Emy's Chronicles in China

I am now in Taiwan, in one of the southern cities. We're actually on a tour now so it's kind of a rush to get everywhere. Not that that's much different from how we normally are.

We visited a Buddhist monastery, I got stung by a mosquito, we went to the largest mall in Taiwan for window shopping, dinner was off the streets in the night markets, I got stung by three more mosquitoes, and now I am in the room. It's been pretty tiring since we came to Hong Kong even but now that we really have a schedule, I'm afraid I'm just going to have radio silence until we get back to Hong Kong on Thursday. But I always worry too much, too. And it's really not that bad.

Oh and the tour is all Cantonese so I can only understand like half but both of the guides also speak English ahhh. Last night, we also met up with really distant family. It was awkward at first but I found one distant cousin who was fun to talk with.

We are now in the mountains. We stayed the night in a kind of Japanese style hotel sitting on a mineral hot spring. If you wanted to go to the public spring, that's downstairs and nude. We just did it in our rooms because the baths are hooked up to it.

Also I found three more mosquito bites. Serious mosquitoes over here ahhh.

We took a ferry around the Sun and Moon Lake yesterday. It was pretty nice. To be honest, it was kind of a slow day. We took a tram up to a mountain and got off at a cultural park that displayed some things about Taiwan natives. And then as you went further down the mountain... BAM. Amusement and waterpark. It was really funny to see them linked together, actually.

I wore three types of mosquito repellent yesterday and still managed to get stung once. :'D

We went to Taipei by train. I got bitten by another mosquito so screw that. We didn't really do much except walk around and eat. Some guy tried to sell us tea but we buy tea every time we visit Asia so we just stood in a corner and refused to do it this time.

I also bought a pink, frilly dress that I can't wear until I get back from my year abroad because they tell us not to wear nice clothes in Beijing.

I flew back to Hong Kong yesterday. We didn't really do all that much, actually. I can barely remember it. We went to a shop selling pineapple cakes and then one selling jade carvings. In the second one, there were a lot of feng shui experts around so they went and looked into our Chinese names for "resources" and then our birthdates and times for other things. Meant as a reference, they said. Apparently my name isn't the best but it's still okay. I have a good equilibrium of elements based off of my birth but they said my flaw is that... I'm... too... nice...

...They said I need to stop trusting people because I'm pretty much a bleeding heart and people will exploit the crap of out that. This is probably extremely correct. Although a plus is that I'm apparently extremely lucky. Which was promptly proven when I won a raffle off of SA like two hours later. Sooooo. I guess there's something to this.

We went up to a street market in the mountains to have lunch. It was raining pretty badly so that was kind of a downer but I bought a pretty miniature lantern, the sort that people hang in their cars. It's a kind of Taiwanese good luck charm, this one specifically having a wish for academic success. Then we went to an indoor mall and just lounged around there until we had to go to the airport. After we flew back, it was pretty late so we just went to sleep.

Today in Hong Kong, we spent the entire day taking a bus tour around the city. It was interesting but we spent a long time looking for the last tour route because it was kind of in a random location. I've got to confirm a certain stereotype, though. Hong Kong drivers. Are. Crazy. I swear, those buses were like being on roller coasters WHICH WAS ACTUALLY GREAT BUT KIND OF TERRIFYING. One of the routes went alongside the mountains and mountain roads tend to be bouncy, curvy, and have really low railings that mean nothing to double decker buses. But the thing about these roads is that the people who are crazy enough to drive like maniacs on them are probably crazy enough to pull it off. (These are well traveled roads that just so happen to be kind of narrow with only one lane on each side.)

Dad was born on Hong Kong island while Mom was born in the special administrative district of Hong Kong (so the surrounding land outside the city proper). I got to see where Dad used to live like fifty years ago and where he used to always play with his friends. They tore down his own apartment and school to make room for new developments but it's amazing how much he could remember. Granted, it's because he used to live right on Recluse Bay as well as the other one whose name escapes me.

It was a learning experience~

Two days ago, we took a ferry around the islands surrounding Hong Kong. They count as a geological park in themsekves and while they were nice, it took three hours. Yesterday, we had lunch with some of our relatives who were at that dinner the last night of being in Hong Kong before went to Taiwan. It dragged on for so long that once we left, it was nearly time for dinner. We did some last minute preparations for flying to Beijing last night and I head to the airport in maybe one or two hours. Goodbye YouTube abd Onedrive- oh crap I need to back up some stuff last minute.

I am currently in Beijing. Wifi is awful and slowly loading stuff. Some things aren't loading at all and that's on my laptop. On the phone, there is no internet at all, even though I have a SIM card. It's that bad. But at least it's not blocking me from SA.

I saw my university today. It's okay, I had no expectations at all so it's nice, I suppose. We did get a bit lost even though it's not that big, though. We all were panicking because new place, different language. It turns out that the foreign students get dumped in a sort of on campus hotel? It's actually pretty nice. Mini fridge, kettle, personal bathroom with a shower. Furnished with stuff. Towels and bed trimmings and pillows changed weekly.

It's basically a two star hotel??? I mean, some things are obviously gross and old like the window frames. But. This is like two or three times as big as my dorm room in the states.

I'm staying in the other unrelated hotel with my parents, though, because there was a mix up. They gave my and my roommate's room to the wrong guy and now they need to kick him out and clean it up.

But the pillows here are so nice that I'm jealous so this is fine.