Goodbye 2011

2011 is finally coming to an end. Despite being such a rocky and emotional year for me, I think I've learnt quite a fair bit from all that has happened. I captured really awesome moments with my camera and finally got my keyboard, which accompanied me through boring and long nights. I did so many things which I never ever in my life thought I would do, and also finally managed to be honest with myself and to some of my closest friends. I saw who was really there for me when I was struck down really hard by some personal issues and also got closer to alot of people whom I care for dearly. Besides, 2011 has been the best travelling year thus far; BKK shopping trip, Cambodia OCIP, Korea with the Aunts, and lastly London/Paris with the bestest family.
I can't ask for much, really.

Over the years, I've learnt that when I do not have any expectations of what's gonna happen, I face less disappointments. With this brand new year, I will try to stay more positive and less regrets. And to finally put the past behind me; it's so damn hard I know, but this may be the year in which I finally get to accomplish this goal. As said, it doesn't make sense to let go of something you have wanted for so long, but it also doesn't make sense to hold on when there's nothing there. Must try to stay focused and not to stray halfway. Also, I know I haven't exactly been the bestest daughter and friend, but I promise to be better. For you.

This coming year is gonna be really tough, but I'll get by.
I hope it's time to move forward and to live my life properly.

Livestrong, Stay Gold.

Alright, countdown party in a few hours time. Let's kickstart the new year with a bang.

London/Paris 2011

LONDON / PARIS 2011

Decided to document parts of my London/Paris trip, because I know that I won't be going back in a long while, and this post would pretty much help savour the moment.

London:



Took a brisk walk through Hyde Park to cross to the Marble Arch. There were so many pigeons everywhere, and they flew from places to places together, so it was a really cool sight to see like around 50-60 pigeons flying all in your face. Didn't managed to capture a shot of them cause somehow they blended into the trees in my photos. :/ And it was freezing cold, seemed to get colder and colder as the days went by. Think it only got warmer on our last day in London?



The legendary 4 levels worth of Topshop/Topman on Oxford Street in London. It was awesome to the maximum! Couldn't comb through the entire 4 levels at a shot, 4 levels of topshop wasn't like 4 levels of F21 in Singapore. Each of their levels was humongous and it was mad crowded as well.



Woke up early in the morning to head to Borough Market. The food was so yummy!! The must-have for the season was mulled wine, cause it was just appropriate for the freezing cold weather. Took a little bite out of everything we could try, and loving the fact that there are sausages and potatoes everywhere in London cause these are my two favourite combi!! ^^



Dropped by Tate Modern for some modern art loving, and then carried on with one of Sis' long walking tours. Think we walked from South London to East London all in a day?! Sis brought me to see the London Eye and Big Ben, and seriously I was just so grateful when I got to snap a shot of the Big Ben. Corny as it sounds, but it is definitely one of my most proud and amazing shots ever. Behold:



I swear the sight will literally reduce you to tears. It is definitely thousand times better when you view it at sunset. I think I spent close to 2 hours there? Just watching and watching, and spamming photographs one after another. Leaning by the riverbank and just watching the sun slowly set. How perfect is that!!



Camden Market. Thank goodness I didn't listen to my sister's advice to skip Camden because it was so good! It was like London's version of Chatuchak Market in BKK. Loads of stuffs to buy and there were so many stores selling vintage, art pieces and old song records. <3



Headed to Harrods after and then off to Winter Wonderland! Winterwonderland is one of London's most spectacular Christmas destinations and it's basically like a humongous theme park with lots of food, beer, rides to sit. Met up with my cousin and my sis' friend, and my sis dragged the whole bunch of us to sit a roller coaster in zero degrees?! haha but it was really really fun even though the rides were a little pricey? :<

Paris:

The following day, we travelled to Paris via Eurostar. The moment I stepped into Eurostar compounds, I plugged in Sia and just observed my surroundings. I wasn't sure if it was exactly the same, but then I just realised that it reminded me so much of this scene:



