'Tis the Season to be Homesick

4,838,400 seconds, 80,640 minutes, 1,344 hours, 56 days ago I set off on a journey. To do what exactly, I still have to figure that part out since my objective seem to keep changing.

It's interesting because I never really thought about it before I left home. I have realized that I didn't think about a lot of things until the time actually came. I consider both places home as I have spent an equal amount of time in the two cities. But it seems like whenever I'm in one, I terribly miss the other. We can't ever be happy with what we have, can we? I already know I'll miss Hong Kong the second I leave and the second I land, I will be planning my next trip out. It's predictable because it happens every time. If only the two places were closer to each other.. like San Francisco → Oakland or Hong Kong → Kowloon. A girl can dream..

It really hit me that I was homesick when I got off the bus today returning home. I didn't really have time to think about things like this since work took up 120% of my life. As I stepped off the bus and waited for the pedestrian light to change from red to green, it hit me. I don't have work tomorrow. Since today is Christmas Eve, tomorrow is Christmas day and I finally have a break from work. (Is it sad that all I want to do is sleep?) Having a break from work seems far-fetched and unreal. I walked across the street suddenly feeling lost and homesick.

Being by myself all the time is quite nice since I've always had somebody by my side all the time for the past four years. Especially in a busy city like Hong Kong, people are so busy rushing to work/home/school that nobody really notice that you're there. It gives me a lot of time to think about the possibilities of my future and to worry less (I know, how is that even possible). I have identified a huge problem that I desperately need to find a solution for-- living in the moment and enjoying it. I feel like I'm always thinking about what the next step is and anticipating that than enjoying what is in front of me. Who cares if it's old Asian ladies walking really slow blocking the entire road, I should probably find something to enjoy about those moments. The only downside of being by myself is when I think of random moments that makes me laugh out loud or when I start having conversations in my head and end up talking to myself (I swear I'm not crazy...) 

On a lighter note (•⊙ω⊙•), this is probably holiday depression. It will eventually pass and I will be back to work in no time (not sure if that's a good thing or not..) 9gag definitely helps during times like this.

Anyways, I was definitely missing the freezing nights at the apartment last (or was the the one before last?) December, where my two favorite people were surrounding me on my bed watching Supernatural and eventually ending up getting a $100+ PG&E bill from our portable heaters. ლ(́◉◞౪◟◉‵ლ)

xoxoxoxo

Life in Hong Kong

I meant to write earlier..

Part procrastination, part overworked-from-work-leaving-me-no-time-to-sit-down-and-blog. 

I've been in the beautiful, wonderful, fast-paced, intense city of Hong Kong for 33 days/a little more than a month now. It was such a hard decision moving here but I honestly feel like I've gotten to know myself so much better. It also feels like it was something that needed to happen before I settle down or else I would never be satisfied. Although this move is temporary, it was still hard to get up, and just leave. The period from the moment Amar dropped me off at the airport to when my mom arrived in Vietnam was the hardest, thinking about all the things I'd miss back home. Not only Thanksgiving and Christmas (which I definitely did not think about before booking my flight *No Thanksgiving or Christmas feasts (ಥ ̯ ಥ)), but also my niece and nephews birthdays and watching them grow, going home for dinner with my parents, having lunch with my mom, waking up next to my favorite person in the world, the list goes on and on. However, this experience has taught me so much and if there is one thing I am certain-- it's that I will never work an entry-level position in Hong Kong. If I am coming back later on in my career, it will be as a professional in my field. 

Let's start with what's happening right now and work our way back, shall we?

As of right now, my days of the week looks like this. Every week.

Monday

6:30AM Alarm goes off.

6:45AM Crawl out of bed looking like that ^.

6:45AM Change into my gym clothes. Brush teeth and wash my face. 

7:00AM Walk down to the gym.

7:00AM 20 minute workout to wake up so I don't slip/fall/die/fall asleep in the shower. 

7:30AM Shower/get dressed/dry my hair.

8:00AM Walk back home.

8:05AM Run down to the MTR.

