Travel: Buenos Aires day 2

I woke up after a wonderful 8 hrs sleep with only 1 pee-trip at night! :) I made myself a quick breakfast: 2 toasted with cream cheese and a yogurt calcium fortified.

Then Mara, Gunther and her mom arrived! We catch up for hours before we decided to go our for lunch to a cafe close by

they brought us some bread. One kind is completely black… we didn’t know if it’s whole wheat or what, maybe black sesame seed paste or something. It was quite tasty.

both Mara and I had a smoked salmon salad with fresh mozzarella. We both enjoyed it.

We hang out at home and then went to a shopping mall. It was very clouded so we left.

Jeanette was preparing dinner. And Gunther introduced me to the world of balsamic vinegar. I didn’t know that there’s a large variety of the vinegar and that they could be so different. They brought this one from Germany

I tasted it straight from the bottle and woooo!!!!!! I’ve never tasted anything like that! Sour, very sweet and tasty! I was in love!!!!!

a big salad using olive oil and balsamic. Absolutely amazing!!!

as main dish, Jeanette prepared chicken with marmalade and assorted vegetables

I had two plates of the salad

and chicken with rice

both were delicious!!! We all enjoyed it a lot. In addition to the food, I think what we enjoyed even more was the conversation. Dinner lasted for like 2+ hours and we talked and laughed so much. For me, they’re my second family and I love being with him, listening to him and watching them laugh! What a satisfaction!!!

Finally, the dessert: homemade flan

Delicious. I asked Jeanette how she made it. For my surprise, it’s not made with egg, sugar and milk. She used only 4 eggs, 1 can of condensed milk and water. Brilliant! :)

We ended up going to sleep around mid-night! That’s vacation!!! :)

Travel: Sydney day 1

We’re back!!! :D After our 8 days trip to Australia, both mom and I miss our cozy apartment!  It was a great trip. In just 8 days, we flight 5 times; we visited Sydney, Gold Coast, Brisbane and Cairns! So, be prepared for the recaps! Day 1: We arrived Sydney at 9AM. We met with our local guide who took us to Bondi Beach, one of the famous beaches in Sydney.

It’s a relative small beach. It’s famous for its U shape.

It was sunny when I arrived

and 30 min later it began to rain, and it stopped in 10 min.

And then we stopped by Rose Bay, where the most expensive mansions are located

We had lunch at Sydney Fish Market.

Our group (9) shared the three most famous seafood in Australia: Jumbo lobster that weighted almost 5 pounds!

two wild abalones

and two jumbo crabs

It was delicious and expensive! Each of us paid 50 australian dollars.

City tour in the afternoon

the famous Sydney Opera House

getting closer

Sydney Ann Arbor

We ended our first day with a cruise dinner! :) More to come later! :)

Trip: two days in Hangzhou with a good friend

Last Tuesday I went to Hangzhou, a province near Shanghai.

Shanghai has been raining for over a week but that didn’t ruin my excitement of this short trip and to meet with a dear friend, Yi.

Shanghai railway station.

Railway station is always busy. It used to be dirty and messy but it has been renovated recently and it’s now clean and neat.

this is a high speed train. It took 50 min, it used to take 2.5 hrs. The train is very modern as well. Everyone was busy reading something. I watched part of “limitless” with my ipad2.

Yi has already reserved a room in a hotel besides West Lake

We walked besides the lake for about an hour. The landscape is peaceful and beautiful. I liked it immediately.

Two friends of Yi joined us for dinner at a traditional restaurant. They ordered a bunch of traditional Hangzhou dishes for me to try. Here are some of them.

panfried pancake filled with green onions (left), radish pickle (right)

braised chicken

Yi asked me if I am adventurous in food. I said yes, I’d eat anything. So he ordered Stinky tofu. I laughed because that’s not adventurous to me at all. I used to eat it a lot when I was a kid. :) When the dish arrived, it was soooooooo stinky!!! But it’s surprisingly tasty! :D

and the most famous dish in Hangzhou: pork belly. One big piece of four of us!

The three man devoured it in <1 min :shock:, I had to work it out slowly! ;)

After dinner we went to two different bars for drink. The relaxing atmosphere invited for some heart-to-heart conversation! :) That’s the wonder of alcohol!

The next day I woke up after 9 hrs sleep (I should drink more often!). Yi had to take his mom to doctors so I had two hours to walk some more besides the lake

and then I found a Starbucks to have the so much needed caffeine in the morning! :)

I enjoyed those 30 min. I love contrasts, specially cultural ones. A western iconic place, Starbucks, besides the ancient West Lake with the most old-fashion South River landscape.

I met with Yi and we went to a temple called Huang Long

it’s famous for its square bamboo

and then we went to Ling Ying Si, one of the highest level temple in China. These four words mean “one foot away from heaven”

entrance to the temple

Buddhas are everywhere

this is a typical chinese pavilion

The temple has many palaces for different buddhas

Yi prayed in every palace for his mom.

Before I left Hangzhou we had lunch in a family restaurant. They serve farm food. No fancy decor, no fancy meals, but their everyday food. Yi and I sit in a small table besides the window. The small mountain grows Long Jing, a famous chinese tea.

I met Yi last year when we were both doing an internship in DC. We became friends right away. He’s a very cool guy and a great friend. I know that we’re in a globalized world but I still get amazed when things like this happen: last year we met in DC and this year we meet again in China, thousands of miles away! :) I hope Yi can get a job in DC so we can hang out again. But if not, I know that we’ll be good friends for a long time, even not living in the same country, just like my other good friends.

Sometimes I wish my best friends and I live in the same country/city so we can hang out more often. However, whenever I reunite with them (maybe once a year), the feeling of wonder brings me so much happiness that makes the wait to be worth. I wonder about how is it possible that we haven’t met each other for so long and still feel so close.

Q: