond brought a lot of mosquitoes flying around our room -_-
i don't really get to speak that much cantonese as i used to. And being in china was the most i've spoken in such a long time lolol....my grammar and pronunciation was probably HORRIBLE...but ayyy at least they understood me..i hope lol
LOL, i also learned a lot of new words in Chinese too. One of my new favorite words now is " SHENME GAO-SEE" which means what the he11. lol
but what it really translates to is what the dog poop.
LOLOLOL..just saying i invented the term what the poop..and they stole my idea. -_- tsk
the way of ordering food is so weird but so cool at the same time. You have to walk around and choose how you want the food cooked and you get to control the proportions of the food, so that no food goes to waste. :)
also, you have to pay more for containers and plastic bags, which kinda helps to not waste food and save plastic.
AMERICA PLEASE GET WITH CHINA'S LEVEL. THEY ARE KILLING IT WITH BEING ENVIRONMENTAL FRIENDLY..lol that's ironic cuz its soo polluted over there lol
first meal with my familyyyy <333
after dinner, we went to a mall that was right next to the hotel that we stayed in.
wowow can't believe it's not nike XD
or adidas
i don't know why..but this reminded me of luke LOL
thenn yima and i had a facemask spa timeeee while eatinggg snacks and drinks we bought at the mall. HAHAH we had parties at each other's rooms every night.
DAY 4: Monday, April 10th
wheee we first went out for dim sum for brunch which was inside our hotel. All the hotels are always connected to restaurants or malls and it's really cool and convenient.
if only we had this set for our chinese project THAT WE WON 3RD PLACE ON :DDDD
hehe, but every time we go to restaurants, we're always given hot water to wash the cups, plates, and utensils to kill all the germs off because the water isn't that sanitary for eating.
UGH EVERYONE SMOKES IN CHINAAAAA!! they just blow right in front of your faces with out any consideration which is soo annoyyyinggg.
this restaurant permitted smoking -_-- and this is how james and matthew coped with inhaling the toxic fumes.
i'm sitting on moy moy's high chair hehee
after dim sum, we drove an hour away to visit Uncle jia's (matthew and patrick's dad) village. :D
hehe uncle jia's villiage was soo pretty and clean compared to many other villages. Uncle jia's family was also soo welcoming and treated us like we were family too. <3
on our way to uncle jia's village, we also passed by my dad's village and its supahh smalll.
:O so coolll patrick's grandpa customized the door to spell their last name XD
luke warned me about this water because apparently there are weird chemicals in there to enhance the flavor. :/ but the water tasted perfectly fine... :/ idunnooo
RICE FARM
WELL WELL WELL WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE?
dat black little goose thoughhh..hehe soo cute
i have a thing where i poke patrick's nose continuously and ask him why his nose is soo cute
and then he's like gracee why are you sooo annoyinggg?
who needs a taxi? when theres a grace to carry you places. XD
twinningggggggg :D
and after visiting uncle jia's village, we went out for dinner with his family and my mom's side of the family.
<3333 moy moy's name is on it ;)
CHINESE SPRITE
Funny story: so we also ordered chicken and i wanted some, but i'm lazy and didn't want the chicken with the bone. As I bit into it, my uncle Chio, was laughing at me and i was soo confuseddd. until my mom was like YOU DUMBFART YOU'RE EATING THE CHICKEN BUTT. hahaha
i guess this is karma for me saying chicken butt all the time.
THIS BUBBLE TEA CAUSED SO MANY PROBLEMS LOL
ya so my uncle's name in english is named chio. hehe it's so cute i like that name..even tho i'm technically not supposed to call him that since he's older than me. oh wellz
Chio knew that i really like bubble tea, so he took us out to go get some after dinner. The ride ended up taking an hour to get there and the streets started to get narrow and ghetto-like which was really scary. ALSO WHEN WE WERE AT THE RESTAURANT, I DRANK LIKE 30 CUPS OF TEA, AND I DIDN'T GO TO THE BATHROOM. so i reallyy had to go and we were in the middle of nowhere. Chio had to stop at this random gas station and i was like dying. I WAS LIKE AHHH YIMMAAA THERE'S A HOLE IN THE TOILET. HOW DO I PEE? and there were flies flying out of this toilet hole. NASTY. lol it was quite the experience...and that was the last time i've ever peed in a hole.
