Singapore & Thailand!

Touched down in four countries in five days. And it was amazing!

February 20th: Taiwan -> Singapore

We arrived mid afternoon to a hot and humid Singapore. The air was crystal clear and we had a lot to see in not a lot of time. We ran to make an evening show of the Gardens by the Bay SuperTree Show. This is an area owned by the Marina Bay Sands hotel. The gardens are 50% botanical garden and 50% SuperTree - aka massive fake trees that have lights and walkways and restaurants - pretty sick right? We took one metro stop down to the Promenade where the Singapore Flyer is located. This is Singapore's version of the London Eye. It had amazing views and I would definitely recommend catching the latest ride at 10:15 with online tickets. We ended the night looping back to the original metro station passing the lantern festival going on the famous double helix bridge which, you guessed it, is inspired by DNA.

February 21st: Singapore -> Thailand

Our one year anniversary! Spent getting the most out of our last hours in Singapore and eating Pad Thai in our Phuket beachside resort. Tis the life of a college student, right? Just kidding. We literally ran around Singapore to see Little India, the Merlion Statue, Raffles Hotel, and the lookout deck of the Marina Bay Sands. All are shown below :) Getting to our Thailand hotel was a struggle but it did not disappoint!

February 22nd: Phuket (Patong Beach)

Beach day! I kept my word and we spent an entire day being beach bums and getting burnt to a crisp (literally). All we did was beach, pool, ping pong, pina colada, and kayak. To grab some food we went to a local night market but it was an overall relaxing day.

February 23rd/24th: Phuket -> Shanghai

A couple hours in the pool and then off to the airport! We had a super long layover so the rest of the day was spent in the Bangkok/Kuala Lumpur airports. We arrived in Shanghai early the 24th!


It was an absolutely incredible trip and I adored every minute. From Taiwan, Singapore, to Thailand - we saw so much and experienced so many different things. Thanks to everyone for reading and a thank you to my parents for allowing me to travel! And exciting news: Mamma and Papa Warne will be in Shanghai this week!!! Can't wait to share with them why I love Shanghai so much! More to come, but as always...

love,
kpk

Taiwan!

Hello everyone!

I'm updating you from our hotel in Taipei! Rhett and I agree, this is one of our favorite cities. In fact, we can't wait until the day that we can explore the whole island.

We arrived super late on Valentine's Day and took a bus into the city and then a cab to our hotel (which is by some GREAT shopping... a constant distraction for me). Next day we visited Longshan Temple, Taipei 101, and Elephant Mountain. We had an amazing view of the city as the lights came on - magical! Today we took a hop-on/hop-off tour bus along the entire northern coast of Taiwan. The full trip without stops is just under two hours and the highlights were the coastal beach cities and Yehliu Geopark (rock formations from sea erosion).

But... the granddaddy of Taipei that we have completely become addicted to? Night Markets. You can read all about them before you get here but there's really nothing that compares. Vendors upon vendors selling all types of food, goodies, and games. Everything is ordered chaos, another facet of Taipei we have come to admire! Everyone is so kind, smart, law-abiding, and patient. Refreshing! As for the night markets, we have decided to walk the entirety of the market (picking up food to eat as we walk) then decide on one game to play per night.

First stop was Shilin Night Market off Jiantan Station on the Red Line. We walked around for nearly two hours and tried their famous fried chicken, shaved ice, and bean bag game. Tonight we went two markets! First was Tamsui Old Street (off Tamsui station) where we bought some funky socks and ridiculously huge ice cream cones. Last, we went to Ningxia Night Market (Zhongshan station). This market specializes in food and our samplings included a noodle/omelette pork roll covered in eel sauce (my favorite), deep fried cheesy prawn, spicy grilled corn, and boba! But to be honest, we had the most fun playing a ping-pong ball game and we won an adorable little ram after the 2015 chinese new year of the ram coming up. His name is Rammie and he's awesome. We've started a new trend of taking pictures of "Rammie's firsts" (first metro ride, mcdonalds, etc). Look for more pics to come!

love,
kpk

1. The cone of all cones

2. The most famous rock: Queen's Head

3. Today's goodies!

4. Famous fried chicken that was actually bigger than my head

5. First street food in taipei!

6. Taipei by day

7. Taipei by night!

8. Shaved ice - like tasting a cloud covered in sweets

9. Longshan temple - the decorations here are much more colorful and ornate

10. The Geopark

11. Festival decorations being set up for New Years!

12. Rammie!

13. The noodle egg thing.... Delicious!

Ice Ice Baby

na na na na na na na na.

