Another day, another city.

Today I am in Brisbane. Thank god for decent cappuccinos around the world. Enjoying the sunshine in my eyes & people-watching on Queen street.

It's hard to believe that in the last 2 weeks, I have been in 4 continents. And I have been doing this for the past 5 years. Always a wee bit of confusion when I wake up... where am I today?

In spite of all the bitchiness, the difficult passengers, the fake smiles, the jetlag, I think I will be sad to leave one day. Because there was also the discovery of new cities, the genuine giggles with colleagues, some incredible teamwork, the nice hotels & shopping perks. 

My best friend just quit her high-flying job to travel around the world for 1 year. I thought the bank would buy her out but she stuck to her decision.

How much are you willing to give up for something you really want? And how sure are you that you really want it?

Self-indulgence vs responsibility, you need careful calculation & a dose of reality & some daydreaming.

It took me 5 years to figure things out... I'm not entirely sure I have made the right decision... Don't think I could ever be, but in a few months' time, I will take a leap of faith.

Tonight though, I'll enjoy the view of Brisbane's City Hall from my room window... & appreciate the beauty of these fleeting moments. x

Bangkok

Crazy days in Bangkok.

Monks at Wat Po.

On the eve of Songkran, Thailand's New year.

Dry chicken curry @ Saxophone plus live jazz = fantastic night out.

Sunset cocktails along the river.

Temple of dawn all lit up after the sun goes down.

Design / crafts/ vintage/ handmade/ inspiration, Bangkok has them all. The little shelf in our room.

Our private rooftop garden.

At Khao San road.. incredible atmosphere of water pouring & smearing of white paste on everyone's faces. Along the roads, children & adults lay in wait at street corners, whenever cars or tuk-tuks passed, they would shower the passengers with pails of water or simply hose them down.

We fought bravely with our water guns, defended each other while topping up our water reserves & launched secret attacks on people who looked dry haha! Sometimes we continued talking even as people emptied water over our heads. Everyone was laughing, dancing and wet. I whipped out my phone a few times to take pictures while my friends shook their heads. "Tempting fate."

Smearing white paste on a person's face is for protection & wards off evil. However, it's all done in good fun & whenever someone put their hands on my already very white face, it was always gentle & never violent or forceful.

Survivors! Ahhh I dont want to go back to work. Want to relive the carefree moments of being wet & dirty during Songkran, the only thought on my mind being that next year, my gun will be huge with 4 nozzles & my water reserves limitless :P

Namibia part III

flight over the Skeleton coast, so named because of the high sand dunes which clash with the Benguela current to form a very short coast & foggy conditions, thus grounding many ships in the past.

The Shaunee wreck, from 1976.

smug & satisfied cos his photos were better than mine.

relaxing at the lodge before our morning hike up Vingerklip.

called the rock finger because this piece of rock juts out above the rest of the landcape.

View from Vingerklip... beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Yay! 

Driving thru Etosha National Park... animals everywhere, going about their day while we watched. 

Two hours after driving thru the muddy clay roads of the park. In fact, we had to wipe or wash the front of the car very often... except that water is so precious in most areas of Namibia that we felt bad.

Giraffes are so peace-loving... just meandering along & eating leaves. They remind us of dinosaurs, with their prehistoric-looking necks & majestic gait. In the mornings, we often see them at the horizon, their long necks bobbing up & down.

Accompanying us on our slow drive mid-morning.

Sunset over Etosha

Goodbye Namibia, we will miss you.... Looking at the skies, I nearly teared... However, the people who were so kind to us, even though they had so little, will always remind me how lucky we are. And together with improving government infrastructure, i am optimistic about Namibia's future. xx

Namibia part II

On our way to the famous sand dunes in the Namib desert. Some of them have grass at the top because Namibia has been getting alot of rain this year.

Amazing landscape. We were all alone & the wind was blowing sand off everywhere... it was very surreal.

We decided to follow some footsteps in the sand to see where it led to.

We climbed for 2 hours & were completely exhausted. Have you ever tried to climb a dune? It's physically frustrating, you hoist yrself up 30cm, only to sink into the sand with each step.

