Jun
24th

Phuket:

• There are bugs ALL over Phuket. Don’t be surprised if you find a dead spider in your rice, fearless flies on your food during dinner, and ants and lizards crawling up the wall behind you.
• Sales girls at the malls are extremely rude and just sit around talking, but employees everywhere else are super nice ,and definitely knows the meaning of hospitality.
• Most places don’t believe in AC.
• But the beaches definitely felt like heaven on earth.
• Thailand makes you want elephant and monkeys so bad, it’s not even funny.

Phuket

Beijing:

• Beijing food was such a huge disappointment; it was okay but definitely not my favorite. I also had the worst PEKING duck I’ve ever had there. Ironic.
• I felt like I was covered in 10 layers of dirt every day from the smog and heat.
• But the heat was bearable because it was dry and cool in the shade (unlike Hong Kong’s humidity).
• I took a deep breath by accident and my throat was scratchy and irritated the rest of the day. Air pollution is no fun!!
• It was weird that we were in a lot of touristy places (even the airport and a 5-star hotel) and employees barely knew English. It took so much effort just to explain “brown bread” to them.
• I was scared to drink anything because I didn’t want to use their public washrooms.
• If I have to pee in another hole in the ground again with the most pungent smell emitting from it, I’m going to scream! Some of them were so bad that I was willing to hold it in for an hour long bus ride… I give huge props to the cleaning ladies who sits in the washrooms all day. I am so prissy. But I really tried.
• On the other hand, the washrooms that do have 1 or 2 stalls with actual toilets are pretty clean since they are barely used (but still smelly).
• Despite all this, I had more fun in Beijing than I even did Phuket! I’m obsessed with Chinese history so I was in so much awe being in places that I only read about.
• I want to come back again with proper gear to conquer more of the Great Wall. Vancouver trails are nice and some still a good challenge, but the Great Wall really lives up to it’s name and is full of historical significance which makes it that much better (Grouse Grind, my ass). Just don’t wear a dress and sandals like I did.
• Going up the wall is so much easier than going down. Hella steep with uneven and worn-down steps + my weak knees = not a good combination. It took me double the time to go down, and I was secretly racing an old man but he beat me.
• I also want to come back to spend more time in the Summer Palace; so beautiful there.
• I already knew this but holy shit, Air China really sucks ass.

Great Wall of China

Hong Kong:

• Hong Kong = food heaven!! There are so many restaurants and bakeries here it’s not even funny— and they are always full.
• But then I don’t think I can survive here because there are way too many people. Not as many as China but still to many.
• The first week we were here, I dragged Boyfriend out and we literally shopped till we dropped every single day …well he just held my bags. It didn’t help that public benches are practically non-exist in HK so we always came home exhausted (and I consider never shopping again), get a really good sleep but then do it all over again the next day.
• He loved it when I went into shoe stores where he can sit and bask in air-conditioned glory— those were the only times he encouraged me to take my time and shop.
• I hate it when “dirty water” drips on me.
• I hate that I have to dress so conservatively while the weather is so hot and humid or else the locals will stare and make you feel like an idiot. I won’t care in Vancouver but I do here even though I’ll never see them again.  The bitches in Vancouver need to take stare-down lessons from the old Chinese ladies here.

60+ DELICIOUS skewers (chicken, beef, gizzards, chicken hearts, lamb, squid) + 8 beers + 1 bottle of nasty but super strong alochol = less than $20CDN. The only catch is that it was from a probably really dirty food stall but then we didn`t get sick so who cares.. I want more!!

