June 22, 2009

Wuhan is the capital and in the central part of Hubei province of China

After arriving in Macau for only two days, my parents and I went to Zhuhai and then flew over to Wuhan on June 22nd. Bobo, Elizabeth’s friend, picked us up at the airport in Wuhan and took us to an apartment that has been arranged for us.

The apartment was only a few blocks away from downtown, which saved us a lot of timewhen we went out for shopping and dining, because there was a lot of traffic. We left the apartment and started checking out the city right after unpacking our luggage.

The city contained a mixture of old and new buildings. Construction and renovation were everywhere. As the fifth most populous city in China, Wuhan’s streets and roads were always crowded with people, bikes, and cars all hours of the day. However, people never follow the rules of the road, so crossing the streets in the city was extremely terrifying. If you are going to Wuhan, never ever assume that you are safe to cross the road, even when the green pedestrian light is on!

Wuhan is known as one of the Three Furnaces of China because of its oppressively humid and hot weather. In the summer, its temperature always exceeds 40°C , which is 104°F . During noon time, I could barely walk on the street without wearing my lightest outfit and using a sun umbrella. I even had to put my favorite sport shoes aside and wear sandals during the whole trip, because the weather was so hot.

The good news is that the cost of living in Wuhan is very inexpensive. We ate like a celebrity, went shopping and had foot massages almost every day. Transportation is very low in price too. In order to hide from the heat, we took a taxi to everywhere we went. The taxi ride was usually RMB 3.00 – 12.00, which is around USD 0.38 – 1.50, depending on the duration of each trip. But cab drivers don’t like dealing with short rides; a few of them gave us a bad attitude.

On the second day, we headed off to the Wuhan University to take graduation pictures for Elizabeth. I was impressed by how big and beautiful the university was. The campus was featured with hills, lakes, trees, flowers and historical buildings, which date back to the 80’s.

Student residential building

Doggie glyphs on the roof

The university’s famous blue roof tiles

The university’s library

We spent another two days exploring the Wuhan city and then headed to Shanghai via high-speed railway.

Stay tuned for our next stop - Shanghai.

Seattle – Honolulu – Hong Kong – Macau – Zhuhai – Wuhan

Read More 2 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

July 18, 2009

Above are the stuffs in my backpack when I go to school. Other than books and stationary, I also bring Ginger Candies, which keeps me awake in the morning classes, Hello Kitty water bottle, and Winnie the Pooh mini tablewear, "No, they are not for kids", I need to have something cute to eat with when I eat alone at school, especially on Saturdays.

My long holiday is finally over and I am already back to school. This quarter I take 2 classes, InDesign and Photoshop CS4. Debiruth is the instructor of both of the classes. “I love going to school,” she introduced herself during the first class,” as you can see from my background.” Apparently she does love going to school. If you search her name on the Internet, you will see that she has a very board range of professional backgrounds, such as Technical Education, Sociology, Applied Behavioral, Law, Software Development, and Psychotherapy.

I am impressed by her introduction and her passion for acquiring knowledge. I have always enjoyed going to school but I had doubts that that is the way life should be, because the culture in my home country is very different. In Macau, people see education as an investment. I remember how the parents of my friend convinced her not to go to a university by weighting the prospective income she could make after graduation to the income she could be making right out of high school. In Macau, the average income of high school students is almost the same or even higher than that of undergraduate students. Therefore, many people think that spending money on going to school is not worth it.

Despite the fact that the tuition in Washington State is eight times more expensive than that of Macau, going to school is quite popular in Seattle. In my Graphic Design class, many of my classmates are learning fine arts and different computer programs just for personal enrichment. For instance, my classmate, who sits next to me, retired 2 years ago after working as a Creative Director for over 20 years. She told me that she was taking the design classes because she wanted to know more about how graphic designers work nowadays.

Even though going to school is very tiring and my schedule is especially challenging after starting my internship this quarter, I still love going to school. I really do. In fact, I think that I should design a logo for “I love going to school”.

Read More 5 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

June 17, 2009

Seattle - Honolulu

On the early morning of June 17, 2009, I went to the Renton Airport to kick off my 19-day China Trip. I was full of happiness and excitement, because literally it was the first time I have ever travelled alone. Unfortunately, Northwest Airline tore out the joy in my soul as soon as I checked in my baggage. I waited 20 minutes just to learn that the agent was actually not literate enough to handle their computer system, and another 15 minutes to learn that the flight path had been altered because of the volcano eruption in the North Pacific Ocean. Worst of all, I was eventually forced to stay one night at Honolulu, which added an extra day to the trip and caused me to lose a day in Asia.

