Resources
Wanderlog Plan: https://wanderlog.com/plan/yxgpxhfazegasjrl/trip-to-asia/shared
Itinerary
| Day | Date | City | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | [[2024-08-26]] | San Francisco | Travel day, flight to Shanghai |
| 1 | [[2024-08-27]] | Shanghai | Dinner with Aunt and cousin's family. Canto dimsum around Xuhui area. |
| 2 | [[2024-08-28]] | Shanghai | Found out that we missed a whole bag. Had a good retrospective discussion with Aaron about his tendencies and preferences that make it more likely for these things to happen. But also got Aaron upset when I was trying to tell him how to ask Hanh to bring the luggage with her. Went to Zhujiajao to see their cottage, old Shanghai and have farm home food. Walked around Wukang road quickly and saw very cool shops. |
| 3 | [[2024-08-29]] | Shanghai | Morning jog. Been falling asleep around 12 but end up waking up at 4-5AM. The breakfast at the hotel is pretty inclusive with western and eastern dishes. Spent the morning on our own exploring Wukang road up to Jing'an Park. Then met Dihan for lunch at Xujiahui and then went with him to get boba at Changee and shopping at Tianzifang. Then headed back to Aunt's house for dinner. |
| 4 | [[2024-08-30]] | Changsha | Morning flight to Changsha. Picked up by Mom's friend and got noodles for breakfast and picked up Grandma after. Went to the mall to get lunch at hot pot place, then got massage and then got dinner at a popular crab place. |
| 5 | [[2024-08-31]] | Changsha | Breakfast with Grandma, and bought fruits for the graves. Visited graves with Cousin and then got lunch with DaGu. Went back to her house and played Mahjong. Dinner with Mom's friend and Grandma at a "embassy" building that is no longer in use. |
| 6 | [[2024-09-01]] | Zhuhai/Hong Kong | Morning train ride to Zhuhai. Met XiaoGu's family in Zhuhai and grabbed lunch at a Canto place. Walked around TangJia park and got sweet water desserts. Then they dropped us off at the Ferry terminal and we ferried to Hong Kong. Got late dinner at Little Bao with all our luggage, hauling ass trying to navigate the tiny roads and up and down the stairs. Then walked to our hotel in LKF and went out to check out the bars. |
| 7 | [[2024-09-02]] | Hong Kong/Seoul | Took an uber to do an early morning sunrise hike at Victoria Peak (the uber driver was not impressed by the destination). Then walked down the peak and decided to get breakfast at Honolulu cafe and barely had enough cash. Then wanted to take the subway but needed to exchange for HKD, figured out that most business will just exchange it one to one. Then subway to central to cafe hop and get breakfast at Lan Fong Yuen where HK milk tea is apparently invented. Then rushed back to hotel to checkout and make it to the airport for the flight to Seoul. I had time to checkout some lounges and smuggled snacks out for Aaron. After landing in Seoul, Aaron was taking more proactive approach to lead the trip and was trying to get us the T-money card. Ended up getting the wrong card and I was on the phone with Hanh laughing at his mistake, which the wrong time and he felt attacked. Made it to our hotel and we talked about this incident on the bus. Checked out Myeondong but was too full to really eat anything and just ate some instant ramen at the hotel. |
| 8 | [[2024-09-03]] | Seoul | Started the day off at Myeondong and got some glasses. Then went to cafe hop in Insadong but really just got a few desserts and toast and then we split up. I went to a bathhouse to be scrubbed and Hanh/Aaron went to Costco. We met back up at the hotel and split up with Aaron since he wasn't hungry. We went to eat beef tartare and octopus and then went to eat North Korean cold noodles. The noodles were soooo tasteless and bland. |
| 9 | [[2024-09-04]] | Seoul | Hair cut in Hongdae, and then we split up while Aaron is getting his perm done. We got raw shrimp and crab for lunch which was incredible, much less saltier than here. Then we all met up at Starfield library where Hanh got upset at me. So we had a little alone time while I napped at the cafe. Then we met back up to go to Seongsu dong and got BBQ chicken, shopped and newmix. I ended up getting 3 or 4 coffee drinks that night. After going back to the hotel, Hanh and I went downstairs to try to pocha and it was a really fun experience with dried squid and dancing shrimps cooked on a salted pan over fire. |
| 10 | [[2024-09-05]] | Seoul | Morning photoshoot in Hanbok at the palace. Aaron was the designated photographer but started to feel a bit third wheeling at this part of the trip. While we were waiting for Nick and Jiayi to arrive, we had a discussion about how he is feeling. We got lunch at a nearby place and then checked into our Airbnb in Hongdae. After a quick recharge nap we went out to eat kBBQ over stones at this cramped but fun place. Then went karaoke at two different places and played drinking games along the way. Ended the night with late night BBQ chicken and the start of a tradition. |
| 11 | [[2024-09-06]] | Seoul | Late start to the day and walked to get ramen for brunch. Then got some coffee at a nearby spot and then went thrift shopping in Hongdae. Then we tried to eat at a popular kBBQ place (Mongtan) but learned we needed to get a walkin reservation the next day. The nearby coffee store was surprisingly very good. Then we went to Itaewon to get kBBQ and ended up at a relatively expensive but bad place. Then we tried to get pancake and walked a while and Hanh was fading. It was a very popular area so we just got takeout (the wrong ones) and ate it on the streets. Then Hanh and I went home to recharge and meet them out after. Ended up meeting them at DDP. But went towards home quickly because it was close to the last Subway run. It started to drizzle a bit also. Second night of BBQ chicken! |
| 12 | [[2024-09-07]] | Seoul | Last full day in Seoul. Went to Mongtan to put our names down. And Aaron found a place for chicken soup and had a hearty meal with ajimas cooking and some really good pancakes. Then we went for a quick shopping trip in Hongdae to pick up our glasses, get our portraits at Acorn done and some last minute shopping. Then we went to Mongtan for an early dinner. It was absolutely worth coming back 3 times for. Then we went to the Han River to walk along and hope to find a 711 to get instant ramen to eat. But didn't find that and Aaron went full k-drama music, MC mode and walked ahead. We walked a bit and then went back to shopping in Hongdae, I thrifted a carhartt jacket. Then ended the night at a convenient store where we had a memorable time disappointing the old worker there. |
| 13 | [[2024-09-08]] | Seoul / San Francisco | Fly home. Jet lagged af. |
Retrospective
The main purpose of the trip was to visit relatives in China with Aaron. The last time I went home was in 2017 and earlier for Aaron. Since then, there have been many births and some deaths in the family and we weren't there for them. So going to China was mainly focused on meeting family and bank those valuable time that we missed being abroad. At the same time, develop some sibling time as we have never travelled by ourselves. During this trip, we had several intensive discussions and I became more aware of how Aaron prefers to act and his tendencies. I do think there are some growing we both have to do but overall it was a productive trip in terms of learning about each other. The Korea portion was fun and just enough time to check out Seoul. It doesn't have as much cultural or culinary highlights as other countries so it is good that we didn't spend too much time in Korea.
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