a) I am not in Europe right now! I am in school as of this very minute and thus I do not spend every week travelling the world. That would indeed be a Very Nice Life, but I go cantankerous over midterms and problem sets, too! resting at home before I start work, which means I have ample Free Time to post the last of my photos and berate myself for being a lazy oaf and not posting this sooner.

b) I’m the type of person who draws things out, literally and figuratively. The latter means that I am obscenely late when it comes to travel-blogging. At this rate, you’ll be reading about Portugal in May June (ha ha freaking HA!) and my college graduation two years after the fact (okay, I actually posted about this in time, so no complaints here).

I feel like it’s almost necessary to preface this post by telling you about food. Out of all the three cities, Barcelona had the best food options, hands down. I mean, sure, we marvelled at the splendor that is Antoni Gaudi and we probably had our most relaxing time just lazing about on the beaches of Barceloneta, but YOU GUYS. THE FOOD. If anything, you simply must get Iberian ham in Spain. I don’t even like ham back in the States, and I was already missing jamón ibérico by the time I packed up my bags. And patatas bravas. More on that later in this post.

DAY 7 (03/17):

Anyway. Barcelona. By the time our plane landed, we were already craving dinner. Lugging our suitcases across town from the airport didn’t exactly put us in the highest of spirits, and by the time we finally finished unloading our suitcases at the hostel, I just wanted a bloody sandwich. Or something to make my stomach shut up. This is the part where a cute little vegan restaurant named Juicy Jones enters the picture.

Yes, I got my sandwich. And then some. Juicy Jones was one of my favorite eats in Barcelona, and I ain’t even vegan. I got a nice tofu sandwich and a Sweet Kryptonite milkshake made of soymilk, avocado, and pistachio. This isn’t your typical vanilla or chocolate milkshake, but it’s just one of those things that just somehow works.

The rest of the night consisted of dessert-hopping, which quickly devolved into drinks at Glacial, a pretty relaxed bar that seemed relatively popular with the locals. All I can say is, thank goodness Barcelona sleeps late, because if there’s one gripe I have about travelling, it’s waking up at butt o’clock in the name of sightseeing.

DAY 8 (03/18):

Our second day of Barcelona was aptly named Gaudi Day, seeing as we pretty much devoted the entire day to oohing and ahhing over the works of one Antoni Gaudi. This meant that we were basically traipsing the entire length of Barcelona to catch each one of his buildings. The amount of walking was a total clusterfuck for the soles of our feet, but seeing the architectural genius that is Gaudi? Totally worth it.

Midday was had at Parc Güell, an actual park fashioned by Gaudi. The buildings in the park resemble gingerbread houses (see above), what with the colorful detail and twisting, organic lines. As much as I was looking forward to it, the swarms of people that pervaded the park kind of dampened my experience, but those are just my hermit tendencies talking, not me. Womp-womping aside, the thing I like about Gaudi’s architecture is his sense of whimsy. He’s good at knowing exactly where to insert a jolt of color or a ripple. Just look at some of the details, like the colorful mosaics and the patterns!

The ceiling in Parc Güell

Another detail on the ceiling

Next up was Casa Vicens, one of Gaudi’s earliest works. I honestly can’t get enough of the clashing floral and checkered patterns.

After a fair bit of walking, we headed to Casa Calvet. My favorite part of the building is the balcony design; I love how the balconies flare out elegantly from the building. And I’m in like with the hints of mint green! Also, how lovely are those windows?

The next building up was Casa Milà. Unfortunately, there was quite a bit of construction around the building, so it was hard for me to take a snapshot, let alone feel inspired to venture up to the roof. We also hit up Palau Güell and the Picasso Museum before heading to the Boqueria Market in search of food.

As colorful and lively as the market was, we were particularly craving food in the form of tapas, so off we went to Lonja de Tapas for dinner.

DAY 9 (03/19):

Because the day before wasn’t terribly forgiving for the soles of our feet, we decided to take it relatively easy this time around. We took the subway to Montjuïc, a green, hilly neighborhood with amazing views of the city. We hit up the Fundació Joan Miró, a museum devoted to Miró (duh) and his contemporaries with some really neat installations, and the Olympic Stadium before soaking in the amazing views at the Castell Montjuïc.

From there, we took a cable car down to the shoreline at Barceloneta, where we snacked on jamón-flavored chips and watched the sun set on the beach. All in all, a pretty relaxing day.

For dinner, we got coffee and the famed Iberian ham sandwich (famously dubbed the “Best Sandwich in the World” by Mark Bittman) at Cafe Viena. Because obviously you can never get enough of the rich, succulent goodness that is quality Iberic ham.

DAY 10 (03/20):

This was our last day in Barcelona and our last day of our vacation, period. We didn’t actually do anything, except eat, eat, and — well, eat. We had all slept in from the night before, which meant that by the time we hit up Bar Tomas way up north in Barcelona, the clock was already approaching the early afternoon. Which is a good a time as ever to indulge in patatas bravas, yes?

