Fleurbox

Sketches Inspired by Outdoor activities

2012-01-12T22:25:00.004+08:00

Sea kayaking can be most relaxing, however, that can be subjective especially if you are not near the protective shades of mangrove trees near the shoreline and subject to the merciless scorch of the sun. I tend to be partial to water activities, which is why the following 2 sketches were inspired by some cool water sports that I love or would love to try.

Would love to try jet-skiing someday.

I hope the New Year's gotten off to a roaring good start for all, yes?

Sketches inspired by Korea

2012-01-05T22:57:00.002+08:00

Awesome scenery and cool activities done in Korea inspired the following sketches.

It's way overdue I know, but I'd be finishing my posts on Sketchbook Project 2011 soon. This being the 5th day of 2012, I guess it's time I think about other creative pursuits to undertake this year (no, I haven't made any new year resolutions). Will update soon!

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T23:34:00.004+08:00

Hallo all,

Here's an 'au naturel' (with the exception of frame and text that I added) picture I took this morning with my phone. It's the last sunrise of 2011. Here's saying goodbye to 2011 and welcome 2012!

Cheers!

Furry and Feathery

2011-12-23T14:39:00.000+08:00

Here are a couple of sketches that were inspired by my desire to get up close with these animals.

Who doesn't fall in love on sight with these lovable creatures?

Wishing very much to visit the safari in Africa, I sketched this in hope that it'd come true some day.

I guess participants of the Sketchbook Project 2012 would have been progressing midway into their sketchbook now. I hope you continue to be inspired. I'm looking forward to seeing 2012's batch of sketches online!

Paper Sculpting Fun

2011-12-19T14:49:00.001+08:00

Some weeks ago, I visited Japan and had the opportunity to visit Ghibli Museum, a wonderfully whimsical museum that all Ghibli anime fans should go at least once in their lifetime. I will blog about the visit in another time. For now, I'd like to show you a paper sculpture made from a DIY paper sculpture pack bought from Ghibli Museum.

Instructions were in Japanese which I couldn't quite understand. Fortunately the illustrations were self explantory.

All the parts were cut up and ready to be folded

Assembling the octagonal platform

The Totoro and friends paper carousel that could rotate around the paper dowel in the centre

Carousel is fitted into the octagonal platform

Completed!

With just scissors, glue and a series of strategic folds, paper sculpting is easy! (At least from DIY packs...)

It's Tree-mendous fun to make your own Tree

2011-12-16T17:03:00.000+08:00

Not getting a tree for Xmas? Not to worry, the newspapers to the rescue!

Interestingly the classified section of the Straits Times had incorporated a DIY origami tree tutorial on its front page that readers could make and join in a contest. I wasn't too interested in the contest (having zilch luck in contests can do that to you) but was more interested in making the tree. It's really quite simple. Just follow the instructions below.

Instructions

Cut 'em out!

One of the tree tiers done. Repeat the steps for the other 2 tiers!

Tree Base

Stack the tree tiers on the tree base. Ta daaah! Tree completed.

Have you put up your tree yet?

Sketches inspired by Malaysia

2011-12-14T17:23:00.001+08:00

Malaysia, Singapore's next door neighbour, is a resource rich country with an abundance of sights and scenery to enjoy.

Although I've not been there before, I've heard rave reviews from divers about the pristine waters of Sipadan, near Sabah, Malaysia. Corals, turtles and many other marine species abound, Sipadan is one of the world's top ten diving site. Which is why it's become one of the places to visit on my bucket list. Despite having forgotten my diving basics, I resolve to go there someday, even if it means just snorkelling.

Cameron Highlands is another pretty place in Malaysia worthwhile going, if not for the famous Boh tea plantations, then for the world's largest flower, Rafflesia. When I went to Cameron with a group of friends 2 years ago, we trekked 8km deep into the rainforest in search of the Rafflesia flower, and were fortunate to have found a cluster that were still in bloom. Typically the flower would decompose a few days after blooming. The 8km trek, was however, no walk in the park, for the terrain was scraggy, and in some instances we had to use our hands to grasp footholds on steep inclines, literally clamber over fallen logs, and immerse our legs in muddy, water logged paths. Furthermore, some of us were wearing flip-flops and non-hiking shoes, totally ill-equipped for the trek (none of us knew it was such a long trek). Our guide had to chop off branches of a plant (I can't remember what plant) for us to use as hiking sticks. Without the branches, I doubt we would have gone as far as we did.

Contrary to what most people think, we did note any foul stench from the Rafflesia flower, whether decomposed or in bloom. The Cameron trekking experience was truly a memorable experience, inspiring this sketch.

Lessons on Happiness

2011-12-12T18:18:00.003+08:00

A friend lent me a book titled 'Hector and the Search for Happiness' by Francois Lelord and I found most of the lessons/observations about happiness made by the protagonist profoundly true. I'm listing all of his lessons here.

1. Making comparisons can spoil your happiness

2. Happiness often comes when least expected

3. Many people see happiness only in their future

4. Many people think that happiness comes from having more power or more money

5. Sometimes happiness is not knowing the whole story

6. Happiness is a long walk in beautiful, unfamiliar mountains

7. It's a mistake to think happiness is the goal

8. Happiness is being with the people you love

8b. Unhappiness is being separated from the people you love

9. Happiness is knowing your family lacks for nothing

10. Happiness is doing a job you love

11. Happiness is having a home and a garden of your own

12. It's harder to be happy in a country run by bad people

13. Happiness is feeling useful to others

14. Happiness is to be loved for exactly who you are (Protagonist's observation: people are kinder to a child who smiles)

15. Happiness comes when you feel truly alive

16. Happiness is knowing how to celebrate

17. Happiness is caring about the happiness of those you love

18. Happiness could be the freedom to love more than one woman at the same time (The protagonist knew that women would disagree on this. Duh. Of course. Unless he meant his mother, which is not the case. Trust me, read the book and you'd know it's not)

19. The sun and the sea make everybody happy

20. Happiness is a certain way of seeing things

21. Rivalry poisons happiness

22. Women care more than men about making others happy

23. Happiness means making sure that those around you are happy

Do you agree? Do you have more to add to the list?

Cheers

Australia Inspired Sketches Part II

2011-12-12T15:33:00.003+08:00

I've 2 more sketches inspired by Australia.

The lavender fields in Tasmania....which I wouldn't mind helping out at the farm for a stint.

And hot air ballooning in the famous Canberra hot air balloon festival.

Haven't been to both places, and would love to visit one day!

Sketches Inspired by Thailand

2011-12-10T21:32:00.001+08:00

I'd like to thank all who've checked out my Sketchbook at the Brooklyn Library, it's been more than a year now since the 2011 project, and I'm glad my sketchbook is still being displayed and viewed by visitors till now. For completeness, I'd continue to upload the rest of the pictures drawn for the Sketchbook 2011.

Here are some sketches inspired by Thailand, ie, Phuket and Bangkok.

Taking the river taxi in Bangkok is a particularly local way to travel. It's cheap, and more efficient than by the road. Although I have worries about boarding and disembarking from the boat due to the gap between the boat and the docks (I've an irrational fear of falling into the muddied waters of Chao Praya River), I did enjoy the boat rides. Do give the river taxis a try if you were to visit Bangkok.

Niagara Falls' Grandeur

2011-10-26T01:27:00.000+08:00

I have been so behind my postings again, sorry!

I noticed blogger has a new layout called dynamic view (probably been around since yonks, except that I only noticed this now). I've applied it to this blog, do let me know what you think!

I will resume posting about the US trip last year. We're at Niagara Falls. This will be a picture intensive post, because it's all about the majestic sights, and words can do no justice.

We reached Canada specifically Niagara Falls at night. Although the Falls looked spectacular at night, alit with colourful lighting, I personally thought the Falls in the day was more picturesque, more natural and less jazzed up in Vegas-style.

We took a morning walk by the Falls the next day. As you can see, the pavements were wet from the morning rain. It made the day colder than usual. We were decked out in gloves, scarves, coats and double layered tops and we were still freezing! Temperature was in the low single digit degrees Celsius.

I don't think anyone can ever forget the experience of seeing the Falls in person so close. It's one of the items on my bucket list and probably on most people's too. It also helps that it's the most majestic, impressive masterpiece of Nature that I've ever seen in my years of travels, and that you can't help gazing at the Falls in wonder and be inspired. It's the kind of scenery that inspires you to sing in tribute, paint it or do something to immortalise it.

The torrents of falling water were so fast moving and strong, they sent up huge plumes of vapour that could be seen miles away.

It's said that the view of the Falls from Canada is more beautiful than the view from America, and I tend to agree. So glad we came to Canada. ;)

After the morning jaunt by the Falls, we went to see a short movie about the Legend of the Niagara Falls. I was quite tickled by some of the feats people in the past have attempted at the Falls. One school teacher had herself wrapped in a blanket and shoved into a wooden barrel with her cat. The barrel was left floating along the river and it eventually plummeted down the falls. Fortunately the woman and her cat were unscathed from the ordeal.

Lunch was at an excellent revolving restaurant at the Skylon Tower. What a wonderful entertainment idea. You start off your appetiser with a view of say, the horseshoe falls and for main course, you observe the ice bridge and by the time you get to dessert, you would be looking at Bridal Veil. You'd be too busy looking at the amazing view, which could more than make up for a lack of conversation with your lunch/dinner companion.

Looks a teensy bit like Singapore's Prima Tower, housing Singapore's only revolving restaurant

Great view of the Bridal Veil Falls

Main course - Canada's famed salmon - delicious

I hope this post makes you realise why Niagara Falls is a must-go destination when you visit western USA.

