sushi samba

duck and waffle is on my little london list but i hadn't given much thought to sushi samba. my constant lament about london is that it rewards the hyper-organised (and/or the well-connected) because resos must be made way in advance. however, i think life is too structured and much as i crave certainty on the school/work front, i'm less inclined to pencil things in months in advance when it comes to down time. did eventually make it to a reso (instead of blanket bombing then cancelling!) and was pleasantly surprised. not the biggest fan of fusion food, much less fusion jap because i love japanese in its purest form, but this funny marriage of jap/peruvian/brazillian (?) was a love match. killer views, as you do, from so high up and would defo return / send friends that way now i know it's good. always appreciative when friends who hit up the recommendations tell me what their experience was like. loath to oversell and with f&b being the flippant industry it is, standards can change so quickly.

nigerian wedding

so the reason why i'd a room friday and saturday night in essex was because my very generous host had booked out the hotel. had a regrettably tenuous connection to the wedding couple but was up to attend my very first nigerian wedding. silly me, thought it was an english celebration for the couple's friends based in the UK. little did i realise that 90% of the 500 guests had come all the way from nigeria. and being the paranoid little poop i am, my ebola alarm bells started to ring. yes, i'm aware nigeria is a huge country and the chances of the guests having ebola was slim, but throw in air travel and possible transit in african airports and i got very worked up. that's why i'm only just getting round to talking about the wedding, when i'm safely out of the 21 day incubation period. when i learnt at the start of the wedding when 500 guests were under on glorious white marquee that most had traveled from far to be there, i inched closer to the open doors (thank goodness our table opened onto the grounds), tried my darndest not to shake hands nor cheek anyone, and made repeated trips to the ladies for the fresh air (good 10min walk to  the main building) and hand hygiene. of course, everyone i later related this to laughed at me :( and when i spotted a lone petechia the next day, i had a near meltdown. not fun.

oh and not just 500 guests but big names from nigeria (whizzkid, the jayZ of a-frickin-ca) were flown in for the party. didn't take much to turn me into a groupie (who kept a safe distance). weddings always make me think about mine, and gosh ours was so different. had lamb soup and pancakes at the next town for our 20+ guests for the wedding breakfast and were done and dusted in just over an hour. in contrast, this wedding breakfast was pretty darn marathon. started at 3pm and when i finally bowed out near midnight, the party was still going strong. what i did enjoy was the dancing from 6 onwards, and the endless supply of DP 2004 that the groom's father kept passing me. but too polite to chug my personal bottle, i'd share it round the table. then like magic, another would appear :)

double bill at somerset house

landed friday evening and hit the ground running. words cannot express how much i hate stansted, but that's another rant for another day. had been away for two solid weeks and felt like i needed a holiday from the holiday, much as i'd enjoyed the break. part of me thinks medsch awoke the sleeping workaholic within, and that addictive personality that makes me obsess with one thing (good if that's work, bad if that's work) because this six week break, ironically the shortest in medsch, has felt wayy too long. was talking to a friend about it and as grads, we're both keen to graduate and start work. but then i catch myself and make a conscious effort to enjoy the process for what it is. to suspend reality and postpone adulthood and its myriad of responsibilities for a couple of years more, not necessarily a bad thing, no? school's much easier than work, and it's such a protected, cosseted environment i've no reason to complain. 

but back to london! it's been a welcome change of pace to take things slow in the city, or pseudo-slow at least. started with a double bill (hairspray and springbreak) at somerset house. funnily enough, it's been over a year (maybe even two!) since R told me about somerset house and how much fun it was in the summer with open air screenings. can't believe it's taken us 2 years to get round to it, just like R's other recommendation of le garrick in convent garden. maybe next year! was too cool to arrive at 6pm when the doors open and paid the price by having to hustle the one last square foot of picnic mat real estate when we waltzed in at half 8 for a 9pm screening. oh summer nights, can't get the movie going any earlier for it was still too light out. 