BUT THE BUBBLE TEA WAS REALLY GOOODD HEHEHEHEH
HAHA James and I are horrible children...we were hitting her with it and then she was like STOP ITT and threatened to throw us out the window.
AHA IM DYINGG
HAHAH i'm a horrible sister. HAHAH i had to do it to james. HAHHA
I'M SO FUNNY.
hehe moy moy gave me this stuffed animal that james named Fred, but its real name is doufu. XD
DAY 5: Tuesday, April 11th
this was our daily morning routine when we were in Guangzhou...we walked to the mall and bought conjee, bread, egg custards, and chinese curlers and had a picnic on the floor at mat and pat's room. XD
Also every morning, moy moy, her grandma(who i call say popo), and her dad met up with us while we were eating breakfast. Every single day, they're like WHAT? NO RICE? LOL
this happens all the time whenever i'm with matthew and patrick. hehe i lost this battle because stinky feet/socks is my weakness
i'm soo tallll wow i'm almost the same height as the door
patrick's future carr
<3
after breakfast, moy moy's dad droves us to my mom and aunt's village where they grew up. :)
we first visited my grandpa's younger brother who i call say gong gong.
I never met him in my life but once we walked in the door, the look on his face to see us all brightened the house. When he hugged me, i had this tingly, giggly feeling inside of me that made me so grateful to be surrounded by such a warm-hearted family.
CANN YOU FEEL DA LOVEEEEEE? wheeeeee
also, say gong gong has so many pictures of us around the house. <3
This is my grandparents' house where they raised my mommmy, aunt and uncle. <3
this is the beddroom..i think. i can't remember but my mom told me stories about how my uncle would climb up there and would be too scared to get down so he cried and waited for my grandma to come home to get him down. SOO CUTE!!
not gonna lie, it was actually pretty scary getting down from there, so i wouldn't blame my uncle either. haha
so i was walking around with my mom around the village, and we came back home to these insane boys dabbing ON TOP OF THE ROOF
THESE KIDSS MY GOODNESSS
TEE SEENN
as we were on our hike to pay respect to our ancestors, we picked out a few flowers because they're soo pretty!!
by the way, the bracelets that we are wearing are to avoid mosquitoes from coming near us. XD
this is say gong gong's old rice tractor. :O
Visiting my mom's village gave me an insight of my family history and how my family grew up before they moved to the U.S. It amazes me of the amount of work and sacrifices my family had to give up for one another to support the family. My family inspires me everyday to become a better person and i am so grateful for them and everything i have in my life. <3
say popo and say gong gong cooked such good food for lunchhh. we had swan and fresh caught shrimps because thats what the village were known for. :)
missing the good old dayss <3
AWWW GUYSSSS MY UNCLE (MOY MOY'S DAD) SURPRISED MEEE WITH BUBBLEE TEAAAAA :DDD
DAY 6: Wednesday, April 12th
We're traveling all over the place on this trip! We're now off to SHANGHAI! :)
BWAHAAH moy moy last minute joined us to go to shanghai along with say gong gong and say popo!! YAYYAYAYA
moy moy got tired during the carride...so she laid down and put her feet on me.
WHAT IS WITH EVERYONE PUTTING THEIR FEET ON ME??? lolol
AIIIYAAAA SO OUR FLIGHT WAS ORIGINALLY AT 11:00AM. THEN IT GOT DELAYED 7 HOURS,BECAUSEE THERE WERE TOO MANY PLANES FLYING INTO SHANGHAIIII :( ughhh
we basically played chinese poker for 5 hours...that has to be a record lol
there was a toy station near where we were waiting and i was watching moy moy and the boys play. Then, this mom came up to me and started speaking to me in mandarin. I WAS SO PROUD. I ACTUALLY HAD A FULL CONVERSATION WITH HER IN MANDARIN!!..and then she asked me if moy moy and patrick were my children. criesss :( lol i'm turning into an old ladyyyyy
7 LONG HOURS LATERRRRRR, WE'RE FINALLLYY BOARDINGGG ONTO THE PLANE!! :D
so they provided us with food on the plane and the box it came with had a burger on it.