Ta ta for now. Hopefully you'd see me back in this space soon once I figure out how to quit procrastination. :-/

A Card for a 15-Year-Old

2011-05-22T20:19:00.000+08:00

It's a friend's little sister's birthday, and she's just 15 years old. Whew, so young! I can't remember when's the last time I made a card for a teenager. So it was a little challenging to think of a suitable design.

Anyway, I decided on a baby blue card stock as my base and the design just developed from there

Here are the tools I used.

And here's the end result.

I'm not sure if this is a 15-year-old appropriate birthday card design, but I hope the recipient appreciates the effort anyway.

Corning Museum of Glass

2011-05-08T23:00:00.000+08:00

Now, I should get on with posting about our 3 day guided tour to Niagara-Canada.

Our tour bus was an interesting mix - all Chinese, but of different nationalities - a Taiwanese family of 3, an Australian/native to Guangzhou, China family of 6 and a local mother and daughter who lives in Maryland, and us, a pair of Singaporeans. The tour guide is effectively 'trillingual', and speaks Mandarin, English and Cantonese fluently. During his commentaries, he would switch effortlessly from Mandarin to Cantonese and vice versa in a heartbeat.

Our first destination before we reach Niagara Falls was the Corning Museum of Glass, which is located in New York and is some distance from the city. At first I thought all I'd see in the museum are varieties of glass crockery similar to the ones that my Mum has at home and wasn't too enthusiastic about this place. Well, I thought it was a Corningware museum cum factory. Little did I know that there was far more in the museum than I could ever imagine. Highly educational, the museum had thousands of glass exhibits, some artistic, some scientific, useful in educating visitors about the history of glass, properties of glass, art created out of glass. There was also live demonstrations of glass making conducted at specified times.

A hint of the museum's less than mumsy contents was this huge yellow, spindly glass sculpture near the entrance. This reminds me of the glass sculptures I've seen in Murano, Venice here.

I think I could spend hours in this museum, there was so much to see, if not for the tour guide hurrying us along, as is typical of guided tours. Sigh.

This is made up of thousands of tiny pieces of mosaic

An intricate glass chess set (my favourite exhibit of the lot)

The glass making demonstrations was explained both in English and Mandarin by a Caucasian man (the burly man in blue shirt below), I was mightily impressed by his Mandarin.

The end product - bravo!

If you have more time to spare, and are not following the strict schedule of a guided tour, I'd recommend that you visit this museum on your way to Niagara Falls. For more information, visit the website.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Back - intermittently

2011-05-05T23:18:00.000+08:00

Hallo everyone, I think I've lost more than half of you regular readers since I haven't posted for many weeks now. I do apologise for my unannounced hiatus. I started a new job recently and have been working really, really late. And when weekends come I don't get round to blogging, just catching up on sleep at home or going out.

I was posting about my US trip, and I should be getting to Niagara Falls/Canada. I'd try to do that this weekend. This post is just to inform you that I'd be back intermittently when I do find the energy to post.

Here's a pretty picture of Niagara Falls at night for your viewing pleasure.

The picture's taken by Milk, my night shots are as usual, CMI (cannot make it), plus to my defence, it was freezing at night and my hands literally shook while trying to take pictures. Anyway, have a good Friday, people!

Australia Inspired Sketches Part I

2011-04-09T00:08:00.001+08:00

Retrospectively I realised many of my sketches in the Sketchbook were inspired by Australia. I backpacked once in Adelaide, Melbourne and Brisbane for 2 weeks, and it was very memorable experience. The natural scenery is spectacular, the people are laid back and friendly and Melbourne city is cosmopolitan with a very cool hippy vibe. Add to the fact that Australia possesses some really special wildlife, like the koala bear, kangaroo, tazmanian devil that are endemic to the country and that travelers will not have a lack of things to do, you really should visit this interesting and unique country if you haven't.

Here are 3 of my Australian inspired sketches.

Whale and dolphin watching

Catch a glimpse of the 12 Apostles before their eventual erosion

Laze with the kangaroos, hug a koala

More Australian inspired sketches coming up in the next post!

Shopping in NYC Part II

2011-03-30T21:45:00.000+08:00

After we came back to NY from our Niagara-Canada tour, it was evening, we collected our luggages from Schwartz Travel, and checked into the Big Apple Hostel (a 4 bed dorm).

We had time to take a walk at Times Square and saw the newly opened Disney store (literally, because it had not opened yet before we left for Niagara-Canada). Whether you have kids or are a kid-at-heart, you really must pop into this store! Even just admiring the store decor is a good enough reason, I say. Not convinced? Let the pictures do the convincing.

One of each, please

I almost carted home one of these!

In case you're wondering, I did succumb and bought the following from the Disney store (tell me, who can resist?): a Minnie Mouse Lady Liberty Tee shirt and 3 hanging ornaments (as seen in the first picture above) of Alice in Wonderland, Tinkerbell Fairy and Goofy and friends in a Mouse shaped hot air balloon.

We returned to the hostel at around 9 pm, and that was when we encountered the nastiest room-mate ever. She was already fast asleep when we entered the room upon turning on the lights, and she yelled at us to switch off the lights. So we obliged, and tried as quietly as possible (in the dark) to pull our stuff out from our luggages so we could take a shower. Obviously we took some time, and made some noise, and this ever-charming lady yelled at us again. Honestly, I would have yelled back at this woman if not for the fear that she would steal our stuff while we were away. Come on, woman, if you expect privacy, please book a hotel room, not a hostel's 4 bed dorm.

And so after our bath, we went to the reception and requested for a private room. Paid extra, and then we moved our luggages out to our new room with great pleasure. I've never met such a hostile hostelite in all my years of backpacking, honestly.

The next day, we walked to Port Authority at 42nd Street, between 7th and 8th Ave to take a bus that we've pre-booked to Woodbury Premium Outlet. The round trip ticket cost US$37. A long queue had already formed by 8 am, and most passengers had with them pull along luggages (to stuff their purchases, I suppose). We were fortunate to be the last 2 to board the bus, the next bus would have arrived an hour later.

Some tips regarding shopping in a factory outlet village.

1. Pre-book bus tickets

2. Sign up online at the outlet website for exclusive coupons for subscribers only. Print those coupons out.

3. Arrive early at bus pick up

4. Plan your route

5. Wear a slim fitted top and jeans so that you can easily slip on and off new clothes without having to queue up for fitting rooms

It was very cold that day, as you can see from the overcast sky in the picture. At some point, it even started to snow! That was the first time I encountered snow in NY, admittedly, it isn't all that romantic and pretty, especially when it's freezing. We had to use our brollies when strolling from store to store, since the village isn't sheltered between stores.

Despite that miserably cold weather, shopping was great. My spoils were:

1. DKNY dark denim jeggings at just US$16.99 and DKNY waterfall cardigan

2. Polo Ralph Lauren grey checked wool gloves (when I realised my own gloves were woefully inadequete in this climate) and a black lambskin wallet of the same brand for my brother

3. Coach brown leather Madison bag with long strap and leather moisturiser (Coach had a 20% discount storewide that day!)

3. Loccitane rice foaming cleanser (lost mine on the 2nd day, and have been using Milk's)

4. Victorinox classic yellow Swiss army knife

5. Crabtree and Evelyn La Source body scrub and wash (very cheap, do you know the brand originated from the US, and not UK as commonly thought?)

6. Le Sportsac cosmetic pouch and a weekender duffel bag of the same brand

7. Nike girl's track pants, ankle socks and a white golf dri fit polo tee for Dad

8. Calvin Klein cuff links for my brother

9. Kate Spade safety pins print cosmetic pouch and a pink and striped iphone 3GS cover for myself (just US$21!)

I didn't think I bought alot, you should have seen the number of shopping bags the other shoppers were carrying!

So this concludes our shopping in NYC experience. We move on to Niagara-Canada next.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Shopping in NYC Part I

2011-03-28T21:55:00.002+08:00

Sorry, I've been a little remiss in my US posting.

This post is part 1 of my 2 days and 1 evening of shopping in NYC, a thororoughly enjoyable affair, as can be expected from shopping in one of the world's most premier shopping destination. As SATC's Carrie puts it, there are 2 'L's women look out for in NYC, "Love" and "Labels". Forget about the former, the latter is what we most seek. ;) See also my post on Soho here.

We had breakfast at chain restaurant called PAX, at 225 West 42nd Street (between 7th and 8th Ave). It can be found in several other locations too. I like their orange juice, very fresh and sweet, and the breakfast is pretty good too - fluffy pancakes and crisp bacon and toast.

After breakfast we attempted to locate Schwartz Travel. This was a luggage storage place in which we were intending to deposit our luggage for 4 days while we were away for our 3 day Niagara Falls - Canadian Tour booked from a NY Chinatown tour agency via tours4fun.com. We found Schwartz Travel at Midtown Manhattan, between 5th & 6th Ave, at 34 West, 46th Street. It costs US$10 per day per luggage. Our plan when we returned from the tour, was to retrieve our luggage and lug them to our next hostel in NY, called Big Apple Hostel, which was within walking distance.

That day was very cold, and yet my feet were clad in 2 socks and wearing a pair of flip-flops. Obviously my toes froze to the point of dropping off and people stared. Why did I do that? For the US trip, I brought along only a pair of Doc Martens 8 eyelet boots and flip-flops to keep my luggage light. I have previously worn the Doc Marts only twice before the trip, so it wasn't properly seasoned. Because we did so much walking the days before, I sustained some blisters, and so I had to get a new pair of boots. I didn't want to carry around my heavy Doc Marts after changing into new boots and shopping around and so this explains my skimpy feet get-up. I eventually bought a pair of furry beige Ugg lookalike boots from H & M at just US$19.90. They were warm, faux fur lined, and most importantly, COMFORTABLE.

