arietta

35.

Monday, February 29, 2016 / 0 comment(s)

Hello hello!

It has been way too long since i've blogged and i figured i should probably blog before uni becomes too hectic.

This post will probably just be my photo dump about my china/taiwan holiday which was really really good!!!! until the end when i got pickpocketed and had my phone stolen :'( So all the extra photos have all disappeared but at least on the plus side, i backed up everything before going on holidays and and uploaded nearly all photos on facebook (+ extras on wechat LOL)

Brace yourself - this is a very photo heavy post lmao

CHINA
We started off on a tour around xiamen/fujian area - it was alright, except i felt like i was touristing around the area i grew up. I kind of was on the first day since we went around fuzhou lelz. Next day we went to Wuyishan to the look at some da hong pao trees and apparently these were the last 2 left but really, they just looked like really sad trees wilting away on top of a mountain.

This was Wuyishan day 2 and we went on this bamboo raft ride. It was really cold but the area was really pretty ^_^

After we went to climb 天游 (Heavenly Peak) and it was basser steps x100, because even though there were only 400 steps they were steep af and i was trying to follow my brother and this guy on the tour with us and they were just racing up the steps.

Then, it was off to Xiamen! First we went to this temple because the place we originally were planning on going wasn't open on the day that we planned on going (top organising/10)

We watched this show at night and it was actually quite cool - like the whole production and performance was just...wow. The whole seating area spun 360 degrees and it was like a performance of the histories.

We went to Gulanyu which is about 20 minute boat ride from Xiamen. There were sooo many people taking their wedding photos there haha. There was also this street market which really reminds me of Taiwan now that i look back at it. You actually don't even need to buy anything because when you walk down that street everyone is shoving free food at your face. It was great.

this was the view of Xiamen from Gulanyu!!

That was the end of tour and then after we went back to Fuzhou for about 2-3 days i think? And off we were to Pingtan to stay for another week or so before going to Taiwan. I think i mainly chilled with my cousins but there was not much to do since all my cousins were either studying/working :(

rooftop view from my uncles' apartment block!

My uncles took my family + grandparents to 平潭大福湾 and it was really pretty!!! I think it was prettier on the day that we went because it was slightly cloudy but my cousin said it looks nicer on a sunny day because apparently the water looks really nice???

TAIWAN

So my parents decided they wanted to ~try new things~ so instead of flying to Taiwan we took a 3 hour boat ride from Pingtan and....never again.....I didn't get seasick but that's not to say it was a very comfortable trip lol.

First night we went to Raohe St. Night Market and i didn't really get to try all the food because my mum didn't think they were healthy lol :( But i saw tim there tho LOOOOOL so random.

Next day we went to Jiufen Old Street? It gave me a very Japan vibe but we went there first thing in the morning (so around 7:30-8) so everything was closed haha

Theeen, we went to to Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall - where i basically took a lot of tourist photos and i also walked past a Frozen Exhibition.

Stopped by this place on the way to Hualien and it was soo cute!!

Taroko National Park was next and it was really pretty too.

According to my instagram, this was day 4 in Taiwan. I can't remember why we stopped here - i think it was because there was a rock that looked like a US president. That..or it was a rock that looked like a cat-eye jade.

This was at Kaoshiung!! We went to one of the night markets and omg love Kaoshiung 10/10 would come back again. Unfortunately i didn't get time to shop because we spent the whole night pharmacy hopping to buy medicine for relatives lol.

Day 5 of Taiwan brought us to Alishan and we weren't actually allowed to go climb the mountain but we nearly did because we walked along the red rope bridge and we weren't actually supposed to go that far LOL

I couldn't remember where this place was but i found it on my facebook!! This was 天空之桥 and i'm sure we were meant to see an entire city but unfortunately the fog was too real. Thankfully we actually went across the bridge when we did because after it started pouring lel.

Day 6 was at Nantou and we visited Sun Moon Lake! It was alright - kinda reminded me of New Zealand's Akaroa ahahaha.

Last day of Taiwan tour was at Taipei and we went up Taipei 101 ooOOOoo except we only had about 10 minutes about that so i ran around the whole thing. Sad thing was it was super foggy that day so we couldn't get a really clear view :(

We had to stay an extra day in Taiwan since the boat back to China only ran on certain days of the week in Winter so we spent our last day/night in Taichung anD IT WAS THE BEST THING EVER. We stayed at Beacon hotel and it was right above Fengjia Night Market and opposite hotel was all these big stores like Nike, Body Shop, Watsons etc. I was seriously in heaven like wowowow so much shopping and clothes were so cheap!! I bought these 2 sweaters for $25AUD i was so happy - i really regret not shopping more.

But basically, Taiwan had lots of pretty places and good food and shopping but i'm not gonna lie - scenery wise, it can be compared to china but the food and shopping....man Taiwan is on a whole other level.

After Taiwan, we just returned to Pingtan and stayed there for another week or so, celebrated my grandma (on my dad's side)'s birthday, went karaoke twice with cousins and then returned to Fuzhou. In Fuzhou we celebrated my grandpa (mum's side)'s birthday, went out shopping with my cousin on the last day and...got my phone stolen as i was boarding a bus. It seriously happened in 30 seconds and still one month later i have serious regrets of putting my phone in my coat pocket.

Anyway, China was really good and I'll be going back there in about 6 months time for exchange LOOoooolllll. Always returning to my roots.

Oh man, this has been the longest blog post ever. I really should've blogged in Taiwan like i planned to but i got so lazy.

Until next time, ciao.