Sweet November and China
November has been a crazy busy month for me. After I came back from vacation, E and I were staying up late at night trying to book all the vendors we were supposed to book during the weeks of our vacation.
The weekend before, I bought the dress!! I need a moment to document all I've done so far for the wedding. But for the time being, although I never had a chance to post about my Japan trip last year in October and before I can even get into the details of my wedding planning so far, there are tidbits of my Asia tour that I'd love to memorialize first.
During October 13th to the 31st, I was on a whirlwind China tour for 10 days and then I was off to Hong Kong and Taipei to find all sorts of items to prepare for my wedding next year. Throughout the 2.5 weeks, we flew an exhausting 7 times.
1. SF to Beijing
2. Beijing to Xian
3. Xian to Shanghai
4. Shanghai to Hong Kong
5. Hong Kong to Taipei
6. Taipei to Hong Kong
7. Hong Kong to SF.
The tour we joined itself was pretty horrible because the tour was poorly organized and the food made me lose me appetite. But the breath-taking experience to be standing on the Great Wall of China, an over 2000 year old structure spanning approximately 4000 miles long, was priceless. It's hard to fathom how Chinese people managed to carry all the stones to erect this wall. And there I was, trampling all over this historical wonder.
.
Seeing the 2200+ year old Terra Cotta soldiers in person was also an incredible experience. When the weapons some of the soldiers held were first excavated, the weapons looked brand-new because it was coated with a chrome-coating technology that prevented the sword from rusting. Supposely, this same technology was discovered in the US in the 1950s. The Chinese discovered this technology 2200 years ago! When the sword was first excavated, it was still so sharp, it could cut through 19 layers of newspapers.
Growing up, I've watched a slew of chinese soap operas depicting the different dynasties I learned about in Chinese school I attended every Saturday. The funny drape-like clothing, exquisite hair pieces, and dainty shoes Chinese women wore - I've always wondered if the historical figures were depicted factually. It's a wonder to learn, having been blessed to have the opportunity to see the excavated pieces of hair pieces, clothing, shoes, silverware (or goldware I should say), and pottery, that historical Chinese people did live in the manner depicted in the soap operas. I've seen the Forbidden City many times in movies and soaps. However, I was a bit shocked to learn that the real Forbidden City really looked like the palace seen on film. It's like realizing that the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland is real. I always thought that the Forbidden City portrayed was based on someone's imagination and history books.
I am standing on solid white marble jade.
If you can see the gray colored brick looking ground behind me, that ground is layered with 10 layers of that stone to prevent enemies from digging trenches during the internal wars. I thought I was paranoid.
So here are just a few pics to share out of the thousands of photos we took on the Asia tour.
The trip itself was very productive. Other than savoring very tasty Shanghai food and local dumplings that were surprising not that good (I've had better dumplings at Din Tai Fung in LA), I had a beautiful Cheong Sam custom-made that I'll probaby wear at my wedding.
In Hong Kong, I was able to find an evening gown that my mom insisted I had. I was hoping I could just wear my wedding gown the whole night on the big day. I was also able to find for the tea cermony: shoes (for my "Kwa" which is the traditional two piece red bling-bling outfit Chinese brides wear), pajamas, tea set, decorative items, and cushions for kneeling. I'm actually a little more excited to wear the "kwa" than the "cheongsam" because you can only wear the "kwa" once in your lifetime when you're getting married whereas the "cheongsam" can be worn at other occasions. It's so neat to don Chinese traditional wear :)
The reason why we went to Taipei was to take our wedding portraits. I learned just a few years ago that it's not an American tradition to take wedding portraits. It makes sense to me that engagement photos of couples in casual-wear are usually taken prior to the wedding. Even though I'm American-born, I grew up around mostly Chinese folks who went through the same wedding rituals. That's why I was surprised when I joined the workforce where I learned from my non-Chinese coworkers that taking wedding portraits was unusual. I grew up thinking that I would take wedding portraits and it didn't feel right that I didn't go with what I expected all my life. So E and I went for the best place we knew to get our portraits - Taiwan.
It sounds a bit strange to those who are unfamiliar with wedding portrait sessions but everyone in Hong Kong and Taiwan take wedding portraits before getting married. The outfits worn are rented to the couple by the studio. You get to change into 4 or 5 outfits and they redo your hair and touch-up your makeup every time you change. I think I have an inkling of what it feels like to be a superstar. I certainly felt that way during that day while I was being cared for all day by my makeup artist and photographer. E and I had stares everywhere we went. It was a very fun and funny experience at the same time. We loved our photographer. She had such a calm and kind personality. She was so patient with us when we didn't understand any Mandarin. The photographer and assistant made us laugh every time they told E that his smile was too fake or that he had to turn his face a certain way so his double-chin wouldn't show. If we weren't smiling by then, we were doubled-over in laughter with their constructive but kind and funny comments. The best part was she knew exactly the type of pictures we wanted. I never knew I'd be so excited to receive my wedding portraits. Here are four teaser superstar pictures we received today. E said, "What happened to my freckles?"
