Spring Break 2012: Buckets on Buckets on Buckets…

So, after months of careful planning, we finally made it to Thailand!!! The first leg of the trip was in Koh Samet, an island around 3.5 hours from Bangkok and the last leg of the trip was in Bangkok.  If there is one photo that describes our trip is this: 

Buckets + TP (from “travelers sickness” aka terrible indigestion lolz) = THE BEST SPRING BREAK EVER!!!

Here are some highlights: 

1.  The street food is amazing.  I’m not going to lie, I didn’t know 3/4ths of what I was eating, but it was delicious.  

2.  Coconuts are everywhere for an insanely cheap price (less than 3 USD).  I think we managed to get one at every single meal.  Wilson (pictured below) even managed to get shots of rum put into his coconut. 

3.  Boats N’ Hoes. 

4.  The view from our hotel was the best part of the island.  When I was booking the hotel, the reviews were absolutely terrible.  I think almost every person said to never ever EVER go there.  But when you’re a college student on a budget, this place is the best.  The living conditions weren’t the greatest, but we got to live right on the beach.  What else could we have asked for?

5. Thai people are very good at fire limbo. This guy is such a boss that he can light a cigarette while doing the limbo.  Also, I was chosen as the lucky audience member to be  held in the arms of a Thai guy while he is doing the fire limbo.  Never have I ever been so close to being set on fire.  

6.  Alcohol was served in BUCKETS instead of normal cups.  I also think they were meant for around 4 people since there were 4 straws in each bucket.  Oops.  One of the guys managed to drink 7 buckets in one night.  Each bucket is half a galloon, so If you do the math, that makes over 3 GALLONS OF DRANK. crazy kids. 

7.  The markets had anything and everything you could’ve ever wanted.  So many great finds.  

7.  Tuk-Tuks! By far the most terrifying/exhilarating form of transportation.  

AND THE BEST PART OF THE ENTIRE TRIP WAS…….

8. THE WATER FESTIVAL!! We went over Thai New Year and that was probably the best time to go to Thailand.  We weren’t really prepared for the level of wetness that is the water festival.  We dressed up real nice to go out to the bars that night, since many places had a dress code, but apparently we didn’t know that all rules went out the window during new year.  This was probably the most fun i’ve ever had in my entire life.  All you did was dump buckets of water on people or shoot water guns.  Dream come true.  

Start of the night: 

Fancy Tapas Bar: 

End of the night: 

Kao San Road

And this celebration lasts for several days, so during the rest of the trip we just went out into the streets and got drenched.  You couldn’t go 5 feet out of the hotel without getting soaking wet.  

The coolest gang: 

<3 Jing Jing

Hangzhou: Home of West Lake and Tandem Bikes

Exploring China

Sorry i’ve been non-existent on tumblr for the last two weeks! For the last two week, we’ve had 2 three day weekends in a row, which = SO MANY TRIPS.  The first weekend we decided to travel to SuZhou （苏州）, which is kind of like the Venice of China.  We took the bullet train there, which traveled at ~310 kilometers/hour.  SUPAFAST. We stayed at a hostel that cost ~8 USD a night, insane right? The rooms were really clean and we even had queen size beds.  I totally recommend this place for anyone who ever wants to travel in Suzhou. 

It also had an awesome bar.  This hostel literally included everything that we wanted. Including a spiderman climbing wall and foosball. 

Then we explored the streets of SuZhou and came across a restaurant that had over 1,000 years of history.  They had many specialities of the SuZhou city, such as this fried fish.  Interestingly enough, it was covered in something very similar to sweet and sour sauce in the US. That made it even more delicious.  

The next day we went to the Humble Administrators Garden （拙政园）, which was filled with beautiful traditional Chinese architecture.  

Also, knowing me I found some semi-phallic looking pictures on the walkways…TELL ME IM NOT RIGHT.

Then after inevitably getting lost in SuZhou, we ended up taking a bus that took us back to the bus stop. The only way to get back to the hotel was to either wait 40 minutes for a taxi OR take a ride in this 3 wheeled contraption.  Obviously, since we’re crazy college students, we took the fun option.  The thing about Chinese traffic is that people are literally insane drivers.  You think you have seen terrible driving but then you come to China.  So we weaved through traffic on these little contraptions and miraculously made it back home in one piece.  

It’s already past midnight here, so i’ll update you all on this past weekend tomorrow!

<3 and miss you all an INSANE amount.  

再见！

Jing Jing （韩菁菁）

“I can also be a good wizard”

So, today I was checking through my email and found the best email EVER.  Well, more like it had the best translation.  This Chinese guy at a bar asked for my email address and I thought it was a little strange.   But he was nice so I still gave it to him b/c an email is pretty harmless.  I could only kind of read what he wrote to me (since it was all in Chinese) but Google translate did the honor of translating the rest.  Here is what google told me it said :

Remember me? Abrupt who encountered last night at the shelter, which is my phone number —————, if your phone is repaired to message me ^ _ ^. Although you only lived in Shanghai for a semester, but I am very happy to be friends with you. Shanghai indigenous, if you want to play what I can also be a good wizard.

