20 hours in Shanghai!

I haven't done "A Day in Photos" blog for a long long time because for a long long time I haven't taken that many photos in one day! Finally I had the opportunity to do so on my trip to Shanghai. It was really brief, but I had a really fun and happy time. I met up with two good friends from Canada and we enjoyed our time in Shanghai together =) 

We stayed in Shanghai for about 2 days, but this post will just feature some of 20 hours we spent in the city!

Rain rain go away... Shanghai had a rainy day!

We started our day super late, and by the time we got to our first visiting destination, it was already afternoon! But here we were inside the Moon Boat (Saudi Arabian Pavilion) at the Shanghai Expo.

The whole room was like a movie theater and everything was movie around you, including the path you're standing on (which was slowing moving you forward). Really crazy stuff!!! 

At the Old City Temple, a place with lots of colourful lights and festive lanterns!

A street full of shops and food places.

This is inside a food court and there were soooo many kinds of little eats to chose from!

Little crabs.
They look kinda cute and kinda scary. 

Here's my friend David deciding what to pick for us to eat! 

Our awesome dinner that night!!

Fanyi ready to eat! Yum yum! ^^

Aww our soupy baozi haha!! Cheers!!

Massive dragon light structure for the Year of the Dragon!

More colourful lights we saw while walking in the Old City Temple.

Here we are in Pudong, a super developed area with lotta skyscrapers and things made out of concrete and metal.

Walking the rain with colourful splashes below our feet :)

A bubbly pic of us :) taken with David's camera.

Chilling at the hotel. Eating some Lindt chocolates and drinking some herbal tea. 

We went to Cloud9, a bar on the 85th floor for a cocktail drink.
Here's Fanyi and her fancy blue drink that I don't recall the name of! 

The amazing view from the bar!

Our little midnight snack while watching tv.

My fruity brunch with a yogurt drink. 

And that was all!
This was probably one of my best moments in China this time. Shanghai is a really exciting city to explore and I was really happy to see Fanyi and David in China. I also met up with my classmate from grad school in Vancouver, and that was great too!

Now I'm back in California, moving towards my next life stage. I'm job-hunting for a real job!

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.

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!! 

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!! =)

Würzburg, Germany

I got to go to Germany this weekend and visit a nice little city called Würzburg. It is the university city of my friend, Andreas. I'm happy I got to see him and also visit a German city!

Here are some of the photos I took of the city:

Old Main Bridge 

With the cobblestones and statues, this bridge reminded me of Prague's Charles Bridge. A miniature version! 

An awesome home-made meal!

The best stew I've ever ate! The ingredients included ground beef, onions, garlic, potatoes, Asian cabbage, tomato sauce, and some seasoning.  

Würzburg Residenz 

The residence-palace of the city's former Prince-Bishops. It was built during the 1700s, but many parts got damaged during WWII and had to be renovated. Still, I thought the monument was very impressive both inside and out!

The Court Garden 

The garden behind the palace. A pleasant place to take a walk! Lots of trees, bushes, flowers, and statues. 

Dessert time! 

I got to try some sweet stuff =) Chocolates and a piece of cake. 

Andreas

My wonderful host! Many thanks for the great weekend! =)

Wien!

A fun weekend in Vienna with Xue! 

Not too far from where I got off the bus, there was a giant ferris wheel!

Walking towards the centre. I was very amazed by all the massive historical monuments all around!

This is my friend Xue, who is currently living in Vienna!

A taste of Austrian beer with some Austrian people.

At Schonbrunn Palace, the summer residence of the Habsburg family. 

Walking in one of the many lovely gardens...

I love just sitting outside with a friend, chat, eat, and watch people go by!

Interesting modern art on the streets.

Xue and a big fountain!

A treble clef and Mozart's statue in the back.

My dinner - turkey steak with veggies and rice! It was a delicious meal!!

At Kunsthistorisches Museum, where Xue is interning!

Inside the art museum... I feel tiny! 
(photo take by Xue)

Very happy that I got to see the original paintings of the Infanta Margarita Teresa of Spain.

A cool "aerial view" of the museum café.

A piece of the yummy Viennese chocolate cake, aka Sachertorte!

Enjoying the sunshine outside on this big purple plastic chair called "enzi".

****

For many reasons, this trip really reminded me of how rootless I have become over the past few years...

Where is "home"?  

It's been a while since I no longer know.