For those who have not heard of patatas bravas, they’re basically fried potato chunks draped in creamy mayonnaise and hot sauce. It hardly sounds groundbreaking as a must-eat dish (pommes frites, anyone?!), but one fry, and it’s basically hook, line, and sink. Pairing it up with beer was definitely a good move. Bar Tomas itself was pretty nice; even during a lazy afternoon, I was still rubbing elbows with locals as we stuffed our faces with croquettes and sausages and the like.

Within walking distance was a cute little pastry shop called Foix de Sarrià that had some mighty delicious desserts on display.

After lazing about on the beach (again) and running about in an unsuccessful bid for a relatively affordable paella dinner, we finally settled on Cervecería Catalana, a tapas restaurant. To say we went all out would be a bit of an understatement:

Fried artichokes

Fried squid

Stuffed red pepper

Baked Camembert

Mushrooms

Seafood risotto — easily my favorite of the bunch

As we split a pitcher of sangria, we were overstuffed, but honestly, it was the perfect Last Supper. And so ends my spring break trip, three months after the fact. COUGH. Either way, it’s been real, Spain and Portugal. Peace.

P.S. All of the photos from my trip are here, if you want to have another look!

a) I am not in Europe right now! I am in school as of this very minute and thus I do not spend every week travelling the world. That would indeed be a Very Nice Life, but I go cantankerous over midterms and problem sets, too! resting at home before I start work, which means I have ample Free Time to post the last of my photos and berate myself for being a lazy oaf and not posting this sooner.

b) I’m the type of person who draws things out, literally and figuratively. The latter means that I am obscenely late when it comes to travel-blogging. At this rate, you’ll be reading about Portugal in May June (ha ha freaking HA!) and my college graduation two years after the fact (okay, I actually posted about this in time, so no complaints here).

DAY 4 (03/14):

Out of the three cities we visited, I’m quite certain that Lisbon was the prettiest of the bunch. I might even go so far as to wager that Lisbon’s the prettiest city I have ever visited in Europe.¹ Sorry, Barcelona, but as much as I nerd out over amazing architecture, Gaudi doesn’t really compare to the easy-breezy charm that is Lisbon. “Strolling” around the city is akin to navigating a labyrinth. Screw grid streets; Lisbon is all organically sloped hills, limestone buildings that layer on top of one another, and stone staircases that meld nicely with the narrow, cobbled alleyways. Not to mention, there’s antique trams, the castles, the oceanside views, and the egg tarts. Not once did we take the subway. After all, it would have been almost insulting to experience the city underground when all of your outside surroundings are like a photographer’s treat.

This? This was the window view from our hostel.

…and this was the back view.

…and if you walked further back, you would have gotten a view akin to this one. Seriously, Lisbon. HOW ARE YOU SO PHOTOGENIC.

Oh yeah, did I mention antique trams?

We had just flown in from Madrid, so we only had the afternoon and evening to spare. We headed to Belem to visit all the monuments and museums, made our way to Parque das Nações to drool over the waterside scenery, and grabbed dinner in the Chiado area.

DAY 5 (03/15):

That day, we woke up bright and early so we could make our way up to Castelo de São Jorge, a medieval castle built on the top of the city. Did I mention that I love castles? And amazing views? I did most of the navigating, but I definitely didn’t mind; in fact, it was quite fun to find the hidden stairways and curved roads drawn on our map. We took a tram up the hill and then trekked up to the castle, which provided us with some of the best views this side of the Atlantic.

DAY 6 (03/16):

We were only afforded a few hours to spare in the morning, as we had an afternoon plane flight to Barcelona that we had to catch. Not content with lazing about in the hostel, we took a ferry across the water to Cacilhas, where we traipsed about in our surroundings.

ANYWAY. Lisbon. If you ever consider going, all I have to say is DO IT DO IT DO IT. Your camera will thank you! In fact, you’ll probably go, take a bunch of photos like the boss tourist you are, pilfer through your memory card, and be like, “HOT DAMN.” at all your picturesque, made-for-postcard snaps.

Also, do you like egg tarts? Yes? Then you’ll love it. No? Well, get one in Lisbon, and you’ll change your mind and once you get back home, you’ll be craving those bad boys like you never even thought possible.

¹: Tall bet? Feel free to prove me wrong! After all, I’ve barely begun to cover most of Europe.

a) I am not in Europe right now! I am in school as of this very minute and thus I do not spend every week travelling the world. That would indeed be a Very Nice Life, but I go cantankerous over midterms and problem sets, too!

b) I’m the type of person who draws things out, literally and figuratively. The latter means that I am obscenely late when it comes to travel-blogging. At this rate, you’ll be reading about Portugal in May and my college graduation two years after the fact.