8:17AM Get to the MTR.

8:23AM Arrive at desired MTR stop. Now time to run to catch the 8:32 ferry.

Mornings usually look a lot like this, where the gate area is packed with people like sardines and once the last person gets off the ferry, they open the gate and these people rush on. Once the last person in that queue gets far enough past the gate, the gate closes and the ferry takes off. 

8:30AM Arrive at the ferry terminal and get on the ferry at 8:32AM ^. (The ferry leaves EXACTLY at 8:32. It pulls in and people get off at 8:30 and once everybody has gone through the gate and onto the ferry, it closes the door and pulls away from the dock. Super reliable-- that is since I haven't experienced riding the ferry while its raining or during a typhoon, but hopefully I never have to. 

8:47AM Arrive at To Kwa Wan ferry dock and book it to work.

8:54AM Arrive at work.

7:30PM-9:30PM Get off work. (Keep in mind, there is no such thing as OT pay for entry-level employees.)

The last ferry is usually like this ^. Super peaceful and quiet but that's because everybody is at home already. 

View from out the ferry's window.

8:30PM-10:30PM Return home via bus (1 hr ride or ferry then tram *below (more or less 1hr, but the last ferry is at 7:35PM). Eat dinner (my grandma sets aside a little of everything for her grandchildren ^___^ Home-cooked meals are the best!)

Only HKD$2.3, takes longer but it's relaxing, especially with little to nobody on board.

11:00PM Get ready for bed. Sleep

Tuesday

Repeat Monday.

Wednesday

Repeat Tuesday.

Thursday

Repeat Wednesday.

Friday

Repeat Thursday.

Saturday.

Repeat Friday, but I technically get off at 1PM but today (it's Saturday over here), I got off at 4PM. 

Sunday

Sleep in, run all the errands humanly possible, and dread for Monday's arrival.

#mylifeasofrightnow #untilApril

If there is a gym nearby with clean nice showers, I would highly consider sleeping in the conference room at night.

With that said besides being overworked and draining every bit of energy out of me, I do enjoy working as I am learning a lot. Both about working in Hong Kong and the culture. I thought I knew it before I moved here, but there's still so much to learn. 

I will get into more of what I have learned and such in later blogs when I have more time (is that even possible in Hong Kong?). But onto life before work (duration= one week). 

After my mom and I arrived in Hong Kong, there were many errands to run and my mom had many things she had to take care of so it was one thing after another. Busy busy busy, always on the go (much like the city itself). A few pictures I captured to show how I spent my week in Hong Kong before the hectic work life took me hostage. 

My mom usually comes back this time in the year because it's my grandpa's birthday in November. It's probably the second time in the past 10 years, I've been here to celebrate his birthday. He turned 88 this year with many more years ahead of him! 

I love that picture. The photographer (Me ^__^) captured the perfect moment. Cherishing it forever. 

I would think fruits in Hong Kong would be better than the ones we have in the States. But that's not very true.. Maybe because it's without preservatives lol! But above is a dragonfruit (which is one of my favs) but from Korea! And it's all purple. It also stains whatever that comes in contact with it (my hand and my tongue) and has no flavor what-so-ever. Strange! None-the-less, I've eaten so many persimmons and dragonfruits since I've been here, I don't think I can handle any for awhile. 

Hui Lau Shan is a franchise, much like Starbucks but instead of coffee and drinks it's Hong Kong desserts-- mostly consisting of fruits, specifically mangos. So yummy and they're literally everywhere in Hong Kong. Above is the mango delight with real mochi. Soooo good. 

I sent Amar those two pictures and he asked me, "Why are there so many people?" The pictures above were taken when I boarded the bus to go home in Causeway Bay. This is already nothing. At least you can see holes where people can fit. I can't wait until Amar gets here so he can experience Hong Kong during rush hour, especially since he greatly values his personal space. Bahaha. 