Ironically after I thought I found the most comfortable boots, in another shoe chain store, I found another very comfortable pair of girl's studded boots at just US$9!

Having settled that, we went on to Macy's, one of the oldest department store in New York.

Macy's have a really nice facade, reminds me of Harrod's in London

There were a couple of sales in Macy's. I bought quite a bit of Nikes and Pumas as they were really cheap. I also bought an Estee Lauder Pleasures perfume gift set for my Mum, who is a fan of the Pleasures fragrance.

Sadly, we did not manage to find any recommended eating places in the area and had to settle for some Mexican food at Penn station. We had tacos and pulled pork rice bowl and the lousiest pina colada drink we've ever tasted.

Ms Milk was one step short of sticking out her tongue and proclaiming that the pina colada sucks

No wonder, we were on Fashion Street

I've got a habit of spotting big 4 audit firms' buildings in various cities I've visited, this being my former employer

We saw the famous naked cowboy of NY in the flesh

That evening we caught 'The Phantom of the Opera' broadway show. Do book online in advance as it will be cheaper that way. It was a wonderful show, the music was stirring and the actors/actresses gave a very convincing performance.

A fitting end to a great shopping day.

Please click here for all New York posts.

A Village in Takayama

2011-03-14T00:06:00.000+08:00

It has been depressing reading and watching the news recently, and I believe that regardless of our individual religous beliefs, most of us are in prayers for the Japanese. I fervently hope that good news will loom in the horizon, and the Japanese will emerge stronger from this ordeal.

In the last of my Japanese-inspired sketchbook project submission, I attach here a sketch of Hida Folk Village in Takayama, a picturesque 'open air museum' in Gunma prefecture in Japan. It was one of the destinations in our packaged tour itinerary during my central Japan tour a few years back. It is one of the loveliest places I've ever seen, a green expanse of valley, scattered with carefully preserved traditional houses with thatched roofs, and surrounded by rising mountain peaks. I understand that the north-eastern coast of Japan was the hardest hit region, and I guess the Gunma prefecture, being in the northwestern part of the Kanto plain and mostly mountainous, was not affected by the quake and tsunami.

The village is far more beautiful than what my limited drawing skills could possibly render, so please excuse my lack of skill and do take my word for it, that it is one of the special places on earth that you wouldn't mind visiting again.

The Perfect Bookshelf

2011-03-09T13:36:00.000+08:00

Fell in love with this pretty bookshelf from Japan. Am loving the cubby-hole design. It would certainly be able to house my growing novel collection and still have plenty of space for my manga too.

From bookshelfporn.com, there's plenty more porn from where it's from!

See here for the perfect wardrobe (IMHO, of course)!

Treasures of Soho

2011-03-06T17:44:00.001+08:00

The same day that we visited Liberty and Ellis Island and had dinner at Chinatown, we quite literally walked off our dinner calories, when we walked from Chinatown to Little Italy to Soho. It was late by the time we reached Soho, and we had a very lovely time browsing at a shop called Kate's Paperie at 72 Spring Street. The shop decor was amazing, and all the items in the shop were designed to tug at a paper lover's heart.

Huge paper flowers adorn the ceiling

I couldn't agree more

Be still, my heart.

I couldn't resist the leather envelope-designed document holders - I bought 2 pink ones - one A4 sized, and the other, the size of a clutch. It's a wonder I didn't buy more - there were too many pretty things in the shop for my own good. Milk bought a very pretty pen. Later when we returned home, we realised that we've gotten very good bargains because the exact items we bought were selling in Singapore at prices of at least 30% more. Wonderful. : )

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) shop is also located in close proximity, and so we popped in for a look, since we did not manage to visit the museum. The shop was a veritable treasure trove of creative, well-designed knick knacks, clothes, household items, furniture, etc, from the tongue-in-cheek salt and pepper set to pretty paper weights, there's something for everyone, regardless of whether you actually need it or not. I think anyone who likes good designs will love the shop. Despite wanting to buy everything in the shop, I only bought what I need, a small rectangular mirror encased in a bright green leather case. The items can be bought online too, very comprehensive, and you'd be pleased to note that they ship internationally too! In retrospect, I think we should have gone to the museum, I have a feeling we'd like it as much as we like the items in the museum shop.

And since we're on the subject of Soho, I will blog about Soho which we've visited on a separate day.

Breakfast was at Cosi, a chain restaurant that we see scattered across many parts of New York. The one we ate at was near Grand Central station.

We passed by this supermarket food hall (with all sorts of delicious food on display) on our way to take the subway

Streets of Soho

We flitted in and out of shops, some of them we browsed, some shops, we opened our wallets. Here are a few interesting ones.

The All Saints' shop window lured us inside

The clothes were pretty, but expensive

An entire wall decorated with Singer sewing machines

A home interior decorating shop

To my chagrin, the Alexander Wang shop wasn't opened

Kate Spade boutique at Broome Street - one of the shops where we opened our wallets

I highly recommend this seafood restaurant where we had an excellent lunch.

Lobster salad

Fish with spinach

Do stop by Aqua Grill at 210 Spring Street when you're in Soho

After lunch, we stopped by the Apple store at 103 Prince Street. I almost burned cash on an iPad, but reined myself in after realising that there wasn't much price difference from the price in Singapore. Besides it's too tiresome to lug around an electronic device especially since we were intending to travel to Canada and Washington after New York.

While we were on the city sights bus in the first few days, the bus tour guide pointed out a cafe to us called "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World" located at 55A Spring Street. It sounds really arrogant, doesn't it? Obviously, such a name only served to pique our curiosity, and so we sought out the cafe after lunch.

This was what we ordered. Nothing beats having hot, aromatic coffee and sweet chocolate cake on a cold autumn day.

I won't go on a limb to declare that this is "The Best Chocolate Cake in the World", but it came pretty close to the best I've tasted so far (though I haven't tasted enough chocolate cakes to make that claim). The chocolate cake was crumbly and sweet, without being cloyingly so. The slightly bitter coffee was a nice complement to the sweetness of the cake.

Apart from great food, we had huge shopping loots from Soho (think Levi's and DKNY jeans, Kate Spade , OPI and Orly nail polish, really stylish boots and many more). And now you know why Soho is such a treasure trove.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Wow-ed

2011-03-04T22:25:00.000+08:00

I have resisted the siren call of online shopping mammoths for years now - the likes of ASOS, Shopbop, Net-a-Porter, Revolve Clothing . Until 3 days ago, that is.

This was what broke my resolve.

Picture from Revolve Clothing

This very cool high cut boot wedges is a Puma collaboration with Turkish-born British designer, Hussein Chayalan. Originally at £170.00 on ASOS, my heart visibly palpitated when I saw the black pair going at £102. After hours of consideration, I succumbed to the temptation and clicked the check out button.

ASOS offered free international shipping within 11 days. Which was why, to my absolute surprise, the parcel arrived just 2 days later. Yes, just 2 days! I've bought stuff from local blogshops all the time, and even after paying for registered postage, I don't actually receive my packages as quickly as this did (all the way from UK to Singapore). Thumbs up ASOS!

Along with the boots, I bought a PU duffle hooded bomber jacket. However, I didn't like the PU texture - feels a little sticky, and I'm contemplating to return it. The great thing about these mega shopping websites is that they usually have very good returns policies, so I might do just that.

Overall, I am very impressed by ASOS's expedient service. However I must say, they sure are sneaky. I received an email from them yesterday titled 'Enjoy 20% off at ASOS now'. Now, how do I resist that?

A Country of Immigrants

2011-02-28T23:03:00.001+08:00

Ellis Island is just a few minutes away from Liberty Island, and so after lunch, we conveniently took a connecting ferry to get to the island.

Singapore is similar to America in her earliest beginnings, where the majority of the people today were descendants from immigrants who settled down in the country and went on to raise their offspring and contribute to the eventual prosperity of the country.

Ellis Island is particularly significant to many Americans since "one third of the population - can trace their ancestry to the immigrants who first arrived in America at Ellis Island before dispersing to points all over the country" (Wiki).

I like this multifacted flag

Ms Annie Moore, the first immigrant to arrive in U.S. under the new Ellis Island Immigration Scheme

We viewed the free video screenings at the immigration museum to understand the immigrants' perspectives when they first arrived in Ellis Island.

The museum entrance

After leaving Ellis Island for NYC mainland, we took the city sights bus once again and alighted at Chinatown. The purpose was to find out the location of this tour agency that we've booked online for our 3 days Canadian trip.

Before that, we saw the (underside of) Brooklyn Bridge.

And then, there's Chinatown.

Courtesy of Milk's camera

You know you're in Chinatown when you notice 'Chinese' elements everywhere - Chinese characters on billboards and building names, Asian faces speaking Mandarin and/or Cantonese and then speaking American acented English in the next breath.

We had dinner at a recommended Chinese restaurant in Chinatown. I had char siew (barbecued pork), wantan (dumplings) with noodles. Not bad, but I've had better back home. The serving is huge, I had a tough time finishing it actually.

After walking the long streets of Chinatown, we realised that the landscape had changed and suddenly we find ourselves in Little Italy.

In a multicultural melting pot like the U.S., immigrant enclaves like Chinatown, Little Italy, Little France are bound to spring up, a reminder that the immigrants are living amongst the locals in harmony and are an important part of society. I do think in this aspect, Singapore is very much similar.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Last Chance To See

2011-02-27T17:33:00.001+08:00

Hallo everyone, as with my other posts, this post is still a write up on how I was inspired to draw some of my sketches in the Sketchbook Project. I know this sounds incongruous, but I'd like to recommend a book to you first. If you like National Geographic, or like animals, please do read this book. If not, watching the BBC series is a good alternative too.