Patrick and i were like OOOHH BURGERRR and once we opened it, it was a roll of bread with a side of tomatoes. excusee meeee? :( that box was so deceiving and disappointing. :( i want a burger now lol
we arrived at my uncle sammy's apartment in Shanghai so late. we were all soo dead and hungry by the time we arrived. XP
DAY 7: Thursday, April 13th
soybean milk
it was so hard to find restaurants that opened for breakfast anywhere in china. Many of them open around 11:00. -_- We found this little place in the corner of the street that made fresh fried food and noodles. We came here for breakfast the 2 days that we stayed in Shanghai. Say popo was just like AIIYAAA YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE SO MUCH YEETT HAYY...lol true though..my face started to break out :/
uncle sammy recommended for us to go this bubble tea shop and we had to wait outside the place for 10 minutes because all the stores open soo lateee. ughhh
lol the bubble tea is so worth it though..they actually use real tea and no powder or anything XD
Oolong milk teaaaa :D
cuteee!! james, patrick and camera shy matthew were chasing and tickling moy moy around the train station.
the train station is so much safer than the one in the US because there's a gate that only unlocks when the train actually arrives, which lowers the causes of deaths from people falling off the station.
We were in the financial center the whole day where there were tons of business buildings and little street markets.
our little handshake
the shoeless mommy
THE CUTEST DISNEY STORE EVERR
:O i would so empty out all my luggage just to stuff this baby into my suitcase.
me in the middle of saying "it's so cute" lol
<3333
the masks lan laoshi made us color XD
...why?
we found this old fashioned little town with tiny little stores. hehe but the architecture is so historic and pretty.
GUYZZZ DID I EVER TELL YOU THAT I OWN A GIFTSHOP?!
IT TOOK JAMES 12 YEARS TO REALIZE THAT LAN LAN IS MY CHINESE NAME -_-
he thought it meant big sister all this time *insert eye roll emoji*
a talented artist drew patrick XD
he drew me tooooo..it was so awkward..we had to smile for 10 minutes and i was just likee soo does this mean i'll get another dimple for smiling this long? XD haha
KOY KOI KOY KOII
CHIGGEN
YOO WE WERE SOO CLOSE TO GOING ON THIS BARBIEE BUSSS...but we were out of moneyyyy :( lolol
if you saw the iphone 7 commercial, it took place here. XD
this location means so much to uss <3 ahh i miss you
anddd by the end of the dayy, we were all pooped out from all the walking and the heat.
WAN AN PATRICK
DAY 8: Friday, April 14th
BACK ONTO THE TRAIN TO ANOTHER TOWN IN SHANGHAII
we wanted to explore, but we didn't want to walk because it was sooooo hootttttt, so we took a Big Bus to tour us around.
This has nothing to do with the picture..but my mom and i were questioning why everyone was wearing black sweaters, and winter coats, with umbrellas. It was like 90 degrees out and we were dying with shorts on!! It turned out that the 2 days that we stayed were the hottest and sunniest day they had in about 30 years!! LOLOL...wow what good/bad timing lol.
ALSOOO say popo said that she neverrr wore shorts in her lifeeeee :O WHAATT?
following the sign by holding hands XD
Later that night, uncle jia, yima, mommy, and i left the apartment while everyone was sleeping to explore more of the town.
i'm smiling in the distance like the guy in the poster. ahaha
YOYOYO A MOVIE WAS BEING FILMED WHILE WE WERE WALKING....SO YOU MIGHT AS WELL CALL US FAMOUS IF WE WERE IN THE BACKGROUND. XD
we also saw two police men chase a robber and arrest him. :O
crazzyyy stufffff
AHHHHHHHH I WISH WE HAD A MINISO IN THE U.S. IT'S THE CUTEST PLACE EVER!
lol we got so much cuteee stuff from here and it's my favorite store AHHHHH
DAY 9: Sunday, April 16h (Moy moy's birthday!!)
LOL TRAVELINGG AGAINN....ZAIJIAN SHANGHAI..BACK ON THE PLANE TO GUANGZHOUUUU
meet my baby sister, patricia!
HAHAHA MY MOM WENT TO GO BUY "WATER" BEFORE WE BOARDED ON THE PLANE.
