slow train to tokyo

after a few days spent luxuriating in the ryokans, it was time to move on to the city. tokyo will always have a special place in my heart, and i've nothing but happy memories of my time there.

oh! hang on! there is one distressing (read: cringe-inducing) memory that my darling siblings never fail to remind me of. if you know them and successfully bribe them, you just might get the full story but otherwise i'm afraid i'm not about to kiss and tell. suffice to say, i've thankfully managed to 'reclaim' tokyo and restore my long-term love affair with the city.

stayed as long after check-out as we could, then made the 5h trek to tokyo on the slowest possible train. reached asakusa after dusk and my muscle memory kicked in as i navigated us to ginza. well, it wasn't so hard, really. ginza line to ginza then hibiya line to hibiya. all in a day's work ;)

it's such a cliche and i feel a little over-indulged for saying this but i love ginza. always have and always will. everything i could possibly want from tokyo is within that tiny area. and everything else, like fresh fresh fish, is a 10minute walk towards tsukiji.

this, incidentally, is also the last post on mysterymeatballs because i've run out of photo storage space. undeterred, the swede life is moving here with the rest of the tokyo posts. please move with me? :) it's been a good run but to quote dorothy, 'toto, something tells me we're not in stockholm anymore...'

sneaks

a range of cheese from hard to soft, iberico sausage from madrid, grapes, crackers and moscato!

had the girls over for the first time last week*. he's entertained a few times in my absence (grrr...) and i'm making up for lost time with my ladies. so i picked a day where he'll be at his action mama best i.e. out of my hair and while he plays tennis / soccer / gyms, my girls are taking over :) so they came last week bearing beard papa and popiah (my two loves) and this time we've decided to go all pretentious and do a simple wine and cheese tea party. yes, sacrilegious as ritz may be (cheese goes with bread, and bread alone, according to my friends) i happen to like salty crackers and abhor white bread. so there. also, i've stocked the wine fridge with moscato and am making a special trip to my parents' later to pick up the plonk my father refuses to serve his guests. haha. more for us uncultured wine swilling philistines! yay!

ohmyword i sound like such an underaged alkie.

*nothing like having your girlfriends over and the first thing they did was mark out all the spots they'd get busy on. oh the horror! and somehow there was a gathering in my bathroom and it felt like we were schoolgirls on a toilet trip all over again :) good times!

thoughts

i graduate tomorrow.

yes, i've gotten used to the idea, having first finished my final paper in early may, and then i got my results by text while in stockholm (sitting in my kitchen surrounded by my housemates from last year - whoops all round, thank you very much. and then they tried to get me drunk on my own pear cider. not happening.) and then again when i began the post-grad course yesterday.

so why oh why am i suddenly immensely humbled and increasingly overwhelmed at the thought of traipsing down a stage in my cap and gown? even if for some reason i oversleep and skip commencement all together, i'll still have my qualifications... so it's not about the ceremony, really. but how it signifies completion, coming-of-age and unceremonious release to the big bad world. gulp.

that said, i'm determined to wear my booties with the gown. hehe.

and, on a more sober note, thank you god for opportunity.

a holiday from the holiday

safely back home on 17th june at 0640h with 12h to spare before my grandfather's 88th birthday celebration that night. given a choice, i'd rather have stayed in europe till graduation day but sometimes i do things out of fear of later regret. plus, there's my grandmother's 84th on the 27th which i didn't want to miss either.

that said, it's been a crazy-packed 4 days back home and i feel like i need a holiday from the holiday. so i'm off to ho chi minh city for the week.

as this was intended as a travel blog, i do have a little project in the pipelines. it's shaping up to be a daily travelogue, albeit retrospectively and in 'real time'. so expect a post or two a day, detailing each day of the graduation trip. and maybe the saigon sojourn after, if the eurotrip writes well.

check back soon! and stay tuned :)

hobo no more

and in further procrastination style, i've spent the morning booking my accommodation in barca and madrid! somewhat comforted that they've both got very high ratings and in madrid i even have a 4 bed en suite female dorm for S$40/night. how awesome is that. hopefully that means i'll never be in a situation where i'll be involuntarily privy to certain horizontal activity. fingers crossed! (edit: sorry, silly me forgot that girls are perfectly capable of getting on without boys. sigh. back to the drawing board!)

although my greatest fear of waking up without kidneys goes unassuaged. 4 years since i started staying in hostels and i'm still paranoid about not leaving with bodily integrity. hence in barca i decided on a 8 bed mixed dorm instead of a 4 bed because chances of being stuck with 7 strange men are lower than the probability of being stuck with 3 strange men. or so i pray.

