All Good Things Come To An End

One whole month of travelling is a good source of energy...but also a way to make you realise that Home (with a capital H) is the best and warmest place on earth. Quite honestly, I believe 2 weeks is the perfect number to get away...enough to make you forget about your tired everyday life and not enough to make you miss people you care.

Airports
- Montreal's airport is the most technology and design retarded
- Shanghai's very empty if you have to wait 5 hours for the rest of tour members to arrive
- Hong Kong and Beijing's are just huge as shopping malls so you won't have time to get bored.

Airplanes
- If you're not going directly to your destination, but have to be transfered (which is mostly done with smaller planes) remember not to choose the place next to the propeller...it'll make you deaf for the next hour. O_O
- Do not waste your time sleeping...they have now a good selection of old and new movies and TV shows. (if you don't sleep during the flight, you won't have jet lag...trust me)
- Can't understand why people hate plane food. Am I weird if I like them? I mean...they give Häagen-Dazs ice-cream.
- All take-offs and landings are good tests of my bladder control.
- On my way back to Montreal alone (HSK's staying an extra month in Korea)...a grandma was nice enough to put a cover on me just in case I get cold.

Suzhou 蘇州
- Extreme humiliation of a Mainlander...she didn't turn off her mp3 player during the take-off. We could've died because of that piece of ****
- A non logic woman who doesn't have the common sense to lead her seat back-up for me to eat. Literally having her head-rest over my plate.
- People are allow to smoke and speak loud in restaurants and hotel rooms. WTF! I guess I've been spoiled where smoking is prohibited in most places, Montreal.
- Very cheap (110$RMB can buy a dinner for 5), but oily and salty food. I guess "oil" is the cheapest ingredient here.
- Internet connection is snail-slow and networking sites (FaceBook, Twitter, BlogSpot) are just all blocked.
- Forgot to bring my camera's battery charger...had to use my mother's dummy cam during Korea and Beijing (photos might not be the best). Siiigh!!! What kind of memory is that??? Have no one else to blame but myself.
-Starbucks drink sizes are different. We have mezzo, grande and venti; they have tall, grande and venti. When I ordered my usual Mezzo Javachip Frappuccino, it turns out that the lady heard Green Tea Mokka. Euh...is that even drinkable??? It took her 5 minutes to finally get what I really wanted. Why didn't I ordered in chinese? Well, because the menu was only written in simplified chinese and I can't possibly know which is Javachip.
- Went to a temple and hit the gong 3 times to bring health to my whole family.
It is too humid for clothes to dry up if you wash them at night...had to use the hair dryer to blow dry my socks and undies. *sad*
- Watched the Ugly Truth in my hotel room. Muwahahahahah. Gerard and Katherine in China.
- Hospitals here have no names. They're identified with numbers.
- Went to the silk factory. Finally know where SK-II come from.

Nanjing 南京
- My neighbor's mother's 2 friends can sure drink a lot. They have to open 2 bottles of beer at each meal.
- My sister have a new challenge...biking in high heels. lol People would go to work in suits and riding a bike.
- Super 5* hotel with a large plasma TV, wireless keyboard (connection faster than other hotels) and a princess chair.
- A lot of street vendors everywhere. You come out of somewhere and suddenly you see an army of vendors running towards you with their products.
- Just realized that people in China looove to use their own face as their commerce logo. Lack of imagination.
- I'm feeding all moskitos to protect others. Ahhh!!! I'm such a nice and generous person. (in exchange, everyone gave me their special cream...I ended up putting at least 5 different kinds on my legs) Really felt warm. People actually care for other tour members and so I became friends with everyone sitting in the back of the bus.

 Wuxi 無錫
- Purple sand teapot is the most well known product from Wuxi. If you want to be sure to buy the real stuff...well you know where to go. Not only it's top quality, but the deisgn is also nowhere to be seen.
- Visited a pearl industry. SAs in China are very good sellers. After an hour of intensive brain-washing...I bought a grade A pearl necklace for my sister (approximately 250$CAD). I was very tempted to buy one for myself too, but my beloved A-grade-well-designed black pearl cost 8000RMB (around 1200$CAD)

 Hangzhou 杭州
- The world famous SongCheng show was a little boring at the beginning, but it gets better...covered lots of love legends I appreciate.
- My mother got "mugged" at that tea garden...I mean who would buy tea for 500$CAD???
- I'm not very fond to the idea of letting people play with my feet (massage). Anyway I worried for nothing because they ignored me the whole time, thinking I'm not admissible (under age) for the treat.

 Shanghai 上海
- Shanghai's night view is a chinese version of New York's...both beautiful.
- Absolutely have to bargain no matter where you go. Set the price to 1/3 of what the actual asking price is...if they refuse, higher the price a little and if they still refuse...walk away and they'll call you back. In other words, something they ask for 100$...you can have it for 30$ or less (depends on your bargain skill).
- A SUPER line-up at the Expo to get into China Pavillion. Don't know if it's worth it, but I'm utterly happy to get a VIP pass.
- I'm so good. Just realized that I didn't buy anything in the Expo beside food (was surprised that it was delicious).
- All pavillions are amazing from the outside (have no comments for the indoor since I didn't want to stay in line for hours).