IT ENDED UP BEING THIS REALLY CLEAR ENERGY DRINK. hahaha
yo i'm so pro at this monkey game...i played till round 93 XD
aww look how cute they are!!! we barely got to see moy moy's brother because he's a studious student and had to go to school 6 days a week! mahn..we complain about going to school 5 days a week for 8 hours. They have to go to school early in the morning all the way till 6:30 pm. and they only get sunday off. :/
i'm telling youuu, video game is a universal language. lol
cute moon eyes
hehe since we gave moy moy an english name, we decided to give him one too. We named him Benjamin because it's the closest to his chinese name. ;)
so they all played rock paper scissors, and whoever lost had to either eat vegetables, condiments, or something else that was weird. haha
thank goodness we had a private room because everyone was screamingg and running around the room. Ben was soo cute he was just like FIRE IN A HOLEE!! PEW PEW PEWWWW
i wish the boys got to spend more time with Benjamin because they're so cute together and they only got to spend a day with each other. :(
i bought this dress when i was in shanghai but i wanted to try it on lol
DAY 10: Monday, April 17th
FROM GUANGZHOU TO MACAUUUUU
lol i find it soo funny how moy moy didn't go to school the first day we arrived in guangzhou because she hurt her leg. She ended up not going to school for a whole week because she used the excuse that her leg hurt too much just so she could be with us. <3
She learned so much english from us though. :)
she's always like OH MY GOD WO DE TIANNAAA with sass and it's SOO CUTEEE!!
yeah..we say oh my god all the time
we bought these face masks at that miniso place. JAMES TJGSIORJO LOST OURS ON THE FIRST DAYYYY :( i didn't even get to wear it yet ughh
we looked all over for the mask at other Miniso places, but they weren't cute or webarebear themed _-
It was soooooooo hotttttt in macau that we would be too dead to walk around, so instead we hung out in the pool at our hotel.
teaching moy moy how to swim :)
theere was also a casino inside our hotel and mommy and yima went down at night time to check it out except they didn't know what they were doing. haha
Then after a long day of swimmingg, we went out to dinner at this filipino/malaysian restaurant.
Macau is so modern and it originated from Portugal, so there are many different cultures along with Chinese in Macau. SOO coooll
i lovee how everyone looks messed up except for patrick thats dabbing -_-
james' natural habitat
After dinner, chio and his girlfriend wanted to show us around in macau :D
haha kinda feel bad for james not
;) AHHH DREAM COME TRUE! ENGlish expanded to China!!!
i wonder if there's a doppelganger of me in macau who decided to name a BUBBLE TEA STORE after an ENGlish word. :O
FAMILY PHOTO TIME!!
AHHH LOOK HOW TALL JAMES IS GETTING.
HE'S ALMOST MY HEIGHT!! :O
moy moy and mama <3
HAHAH THIS IS MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF YIMA EVER.
HER DABBING. OH MY GOD WO DE TIANAAA.,...SOO FUNNY. HAHAH
brotherssss
DAY 11: Tuesday: April 18th
exploring more of macau that you saw yesterday at night time XD
aww james being a gentleman and putting smiley faces on mommy's back with sunscreen
Churchhhh
hehe we lit candles and prayed here too :) <3
hehe we're back at the castle
the castle used to be a full castle but after the spanish american war, it got knocked down. :(
We walked through the castle wall, and we saw the holes of where the bombs erupted. :O
HOW DOES MY BROTHER LOOK BETTER IN MY HEADBAND THAN I DO?
matthew and patrick were fighting over my headband too and they all looked so cute...if i knew i would have bought us all one. LOLOL
i'm pretty sure half of these pictures of us are all dabbing -_-
we may look all happy and smiles...but really we're dying from this 90 degree weather.
<3 we found a cute littleee gardennn
isn't it so unique how the roots grow from the branches?
I WANT TO KNOW HOW THIS FISH SURVIVES IN 90 DEGREE WEATHER, AND MY FISH THAT LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE THIS DIES EVERY 2 MONTHS. WHAT EVENNNNNORG :(
the way the tree branches out is soo cool even though it scares the poop out of me because they look like billions of holesss
wowowwowow look at all my bubbleee teaaaaaa....lol jk
the boys couldn't take walking in the heat anymore, soo they headed back to the pool at the hotel with my mom. Meanwhile, chio took uncle jia, yima, say popo, and I to a different part of Macau.