hadn't watched the original (1988?) version of hairspray but preferred it to the camp john travolta recent release. hm then again i'm in love with michelle pfeiffer so tough call. was also too cool to bring food and drink (brought picnic mat, blankets and extra coats) but there was popcorn ice cream (free because the mister is charming like that) and poshdogs to be had. and beer.

tried not to think about how there was a hotel room in essex with my name on it that same night but that's a story for tomorrow.

farol

when i was last in lisbon, had an extra day. the wonders of fb, even back then in 2009, was that a uni mate had seen the photos and suggested we visit cascais. was backpacking on a budget and remember taking the train to the seaside town, then walking all along the coast to the devil's mouth (throat?). it was breezy, the weather was great and we passed this beautiful hotel en route. remember looking wistfully at it and while enjoying the rossio hostel very much (haha) i did entertain a pipe dream of abandoning ship and offering to wash dishes in exchange for staying a night. obviously that didn't happen, but five years on, it was kinda surreal to be on the other side :)

it was a lovely, albeit short, stay at farol and as a goodbye gift, the dolphins put on a show during breakfast.

palacio ramalhete, alcântara

after two nights in chiado, we moved on to alcantara to explore a new neighbourhood. stayed in a gorgeous, lovingly restored palacio which's basically what lots of buildings are called. what was interesting was the all-female team of sweet young things who ran the place. they were helpful to a fault and made us feel very welcome. i may or may not have developed a tiny girl crush on the manager-ess lady and was even about to suggest my brother extend his holiday to woo her, should she be available.

did have one tiny hiccup that i'm more than a little ashamed to admit. traveling as a fam, we'd a pull out bed in the living room area of the suite. but it was a sweltering summer night and the a/c was only in the bedroom, and the suite so big the gulfstream failed to reach the sofa bed. it was about midnight when i called the front desk to ask for a portable fan. the night lady said to sleep without the duvet (already doing that, duh) and open the window as they had no fans. but the window opened into the inner courtyard where all the a/c units were whirring away - adding insult to injury! someone else came up to see what the problem was and agreed that the window had to remain shut. but there was nothing they could do and the hotel was full. this frustrated me as if the room was going to be so uncomfortable, it should not have been sold as a family share. sent a couple of angry emails and um, it was a little awkward in the morning. constantly reminding myself to think before i act, to sleep on things that make me angry because, really, the manager lady was so nice about it the next day and comp-ed jugs of sangria. when we checked out, they didn't even charge for the extra bed. do think the same outcome (service recovery) could be achieved without as much undue nastiness on my part.

more photos of the pretty palacio ramalhete. playing with pano mode.

lisbon

everyone raves about portugese egg tarts so bright and early on our first morning we went in search of the holy grail in belem (pronounced belleh?) the insider tip was to go all the way as far into the cafe as you can, instead of of jostling for space with the tourists in the first couple of 'rooms'. because at the back, while there's often a short queue, the turnover is also higher. we'd a sweet waiter who spoke good english and i was just relieved we didn't have to order in sign language. that said, i couldn't understand the menu because i don't know what different pastries are called in portugese so i took a photo of the display case up front and pointed to the pastries i wanted. which wasn't hard, really, seeing how we ended up with one of everything.

gooey, hot and molten, flakiest filo pastry - thought these were good until we chanced upon a hole in the wall in alfama called pastelaria alfama doce at r. regueira 39 e 39A that was even better. so much for tourist traps in belem ;)

the next few photos were snapped over our couple of days in lisbon. the first thing i noticed was that i'm not a fan of portugese food. salty, oily and almost inedible. maybe we just had really bad luck but these were places the hotel / guidebooks / locals recommended and they were packed! maybe just didn't suit chinese palate so ended up eating hot dogs (cool place called hot dog lovers below) and japanese. not complaining, always up for japanese. the portugese restaurants we went to managed to destroy fresh fish so having sashimi to my heart's content was all the redemption lisbon needed.

