Hey Ho, its 2014!

Ever since my last blogging activity in February last year, I've come to terms that public blogging isn't really my sort of thing anymore. As much as I'd like to use this as a venting playground for my interests and thoughts or a virtual space to hone my inter web creativity, I don't really see much point exposing my vulnerabilities. Because most likely after everything personal I write on here, whether remotely private or not, I regret almost immediately for revealing anything.

I thought about keeping it very platonic, but at the end of the day.. blogging requires a lot of time and effort and I've got too much on my plate to handle this year. So from now, I'm just going to go private but who knows... maybe one day I'll comeback and find something actually interesting to write about!

But one must not forget to reflect! After all, its a start of a new year, and I'm bored with revision. Ever since I started blogging, making new years resolutions and reflecting back on my resolutions prior was an amusing activity of mine. This -- I don't mind sharing because I'm sure a few of you will probably gain some laughs.

This was what I signed myself up for for the year 2013:

♥ STAY FIT 

Something I successfully did in Oz, but failed after coming back to UK for Christmas. I'm definitely not a summer person, so in one aspect, I'm glad I've managed to avoid the scorching heat that is being experienced in Brisbane right now, but on one hand, I have noticed a positive correlation between staying fit and healthy and a rise in environmental temperature! haha 

♥ Saying YES to opportunities and take the plunge in trying more new things!  

If there is anything that I learnt in my first semester at UQ, it has to be to grow some balls and make more of an effort in trying new things and meet more people! I'm not going to lie, but making a good bunch of friends was hard in Oz, but I'm hoping because I go back during a start of a new academic year, there will be better opportunities to meet more interesting people and join different societies (albeit.. UQ doesn't really have a good set of social societies..  

♥ Visit KOREA!!  

YES. This has been on the top of my bucket list for a LONG time..  I'm hoping to book my tickets next week and join my two friends from UK to go on a two week adventure round the beautiful country of South Korea in Easter time! =)

♥ Blog more 

I say this almost every year to myself.. but I never seem to truly dedicate a set time to blog. Mainly because I'm just generally a lazy person and at the same I'm a perfectionist. Most of the time, if not, all the time, I start writing posts which I think are interesting, but then they end up sitting in Drafts gathering dust because I always think it can be improved later. But at the end of the day when I do find time to go back to it, I lose the motivation or the 'moment' of when I first wrote it and it ends up being out-dated. To this day, I have about 20 posts sitting in drafts... I think for now, I need to focus on my travel blog more!

♥ Be more organised  

I am absolutely rubbish at keeping my life organised. I tend to be a more of in-the-moment kinda person.. but I think its important to stay on top with everything and especially I have a busy year ahead of me, I need to learn to use a diary continuously! Every diary that I've ever bought in my life have always been out-of-use by the time it hits the one-month mark! I think I just need to find the 'right' diary.. :p - yea I'm a stationary snob!

♥ Build up my CV and my future  

It's that time where we all need to grow up and hit the tedious process of job hunting after graduation. As much as I want to stay young forever... I need to start building on my CV and future ambitions! I'm hoping to gain an internship at a bank in London this summer to prepare myself for 3rd year.. or in my terms.. 4th year! YIKES! ><

Reading it back again now, I think I'm pretty proud of myself for achieving almost all of it with the exception of blogging..! I think rather than making resolutions, setting yourself targets and aims would be a better way of wording it. Maybe its a psychological thing - that the world 'resolutions' are just meant to be the broken. :p
I think more importantly, being reasonable and realistic with yourself is a good guide to making it through. With a bit of determination and motivation, anything is possible. Cheesy? Yes, I think so too, but its so true at the same time.

I don't think I will ever forget the year 2013 - it was a year I got to travel to so many different places, a year I let go of so many things that weren't worth holding on to and a year I gained so much experience and positivity. I literally can't tell you how much happier I am now compared to this time 12 months ago. I genuinely hope 2014 will only be onwards and upwards from now!

My targets this year for 2014: 

♥ Continue to lead a healthier lifestyle with more determination to hit the gym as often as I can! 
♥ Make it through the last hurdle of Uni before I graduate! 
♥ Plough through the dire process of job applications! 
♥ Make it to the west side of the globe and hit American soil for a road trip to remember! ;) 
.. and maybe find a nice guy! ♥ hahahaha 

Anyways. I'll leave it at that. Till next time! ;)

CNY: HONG KONG 2013

Tsim Sha Tsui

Red Boat floating along the Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour

Red Lantern

Kung Hei Fat Choi! 

Display at Langham Place, Mong Kok

盆菜

New Year's Vegetarian Dish

My epic win at Mah Jong

Sushi Galore

Tsim Sha Tsui Harbour

Starbucks with a view

Pina Colada Cocktail catch-up session

Fa Yuen Street, Mong Kok

All pictures taken on my iPhone 4S 

HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR! 

May the Year of the Snake bring lots of joy and happiness to everybody! 

Bit belated I know, but just a small post to wish everybody a great year ahead! This pretty much sums up my 10 days in Hong Kong over February. CNY in Hong Kong has not been as busy as I remembered 10 years+ ago when I was still a kid, but nonetheless, I still managed to spend some quality time with the family as usual and of course, received a good amount of lai sees! ;)

It was good catching up with a couple of old friends.. antics ranged from insane arcade playing to missing our last train home and consequently getting lost in the streets of Mong Kok. >< I don't think Tsim Sha Tsui has ever looked this scenic for me, mainly because smog isn't so heavily present in this winter weather of Hong Kong. Surprisingly, it was relatively cold, especially the days leading up to the New Year, so thankfully I brought a few winter coats over just to keep warm. 

