[cambodia 2010] the rest stops

cambodia travel diary day 3

we made two rest stops that day. the first one was in the town of kampong thom for lunch. the second stop was at a small town's marketplace. at first all seemed normal, kids trying to sell us fruits and stores of fresh vegetables everywhere but then we realised that some of the stores were selling fried spiders, locusts, rats, birds etc etc. i am so not kidding here! there were also some villagers selling live spiders! our guide told us that these huge spiders thrived here because of a certain local plant. they are not farmed at all! my brother was actually adventurous enough to try to eat one of them. well, he did managed to eat one leg but he chickened out after that, our guide ate the rest of it. *shudders. will never forget this!



golden half, ferrania solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] the orphanage

cambodia travel diary day 3

our third day in cambodia was spent travelling from siem reap to phnom penh in our little minibus. before we left siem reap, we stopped at an orphanage to make some food donations that we had brought with us from singapore. my mum had packed one luggage of food specially meant to be given out to the children in cambodia, especially siem reap where the kids are more needy. another party in our tour group had also packed a box of donations as well. i would really recommend that you do that if you ever visit cambodia. according to the lonely planet guidebook, it's best to refrain from giving monetary donations because the money usually goes straight back to an adult and the children does not benefit whatsoever. at least, food can be eaten and shared.



we started giving out the little packets of biscuits right off from the start at tonle sap lake but we had quite  a bit leftover so we asked our guide to stop off at an orphanage on the way out of siem reap to distribute the remaining packets. oh my gosh, the children were ever so pleased to receive a packet each. they ran around happily, shook hands and high-fived us. they were so adorable. they could also speak really good english. i love those kids.



holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200 (i left my holga on bulb mode again! booo! -_-" )

[cambodia 2010] red sunset

fisheye 2, lomography xr redscale

[cambodia 2010] purple sunset

golden half, ferrania solaris 400

fisheye friends

have you heard? lomography is giving away a million piggie points! everyday, there is a new challenge and anyone who completes the challenge gets 5 piggie points. easy peasy piggy wiggy! out of the three challenges so far, my favourite was to create the three lomowalls! this is my fisheye friends lomowall, created from all the fisheye shots i took during the end of year party season and chinese new year! happiness and friendships all rolled up into one! this wall is love love love!

in every little way

HELP JAPAN.

when the tragedy in japan first struck, i was somewhat apathetic towards the tragedy that was unfolding. i barely read the news reports. then the nuclear reactor blew up. from then on, i started reading the news with mixed feelings of morbid fascination, horror and grief for the japanese people. on the way to and fro work, during lunch hours and even in the office, i was glued to the news websites as reports came in constantly about updates of the troubled nuclear plant in Fukushima.

singapore is a very lucky little island. we are situated nowhere near earthquake zones and we are buffeted by our neighbours from tsunamis. never in a million years will i be able to understand what the japanese are going through. but i don't think i need to understand to be able to give. to do my part and to help raise the awareness and encourage the flow of gifts to japan, i am compiling some links of worthy causes, sales of items for donations and raffles that is floating around the online blogging community. i am also putting together some other links of newspaper articles and photojournalism articles that i have come across that i will hope will keep everyone informed. 

it's all i can do but i am sure with everyone's little efforts combined, we will have contributed something significant to help out our friends in japan. i know that, without a doubt, japan will rise again from the ashes. 

because history says so.

donations/sales/raffles

• singapore red cross society


• the art of staying up all night: andrea is selling handmade pins of japan maps.


• curating cuteness: katie is holding a raffle of handmade goodies and japanese stationeries.


• a bit of this, a bit of that: jo is the master organiser of the japan quake auction appeal.


• little home: nan lawson has created a special print.


• alice in designland: help japan artwork, all under $25.


• tokyo textiles: they are organising a raffle of lovely japanese fabric, buttons and lace.


• hilda grahnat: hilda is selling photo prints and postcard sets of pictures she took in japan last year.


• forever21.com: 100% of all proceeds from march 18!

news + photojournalism

• japan earthquake aftermath: thirty three photographs of after.


• frantic repairs go on at plant as japan raise severity of crisis (new york times)


• food, fuel and medicine run short in shelters (new york times)


• forecast for plume's path is a function of wind and weather (new york times)


• the scariest earthquake is yet to come (newsweek)

edit: i just donated $10 via globalgiving.org

photobooth friday: what's in my bag.

technically, it's saturday in my part of the world but since it's still friday in some parts of the world, i can still play photobooth friday!



01. my current everyday bag. i bought this canvas bag a year ago but i only began using it in earnest this month. i love the casual, easy-going, arty vibe of using a canvas bag instead of a "proper" tote.

02. my moleskine. it's an 18-month journal starting from july 2010 but i only got it in january 2011. i have been using the 2010 pages for work notes and random scribbles.

03. my three years old ipod classic (totally ancient technology by now) and my iphone.



yay, weekend, everyone!

