Instagram Adventures in Asia

After a two week blog hiatus I feel like I owe you all an explanation. If you follow me on Instagram (@onepreppycookie) then you already know what I've been up to but I thought I would fill the rest of you in. I spent the last ten days in Asia. Crazy! Thanks to my husband's MBA program, he found himself in Beijing at the end of July for an international internship experience. A little over a week later I flew over (oh you know, quick fourteen hour flight) to join him. From there we traveled to four more cities in 10 days, making every minute count. I will only hit the high points here and considering the fact that it is going to take us weeks to go through our "real" pictures, thought I'd share a few photos through my typical way of photography these days...Instagram!

Hours before my arrival, my husband and his classmates went to see The Great Wall for the first time. We went back the next day so I could see it too. As a friend said that week, "You go your whole life without seeing The Great Wall and then you see it two days in a row." :)

A little Asian flair greeting me on my first night...

Round two of The Great Wall with me in tow. One of the most amazing sights I have ever seen with my own eyes.

Once we split off from the school group, we changed hotels in Beijing and opted for a more traditional feel in the Hutong area. There we found the best food this vegetarian could enjoy in the city - Mr. Shi's Dumplings, where we proceeded to eat three times between the two of us in a one day time span.

I loved Beijing for its history. There were MANY other sights we covered here that are not pictured. I could go on for days about it but will spare you for now.

Next stop was Shanghai. Oh Shanghai, we loved you too! A completely different feel than Beijing thanks to its modern lights and architecture. From extreme glitz to extreme poverty, we saw a little bit of everything. If you ever find yourself in this city, please go on this bike tour. We covered more ground than otherwise possible and enjoyed every minute of it.

After narrowly missing a dangerous typhoon that hit Shanghai, our next stop was Bangkok, Thailand. My brother and sister-in-law are both living there right now so we were able to have dinner with them and a few friends while we were there. (Between them, the Georgetown group, a former co-worker and a friend from college, we had a familiar face in every city we traveled to!)

We were smart enough to schedule ourselves a two day rest from the tours and hustle, hitting the beach in Koh Samui, Thailand.

There we were able to enjoy the views, relax in the sand and relish in the news we received that my husband had passed the third and FINAL CFA Exam! Awesome.

Hokies in Thailand - can't say that every day! It was so nice to catch up with a friend living his dream on the other side of the world.

Our last stop on our crazy adventure was Hong Kong. A far cry from the tranquility of the beach, we did more in our two days in Hong Kong than I would recommend people do in twice that time. However not knowing if or when we would be back, we took a "When in Rome" approach to seeing all that we could.

The final day of our trip was our five year wedding anniversary...the perfect ending to an incredible experience.

Having always been the planner in many facets of my life, it was nice to hand the reigns over to Mr. Preppy Cookie on this one. He planned every last detail and I could not be more thankful for his efforts. And while there is no place like HOME to me, I will treasure the memories of this journey forever.