Also, moy moy went back home that day too, and that was the last time i got to see her and her mom in person. :( MOY MOYYY AND YEE YEEE I MISHHH YOUUU GUYZZ
there were tons of seats on the bus to sit, but i refused to sit because it's more fun trying to balance yourself...hehe i did that on the train too. lol
operaa showww
then we went to the temple to pray
I love the smell of those smoky incense to pray...i'm not sure if they're good for you though lol
<3
afterr all this walking, we went out to a restaurant and ordered a lot of mango and coconut desserts.
After our little dessert snack lunch, we walked through a different hotel that connected to our hotel because the hotels had air conditioning. heheheh
Macau is like its own version of las vegas with the casinos and the baby eiffel tower. lol
:O GUYSS I'M IN ITALLYY
:O would you believe me if i told you i was in venice??
WHEEE, we got to the hotel to pick up the boys and mommy and now we're off to dinner..except i didn't take any pictures of that lol
hi mommy
this lazy little buttsackkkkkk can't walk ugh but he looks so cute here.
THIS CUTE LAZY LITTLE BUTTSACKKK
ooo took the wrong flight and landed in paris. XD
totally..didn't prank Jackie with this pic....hehhe but she didn't fall for it tirofjgjifodg
hehe chio is such a cuteee nameee.
and when you say that name really fast, it actually sounds like his chinese name..how cleverrr w0w0w
"yo grace, you actually have good style"-words i never thought would come out of james' mouth haha
yaa he's like obsessed with that cardigan for some reason
chio found it sooo funnnyyy that we kept dabbing in every picture.
people in china never knew about dabbing..until probably now...not sure if thats a good or bad thing
bonjour! Je veux manger du pain au chocolat. heheh
my mommy says that she isn't cute..but i think this picture states otherwise.
EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS SELFIE IS SO CUTE, AHHHH
i'm wearing the night shirt jackie gave me and she has the day shirt...oh how that matches so perfectly when we're across the world from each other. lol
jackie is my other half. hehe i love you jackie. <3
and i love you too james since you're in this pic. haha
THIS LAZY LITTLE PEANUT CAN'T WALK EITHERRRRRRR.
BUT HE'S ALSO CUTE. AHHH
MY BROTHERS ARE SO CUTE, THAT I CAN'T SAY NO WHEN THEY ASK ME TO CARRY THEMMM
does my outfit look like a kpop star? lol
when we got back to the hotel, all patrick wanted to do was put on the face masks that we bought...obviously had to get a gudetama mask hehe
CLEANSED AND PURIFIEDDD
DAY 12: Wednesday, April 19th
ON A FERRY BACKK TO HONG KONGG
zaijian macau :(
it makes me soo sad how China knocks down their mountains to construct new cities and buildings. :( my family said that if we come back in the next 10 years, these islands and mountains aren't going to look the same anymore. :( i just wish more people could appreciate God's creation. :(
WE'RE HERE!
we dropped off our luggage at the hotel, then went straight to lunch because we were hungry babies.
is it necessary for him to bite all 3 straws? -_-
i mostly filmed most of this day, so i don't have many pictures. We basically went to this flea market that's 10 blocks long. It's called Lady's market and its consisted of tiny little shops that sell trendy stuff for cheap prices. Yeah, a lot of the stuff were knockoff brands. :/ The boys got fidget spinners from there though..and i got pajamas heheheheheheh
TO LUKE AND JACKIE THAT KEPT BUGGING ME TO GO TO MCDONALDSSS..LOOKKK I WENTTT...for fries..lol. their fries taste more potato-ey than america.
Also when we asked moy moy where she wanted to go for lunch, she said mcdonalds. and my mom was like NO, that's going to kill youuuu. and moy moy was like noo it taste very good. HAHHAHA
OOHHH ACTUALLY KFC IS REALLY BIG IN CHINA..they have hugeee billboards and ads of KFC chicken with kpop stars. LOL
i didn't realize..but all my pics for this day are food.