Now, why would I recommend a non-fiction book written by a very likeable English bloke about his globe trotting wilderness adventures with another very funny English bloke and how does this book have anything to do with my sketches for the Sketchbook Project?

If you've caught the BBC series, "Last Chance to See" on cable tv, you may know why (I like this book). I have to admit, before seeing the BBC series, I've never heard of Mark Carwardine, or that he is a renowned zoologist, photographer and a leading conservationist. However I do know who Stephen Fry was, and not because he is an accomplished TV personality, a presenter, actor, comedian in Britain, but because I've seen him guest starred in the Fox crime series, 'Bones', a drama which I adore.

In my opinion, Mr Mark Carwardine has an inimitable writing style, full of wit and humour, a little like Mr Stephen Fry, but more self deprecating, and at the same time, very serious about his work as a zoologist and conservationist.

In the book, Mark and Stephen traipsed the jungles of Amazon, almost dodged bullets in a certain strife ridden part of Africa, sailed the Pacific seas, and did a ton more other exciting things in the name of checking out how the highly endandered animals were faring since they were previously documented by Mark and the deceased Mr Douglas Adams (author of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe) in the original 'Last Chance to See' book and BBC radio series.

One of the endangered animals Mark and Stephen strove to see was the Northern white rhino. I said 'strove' because they never got to see it. The closest they got was seeing its evolutionary cousin, the Southern white rhino. The Northern white rhino was unfortunately located in the cross fire of a war zone, and it would prove too dangerous for the crew to venture into the area even though they tried getting as close to the area as possible, at the other side of the war-torn borders.

The sketch below is of the Southern white rhino.

When Mark and Stephen went to Madagascar to see the elusive 'aye aye', they also stopped by Baobab alley, where a row of baobab trees grew in 2 neat parallel lines. They are also known as 'upside down trees' because of their appearance - massive swollen trunks and stubby, twisty branches.

This was my initial sketch.

And this is my final, after adding colours.

Now you know why I had to recommend the book. If not for the book and the BBC series, I guess most of us would not have been aware of how perilous the situation was for many of the endangered animals today. The fact that it inspired 2 of my sketches is a complete coincidence.

Lady Liberty

2011-02-23T15:06:00.003+08:00

The statue of Liberty is an iconic symbol of freedom and of America. The statue was gifted by the people of France, while the pedestral was built by America.

Imagine being an early immigrant to America and greeted by the sight of Lady Liberty upon your first glimpse of the American shoreline.

The statue of Liberty is a neoclassical sculpture of the Roman goddess of freedom called Libertas. Within the statue, engineers have built an elevator that takes visitors all the way to the crown of the statue. The statue is located at Liberty Island, a small uninhabited island in New York Harbour.

Milk and I took the metro to Bowling Green station to redeem ferry tickets to Liberty and Ellis Island at Battery Park. As we were at the metro early, we witnessed a massive peak period crowd. In fact, we missed 3 trains before being able to get in on one.

It was a cloudless day, revealing a lovely cornwall blue sky. However, it was still very cold, I was clad in 3 layers that day. Ditto for Milk.

Security procedures prior to getting on the ferry was similar to airport standards. We had to remove our jackets and all metal items we were carrying for scanning. I guess this is to be expected, post 9/11.

Profile of Lady Liberty, as seen from the ferry

What poise, what beauty...

This explains why the statue is green.

An adorable little girl I couldn't help noticing

The Liberty bike

A seagull contemplatively looking into the horizon

We spent a little time taking pictures and enjoying the breeze. We did not queue to enter the elevator up the statue. There were too many people. Pretty quickly, time passed and we had lunch at the cafe on Liberty island. We shared a pulled pork burger and fries, and I am pleased to report that it tastes as delicious as it looks.

I find myself not having much to say in this post. I guess, because, the pictures speak for themselves.

Please click here for all New York posts.

So Japanese

2011-02-21T17:20:00.000+08:00

Few years ago, I visited Japan, and I was charmed and captivated by the Japanese culture.

When sketching for the Sketchbook Project, I was inspired by 2 uniquely Japanese activities - 1. Temple visiting wearing a yukata, 2. Soaking in hot spring baths.

Regarding activity 1, I was inspired by a very famous temple in Tokyo known as the Asakusa temple, where centuries old traditions still prevail. During Japanese festivals, known as Matsuri, throngs of Japanese wearing yukata (casual summer kimono) or kimono would visit this temple to partake in the festivities and enjoy the carnival located on the temple grounds - complete with rides, booths and games.

Below was my initial sketch. Subsequently I realised the picture on the left looks too plain, and doesn't show the vibrancy of Asakusa temple during Matsuri. The right picture shows the temple's main building and its 5-storied pagoda.

And so, I drew the centuries old shopping street called Nakamise, leading from the entrance where the huge red lantern is hung in the left picture. This entrance is known as Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate)and is extremely symbolic of the temple. I also coloured the sketch, hopefully it looks better this way.

Another popular Japanese pastime I was fascinated with, is their love for soaking in hot springs. With the abundance of seismic activity in Japan's geography, giving rise to the prevalence of natural hot springs, it's not surprising the Japanese have such good skin!

Here's my inspired sketch.

The caption would read "Enjoying a soak in an open air hot spring in Hokkaido". Imagine a freezing temperature in the outdoor air, but a very warm temperature in the hot spring bath. Experiencing both sensations of hot and cold at the same time, makes for a truly unique experience. In fact, I've actually done this when I visited Hokkaido few years back. Lovely!

So Relieved

2011-02-17T18:21:00.001+08:00

I am so relieved.

I received an email from the Arthouse Coop guys notifying me that they've received my sketchbook! Whew!!! If you recall, I sent the sketchbook the Arthouse Coop guys about a month and a half ago, and got quite worried that the package would become lost since I've forgotten to write my return address. Thankfully all went well!

Here's another sketch from my sketchbook

This sketch's caption would read "Red-crowned crane watching in Hokkaido, Japan". I was inspired by a photo from my ex-colleague and friend's nature photography website. He's an excellent photographer, and you can tell from the stunning images from his website that much patience and great skills were neccessary for him to capture those shots.

In late 2009, my friend was interviewed by Naturepixels, a local photography website. You can read about the interview here.

Whoever said accountants are stuffy and don't use their right brains, obviously don't know one!

The Green Lung of NYC

2011-02-16T15:21:00.002+08:00

New York's Central Park is like what the Golden Gate Park is to San Francisco, or what Hyde Park is to London or what the Botanical Gardens is to Singapore - the most important green lung of the respective cities.

Central Park is exceedingly huge, and has a zoo, police precinct, a reservoir, a lake and a pond. The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) is located on the upper west side, while on the upper east side, lies the Guggenheim Museum (which we did not visit) and at the lower eastern edge is the Metropolitan Museum of Art (aka MET, as mentioned in my earlier post).

It was through Central Park that we took a short cut to get from AMNH to MET. Although the park is just 0.8km across, we took a slightly meandering path so we could admire the tranquil surroundings. I felt like there was a perceptible dip in temperature when we entered the park, hovering somewhere in the region of 10-12 degrees. Fortunately, the cheery sun helped somewhat in raising the temperature slightly, even if certain ares of dense foliage occasionally blocked the sun rays.

We caught a glimpse of the Lake (I think?) from this vantage point

Some imposing Fifth Avenue skyscrapers in the horizon

There were plenty of people milling around on the bridge, some were cycling, jogging, walking their dogs, or just taking in the fresh air. It was already Autumn at that time, and the leaves were in varying and attractive shades of red, yellow, green.

Beautiful shades of Autumn, which will give way to the blanket white of Winter in a month or so

Milk was bundled up in a big overcoat and scarf, over 2 layers of clothes

Much to our delight, we found Central Park teeming with squirrels. These squirrels are unlike their Singaporean counterparts, larger, very lively, less timid and their tails are longer and bushier. They seemed much more common than the ubiquitous stray cats and dogs in Singapore. Really, they are too adorable for words!

One squirrel posed long enough for me to take this

Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit the zoo or check out its police precinct. And so we went straight to MET after our park 'detour'.

Later that night, we strolled along Times Square and popped in and out of shops that were still open late, at past 8pm. One of the stores we popped in was the gigantic Hershey's, with its outdoor scrolling marquee sign. If you're a fan of Reese chocolates, just like me, you will be delighted to find all imaginable types of Reese chocolates inside (white, caramel, big, medium, tiny, etc). People with sweet teeth, beware, you may just explode your sugar quota here.

Milk took this. See the "Welcome to NYC" sign? This is the scrolling marquee, and can be customised to add your name or message.

M&M's was in the vicinity. so we popped in too.

This is just too cute (iphone taken, excuse the lousy quality)

Times square at night was teeming with people even though many shops were closed. I guess it could be because some Broadway shows end quite late or perhaps Times Square is a happening place to hang out at night. I noticed that on a daily and nightly basis in NYC, there would be shrill sounds of police or ambulance or fire department's sirens. Being a big city, I guess this is a normal occurence, compared to tiny Singapore, with its rather sedate but safe environment. We also noticed police horses in the area, this is certainly a novelty for most tourists who were busy snapping pictures of them.

The bright neon lights of Broadway billboards

The NYPD horses

By the time we noticed we were hungry, it was already quite late, past 9 pm. Around Times Square, most of the eating places weren't open, so we were thinking of getting some takeaway pizza from this 24 hour place near our hostel. On our way back to the hostel, we were pleasantly surprised to spot a restaurant still open. It is a Japanese restaurant called Katsu Hama. It is located on 11 East, 47th Street, between Madison and 5th Ave.