[cambodia 2010] green sunset

cambodia travel diary day 2

it was a truly spectacular sight to watch the sunset setting over angkor. i used three different cameras to capture the sunset from pre rup. this one comes from the holga 135bc, with sensia 200 film. for some unknown reason, i really like the multi-exposure overlap.

holga 135bc, fuji sensia 200

[cambodia 2010] climbing pre rup

cambodia travel diary day 2

we decided to go to pre rup to catch the sunset over angkor. pre rup is a slightly less popular sunset viewing spot, the most popular is at bakheng but our tour guide advised against it because it was a really steep climb and it would be extremely crowded. we reached pre rup around 5pm, not the first ones but we still got great viewing spots.



pre rup is thought to be a funerary temple and it's architecture is considerably less elaborate as the other temples we had visited. but with its three towers and tufts of grass sticking out from the summits, pre rup is somewhat more mysterious than the rest.



check out the steep steps we had to climb. you really had to go on all fours to make it safely to the top. but the effort is so worth it! like any cheeky kid, of course i had to immortalise my parents' huffing and puffing efforts to climb up the steps. heh.



golden half, ferrania solaris 400

second published lomo-location.

my second lomo-locations article got published yesterday. it came out of the blue so it was a nice monday morning surprise for me. for this second article, i wrote about one of my favourite places in seoul to spend an afternoon, the cheonggyecheon stream. it's such a peaceful, relaxing place to just be. so looking forward to be back and soaking my toes in the cool water soon. i hope you like the article :)

[cambodia 2010] ta promh

cambodia travel diary day 2

possibly the most visually amazing temple of them all. ta promh is a classic example of man versus nature, where the trees have enroached onto the stone walls of the temple after man cleared them in the first place to build said temple.

ta promh was also the set for tomb raider so now i can say me and angelina jolie have been to the same place!

fisheye 2, lomography redscale xr

golden half, solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] the bayon

cambodia travel diary day 2

after crossing the victory bridge into angkor thom, we headed to the bayon which is located at the centre of angkor thom. this temple has 216 stone faces scattered all over. they may look similar at first glance but slowly you realise that some are smiling, some frowning and some simply expressionless. could be kind of freaky if you were a villager then, and there's a pair of eyes following you at every turn you make.



fisheye 2, lomography xr redscale

golden half, solaris 400

photobooth friday

so i was sitting in the dining room (for a change of speed), working on my korean homework when i realised i had the perfect white wall behind me to fool around with photobooth for a study break. also, i really really want to join in photobooth friday that was started by amanda of here comes the sun two weeks ago. i tried to take some last week but the view of my closet was kind of gross so i decided against uploading those shots.



01. me grinning inanely. my short hair, which has grown quite a bit. no makeup, and in one of my many university teeshirts.

02. my new mustard colour nails! it's from opi and called "the 'it' colour". i couldn't agree more!

03. my korean notes and my homework assignment. gahh.



that was a fun fifteen minutes break! :) back to work, but, oh if you have another fifteen minutes, i am guest-posting on the lovely rhianne's blog today! it's my first guest-post ever!

[cambodia 2010] that ray of sunlight

i like to chase the light. sometimes the picture in my head doesn't look like what i imagine. but sometimes likes these three, they do and i love them.



golden half, solaris 400

[cambodia 2010] angkor thom

cambodia travel diary day 2

picking up from where i left off, we made our way from banteay srei to angkor thom. in khmer, angkor thom means great city and literally it really was a great city. it was at least 9 square kilometres in size and contained monuments such as the bayon and ta promh (more to come about these two places.)

we entered angkor thom via the victory gate (last picture). leading up to the victory gate, the bridge was spanned on one side by 25 angels holding a naga (snake) and on the other side by 25 devils also holding a naga in a cosmic tug of war.

golden half, solaris 400

fisheye 2, lomography redscale xr

thank you greg and katie for the birthday wishes!

23 going on 24.

i just turned 24 an hour ago. it's a rather surreal feeling. in my head, i know that my age equals 24 but in my heart, i feel much younger. in many ways, i don't feel ready to be this age. does anyone else feel like that? my friends surprised me with a dinner on friday, unfortunately i had to work through the dinner because there was a crisis at work. in any case, i am grateful that so many of them came down for dinner with me. i love each and everyone of them so much. they gave me a card and birthday present redemption voucher, apparently my gift is on the way. i am going half-crazy wondering what they got me! another friend got me a camera bag to store my new-old eos 88! yesterday, i had an early birthday lunch with my family. we had good wholesome chinese food. lots of ginseng chicken soup, chicken with ginger and lettuce, prawns and tofu. yums! i was so stuffed! today, i am going to meet my best friends for a cycling date in the park! and then we are going to a favourite cafe of ours for lunch, continue planning our april adventure and generally while the day away. i love birthdays like these.

our april adventure

i just started a little project blog our april adventure. this blog is for me and my friends to chronicle our trip to korea this april! the impetus for this trip came about when one of us four went to korea to further her studies in the korean language. (read more about why we are going here.) we are going to be in korea for 15 days and we plan to hit up cities like seoul, busan and gyeongju. we will be sharing our pre-trip preparations, quick blog posts on the go while in korea, and full recaps of each day when we come back. all of us will be writing posts for the blog, so you may get the same day but written three ways, experienced through three different pair of eyes. we will also be writing up little travel tips that we are constantly discovering as we work out our itinerary, as well as other blogs and websites that have been a great help and inspiration to us.i hope you will be able to join us on this trip :)

resourcestape strip: patterns by puglypixel