OMG. I kept bugging my sis but she hates GG and my parents have no clue what I was talking about. Hai, freaking out all by myself. Classic. :'(



This was just before the robbery occurred. Sis reckons I was being too touristy in my actions, given that I was fiddling much with my DSLR and taking random shots everywhere I went. Basically, they snatched my sis' iPhone and ran off. Sis was so furious that she chased after them along the River Seine for a good 30 minutes. Thankfully, Dad managed to retain a boy and we found this kind American lady who helped us to communicate with the police. How scary is that?! And it just had to be on my first day in Paris. But thankfully it was just an iPhone, no injuries whatsoever.



Headed to the Louvre thereafter after making a police report. The Louvre was so amazingly huge! Sis and I got lost in the building, and it took us a while to find our way out. The famous Mona Lisa (La Joconde) turned out to be so small! I was always under the impression that it was a super duper large painting on the wall in the Louvre. But it was barely visible with the swarm of people that were perpetually crowding around the painting. I had to tiptoe with my arms reached out and DSLR superzoomed to get this photo of the Mona Lisa. Hai.



The Napolean exhibits were my favourite! The red velvet seats, huge chandeliers hanging everywhere, it was just too grand. Colours came out well on my camera too :D

And then, it was zoom zoom zoom off to the Eiffel Tower. I promise, the Eiffel Tower is much better to look at during nighttime. Every hour or so, the Eiffel tower will light up with bright blinking lights, somewhat like a megahuge metal Christmas tree. I took videos in my phone, can show whoever who wants to see it :)



We made it all the way to the top in zero degrees!! And it was raining too, was super worried for my camera and the lens were starting to fog up, so some of the photos might seem slightly blurry or so.



Walked through the streets of Paris to arrive at a nice cosy restaurant for some French cuisine with my Sis friends from Paris. I had Wild Boar Pasta, which my sis claimed to be a rather adventurous food choice. It was yummy though :D



Had lunch the following day at a Paris restaurant called Leon. Their specialty was mussels, so basically all our dishes had mussels in it. It was my first time eating mussels and even though they were really tasty and awesome, it was serious mussels over-kill for me. Haha and their smoked salmon was awesome! Sis says she will prepare smoked salmon for NYE, so yay to that!

Then we took a stroll down the streets of Paris, took photos at the Arc de Triomphe and later we saw this:



The entrance was so grand with golden gates and all, so I thought it was a tourist attraction or something. Turned out to be the entrance for Abercrombie and Fitch! There was also a super long queue outside, think it was Christmas sale or something.



More food at the Christmas Market! Less photos thereafter cause we ended up spending most of our time at Galeries Lafayette. Their spread of branded goods was amazing. Wanted so badly to go see A.Wang but sis forbade it cause we were running out of time, and I saw the most perfect pair of Balanciaga shoes ever. Regretted not checking out the price, damn.

Headed back to London the next day for some Wicked!



The stage was so beautifully set up! The live orchestra kinda reminded me of band :/ And there was this binoculars for rental at every seat so that we could view the casts upclosely. Alphaba's voice was so good! And the lady playing Glinda was actually Christine in POTO! No wonder she could do all the wicked high-pitched runs. And the guy playing the prince was one of the band members of Busted?! HAHA unexpected right!

Spent the last moments in London back in Topshop to do some last minute shopping, and had dinner at a cafe which was located at the basement of Topshop.



Some of my loots from the trip:



I would say that Paris wasn't what I expected, it's really different being there and looking at Paris through photos. London on the other hand, was amazing. All in all, I'm just really really really grateful for this trip, not only did it bring my sister and I closer together, it also reminded me about how important family time is. Don't want to say much here, cause some things are really private, but in general, this trip has hopefully changed me for the better. I miss London/Paris so much. Glad to be back home, but it was such an amazing trip. :'(