we went to a japanese restaurant for dinner..yesss veryyy chinesey i knows XD
we had to take our shoesss offffff
GFIODGJO you know this same day, i was like wow jackie and pat are going to be so proud that i haven't fell throughout this whole trip. THENNN THIS HUGE GAP JUST DECIDES TO SHOW UP AND RUIN EVERYTHING AND I FELL SO HARDD AND I WAS DYINGGG. EVILLLL lol
i'm always clumsy aiii
SUSHIIIII
DESSERT at this ice cream cafe :O
it's some kind of shaved ice chocolate mountain..lol but when it melted, it looked like poop lol
DAY 13: Thursday, April 20th
Unfortunately, matthew and patrick couldn't join us on the big bus tour because they had other family plans. :(
HAHA, but while we were on the big bus to explore, mat and pat passed by us. HAHA..my mom is in the blue shirt and i'm right behind her
:O RIGHT WHEN THE BUS STARTED MOVING, IT STARTEDD POURINGGGGGG
..maybe it was smart for say popo to sit downstairs..haha
jamessss is the ultimate wooble stalking ninja
big bubble
The bus tour drove us up to tons of different mountains and we got to see the view of different islands, beaches, and cities. The air was soooo clean and refreshing with the rain drenching our faces. It felt so funn and the rain totally made it a lot more fun. LIVING DAUNTLESS!!
We got off the big bus to go out for lunch, but there weren't many restaurants to go to. Our last resort was Starbucks where we had coffee, sandwiches, and pasta. Say popo and Say gong gong never had american food so it was very different for them. They were confused on how to eat a sandwich, and it was the cutest thing ever! I love how we teach other our different cultures. :)
back on the bus to explore more areas....HAHA james falling asleep on say gong gong is adorable
If it weren't for our bladders, we wouldn't have gotten off this bus stop to find out that this private boat ride was included in our big bus tour. :)
traditional boat that rowed us around the buildings and fishermen trying to find food for their family and businesses. :)
i can't tell you how much i love you mommyyyy.
thank you for letting us experience this amazing trip that we'll never forget. <3
after the bus tour, we took the taxi to di gong gong's house to meet up with him for dinner.
di gong gong is such a talented man who amazes me with all his dedication and artwork. He paints flowers, birds, and everything nature so passionately and beautifully, it makes me so proud and inspired.
FIRST GENERATION
years before i was born, my mom went back to china to visit family and di gong gong took a picture of my mom playing with his chinese harp piano instrument.
SECOND GENERATION :)
i clearly don't know what i'm doing...di gong gong played so much better and elegantly.
MY FAMILY IS SOO TALENTEDDD
we felt so fat after eating, so we walked around hong kong. Di gong gong grew up here and told us all the history of the buildings and landscapes. I believe this building was the tallest building they had 30 years ago.
my great grandparents had 5 sons. the oldest son is di gong gong who was separated from the whole family when he was very young and started his life as a shoe cleaner and a painter to earn money. Say gong gong is the 4th child, which makes him the second youngest out of the 5. He moved out of hong kong to Guangzhou when he was 4 years old, and never came back to hong kong until this day.
Their life was so much harder than the life i live and i'm so proud of who've they become.
DAY 14: Friday, April 21st
One of our bucket lists was to go to see the Big Buddha in Hong Kong and that was exactly what we did on our last full day!!
on the boat to a different island in hong kong
mommy's hair looks really prettyyy
people would say this is edited because they can't believe how beautiful and well-contrasted this is
BUT AYOOO NO EDIT. NO FILTER. JUST TRUE TALENT BEING CAPTURED BY MY MOMMY. :)
To get to the the buddha monastery, we took a train and then transferred onto a bus. The bus ride was so nerve racking because we were twisting and turning on top of mountains. We don't even know how the driver drove so fast when there was fog covering the windows and the doors. That bus ride would definitely not be a fun ride if you get car sick easily. :\
omg these dogs are so cute! They live up in the mountains, not like most dogs because of the different air pressures. Apparently, they are very sacred dogs and symbolize protection and strength to buddha
It was sooooo foggyyyyy out that everyone had to wear or hold the yellow rain coat in order to keep everything together.