i'm really too big a chicken to be travelling on my own. so much for the bravado of solo trippin' and doing my own thing this summer. relieved that it looks like my oldest, dearest friend (two decades and counting!) is going to join me in valencia and we're going to check ourselves into a lovely little boutique hotel (hello red i hope you're not reading this because i did tell you hostel) or a charming b&b. please hurry and book your flight already! i can't wait to book accommodation. it'll be our first holiday together without our respective parentals, who incidentally gave us the same name because they're unimaginative, mandarin-averse anglophiles who conjured our misnomers out of their misplaced belief that all girls should be dainty and graceful. snort.

packing is procrastination

have the first of my 3 sit-in finals tomorrow and in protest i decided to pack for the great graduation trip. am in a wee packing pickle because the grad trip involves three differing segments, and possibly in decreasing level of luxury. oops. should really have organised it the other way round and worked myself up to the good stuff but the timing didn't allow.

so i begin with a week long cruise down the seine with the parentals on a glorified river barge. apparently if (they'd) paid a little more, (we) wouldn't have to row. but i do so hope it's just my father's macabre sense of humour. and this food cruise promises to be luxurious, potential boatwoman threat aside. we're going up the seine from paris to les andelys, rouen, normandy, caudebec (monfleur), vernon (giverny) then back to paris. as the barge docks at each port, the chef and his entourage are supposed to descend on the village and buy fresh local produce that will become breakfast, lunch and dinner. am drooling just thinking about it! the only part i'm not too happy about is that we double back and disembark in paris too. i hate doubling-back. the lack of displacement unsettles me. anyhoos, once back in paris, we meet up with him and have two days all together before the parental go home and we continue to tuscany and the amalfi coast for part 2.

thankfully we enjoy a higher standard of living compared to previous holidays - in fact, am incredibly blessed that we've levelled up every holiday, in tandem with his career. whilst not as upmarket as parent-standard, it's still not too shabby. we end with two days in paris and then he goes home (sense the trend? my constant abandonment. first by parents, then by him. sigh.)

and after he's gone, i proceed with part 3 on my own. this is when reality bites and i've to rough it out on my backpacking budget. am still uncertain where i'll be staying in stocks - living on the edge, eh. from stocks it's on to spain (barca, valencia, madrid) where i also don't know where i'll be staying (eek!) save for valencia where i'll be a house guest. so...

back to the packing dilemma! i don't know what to wear! will probably bring my blue brick for the seine cruise with my backpack inside it. and send the brick and nice clothes home with the parents because i'm limited to 6kg of hand carry on the rest of my time intra-europe. growl. and to choose appropriate attire for all three parts. am tempted to spend the next 5 weeks languishing in boho skirts and flip flops. mhmm :) can't wait to break out the floppy hats, oversized sunnies and scarves. alternatively i just might throw the towel (that i've to carry bleh) and succumb to sloth, instead attempting to pull off dishevelled backpacker distress-chic. unwashed tshrit? check. faded, torn, unwashed jeans? check. dusty sandals? check.

solo trippin'

off to berlin for:

1. strawberry yoghurt ritter sport

2. authentic chinese food

3. sleeping like a starfish

not your typical berlin finds, but we'll see.

photos and stories when i'm back!

that time of year

when everything turns white.

it's snowing again :)

and we went skating at dusk.

will post proper after pancake dinner at J's and cafe opera with the cool gang.

a perfect day

gorgeous breakfast at laduree, strolling along the champs élysées, leisurely lunch at taillevent, more window-shopping and sight-seeing, cruise down the seine after dark to see the city illuminated, dinner at a sexy brasserie and then laduree macarons and coffee for dessert back home.

had an ear-to-ear grin plastered on my face for most of the day, especially after breakfast and before lunch. there is no greater feeling than having had the most satisfying breakfast yet being to anticipate an even more delicious (if that is even possible!) lunch. plus i am still romancing the bag and the prospect of him coming in 3 days is enough to send me into orbit.

proper taillevent review when i am back in stocks. for now, let's just say that my new goal in life is to live in paris.

hit list

so here's the plan between now and singers, starting this weekend:

saturday -tuesday paris

friday - saturday milan

saturday - friday sicily sardinia

(a fortnight later)

friday - tuesday berlin

(a fortnight+ later)

friday - sunday st, moritz

sunday - tuesday zurich

and pending flight availability, if i do go only make it home in time for new year's then there'll be a last minute addition post-zurich pre-singers.

life's good :)

not just talk

so, instead of whinging about how i've run out of erdbeer joghurt ritter sport, i've decided to put my money where my mouth is and go to berlin.

am pleased to announce that i just booked my flight and accommodation.

