farewell BJ!

I left Beijing on Christmas Eve and took a night train to Jiangsu province. 

On my last internship day, I had a nice lunch with my team at a Japanese restaurant not too far from where we worked. I was very happy that my team and I had time to have a meal together before I left! I liked working with them, and I think they're great individually too. 

My Japanese lunch with my co-workers on my last day!

So my internship in Beijing has come to an end. For some time, I was looking forward to its end because I wanted to move on. But on the last day, like any last day, I did feel a little sad, because afterall, it was an end to an episode of my life! I spent my last night with friends, most of which I made in Beijing. We had dinner at an Italian restaurant (Alio Olio) and then we went to party at Club Juicy! It was a really good night, and I had lots of fun! ^^

Now I am in Jiangsu visiting my relatives. I've been so tired these days - I don't know why. All I want do is sleep, and perhaps read and eat some fruits when I wake up.

blue jellyfishes

 I love seeing jellyfishes in real life as much as in cartoons (like Spongebob!). They're such fascinating creatures, I find! I wish I had more time observing them and photographing them when I was at the aquarium this Sunday!

Photo taken at the aquarium in Beijing. 

fading shades

I like how the colours of the mountains gets more faint as it stretches out into the horizon, so that is why I call this post "fading shades"! 

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I went to visit Beijing's aquarium park with my friend Astha yesterday and I realized how much I like aquariums. There is something very fascinating about sea creatures swimming around effortlessly in a colourful underwater world. I really liked looking at the jellyfishes and the vibrant coloured little fishes. Unfortunately we only got to see half of the aquarium park because we came in too late.... ahh, disappointing!

黑白的长城

The Great Wall of China in black and white!

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The internet situation here is not too ideal, so I don't get to blog as much as I would like! I still have a few more photos I'd like to share, but I must go now. 

branches

Empty tree branches standing against the sunset glow.

The photos taken during my hike on the Great Wall of China! I went up there today with two friends and had a great time! I shall post more photos of the Great Wall in my next blogpost. Now I am tired, and just want to have a good night's rest after a long day of walking and climbing.

glittery

 Macro photos of a glittery scarf I received today :)

water droplets

The first three photos are bits of the last photo!

Photos taken in front of the Government House in Victoria, BC. 

I was very fascinated by these pretty water droplets!!

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I am currently at Vancouver Airport, about to embark on my flight to Beijing. I just wanted to make a blog post before I leave Canada.

2 more months left in China. 

sashimi lunch

I was really happy to eat this bowl of rice with sashimi and salad for lunch today at Suga Restaurant in Vancouver, Canada!! 

above the clouds

As the plane approached its landing...

Hello beautiful Vancouver!! :)

I had an iced capp and sandwich from the first Tim Hortons I saw after my landing!

It's nice to be back in Canada again, even if it's brief! 

little flag girl

Saw this little girl run around happily with a Chinese flag in her hand while her dad was trying to catch up to her! 

Why are children so easily amused? =)

Photo taken at Tiananmen Square

白望山

Photo taken at Bai Wang Shan (Mountain of One-Hundred Look) in Beijing when hiking there last weekend.

little fallen leaves

Fallen leaves on the ground

Like hundreds of little stars.

gingko

I've been wanting to take photos of gingko trees (银杏树) since I came to Beijing because I've heard of how lovely they look when their leaves turn yellow during autumn season. Yesterday I finally got to do this while I was wandering in a large "forest park" in Chaolai area, Beijing! 

Yellow can be such a pretty colour! 

fluff

I placed a little dandelion in front of the sun so that it glows! 

orange dot

It was Sunday and I slept through the whole day. I woke up at 6pm and realized it was already dark out. Kinda depressing in a way. Went out to eat some food, then came back, washed some clothes, called a friend, surfed the net, and now it's time for bed again...

Photo taken during Saturday's sunset, near Tiananmen Square. 

In brief, my week went like this: worked Monday to Friday, went out Saturday, slept Sunday.
Perhaps Sundays should just be reserved for sleeping.

End of October is here. 2 more months till my internship ends, 3 more till I leave China. The weeks go by fast enough, but my overall time here is long.

little porcelain

A photo of a little porcelain figure taken at Fanyi's place in Zhengzhou. 

Kaifeng's night market

Went to Henan province this weekend and got to see Kaifeng's famous night market! There were a lot of interesting dishes to eat and little things to buy. I really enjoyed trying out new kinds of food there. I like how the food came in small quantity and were quite cheap in price! I got to eat quite a lot of stuff, and perhaps the best thing I ate was this the salted duck egg sushi...  never had such a thing! It was really good!!  

One of the food stalls at Kaifeng's night market. A lot of the sellers are of Hui ethnic group (usually of Islamic religion).  

Some kind of fish cooked in some interesting way... didn't try it, but thought these fishes looked quite unhappily dried up... 

Lots of different kinds of meat on a stick. You can eat them BBQed. I love the lamb and chicken wings stick the best!!

Aside from food, there are also little cute things that you can buy. Here are some colourful nightlights... there is even a Hello Kitty one ^_^

A little perfume stall. They mix liquids and then put it on one of those hanging tiny bottles. 

A warm thanks to my good friend Fanyi for taking me to this interesting place and for hosting me this weekend in Henan!! =)

rush

The busy streets of Zhengzhou, Henan.  

Gosh I stress out every time I cross the streets here in China! 

smudge

Photos taken from my apartment room in Beijing. Currently living on the 27th floor! 

Already 1:30am and I still can't fall asleep! >_<

black & cyan

BJTU

Yesterday I had a good afternoon with my Chinese friend Alex. He took me to his undergrad school, Beijing Jiaotong University, to take some photography of the colourful autumn leaves, but it turned out that most of the trees were still green. So instead, we mostly just walked around, sat somewhere every now and then, ate some stuff, etc... it was really nice! A sunny and relaxing day! Did not have to rush, did not have to go anywhere in particular...

At the football/soccer field - we sat on one of those concrete benches and ate some yogurt!
(our shadow on the far right)

It was neat to be at a Chinese university campus and to feel that "student atmosphere" again!

under the beaming sun

Went on a day-trip to Jehol (aka 承德/Chengde) with my Vancouver friend Astha who is also in China now!

This is city where the Qing imperial family came to spend their summer.