I hope our guests will recognize us in our wedding portrait album.
The weekend before, I bought the dress!! I need a moment to document all I've done so far for the wedding. But for the time being, although I never had a chance to post about my Japan trip last year in October and before I can even get into the details of my wedding planning so far, there are tidbits of my Asia tour that I'd love to memorialize first.
During October 13th to the 31st, I was on a whirlwind China tour for 10 days and then I was off to Hong Kong and Taipei to find all sorts of items to prepare for my wedding next year. Throughout the 2.5 weeks, we flew an exhausting 7 times.
1. SF to Beijing
2. Beijing to Xian
3. Xian to Shanghai
4. Shanghai to Hong Kong
5. Hong Kong to Taipei
6. Taipei to Hong Kong
7. Hong Kong to SF.
The tour we joined itself was pretty horrible because the tour was poorly organized and the food made me lose me appetite. But the breath-taking experience to be standing on the Great Wall of China, an over 2000 year old structure spanning approximately 4000 miles long, was priceless. It's hard to fathom how Chinese people managed to carry all the stones to erect this wall. And there I was, trampling all over this historical wonder.
.
Seeing the 2200+ year old Terra Cotta soldiers in person was also an incredible experience. When the weapons some of the soldiers held were first excavated, the weapons looked brand-new because it was coated with a chrome-coating technology that prevented the sword from rusting. Supposely, this same technology was discovered in the US in the 1950s. The Chinese discovered this technology 2200 years ago! When the sword was first excavated, it was still so sharp, it could cut through 19 layers of newspapers.
Growing up, I've watched a slew of chinese soap operas depicting the different dynasties I learned about in Chinese school I attended every Saturday. The funny drape-like clothing, exquisite hair pieces, and dainty shoes Chinese women wore - I've always wondered if the historical figures were depicted factually. It's a wonder to learn, having been blessed to have the opportunity to see the excavated pieces of hair pieces, clothing, shoes, silverware (or goldware I should say), and pottery, that historical Chinese people did live in the manner depicted in the soap operas. I've seen the Forbidden City many times in movies and soaps. However, I was a bit shocked to learn that the real Forbidden City really looked like the palace seen on film. It's like realizing that the Magic Kingdom in Disneyland is real. I always thought that the Forbidden City portrayed was based on someone's imagination and history books.
I am standing on solid white marble jade.
If you can see the gray colored brick looking ground behind me, that ground is layered with 10 layers of that stone to prevent enemies from digging trenches during the internal wars. I thought I was paranoid.
So here are just a few pics to share out of the thousands of photos we took on the Asia tour.
The trip itself was very productive. Other than savoring very tasty Shanghai food and local dumplings that were surprising not that good (I've had better dumplings at Din Tai Fung in LA), I had a beautiful Cheong Sam custom-made that I'll probaby wear at my wedding.
In Hong Kong, I was able to find an evening gown that my mom insisted I had. I was hoping I could just wear my wedding gown the whole night on the big day. I was also able to find for the tea cermony: shoes (for my "Kwa" which is the traditional two piece red bling-bling outfit Chinese brides wear), pajamas, tea set, decorative items, and cushions for kneeling. I'm actually a little more excited to wear the "kwa" than the "cheongsam" because you can only wear the "kwa" once in your lifetime when you're getting married whereas the "cheongsam" can be worn at other occasions. It's so neat to don Chinese traditional wear :)
The reason why we went to Taipei was to take our wedding portraits. I learned just a few years ago that it's not an American tradition to take wedding portraits. It makes sense to me that engagement photos of couples in casual-wear are usually taken prior to the wedding. Even though I'm American-born, I grew up around mostly Chinese folks who went through the same wedding rituals. That's why I was surprised when I joined the workforce where I learned from my non-Chinese coworkers that taking wedding portraits was unusual. I grew up thinking that I would take wedding portraits and it didn't feel right that I didn't go with what I expected all my life. So E and I went for the best place we knew to get our portraits - Taiwan.
It sounds a bit strange to those who are unfamiliar with wedding portrait sessions but everyone in Hong Kong and Taiwan take wedding portraits before getting married. The outfits worn are rented to the couple by the studio. You get to change into 4 or 5 outfits and they redo your hair and touch-up your makeup every time you change. I think I have an inkling of what it feels like to be a superstar. I certainly felt that way during that day while I was being cared for all day by my makeup artist and photographer. E and I had stares everywhere we went. It was a very fun and funny experience at the same time. We loved our photographer. She had such a calm and kind personality. She was so patient with us when we didn't understand any Mandarin. The photographer and assistant made us laugh every time they told E that his smile was too fake or that he had to turn his face a certain way so his double-chin wouldn't show. If we weren't smiling by then, we were doubled-over in laughter with their constructive but kind and funny comments. The best part was she knew exactly the type of pictures we wanted. I never knew I'd be so excited to receive my wedding portraits. Here are four teaser superstar pictures we received today. E said, "What happened to my freckles?"
I hope our guests will recognize us in our wedding portrait album.