Misc:

• I will never take Vancouver weather for granted ever again!! *complains about the shitty weather when I get off the plane*
• I miss clean and smog free air.
• I hope Vancouver bans the use of air conditioners that sucks hot air back outside. It’d be so sad if Vancouver becomes so gross and humid like HK.
• I was standing in the aisle of a supermarket today feeling so bad for myself for living in North America because our [junk food] choices are so boring. Asia has all of it PLUS MORE.
• I like how breakfast at hotels here always serve congee.
• I’m so sad that we didn’t get to eat creepy crawlies in Phuket or Beijing but we have one more visa entry to China so hopefully we still can.
• You guys were right, I lost 5lbs from the heat and all the walking but I’m pretty sure I gained like 10% body fat. I don’t know what’s worse.
• We are getting so awesome. AT BARGAINING! But bargaining just for $0.30CAD is sooo ridiculous and tiring even though you do it anyway… because you’re in Asia and will feel like you’re getting ripped off if you don’t.
• I can’t wait to be in Korea for the World Cup. I know I can only hope, but obviously I’m routing for an Asian team and it doesn’t get any crazier than in Korea!
• The country never sleeps!
• I complain a lot but I still love Asia!! Complaining is more interesting than praising.

Jan
2nd

Warning: long entry and I refuse to use the “Continue Reading” feature.

I know I said that I couldn’t wait to get home but I wish I was still in Cali; it was so hectic at times but fun. When we crossed the Canadian border, it started snowing like mad and I was so depressed because my feet got all wet in the snow carrying my 50lbs suitcase and 20lbs carry-on (I stuffed all my jeans in it) into the house. Hopefully we get to go again sometime this spring or summer!!

• The weather in L.A. was pretty good but it rained on Christmas day when we went to Disneyland! It poured when we got there but that’s about it; the rest of the day was dry… but kinda miserable because my socks were wet and Disneyland was sold out of socks (and umbrellas). Nevertheless it was worth it and our plastic sheets kept us dry… this is when you totally have to sacrifice fashion.

  

• I almost lost my camera at Disneyland!!!! It flew out of my pocket on Splash Mountain but luckily when I went back, they found it in the car and just took it to lost and found. Then I almost left my bag on the Indiana Jones ride with all our passports in it… we could’ve been stuck in Cali if L didn’t get it for me. Oh noez!
• L and I tricked Boyfriend to go on a ride at Universal Studios… and he never goes on rides!
• Finally ate at Tony Romas (we always wanted to try it but always put it off). It was alright, nothing great.
• The 8 hour drive from Cabazon to Sacramento wasn’t bad at all with red bulls, coffee and random Q&A with the boyfriend (he drove the entire way but I just stayed up with him). I found out his favorite flower is the sunflower… like WTH, how boring is that?! I’m sorry Boyfriend, but your girlfriend is a designer so you gotta come up with something more unique than that.
• NEVER leave your GPS at home. We had to follow these people when driving through San Jose and San Francisco because we forgot to bring it and didn’t know where we were going… ALL DAY.
• There’s were 40+ people staying in the house we stayed in Sacramento so the first night we all slept in the living room and I dreamt of this huge cargo ship with it’s horn blasting every couple seconds and I was so annoyed that I was about to bitchslap something in my dream. I woke up and it turned out to be someone snoring hella loud!! I seriously couldn’t stop laughing about it in the morning but that night, I barely got any sleep. Luckily the rest of the nights, I scored my own bed.
• Watching a Vietnamese wedding is a unique experience… now I gotta watch a Chinese wedding because I haven’t been to one since I was 6 and I don’t remember anything.

  

• Never drink an entire bottle of Grey Goose on vacation or else the next day would be a total waste since you’ll be stuck hung-over in bed all day.
• Being hung-over and squished in the back of a tiny Honda Civic with 4 people is the worse feeling in the world… especially when you’re in Sacramento and everything is so far apart.
• …there are a lot of ants in Cali.
• I ate more fast food in the 10 days we were there than I usually do in an entire year. It’s a grossly satisfying feeling.
• CARNE ASADA FRIES AND IN N OUT BURGERS ARE THE SHIT!! I tried both for the first time and YUM. What are Carne Asada fries my fellow non-Californians? They are fries layered with meat, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and hot sauce = FKING HEAVEN!!
• I actually finished the two books I brought on the trip so I went out to buy Eragon and Eldest. IT’S SO GOOD. Damn, now I gotta wait for book three to come out in paper back.
• I started saying “hella” too in the past year and I realized that I picked it up when we went to Cali last year. It’s so true how they say you start picking up the “Cali accent” after being here for a long time.
• Americans don’t say eh … they say huh. “You want some carne asada fries huh?” That’s a little weird for me, I think I’ll stick with the Canadian way.
• Somebody asked us if we celebrate the same New Year. Now THAT was hilarious!
• When the clock hit 12, we were still on the I5 going home but we got to see 4 different sets of fireworks from the freeway (don’t ask why we were flying back on that day… it’s a long story). The last 10 days in Cali was totally worth the countdown to 2009 in the car so I’d do it again anytime!