good jap we enjoyed were sea me sushi in chiado and ozeki. wanted to try bonsai but it was closed for summer :(

beautes lisbon from porto do sol! whiled away an afternoon at a choice table in the shade drinking fizzy water and watching the world go by.

lisbon oceanarium

docked in lisbon bright and early and was sad to have to disembark after ten glorious days on board. did have a few days in lisbon to take the sting out of an otherwise abrupt end to the holiday. stayed in chiado in a sweet service apartment. actually, think it was a hotel but were upgraded to a suite that was like a serviced apartment with bedroom, living / dining, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room. complete with massive walk-in wardrobes and bathed in sunlight.  found lisbon to be relatively affordable, having backpacked there in while on exchange in stockholm. in fact, the best hostel i've ever stayed in (and believe you me, i've been to many!) was rossio in lisbon. so there. winning accom seems to be a thing!

chanced the oceanarium in the afternoon and hm to risk sounding like the spoilt singaporean i am, it was o-k? having been to the one at RWS, this paled in comparison. it was such a let down and i felt super duper cheated by 'second in the world' or whatever it was. granted, it had more exhibits like penguins and puffins (yay i like puffins but not so much in captivity) and more space, in fact it was sprawling, but gimme singers any day with its piped classical musical and relatively more genteel clientele. singers boleh!

oh and this was the view from our room!

lazy sunday

it's one of those glorious days that stretches indeterminably ahead. been on the go most of this year, be it at school or traveling, and it's nice to finally have a few deliberately empty days to recalibrate. i find the older i get, the more downtime i need. i also find the older i get, the faster life becomes. more things to do and people to meet squeezed into a shorter time. someone described it as high octane recently, and how i'm 20something (haha) going on 17. not entirely an insult but it did get me thinking, especially since the culprits escalating this are a good decade older. in that funny space between wanting to catch up with friends from near and far, and wanting to make like a hermit and not leave the sofa. the longer i'm away from singers, the more i want to cling to these tenuous threads that bring me home. and new people! oh hello new people :) have had the privilege of making a number of new acquaintances this year. sometimes i wonder if it's a function of time, like if we'd be so close so fast if we weren't all london transplants, or if serendipity hadn't intervened. but that's academic now, isn't it. what is, is. it's no secret that i'm a sucker for interesting people and had to stop myself from going into fan girl mode when i finally met an old friend of the mister's. without going into too much detail, this friend was even more articulate and engaging in person than on paper and despite the full-blown URTI i couldn't seem to shake, i pepped up for dinner. there's something to be said about being philosophical about it all, because the flip side is an inevitable sadness and sense of loss. my short attention span isn't something i'm proud of, but i do get like that with people sometimes, and wonder if it's a borderline borderline personality. or just life, really, getting in the way of things.

what i am proud of, however, is the coterie of close girlfriends who somehow haven't dumped me yet. and this summer has been a bit of a girlfriend jackpot, with one relocating to london from canada and more meet ups with R (NYC then london) than we've had in the last few years. these are ladies i'm in constant whatsapp contact with (god bless whatsapp) and to finally have literal facetime is such a bonus. and there are girlfriends in sg whom i can't wait to see. late 20s is an exciting age, milestones left right and centre with marriage, babies and/or big career moves. it's like this explosion of newsworthiness and occasionally the what if-itis gets to me. then my darling sister tells me how she remembers my time as a lawyer, funnily enough, quite different from the rose tinted episode it remains in my mind. hand on heart i don't think i'd it that bad, cocooned in the nurturing goodness that was the best team on planet earth. then i have coffee with two fresh off the team and feel great sympathy for what they've been through. so maybe it was an unreal world after all.

i've been reading lately, an old love i only recently returned to. might've been about two months ago on a particularly relaxed rotation that i finally picked up a book again then went through a phase where i was reading a book a day. which, too, was short-lived and i'm back to a more sustainable pace. it's escapism in a way and again with this short attention span i don't always finish what i pick up. there's a book i was reading over new year's in the maldives that's still on my nightstand, but with ebook and kindle it's a glut of options. maybe that's the problem, too many options, something a dear friend lamented about boys in NYC. but that's another story. 