DAY 1 (03/11):

Oh, Madrid, Madrid, Madrid. You absolute tease. You very nearly put a damper on our vacation planning with your auspicious weather reports. Rain every day? Furthermore, cold rain every day? Tsk, tsk. But, no matter. Having just arrived from a red-eye flight, we emerged from the subway station only to find that the skies were only cloudy, with nary a raindrop in sight. Yet. We breathed a sigh of relief as we checked into our hostel, freshened up, bought our phone and metro card, and headed out to our first excursion of epic proportions, the Golden Triangle of museums: Museo del Prado, Museo Thyssen, and Centro de Arte Reina Sofia.

There are several things in this world that make me happy, and one of those things is the feeling of seeing your favourite paintings up close in person. You may already know so much about the painting like the historical context or the date it was painted or the exact colour palette used, but there’s a whole lot that textbooks and studies don’t cover, and you have to actually stand face to face in order to fully realize that gap between the painting in front of you and the painting on page 263 of your book. It’s this experience that reminds you why you even liked that painting in the first place, but you’re so humbled that you don’t exactly have the words, let alone the coherency, to describe your feelings at that exact moment. In fact, I precisely lack this coherency to describe this feeling, but that’s more than okay. Why? Because I saw Las Meninas by Diego Velázquez!!! It is Velázquez’s magnum opus and a darling of the art history critics. It is also my Favorite Painting in the Whole World.

Of course, this 500x576px image doesn’t do the painting justice, but the Prado doesn’t allow photographs, and my photos could never do the work justice either. I could rant for days on why I dislike it when museums prohibit photography, but it seems inappropriate given the context of my diatribe. ANYWAY. My favorite paintings remind me why I like art. In this case, I am both the king and queen in the mirror. As Velázquez stares at me, he dares me to judge both myself as the royal couple and each character in the composition. It’s hard for me to piece together my appreciation for the painting, because one moment I’ll tell you about the rich color palette and then another moment, I’ll be flailing over the mirrors — all before fawning over the impeccable detail in the clothes. There’s no one reason or succint justification for me, and thus I can’t really answer the question “Why do you like this painting?”. I just do, and really, you don’t want to listen to me ramble for days. I’m pretty sure there are serious side effects to that.

After the great museum hop, we went to Casa Lastra, a small Asturian restaurant near our hostel in the Lavapiés neighborhood. We started off with a helping of cabrales (Asturian blue cheese) before splitting a bowl of pote asturiano (a stew with cabbage, beans, black pudding, potato, and chorizo). We then ate perdiz (whole stewed partridge) and shared a bottle of sidra (cider) to cap off the evening.

DAY 2 (03/12):
The next morning, we ate a quick but filling breakfast of churros and chocolate before heading up north to Estadio Santiago Bernabéu to pick up our tickets for the Real Madrid vs. Hercules football match later that day. With a generous bracket of time until the actual game, we swung by downtown for a stroll and more importantly, FOOD.

Lunch was had at Taberna Agrado, a restaurant tucked away in Gran Vía. First of all, it’s named after Agrado from The Flower of My Secret. Second of all, it serves a mean beef-and-Iberian-pork hamburger. Two ticks in the VERY NOICE column for me, ding ding ding!

Fish and chips.

The hamburger was a preview of all the tasty Iberian pork to come later in our trip.

After traipsing around a bunch of shops and hanging around in Puerta del Sol, we headed back up Bernabeu, where we were joined by millions and frillions of Real fans. Look, I’ve been through rush hour on both the New York and Shanghai metros. But believe me when I tell you that there is nothing — nothing — like rush hour on a subway with hundreds of diehard football fans decked out in Real swag. It is the real life equivalent of having a bunch of Madridistas on your Twitter feed during match day and having to refresh your page maniacally because everybody live-tweets every play-by-play. And while all those tweets would seem more than overwhelming, you also get sucked into the vortex, and all of a sudden, you find yourself contributing incessantly to the live-tweeting. This, my friends, is the life of a football fan.

So how was the game? Pretty darn awesome. Despite the fact that we were way, way up in the stadium, I had a good bit of fun cheering with the crowds and celebrating over Benzema’s two goals and clapping like a fangirl when Xabi Alonso got subbed in.

After the game, we got a late dinner at La Isla del Tesoro, a lovely vegetarian restaurant near Conde Duque, before heading back.

DAY 3 (03/13):

We woke up that Sunday morning to browse around El Rastro, a sprawling flea market (and the biggest one in Europe, if my Time Out Madrid book doesn’t lie!) with stands of knick-knacks and crafts, like the mucho adorable ceramic piggy banks up above. Afterwards, we ignored the pleas of our poor feet and trekked around the Los Austrias neighborhood. In one afternoon, we managed to cover Plaza Mayor, the churches of San Pedro el Viejo and Capillas del Obispo, the dome of San Francisco el Grande, Plaza de la Paja, Plaza de la Villa, and the bustling Mercado de San Miguel before giving ourselves a mental pat on the back for having covered everything within that short a time span.