I am in love with Cali but I seriously need to get over my non-existent level of patience before ever considering moving down there. Before, I never wanted to move to L.A. because I thought it was always hot/warm there and I wouldn’t be able to wear my winter stuff but it’s actually kind of chilly especially at night. Also, the houses in Sacramento are so big, new, cheap and some are in cute little communities surrounding a man-made lake. I wouldn’t mind living there either.

Reasons why I shouldn’t move to Cali:

• I absolutely cannot stand the traffic. We got stuck on the freeway for three hours before we were smart enough to find an alternate route with our GPS because we thought it would end soon… but it was STILL crawling along when we were driving back to L.A. four hours later. It’s sad because nothing happened — no accidents or anything… there were just too many damn cars!! Our highways in Canada have like 2-3 lanes and we NEVER get traffic like that. LOL. That was 3 hours of wasted shopping time by the way. The second time we went to Cabazon to shop, we went on like 6 different freeways via GPS to escape the traffic but the detour only added 10 minutes to our total trip time so it was all good.
• Sacramento is plagued with four-way stops. I got soooo annoyed driving through all of them and we were on a big street too. That so doesn’t make sense!! Like P said, “no cop, no stop.”
• Everything is soo far away from each other —well in the Sacramento area at least.

SHOPPING. I actually didn’t buy much because I spent most of my cash on jeans. I was pretty depressed though when I found out I forgot to buy the Kassandra Varnish Fumes Blue (the purple version of the pair with the green R’s) because we went to there twice and I thought I bought it the first time but I didn’t! I was mainly looking for TRs but I didn’t find many styles that I actually liked so I only bought a pair of skinnies to go along with my boots. I don’t feel guilty about this splurge at all because I haven’t bought any new pairs of jeans since August… now all I gotta do is order more crystals so I can start customizing them. I also bought a Bare Escentuals starter kit in Medium; I love my Lumiere mineral foundation but I lost my last jar and my Clinique foundation is too light for my skin tone so I decided to hop on the bandwagon to see what this huge fuss was all about. I also stocked up on UDPP, bought a new Dior pressed powder and puppy pee pads for Mochi like I always do every time we go to the states. Other purchases included a lot of tops, leggings, accessories from Bebe, F21 and Wet Seal (we didn’t have time to go into many stores since we were stuck in traffic every time we tried to go shopping and line ups were insanely long), random make up from Sephora, books, Aldo flats and black Jessica Simpson pumps from Nordstrom… and a LOT of food and Starbucks.

My favorite were L‘s HELLO KITTY RAIN BOOTS because they’re freaking adorable! I’m SO jealous and would’ve totally purchased a pair if I was still in school or taking public transit to work but since I drive and park underground, I’m rarely outside so I would have no reason to wear them. Hey at least I saved myself $80.

Oh, how can I forget the fashion faux-pas that I purposely committed?! I WORE JEANS TO THE WEDDING! Well not to the formal Vietnamese ceremony but only to the reception. T wore her new Rocks so I was like WTF, no fair I want to wear mine too, so I pulled off the tags, threw them on last minute and tucked them into my boots; I didn’t really feel guilty because it was the reception and everyone was going to be drunk anyway. I bought a dress that I didn’t even wear because I never found shoes for them and I realized how short and slutty it was. If it was a friend’s wedding, I’d totally wear it (just because we all swing that way) but not to one where Boyfriend’s parents are present. I still wore all black to the morning ceremony… but I didn’t care because I just wanted my red hair to stand out. But anyway, not to say I’m proud of my fashion faux-pas but honestly I wouldn’t care what anyone wears to my reception as long as it’s not WHITE, too bummed out and as long as they don’t upstage me (or go home biatch).