Ever since I've been here, I've spotted so much of Andy. #makesmemissfattyevenmore

That is all for today. I'm counting down to the day Amar arrives and the day my break from work begins! Beijing adventure coming up soon but before that work is about to get real crazy (as if it hasn't already) because we are one of the main sponsors for the Hong Kong Expo, therefore, the days before the Expo (next week) will be hell on earth. Wish me luck! 

To conclude experiences good and bad I can say this,

Disclaimer: All this would not be possible without the support of my family, boyfriend, best friend, friends, and loving co-workers. ♡♡♡

xoxoxo

{Vietnam Diaries} Ho Chi Minh Day 2.5 & 3

Tat Son Nhat International Airport, we meet again! Funny (or gross and disgusting) story: Once we got on the Vietnam Airlines plane from Nha Trang, our seats were literally the last ones on the plane. I glanced at the person next to us to find a flight attendant blatantly picking his nose while staring at passengers getting on the plane. The whole time I was thinking:

And then, mm mmm mmm (in Ilisha's voice) you know you ain't right for that. Trust and believe I didn't touch anything he handed out. 

By the time we landed, it was only 8am! We decided to head to the hotel and take our time walking around the attractions all around and exploring the area. Our first stop was the Independence Palace, which is one of the main landmarks in Ho Chi Minh. It was the home and workplace of the President of South Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 

^Two very nice government workers(?) working outside. The girl on the left helped my mom and I walk across a really busy street (which my mom captured below as the motorcycle tries to run us over.)

After we successfully crossed the street, my mom mentioned how they are definitely not ADA friendly. You know how in the US there are little curb thing so things with wheels (whether it's a wheelchair or a cart) can cross the street without dropping? Well here in Ho Chi Minh, there are ropes and these metal bars on the floor (below) that you have to hop over at each intersection. Weird.

We came across a department store called Diamond Department Store. Their prices were so pricey. My mom and I (since we had time and nowhere to be) walked around inside and it was similar to Sogo in Hong Kong (the prices certain reflect Sogo) and Macy's in the US. It was funny that one of the section of the store was dedicated to Papaya USA (www.papayaclothing.com) and it was literally marketed like a higher scaled clothing company, similar to Zara. Their prices, if you look at their website is like Forever 21 or cheaper and their quality is comparable to Wet Seal. Anyways, what I'm trying to say is- their clothes sold at the Department Store in Vietnam are priced at millions of dollars (US$100+) for a blouse that goes for at most US$20. 

Yep.

At the very top floor, there was a food court! It's the first food court in Vietnam I've ever seen so it was definitely interesting. Most of the sections serve Vietnamese food (who would've thought). This is the first time I've seen or even heard of Lotteria! My first thought was-- is this the McDonalds of Vietnam? After some research, it turns out that it's actually a global fast food chain that started first in Tokyo. Very interesting!

Our next stop was the Central Post Office and the Notre Dame Cathedral. The Central Post Office is a working post office and it is also the city's main church. The building was constructed when Vietnam was apart of French Indochina and the architecture is absolutely beautiful. A lot of couples were in their wedding outfits taking pictures around the area as the Post Office is located right across from the Cathedral. I believe my mom counted up to 12 couples and then stopped because there were too many.

Crossing the street, we landed right in front of the Notre Dame Cathedral, which is one beautiful architecture. It is interesting because they said that all the original building materials were imported straight from France. And the tiles destroyed and damaged by war was made in Ho Chi Minh to replicate and replace the original, which reminded me a lot about Bosnia and the infrastructure that was destroyed because of war and then the Bosnian government took the original pieces and recovered the building/bridge/statue. 

^One of the two pictures we took together on this trip.^

^Like I mentioned earlier, there were a lot of couples taking engagement photos and getting married. This group's bridesmaids were all wearing yellow. (I only took this to show yellow is not a bad color for bridesmaids. Bahahaha)

We settled at Highlands Cafe to rest a bit. I had the Passion fruit Mojito, which is non-alcoholic and my mom got an Iced Vietnamese Coffee with condense milk on the side. 

The BEST Passion Fruit drink ever! The mix of mint leaves and passion fruit was a genius idea.

