Hello everyone!

First off, I'm so sorry for the absence—school has been overwhelming and leaves me no time for blogging. I might be gone for a while until I come back with consistent content.

I hope November has been going well for you all; I've been having a rough couple of weeks but things are finally looking up. :)

I was editing an essay I wrote about the Neuschwanstein Castle, which I mentioned in this blog post (back in the non-vegan days), and it made me really miss being in Europe. I hope to return soon someday. ;_; Anyways, I was looking old photos from my trip and came across some photos from Berlin that I never got around to posting. There are still other photos that I took from Berlin, but they're on a different computer.

That's all for right now, thank you so much for reading. Fingers crossed I'll be back soon!

mel

Hello everyone,

During Labor Day weekend, which also happened to fall on my birthday, my family (including my sister and her fiance who came through) went on a weekend road trip to Yosemite.

We left Friday night and drove a couple hours, staying in a hotel in a city along the way. The traffic was not that bad on the way there, but we could see on the other side of the road, hundreds of cars stuck in traffic for some reason. So grateful we weren't in that position!

The next day we picked up my sister and her fiance from a Bart station and continued on our way to Yosemite. When we neared the park entrance, the traffic was absolutely terrible. We were stuck waiting in line for over 2 hours over a distance that should have taken 20 minutes. From what I've heard, Labor Day weekend is the second most crowded time, first being Memorial Day weekend.

After finally getting through the line, we walked over to a nearby waterfall, but unfortunately it was dry. x) That night we ate dinner at South Gate Brewing Company, and I ordered the Portobello mushroom burger without cheese, which was really delicious. After dinner we checked into a hotel and called it a night.

The next day, which was also my birthday, we got up earlier to avoid the traffic (a park ranger told us to come before 9:00 am and leave after 7:00 pm). We went to Glacier Point which my sister's fiance called "the Mona Lisa of Yosemite". After admiring the view, we picked a shady area to sit down and eat our lunch. I imagined us having a nice and peaceful lunch, but instead, we were attacked by bees. I guess it was the honey mustard in their sandwiches. My dad actually had a bee fly into his mouth, sting him, and fly out alive. Poor dad...

After lunch, we went on a hike that was about 7 miles, but we (mainly my dad and I) got tired really quickly, so we headed back. I did bump into a classmate on the hiking trail which was really cool.

Finally for dinner we ate at the Crab Cakes Restaurant where I ordered the Garden Pasta. The waiter was really nice and helped me order vegan friendly options.

At the end of dinner, my sister said she needed to use the restroom. Soon after she came back, the waiter asked me my favorite type of fruit. Turns out, my sister had told him it was my birthday, and he had made a smoothie for me. That moment was really memorable for me because it was such a nice gesture. :^) Shout out to that awesome waiter!

So, we went back to the hotel, slept, and the next day, headed back home. I had so much fun on this trip, and I'm so thankful I had this opportunity to spend time with my family and nature, two of my favorite things. :)

Thanks for reading!

mel

Hi everyone!

A couple weeks ago my family and I took a day trip to Laguna Beach. We ate sushi for lunch (I got some veggie rolls), and we headed to this gorgeous park nearby, the Treasure Island park.

I was wearing a jacket because I thought it would be cold, but it ended up being a sunny day—the weather was amazing. We walked around for a bit but finding parking was difficult—there were a lot of people out and about that day.

On our way home we got some groceries, and I caught a Dragonite in Pokemon Go. :^)

Thanks for reading!

mel

Hi everyone!

This post draws an end to my summer travels. I meant to put up this post much earlier, but there were other posts that I wanted to publish first.

A couple days before our departure from Hangzhou, my grandpa wanted to take my dad and me to Xixi National Wetland Park. My grandpa had never been, so he wanted to check it out. Several buses later (and getting lost along the way), we arrived at the park. Located in the west part of Hangzhou, the park features a variety of vegetation and plants as well as many oriental buildings. Along the river, there are several villages we stopped at. In these villages, there are places to eat and also learn more about ancient Chinese culture.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing the various stops we stopped at during my time in Taiwan and Hangzhou—this was an extremely memorable trip, and I'm so thankful I had this opportunity to see more of Asia.