Boyfriend and I were like the rebels because I wore jeans and he refused to wear a suit jacket and even left his tie in the car for the reception.

P.S. Thanks ladies for the lovely Christmas cards.

Quote of the trip:
“What the hell is beer pong? Do you hit the ball with a beer bottle or something?”
- by the same drunk dude who thought “ixi” was a word in a game of Scrabble last year.

Ending this entry with a Mochi pic of the day… because I missed her terribly.

Also sorry for not responding to Christmas/New Years text messages while I was away… I was too cheap to text you guys back but MERRY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE! I had good intentions.

Dec
29th

Quick post since I’m still in Sacramento… but I’m coming home on Wednesday which I’m totally looking forward to. So far the trip has been fun, a lot of shopping, and eventful but extremely stressful and a lot of driving; being around like 30+ people all the time is just way too much for me because I’m that anti-social (I guess you’ll understand if you’ve been to a Vietnamese wedding but this is my first one and I’m like just in like OMG —in both a good and bad way). I also got a total fashion faux-pas story I totally committed on purpose because I was too lazy.

The wedding was yesterday and that was fun. I got up at 6am to get ready and to get first dibs on showers and then later, Boyfriend informs me I didn’t even have to go to the first part if I didn’t want to! I wish he told me earlier because it was all in Vietnamese anyway and I could’ve used that extra sleep since I was power napping every chance I got throughout the day. At least it was an interesting experience; they were all like you better watch and learn and I’m like yeah right! I don’t plan on marrying for another 6-7 years… plenty of time.

Dec
17th

Nov
27th

I finally got my lip balms from Martinsville Emporium!! They are super moist (I like to call it “lip gloss wannabe lip balm“), glides on your lips like butta and doesn’t leave that icky white film on your lips, plus there are so many flavors to choose from. I only ordered 6 but I’m probably going to order more because I’m in LOVE with these.. I just wish they tasted as good as they smell. ♥ …Imagine a lip balm MADE OF REAL FOOD… now that’ll be crazy (and moldy when I find it under the seat of my car 6 months later).

Lime Sugar Supreme – My favorite! Keylime pie is my favorite dessert so this lime flavored lip balm is definitely my new HG of lip balms.
Toasted Marshmallow – Smells delicious but I think this is a flavor that I’ll get sick of if I use too much… kind of like how I can only eat like 3 marshmallows before I puke all over you.
Margarita – I love this one too because it has a hint of citrus scent but where’s the tequila? It would be hilarious if you can get drunk off a lip balm (and I can totally image some people doing it).
Lemon Meringue Pie – My second favorite since lemon meringue pie is my second favorite dessert.
Buttery Toffee – Very strong buttery smell.. smelling it is such a sin and makes me feel fat because it’s so damn buttery. Thank god it won’t add extra pounds on you though.
Raspberry Plum – Smells like heaven but after having it on for a while, it started reminding me of the Strawberry flavored lip Smackers which makes me think I’m 7-years-old again.

Recent looks with recycled accessories because since I stayed at Boyfriends all week (he got the satellite to work again!) and like always, leave most of my stuff at home:

Today I officially canceled my 6-week vacation to Asia next year and I can’t change my mind because I already told my manager and he updated the schedule for next year. With all the stuff going on, I decided to stay home and go on vacation next year instead. Boyfriend is still going to Vietnam though and I feel bad because we were suppose to travel around Asia together but he understands. The sucky thing is that WE HAVE TO GO TO EUROPE NEXT YEAR!! :@ No offense, but I have no interest in going to Europe at all… I just want to go to Asia [and Africa]. If I can’t have grilled squid, deep fried octopus, bubble tea and laugh at people carrying fake designer handbags (oh wait, I can do that here) while walking around the streets late at night, then I don’t want to go there. Boo. I guess they can wait though, I guess Europe will be fun too. If we do go to Europe, I want to visit some haunted castles.