We ordered a dinner set to share, consisting pork tenderloin, egg, pumpkin cold dish, potatoes, fried tofu, rice and miso soup. Maybe we were too hungry, but they tasted great! Because we were so ravenous, we forgot to take pictures of our food except dessert. :)

Katsu Hama has another branch at 43-45 West, 55th Street, between 5th and 6th Ave. I think the menu is slightly different in the other branch. Anyway, do consider giving this restaurant a try, especially if you're craving for supper since it opens till 10.30pm on weekday nights.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Museum Hopping

2011-02-13T20:07:00.003+08:00

Milk and myself were colleagues in a department where everyone loved food and would travel to the ends of the city to seek and eat highly recommended good food. So it isn't that surprising that we adopted a similar mentality by researching on a nightly basis, which highly recommended cafes, bistros or restaurants we would visit in NYC for our breakfast, lunch and dinner. However we did not have the luxury of travelling to the edge of the city just to eat a good meal, so we sourced for places near our hostel or near our daily destinations.

Our first breakfast wasn't anything fantastic, since we had no time to research, but 2nd day's breakfast was nice. It's a quaint, old fashioned cafe called Ess-a-Bagel.

We had bagels, of course. I think it was salmon cream cheese flavoured. Yum!

Here's how the interior looks - pretty cozy

I feel for this beagle, he/she was chained outside the cafe while his/her owner had bagels!

Ess-a-bagel is located at 831 3rd Ave (between 50th St & 51st St). Recommended for breakfast, better if you're there early, because as word goes, it gets really crowded during lunch. We tried bagels at other breakfast cafes, and none came close to this cafe's standard. Really! By the way, did I mention that Milk and I were relatively medium portion eaters (back home), but here in NYC, most meals we ordered had to be shared?

After a satisfying breakfast, we walked to the streets near Times Square to hop on the City sights bus, this time, to uptown.

Saw this (ubiquitous) St Patrick's Cathedral along the way. There must be one in every city, is there?

Had a quick peek inside. A mass was in session.

From this point onwards, my camera batteries went dead (and silly me couldn't find my extra batteries), so the following pictures are Milk's, unless otherwise stated.

The Broadway ticketing booth at Times Square

I really liked the convenience of the City Sights bus, since it stops by our planned destination - the American Museum of Natural History, made famous by the movie, 'Night at the Museum'. Another great plus is that with our city sights pass, the entrance to the museum is free!

Even if you may not be much of a museum person, I do recommend that you'd at least visit this one, because there is so much to see, it's very difficult to get bored. Say, if you don't like reading those exhibit captions, then don't. Just use your eyes and feet to explore and be visually enraptured.

Milk did an excellent job capturing this blue whale model in its entirety in the Hall of Ocean Life

Models of Homosapiens in the Hall of Human Biology and Evolution

Beautiful geological specimens in the Hall of Minerals and Gems

Jade and/or Jadeite

Don't miss the Fossil Halls, where you can see the Tyrannosaurus rex (I can imagine that T-rex in the 'Night at the Museum' movie playing catch in the halls), Triceratops, Stegoauraus, primitive mammals and many more.

Introducing Milk, my wonderful travel companion ;)

The Hall of North American Mammals had impressive, realistically rendered dioramas that took more than a decade to create. It's a clear indication of art and science melding together, and I am very impressed.

It's not surprising how quickly time flies when there's so much to see, and so we easily spent a good half of the day at the museum, and that's only covering some of the must-see halls. After lunch at the museum cafe (nothing much to shout about), we decided to walk to our next museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art ('MET'), taking a short cut through Central Park. I shall post about Central park next time - for now, let's check out MET. Entrance to MET was free with our city sights pass as well.

Itching to take pictures, I took this using my iphone. I think this looks quite decent

Another one taken using my iphone

I noticed many art students in this area, attempting to sketch their favourite sculptures

A very pretty stained glass window that I don't remember seeing - nicely taken, Milk!

Although not as massive as the Louvre, the Met houses quite a significant number of notable art works, e.g., paintings by Van Gogh, Monet, Botticelli, Picasso, Jackson Pollock, to name a few.

Van Gogh's Cypresses

Van Gogh's Irises

Van Gogh's Wheat Field with Cypresses

I like this artist's style. His name is Paul Signac. Apparently it's called Neo-impressionism, and is largely inspired by Monet. This artwork is called 'The Jetty at Cassis'.

Paul Signac's Lighthouse at Groix

Monet's Bouquet of Sunflowers

Obviously we did not manage to cover all the galleries. Planning goes a long way in ensuring that you get to see most of your favourite exhibits in the most efficient way. If you don't have enough time, I think you can give the MET a miss, because that's what I'd have done, and gone for the Museum of Modern Art (Moma) instead. However, if you haven't been to Uffizi or Louvre perhaps the MET might be a good place to get a little dose of non-modern art.

Visit the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH)'s website here and MET's website here, to help you with your planning. Also, if you own an iphone, it's useful to download the iphone app for AMNH before you leave for NYC, which has maps of each floor and shows you directions to and fro exhibits. Most likely this app will require 3G network, so I'd suggest you use this app using wi-fi to plan your route first and not in the museum, otherwise the overseas data charges will be alarming.

This post is pretty hefty, do take your time to digest!

Please click here for all New York posts.

Rockefeller Center - Day and Night

2011-02-08T16:48:00.002+08:00

Hallo everyone! I hope you've had a Happy Chinese Year!

Just a couple of weeks after we came back from U.S., the weather in the U.S. turned extremely frosty and the cold, more frigid than ever. I guess our timing was more or less fortunate. I doubt I would be able to survive the blistering cold, much less enjoy myself, if I was there in December or January. I hope the weather turns back to normal soon.

Following our city tour earlier in the day, we decided to end our day at the Rockefeller Center to see the night view from Top of the Rock.

Murals at the Rockefeller plaza lobby

Milk loved the minions from Despicable Me, but could not find any of the movie's memorabilia throughout NYC

NBC's headquarters is housed within GE building

At first we thought Rockefeller Center is a single building, in fact, it is a cluster of 19 commercial buildings. The Top of the Rock is an observation deck from which a 360 degrees paranomic view of NYC can be seen, and it's located within GE building.

The following are some of the shots I've gotten while I was on 'top of the rock', so to speak.

Empire State Building, looking much prettier at night

Down at the lower plaza at Rockefeller Center, there were plenty of Art Deco styled sculptures, some of them so famous, they require no introduction.

The Rockefeller skating rink has been seen in more rom-coms than I can remember

Figure of Youth, by Paul Manship

Prometheus, by Paul Manship, is a very famous sculture in NYC

The supremely cute Lego version

The Lego version of the statue of Atlas, by the same sculpture of Prometheus

One source of eternal regret for us was that we were never able to find time to visit this Lego store before its closing hour throughout our stay in NYC. All the above shots were taken after it was closed. I used to play with Lego's 'paradisa' edition when I was small, and I was looking forward to seeing more of Lego's intricate play sets. It's really sad that I didn't get to see the store except its window displays. ;-(

Early morning, the next day, we happened to pass by Rockefeller center and hence we took some more shots of sculptures (The pictures below are taken by Milk).

The original statue of Atlas

News by Isamu Noguchi

You can read more about the Rockefeller Center here.

Please click here for all New York posts.

Sampling the Big Apple

2011-01-29T01:32:00.002+08:00

Late last year, my friend (let's call her Milk) and I embarked on a whirlwind 2 week trip to the U.S. and Canada. It's whirlwind, because we had less than a week to plan our itinerary, buy all the necessary tickets, exchange currency, pack, etc etc. I've had at least 2 groups of friends planning to go U.S. this year and asking me for itineraries, so I thought I might as well blog about the trip here in greater detail.

Empire State Building

For first timers (under the visa waiver program, like us Singaporeans) planning to visit U.S., do remember to register online here. I've heard this wasn't required in the past, but I'm not sure what kind of consequences would ensue if you don't register.

Despite being so last minute, we found very reasonably priced ANA air tickets to Washington D.C. at S$1.6k, stop-over at Narita, Tokyo. ANA's service was excellent, by the way. We spent a night at Narita Garden Hotel, located very close to the airport, so that we could easily take our next flight to Washington D.C. From DC, we took the Bolt bus, which took approximately 4 hours to arrive at NYC. The bus ticket costs about US$25, and the bus is fully wi-fi and toilet enabled. By the time we arrived at NYC, it was dark and very cold (about 6 degree Celsius).

To someone who's accustomed to an all-year-round tropical climate, dragging our luggages in the freezing cold at night in a foreign country wasn't a very pleasant encounter. The Bolt bus dropped us near Penn Station, which is still some distance from our hostel and so we took the subway. The subway station had a few exits and so Milk had me wait at one of the exits with our luggages while she went checking out which was the correct direction. While waiting near the steps, a young woman passing by asked me if I needed help with the luggages. I was taken aback, but gratefully declined. Just moments later, another elderly man asked me the same question. I declined as well. New Yorkers have made a very favourable first impression on me, and I thank you for your warmth and kindness!

Our hostel is Vanderbilt YMCA located at 224 East 47th Street. It's clean, no-nonsense, has free wi-fi and in a relatively good location. We had a private room for 2 (bunk bed), but no attached bathroom. Overall it's a relatively comfortable accomodation. Only 1 complain though - the heater makes the weirdest noise sporadically at night. All I have to say is, thank goodness for my ear plugs!

The next day, we were up early and ready to explore the city. Milk had purchased citysights passes for us both, which includes ticket prices to most of the major attractions in NYC and the city tour bus which we could hop on/off at convenient stops.