Tasting my mom's Vietnamese coffee for the first time without condense milk. SO STRONG. Worse than black coffee.

It was our last day in Vietnam so my mom wanted to reward us by getting mani pedis together! This is the third time I've gotten my nails done (second time for pedis) and it still feels so weird. I have a bajillion nail polishes at home so I usually do my own nails. It's weird to have people touch my hands/feet. But it was so great! Very relaxing and I came out with perfect french tips. 

We each had two girls scrubbing the dead skins off our nails and the total was VND$400,000 which is (USD$20). It was considered expensive in comparison to other nail salons in the area, but well worth it! (My mom also had to bargain for this one. They originally wanted to charge us close to VND$500,000.)

Compared to other nail salons we saw in the area, this one was of the best quality (or at least we think it is.) The other ones were a lot cheaper like mani for $60,000 + pedi for $60,000 making it only $120,000 per person. But it was inside a hair salon that was busy and overcrowded (that might mean that it's real good as well. Who knows!) 

The rest of the time we spent walking around the Bến Thành Market and watching people try to persuade us why their coffee is better than 50 other coffee stands within the 1 foot radius. This has definitely been an eye opening experience. I never thought I would have the opportunity to visit Vietnam and experience the Vietnamese culture up close and personal. The pros were definitely the cheap food! Cons would have to be the bargaining we have to endure for every situation where we had to buy something (even water) and traffic! I uploaded an earlier video of actually being in that craziness but below are two pictures of how a family of four with little kiddies can be on one moped. 

Notice the little girl squished in the middle

That's it for Vietnam! 

xoxoxoxo

{Vietnam Diaries} Nha Trang Day 1.5 & 2

Nha Trang Day 1.5

We made our way to the airport around 3PM. Below are just two pictures of the domestic terminal Tan Son Nhat Airport. Although it is an international airport, the domestic terminals were pretty run down. There were tiny cockroaches running around.

Two and a half hours of waiting and a 35 minute plane ride (yes, the plane ride was 35 minutes) later, we arrived in Cam Ranh/Nha Trang! It's interesting that it takes 35 minutes by plane vs. 8-9 hours by car, similar to SF to LA in a way. I slept the whole plane ride here since I was still jet lagged. The taxi ride from the airport in Cam Ranh to our hotel in Nha Trang was 45 minutes (longer than the plane ride there), 38 km away. I managed to fall asleep and apparently I was snoring in the taxi while my mom was freaking out about whether the taxi driver was going to take us somewhere to sell our livers since the road to the hotel was by the countryside with no street lights or anything. We made it to the hotel! It was around 9 or 10PM but it felt like 3 in the morning.

We stayed at the Sheraton Nha Trang Hotel & Spa and it was definitely a luxury hotel in a very popular city in Vietnam. Nha Trang is a coastal city east of the South China Sea. It is well known for its beaches and scuba diving. Once we arrived in our rooms, we had chocolate truffle pops waiting for us! Too bad neither of us likes chocolate.. But their hospitality from check-in to the room was exceptional.

Our view from our balcony of the private beach down below. So beautiful!

The city side of Nha Trang. 

I can stare at the view of the South China Sea all day. We went to sleep right away and woke up the next day still admiring the view! Night time vs. during the day. 

Our main objective of this trip was to relax from the hustle and bustle of city life. Eventually we decided to explore the hotel a bit more as the hotel offered a lot of amenities! The Sheraton has panoramic bay views throughout the hotel, the outdoor reflecting pool, fitness center, cooking school, more than seven restaurants, and bars. 

The hotel lobby. Love the spiral stairs! 

So very spacious.

I still can't get over how pretty the hotel is! We eventually made it through the hotel and explored the city! It's obvious how different Nha Trang is compared to Ho Chi Minh. Nha Trang has a more laid back environment verses Ho Chi Minh, which a metropolitan area. Everybody is here is also really nice. The biggest difference from the two cities is that everybody is trying to cash out in the metropolitan area, mainly the cost of anything around Ho Chi Minh is 30-40% more than Nha Trang. There are tourist areas in Nha Trang, mainly the beach areas- which is probably the city's most profitable area, but the rest of the city consist of locals meaning their prices are much cheaper. An example would be the first night in Ho Chi Minh on the street, my mom and I had pho for VND$40,000 vs (later I'll post pictures) VND$20,000 a bowl in Nha Trang. Same kind of setting, on the street in the mini chairs but half the price. 