I only wonder what he really meant to say. I bet it was something really normal like I can show you around town! But now I will forever think he said, “I can also be a good wizard.”

Oh google translate…

I just thought I would share with you all!!

<3 Jing Jing

One month later….

So in the month that I’ve been here in Shanghai, I’ve realized that

1. I have never seen a “naked” dog here. They are always wearing little sweaters or some sort of costume. I once saw a dog in a mini suit. It was adorable. 

2.  The cats run rampant around the Donghua campus. We named this cat Cheddar. It’s tactic is to get you to really like you, let it into your room, and then turn on you. Today it literally chased me down the hallway. I have never been more scared in my entire life. 

3.  Chinese people really enjoy snow cones.  Well they sort of look like snow cones. I don’t really know what else to call it. How about shaved ice treats? This shaved ice creation is covered in this strawberry gel and condensed milk concoction and it’s actually really good. 

4.  The most random bands come to China. Christine and I actually saw Death Cab! It was pretty great. It made my 9th grade self a very happy person. 

5. Shanghai bars frequently have 100 RMB (~16 USD) open bar nights.  Which is both a blessing and a curse for some of the students.  Here’s the gang at Will’s (or Wei Li’s) 21st birthday! These bars are in for a pretty big loss when these boys roll through.  They truly underestimate how much American college boys can drink. 

Before the night starts:

At the end of the night:

Not everyone can be winners….LOLOL.

Love and miss you all!!

<3 Jing Jing

The Shanghai Literary Festival!

So today, Christine, her roommate and I went to the 2012 Shanghai Literary Festival and it was great! The lectures were okay, but the location was amazing. It was located on the bund, which is the located right along the Huang Pu River.  It’s one of Shanghai’s most popular tourist destination, because the skyline at night is gorgeous. The architecture is also beautiful and is heavily influenced by Europe. Here’s a photo!

The festival was located at a bar called M on the bund and the view overlooked the river. This place was really classy. They also gave you a free drink with your ticket. Since our tickets were paid for by the program, they only gave us orange juice. lolz. Here’s the pictures from the bar:

 

And then the Chinese roommates took us out to a hot pot place! I LOVE HOT POT. I’ve actually gone to hot pot like 6 times. It was also hilarious watching my Chinese roommate down a liter of beer. She doesn’t normally drink at all, but girl can really drink some beer. She’s a champion. 

In between the lectures we went to a place called Costa Coffee, which was way too fancy. So obviously we took obnoxious pictures. 

And we found some very interesting drink names….funny how the definition changes with just a single letter…

Until next time,

or as the Chinese say it, BYE BYE!! (I’ve actually heard zero people actually say Zai Jian, which is Chinese for bye here…weird eh?)

<3

Jing Jing

A Day of Adventure!

So today, after my test, I realized I was free ALL DAY!!!! Everyone else had to go to their internship today, so I decided to roam around town. As you all know, I am prone to just losing everything I own ( for example I have already lost my ATM card, student card, AND food card) and just never know where I am. Even in WDM and Colorado Springs, I literally have to take the same route everywhere I go. But I made it back and had the best day! I  got on the subway and got off at Nan Jing Road, a shopping section that I had never been to. Also, They love Avril Lavigne here. I cannot escape her songs. 

Nanjing Road!

KIMCHI AND BEEF. I LOVE ASIA.

They have the cutest deserts here. EVERYTHING HERE IS TOO CUTE. You literally cannot find one notebook without some sort of animal on it. I also tried to get regular notecards yesterday and the lady looked extremely confused and pulled out some with Hello Kitty on it. Apparently normal notecards do not exist. 

<3 and miss you all!!

Jing Jing

One Week Later…

SO. this week has been a blur. Here are some sweet things that I saw!!!

Clothing from one of the 56 Chinese minority groups! Its pretty badass.

B

So i’ve never gone to a Hooters in the US, so for the lolz I went to one in China. THE BUFFALO SAUCE WAS NOT BUFFALO SAUCE. disappointed. At least we all got beers.

We rep sorority stance EVERYWHERE WE GO.

Meanwhile in China….. (This is what Mcdonald’s looks like at 5 am.)

Us trying to make dumplings. You can see how they turned out in the next photo…

So creative. hahaha

JING JING

Chicas Abroad: Finally Settled In P.S They love Vampire Diaries here... →

chicasabroad:

Orientation finally ended and we started classes today. I wanted to do a language intensive program and that is exactly what I got. Going from little written Chinese experience, this entire semester seems daunting. I knew how to write, at max, 20 Chinese words before this, and now we have to learn…

Examples of when quotations marks are important.

Also, side note, when I was twelve I had a birthday party at a bowling alley. They gave me my own bowling pin and it said, Happy Birthday “Jinny”.  I imagined at the end it was supposed to say, “if that’s who you really are…”

(Source: anarchymydear, via 10knotes)