Later that afternoon, we went to see a bullfight. Maybe it’s the fact that he mentions it in almost every novel of his, but bullfighting reminds me of Ernest Hemingway and The Sun Also Rises. I can’t really say bullfighting’s up my alley (the blood! the gore! Not for the faint of heart, I assure you.), but there’s always a first time for everything, right right?

Because we passed up the overpriced Cokes that they were selling in the stadium, we headed to El Jardín Secreto, this absolutely darling gem of a cafe smack dab in Conde Duque. If you are ever in Madrid, I seriously insist that you visit. I know it’s hard to convince you especially with the lack of visuals (my camera doesn’t take well to dark lighting), but:

• Their orgasmo de chocolate (brownie with ice cream and fudge) is to die for. And why yes, that is chocolate orgasm in Spanish. And it’s their word choice, not mine!
• THE DECOR. Wooden swing chairs, vines across the walls, vintage dollhouses, miniature stools, fairy-tale themed decorations that call to mind both Pan’s Labyrinth and The Secret Garden (durr!)? Um, yes please?!
• They served chocolate Teddy Grahams with the coffee.
• They served the brownie on a Finding Nemo plate.
• They gave us lollipops with our receipt.

Um, basically? If I had a restaurant, I would probably model it akin to El Jardín Secreto. You can consider this one of the highest forms of flattery I can ever give to a restuarant or cafe or public establishment. Ever.

Unfortuantely, that original weather report did prove to be damning, as we ended the Madrid leg of our trip on a dreadfully rainy evening. On the upside, we finally found a use for the umbrellas that we had brought. Alas, we headed back to our hostel and got straight to packing, because HELLO Lisbon, here we come!

For winter hols (that’s late December for you Southern hemisphere folk), the fam and I went to Vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Saigon) and Cambodia (Siem Reap). Yes, it was awesome, and yes, I practically lived on pho. I’ve uploaded some photos here and here, but you can also click on the photos for a larger size if 600×400 won’t cut it.

VIETNAM:

Ha Long Bay is a bay (duh) dotted by these lovely limestone karst formations and beaches. Upon our arrival, we took a boat ride along the water, but the sky was too foggy to really make out any of the limestone shapes.

Along the boat ride, we would encounter several smaller boats selling fresh fruit.

CAMBODIA:
If you’re really into ruins, I highly implore you to check out Cambodia the next time you’re hitting up the travel guides, because HOLY CRAP Angkor Wat will be like icing on the cake for you. They filmed Lara Croft here, but while traversing the ruins, I felt more like a contestant on Legends of the Hidden Temple looking for the Stolen Arm of Shiva, without a Pendant of Life than an Angelina Jolie namesake — which, for the record, is a far more awesome feeling.

In a way, Angkor Wat reminds me a bit of climbing the Great Wall or hiking Machu Picchu. But unlike those two places, it doesn’t come with the nasty side effects of fatigue from incessant uphill hiking (Great Wall) or altitude sickness (Machu Picchu). Instead, the temple complex is laid out across a huge expanse of flat land. And whereas the other two feel like a massive trail to hike or a wall to conquer, exploring Angkor Wat is less a show of your physical strength and more about appreciating the architecture. And fun fact: in the middle of writing this entry, I’ve just learned that it’s the largest religious building in the world.

But to be perfectly fair, there were stairs. In fact, you might be looking at this photo and thinking, “Gee, that staircase sure looks pretty steep!” Well! If the people grabbing the side of the rails for dear life don’t give it away…

…then this just might:

Once I was back on even footing, it was fun to watch in amusement (and horror!) as the other tourists held on for dear life as they tried to make the treacherous flight down.

We climbed this temple just in time for the sunset.

Anyway! That’s Vietnam and Cambodia for you. I greatly apologize for the dearth of food photos (after all, me and food porn are practically synonymous by this point) but after you take photos of five different bowls of pho, it gets to the point of “REALLY, CINDY, REALLY?” To make up for it, I promise I’ve got bucketloads of food photos that never really saw the light of day on this blog. Now I’m craving pho.

Anyway. I’ve got 357 more days to appreciate whatever the year has to throw my way, so no matter. Instead, I’ll talk about 2010, which was actually a pretty good year. Like most years, I did an absolutely shit job at remembering — let alone keeping — my resolutions, and there are still areas in dire need of self-improvement. However, 2010 wasn’t like 2009, which got off to a fantastic start only to fizzle out come September. Nor was it like 2007, which swung to pendulum-esque extremes of highs and lows. Nor was it like 2006, which uh — plain sucked, end of story. The fact that I made it through 2010 alive and enjoyed myself along the duration of the ride is probably a Very Good Thing, because usually during intropsective times like these, I tend to launch into hyper-critical mode where I’m like THIS YEAR COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER IF I (verb) AND IF I HAD BEEN MORE (adjective). Yeah, my super-deep entries about Life and Other Facets of the Universe are, in fact, glorified Mad Libs games. What about it.