Here are some snapshots.

We hopped off the bus for our first destination of the day, Empire State Building. Not surprisingly, it was packed with tourists and we spent large part of the morning queueing to catch a view from the top floors of the building.

Frankly, I'm not sure if the view is worth spending so much time (half the day gone) queueing for, but as a professional tourist, if we did not ascend the Empire State Building while in NY, it would be tantamount to not visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris or not checking out the pyramids in Egypt or not going to the Coloseum in Rome. I could go on forever, but you get my drift.

We hopped back on the citysights bus in the direction of downtown and saw more interesting sights. Downtown meant Chinatown, Soho, Wall Street, Brooklyn bridge, so there were plenty of sights to keep our cameras busy.

9/11 Memorial tiles (one of the sombre reminders of that day)

Typical external staircases of NY apartments

Wall Street Bull at Bowling Green (courtesy of Milk's camera)

We alighted at Fulton Street, near Brooklyn Bridge to view the Bodies Exhibit. No cameras were allowed, so you'd just have to take my word that it's highly educational, as well as being highly unsuitable for viewing on a full stomach if you have a *weak one*. Milk and I had lunch at a restaurant on ground level, in the same building as the exhibition. We shared fish and chips and salad and they were superb. I can't remember the restaurant name, but rest assure you won't miss it.

And now, I leave you with some droolsome food porn.

Please click here for all New York posts.

A Canadian Impression

2011-01-27T17:48:00.001+08:00

My limited impression of Canada prior to visiting her was always of her ski slopes and her maple trees. And her ski slopes was the inspiration behind this sketch. It's from my imagination - of a ski slope and ski lodge in Vancouver, Canada.

After having gone to Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, I acquired a wider perspective. Apart from ski slopes (which I did not get a chance to see in person) and maple trees, Canada possess, in her bountiful arsernal, many of nature's best offerings, ie., the breathtaking Niagara Falls, its view more spectacular than the American side, picturesque lakes and islands and stately and beautiful parliament buildings and cathedrals. To top it off, the Canadians are warm and friendly.

The Montreal Olympic Stadium made a significant impression on me due to the magnificent view I saw from the leaning viewing tower. The tower leans at an angle far greater than that of the Pisa's. You can check out the leaning tower of Pisa in a previous post here and compare its angle to this photo I shot of the Montreal Olympic Tower.

Here's my drawing.

I may digress and post about my US/Canada trip next time. See ya soon!

Library of Congress

2011-01-24T17:38:00.001+08:00

On my recent trip to Washington D.C., we made a trip to the Library of Congress, a popular tourist destination and also a must-go for fans of the movie 'National Treasure'. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures of the reading room, where the National Treasure characters, Ben, Riley and Abigail were seen, flipping through the book of secrets and then making their getaway. You see the reading room here.

The library interior reminds me of many of the cathedrals in Rome, with its ornate mural ceilings and intricate carvings.

Here's a picture of a portion of the ceiling in the library, in the Thomas Jefferson (or main) building.

My preliminary sketch.

Of all the sketches I did for the Sketchbook Project, this took up the most time and so I took the extra step to scan it in before I filled in the colours, just in case I ruin it.

Here's the sketch, coloured.

I know the sketch isn't exactly true to life, but I hope it's still fairly obvious enough to be recognizable. I guess cheating by drawing the US Capitol in the background will help a little. ;)

I uploaded more of my sketches here, if you're interested. For some reason, the website doesn't display all that I've uploaded on the page. In order to view all that I've uploaded, just click on any of the pictures, and click on the arrow button to browse through all. I'd love to hear from you if you have any comments on the sketches. Ciao!

Sketches inspired by Taiwan

2011-01-23T01:20:00.001+08:00

These sketches were inspired by 2 separate Taiwan trips I've made.

This sketch was inspired by my first night in Taiwan in my recent trip in 2010, mentioned here. We released heavenly lanterns that night, and the feeling was quite magical.

The second sketch was of a 'cycling expedition' I went with my friends on my first trip to Taiwan, back in circa 2004. We were in Hua Lien, a mountainous region in Taiwan, and we rented bicycles supposedly to cycle round a lake. However we got hopelessly lost and ended up somewhere in the countryside where the upside was, we did get to see some picturesque scenery, including this gentle rapids in the picture below. This cycling expedition was particularly memorable because it rained extremely heavily midway into our journey to the lake that we never saw. It was the sort of rain that thundered and poured, and visibility was very poor. We cycled all the way back from where we came from while at the mercy of the relentless downpour. Needless to say, we were all completely drenched. In retrospect, it was actually fun, not that I'd do it again though.

More sketches on the way in the next few posts. Have a good weekend, people!

Origami Heaven

2011-01-10T19:51:00.001+08:00

Once upon a time, my friend and I stumbled upon a most delightful place in the Land of the Rising Sun. We did not even have to step out of the airport, because it's located right inside Narita Airport, at the departure terminal.

It's an origami shop and I practically swooned and flew straight to origami heaven at the sight of all those beautiful works of art. Truly, I am a sucker for all beautiful things made of paper (you can find my previous posts on paper sculptures and origami here).

I doubt these large-scale dioramas are for sale, but if they are...I bet my botttom dollar that all self-respecting paper art collectors will be clamouring for them.

These origami desserts certainly look believable. I mean, just look at the origami whipped cream, strawberries and chocolate love letter.

I've always had a soft spot for paper flowers and even cactuses.

And this is the shop.

Don't you just love paper?

Mission Accomplished!

2011-01-07T16:00:00.002+08:00

After 125 days and 40 sketches later, I am pleased to announce that I have finally completed the Sketchbook!

I have uploaded most of my works (24 so far) here. I haven't finished uploading yet, but it should be done pretty soon considering my progress.

I know most people post about their progress gradually, either on a week on week, day by day, or some kind of regular basis. In my case, since I speed-sketched/painted my way through in the last 2 months without regular updates, to make it up, I will update you 'post-mortem' instead.

You have already seen my earlier posts here , here and here. So I'd pick up from where I left off.

Here's a picture I took of the Washington Monument and the reflecting pool in front of it when I was in Washington D.C. I never knew how pretty an obelisk could appear against a cornwall blue sky with wispy clouds and a low skyline with an overall lack of skyscrapers to compete for attention.

Here's my very simplified take on it. My caption would read: "Reflect at the Reflecting Pool at Washington D.C". I know my drawing doesn't do the Washinton Monument justice, but there is a limit to my drawing skills unfortunately!

Here's another page of the sketchbook. The caption would read: "Observe a fashion designer at work". One of my fantasies, obviously. I wish, I wish.

In my haste to post the sketchbook, I forgot to write down my return address. So I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed hoping the book gets correctly delivered to the Arthouse coop guys, and would never, ever dream of getting lost! Wish me luck!

Happy New Year in advance!

2010-12-30T14:46:00.001+08:00

Call me a sketch-churning machine (for the Sketchbook Project). For the past month, I've been frantically drawing and painting 2 to 3 pieces on a daily basis - I think I drew more in a month than I did in 10 years (hah)! My progress dropped around Christmas and now with the knowledge that the deadline is less than a month away, I'm picking it up again, in my last minute, desperate bid to beat the deadline!

In case you don't hear from me by 15 Jan 11, do note that I'm either 1) too embarassed to post anything here because I can't beat the deadline; 2) too busy to post because I'm preparing to start tracking the no of people browsing my sketchbook; or 3) I'm just plain lazy.

Anyway, I leave you with one of my Sketchbook Project piece of a masquerade party with a party crasher donning a 'cartoon mask'. Happy New Year in advance, everyone!

Here's a toast to a joyful, peaceful 2011!

Time to Panic

2010-12-18T23:38:00.001+08:00

It's already midway into December and I am nowhere midway into my sketchbook project. The postmark date is 15 Jan 10. Yes, I am on the verge of missing the deadline. Please, fellow sketchbook participants, any idea whether we can submit uncompleted sketchbooks for the tour? Alternatively, if you have any ideas how to fill up those mind-bogglingly numerous pages faster, I would be so grateful.

Meantime, here are scans of 2 of my favourite drawings (which I have yet to caption and upload on the sketchbook website).

My intended caption: Hug Totoro at the Ghibli Museum, Tokyo

Intended caption: Compare heights with the Laputa Robot Soldier at the Ghibli Museum, Tokyo

Back to the sketchbook!

Last Meals in Taipei

2010-12-16T15:05:00.001+08:00

After a thoroughly delicious meal and an eyeful of the unusual decor at Wu Jiao Chuan Ban, it might seem like such an anti climax that our next stop is at a tea centre in town. It's the usual tourist trap, they bring you to a designated 'centre', convince you that their product has so many wonderful properties and is unique to their country, and the hapless tourist such as us, lap it up and fall right into the trap.

This time, the people in the tea centre claimed their bamboo barbecued tea leaves were able to reduce the tummy and lose weight overall - 2 big claims, that if true, would have most women scrambling to buy truckloads of their tea. Anyway, some women in the group did buy some of the tea (including my mum).

Demonstration at the tea centre

We moved on to "Zhong Lie Si' or Martyr's Shrine, where we get to watch the changing of guards ceremony, which occurs daily.

It reminds me of the guard changing procession at the Buckingham palace in London, except that the guards weren't dressed as smartly as these Taiwanese guards IMHO (I think it has everything to do with those ridiculously tall black furry hats that the Buckingham palace guards don). In any case, I do think the lone guard in navy green uniform (2 photos above) is awfully cute, and I had a picture snapped with him but not posted here cuz I don't want you the see the vast difference in our heights.

