12-13 December 2014
This is officially my last entry for my trip to China last year.
Yes, it’s already the middle of the following year… Each day was just filled with so much uniqueness, they earned their own standalone blog entries! So anyway, here goes!
Before I jet off for my next holiday… The last lap in China was super relaxing; well, compared to the previous constant climbings.
I swear, I did more exercise within those days than I have in an entire year. And because I have a pedometer in my phone, it was constantly praising me on how I’m turning up my game. Sad news for you, pedo-app… Okay, not pedo-app, that just makes it sound like a child pervert.
Okay, well… Sad news for you pedometer-app, I didn’t up my game. I merely went for a climbing expedition. Following the days after my trip, it kept on sending me notifications to be like the previous few days…
Bah, whatever.
Anyways, the last day we went to stay in the Hotel Intercontinental at Chengdu which was GORGEOUS to say the least. Apparently it is quite internationally known – this specific Intercontinental. 
I breathed in again the urban jungle air again and felt comfortable familiarity fill my lungs. Hey, don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed myself!
The countryside was beautiful and the mountains were utterly breathtaking, but I’m a city girl at heart. Plus, having to defecate in such loos so often lost its fun appeal…
I remember no one willing to use that cubicle, but I was urgent. So I went, “F**k it.” And used it anyway. While my dear cousin and aunt came to watch me pee like I was an exhibit…
So back to the gorgeous hotel! 
A balcony! With magazines about pandas… Of course. 
My favourite was the bathroom! 
The hotel was so huge, we had to have these trams to bring us around to our blocks and about. 
As much as it might have been inconvenient, it was actually quite fun to ride around in a tram! After about 20 minutes to basking in the awesomeness of our rooms, we headed for dinner.
Hotel connected to a shopping mall! No need to fight with the harsh winter cold to get to food! 😀 
And eventually we settled for… CHINESE FOOD!!!
And my Coke was even winter version! 
Y’know while I was in China, I was constantly on the lookout for funny translations from Chinese to English – but our destinations hardly had any.
Until here… Fran and Aunt Vivian laughing & laughing while reading some translations on menus. 
I read some for myself and burst my sides laughing at these two! 😀
Another familiar sight were the golden arches of McDonald’s! I didn’t see it a single time in the countryside! Couldn’t pass up an ice-cream! 
During our super long bus rides, Kath and I found pure pleasure in harvesting macadamia nuts from their shells. So we decided to have a competition! We had the nuts, we had the tools, we had the alcohol…
IT.WAS.ON. 
Kath won… So she’s hereby the Macadamia Nut Harvester Champion!!! Whoop whoop!
…at least between the both of us. LOL.
I remember us going over to Uncle Gary’s room and I accidentally watched Hachi and bawled my eyes out. People weren’t kidding when they called me an emotional creature…
So anyway, morning soon came! And it was a beautiful day! But Kath and I were running super late for breakfast… Because we made ourselves a tad too comfortable in there. So packing took longer than usual… 
But breakfast was wonderful! 
Had breakfast inside the dome by the pool. 🙂 
Classic international food, scintillating ambience & excellent service made us happy tourists! 
We did some of our usual tourist shopping… Stopped by quite a few places. One of which was this place that was all about jades! A real Chinese treasure which claims to have endless benefits. 
And picked out something for Grandmama! A nice dragon jade specially for her.
And we went by this beautiful place for lunch! It’s apparently super popular and reservations have to be made, otherwise you can pretty much forget about dining there! 
It’s not hard to see the appeal! Albeit their soup was really some good stuff. 
The rest of the day was left for some shopping! Ooh, I loved it! 
Yet again in ancient China… Starbucks. It’s almost everywhere.
That street was another refurbished place that takes you back generations. And in front of many stores were these promoters in costumes! 
Inside their restaurants were such vintage ornaments. I simply enjoyed the entire place!
Places with rather interesting names.
Happy grandparents & aunt! So it was goodbye, China! Time flew by and we had to get on the bus to the airport.
All aboard!!! 
I had an enormously great time! I simply cannot thank my darling Yi Cheong & 2 yee enough for this trip! And great company from my sweet cousins, grandparents and family friends!
Such fond memories… Sigh. And this is what really matters at the end of the day anyway. No matter what, I’ll have those precious moments of laughter & pure joy to look back to whenever the future looks a little bleak. 🙂 And I know that climbing the mountain might be torturous and sometimes it’ll just be easier to stop – but reaching the top is hella worth it.
XOXO, G.
Gera Shen 