China Day 1: tianjin, china

• china day 1: tian jin (where my grandma grew up)
• it was rly rly cold (see above the entire river was frozeeeennnnnnn)
• also seemed very blue (literally) and gloomy and sad for some reason

1/6/2015: MaoKong!!

so beautiful

literally hello kitty everything

wish i could stay here forever

• today, i went to maokong, taiwan with my sister, aunt and cousin. This place used to be the biggest tea growing area in taipei!
• the weather was really really nice (a bit chilly but my sister and i were ok)
• i came here 7 years ago (when i last came to taiwan) but ahhh it was even more beautiful this time
• we rode the maokong gondola up the mountain, ate and rode the gondola back down
• we drank lots of tea (of course), ate some rly awesome food, and ate really really good tea jello after :)
• going to china tomorrow morning!!!!!!

1/5/2015: burmese food, stationary, more night markets + even more food

burmese food with fam + dad's childhood bff and his wife, basically spent the entire day with them . they're awesome (ate more tea eggs today btw) ya basically nonstop eating w them

stationaryyyy ribbonnn notebookssss 

teri

bomb mushroom from another night market :)))

(more passion fruit pics to come too tired to post...)

• breakfast w/ xiong + his wife +fam
• then parents needed to update some docs in order for us to go to china on wed!!
• literally took forever (hours and hours)
• mr. xiong bought us frkn tea eggs just because he overheard us talking about how much we liked them :')
• eslite bookstore yasss
• then went to two night marketssss-- bought more earringsssssss and cool shoes (one taxi ride was a lil sketch, also a rly bad driver)
• food comaaaaaaaa

*observations (now vs. 7 yrs ago, when i last came to taiwan):

- less stray dogs running around 

- taxis no longer smell like cigarettes

*other observation;

ppl in the area where we ate burmese food vs. ppl in the bookstore lived completely different lifestyles

1/4/2015: cat cafes, bad coffee, more night markets + my talented family

breakfast: turnip cake, tea egg, soy milk (so mfkn good)

on the hunt for cute cafes (in back of teri)

they actually have a cat inside ahhh :)

...

bun filled with perfection (*note: it's extremely difficult to find vegetarian food here.. which is why this made me 1000000x happier)

night market!

trying to become more organized this yr (lol)

my aunt is rly rly talented like damn girl

• original plan: me and teri would find a rly cute cafe and research for summer opportunities there
• however, we couldn't find the specific cafe we saw online (they must have closed or moved), but there were a lot rly rly other cute cafes nearby
• except we decided to go to this semi ugly one (bc that's the only one that wasn't full) and our coffees were gross
• i was irritated bc it was also hot outside
• i got even more angry when i found out (half way through my drink) that there were no outlets in the entire cafe (so i couldn't charge my laptop, which was running out of battery...thus couldn't get any research done)
• after a while (like 2 min later) teri and i decided that we had no other choice but to leave
• not going to name this cafe but it can literally suk my ass

• ok both mom & dad had more separate high school/college reunions so me + teri were together for most of the day (but rly when r we not lol) 
• din din w my cool zzz artist cousin, his gf, 3rd aunt (his mam) + fan
• then chilled in their art studio and looked at tons of their works, their students' pieces + Lyn's (gf) super amazing dance photos
• night market after-- bought more awesome earrings but we went a lil late so many closed just a tad early
• so teri and i have to go back
• i have so many mosquito bites 

1/3/2015: earrings, velvet scrunchies, adventure time

omg (Taipei Main Station)

air hockey ON CRACK

squat toilets eep

shared this w/ teri because she was still feeling sick

• did some shopping after we got off the taipei main station-- bought some velvet scrunchies and a lot of cute earrings :)
• dinner with dad's younger sister & cousin (+fam)-- no photos but rly good food
• ps. woke up @ 4:30 am today bc jet lag..so ya rly tired but it's only 8:46 pm agh

1/2/2015: dad's college reunion

dad's college reunion 30 years later!!

(sorry no cute sibling pics @ the end today-- teri was sick in bed for most of the day)

1/1/2015: omg is it rly 2015 like i can't even-- markets, clean subway trains, selfies, and reunions

amazingly delicious tomatoes-- w/ 3rd aunt + fam. Taipei, Taiwan

precious little stray roamer, weaving in and out of each little shop and alley like he frkn owns the place

teri being a model on the train

getting ready for din din with my mom's bff from middle school

mom whispering secrets to her best friend from middle school in the back-- also this was an awesome vegetarian restaurant :)