My flight was originally from Seattle to Hong Kong, flying over Toronto. However, because of volcanic activities on a mountain between East Asia and North America, my flight was rerouted to fly over Hawaii instead. I tried to figure out the flight hours immediately, but nobody from Northwest Airline was able to answer any of my questions. So I boarded the plane, then I was informed that the plane wouldn’t be able to take off before some operational problems were settled. Then, all the passengers were held in the aircraft with very bad ventilation for one hour before the plane eventually took off, when the caption of the aircraft promised that it would only take 15 minutes. This delay added another hour to the trip, which made my flight exceed the legal daily flight6 hours for pilots, hence my plane was not allowed to connect to Toronto from Honolulu. Therefore, all the passengers ended up staying at Honolulu for one night.

“Are you kidding me? I flew five hours and then you tell me that I am not going to Hong Kong today? I don’t want to sleep at Honolulu. I want to go home and fly tomorrow if you have some operational issues today.” I wondered why Northwest Airline didn’t simply delay the flight to the following day after knowing that they were not able to bring the passengers any closer to the destination. Who would want to take a five-hour flight to another city within the same country just for a sleep? And why did Northwest Airline still ask their passengers to board the plane while they had operational issues?

I was extremely upset even though Northwest Airline was willing to provide hotel accommodation and meal vouchers at Honolulu, because the delay and the rerouting means it is going to take me 24 hours to arrive at Hong Kong, when it would have only taken 14 hours. To a passenger, time is the most valuable thing, not to mention the inconvenience in claiming, loading, transferring and re-checking in baggage at the airports, buses and hotel.

I have always wanted to go to Hawaii, but I never expected to go there under this kind of circumstances. I closed my eyes, exhaled deeply and thought, “Well, staying one night at Hawaii for free could be a good thing.” I convinced myself that this trip is supposed to be fun. I couldn’t let the flight delay spoil my trip.

I finally landed. I could tell the hot and humid weather of Hawaii as soon as I stepped out of the airport. An airline agent was already standing there waiting for us. She showed us the way to a bus, which was painted all over with tropical flowers, and took us to the Ala Moana Hotel. Honolulu is more urban than I expected. Aside from harbors, yachts, beaches and palm trees, you will also see high buildings and shopping malls all over the city.

The sun was setting by the time I checked in the hotel. I made a snap decision to walk to the beach while there was still a little sun light. Palm trees were sitting along the beach. The sun in the pink sky descended into the sea and sparkled on the water. I took a deep breath as I felt the breeze. It was so beautiful and peaceful. Maybe my first trip on my own meant to be unusual and unforgettable.

An hour passed and the nighttime finally came. So, I walked back to the hotel, had a quick bite to eat and went back to my room. “Good night and sleep tight, Edith” I started telling myself, “there is another 12-hour flight to come tomorrow.”

  Buses on the street were painted all over with tropical flowers

The sun was setting by the time I arrived at the hotel

My room was kind of neat, only that I didn’t have much time to enjoy it. I have kept a business card of the hotel and decided to go back there next time when I visit Honolulu.

The night view from balcony

Stay tuned for my next stop to Wuhan.

Read More 2 comments | Posted by Edith Chan

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to get a free skincare kit at Body Shop with a small purchase. I was surprised to receive the gift because I didn’t know that there was a promotion going on at the Body Shop until I checked out at the cashier. The free gift is just right for me. It is a mini skincare kit of the Vitamin E line, including a cleanser, a toner, a moisture cream, a night cream and a mini towel, all of which are packed into an adorable light pink mesh zip bag (the actual color is a bit off than the picture shown). The size of the bag is just somewhat bigger than my palm, which is super friendly for travelling.

Actually I have been thinking of buying a travelling skincare kit for my trip to China next month after having a bad experience on my last trip. Most importantly, the Vitamin E line is my favorite skincare line in the US so far. I fell in love with this product line shortly after using it. When I just moved to the US, I really had a hard time finding good skincare products that work for my skin. I have combination plus sensitive skin, so I need something very natural, moisturizing, yet not greasy.

At first I only planned to buy an eye cream, but eventually bought an additional micro refiner because it was on sale. The total of the purchase was USD35, which entitled me to get a free skincare kit, valued at USD30. Then I got another 10% off with my membership card. In the end, I got an eye cream, a refiner, plus a lovely skincare kit with only USD33.

If you are interested in the free skincare kit, go to the Body Shop today because this is a limited-time offer.

Read More 1 Comment | Posted by Edith Chan

Yesterday I talked with Mason about choices in life, then I thought of a quotation from the Spiderman 3 movie. “Whatever comes our way, whatever battle we have raging inside us, we always have a choice. It’s the choice that makes us who we are, and we can always choose to do what is right.”

I was told that it’s even our choice to live happily. Below is an illustration created by a freelance designer, Diane, in Taiwan. She used a soft drink vending machine to depict choices of mood in daily life. In case you don't read Chinese, the girl is asking the rabbit "What mood do you choose for today?".

Read More 0 comments | Posted by Edith Chan