I remember the days when I used to get unbelievably excited about going back to Hong Kong, particularly the prospect of exploring all the amazing places for shopping and food got me immensely restless. Every time I hit Hong Kong soil, I would always say to myself 'I gotta let this holiday last as long as possible' and even entertaining the idea of an impending end to this holiday formed a bottomless pit of dread in my stomach.

Fast forward to 2013, it has now come to the point where I basically know Hong Kong like the back of my hand (well.. at least the main places I've grown to love). Its safe to say the novelty of exploring and trying out new things have worn off immensely and it seems as though I've unintentionally created a routine for myself in the places I go and the things I do whenever I'm back.

So hopefully next time, somebody else can take me round to the new places that I haven't been in HK!

Till next time!

♥

Raining

Even if it's not for me, do it for the world. 

Spread the love. 

Happy Valentine's Day! 

from a hopeless romantic at heart. 

Happy 1 Year <3 

London by Night/Duck and Waffle

If I had to count how many touristy pictures I've taken of the Thames, Big Ben and the London Eye, it would probably amount to a total of TOO MANY. But this has never stopped me from whipping out my camera and perfecting my photography skills every time I'm in London Town! haha and if I have to be honest, I'd say these pictures are the most satisfying ones I've taken to date. Just shows you don't need to fork out a lot of money on a DSLR to take good photos -- all you need is a steady hand, a good eye and some basic editing skills! ;) Shame the Eye was closed for maintenance so the lights weren't on display.

My friend Ewan, geeking out at M&M world. First time I've ever been.. and I really don't see the point of this shop.. 

Somerset House looking rather plain after the closing of the ice rink! 

Another first visit on the list! I can't believe I've never tried out Patisserie Valerie till now. I've always wanted to go, but something always comes up! Despite being there for a short while, it definitely was worth a visit. The cake I had (Strawberry Gateau) reminded me of a Chinese style cake, soft and moist, yummy-in-my-tummy kinda flavour! ;) Will have to come back again at some point and try some other stuff. Ewan and I were only there to kill time because we had three hours of nothing to do till our dinner reservations at 9.15pm. 

DUCK & WAFFLE 

Branded as one of the more exclusive to places to eat in London, Duck & Waffle is located on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower just across Liverpool Street. They are known for serving a blend of European and English food in which they encourage tables to share a variety of different dishes. In my opinion, I expected a lot from this restaurant, just because of the pricing and the popularity given their mega long waiting list. Originally I phoned up to book for 6pm on a Monday, but they had no spaces till 9pm. But my friend and I decided we'll give it a shot and wait out for dinner till later.

I guess you can call this a review -- but just a disclaimer, I'm no food critic, haha. These views are purely based on my first encounter with this restaurant and my personal expectations.

We arrived at the bottom of the Heron tower where we were greeted by a guy asking whether we had reservations at Duck & Waffle. After a quick confirmation, we were escorted into a fancy lift that took us directly to the 40th floor. The ride was a swift one with views gradually looking over London city.

The bar is the first thing you see when you enter and its definitely a unique looking one! Rather than having a close-countered bar, it is an open-top one which I think makes the atmosphere more intimate. But after checking the prices on the alcoholic beverages list, Ewan and I decided we were better off with just a couple of soft drinks! (Yea.. I'm a student after all, don't judge!) It was actually a long wait before we were seated to our table.. I'd say we didn't sit down at the restaurant till maybe 9:40pm. The waiters/waitresses we had were informative and we were told to order a variety of small dishes and a main dish to share, so Ewan and I settled on some raw scallops, raw oysters, pollock meatballs (which didn't register as fish in our minds..), rosemary and garlic bread and the house dish of duck and waffle.

I'd say the raw scallops and raw oysters took the cake for us. The raw scallops (as pictured above) were served on this block of salt which we were advised to use our hands to rub the scallop on and eat with. It had a really good texture but shame it all disappeared after one bite.. same with the raw oysters. The most disappointing dish had to be the rosemary and garlic bread. I didn't end up taking a picture of that one... because I just didn't think it was worth it! You would think a simple dish like that wouldn't be hard to accomplish, but somehow, it didn't taste anything what we had hoped. They tried to make it authentic but somehow failed.. because the garlic on the bread were actual garlic cloves which were slightly awkward to eat and I guess to compensate the garlic, they loaded the bread with lots of salt, so it ended being salty bread with garlic chunks. The salt was so strong I couldn't even taste the rosemary.

The meatballs were deceivingly not meat! Pollock never registered in our minds as fish.. so when it arrived, we were pleasantly surprised. It wasn't a bad dish, a little on the small size for the price, but it was still good.

Lastly, the duck and waffle took a while to be served. Ewan and I were intrigued to see how this tasted because its such an odd combination of food. The dish came with a fried egg, two waffle pieces, fried duck leg and a pot of syrup and mustard seeds. We took a huge bite with a bit of everything on the plate and it was surprisingly quite good. But if you were to look at it without associating it with the restaurant, something like this could have been mashed up together at home too without costing a bomb.

So overall, I'd say this restaurant is definitely over-hyped. The food we chose were not particularly filling but enough to suffice. But the atmosphere was nice and the views were an added bonus to the evening.

♥