20 May 14
It’s become a thing for me, to plan for an outdoorsy activity when we travel anywhere. It sucks to hike (or even try to enjoy nature) in Singapore because of the humidity, heat and mozzies. While this hike we did in Hong Kong nearly killed us and our relationship (just kidding!), I was really happy we completed it after we completed it.
I borrowed this book and decided on Jardine’s Lookout trail because of the promising views. It didn’t disappoint! The Victoria Peak trail would probably be awesome too but Ben & I have been up to the Peak before. I’ll share at the end of the post how to get to the starting point.
Hiking up to the starting point!
This is Ben, totally regretting letting me plan our trip
I keep calm (and clam) and carry on, till the view spoke for itself
Mid-way!
On the top of Mount Butler
The descend is long. Like, really long, till you see signs of life and promise of drinking water.
So we took many, many breaks
How to get there:
– Get to Exchange Square. It is a bus interchange. Located between Central & Hong Kong station.
– Get on Bus 6 or 66. I took Bus 6.
– The journey takes you through Wanchai & Causeway Bay. Once the bus leaves the busy city streets and climbs uphill, enjoy the view for a bit before getting ready to alight.
– Alight at the stop near the cricket club, next to a petrol kiosk. The bus journey took about 25 – 30 minutes at an off-peak hour.
– Buy water from the petrol kiosk, last chance to and you’ll need it. There isn’t a lot of shade to rest under on the trail. Not until you descend from Mount Butler.
– There’s a staircase from the petrol kiosk which will take you up to a street road, Tai Tam Reservoir Road. From there, start walking upwards till you see this wooden archway.
Alternatively, you can skip this by taking a cab. The wooden archway is just shy of the entrance to Parkview, a residential complex.
I found this post to be very informative; I have no idea how far or how long we walked for or what we were even looking at (I’m bad at geography, estimation and simple math calculations). So thank you internet people for sharing!
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, hong kong, hong kong trail, nikon FM10
6 May 14
I took 6 photos in Beijing. I whined a little about the bad haze condition on Instagram which was why we left within 36 hours of arriving. I had grand plans! Of climbing the Great Wall, of touching and seeing cherry blossoms for the first time in my life, of stuffing my face with good dumplings, of visiting 798 Art District and Cao Chang Di (my translation: field of grass) to get a bit closer to Ai Wei Wei’s legacy.
We did none of the above, got nowhere close in fact. The haze made everything harder to do – breathing, seeing, walking, navigating, getting lost, asking for directions. Even with our N95 masks, I couldn’t handle the haze and succumbed to a migraine by late afternoon. Me thinks everyone who lives in Beijing is superhuman. Even their dogs are superdogs. They love their doggies there, it’s so sweet! Fun fact: The only two times I’ve seen this dog IRL was in Shanghai and again in Beijing.
Back to the 6 photos, I took these while roaming the streets of Sanlitun. On hindsight, we should have gone somewhere else for the only day we had in the city. In fact my instincts failed me horribly the entire time in Beijing because the places I picked for lunch and dinner were disappointing too.
The photos make me sound like I’m crazy right? What haze? Everyone’s out and about, sitting outdoors with their friends. Superhumans, I told you. And also, pictures lie. I follow FLOTUS on Instagram and she was visiting Beijing a few weeks before us. She was doing tai chi in a park! I even told my family, if Michelle Obama’s allowed to go to Beijing, the haze can’t be that bad. My friend gave it back to me good though, she said Beijing probably cleared the haze for MObama :\ Possible, possible.
I’m not sure if we’re coming back for you, Beijing. I still check the haze index on random days, for fun, hoping there’s one day I can tell Ben, “oh my god I think it’s getting better, let’s go back!”.
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, beijing, china, nikon FM10
3 May 14
These are taken with expired Redscale film, wished half of these weren’t so grainy but totally my bad for keeping this roll in the fridge for way too long.
Have to eat here soon.
Swans at Botanic Gardens
Tanjong Beach
On Jalan Pisang
East Coast Park on a Saturday
On Wilkie Road
Ben driving
Wedding things – renting chairs for dinner
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, lomography redscale XR film, nikon FM10
28 Apr 14
Brunch at Suprette (which is inside Kam Leng Hotel)
Not enjoying our coffee at Chye Seng Huat
The first place we drove to after picking up our new car – Sentosa Cove
Always happy at Necessary Provisions! But urm, parallel parking makes my heart race a little too much.
Wanted to like this place
Nothing much, just leaning trees
| Tags: 400 film, 50mm/F1.8, nikon FM10
11 Apr 14
Some days living here is nice, when you walk down a street and see things like this.
Other days not so much.
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, nikon FM10