Our next and last destination for the day was Ximenting, Taipei's most famous shopping stretch. It hasn't changed much in the 5 years since I've last been here, still very groovy and still emitting that hip, teen-friendly vibe.

Obviously we can't visit Ximenting without buying this stall's famous bittergourd juice, a wonderfully quenching balm for warm days. The bitterness was played down by the milk and sugar added to the drink. Do give this drink a try when you visit Taipei!

We were left to our own devices at Ximenting, including finding our own grubs for dinner. Following Francis' recommendation, we hailed a cab to Ding Tai Fung, a popular chinese restaurant originating from Taipei and have expanded to multiple branches overseas including Singapore. Just mutter "Ding Tai Fung on Zhong Xiao Dong Lu" and 9 out of 10 times, the cab driver will know exactly where it is.

Here are the dishes we ordered. All were delicious and 10 times better than its Singapore branches by the way.

Xiao Long Bao (Dumplings filled with delicious soup)

Yum Yum Yum (excuse the blurry shot)

Pork chop noodles

Wantan (prawn dumpling) noodles 

Herbal chicken soup

Chicken (or was it pork?) chop fried rice

The restaurant's official mascot

Trying to be true to this post's title, here are pictures of our last lunch in Taipei the next day. The eatery is just a few streets down from our hotel, Imperial Hotel Taipei, so it should be easy to find.

Fried oyster Kang Kong

"Ma You Ji"/ Sesame Oil Chicken

The Taiwanese rice are fragrant, soft and pearlescent, just like Japanese rice (which I love!)

The chefs hard at work

The star dish - sesame oil chicken was tasty, albeit being a little oily. All in all, a thoroughly satisfying 'last meal' in Taipei.

Some 6 months and 16 posts later, I finally wrap up posting about my Taiwan trip. To read all my Taiwan posts from start to finish, please click here.

I feel like I deserve a good pat on the back and reward myself with a nice tub of haagen daz ice cream. You know what, I am going to do just that. Later!

The most delicious mua chee ever

2010-11-25T01:45:00.002+08:00

It must seem pretty abrupt, but here I am, back to posting the remnants of my Taiwan Trip. I know, you're thinking: wrap this up already!

I was literally gaping when I laid eyes on this building. Can you guess what's the nature of this building?

Readers who have been to Barcelona, don't you think it looks like an offspring of the towering Sagrada Familia? Have you guessed yet what sort of establishment this building is?

Hmmm...I do think the title of this post may have given away its nature.

Well, come on in, the answer lies right within.

Say hello to Mr Bull Frog.

And salutations to Mr. Beagle.

Continue walking. Admire the brilliantly patterned pillars and intricately sculpted ceiling if you must.

Don't be too surprised by these 3 humanoids at the corner.

First glimpse of the interior.

Further glimpses reveals brightly patterned walls and furniture, reminiscent of Australian Aboriginal Art.

I guess this spread leaves no doubt as to what this establishment is.

I remembered to take pictures of every dish served. As usual, it was a 10-course meal no one could finish. Almost all the dishes tasted better than average, which is saying alot. I was starting to think that they value quantity over quality.

And now, the crown jewel of the entire meal. MUA CHEE!!!

For the non-local/non-Chinese, mua chee is made of glutinous rice flour, sugar and chopped toasted peanuts. We can easily buy this in night markets in Singapore/Malaysia/Taiwan. Normally the mua chee makes quite a tasty snack, however the texture of this restaurant's mua chee is like none other. As you can see, it's soft and slightly sticky and (you probably can't see, but take my word for it) it tastes phenomenally good. It was love at first bite.

I pretty much rushed through my meal, in order to explore all levels of the restaurant and to take more pictures.

Here are more pictures of the interior.

A last glimpse at the restaurant. I made a mental oath - I'd come back to this restaurant for a meal when I visit Taipei again one day.

The name of the restaurant is called Wu Jiao Chuan Ban (literally, "Five-Dime Ship Driftwood") and it's located at 台北市内湖路一段32巷8号，Tel : +02-85011472 / 85025567 (Sorry, I only found the address in Chinese).

According to Francis, the lady boss is trained in design and architecture, and the restaurant was inspired by driftwood. She sounds like a true romantic at heart. If you read Chinese, please do check out the website.

Back from M.I.A again

2010-11-16T01:45:00.000+08:00

I can't believe myself sometimes. When I do travel, the frequency of travel tends to clump together, one after another without so much of a breather. And when I don't, the drought can last almost a year. The irony.

So basically the reason for my absence is because of another overseas trip that came up, within a month of my Bangkok trip. The trip was extremely long distance, and was the longest long haul trip I would have ever taken. Because the trip was so last minute, the research and packing was just as chaotic, but despite all that, I really enjoyed this trip!

My itinerary: the famous Big Apple, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Big Apple Again, and D.C. :-)

From lugaluda.com

Now on my list of to-dos (already a mile long) - finish up my Taiwan posting and get on to my U.S./Canada posts!

Excuse my MIA please.

Culturally Taiwan

2010-10-09T20:41:00.001+08:00

Yo readers, apologies for the unannounced hiatus. Frankly it took me a little less than 2 days to book an air ticket and fly to Bangkok - to look for Ms Rehau, my friend, who's posted in Bangkok (and will be coming back soon). So I haven't been posting because I've been living it up for a week in Bangkok! ;)

So here I am now, let me get back to posting about Taiwan, just a couple more posts to wrap up this trip.

In my previous post on our first day back in Taipei, I forgot to mention an important destination we visited that day - the National Palace Museum ("Gu Gong"). Gu Gong in Taipei housed a small portion of the collection of rare books and artefacts that originated from the Palace Museum in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Read more about its roots here.

As no photography was allowed, I am unable to show you pictures of the artefacts we've seen. However, the most notable and famous works can be easily found in wikipedia. Some examples:

The Jadeite Cabbage

Meat-shaped Stone

Images above courtesy of Wikipedia

How cute is that? Jade carved to look like cabbage, and agate stone carved and dyed to look like a piece of meat. In my opinion, these 2 artefacts are the best representation of Taiwan, due to their strong, pulsating food culture.

The next day, early morning, our guide Francis brought us to a special destination outside of the package itinerary - the Grand hotel or Yuanshan Hotel. The iconic landmark is built on a hill and is visible from nearly everywhere in the city of Taipei.

The grand archway of the hotel

In 1995, a fire broke out and destroyed the roof and parts of the upper floors, it was only in 1998 that the hotel recovered and reopened to the public. It's said that the dragon heads on the roof were rotated to face inwards after the fire, to symbolise better preparedness against future such incidents.

Notice the inward facing dragon head?

As mentioned earlier, the Taiwanese were steadfast believers of fengshui, hence it goes without question that fengshui elements were majorly considerations in the architechural designs and when deciding the placement and positions of certain structures/sculptures.

The stone lions near the entrance

Here are pictures of the interior of the hotel. Dragons, lions, flowers dominate much of the decor. The ornate carvings on the ceilings, red-carpeted flooring, majestic floral displays and dragon sculptures created a sense of old world grandeur, a most appropriate location to impress foreign dignitaries visiting Taiwan, as well as us jaw-gaping tourists.

A picture of Ms Song Mei Ling, the third wife of Taiwan's late President, Mr Jiang Jie Shi, with a foreign dignitary. She was a highly educated woman, and she advised the building of the hotel on this site.

Francis mentioned also, that the hotel had secret passages rumored to be leading to the presidential residence or emergency headquarters. It's too bad we weren't staying in this hotel (5-star, and host to a long list of distinguished guests) as part of the tour package, though it used to be included.

Having visited such a strong fengshui-influenced destination, next on the agenda was to meet with some of Taipei's renowned fengshui masters.

Based on your birth date and time according to the lunar calendar and your name in chinese characters, the fengshui masters are able to determine which element (gold, wood, water, fire, earth) you belong to and the characteristics that generally define people of that element. They will also encourage you to draw floor plans of your home. This will ultimately lead them to advising you which elemental 'pi xiu' would suit and enhance the prosperity of your home or for yourself. A pi xiu is a Chinese mythical hybrid creature resembling a winged lion, and is considered to be a very powerful protector/guardian to practitioners of Fengshui.

The pi xiu, depending on its size, could cost a couple hundred S$ to a few grand. We weren't much believers of fengshui, so we did not get any.

The huge display pi xiu represents the 5 elements.

Guess what element is this?

So far, it's all been cultural. Next up, FOOD and more.

You haven't been to Taipei if you haven't been here

2010-09-07T22:44:00.000+08:00

From the name of this post, you can tell that the fame of this place is in a class of its own. If you watch Taiwanese variety shows, you'd know this place has been featured umpteen times. It's the Shilin Night Market. I'd let the pictures do the talking.

Meet the Smelly Toufu dish, with a dollop of chilli and some cabbage on the side. It's not bad, but a tad oily. Some people cannot stand this dish due to its 'aroma'. I'd rather have this than durian anytime, ;)

Meet the 'Frog Laying Egg' Stall. I love the lime flavoured pearl beverage. 'Pearls' are chewy tapioca balls, just like the ones we sampled from Koi (mentioned here)

The 'Guan Cai Ban' Stall, translated coffin-shaped bread.

The coffin shaped bread is hollowed out and filled with fillings of your choice. We chose chicken and another flavour which I can't remember. It's absolutely delicious. Do remember the name of this famous stall 'Xiao Zhuang'. I know I'd make a terrible food blogger because I can never remember to take pictures of the food before gobbling it up! However, someone else have already taken a great mouth-watering picture of this snack here, so please be appeased. ;)

I like this stall display, but we didn't try this though. This sells bittergourd juice which is said to be great for the complexion.

Guess what this crowd is queueing for?

