Category: When Not Travelling

Singapore Formula 1 weekend.

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Once a year Singapore gets a major influx of tourists. There is no prize for guessing why.

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While half of me is really glad that I do not have to shove through with the crowd and spend the whole night in an unbearable humid and warm weather, as I’m looking at the eager-eyed tourists wearing the passes, the other half of me does miss the fantastic weekend I had almost exactly a year ago, being pushed around, getting all sweaty and sticky but at the same time be part of the heart-racing and deafening night race excitement.

So here is me joining the hype by reminiscing my favourite moments at Formula 1 weekend exactly one year ago. And hopefully you will see why you should go to the Formula 1 at least once, especially if you live in Singapore.

Continue reading “Singapore Formula 1 weekend.” →

First attempt at wedding photography.

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By the way, I’m still alive.

I did not fall into depression or anything post five weeks in Europe as I had expected. I’m alive and kicking, just sorting a lot of things back home after being away for more than a month.

I still have a few posts unfinished about my trip and a lot that I have not started yet. But I will give you a little break from me yapping about Europe and show you one of the things that I was busy with after coming back.

A few weeks before I left for Europe I agreed to help my friend shot some pictures on her wedding day. I had to say it did not go quite as planned as I found out on the day that the zoom button on my camera was broken. Coupled with the fact that I had zero people photography skills and no idea how to do the settings in my camera, they were really signing up for a disaster by asking me to do a favour.

Well, the raw pictures did turn out to be some kind of a disaster. But coming back from Europe kind of gave me a renewed sense of creativity and hope that I suddenly had this urge to try salvaging the pictures using some of the most basic photo editing apps I could find in Windows App Store.

The results: I have to say I am rather pleased with myself. Since I’m probably not going to branch out into a career in photography, let me show you some of the before and after pictures and how Adobe Photoshop Express has basically saved my life and made my friends’ day.

(I have to say it was a good thing that both my friends were good looking people who could pose naturally. I think half of the reason why they could still turn out well is due to their happy faces!)

Before

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Continue reading “First attempt at wedding photography.” →

A long to-do list.

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With my upcoming trip of the year looming closer, I can’t help but feeling a little stressed about it. I’ve got so many things I need to do, perhaps jotting them down here will make me feel a little better.

  1. Applying for my UK visa, and actually doing it instead of writing a blogpost about visas.
  2. Start collecting all the necessary document for the said visa application, which includes these.
  3. Change my return flight to extend my trip for another 3 weeks.
  4. Book all hotels in Europe.
  5. Research on all the trains that I have to take.
  6. Figure out how I’m going to pack 5 weeks worth of clothes into a shared luggage.
  7. Start saving money to cover for my trip expenses.
  8. Search for inspiration on what to make my family wear this year. For my Europe trip last year, we all wore matching shirts that I bought them from Nepal.

    Not sure if they still hate me for this.
    Not sure if they still hate me for this.
  9. Give Netherlands my full support in the World Cup (now that England is ousted) through this pixelated live streaming.

    Go Dutch!
    Go Dutch!

So much to do, so little time.

Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding live in Singapore.

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As you can tell, I haven’t been travelling for a while, as testified by the number of ‘throwback’ travel posts and an increase in the content of ‘When Not Travelling’ category. It is not necessarily a bad thing since this gives me time to write my past travels before some interesting facts fade permanently from my memories (I have a lot to catch up, I’m not kidding you!). Staying put also gives me opportunities to enjoy what Singapore has to offer.

In this case, seeing world-famous celebrities live in action. Singapore is a really good place for that. With generally law-abiding population and world-class security, watching concerts is relatively safer and less life-threatening compared to countries like Indonesia, where overexcited people have proven to cause deadly stampede. I consider myself very lucky to be able to catch both Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding in the same week!

Taylor Swift’s Red concert was nothing short of amazing. She was an incredible performer and her whole concert felt like a very perfectly-planned show. Her script was very well prepared and the transition smooth. It is no wonder that her two shows in Singapore were both sold out. I spent painfully a lot to get my seats, but it was worth it. Amidst the crowd of screaming teenagers, I felt like one again and I’m not embarrassed to admit that my throat felt a little sore the next day for singing (screaming) along to her songs.

Although I am slightly more embarrassed to admit that I did go hysterical at the first sight of her shadow.

But I mean it's Taylor Swift!
But I mean it’s the shadow of Taylor Swift!

Continue reading “Taylor Swift and Ellie Goulding live in Singapore.” →

In the spirit of Rio 2014: Cupcakes.

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It’s funny I’m writing this post the day after my face was smacked by a ball during my football game, but I have been trying to show the world that football can be girly. And since World Cup is going to start tomorrow very early morning (in this part of the world at least), there is no better time wager on this belief.

After my bold statement of shocking pink football shoes (what can be more girly than pink, seriously?), last weekend I decided to combine football with another thing that is as girly as it can be – baking cupcakes.

Okay, I wouldn’t lie and say that I did the whole baking because no one would ever buy that. My role for the day was more of a cupcake decorator, using whatever limited knowledge I had on football and even more limited knowledge on cupcake decorating to whip up something that people could tell was related to football, Team England and worthy to enter a contest. It was all a trial and error process and stay with me till the very end to see the result!

Let me start with less appealing pictures. Shaky photos were the result of me attempting to take photos with my icing-covered hands.

