My Biennial Pilgrimage to the Motherland

*Biennial means every two years.

I am finally back on the blog after 500 years of not posting anything! If you follow me on Instagram, you will see that I recently spent some time in Asia! Visiting Asia is something that I am fortunate to have done several times over the last few years, and I try to do different things each visit, so I’m excited to share with you adventures from my travels!

First up: Hong Kong! I ate at some interesting restaurants, visited the Museum of History, and went to Lamma Island! I also spent time with family members who I don’t get to see very often, which was so lovely.

The prehistoric fishing people of the Pearl River Delta!

Some sweet views on Lamma Island.

Then came the next leg of our trip: a cruise ship from Singapore to Malaysia and Thailand. For some reason, we were never really able to get over our jetlag, so we spent most of our time on the ship sleeping. I suppose that’s acceptable when you’re relaxing and on vacation! (Although my busybody self felt a little guilty every time I stayed in my room instead of participating in the silly activities on board!)

We spent less than 24 hours in Singapore, but we still tried to make the most of it by wandering around Little India.

In Malaysia, we visited Kuala Lumpur and Penang. Both ports had a wonderful mix of city life and wild nature!

Learning about Malaysian history in the big city of KL.

Taking in the jungle at the Habitat on Penang Hill.

Finally, in Thailand, we rode elephants and ate ~authentic~ Thai food in Phuket! (I apologize for the picture below of the food (or lack thereof) … I was so excited that I forgot to take a picture of our delicious meal before it was consumed!)

Given my recent track record in writing posts, who knows when the first actual post for this WINTER IN ASIA series will come out! While you wait (and wait and wait), here is what I did the last time I went to Asia, and the time before that too!

Winter in Asia (Round 2)

This all feels so familiar …

 Now that a set of grandparents has moved back to the motherland, I will be traveling to Asia much more frequently than I did in the past. Since my mom can’t deal with the Hong Kong heat, we usually visit in the winter.

This time around, I (of course) went to Hong Kong, where I mostly spent time with family and friends.

This was the view from our hotel room. OUR HOTEL ROOM. Amazing.

I also went on a cruise, the Quantum of the Seas! Asian cruises are very interesting and, quite frankly, not something I have much interest in doing again. This ship is also full of silly gimmicks, like a robot bartender and a skydiving simulator.

This is a bad picture I took from one of the silly gimmicks, a giant arm that flings you over the side of the ocean! Just joking, it is like a giant glass ball that moves up and down. All I saw was more of the ocean.

Our first stop on the cruise was Xiamen. We took a ferry to neighbouring Gulangyu, which was really cute and fun to explore!

Then we went to Naha in Okinawa, which is a Japanese island that is closer to China than it is to Japan so it’s probably not a good indicator of what Japan is like. We visited a castle and ate ramen!

Shurijo Castle!

Now I am back at home and life is terrible. I shall reminisce about my trip as I upload these blog posts from a much more relaxing time in my life!

I almost went to Antarctica!

I did not go to Antarctica. But I was pretty darn close! During my Christmas vacation, I went on a lovely cruise around the cape of South America.

It was so wonderful! I ate, I slept, and I ate some more.

Here’s a sneak peek of what I did!

In Puerto Montt, I ate a delicious Chilean lunch and we looked at some volcanoes.

Then we sailed uneventfully through the Chilean Fjords and the Strait of Magellan.

Then began our penguin parade! My mom had read a bajillion stories online of people who had booked tours to look at wild penguins, only to have them be cancelled by terrible weather. So she booked three penguin tours for us. We saw penguins at all three places: Punta Arenas, Ushuaia, and Punta Tombo.

After days of penguin-watching, it was time to see some of the cities of South America! We drank wine in Montevideo and visited Evita in Buenos Aires. (In the picture below, Evita is singing “Don’t Cry for Me, Argentina!!” on the side of a building for everyone in Buenos Aires to see! Only kidding. Most likely she was speaking up for the poor and fighting for labour rights.)

More detailed posts are on their way! It was a long trip but I didn’t really do that much because I was on a cruise and that means do nothing but relax.

Winter in Asia

This past winter break, I was very fortunate to go on a trip to Asia with my parents! Hong Kong was our base; from there we also travelled to Macau and Singapore.

In Hong Kong, I got in touch with my roots (sort of) and tried to embrace my Chinese heritage. (I had SO MANY Canadian moments … and also suburban moments … could my parents have moved to a place more different from where they’d grown up?! [Actually, 30ish percent of Markham is Chinese, so really it’s not that different.])

In Macau, I saw the glitz and glamour of the Cotai strip, and also the effects of Portuguese colonialism in the Macau Peninsula. (Yay history!)

In Singapore, I did the typical touristy things, like riding the Singapore Flyer (the tallest ferris wheel in the world!), and visiting the Gardens by the Bay.

(A picture of Gardens by the Bay taken from the Singapore Flyer! It’s not the iconic domes, but at least I got the supertrees.)

I also ate a lot in Singapore.

And I used a few of Singapore’s various modes of transportation!

DISCLAIMER: These posts are by no means a guide to any of these places. I may offer some tips as they come, but I mostly just followed my parents around so I really don’t know much.

Also, Christmas in this part of the world is kind of funny. It’s just so warm! I heard so many songs about falling snow as I sweat myself silly in 30 degree weather. Christmas decorations were really intense and all over the place! I think it was to make up for the lack of snow.

I went on a trip!

This past Thanksgiving weekend, my parents and I went to the Cape Cod/Boston area. As much as I want to write posts about the trip, I cannot at the moment because school is crazy!

But here’s a sneak peek of the fun things we did anyway.

We took a BAJILLION pictures. This is my father doing crazy things to get a good shot.

We ate a LOT of seafood.

We looked at fall colours.

We lived in super swanky hotels. Too beautiful to sleep in.

And I got to spend time with my silly parents!