It's for the famous chicken cutlet. It's huge and could easily be a complete meal on its own. 4 of us shared 2 pieces, and we were so stuffed, we almost couldn't finish them. Remember this stall's signage (from flickr). You won't miss it because of its strategic location. You'd see it once you exit the nearby train station. We were pretty lucky to join the queue when it was still in its infancy.

The best thing about Taipei is the city's love for food. All sorts of food cravings could be satisfied here in Shilin Night Market and the abundance of other night markets in the city. I really liked the innovative names of the snack stalls in this market, and how we could sample many of the famous, delicious snacks in a single place without breaking the bank.

We left the market with visibly tighter pants.

Back to the cold city

2010-08-30T21:13:00.002+08:00

I was a little reluctant to leave the countryside on our 5th day in Taiwan. The following are the last pictures of the countryside taken on the bus while navigating the roads along the morning market in Lukang.

We know we will no longer be seeing beautiful natural sights in the form of cascading waterfalls, breathtaking valleys, large flowing rivers in the city. But there will be LOTS OF FOOD!

The first destination in the city was Taipei 101, once the tallest skyscraper in the world. Its throne has since been 'usurped' by Burj Khalifa in Dubai. I've been to the top floor once, a few years back, and at that time, the weather wasn't good and so the view wasn't clear. However I wasn't regretful that this time round we won't get to ascend the upper floors.

Lunch at Taipei 101's food court

Seating area just outside Page One (a bookstore that originated from Singapore and have since branched to many countries in SEA)

Proof that we've been to Taipei 101

Unfortunately going back in the city meant that there would be more visits to various local produce shops in Taiwan, and we would be cajoled into purchasing from them. One of them was the pearl centre.

In the end, convinced by its cell regeneration, medicinal properties and countless other properties, I bought S$100 worth of pearl powder. Equivalent to the plate below.

This is the machine which grinds the pearls into powder

The shop assistants warned that only natural pearls can be ground into powder for consumption, not those meant for jewellery.

The finished product

We were brought to another local produce shop, whose famous pineapple tarts have won a national award within Taiwan. We had the chance to sample them, and they certainly lived up to its name. A tip from Francis: they taste best after being microwaved. The shop also sold 'tai yang bing' translated 'sun biscuit', which is a wonderfully flaky, buttery pastry which I love more than the pineapple tarts. Unfortunately, no pictures, as we were too busy samping the many other pastries. Plentiful flavours abound - green tea, red bean, sesame and MANY more.

We spotted this placed in a corner of this shop. This is a 'tian lu', a Chinese mythical hybrid creature that resembles a winged lion with one horn. Its counter part is 'pi xiu' which has 2 horns. The Taiwanese strongly believed in their powers in feng shui. This tian lu is believed to prevent wealth from slipping away.

Remember the name of this shop!

Later in the same night, we visited the famous Shilin night market, coming up in the next post!

The Sketchbook - Broken In

2010-08-22T23:27:00.000+08:00

It's already mid August, and I've only just broken in the sketchbook. I have just 146 days to the deadline - it's so scarily near!

Progress has been painfully slow, because I've been busy with another side project and with life in general. Weekends fly past so fast, it's not funny. I've only started on the cover title and also pages 2 and 3. Here are the scans.

I have got to speed up before missing the deadline becomes a real possibility!

A little island in a lovely lake

2010-08-18T00:34:00.000+08:00

After an entreaty with the dieties, we had lunch at a yuan zu ming restaurant. 'Yuan zu ming' refers to the Taiwanese natives/indigenous people who were the first residents of Taiwan.

Before I show pictures of the restaurant, can I rave about this adorable little pooch below??

Why are the Taiwanese dogs so cute? So far I haven't seen one that isn't cute!

And here's where we had lunch. It was decent fare, but not fantastic. As usual, it was an 8-10 course lunch which no one could finish. I lament the waste of food. -.-"

The food is quite reasonably priced

And we were off to a small harbour take a boat to cruise Sun Moon Lake. According to Wiki, "the east side of the lake resembles a sun while the west side resembles a moon, hence the name".

The habour where we set off on our cruise

There is a tiny island in Sun Moon Lake called Lalu. It's now off limits to tourists unfortunately. Probably the same reason why they installed park wardens at Ye Liu National Park (See my previous post).

The little island, Lalu

We disembarked at another section of the lake which lies between Sun Lake and Moon Lake where it houses the Xuan Guang Temple.

As you can see, throngs of tourists were milling around the area waiting to take photos with the Sun Moon Lake tablet. We were no different. Yes, it's cheesy, but that's what tourists do.

The stairs down to the wharf where we diembarked

I have to tell you something disgusting I witnessed by the wharf. I saw a tourist spit into the pristine waters of the lake! Guess which nationality? So in addition to contributing cameras, the tourists also contributed to a higher water level. How wonderful.

We took the boat again and it routed past the little island of Lalu.

Lalu island, up close

The indigenous people were said to have found a rare white deer on this island, hence the presence of this statue

Francis mentioned that Taiwan is very famous for its high quality deer placenta, which is believed to treat many ailments. It is said that Song Mei Ling, the third wife of Taiwan's late President, Mr Jiang Jie Shi, was cured of her lifelong asthma problem after consuming deer placenta

We also passed the 'Ci En Pagoda', built by Mr Jiang Jie Shi in memory of his mother.

We left the lake shortly after to head to Lukang old village.

Some sights along the way.

At the village, we strolled in this temple for a quick look and also strolled along the streets to take in the sights.

Truth be told, this village wasn't as memorable and quaint as those in Neiwan or Jiu Fen or Wulai

This is a garbage truck that blasts loud music

No village pictures are complete without a dog photo. ;)

Lastly, this is the stadium near our hotel. For the athletic tourist who wants to run. Our hotel is an old building, nothing fancy. The best thing is its swimming pool, which is big and empty, and I made good use of it that night.

Next stop, we're back to the city, at Taipei county. More shops, food and sights!

Transforming a piece of Scrapbook Paper

2010-08-09T17:23:00.000+08:00

Before I start off, I'd like to say Happy Birthday Singapore! I have to admit I haven't seen the National Day Parade on TV for years, and I haven't been to either the Padang or Marina Bay to view the festivities in person, but I'd like to think I'm no less Singaporean than the next person.

Ok, anyway, the aim of this post is to show you a little scrapbooking project I did as a farewell gift for a colleague leaving my company. All the colleagues in my department were given a piece of scrapbook paper to fill up and when we're done, all the pages will be bound in a book for the colleague. It's such a good idea (I didn't come up with this idea though), I know I'd be touched if I were to receive such a meaningful gift. It reflects the heart of everyone who laboured over each piece.

Some of the creative mess on my table

Starting out on a clean red slate

Initial conceptualizing - I had no idea what I wanted to do at first

The completed first page

The completed 2nd page

I've had fun doing this, using nothing more than glue, craft knife to cut up some craft paper, craft punches, pinking shears, Japanese patterned paper, Japanese tape, calligraphic marker, a good photo and a nice poem I remembered.

I should get started on the Sketchbook soon.

That lovely temple beside that lovely lake

2010-08-05T23:45:00.000+08:00

Almost every visitor to Taiwan on a tour package, would find this lake in his/her itinerary. It's what I call a 'staple destination'. Just like how you can't go to Paris without visiting Eiffel Tower, or Spain without visiting Sagrada La Familia, the same goes for the Sun Moon Lake in Nantou County, Taiwan.

The fame and beauty of Sun Moon Lake is the reason why throngs of Mainland Chinese tourists descend upon the lake by the millions. And so, as our boat captain (of the boat we took that toured the lake) quipped, the lake collected its fair share of cameras from the throngs of tourist, enough for every fish in the lake. Lovely. ;)

Situated strategically beside the lake is an equally famous temple, called "Wen Wu" temple. From Francis' explanations of the Taiwanese way of life, we gather that the Taiwanese are firm believers in the concept of 'feng shui'. The concept is hard to explain, however to put it in a simple manner, it is a concept commonly applied to orient or design certain aspects of buildings/structures in an auspicious manner. Hence it's no surprise that major thought was put into designing and orienting the Wen Wu temple.

A quick glimpse of the lake before entering the temple

The majestic entrance of Wen Wu temple

The magnificent gates of the temple set against the tranquil blue of the lake and the sky

One of the 'fengshui' design elements placed at the doorway of the temple.

Every structure, every design is there for a reason.

Within the temple, are several alters. There is a Confucian alter that is popular amongst students praying for blessings in their studies. Another alter is famous for being very accurate in its divination of lots that you draw from there. For instance, you may ask the dieties if you will enjoy good health in the year, by shaking a container of divinatory sticks. When a stick is shaken out, a poem/short verses will be assigned to the divinatory stick and a temple assistant will assist you in interpreting the verses and hence 'telling your fortune'.

9 dragons. Numbers are an important element in feng shui. I can't remember why they chose to sculpt 9 dragons instead of 8. Traditionally 8 is an auspicious number to the Chinese.

Despite the ornate interior decorations and grandeur of the temple, I actually felt a sense of peace in this place. If you have all the time in the world, you could wander the temple grounds feeling very much at ease.

A terracotta soldier street or rather temple mime

Short post, but I think the lake deserves its full attention in another post. Will write about it next.

The Sketchbook Arrived!

2010-08-02T23:41:00.000+08:00

My little red Moleskine sketchbook arrived all the way from the U.S. of A! I'm mighty impressed, it took just a week! See here for my previous post (that's when I signed up for the project).

My very own limited edition library card

My theme

Right now I have a million disparate ideas bouncing off my head, and I have no idea how to begin. I'm sure it'd come to me eventually...