Cupcakes, before they were.
Cupcakes, before they were.
The state of the kitchen while the work was in progress.
The state of the kitchen while the work was in progress.

Continue reading “In the spirit of Rio 2014: Cupcakes.” →

A visit to the British High Commission.

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I think I have a thing for royalties, and I would like to think that my paths cross with them quite a lot.

And by a lot, I mean my one-time encounter with the Crown Prince of Denmark in 2012. And then last week, I was invited to an event at the British High Commission for the second time.

Okay I know the High Commission was no prince. And I mean he was not even there during the event. But how often do you get to visit a colonial office house in Singapore that has the Queen’s insignia in it? And also where Prince William and Kate Middleton paid a visit last year?

So I thought I would give you quick tour of the pretty mansion situated right in the middle of Singapore. Since I was not quite sure whether I was allowed to take pictures, I just did what I could so hopefully you’ll enjoy this little glimpse of the House.

When we came into the house, we were greeted by a pretty garden and the house was located after a little drive-in.

It feels like being transported into sunny little Britain.
It feels like being transported into sunny little Britain.

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Just in case you are wondering.

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I haven’t gone missing. I haven’t been travelling this week either. Instead, I was busy with this.

My favourite use of the Singapore Indoor Stadium
My favourite use of the Singapore Indoor Stadium

My annual sports journalism stint at Singapore Open Superseries was brought forward this year from the usual timing in June to April. Lots and lots of fun as usual and I always find this to be the perfect marriage between my passion for writing and badminton.

It was a week-long of endless speed writing, so much so that sometimes I felt that I ran out of words to use! But as always, words will magically appear, even though after hours of staring at the same paragraph or getting distracted by Facebook every now and then.

One discovery I made last week was that too much pork could cause writer’s block! I had steamboat with some friends on Saturday and after that I could not write a single word for the longest time.

Anyway, here is a little glimpse into how my badminton journalism life is like.

Continue reading “Just in case you are wondering.” →

Singapore on two wheels.

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Aaand I did it – the 50 km cycle around Singapore. Something I have dreaded and looked forward to at the same time.

Tour de Singapore has been an exhausting journey, both physically and emotionally. While the physical tiredness from having to attend weekly spinning classes in preparation was very much expected, the emotional part came as a surprise. The pressure only came in much later, closer to the race – I was growing nervous and restless, unsure about the road safety and whether I would be fit enough to complete the distance. It was amplified by the fact that one of my friends who was joining the ride with me was no longer joining. It felt like I lost a bit of emotional support. It also did not help that half of the time I was wishing I had decided to forget about this whole cycling thing and join my friend on a 3-day football charity trip to Cambodia from 14th-16th Feb. (The title of this post at one point in time was dangerously close to be “Cambodia: Of Football, Happy Pizza and Fried Tarantulas” had I chosen to go.) But I had too much of a sense of commitment in me to quit halfway as tempting as the Cambodia trip sounded.

And I’m really I happy I went through with it. It was a well-spent 5 hours of my journey and looking back at all the preparation that I had done, it was the only right thing to do, really.

(Although after hearing the exciting stories from Cambodia, I did have a sliight regret, but hey, you can’t have everything).

So read on, if you want to find out more about what happened before, during and some observations that I reflected upon completing.

Continue reading “Singapore on two wheels.” →

A close shave.

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Last weekend was meant to be productive. I had it all planned out so well. In order to get enough rest post Chinese New Year, I cleared out the weekend for myself, and my laptop. It was supposed to happen this way: I would have come home on Friday, cooked a healthy dinner for myself, watched a few episodes of ‘A Game of Thrones’, slept for good eight hours, exercised the next morning, written a blog post, researched about my upcoming trips, watched a few more episodes of ‘A Game of Thrones’, uploaded Myanmar pictures on Facebook and so on. Basically a very productive weekend in terms of resting, researching and writing.

But I got home on Friday evening and got as far as cooking my dinner before my plan was shattered into pieces. I tried to switch my computer on and this appeared.

The blue screen of terror.
The blue screen of terror.

I like blue in general, but when it appeared on my computer screen and was just stuck there, it was the colour of a nightmare.

And that basically rendered my whole weekend plan useless.

Continue reading “A close shave.” →

Aliwal Urban Art Festival.

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I love Singapore, particularly because of how easy it is to get from a place to another. The country is small enough that you can get from one end to another in less than two hours by the train. This feature is especially important since we only have one Saturday and one Sunday – weekends should comprise of more days in a week!

It came especially handy today when I felt like I had so many things to do and that many people to see. I had a friend to meet for brunch, two friends to meet for tea and a bunch more to meet for dinner. The amazing thing was that even with such a packed schedule in a day, I’m glad that I managed to sneak in some time to check out the Aliwal Urban Art Festival, thanks to Singapore’s small size and efficient transport system.

I wouldn’t say I understand much about art and music, but they have always sparked my curiosity. In Singapore, the art scene seems to sprawl in the underground known only by a handful and appreciated by even fewer people, which makes it even more intriguing.

Although I didn’t get to spend much time at the Arts Festival, it definitely was one of the highlights of my day. When I reached the Aliwal Arts Centre, I was greeted by the loud music of ‘I am David Sparkle’. Definitely not my staple kind of music, but it grew on me with every song they played.

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The drum set fell apart at one point in time!

Continue reading “Aliwal Urban Art Festival.” →