Thanks for reading!

mel

Hello everyone!

In the middle of our trip to Hangzhou we were planning to visit the Hengdian World Studios, aka the "Hollywood of China". Of course my dad wanted to go (as a Chinese drama watcher), but I was a bit skeptical. To travel from where we were staying to Hengdian would have taken several hours. But, we decided that we should go the next day since we didn't have anything else to do.

My dad had told me that he would wake me up early in the morning the next day so we could catch the bus to Hengdian. When I woke up, however, I looked at the time, and it was already past 10:00 a.m.

Just our luck-- there was a heavy rainstorm outside, so we decided to bail on the trip. After a couple hours just lying around refreshing Yahoo News, I decided that I needed to get out. I'm the type of person who gets really antsy when I stay inside all day on my phone. So, we decided to stop by the Botanical Gardens (植物館).

Because it was raining, there were very few other people visiting (which is great since everywhere in Hangzhou is usually packed). My dad wanted to get some Oufen (藕粉), which he ate frequently as a child. Oufen is this sweet, sticky paste made from lotus root (it's a bit hard to describe).

The Botanical Gardens are divided into various different sections with different types of plants. It's a huge stretch of land-- we didn't get to visit all the places because we only stayed there for a couple of hours.

The places we stopped by include: Watching Fish at Yuquan, the Azalea Garden (second to last picture), Han Meilin Art Museum, and a few other locations. One of the flower gardens we wanted to visit we actually couldn't find because the roads weren't finished.

After a couple hours, we left the gardens and went to go eat a late lunch. At this point, my shoes and socks were completely soaked. We went to a chain restuarant in China, and I ordered a bowl of pian er chuan noodles (片兒川) without meat, which was delicious. Just a couple hours later my aunt invited us to eat. Needless to say, we were completely stuffed.

If you like nature and hiking, the Botanical Gardens would definitely be a great place to visit. The greenery is really beautiful (definitely very different from where I live-- the desert). I saw a restaurant in the gardens but it looked like it was closed (although we did visit on a day when there were very few people). However, there were quite a few tea houses that were open, which was where we ate the oufen. As a nature lover, I really enjoyed this destination; it was definitely one of my favorite places we visited on this trip.

Alright, that's the end of this blog post. Thanks for reading!

mel

Hello everyone!

I'm finally blogging about the second half of my summer travels in the beautiful city Hangzhou.

The first day we arrived, we spent most of the day lazing around my grandparents' home because we were so worn out from Taiwan.

The first tourist attraction we stopped by was the Liuhe Padagoda (六和塔). To get there, we rode the bus, but ended up getting off a stop too late. So, we ended up walking back over the Qiantangjiang Bridge (錢塘江橋) to get to the padagoda. The seven-story building had a long winding staircase which we climbed up (I was dying after climbing up the first staircase), decorated with ornate carvings of different creatures and plants. From the top, we were able to see a nice view of the Qiantang river (錢塘江) and the nearby park. After getting off the tower, we found a bell which my dad rung for good luck, health, and happiness for our family members.

Later that day, we walked to my dad's former university campus. I was able to see his old dorm, which is still there as a memorial. We eventually took a bus back home, tired from walking in the hot, humid weather.

The next day we rode a boat through part of the Grand Canal, which is the longest canal in the world and connects Beijing and Hangzhou. We got off the boat to get some drinks at a fancy KFC (the fast food chains there are quite nice) and then headed to the Grand Canal Muesuem.

A couple days later at night my grandpa took us to West Lake (西湖) to watch the colored fountains. Unfortunately, we found out later that the fountains only came on on certain days of the week at certain times for safety reasons. :( Just a warning, some roads (like the path we took) next to Xihu are very crowded. It would be really easy to get lost in the sea of people.

Hangzhou is seriously such a gorgeous city. If you are planning to visit China, Hangzhou would definitely be a great place to stop by.

I'll be back soon with more photos from the rest of my trip. Thanks for reading!

mel