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Describe your most memorable vacation.
I have two absolute most memorable vacations in the books. The first most memorable vacation I want to mention is the family reunion trip my dad planned back in 2006 to Japan. I believe this was the last group vacation I ever went on with my dad before his passing. It had always been his lifelong dream to host one giant family reunion with our entire family in Yokohama, Japan, including my eldest brother, who hadn’t been back to Japan since his early teenage years. I, myself, hadn’t been back there since I was 3 years old. This was something my dad was adamant about doing, regardless of cost, before he became the last surviving sibling of his generation, which was quickly becoming more of a reality than we would know.
Initially that year, my brother had already planned a group vacation with another set of his friends (another couple) & all of their children (all girls). My dad urged my brother to cancel his vacation plans & go with us to Japan. He even invited my brother’s friends to come along, all expenses paid. That was one of my most fondest memories about that trip. It wasn’t just the fact that we’d be having a full-on family reunion with my dad’s entire family, including myself & my brother for the first time ever. It was the fact that my dad paid for a whole other family (2 parents, 2 children) to tag along with us to our family event. Of course, we all became lifelong family friends after that.
Another core memory I treasure from that trip was going back to visit my dad’s family home one more time before it got torn down to become a 9-floor multi-use building complex. I have been to my dad’s family home once before, but I was so young I could hardly remember any of that time. It was such a memorable experience visiting my grandfather’s tailor shop (which is now run by my cousin & his wife) & having a home-cooked family meal at the family house. It was hotter than hell that day, especially in an old building with no central air conditioning, but we all had the time of our lives catching up & eating together. My dad’s family home is now a 9-floor mixed-use building, but I can proudly say that my cousin’s tailoring business is still operating there, & the eldest aunt from my dad’s generation still lives there on the top floor.
All of us had such a great time catching up with family, & it was especially meaningful for my brother’s two daughters to get to know cousins & other relatives they have only heard about but had never met before. My dad was living his best life, drinking all the beer, & chatting non-stop with his two last surviving brothers. My brother’s close friends fit seamlessly into our family reunion. They were included in all of our family activities, & we had a fun time bonding with them over the course of our vacation. I even got to meet up with my childhood best friend after many years apart, & we had such a fun time catching up with each other.
Seeing my entire family from my dad’s side all coming together (despite some family members not getting along) really made my heart soar. It was a truly magical moment that I will never forget for as long as I live. It is one memory I share with my dad that I cherish so deeply within my heart. Even to this day, I will reference back to this amazing experience.
For a detailed account of this memorable vacation please refer to this post.
The next memory I want to talk about is my birthday vacation in London, England. This is another memorable trip, for one, because it was my very first time traveling to the U.K. (or even the European side of the globe). For as long as I could remember, I have always wanted to visit London. My dream came true back in 2017 when I finally convinced Jian to travel to the U.K. instead of Asia. I am still trying to convince him to visit London again, or any other part of Europe for that matter, but he is extremely adamant about traveling overseas to Asia again.
From the moment we started talking about this trip, I was absolutely certain that this was going to be an extraordinary experience. I was not wrong. The incredibleness began before we even boarded the airplane. Somehow, we were able to book a stay at my now all-time favorite hotel at a jaw-dropping discounted rate. This hotel (Edition Hotel London) is supposed to be the crème de la crème of the luxury boutique hotels within the Marriott Hotels group. We somehow were able to book a room around my birthday, & as soon as we checked in to the hotel, the amazingness continued. Each day, everyone greeted us by name & sent me birthday greetings. I even got a personal handwritten birthday note (which I kept) by the hotel manager, along with a special dessert sent to our room. Then, on the last day of our stay, we were sent 2 complimentary custom cocktails to our room. Let me just say that I could not have been more impressed with this hotel & its entire staff.
Our little tour of London was also extremely memorable. Some of our highlights include: going to an Anderson.Paak concert, doing a proper pub AND bar crawl nearly every day (not just at night), randomly spotting 2 celebrity actors (who were very popular at the time), taking a tour of Westminster Abbey & Big Ben (while it was closed for repairs), riding a proper red double-decker public bus, riding the Underground subway for the first time, & getting McNugget grease on our hotel bed from eating McDonald’s at midnight after the Anderson.Paak concert.
