HOLY SHIT

Holy shit guys! I haven't posted in such a long time :(

Get a free iPad 2 now!!!!!! :)

Hey guys, I know this isn't about traveling, but since this is the blog that is most visited, I'll post this here. So the news is that I will be giving free iPad 2s!! I can't be giving iPad 3s yet, but I will be soon! :) So if you want an iPad,  just email me at xujacqueline14@gmail.com saying your first and last name, your cell phone and home phone, and your address (no P.O. Boxes). I guarantee you, you will get an iPad! :) 

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

                Just to let you know, I went to Santa Cruz on July 4th.  It took about 45 min to get there because I live in Cupertino. So when we got there, there was no parking left!!! (and that is not a big surprise, so I don't even know why I put 3 exclamation points (!!!) there. And I'm just saying that the boardwalk is usually crowded) Anyway, since there was no more parking, we had to go 1.1 mile away from the boardwalk for $6 parking. The good thing was that they had a free shuttle bus that would take us back and forth. So we paid and found a good parking space. They gave us a ticket to put on the dashboard and a ticket for the bus. My family and I went into the line and waited for nearly 2 hours! It was a long line and the bus couldn't fit us all so we had to wait. Finally, my dad got fed up and he said we had to walk. So we walked, but the walk wasn't so bad because in Santa Cruz, a lot of people play music in the streets. So when we walked, we had entertainment too. I heard Party Rock Anthem by LMFAO (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ6zr6kCPj8), Replay by IYAZ (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoG5jJ3E8rg), and Firework by Katy Perry (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGJuMBdaqIw). So  that was kinda interesting. Finally, we arrived at the beach! We first went to the sand and played volleyball and buried my little sis in sand. :) Then we went to see sea lions. There weren't many because they only come here Spring and Fall. I only got to see one sea lion. Anyway, we spent a long time on the boardwalk. Then we went to the games (I didn't get to do anything). I wanted to ride the gondola but my dad said it was too cold. But anyway, I got a chocolate dipped soft serve ice cream before we left. After we got out, we asked the security where to wait for the bus because after we walked, we found out how tiring it was. He said,"Well folks, the shuttle comes once every half hour. And to answer your question, the stop is next to the bowling place down there. When you get to the Boardwalk Bowl, turn right and you will get there." And so of course, we followed the instructions. We took the 6:30 bus to our parking and we drove to IKEA because we had to pick up my older sister from work at eight.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong

         So, this (again) is a continued post of my Taipei and Shenzhen entry. If you did not read either of them, you can find them down here somewhere
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        So anyway, after you read my other stuff you'll find out about my travels. After we were all packed from Shenzhen, we took the plane to Hong Kong. It was like a half-hour ride. Pretty short, huh? I'm gonna explain this so don't leave any comments saying "why this" and "why that". Hong Kong was owned by England for 100 years. And now 100 years is over, but they still do the same things. When you visit Hong Kong, you'll see that they drive on the right side of the car, and when they're on the road, they'll drive on the left side of the street. It's pretty strange, but England, Australia, and some other countries do that too. It's like we americans are the oddball. So the hotel I was at is called "Regal The Orentinal Hotel". The hotel was rated *** (three stars). We only stayed there for 2 days. We didn't get to see much.  But something we did do was visit Ocean Park. Ocean Park is like Sea World in San Diego, CA. One thing I forgot to mention was that we actually stayed in Kowloon, and we took the ferry to Hong Kong. Hong Kong could relate to some big city like New York or Chicago. The main island of Hong Kong has many neon lights. If you didn't know before, Hong Kong is made of one big island, many small islands, and one peninsula. I only got to see the main island and the peninsula. So when we went home, everyone thought that that place was the best out of all.

Shenzhen

Shenzhen

        This is a continued post of my Taipei entry. If you didn't read it yet, it's somewhere down there
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         After Taipei, we took the plane to Shenzhen. The ride wasn't too bad; about 1 hour. We rode on the same airline. The hotel I stayed at was called MARCO POLO SHENZHEN. Marco Polo is a big hotel chain in China. That hotel was ***** (five stars). It was really nice. And the best part is that we don't have to pay for it! Dad's company does. We visited so many places. And the part I liked best was really funny. So we were waking to the subway station from our hotel. And my mom couldn't find the station. So, I grabbed a map and realized we were standing right in front of it! The reason Mom couldn't find it was because the subway entrance had the Subway Resturant poster on their door. We couldn't stop laughing! That was my favorite part. Shenzhen is a really beautiful place. If you visit there, I'm pretty sure it will be better than you think it is the way I'm describing it.

Taipei

Taipei, Taiwan (and other cities in Taiwan)

         Hey, guys! I went to Taiwan in Feburary, 2012. It was very exciting for me and if you ever visit there, I'm sure it will be for you too. To start off, the airline that I took was EVA AIR. They had pretty good service. It was a very long ride; it took 14 hours! The plane we took had a personal TV for everyone. They had movies, music, TV shows, games, and so much more. They just made a Hello Kitty jet and they were advertising for it. Therefore, we had Hello Kitty wasabi peas as a snack. The packaging had Hello Kitty as a flight attendant of EVA. They had really good chinese food. (and to all those americans out there, I'm sure you guys will like it too) When we got there, it was like 6:30 a.m. It was really foggy out there. I went to Taiwan just because my dad was on a business trip. We got to our hotel at like 7 am. Our hotel was CAPITAL HOTEL. We slept some more until 10. Then we went downstairs for breakfast. We went many places and we took the subway everywhere. Some times we would just take a walk and go to a bakery or something. The chinese food there is real good!! We also took the bullet train to Taichung. It cost a lot of money, but it was worth it!