back to the mister's friend, who is among other amazing things also a published poet. in fact, a lifetime ago, a friend from lawsch gave me an autographed copy of said poet's book and i was blown away. so to actually read drafts from the next collection, and to discuss it over dinner..?! mind blown. the mister said something funny after that. he said he was impressed to hear me talk about poetry. like after seven years, it was still a facet he's yet to really see because it's not often that i'm in lit mode. i mean, it's usually law/biz/med when we talk so to suddenly delve into kant's notion of the nouminal self was a change from regular programming. 

so there you go. the fourth week of summer break in a nutshell. two to go then it's back to school. have mixed feelings about fourth year. third was by far the longest and hardest, and fourth is reputed to be get out of jail. but i may or may not have been overambitious and organised some crazy electives where the pressure is on. no room for sloppiness, less room for failure. the mere thought of bringing my A game tires me. just when i thought i'd get a breather from the steep learning curve, might've just jumped onto an even sharper one. but again, that's life right? carpe that diem etc.

 one of my favourite photos from NYC that already seems so long ago

porto

wasn't planned or anything but this trip seemed like deja vu, with repeat visits to honfleur, porto and lisbon. was last in portugal while on exchange and when trawling through the archives, i was aghast by how badly i write now. oh medicine, what have you done to my pseudo-literary mind :( was a whistle stop tour of porto and flying visit to the port cellar before setting sail for lisbon. 

but in a strange twist of fate, turns out that i'll be in porto for a couple of days in october so hope to properly explore it then.

malpica

this was the one and only day of rubbish weather the whole holiday, which i suppose is in and of itself something to be thankful for. used to joke about the english being so obsessed with the weather but having lived here for three years now, it's something i've reluctantly caught on to. it really makes or breaks the day, despite my local italian deli man telling me not to worry about things i can't change. gotta love his mediterranean philosophy! rather fortuitously, planned to spend the morning on the boat with breakfast in bed and only head out in the pm, when the weather was marginally better.

ventured to the tiny fishing village of malpica and was greeted by, get this, mr. mayor himself! it was a sleep little town and very much involved in fishing. what was sad was how the lady with the mayor she ran the womens fishing net weaving association, but don't get me started on the sort of margins they were making on those hand-woven nets. actually, let's talk about that. from my pidgin spanish and poor memory for numbers, it was something like how the women earn EUR16/h, it takes 300 (wo)man hours to weave a net, and each net retails for EUR30k. something doesn't add up and i hope it's me! but back to the lady boss, she lost her father and brothers at sea, a common tragedy for old malpican families.

bilbao

docked in santander and took the bus to bilbao to visit the gugg. had heard the outside was more impressive than the inside and found this to be true. suppose exhibitions are always a little hit and miss, depends on what's coming through the rotation etc but was disinterested in yoko*ono's work. not something i can relate to nor find accessible, much of it i feel is pretty garbage and was annoyed that's mostly what the gugg had to offer at this point. did find it funny to see yet another bourgeois spider, having only just taken photos with one in aix at chateau la coste with J the previous week. i did like papi, the dog with flowers. if i could do bilbao all over again, i'd have admired the gugg from the outside then left to have coffee with C before linking up with the group to head back to santander.

bordeaux

i'm a big fan of supermarket wine but have never really been cultured enough to understand what all those labels mean!  so our visit to bordeaux (docked in le verdon sur mer) was quite the education. wine is something i wish i knew more about but there's only so much info i can pump from B. 