There are two interesting stories that really stand out from this trip. The first story is about that time when Jian & I were sitting at the counter of a bar we had looked up on TripAdvisor. We were just sitting by ourselves as the bar was slowly starting to fill up for the evening, & were casually watching the bartender restock all of her pre-batched cocktails. Eventually a group of already drunk, rowdy guys saddle up to the bar to greet the bartender who was a friend of theirs. Jian somehow got a spam call on his phone, & one of the drunk guys asks if he could answer the phone for him (in a very thick accent, probably because he was drunk & already slurring his words). Jian of course said yes, & let the guy talk bullshit with the spam caller. We built up a friendly rapport with this drunk guy after that little incident, & had a great time drinking & talking. On our way back to our hotel, Jian complained that I was constantly trying to get him drunk every night. I said, “Who cares? Just have fun!”
The second story is about that time when we effectively shut down the lobby bar at our hotel. The hotel policy states that the lobby bar is supposed to stop serving drinks at 11pm & close for the evening at 12 midnight. We met an older couple at the bar, who were visiting their daughter at university in London. The wife was already three sheets to the wind as she had been mixing vodka drinks, tequila drinks, & champagne all night. Then she proceeded to argue with Jian about how to say certain words & phrases in Cantonese, proclaiming that she was an Italian-born woman who went to school in Hong Kong. She tried to assert that she was more Cantonese than Jian, who was actually born in Canton, China. It was hilarious how the two of them were going back & forth with each other in Cantonese & English.
The husband, however, was interested in talking to us about the drinks we were ordering, & grilling us (happily) about how the two of us knew so much about alcohol & their brands. It turns out that this man worked in the field of alcohol distribution or some sort, or import-export of alcohol for international restaurants & hotels. We talked to him about his job, & he was very eager to chat with us to gain our perspective from a younger generation. Meanwhile, the wife kept chatting with us on the side, exclaiming that we seemed like the kind of couple who have amazing intimate relations (to put it very lightly).
We kept having a very lively & spirited conversation with this couple all the way past the bar’s closing time, & didn’t end up back in our room until 3am. It was incredible. We tried getting this couple’s contact information, but they explained to us that they were leaving the next day, & they wanted to meet us at the hotel lobby before they left. We never got a chance to meet up with this very interesting couple, but we have a cool story to tell everyone. I believe that was only the second time in Jian’s life where he had a true hangover. The first time was when he turned 21. We ate mediocre Vietnamese pho the next day, & as Jian was staring at his bowl, he was contemplating the meaning of life.
I truly hope we are able to visit London again, sometime in the near future perhaps. I would like to have more adventures like the two I described above, maybe with my little bean in tow, maybe not (she can’t get into bars yet). All in all, I have been on quite a few fun vacations in my lifetime, but these two were the ones that stood out the most in my mind. I hope I can have more fun vacation adventures, & document them here to share with everyone. Until the next trip, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
What’s your favorite thing about yourself?
Here’s my direct answer: I am a “take-carer”. I know that’s not an actual word, but that’s how I would describe myself &, more aptly, describe the best part of myself. I wouldn’t exactly categorize that part of myself as being a caregiver, per sé, because that sounds like I’m a certified licensed nurse or something. However, I do like to & tend to give care to those around me. Also, since having a child, I have noticed my motherly instincts & mentality ramp up ten fold.
Perhaps that is one reason why I, in some ways, enjoy having my mother live with me & my family unit. It’s not only that multi-generational living is engrained in my family’s culture, & I don’t mind multi-generational living at all, but me wanting the role of taking care of others plays a huge part. It has been especially important for me to take on this role & responsibility ever since my mom became a widow. It gives me great relief to know that I can provide my mom a sense of stability, consistency, & comfort, filling the gap between the loss of my father & standing in his shoes (partially).
I also take pride in caring for those around me. My main role these days is to give care to my little offspring, but I also take care of all the other significant people in my life, & that gives me the greatest feeling of fulfillment.
