yay for holiday cheer…

trying to make our little corner of beijing a little festive

hope your holidays were amazing <3

beautiful lanterns light up the manmade river (a stream, really) that cuts through downtown seoul

people wrote wishes on these

we had dessert at a really swanky patisserie..

seoul is packed with cafes, cafes, cafes! this one was adorably decorated with a travel theme.

walking around hongdae at night, we ran into a group jamming in the middle of a square… they were incredible!

headed to a jazz bar to round up the night…

until next time, korea! :)

this has been a long time coming! sorry. i went to seoul a month ago on a visa run, but also conveniently to visit becky. to be honest, i wasn’t expecting much at first, but i was absolutely blown away by how much i loved the city. i kept gushing about it, but finally stopped because becky was giving me funny looks. :)

it was my first time in an east asian city that wasn’t chinese. and it was surreal. it was so similar to shanghai/taipei/hong kong in some ways and yet walking the streets just felt different. it had the same vibrant, loud, modern but cluttered feel, minus the dirtiness.  streets were equally crowded but seemed more peaceful, because people were more polite and less prone to public fighting/arguing/pushing/shoving. strangely, there were more international brands and stores, but much less foreigners than what i’m used to seeing on the streets of beijing. the thing that struck me the most about walking the streets was that it just felt… freer. i can’t really explain it, but oddly there is a tangible difference in the atmosphere of a place that is, well, free. and i’ll leave it at that before the censors come after me.

and i found a new top 5 favorite food (no, i can’t have just one): ddeokbokki. especially with cheese. who would have thought?!

thank you to becky, the best hostess in the world. <3

the beautiful kyungbok palace

yummy traditional korean meal

parts of seoul remind me of hong kong

the street food is all delicious, but ddeokbokki is the best

this blog has gotten buried deep under my massive to-do list. sorry about that.

i am resurrecting it just to say this: i am ready to go home. well, for the moment. no one really likes to ever admit that, but there’s no point in pretending like everything is always well and good living away from home. i suppose it’s just a combination of the holiday season, good friends leaving, getting my heart broken a little… yeah. that’ll do it.

thankfully i will be stealing away for a couple days to shanghai for christmas. can’t wait to see old friends and catch up with a city that feels much more like mine. hopefully i’ll be able to come back refreshed and ready for 2010. 2010! isn’t that crazy?

i miss sunshine and flip flops in the winter. i miss in n out and mexican food. i miss my bed, the sweetgum leaves outside my window, carpeting, open kitchens. i miss driving and late nights and doing nothing at friends’ houses. i miss people. people who are there when it hurts and people who can tell me i’m out of my mind. and i miss being that person, for others, too.

china can be a little draining on the soul but i am going to be just fine… just give me a couple weeks to get myself back together.

suck it up, crystal. suck. it. up.