no more excuse not to have a steady stream of chocolate :)

and all too soon

it's that time of the year again and i need to choose my modules for next semester. what a timely reminder of my imminent departure/return. thank you J for the heads up, i would have verily missed the deadline if you hadn't mentioned subject registration. quick consult with S and i selected my electives. it gets faster every time, probably because i've a very limited interest range and by elimination i've done most of the modules i'd have wanted to anyway. if it was entirely up to me, i'd have done another semester of free-wheeling hippy modules. fun, fluffy stuff that makes me look forward to attending class. but because i know where i'm going and have some idea of what work they do, it'd be irresponsible to spend the last of my formal education wallowing in self-indulgence. so, i seem to have morphed into one of those, the student who only chose practical modules, and i'm trying to strike a balance between studying what i want and what i should. no point learning about basket-weaving now and then feeling like a liability from the first day of work onwards.

really shouldn't be getting nostalgic about it but i can't believe i'm in my final semester. where did the time go??? and it's also taken me 7 semesters to figure out that 1. laptops are evil and should be used sparingly 2. i am extremely Consistent when it comes to take-home exams. so when choosing my modules this time round, i decided to be kind to myself and finally arrange for a 3day week - the mythical being that i'd heard much about but never had a personal encounter with. the downside is that i'll most probably have four exams, but that too was intentional, in reaction to my realisation of how i absolutely Cannot do a take-home, because i lack Confidence in my Capabilities. in a strange way, it's the first semester where i'm not in a tearing hurry to finish the exams and disappear on an adventure. am a little ashamed to admit that early exam dates played a big part in my prior elective selection. this time, however, i'm wanting to savour and stretch out the last of my days as an undergraduate and somehow revising for four exams while everyone else is out partying will definitely slow time down. that's the plan!

so here goes! and i'm hoping that the electronic gods will be benevolent and grant me my electives of choice.

oh and take that back re: 3day week. it didn't strike me earlier but welcome to my life in stockholm :) don't think i can put my system through the trauma of attending class more than thrice weekly. it'd be too much of a reverse-culture shock.

globalisation

all the talk of tsukiji and the japanese occupation (sorry gramps!) just made me crave japanese food. after having been sorely disappointed but nobu*london, i was only too happy when S asked if i felt like jap tonight.

consulted the oracles i.e. C and J (my exchange predecessors circa 2007 and 2008 respectively) and decided on this cosy sushi bar in odenplan after eliminating murakasi on medborgaplatsen.

so i ring them and attempt to make a reservation in halting japanese. to my absolute horror, the hostess asks if i can speak mandarin or swedish. finally some use for my higher chinese (chinese as a first language for those fortunate enough to not know what the horrors of HCL are) and i proceeded to, um, communicate, for want of a better word. established that the owner and chefs are japanese (whew!) and hence it's all systems go for that sushi fix. pity they probably won't have otoro :( but beggars can't be choosers.

do or die

excuse the melodrama but i went to london to do this one very important thing.

it's so important that i was thinking about it for days, right up to the moment i got it done.

i might've let go a little yelp at the start.

hmm, it's relatively permanent, if not here for a long while.

i kinda like it but it's gotten mixed reviews, which, unfortunately, affects me a little more than i care to admit.

so, until i'm 100% confident about it i.e. a bigger, braver version of myself (like, tomorrow) it's still under wraps for now.

maybe i'll post a photo :)

you know you're

edit: i posed the below question to him and his solution was to take me to london for a week when he comes to visit. i liiiiiiikeeeee :)

OCD, or nuts, maybe both, when you have all of two whole days in london but a hitlist of ten restaurants to eat at.

in no particular order, somebody please tell me how i'm going to stuff my fat face at

nobu

min jiang

mandarin kitchen

restaurant opposite mandarin kitchen that i recognise but can't remember the name of

four seasons

goldmine

rasa sayang

kiasu

chinahouse

hare and tortoise

thankfully, i'm meeting aunt J for lunch at min jiang and aunt S and family for dinner at a surprise place in soho. then there's my solo lunch at nobu which also means that i'm left with 1xdinner slot for the remaining eight restaurants. this won't do! in between the museums and walks along the thames, i'm going to have to do brunches and tunches to even half accomplish the list. it's almost ridiculous but i'm getting stressed that i won't be eating enough in london.

but seriously, when this

is your staple, this

begins to look pretty darned good.

p/s. bird photo credits to J from his

please to happy birthday in hong kong album.

p/p/s. yes, i know hong kong's not in london

look!

proof that magic understands english.

i.e. he looked when told to look.

thank you again, indulgent boyfriend.

hellsinking

possibly the worst night of my life to date.

i am never ever eating swedish meatballs again. ate them once, but tasted them eight more times, if you catch my drift.

am still rocking now and my eyesight's blurry.

will post proper when i've found my land legs.

oh. and some old man actually elbowed me at this upmarket cafe in helsinki. for no apparent reason. was pretty darn appalled, wouldn't you be? i thought that sort of thing only happened in china. haha. well, another story for another time.

how does

a 6day tour of lapland, returning the day before moot court and two days before my public international law final exam sound?

/ponders.