How I care for the others around me varies, but I’d like to think of myself as a constant or consistent being that each person can attach themselves to at any time. I can be a helping hand, a guide, a shoulder, a listener, a hostess, a gift-giver, a person to make others laugh…although, I’ve only been able to make myself laugh lately, as only I am able to laugh at my own stupid mom jokes.
Yes, I would very much say that my ability as well as my desire to take care of others is my most favorite thing about, well, me. Do I make time to take care of myself? Yes. The thing I do best to take care of myself is to make myself laugh at least once a day, & I don’t mean a chuckle at a silly little anecdote, or an ‘LOL’ at a friend’s text. I’m talking about a nearly in tears, can’t stop clutching my belly, full blown knock my socks off laugh. That’s all, a fall-out-of-my-chair laugh at least once a day. I’m giggling even as I write this line.
That is all. LOL 🤣
My little family trio just got back from Los Angeles (again). I was excited to finally meet my cousin’s new baby, but that still did not spark my interest in going back to Los Angeles. The amount of times per year my little family unit has to travel to Los Angeles for family events has now become a chore. Yes, we love going to visit our extended family based down in Southern California, & we love spending time with them, but it’s just become an obligation at this point. In case you’re wondering, none of our relatives from down south ever come up to visit us in the Bay Area…at least nobody from my generation, except for my siblings, & my mom’s siblings.
Well, however that may be, our little trip still had a fun time this past weekend. We had a typical Chinese family dinner with our aunties & uncles straight away, to pay our respects to the older generation. Then we took some time for ourselves as a little family unit before we had to attend the all-important (& the reason why we came in the first place) banquet dinner celebration of the newest addition to our ever-growing family. My cousin & her husband, along with her two sisters, coordinated a warm & wonderful party to celebrate our new nephew’s 100-day milestone. The 100 Days celebration is a popular tradition among many Asian cultures.
The party was raucous & fun, & I was totally shocked when my little bean adapted to the lively festivities like a champ. I mean, she barely had a decent nap in the car, at most 30 minutes…when she normally naps for at least two hours. Then, she normally freaks out at seeing rowdy kids, but this time she was cool as a cucumber. The only time she freaked out, even a little bit, was when we had to change her diaper in an empty banquet room (’cause the restaurant didn’t have a diaper changing table in any of the bathrooms).
Overall, we spent the weekend at a pretty chill pace. The weather was actually not hot for once, & it actually rained a tiny bit on the day of the big celebration. We ticked a couple of eating spots off of our ever-growing list of “Want to Eat” places. I was on the hunt for more interesting/unique children’s books for my little bean’s already full bookcase. More surprisingly, we ordered room service for breakfast each morning, mostly because there were no western style breakfast spots or coffee shops with breakfast-y foods near our hotel. Jian is usually the one who dislikes ordering room service, thinking the prices are a rip off & the food is mediocre at best. However, he was the one to suggest room service breakfasts on this trip.
In other news somewhat related to this post, I did a mini haul of stationery goods. I didn’t go nuts on shopping this time like I have done in the past. I didn’t get much of a chance to hit up many of my favorite spots, so there really wasn’t much opportunity for me to go wild anyway. I made sure that my purchases were modest & intentional. I mean, I honestly have a huge stationery supply already. I couldn’t possibly use everything in my collection, even within the next 10 years. So this time I picked out a few much-needed everyday use pens & added 2 more sticker packs to my does-not-need-to-grow sticker stash. Also, more recently, I’ve been really into collecting mid-size to large format vinyl decal stickers.
See below images for reference.
Well, that was my small rant-to-recap of my family-packed weekend. I am seriously counting down the days until my little family trio goes to Japan. We just received our little bean’s very first passport in the mail the other day, & that got me super excited. I mean, that’s just one more thing to solidify our big overseas trip. The moment we actually book our flights, that’ll be the final piece to our planning puzzle. By then, it will finally sink in that we are going on an epic adventure abroad, taking our kid on an airplane for the first time, going out of the country with our kid for the first time, also our first big-format travel plans since the pandemic happened. I hope that I will be able to take enough photos & get enough content to put in one of my long-format blog posts. Until the next one, cheers!
Today’s song of the day:
Rabbits & Foxes 
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