26
Jul
It was really tiring, but worth it. Went to Paris and London for about a bit over a week, came back on Saturday night. It was my first time going to a continent other than Asia or North America haha, definitely a whole new level of experience for me! Went together with family. We decided to go there on our own since tour groups usually have super tight schedules and a ton of time spent on the road instead of at destinations. I think travelling on our own gave us a chance to immerse ourselves in their culture, I mean we walked around either on foot or with their public transit, no one was there to guide us (except when we asked random people on the streets for the way). Heck, when we were in London, we didn’t even have a city map. I THOUGHT the google map on my blackberry would work, but most of the time it couldn’t even find a satellite. In the end we just gave up and only used the tube/bus maps as guide haha. GREAT EXPERIENCE! I dunno if I can find time to post up pictures, but if I do I’ll definitely put an update here first. 
Recently I have been re-reading some Chinese internet novels, last time I read these was back in highschool. Sure brings back memories… I remember staying up all night reading these books, tearing up every time. Haha good times…
These books are written by the Korean internet novelist 귀여니 (Guiyeoni), or 可愛淘. She’s amazing. Period. I haven’t paid attention to her recent releases though, so I have got a lot to catch up on – more like TEN books (! – just checked) But first I need to get my hands on her books first, since they are only being sold in Asia, I have to order them from taobao.com via panli.com (basically a shopping service that helps you order from sites like taobao – which by the way, only accepts Chinese bank cards and credit cards – and shipping them to international addresses).
A mini review of panli. I have been using it since last year. Ordered a ton of crap with it already: stuff ranging from stationaries to health/beauty products to Japanese/Taiwanese magazines. It’s a lifesaver for people like me who doesn’t have a Chinese bank account. The only downside though is the insane shipping prices, I mean it is cheap technically since I have large orders and they are generally really heavy (especially the magazines and books…). I typically spend around 100 USD on the items and another 150-200 USD on shipping. Note for this particular example, I probably had 20 magazines in there (each weighting around 600-800g), which would usually cost me around 20-30 bucks if I buy it in Toronto, so I guess it’s still worth it? I don’t know, still a huge dent in my wallet but I just can’t stop myself. Actually, I just paid for another batch of magazine orders recently lolol, I’ll post an update once I receive the package. Oh, and an alternative to panli for those who can’t read Chinese is taobaonow.com. Used this once last summer, it ships a bit slower though, since it’s like owned by one person or something.
Anyway check out those books if you read Chinese or Korean!
New blog entry: Back from Europe! @ http://www.palumpolum.com/impressions/ba...
I’m glad you’re back! Can’t wait for the pics~
Oh and did you go shopping??? hahaa
Sadly, no.（；_・）We just walked around like crazy haha. Wish we shopped though, but next time definitely!
welcome back! it sounds like a lot of fun. and winging it without an itinerary or even maps sounds even better, haha. let me know how the food was!
Welcome back! Your trip sounds like a lot of fun, pictures?
I usually order my Chinese magazines/books straight from books.com.tw, though I recently found that KingStone bookstore’s website also allows for oversea shipping with US credit cards. Shipping is a bitch though, but I think it might be cheaper than panli?
Does books.com.tw ship to Canada? I know I’ve been on that site before but I didn’t see an option to ship overseas, maybe I was just blind lol. KingStone wouldn’t work for me since I don’t have an American credit card.（ToT）I guess for now I’ll just have to stick with Panli. /shucks/
Hi there Sophie,
Thank you so much for your follower request.!
It made my day
I hope i dont bore you too much with all of my silly thoughts, hehe.
Wow,
you lucky girl.!
How was London?
I read somewhere on tumblr that the people there are rather rude and unfriendly, but that was just one person’s opinion so i guess best to take it with a pinch of salt.
Did you find that?
Those graphic novels look really cute.
I am shocking at learning other languages though.
Used to learn Japanese at school however none of it stuck (apart from how to say hello, good bye and my name.)
Are they really only in Chinese or Korean??
:[
What other graphic novel series/books do you like?
Im still discovering the vast genres of graphic novels so i usually read what my friends like, for example, Fruits Basket, Rozen Maiden etc.
Anyway,
enough from me.
Its lovely to meet you.
Hope you are well.
Take care.
xx ♥
Thank you for your comment Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ You are so kind!
I didn’t have any problems with the people there to be honest. They were all quite friendly when we were trying to ask for directions. The only downside was the crowdedness, and the streets weren’t that clean. But otherwise I had a lot of fun there, visiting tourist spots etc.
I am learning at this Japanese language school, it’s ran by Japanese people and all the lessons are done in Japanese (we aren’t allowed to speak English even a bit ＼(>o<)／) It’s certainly the best way to emerge into a new language though, despite how difficult it was at first haha. And yep, those books are only available in Chinese or Korean.
I used to read a lot of graphic novels (ie. Naruto, Bleach, Fruits Basket too, Lovely Complex…), but nowadays I immerse myself in Japanese magazines more than anything else.
Thank you again for stopping by! It was lovely meeting you too. （ ´∀｀）