wandersights.

Knightsbridge and Brompton Road.

Actually I can’t remember very well. The first and last picture are from Brompton Road (d’oh), but I think the middle two is near Knightsbridge. The old buildings are so similar, you see. But no matter how similar it all seemed, I was a total tourist with my camera hanging around my neck and I was taking photos with every five steps.

Can you blame me, though? Every street corner was a perfect backdrop that needed to be documented, at least for me. However, I doubt many Londoners still look at their city the same way I did.

Inspiring. Beautiful. Free.

Three words carefully selected to market the V&A Museum. By the way, I adore the V&A (hello, its branding is legendary), and I regret the fact that I didn’t have enough time to peruse all the rooms inside. But it was a great privilege to be wandering the halls containing really old stuff. We were even slightly surprised to see people sitting on the floor sketching the marble statues, cos if you did that in the museums in Singapore, you’d be sure to be shown the way out.

Plants are windows to the soul.

I realise it’s been a while since the last time I posted on this blog. Or blogged at all. I was reading a book for my research about finding one’s happiness and I was reminded that two of my greatest pleasures come from (1) Taking photographs, and (2) Writing mindlessly. So here I am at one of the junctions where those two intersect.

These are a bunch of plants spotted through a window of one of the ground floor apartments in Brunswick Square. I’m always intrigued by windowsill plants, as I’ve never had any except for a pot of daisies I grew in 3rd grade for a project. I think keeping a plant sort of puts you responsible of a lifeform, no matter how simple it is, and it brings out the nurturing instinct of a person. Maybe I should think of keeping a plant again.

The Answer to All Life’s Problems.

It’s been right under our noses all along. Literally. Ha ha.

Sunny Day.

I can literally hear the rustling sound of leaves right now.

On another note, this trip made me understand why some people are always looking forward to days when the sun is out. I come from an island in the tropics, you see, and for me sunny days (also known as Most Days) mean hot, humid days that make you all sweaty and gross.

In this foreign place, however, where the sky is cloudy almost everyday, the sun is a pleasant surprise. Here, the sun equals to warmer days and a nice glowing contrast on everything you see. It means a good day to go for a walk (also a previously foreign concept to me) and take pictures. It’s lovely.

Parks and Recreation.

(…is a really awesome series.)

On our first day in London, after thirteen hours of flight we decided to take it easy, so we took a leisurely stroll to a park near our hostel. This is Russell Square Gardens, a small little green escape in the area. The sun was out that day, and the trees were still thickly covered with leaves. When we returned to this park on our last day in UK seven weeks later, everything has changed colour and instead of the trees, it was the ground covered in (dead) leaves. Amazing, isn’t it?

No Ball Games.

Strangely, you see this sign a lot in London… and even around my campus. Apparently the Brits don’t like you to be playing with balls. I’m surprised that the Singapore government hasn’t adopted this policy, since they are very much in favor of banning everything that is mildly awesome. Like durians.

(nonsense caption, ignore the above comment.)

Welcome.

After months (or has it been over a year?) of gathering dust, I’m going to start posting here again. I planned this blog to be a photo journal of my travels (or non-travels), and that’s why I intend to do.

I’ve had the pleasure of staying in UK for almost two months not too long ago, and it has been such a thrill that I wish to never forget. There have been quite a number of Instagram posts on my other blog, but I’ll be uploading the pictures I took from my actual camera here.

Anyhoo, to kick it off, here’s a friendly (and slightly loony-looking) gramps with open arms to welcome you to Heathrow Airport… which, mind you, is nowhere as kickass as Changi.

Three Days of Awesome : The Munchies.

Three Days of Awesome : At the Lagoon Part II.

Three Days of Awesome : At the Lagoon.

Three Days of Awesome.

We Have a Bassist and a Guitarist in Town

Last Monday, our good friends Gavin (the guitarist) and Ceki (the bassist) came to spend three days in Singapore. Seems like everyone I know and their cousin are visiting Singapore this holiday. Must be the Universal Studios craze. HEH.

Early Monday morning, I went all the way to the airport to pick up Gavin who flew in from China (*hiss*). We had breakfast at Terminal 3, and that brought some crazy memories for me. From Changi, we took a lengthy train ride to Boon Keng, to The Hive hostel where they would be staying.

We had lunch in Orchard, and Jesslynne caught up with us, and for a few hours we didn’t know what to do to spend the time. Ceki reached Orchard around 5pm, and from there we went to the National Museum. The exhibition we wanted to see was closed, however, soooo that sucks.

After Ika came and our group was complete, we headed to Marina Square to have dinner (after muuuch deliberation, as always). Double dinner, to be exact. First we split one burger into five at Carl’s Jr. Then, we had the ultimate seafood platter at Manhattan Fish Market! We were now fully charged with energy, and ready to take on Marina Bay!

For me, it was like retracing our steps from a week ago when Ellen and Yugen were here. We walked from Marina Square to Esplanade, then to the Double Helix bridge (which was nice, but it didn’t seem as magnificent this time :p), and continued all the way until Marina Bay Sands. Now, we intended to go up to the Sky Garden, but maybe we walked too slowly, or maybe it was because of the waaay too many toilet breaks (*cough* Gavin *cough*), we were a little too late. Well, at least we saved twenty bucks.

It was good to see these people. We even met another gang of ex-SMAK 5 friends in Marina Sands: Ruth, Ranti, Michael, and Abraham. This world is getting too small, yea? :)

Top Student from Interactive Design Major, Batch of 2010