Monday, February 3, 2014

Chinese New Year 2014

除夕

Having stayed in school for close to five years, i always look forward to long breaks back at home because that meant quality time with my mum and the ability to enjoy the comfort of home. This cny break has been one of my longest cny breaks and i really treasured the simple break back at home. Spent cny eve reorganising my things in my room because i'm moving back home permanently (finally!) and of course, enjoying comfort food (i can have green tea latte at home now too with the new instant green tea latte packet sold in muji now :D) Loving the sandwich jelly (my fav cny snack!) that kaya surprised me with when he visited me in school the other day too! I remember how he used to surprise me with these colourful candies in jars everytime it's near cny when we were still staying in sheares :) was soooo happy when he whipped them out of his bag the other day!




初一 and 初二

Chinese New Year has always been a simple affair for my family because most of our relatives live in either Taiwan or Australia, so we dont have much visiting to do. However, mummy and i agreed we should still dress up to get into the festive mood,  hence the "ootd" shots (HAHA)! Something i would like to remember: it's the first year i'm giving red packets to both my parents as a working adult :) i know most people only start giving red packets to their parents when they get married, but my sister and i decided it would be nice to start giving them once we start earning money! Nothing beats seeing the surprised faces of my parents when I gave them the red packets after breakfast :)






初三 Part 1

It has always been a tradition of my chinese orchestra friends and i to gather every chinese new year :) Back in junior college, we would literally travel around the whole of singapore just to visit every single person's houses! We only had a simple lunch together this year to save us from the hassle of travelling etc, but i still had a good time catching up with everyone :) It's heartwarming too, seeing our group grow bigger and bigger over the years, with the boys growing up and bringing their other halves to our gatherings! Thought this was a super nice photo to mark our 10th year of friendship (we had to sneak into the cage because the playground was meant for children between the ages of 6-12 years old ><)!



初三 Part 2

Fifth chinese new year kaya and i are visiting each other's places! I feel extremely blessed to be able to visit kaya's every chinese new year because his family always treats me as one of them and i always have so much fun helping out at dinner every time i'm at his house! Not forgetting the huge and yummy spread of food i always get to enjoy at his place every cny and i especially love how his family would take a family photo every year! Was just looking back at the photos we took the previous years the other day and i realised the both of us changed quite alot over the years! :) I'm really glad I got to spend some with kaya's grandfather and grandmother this chinese new year too.. i love both of them so much! (the pearl necklace i wore is my very first pearl necklace and it was a gift from kaya's grandfather when he went overseas for holiday. he was so, so happy seeing me wear it, he took lots of pictures with me that night! so happy seeing his grandfather smile so much :D) brought kaya's grandmother to sing karoke this cny too and it was so much fun! was afraid it might be slightly awkward, but i had a really good time :) (captured a picture of kaya singing to the song he sent me on a skype date when i was studying back in beijing and it reminded me of how the both of us were tearing that skype session ><) looking forward to the annual gathering with kaya's secondary school friends on 初五!









Here's wishing everyone a happy year of the horse! :):) 

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Hong Kong and Shen Zhen travelogue









Starting off my 2014 in Hong Kong and Shen Zhen with Kaya and his parents - definitely a trip i will remember for a long long time. Though we only spent five short days altogether, i had so much fun exploring different non-touristy places all on our own and of cos trying all kinds of street food together! ^^ Felt like there was so much things we didnt get to finish exploring in Hong Kong, so i'm definitely going back to visit again one day! :D 
(Especially love the last picture in this post because it reminded me of how Kaya helped me comb the entire Ladies' Market just to get me a full set of the superheroes just to put a smile on my face :') built them together when we were back in singapore too and it was so much fun!)

Cafe hopping around Taipei















I remember how my annual trips back to Taiwan when i was a young kid were all about amusement parks, sweeping off toys off the shelves at toy departments, running around mountains or strawberry farms and playing with my cousins till late at night. But these few recent trips back to Taipei, I've been taking pleasure in spending some time alone, exploring the different alleys and searching for cosy cafes to immerse myself in. Didn't have much time on my hands this time round, but managed to visit a few cafes with Liting, Wayne, Amanda as well as her mummy! Definitely checking more cafes off my list the next time round I'm back!

Taiwan travelogue











Taiwan (29/12/2013-7/1/2014)

So glad I made it back to Taipei again at the end of the year, this trip was decided pretty last minute!
Really thankful I got to show Liting and Wayne around my 'hometown' this time round too, with them staying at my apartment in Taipei. It felt like grad trip all over again, waking up every morning, excited to explore places together and of course, gorge ourselves silly with food! Extremely happy that Liting and Wayne could get along so well with my Taiwanese relatives as well as my mummy too. I remember nights when they would chit chat with my mummy till late at night, it feels nice seeing my mummy getting along so well with my close friends :) 
Really loved this trip too because not only did i manage to spend some quality time with my mummy (havent been doing so in a long while cos i was cooped up in school), catch up with my Taiwanese relatives, count down to 2014 under the amazing fireworks at Taipei 101 with Liting, Wayne and Arthur, cafe hop around Taipei, i also met up with Amanda and her mummy to show them around Taipei! :) Till the next time, Taiwan <3

(P.S. I have received a few requests for Taipei recommendations from friends online. Do drop me an email if you are interested too :D)