There are still a lot of people in Nha Trang but there is a significantly greater number of people in Ho Chi Minh City. 

I love fruits. Ever since we've been in Vietnam, there are SO many different kinds of fruits ranging from rambutan to my favorite- dragonfruit! They have fruit stands on every corner and if they don't, there are ladies on bicycles with baskets of different kinds of fruits for sale. 

We stumbled into a local market at around 7-8am in the morning, so still quite early but everybody was awake and already eating breakfast (pho)! We went upstairs and discovered this warehouse looking place with individual food stands. We didn't understand what they sold but it was definitely interesting to see the local market. 

Outside with more fruit and vegetable stands.

Everybody seems to know where they were going wheezing by my mom and I. There were so many things to look at that. Several stands were selling the pho noodles (bun?) and others were selling lots of foreign spices like shrimp paste and marinated veggies.

My mom noticed a lady selling shaved(?) coconuts for VND$10,000 and she really wanted to try it so we got one! I've never had real coconut juice before. Well I guess Amar tried to chop one before but kind of failed. It's very interesting! The juice however was warm so it didn't really appeal to me but my mom enjoyed it. 

The first (malnourished) kitty I saw! I saw plenty of malnourished puppies but everybody knows that I have a soft spot for kitties :'( 

^From the left, the third moped bike is decked out in LV. Lol!^

These moped motorcycle machines are the local's main source of transportation (like you've seen earlier in my first Vietnam Diaries video). The Cantonese cyclo guy told us that everybody drives these because they are manufactured in Vietnam and so it is much more affordable. My mom and I have seen a whole family (mom, dad, child, and another child) on one of these. Every time I see crazy traffic, I can't help but wonder how many accidents happen a day. I did notice that everybody is really careful about driving- which involves a lot of honking. Crossing the streets in the beginning was such a challenge! We had to overcome our fear of getting run over and just step into the street and the cars and mopeds will just go around you. 

After wandering away from the local market and all the people, we saw this lady (below) cooking her meats for the day on the street. It was probably like 10am at this point and we were starving so we sat down and did what we did best-- feast! 

Our order of pho with unknown parts of beef and quail eggs. The broth was sososo good. 

Our brunch for the day! Mmmm with my mom's grilled chicken over rice. 

After breakfast (yes, that was breakfast), we decided to go buy some banh mi for lunch later on so we don't have to leave the hotel. 

VND$10.000 for one sandwich! (USD$0.00047 each)

A church we stumbled upon walking back to the hotel. How pretty!

Once we got back to the hotel, we laid out our purchases before heading down to the pool to relax. Rambutan, lychee, dragonfruit, mango, and our banh mis. 

The water was so cold! But it was hot out so it somehow evened out. Swimming in that pool felt like I was swimming out in the ocean. So beautiful. I was updating my blog, enjoying the sun, and tanning. (I ended up with a sunburn X_____X It's very uncomfortable traveling with a sunburn.) We decided to take a nap and ended up sleeping the whole day away. 

Nha Trang Day 2

It was good that we got a lot of rest as we had to wake up early the next day to catch a flight back to Ho Chi Minh via Vietnam Airlines. Our flight was early morning and the taxi driver who drove us from the airport to the hotel was the one who drove us back to the airport. He was a great driver! My mom asked him to take a stop at the local bakery to pick up some breakfast (below).

^Airport taxi special. The meter was running the whole time and by the time we got from the airport to the taxi, it was at VND$578,000 verses their specials from the airport to wherever in Nha Trang VND$380,000 and from Nha Trang back at VND$250,000.^ 

Nha Trang Domestic Airport (below)

Từ biệt, Nha Trang!

xoxoxoxo