B's one of my oldest friends and we've swum together since we were four. he's a SEA games gold medalist, was in cornell doing pre-med on a swimming scholarship when fate intervened and he found himself eventually majoring in viticulture. he's since graduated and worked his way up the vines and is now a full winemaker on the east coast, having done his time in napa. when he heard i was going to be in NYC last month, he hopped over for the weekend, something i'm super grateful for. ever the gent (and because i'm a poor student) he bought lunch at fatty crab (good! go!) and better yet, came bearing wine that HE HAD MADE. it was as if christmas came early :) he's in the process of overhauling a family vineyard now and has made amazing progress. the rose was delicious (popped it with the grads after we learnt we'd passed hehe) and am saving the red for a special occasion with the mister. we then went to eataly where we'd crepes with, get this, wallace*shawn and B even got a photo with him (that i took). so all in all a winning saturday while the mister was wheeling and dealing in the city. 

oh, but back to bordeaux. vineyard tour, history etc. visited a vineyard bought over by a chinese company (yuck) and felt sad that it was so cheapened (double yuck). the end.

saint jean de luz

basque country amazes me, not least because some of my closest friends from exchange were a pair of lovely girls from the region. in fact, i last met C in NYC easter 2012, and S on my most recent trip. they've both really sold me on the area and i was excited to visit. bummed i was very briefly in bilbao (later in the trip) but didn't have time to catch up with C who's working there now. more about that in a couple of days. so we anchored in saint jean de luz and headed straight for st sebastian, which really needs no introduction, having the highest number of michelin stars second only to tokyo.

guernsey

visiting the channel islands was a first, after an abortive secretescape deal to jersey last year. i'm still sore that they overpromised, then called to cancel (claimed they were oversubscribed) after we'd paid in full. what nonsense. word on the ground is that there are two reasons to relocate to guernsey. either you're dodgy, or you're very dodgy. and a certain tax inspector had to be restrained from referring to the clients as 'the perpetrators'. but don't quote me on that! 

also have a classmate from jersey whose blood tests from the jersey ('local') labs went through but still pays international fees. what a cheap way of milking someone for money! and my mobile service provider did not cover me in guernsey, despite it being UK! what nerve. 

anyway, territorial and telco woes aside, guernsey was charming in its own way. all i wanted to do was to go on a cliff walk. but that fell through. chatted with the fitness instructor later and was even more FOMO that we didn't see the island from the sea, despite anchoring at st peter's port. because she's always had the 'in' from the other crew, she's always been short-cut-ed to the best way to see the port, which was by speedboat in this case.

honfleur

embarked in dover and set sail in the evening. started with brunch at our local then a semi-frantic drive to dover. but boarding the ship was a doozy. funny how quickly we adjusted back to shipboard life. and time seemed to slow down before speeding up. after all, ten days is very long to be at sea, even with a daily dock. not to sound like an ingrate, the cruise really got me thinking about ageing and redundancy. met too many retirees stuck in their glory days, humble and not-so-humblebragging about their former lives. an american passenger tried to impress with his law firm and how he's opened X branches all over the world, including one in singers. had to stifle a guffaw because, really, it's not exactly the best reputed but he was so proud of it. emperor's new clothes?

having first visited honfleur on my grad trip, home of my trusty straw hat, it was nice to be back. didn't go on an excursion because i swear it's all a scam to con passengers with limited mobility of their mirneyy. and being able-bodied i wasn't about to spend 3h of a 4h tour on the coach. but it was nice to take a leisurely mosey through honfleur, up and down the familiar alleyways and this time i had lunch at a little cafe i passed the last time but was too full to eat at. may or may not have gotten a tummy upset after, so not sure if that's entirely a good thing!

aix

so i was a little cheeky and started planning my getaway when i should've been revising for exams. one of the beautiful things about low maintenance friendships is picking up where you left off. J is my closest friend from exchange (gosh, how has that been 5 years ago?!) and we've kept in touch over whatsapp, primarily. have been fortunate to hang out in person when she relocated down under, first to perth then sydney. visited in perth, she came to sg for our sg wedding celebration (albeit from aix where she was back for summer!) and is now moving to KL. jetset, much. haven't seen her for two years but she randomly whatsapped and said she was in aix for summer before the move and if i'd happen to be in france. the funny thing was, yes, i was going to be in france but not the south. one thing led to another and while i'm not at liberty to disclose the exact reason for my haste, we picked some dates and family M was ever so kind as to host me for a couple of days.