Welcome to Harbin! The coldest place I have been ... EVER! Temperatures were in the negatives the entire time we were there but nothing too drastic (only 10 below)! It was a winter wonderland but only tolerable thanks to 3 layers of pants, 2 shirts, 2 jackets, 2 pairs of mittens, 2 pairs of socks, and handwarmers all over my body. Craziness. But, hey, you've got to do it. The Harbin ice festival is like nothing else in the world. Between the snow sculptures that can be seen by day and the ice sculptures that are lit up at night, there was always something exciting to see.

We started off our first day with a walk down the pedestrian street sampling street food (our favorites: hot coca-cola and cream popsicles, go figure), then walking across the frozen songhua river to reach the snow sculpture park. These are serious sculptures, too. Competitors come from around the world to carve their frozen masterpieces and past winners/famous sculptors create the park centerpieces. The largest display was easily the size of a football field! After regaining feeling in our toes and playing a couple hands of shanghai poker at a local cafe we ventured over to the main event of the festival: da bing jie (大冰界) literally translated as "big ice world." It was freezing at night but that is the best time to see it all lit up :) SO worth the entrance fee. We ran around like kids and did all of the touristy things: ice slides, lookout towers, corny pictures, holding an arctic fox, taking shots at the ice bar... it was a blast.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to go see the Siberian tiger park. We first held a baby tiger, then took a bus tour of their segregated "parks" which hold free-roaming tigers, and then walked around the young lion enclosure where we proceeded to see a few unique things... 1. A real-live liger (half tiger/half lion) 2. A pheasant clinging to dear life in a tree while being taunted by lurking tigers below and 3. We saw who's live chicken would last the longest out of the 4 we threw into the den. I would like to argue that mine lasted longer.... however, it never made it to the ground. It was quite the experience but I am happy to be back in Shanghai and not spending 30 minutes piling on layers every morning.

Here are pics from the trip! Talk to you all soon!

love,
kpk

Back at it!

Apologies for leaving my adoring fans for a month (just kidding). Seriously though, it's been a crazy month. Between my twin 24 hour travels I reconnected with my love of the south, friends, blue skies, my family, and the beach. And there was a perfect amount of time to have my sleep schedule readjust before screwing it all up again. But I have officially been in China 10 full days. The splendor of returning has worn off and I am back in the routine of sleep, mopeding everywhere, having zero privacy, and a million and one obligations. But I love it. I had some initial moping, but I have  attributed it to weather adjustment. We were spoiled first semester with uncommonly low levels of smog and then winter break was life-saving in the air quality department. But it's worth it!! I can't explain the sensations that come with exploring this city. Or even realizing that all the things you used to point frantically at first semester you can now say with ease. Beyond cool. 

Ok the mental tirade is over! Here's a look at some amazing things I've seen/eaten/experienced over the past 10 days that will hopefully excuse my virtual silence :)

1. Delicious Food! - Korean chicken and rice noodles, Chinese fresh squeezed juice, and the White-Chocolate Oreo Cronut from Woody Baker. So different but show the great diversity of foods in this amazing city that we love seeking out! 

2. Starting off the Shanghai 33 for the spring semester with these awesome Indiana bros. Chris on the left and Gus on the right. Gus already did 17 of the 33 before the semester even started! But sorry about the Colts.... Moving on!

4. Momi Cafe (aka The Time Travel Cafe): purchase a postcard and address it to anyone, in any country, at any time. Seriously! The slots behind us are just dates for this year and the white boxes in the distance (over Rhett's shoulder) are for years in the future - going all the way up to 2026! 

5. The 1933. Previously a slaughterhouse, this warehouse (and the blocks around it) have transformed in recent years to hold a variety of shops and art exhibits even though the true star is the architecture of the building itself! Awesome to walk through!

6. The Cool Docks - Right by the warf of the Bund, the cool docks are a series of small warehouses converted to high end shopping and retail. Cool to walk around, but we suggest walking a block north to Buba's Texas Barbecue. Never thought there would be BBQ as delicious as this in China!

 

7. The Avocado Lady - Crowded at all hours of the day, this little hole in the wall offers a variety of products westerners love but have been disappointed with when purchasing form other "foreign markets." And as you can probably guess from the name, her speciality is avocados. 

8. Nanjing Lu Pedestrian Street - you could spend DAYS exploring each cafe, store, and restaurant tucked in the multilevel shopping complexes an hotels lining this street but I think the true value of this area is the people watching. Hard to explain, but my personal favorites were the endless crowds of locals dancing (with and without props) to all sorts of music! Adorable.

9 and 10. Buddhist Xiahai Temple and Tilanqiao Prison. Right around the corner from one another, these marvels of Chinese architecture greatly juxtapose each other as well as the sectors of society that they represent. 

 

11. Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Center - Behold! The entire city of Shanghai in miniatures! Crazy seeing your home fits into the massive puzzle that is a thriving metropolitan city. I could have stayed for hours pinpointing all the amazing facets that make up Shanghai. 