Since pictures do a better job of speaking a thousand words or whatever, and I’m feeling inarticulate at the moment, I’m going to pilfer through my Flickr and present to you my year in pictures. So, let’s do the Time Warp (…AGAIN!) and relive my 2010. It’s picture-heavy and it errs on this side of rambly, so don’t say that I didn’t warn you!

(click on the photo to zoom)

JANUARY:

Still reeling from the hot mess that was the latter half of 2009, I rang in the New Year at Phuket in Thailand. I distinctly remember I had a delicious Pad Thai, pineapple rice, and Thai iced tea that dinner, and I watched the fireworks from the window.

WHY HELLO, Singapore. I went with my mom on a business trip to the Lion City, and just about gorged myself on every delicious thing known to mankind: naan, grass jelly, mee rebus — no seriously. Check out the Flickr set if you think I’m merely listing deliciously good food solely for shits and giggles. Needless to say, all the abundance of good food more than made up for the swelteringly hot weather.

…and I turned 21 aka the legal drinking age in the US.

I also got a New York driver’s license that month and kicked off the spring semester of my junior year.

FEBRUARY:

(source)

Let’s see — February? I basically stanned the hell out of the Winter Olympics (2). There are few other forms of entertainment as gratifying as fangirling your favourite athletes and screaming at the TV, so thank goodness for those glorious two weeks.

MARCH:

PARIS, je t’aime! During Spring Break, I visited a good friend of mine who was studying abroad in the City of Lights (and Love!). I chilled out at her apartment, and while she was in class, I’d venture out in the city and stuff myself silly with macarons.

Which brings me to my new favourite European city: Brussels! During my week in Paris, I took a day trip to the EU capital and fell in love with the city. I can’t really put my finger on why the city appeals to me so much, but there’s something to be said about things like lambic beer, moules-frites, Le Pain Quotidien, art nouveau, and the Magritte museum.

Not too long after I got back from Europe, I gave this site a much-needed brand-spankin’-new facelift. And a couple friends and I worked on NOM^3, a student-run business venture to bring a food truck to our campus.

APRIL:

April was a relatively quiet month, as I had just wrapped up my midterms. I took two different weekend trips that month: one to D.C. and another to Princeton. I didn’t really take many photos during that time, so um, have a gratuitous photo of a meerkat that I took in the zoo at D.C.?

MAY:
I finished junior year, and let’s just say I was ever-so-glad to put that year to rest.

After exams, I headed home to Shanghai with a few friends in tow. We visited the Shanghai Expo, which consisted of super cool pavilions (like the UK one) that made my inner architecture geek swoon and super long lines that would put any major theme park to shame. I remember waiting around 3 hours for the Switzerland one. In my defense, it had a SKI LIFT ON THE ROOF, OKAY.

While I was on the other side of the hemisphere, my mom had a business trip in Taipei, and I tagged along. It was there I uncovered my love for night markets and rediscovered my love for grass jelly and steamed pork buns.

And then near the end of May, I had a weird fever/flu bug, which meant that I was basically confined to the house for the last few days of Shanghai. Boo. But on a plus side, I got featured in this wallpaper showcase for Smashing Magazine!

JUNE/JULY:

I’ve got two words for you: WORLD CUP. I don’t understand what is with me and organized sporting events that reduces me to a ridiculous level of excitement and fangirlishness, but we can discuss my sanity later and talk about the World Cup. Talking about the World Cup gives me pangs of nostalgia because I suddenly get “Wavin’ Flag” by K’naan stuck in my head and I fondly remember going pub-hopping for all the games and bonding with so many people over the beautiful game. (And for all the games that aired on weekdays, we’d watch them all on a projector screen in the office, so there was no way I was missing a game.) There’s no possible way for me to elaborate more without me blathering about how proud I am of Die Nationalmannschaft. Germany/Argentina — look that game up and watch it in its 90 minutes of amazing entirety if you don’t believe me! (And I’ll um, forget that 07/07 ever happened. Selective memory LA LA LA.)

In non-football related events, I got an apartment for the summer with two friends of mine, I started a new internship, and my brother came to visit me for about a week.

AUGUST:

If I had to make a list of the top 5 places that I’ve visited, Kenya would rank among them. It’s one of those places that renders words like “breathtaking” or “stunning” so prosaic and inadequate. I went with my family on a safari to Masai Mara, Nakuru, Aberdare, and Hell’s Gate, and I’ve been itching to go back.

Later that month, my friend and I finally fulfilled our dream of going to South America, and we went on a weeklong backpacking trip in Peru, where we trekked around the country through Huaraz, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, and Lima. The high altitude got wind of me, but no matter! If you want an otherworldly travel destination with natural splendor and good food to boot, GO TO PERU and never be disappointed.

SEPTEMBER:
I started senior year and immediately kicked into let’s-freak-out-about-the-LSATs mode. When I didn’t have my nose buried into an LSAT prep book, I went to Fashion’s Night Out (where I saw Marc Jacobs! In the flesh!), I met Anthony Bourdain at the 92Y (he signed my copy of Medium Raw!), and I stalked Joseph Gordon-Levitt who was filming his new film on our campus. But I mostly freaked out about LSATs. So much so that I have no photos to capture my alarming stress levels.