Oh my goodnessss, di gong gong wandered off so many times to take pictures, and the only way we found him was by screaming. :/ It was thatt scaryyyy :O
these statues represented the 12 different zodiacs...euhh..i think this one is the monkey XD
hehe i like how matthew copied the pose of the statue
before climbing up the stairs to see big buddha, we had a vegetarian lunch because it's unholy to eat meat on the grounds of the monastery.
every customer gets the same dishes, but just different proportions depending on the number of people. After we started eating some of the food, the waiters took it away from us and gave it to a different table because they gave us the wrong dishes!! i feel soo bad for the other table LOLOLL :/
i have no idea why..but whenever i am thirsty now, i always crave the doufu that they made LOLOL
climbing 280 steps to see the big buddhaaa
hehe big buddha inspired me to present my mandarin TCA speech about it. :)
I also learned that there are 5 other big biddhas all around asia, so this one in hong kong is just one of the 5 :)
whimsicall vibeeess
At first, I was a little upset that we came all this way to see big buddha, and all we could see is its silhouette. But after admiring the view of nature and the fresh clean air, it made me appreciate coming here on a cloudy day a lot more. It also made it a lot more fun and memorable.
lol a baby sumo wrestler
it actually wasn't that cold as it looks in the pictures.
the fresh air was soo refreshingggg and our hair and clothes e damp from the mist. :)
there were 6 buddhas surrounding the big buddha which each symbolizes different things. :)
also at the big buddha monastery, my mom and i bought matching black beaded bracelets, prayed by the monks, that protects bad spirits away from the family. james has a necklace but symbolizes the same thing. XD
RIGHT WHEN WE WERE ABOUT TO LEAVEEEEEE, IT STARTED POURINGGGGG.
FULL ON POURINGGGG.
lol so while we were waiting for the rain to stop, we had sweet dofu dessert and ice cream. :O
we're crazyy we were dancingg in the rain..and at one point, i took off my shoes and starting running around barefoot. IT FELLTTT SOO NICEEEE
it was still pouring outside, but the wind pushed the clouds away from big biddha for .05 seconds. lolol so we were snapping as many pics as we could with it. :)
LOL every time i see a pic of big buddha on google, i'm like OMG THE PICTURE IS TOO BRIGHTT because i'm so used to seeing it in this lighting. haha
i'm so glad that we got to have at least a few pictures of us with buddha while the sky was clear :)
so all in all, we got to experience the foggy mist and got to experience seeing big buddha. :)
After returning from big buddha, we went to the peak tower because of the iconic eye-opening view you get when you reach the top of the tower. It's on top of a mountain and in order to get there, we had to take a trolley that went up on a slant and super fast.
trolleyyyy
the peak tower was consisted of many floors full of stores and restaurant, so we wanted to fill our tummies with food before we got to go to the top of the tower. :)
<3 my mom kept zooming in and out on our faces and was like wow..my kids are so beautiful. and then she kisses us on the cheek and then continues to look at pictures of us. LOLOL MY MOM IS SO CUTEEE. OH MY GOODNESS.
di gong gong is so cutee. he had a whole agenda of places he was going to take us the next day, and the look on his face when he remembered it was our last day made me sooo sadd. :( i wish we had more time to hang out with him :((
i miss them sooooo muchhhh. :(
WE MADE IT TO THE TIPPY TOP OF THE PEAK!!
it would have been so nice to see my grandpa visit his brothers, but he wasn't feeling well so he wasn't able to come with us :(
THE 360 DEGREE VIEW OF THE BREATHTAKING CITY WE CALL HONG KONGGG.
lol this is postcard materiall..OOHH i wanted to send jackie and nicole a post card but i couldn't findd any post officesss anywhere.. :(
LOLOL, when we went back inside the peak tower, there was this sign that said free 3-D pop up museum..so we clearly had to gooo lol
AHAH and there were professional photographers that took pictures of us. OMG I LOVE THIS PICTURE SOO MUCHHH. IT'S SOO FUNNYYY AND CUTE!!!
the photographer also suggested the kind of poses we should do, and we didn't listen to him and dabbed and he was like "AIYAA WHY ARE YOU COVERING YOUR BEAUTIFUL FACES?" lolol we're craazzzyy americansss
aha we weren't allowed to take pictures, but my mom is a ninjaaa and snapped pictures behind uncle jia HAHA
THE PHOTOGRAPHER WAS TELLING ME TO LOOK SCARED AND TO PUT MY HANDS UP.
LOL I WAS TERRIFIED!!! THE CARRIAGE KEPT SHAKING BECAUSE I HAVE 2 RIDICULOUS BOYS DABBING WITH THE OTHER HAND THAT SHOULD BE ON THE HANDLE.