for a sentimental sap like me, being back in aix was like a homecoming. i last visited while on my grad trip in 2010 and it's a cliche but so much has changed, yet stayed the same. as if casa M was frozen in time and mama and papa M too. they were the most amazing, inclusive hosts and i've always felt so welcome. wonderful ryanair (NOT) was delayed so i ended up arriving in the evening instead of early afternoon. but landed to the yummiest provencale soup, following champers and canapes in the salon. these Ms, really know how to make a girl feel special! lots to catch up with J about and i'm constantly amazed by what she's doing. hats off!

bright and early (7am!) start the next day as we climbed mt saint victoire with papa M. snapped some photos and it took us a good few hours to get up and down. funny story there - the last time i visited, papa M commented that asians always take photos and he was right! i think my camera was the sad extension of my right hand and i do remember snapping away like there was no tomorrow. this time, however, i like to think i've grown up! was more into enjoying the moment and being absorbed and present. didn't take many photos except a couple to send family over whatsapp. obviously they were incredibly envious and wanting desperately to swap places.

after our bracing morning walk, we had a light breakfast then proceeded to undo the good by going to the nearby vineyards. there's something so rustic and charming about aix that makes it very hard to leave, and despite having yet to start work, i'm already plotting to retire there.

   love how wine is cooled in aix! and something else i really enjoyed about my time with J was the downtime. sounds ironic, doesn't it . but she's a dear friend who knows me inside out, knows how much i like my space and we fell into a nice little routine. had the run of the guest room and plenty of alone time when we'd both be on the phone with our respective +1s (so needy, i know!) then we'd spend the day together, retreat to separate rooms for a nap then emerge for dinner. i liked the casual-ness to it, the absolute relaxation and the sheer joy of being known.

a little holiday update

oh hello! it's been a while. thanks for coming by, as always. because i'm certain it's really just my grandmother (hi porpor!) and the mister who bother reading otherwise. it's been a blissful two weeks since i was last in london. 10 day cruise that departed from dover and stopped in honfleur, guernsey, st jean de luz, le verdon sur mer, santander, la coruna, porto and lisbon. stayed on in lisbon for five days and even swung by cascais! finally home sweet home, albeit briefly. off to essex for a wedding this weekend so it's really quite touch and go. but i've missed my bed and it's nice to be home for the night.

was surprised i felt the holiday a little too long! i love traveling and its associated adventures. being on the road is such a thrill and i get a huge kick out of being in a new place and seeing new things. flying ryanair back from lisbon meant that i had to pack strategically. one of my biggest accomplishments in 2014 has to be packing enough clothes (and shoes!) for 15 days into a carry-on. it was a relatively fancy cruise, which meant having a different dress for dinner each night. so that's literally 10 dresses (including 2 long gowns that had me frantically ironing before formal night), a couple of day dresses and mix-and-match separates for 10 days of touring and 4 pairs of shoes (ankle boots, heels, havais and white kickabouts), plus toiletries, 4 swimsuits 2 cover ups, pjs, sun hat, accessories and random bits and bobs. inane packing rave aside, my brother sniffed that i managed to squeeze all that into a tiny suitcase because i'm small and my clothes are foldable (unlike his dinner jackets that couldn't be crumpled). i think it's just sour grapes, like the medoc wine.

it's also been pretty much hit the ground running since getting back to rubbish stansted this pm and the long trek back to the city. double bill at somerset house tonight, wedding tomorrow, house party in brixton on sunday. meet ups the whole of next week (backlog of visitors/ friends leaving london :( so the unfortunate summer excess looks set to continue). thank goodness for a bank holiday! 

do aim to consolidate thoughts, photos and post a couple of holiday updates along the way, if you'd like to see :)

 

(here's one as we left santander!)