OCTOBER:
I finally took those darned LSATs. And I had midterms following that week, because academia is a cruel mistress.

For fall break, my friend and I went to Las Vegas, where we hit up the Strip and took a day-long jaunt to Death Valley. We didn’t gamble much because I’m of the risk-averse sort, but um, we ate a bunch of good food if that’s worth anything. And we went to a Halloween party at a club. In Vegas.

NOVEMBER:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows got released, and I went to the midnight premiere and remembered why I love the series so much. Not that I actually needed a reminder, but you know.

On a suckier note, I got a nasty bout of food poisoning during Thanksgiving break, and subsequently spent the remainder of the break getting acquainted with the bathroom floor. And then I got a nasty cold right after. Now that I think about it, my immune system was a bucketload of FAIL this entire year.

DECEMBER:
I finally finished my exams! First half of senior year — complete! Cue the unnerving epiphany that I’ll be graduating in four months hitting me like a ton of bricks.

Later that month, my family and I went to Vietnam (Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City) and Cambodia (Siem Reap) for our winter break vacation. I ate enough pho to feed an entire family and went to many of the locations filmed in Lara Croft (Angkor Wat, anybody?), albeit not with the intent of going through the Cradle of Life.

PHEW. Typing this entry was like a whirlwind in itself because there’s something to be said about trying to recount what you did in X month of Y year especially when you have only the dregs of your immune system to combat this devil of a flu. Also, I realize that I never blogged about most of these events. FOR SHAME. There goes one of my failed resolutions from 2010.

Sickness aside, I’m curious to see what 2011 has in store. For one, I graduate, which is a daunting milestone event with possible side effects that include job-finding stress, existential crises, and a weird sense of nostalgia for the last four years. I don’t know where I’m going to be a year from now, let alone eight months. This is a fact that is both exciting yet extremely capable of raising my blood pressure levels. It’s crazy to think that four years ago, I was in the exact same position, not knowing where I’d end up for uni, and welp. Here we are again.

What do you have planned for 2011? Any resolutions or goals that you’d like to accomplish?

• In May, I went home for two weeks and managed to get myself sick with a fever.
• I worked for most of the summer doing webdesign for my school’s IT department.
• I went absolutely crazy over the World Cup. We installed a huge projector at work so we could watch all the games live, and during the weekends, my friends and I would go out to different bars/pubs in NY to cheer for our favorite teams (DEUTSCHLAND ♥!). Fun and merriment (and beer) were had by all!

Overall, my summer (June and July) was pretty low-key — pretty much just chilling out in New York. And studying for LSATs, but let’s think happy thoughts here! August was pretty exciting though, because I went to Kenya with my family! Out of all the places I’ve been, Kenya ranks pretty high up there on my All Time Favorite Places list. The people are genuinely welcoming, the weather is nice and breezy, the landscape is too gorgeous for words, and the animals, oh my god. I’m talking lions, zebras, gazelles, elephants, buffalo, giraffes, flamingos, hippos, monkeys, etc etc. It’s one thing to see them on the Discovery Channel or in a zoo, but it’s a whole different experience to stand right in front of a herd of zebras or walk balk to your tent only to find a monkey sitting right outside the door.

During the late summer, all the animals in the Serengeti of Tanzania migrate northwards to Kenya, so we came at a good time. We went on a safari through the major parks in Kenya: Aberdare for elephants, Lake Nakuru for flamingos and monkeys, Hell’s Gate for hippos and giraffes, and Masai Mara for everything else and then some. I posted all my photos in my Flickr set, if you’d like to take a look! Or you could just scroll down (click to view larger!).

I already miss it so much.

• crammed for my final projects and exams.
• got featured on Smashing Magazine’s May wallpaper showcase.
• finished my junior year of university.
• got an apartment in NY with two friends for the summer.
• flew back home to Shanghai.
• went to the Shanghai 2010 World Expo.
• went to Taiwan last weekend.

The last few weeks of school are always horrendous, because there’s one thing piling on top of another, and if you’re absolute pants at time management like I am, you end up pulling all-nighters and putting off tasks such as … um, updating this blog. But no matter! I mean, I rant about academia enough in real life to the point of annoyance, so let’s talk about something fun. Like the my Taiwan trip last weekend!

My mom and I were in Taipei for three days, where we visited a couple museums and temples, like the Chiang Kai-Shek and the Sun Yat-sen memorials. In a way, it was like revisiting my China Civ history class again. I mean, come on — in the gift shop, they were selling plastic dolls of a baby Chiang Kai-Shek in a diaper.

Oh yeah, we also happened to eat ridiculous amounts of food. Grass jelly, boba, stinky tofu, shaved ice, steamed buns … you name it. One thing that Taipei is known for is the night market. Street vendors have stands and stands of snacks that usually total less than $1 USD each.

