2 Nov 13
How about we start off with the touristy places? All of which also happen to be religious places of worship (except Aya Sofya which is now a museum). The first two are synonymous with Istanbul. And also crawling with tourists. If you dislike crowds too, a tip is to arrive at opening time – usually 9am in these parts. Ben & I concurred that it is less painful to wake up early than get caught behind throngs of tour groups.
First up is Aya Sofya – a Greek orthodox basilica turned mosque turned museum
Below is the Blue Mosque, opposite Aya Sofya, kind of. Two massive structures with a park in the middle of them.
Food tip: After visiting the two mosques, you’d have worked up an appetite so head to Tahiri Sultanahmet Köftecisi Selim Usta for meatballs. Order a side of pilaf to go with it, please. They open at 11am, don’t be shy to be first in line, we were. You won’t be sorry.
Next is the New Mosque, it is next to the Spice Market in Eminönü so you can’t really miss it. Can’t really miss the PIGEONS!
The last is the Church of St. Anthony of Padua. It’s along Istiklal Caddesi which is like THE main road in Beyoğlu.
I swear we didn’t just go into mosques and churches in Istanbul! Heh. By the way, can you believe it’s already November?!
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, istanbul, nikon FM10, places of attraction, turkey
21 Oct 13
Istanbul was terrific, we can’t wait to go back to that part of the world. To visit Egypt, Jordan and other parts of Turkey possibly. I’m enchanted. I’m fascinated! Whatever you want to call it 🙂 I already got my rolls of film developed so Istanbul photos are coming right up.
It is Monday – driving classes resume and I’m working on updating the shop. How’s your week looking? Maybe you could use some panda-lovin’ cos I have plenty of that to go around. Ben took me to the zoo on my birthday to see the pandas and they are the best things in the world!
Those were photos of the male and now we see the female.
Then we roamed around the regular part of the zoo and saw these guys
Lucked out to catch the giraffes at feeding time
And ended up spending way too much time watching a polar bear do laps.
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, jia jia, kai kai, nikon FM10, pandas, river safari, singapore zoo
6 Oct 13
Hi from Istanbul! Ben’s still sleeping so I have some time to post something. The city has been so welcoming. It is GORGEOUS. People are at first look, not the friendliest but they surprise you two seconds later.
To share a story real quick – Yesterday we were waiting for the tram and I noticed this old man scanning the both of us. I take it that locals don’t see asians all that much. No biggie, the tram comes and we all board. He took his spot in a corner then gestured to us to stand beside him and to hold onto the pole. Followed by a smile! He let it sneak out haha. I was surprised! I thought to myself, “sheesh, to think I thought he was a grumpy baddie who hates tourists”. As the tram was pulling up at a stop, he tapped me on my finger to point out that there were two empty seats behind us. I wanted him to sit since it’s a bazillion years older but he insisted. You tell me, how nice these people are!
I’m Instagramming like crazy so follow my updates there. Meanwhile over here, I don’t want the blog to go stale so here are some recent photos. Ben & I had coffee at Strangers’ Reunion and roamed around the area for a bit. The houses are so nice. The kind that makes you can’t help but dream you were living inside. Followed by thoughts of who currently lives inside. Followed by impractical ideas of how to get one next time. Heh.
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, blair road, kampong bahru, nikon FM10
30 Sep 13
We rounded up our trip to Siem Reap with a crazy-ass motorcycle adventure. I highly recommend it if you love moving on two wheels. We booked a tour with Khmer Ways, and took off to the mountains, riding to a waterfall, up down up down and around villages, temples and lakes.
Kulen waterfall
We rode from that peak in the background to the peak I took this photo on
A giant sleeping Buddha
The Buddha is carved out of this humongous rock and inside this wooden ‘house’ / An incredible sight of rice fields
Break time
Village kids
All in all, we rode for 11 hours. Pure madness is how I’d describe it. No regrets though. Our limbs ached for two days which on hindsight, sort of made me feel more alive than ever.
Our Istanbul trip is a few days away. I can’t wait to pick up my camera again! Do follow me on Instagram for daily updates. Yknow the pattern, film photos will only surface here two months later 😉
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, nikon FM10, off the beaten track activities, Siem Reap, things to do in Siem Reap
10 Sep 13
In Siem Reap, we stayed at a pretty cool hotel, so I took some photos to share with you guys here. It’s called Pippeli Pensione. There are only nine rooms which is great if you generally don’t like to see people-people-people first thing in the morning. And because it’s very reasonably priced, we booked the biggest nicest room! (Yet it still worked out to be cheaper than a regular room in a hotel-with-a-brand-name.)
Our room was on the top floor, on the right
We ate breakfast out here every morning
Easily the longest bath tub I’ve ever been in
Siem Reap is pretty touristy in my opinion. There isn’t much off-the-beaten-path paths to take, unless you know a local or something. So we pretty much ate all our lunches and dinners in Pub Street.
Riding in a tuk tuk
We played a round of mini golf
I won 😉
Meeting cats all over the world
Had lunch at FCC Angkor, fancy place, not so fancy food
Found a cute cafe where we played a game of Scrabble and ate too many cakes and drank too many lattes
Might I also add that Sugar Palm restaurant (famed for being on an episode of Gordon Ramsey’s Great Escape) serves some seriously tasty Khmer food (Cambodian food). If you love to eat good food, it’s a must-go!
In real-life news – I’ve started taking driving lessons. I had my first practical lesson today! Only 36 modules more to go. Go me!
| Tags: 50mm/F1.8, Cambodia, nikon FM10, Siem Reap, what to do in siem reap, what to eat in siem reap