Lol THANKK YOU MATTHEWW for holdinggg on and caring about my safety. LOLOLOLOL
you know how there are crazy foreigners who bring diseases to different countries?
I think we have a DABsease and we're spreading it to all of china. AHHHHHH.
i think my family already has it...chio and moy moy have been affected. AHHHHH
ahaha
my brothers are soo sillyy
back on the trolley and wrapping up the nighttt :(
last group photo with say popo, say gong gong, and di gong gonggg :(
AWW GROUP HUG BECAUSE WE LOVE DI GONG GONG SO MUCH!!
di gong gong walked all the way to the ferry with us to be with us a little longer even though the ferry wasn't even on the way back to his apartment. <33
when we had to leave for the ferry, we all cried because we never wanted to leave each other. :(
DAY 15: Saturday, April 22nd
:( sadly, all good things come to an end, it was time for us to leave this beautiful country and family. :(
it was so hard to say goodbye to every one because we had such a great time hanging out with each other. Say popo and say gong gong never had a vacation like this in their lives, and knowing that we gave them the opportunity is so rewarding. While we were there, we brought the family together, we did things that they normally wouldn't do(probably like drink bubble tea everyday hehe), and we had the bestest time together. Value family and the people you have around you because they're always going to be the one that always got your back and provide unconditional love no matter what. Love them like there will never be a tomorrow and treasure the memories you have with them, because life is too short to let that pass. <3
spotted by patrick in a separate taxi
ughh so this taxi driver charged us $20 extra because he knew we were foreigners and wouldn't know if he ripped us off. -_- ghufsigiso
patrick and matthew's flight was an hour after us and they had a lay over in San Francisco. but we had breakfast with them at the airport before my mom, james, and i boarded.
half way back homeeee
the whole 2 week trip, james would go up to me and be like "I don't want to grow up to be a dinosaur cuz then people will scratch me" -_- UGHH just wanted to tangle him and shuttt himm upp alreadyyy lolol
WAN AN GUYSSS...yeah this time i actually did have to sleep on the plane because it was night time in america as we were flying.
hehe also had to read 1984 and practice SAT. hehe
i had soo much make up work when i got back AAHHHH..which reminds me..i still need to take my gym TCA. ahahaa whoopss
We landed around 3:00 and it was all rainyyy and colddd...and I WAS LIKEEE NOO TAKE ME BACK TO CHINAAA. ahahaha. It was still nice to be back home though. I missed my family and friends in the US too. Alsoo, once i got back, jackie and luke shared someeee excited news that WE WON 3RD PLACE ON OUR CHINESE CONTEST WE WORKED SOO HARD ON. :) i know i mentioned about that earlier in the blog, but i'm still soo proud of all of us. :)
Jet lag was actually a lot harder coming back home. I fell asleep doing my homework and studying everyday the first week. LOLOLOL and we didn't have dinner until midnight because everyone was sleeping. HAHA...ayy at least i didn't fall asleep in school
OH MY GODDDD WO DE TIANNAAA. WHAT HAVE WE DONE TO MOY MOY????? LOLOLOLOL
even though, we're about 17,100 miles away from each other, we still manage to stay in touch.
i look forward to every weekend because we get to video/voice chat. They are sooo funny and cute. and i'm in a group chat with chio and everyone else, so we all update our lives.
FAR OR NEAR, LOVE IS INSEPARABLE. :)
A week prior to our trip, i was soo scared to go to china because of the discomfort of knowing how far i am from home.LOL, now it's like i'm saying I WANNA GOO BACK TO CHINAAA every 5 seconds. i even have dreams about going there and seeing my family.
LOLOL TAKE MEE BACKKKKK
hehe i am soo fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to go to china with my familyyy. i learned so much about the culture and lifestyle there that will now always be a part of me and my family. :)
MKAYYY ENOUGH ABOUT ME TALKING ABOUT HOW MUCH I MISS EVERYTHING LOLOL. IF YOU MADE IT THIS FAR IN BLOG, I AM SOO PROUD OF YOUU AND THANK YOU FOR READING MY LONGGG STORY ADVENTURE IN CHINAAA.. <3
WO AII NIII MENN!!
<3 <3 <3