Like these steamed pork buns!

Or these pancakes…

…or these noodles. Oodles of noodles!

I was mad bloated by the time I walked out of the market — and this was just the street food. We also ended up eating splendidly delicious things like:

…red bean cakes. There’s a stand where they bake the dough on the spot, and then they add the filling of your choice, whether it be red bean, vanilla cream, coconut, minced pork, or whathaveyou. And then they wrap the dough and filling into this nifty cake like you see here! The cake dough is also amazingly light and fluffy so it doesn’t sit in your stomach and leave you with the feeling that you suddenly gained 38 pounds.

Vietnamese spring rolls

… and grass jelly, taro, & red bean dessert at Meet Fresh. It might not look aesthetically pleasing from the photo above, but it was amazingly good, like eating bubble tea in a bowl with extra bubbles. It had the chewy tapioca-like texture and the sweet taste of a coffee-coconut-taro-hybrid. A bit like the sago I had a while back in Singapore, I might add.

Taipei was a refreshing change from Shanghai and New York. For one, it’s cleaner. Like, you get fined if you eat or drink or even chew gum on the subway. And there are so many bikes. Every time I crossed the street, cars weren’t so much the issue when there were 2384993 motorcycles and scooters zooming past me. Too bad the weather isn’t much different from Shanghai’s usual muggy heat. Though honestly, who cares when you have TONS of good food. Clearly I’ve got my priorities straight.

Anyway, I’ll probably make a post about NOM3 (the business venture) later this week. But for now — Paris pictures! This (March 17th) was my last full day of the trip, and the inner art history geek in me had yet to check out the Louvre and the Musée de l’Orangerie.

The Louvre is massive and chock-full of famous works of art that you’ve probably seen in your history books. Like the Winged Victory of Samothrace in all its … uh, winged glory. And this one painting that I randomly found at the Louvre:

Liberty Leading the People by Delacroix — a Coldplay fan would surely recognize this!

The thing about the Louvre is that it’s so easy to get lost. I literally spent half an hour scrambling around the different wings trying to find the exit. Smooth. After that, I walked a few blocks to the Musée de l’Orangerie, which might be a tiny museum compared to the behemoth that is the Louvre. But dude, this place has some of the most AMAZING curating. Case in point:

…you might be thinking, “Uh, why did you post a bunch of pictures of Monet’s Nympheas against a white wall?” Because this, my friend, is not just any ordinary Monet’s-Nympheas-against-a-white-wall exhibit! Work with me here and imagine you’re in a closed, oval-shaped room that’s completely stark white. In the center, there’s a bench. And you’re sitting on the bench. And these huge Monets are wrapped around the walls so that you’re sitting in the middle of Monets with a 360-degree view. And all you see are the waterlilies. It sounds like such a simple concept, but there’s something to be said about immersing yourself in the paintings. AND there were two rooms of waterlilies.

The Louvre (or any museum in NY, for that matter) was totally frenetic and crowded, with throngs of people trying to snap pictures of every remotely famous work of art. On the other hand, the Orangerie is very soothing. It’s very easy to just sit on the benches for an hour and be genuinely awed by the artwork.

After the Orangerie, I went to the Pompidou and sat outside for a little bit while I ate lunch. I then met up with my friend to visit the Catacombs, where we walked past stacks and stacks of bones that made up the walls underground. It’s amazing how many skeletons were kept there!

After the Catacombs, I went back to good ol’ Pierre Hermé and Ladurée for a final macaron fix.

Isn’t the packaging adorable?!

Pistachio, green apple, rose petals, and licorice (my personal favorite!) macarons. I got a bit hungry, and subsequently, a cassis and a second licorice macaron never got to be a part of this photo.

After dinner, it was time to pack up and go home to New York. Thank goodness I didn’t run into any flight troubles like I did with my arrival flight. And so concludes my Paris trip! I miss it already. As I’m writing this now, I’m craving macarons again, except it’s not as if I can walk around the neighborhood and easily find a place that sells them. Sigh, such is life!

I started off the day with a trip to the Musée d’Orsay. It’s one of my favourite museums: a former train station filled with works of my favorite artists (Gauguin! Courbet! Renoir!) but sadly, they don’t allow photos. But if you love Impressionist art (or art history in gen) and happen to be in Paris, it’s every bit worth the visit!

Next up, I went to Musée Rodin which had this neat sculpture garden along with the actual museum. The weather was nice enough for me to sit outside and appreciate the famed sculpture below:

…The Thinker. I’m so used to seeing this on campus that seeing it in Paris didn’t really resonate with me. But once I stepped inside the actual museum, there were several sculptures that caught my eye:

Come lunchtime, I was starving and went to L’As du Falafel, where I ate one of the best falafel pitas that my taste buds have ever encountered.