  

11. Table-Tennis Class at Pepperdine Shanghai - this is their classroom! So jealous that I don't have enough units available to take the class, but this is where they get to battle it out. Pretty impressive isn't it? Apparently their professor is UNREAL. Can't wait to go watch!

12. Ye Garden - Surrounded by a lake perfect for skipping rocks, gazebos positioned for relaxation, and tunnels egging you to explore every little hideaway, I can see how wonderful it would be to be treated at a hospital that allows you to take a stroll in this tranquil, un-crowded garden. I would suggest a visit when the vegetation has grown out a little! Very nice stop!

until next time!

love,

kpk

A Day in Shanghai - Video

hello dearest ones! I've made another video with the theme "a day in shanghai!" This will let you see what it looks like to drive around on mopeds, go to cocos, group dinners, and class at Fudan, plus some bonus footage of the shanghai art museum field trip and the pearl tower during our final banquet. I am by no means good at making these videos but I've absolutely loved looking through all of this footage while being away and I hope you all will, too! enjoy!

love,
kpk

Definitely not in China anymore

There have been some things about being back that have been easier than expected, and then there have been some things that I guess will just take time. Probably the exact amount of time I will be back... then I need to start all over again! But I thought it would be interesting to share a few of those things with you guys because hey, my kpk life has definitely affected my life in america.

Okay, so the easy things:

1. Driving. Who knew? Yes the driving culture is much crazier in China but it is an organized chaos that I have come to appreciate. And though I have only driven a moped while over there, I expected it to be much more difficult stepping into a drivers seat. But thankfully, things have been easier than I foresaw them to be. However, I am still exceptionally paranoid about American cops because I can't pretend I don't understand them if I were to get into an altercation. :)
2. Eating. I know that sounds a little silly but I honestly expected american food to wreak havoc on my digestive system. Our food is SO much saltier and full of not-so-good-for-you-stuff that I've been surprised my system hasn't taken a huge hit. Can't wait to find out if the reverse of this expectation happens when I return. :\
3. Being social. I honestly thought I would have a hard time interacting with people after nearly four months of pointing and making other wild gestures to convey what I want! I feared that when returning to the states, I would do the same gestures on accident or be unbearably awkward. While living in a house and taking classes where "normal," English interactions occured, it did not mitigate those fears. Even as I landed in the Chicago airport, the buzz of conversations that I could easily understand more than just bits and pieces frazzled me to an embarrassing degree. But after spending nearly 3 and 1/2 hours in an apple store this week, I found myself striking up conversations with an ample amount of strangers about the holidays, China, my general bad luck with Apple devices, and many other things. I guess that fear was a silly one. :(

Now for the things that haven't been so easy:

1. Sleeping. The first couple of days is expected when trying to adjust to two very different time zones, however my frustration over my sleep has been incredibly irksome. I can't take naps. I become groggy by 7 pm and cannot stay up past 10 pm. I used to wake up at 4 or 5 am but that has been progressively improving to 7 or 8. Though this isn't much to complain about, it definitely is something I didn't foresee being an issue. 
2. Being alone. So our program complains a lot because our facilities and the mass population of Shanghai combine to equal zero alone time. Besides the bathroom, you will literally always be around people, and for those who are introverted, it can kind of be a nightmare. But little did I know that after just a couple days of being home, alone time wasn't so nice anymore. I have my perfect dog to keep me company but I've also found myself starting to say something, and realizing no one was there. Not to say I'm looking forward to going back to communal living or thousands of people everywhere, however I definitely do miss the 41 other members of the Jia. Which, I admit, I didn't think I would. 
3. Accepting American's views on China. I say this one with caution because I haven't experienced anything very ethnocentric, it's just a personal realization I've had since being home. Before I came to China, I accepted that the most people knew about the country was that lots of things have a MADE IN... sticker by them. But since I've been back, I've noticed how much China plays a role in American life but how we often overlook it. On the radio yesterday, ice sculptors from Harbin, China were mentioned and I got excited because I knew where they were from and how cool it was that they were in Nashville. But then I also realized that I would have never noticed something like that, or even if I had, I wouldn't have thought of looking into it, because it was China. Something so big and foreign never held my attention before now.  I have become very proud of the perspective my semester in Shanghai has given me and I can't wait to learn more about it when I return. But in the meantime, I will try to make more people understand, at least a little bit, why I we should care and why I love it so much! 

Love,

KPK

Playing catch-up

I'm back in Nashville!! Its so wonderful being home and so far jetlag hasn't been too big of an issue.

Anyways! The reason for this post, and an explaination for the title, is that I finally made a video documenting my Xian & Chengdu trip! I know it is long overdue but it is done and I hope you enjoy it!

Much love everyone, I promise to have more updates soon :)

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

love,

kpk