(talk about an exchange-induced unhealthy lack of fear. hmmm.)

p/s i blame you and the fantastic example set last summer for returning from jetset adventure mere hours before your exams and still ace-ing them.

p/p/s why are you so crever. why.

portugal

portugal was planned on a whim (how paradoxical) awhile ago when L declared a one week holiday, which i then took the liberty to extend to a fortnight long break, what with the parentals scheduled to arrive just before the hiatus. and, of course, i was counting on a holiday from the holiday with them so what better idea then to head south soon after? perfect timing too, just as the weather turned colder in scandinavia, portugal was more than welcoming with her 33deg days.

so feeling a little too much like a migratory bird, i headed south for autumn.

thankyouryanair for cheap flights but no thank you for the indirect flight to porto. spent the night in stansted sleeping on the bone-chilling floor (proof that i'm tough, i also say) and then took the first flight from stansted to porto. from porto, we took the bus to lisbon and spent three nights in lisbon at the most fantabulous hostel on earth. i cannot stop raving about it, uncool as it may be to rave about a hostel but there's much to be said about living within one's means.

good times with good company. my resolutely european travel buddies were a breeze to travel with and i appreciated how relaxed they were. a most welcome change from ricocheting across norway with my parents just a few days earlier. i'd brought my brick of a lonely planet only to leave it in the hostel for most of the trip. we didn't plan anything, we didn't hurry anywhere and we just followed our fancies and went where the wind blew us. no alarms in the morning, no manic rush to make that train / bus, just good ol' fashioned sauntering and plenty of deep, meaningful conversation. it was election time in germany and i'd an involuntary crash course in german politics. not that it has any bearing on my life whatsoever, xenophobic and insular as i am, but learning for learning's sake is never a bad thing and i felt like a sponge the whole holiday, absorbing and being provoked into thought.

my first and last portugese egg tart a.k.a. atherosclerosis in a paper wrapper at a cafe next to the bus station while waiting for the bus to lisbon

our hostel in lisbon. you know how some hostels claim to be 5minutes from the subway station when actually they mean 5min by f1 car? well, this one was literally 2minutes from the station. and we'd a beautiful view of the square and castle and it was clean, airy with personal safe(s). plus, for the first time EVER i'd a hot breakfast in a hostel. heck, some hotels don't even provide a hot breakfast. so in the morning, we'd be a greeted with a chirpy, "what you want i cook for you?" and we'd a choice of nutella crepes, scrambled eggs and toast. so it's not much of a choice but i'm pretty darn happy with hot food.

on RZ's suggestion, we took a day trip to cascais. lovely waterfront train ride and 30minutes of rolling surf. enjoyable as lisbon was, it was good to see another part of portugal and cliffs were picturesque.

arroz con mariscos back in lisbon. one thing i don't understand about portugal is why they combined orders. case in point: F and i ordered the same thing but instead of being served two individual portions, they lumped it together and put it in the middle. now, i'm asian and am happiest with communal zichar and more used to sharing food then hogging an individual portion. BUT. i didn't like that the waiter assumed that i'd be happy to share my meal. it's not really sharing because it's two portions together (i hope!) but what if i'd some contagious disease? like hep or something? then how? and at least ask if it was ok for it to be served together. yes, there was a serving spoon and two plates but i don't share food. and i didn't like having to share. nothing personal against F but seriously, i ordered an individual share, give me an individual share. period. and the same thing happened in porto when i ordered sardines so it was a little perplexing. some things are meant to be shared, like tapas and zichar, and others, like individual orders, aren't. plus it's excluding the other diner who ordered something different and it' s impolite. and too close for comfort. and i've perhaps too many food / personal space issues for my own good.

this' a great globalisation photo. mexican nachos at american hard rock cafe in lisbon, with two germans, watching f1 live from singapore.

porto at dusk - view from our porto hostel

porto was great for its port wine (free tours and free tasting, can't ask for more!) and i personally found it more charming than lisbon and its big city feel. had better food in porto too and my indulgent travel buddies didn't say no to my chinese fix. surprisingly, i'd the best chinese food in europe (save london) at the chinese restaurant on one end of the bridge across the river. the guai lo waiter threw me off at first but when my egg flower soup (?!) and egg fly lice came, i felt a creeping sense of glee that only chinese food gives me. speaking with the owner/cleaning lady later, i discovered that the cook was chinese. yay! no wonder :) but that was my best meal of the trip because i'm partial to chinese food that way.

and the tent didn't collapse (german expression about people blowing up at one another while on holiday) which was miraculous in and of itself. then again, we didn't have that in south america either *waves at team s.am*so props all round.

we'd a good time together so our self-selecting trio's decided to make a monthly affair of this. we're off to helsinki with more friends tomorrow but we just might do turin in november at this rate.

many tales to tell

but need to catch up on sleep.

will post proper soon :)

all photos on facebook already.

stay tuned.