A pita chock-full of eggplant, lettuce, cucumbers, and falafel? Um, yes please. After that, I did lots of window-shopping and not a whole lot of actual shopping. And I ended up at the Arc du Triomphe, because … well, just because it’s the Arc du Triomphe. Here, have some painfully tourist-y photos!

I wasn’t too keen on paying the ticket to stand right under the arc, so I passed and resorted to taking photos from the street across. I then went to Place de la Madeleine, where they had Maille. Maille has the best mustard ever. I mean, come on, their boutique has mustard on tap. And their mustard ranges from plain to fig & cilantro to berry to vanilla. If that isn’t brilliant, then I don’t know what is.

clockwise from left: red berry, apricot & curry, pesto & rocket (arugula), fig & cilantro, parmesan & basil, and dried tomato & pepper

Anyway, the next and final installment of the Paris posts will be coming soon! There will be macarons.

Outward journey: Paris Nord to Brussels Midi
Inbound journey: Brussels Midi to Paris Nord

Basically, I ended up taking advantage of the Eurostar and bought tickets for a day trip to Brussels! An hour and a half later, I was no longer in France. Purse in tow and camera in hand, I made my way out of Gare Midi and walked my way up Anspachlaan, the main road in downtown Brussels. Along the way, I came across Bourse/Beurs which is basically the stock exchange.

A lot prettier than the NYSE, if I do say so myself. And that was just the side view.

Anyway, a few turns eastward, and I finally got to Manneken Pis, which translates to um, “little man urinating.” If London has Big Ben and Paris has the Eiffel Tower, then Brussels has Manneken Pis. I remember when I was younger, my dad came back from a business trip in Belgium and brought back a wine bottle opener of the Manneken Pis with a strategically-placed corkscrew. So I suppose that was my first impression of the much-beloved icon. Anywho, I digress. I was expecting some huge, elaborate fountain but it was actually quite small — it barely took up a tiny corner of the street block. And no, that’s not what she said. For such a little guy, he drew a quite a large crowd.

Apparently there is a Janneken Pis (a female counterpart!) out there, but I didn’t get to visit. Maybe next time!

A few blocks north and I made it to Grote Markt or Grand Place, which is pretty much the main square of Brussels. Again, to make an analogy, Times Square is to New York as Piccadilly Circus is to London as Grand Place is to Brussels. Except Grand Place doesn’t have the garish neon lights or absurdly large billboards; instead, it has some of the most beautiful architecture, dating back to the 17th century. Suffice to say, the buildings definitely brought out my inner art history nerd.

This is the Brussels Town Hall, which is situated in Grand Place. Ugh, the details are totally mind-blowing.

These buildings also surround the perimeter of Grand Place; they used to be guildhalls back in the day, but now they mostly consist of different shops and boutiques.

Because food always manages to worm its way into my entries, I’ll talk about brunch that day. I’d totally talk about breakfast, except breakfast was a mere croissant and a coffee on the train. How exciting. Anyway — brunch. Brunch was had at the flagship Le Pain Quotidien. Basically, Le Pain Quotidien (or Het Dagelijks Brood) is a chain of restaurant-bakery-lovechildren with some of the most fabulous baked goods out there. The scones and spreads are incredibly delicious in all their sweet, fattening glory, and they can make some amazing tartines (open-faced sandwiches). There are a couple locations scattered around New York and I’ve even been to the one in London, but when I found myself at the Grand Sablon neighborhood, the all-too-familiar sign of Le Pain Quotidien came calling and I figured what the hell, might as well dine at the original!

Raspberry limonade!

My boeuf basilic tartine: beef tartare, pesto, parmesan, and cilantro on wheat bread! The beef tartare initially threw me off guard, but I really liked it! Might have been the pesto that sealed the deal.

After brunch, I walked over to the Grand Palais. The gates were locked (thwarted!), but I was still able to snap a couple pictures, like the one above.

One of my favorite aspects of Brussels is the architecture, by far. Brussels is so photogenic; it’s hard to take a shitty picture of the city when there’s so much art nouveau. And the detail! So, so stunning and picturesque.

I went on a Monday, so nearly all the museums were closed. I was a little disappointed when I found this out, but I’m kind of glad, because I spent most of the day walking around and ooh-ing and ah-ing over the amazing architecture and I know I probably would have spent the entire day in the Magritte or the Horta museum and missed the train. So there!

By the late afternoon, I was hungry yet again, and I got the moules-frites at Chez-Leon. Three words: mussels and fries.

So basically, I had this huge platter of fried mussels and a helping of fries on the side … I’ll let the photo speak for itself. After this meal, I was reminded once again that the best comas are food comas.

Oh, and I also had a glass of lambic raspberry beer! I love beer but holy mother, raspberry beer seriously tastes like juice. Brussels definitely has some amazing-tasting beer, and I ended up buying some bottles of Trappist beer and lambic beer (cassis and apple flavored!) to bring back home.

I then went back to Gare Midi, my newly-bought chocolates, pralines, and beer in tow as I headed back to good ol’ Paris. All in all, a good day.