The reward. A great view of the dunes & Sossuvlei - a clay pan which is normally dry, but fills up with water during the rains to become a lake. The bubbling of the water made me want to jump in but F told me it was the biggest mistake in the desert to give in to thirst. We had to ration our water & got sunburnt.

A herd of impala at the foot of another sand dune during sunset.

A lonely ostrich.. they're a funny lot of birds. All giggly & awkward.

And we happened to pass the Tropic of Capricorn!

So we got off to take pictures & relieve ourselves in the grass.. isolation means no toilets for a few hundred kilometres :(

Gaub Pass, another breathtaking moment along the road.

Down in the pass & across the river... Love it!

Kuiseb Pass.. the most picturesque, though I feared we would bump off the road from the turns & slopes.

Finally reached Swakopmund on the coast & enjoying some modern comforts ♥

Namibia part I

Before I stepped foot in Namibia, the only thing I knew about it was that it was in the western part of the African continent, it meets the Atlantic ocean and it has the world's oldest desert. Oh, and that Angelina Jolie gave birth to her child there.

But of course, nothing prepared me for the emotions I would feel during my stay there. The first thing i realised? I brought all the wrong clothes... The rainy season decided to come to an early end & the sun beat down mercilessly everyday. So i survived in 3 white t-shirts, light pants & a pair of jeans.

No words or pictures can describe the landscapes we saw everyday while driving. This one was taken when we drove from the capital, Windhoek to the Namib-Naukluft Park on the second day.

Namibia is so vast that it is the second least densely populated country in the world, the first is Mongolia. It has 880 000 sq km of land and only 2.4million people.

It is necessary to have a 4x4 vehicle while travelling around as the roads are uneven & have lots of potholes which will fill up with water & mud when it rains. There are only asphalt roads linking the big towns. F drove nearly 3000km during our stay, while I became an expert at using the GPS & reading the huge map. (which I also clipped to the window as a curtain cos it was so damn hot)

Spreetshoogte Pass. Isolated & wild. You can see 2 separate storms in the distance. I dont know why but this is the first time I've ever seen rain occur like that.

We stayed in lodges like this around the country. They have varying degrees of comfort but in some areas, even the most expensive lodge has no aircon & limited water & electricity, which means no charging of mobiles/cams & no long showers. I stupidly asked them if they had Wifi.

The first eco lodge we stayed at was the most memorable.. because it was the moment the vastness of the country really hit home. I stared at the view from our terrace for a long time & tried to remember that sometime somewhere, I was but a small person caught up in petty things. The world is so big and us, minuscule.

Enjoying a sunset dip in the pool. Best view ever. We stayed till the evening winds turned chilly & the many unidentifiable insects & spiders & geckos were too much to handle.

We slept with mosquito nets every night but the sounds of the insects gave me insomnia often. Guess I am too much of a city girl. Even though F reminded me that they lived there while WE were the guests of this country.

The sun casting a red glow over the Namib plains.

A herd of oryx crossing the plains.

Another sunny day, another isolated road, another amazing sky of the most beautiful clouds in the world. xxx

afternoon tea Vol. 1

In the depths of winter, i wandered along the Left Bank and found tucked away near Notre Dame, a gem of an english bookshop.

I had a chat with the guy manning the till, and he told me it was founded in 1951 and that aspiring writers could stay there above the bookshop and write to their hearts' content.

The place was crammed with English books, both new & used. Everywhere you turned, there were books. I must have stayed there for 2 hours, just reading and browsing.

Up the rickety stairs I go & we come to the smoky reading room. All the books are wonderfully old and not for sale, only for reading.

Happy bookworm. Being in the presence of books makes one very happy i think. I don't think I could ever be friends with someone who didn't like to read.

A little dark alcove where you can sit & type out letters.

And for those looking for a little respite, a wonderfully worn bed/sofa where you could sit & read or write. Heaven, isn't it?

And of course, a piping hot earl grey in my favourite tea-room in Paris, while relishing my books. Bliss xxx