 Hong Kong 香港
- Taxis are cheap and everywhere...cannot resist to grab a cab no matter where I need to go.
- Love their MTR too. (have A/C, easy access, have multiple exits, and can walk from a station to another *in my spanish accent* al interior.
- What a good taste for road names...Nathan Road. Hahahahah. (Seriously, I'm not sarcastic. I love the name.)
- In our hotel room, the hairdryer happened to be broken and my adapter converter wasn't compatible. WTF! What's my solution to this (can certainly not go out with my hair undone)...go to a hair salon every 2 days to get a hair wash-cut-dry for only 80$HK.
- Had much fun in Lan Kwai Fong, Gecko bar. And NO I didn't drink anything with alcohol...only a small cocktail...didn't want to end up in a stranger's bed.
- OMG OMG OMG Last time in Hong Kong I had the chance to see lots of celebrities having a party in a restaurant. This time I had the luck to spot Steven Ma in front of Louis Vuitton in Central.
- A humongous cockroach in front of the bathroom door in a restaurant. It's special to have that insect guard your toilet door. You can be certain that I'm not dare to go in...although I did because I wasn't able to hold it anymore.
- DimSum experience in 7eleven...failure (we literally over cooked)

 Macau 澳門
- First thing we saw in the ferry station was 2 women pointing and yelling at a man in public. What a humiliation. I was sitting beside them and was terribly scared that those women would hit me accidentally.
- Casinos-hotels-resorts in Macau are impressive. I got the opportunity to see the Grand Waldo (where my mother reserved), the Venetian (the one I always wanted to see...the one in Las Vegas is my next target), MGM Gran (to see the lion, of course), and Wynn (the golden tree and golden dragon presentation left me speech less).
- We boycott Lisboa. It's the only one who asks for a proof of expense in their casino before we could use their shuttle bus.
- People guarding the door asked me for a piece of identification in order to let me in. Euh...do I look THAT young???
- Have to honestly admit that Portuguese tarts are better than egg tarts. I shared a half-dozen with my friend, but I could've finished them myself.

 Korea 朝鲜/韓國
- Not staying in an hotel, but an officetel (with a heating floor) = office + hotel. The door lock is by code...which is very awesome. Thinking of installing one for my room.
- Lots of churches everywhere.
- Advanced technology in metro: have air con, toilets, movement sensor esaclators, touch screen maps, tv, tells you which side to exit, and an elevator connected to the outside.
- People seems to like pushing me.
- The main thing we do in this country is eat and shop.
- Went to a traditional restaurant where you have to leave your shoes outside the room, sit on the floor and wait for the waiters to bring in the table full of food.
- Speaking of food, I think I ate too much over-spicy food...felt sick and vegetable for a day.
- Saw a guy with a condoms-print tie. I truthly hope he won't ever find out. LOL
- E-mart is a place like Costco, but only bigger and more food stands. Mmmm
- Koreans looove caffes. You can find at least coffee shops on each street. The most special  ones we went are surely Star Wars Caffee and Hello Kitty Caffee (which I enjoyed killing her)
- This is where I start to miss home and my mamaaa.
- Adidas is my real thing...here they have Samdidas.
- It is NOT possible for foreigners to visit Korea alone...there're no english sign and local people don't speak english.
- Bought a passport case, but had to return it because it doesn't fit...the SA refused to make a refund because it was an open box. Well...how am I suppose to know that it doesn't fit if I don't try it? Apparently, you're suppose to test it with the sample...but who shops with their passport in their bag???
- Most memorable person in Korea? Shin Won Lee, HSK's cousin. She's such a nice person...she brings us wherever we want to go, invite us to expensive dinners and gave me lots of compliments.

Beijing 北京
- A man in our tour forgot his passport home...so his wife had to travel alone and he had to go home. lol
- A stupid kid spent the entire flying time kicking on my seat and her parents say nothing. What kind of education is that???
- Don't have much photos of meself, because I can't possibly always take photos of myself or ask people around.
- My backpack is at everyones service.
- It is not even a question, I would definitely go back to Beijing once more. Only an hour in the gorgeous Forbidden City and the Great Wall...it's far from sufficient.
- No shopping at all during this tour. *depression* At least I'm lucky enough to have found my beloved candies.
- Greatest deception for the Beijing duck. Even those in Montreal and Toronto are wayyy better.

Trivia
- I do feel tall (at least average) in China. Muwahahahahah.
- Forgot to bring my camera charger and thus have to use my mother's dummy.
- Since day 1, people assume I speak mando the moment I set foot in a store.
- People there are only unilingual. I'm lucky to know mando...just failed for Korea.
- "There are still so many smokers in China I'm afraid the world's tobacco industry would collapse if China suddenly decided to ban smoking all together." (from Kelly Hu)
- If the smoking didn't kill me, the driving might have.  At many occasions we're just missing head on collisions or kill some pedestrians by inches.
- Everyone think I'm 15-16 and wonder why I'm not at school, but travelling.
- Put in the garbage all unwanted and worn clothes...don't have to do my laundry and make more space for new clothes. Incredible strategy. *thumbs up to myself*
- In Canada, people cover their mouth when they cough...In China, I have to cover my face when people cough.
- Miserable squat toilets...no seats (only a hell whole) and no toilet papers. So most of the time I have to hold it for as long as I could. After all this time, I still haven't master the art of those hell wholes and my pair of Converse suffered the consequences (RIP after a month of intensive work out). If you think positively, it is a good way to train your biceps femoris and rectus femoris.
- When drivers get on the wrong road, instead of taking the next exit and find the right way...they would immediately make a u-turn and literally drive in the opposite direction of the traffic.
- If you ask me what i've seen during the trip...I'd say the tour guide's flag.

P.S. Bonus materials are available if you have earned my friendship-trust package.