isle of staffa

reached mull in the evening and followed an insider tip to take the ferry from (can'trememberwhere) instead of (obvious place) to staffa. travel buddy was keen to visit fingal's cave and that's all i'd heard about on the drive up. were too disorganised to actually check ferry timings but got very lucky and rocked up at the right time for the daily departure. phew. and unbeknownst to me, it was more than fingal's cave but PUFFINS on staffa too! have a soft spot for puffins and they're my absolute favourite bird. so it was a huge bonus to see them on this trip having not anticipated any puffin activity prior.

thankfully the sea was smooth and the 45min ride passed without incident. we'd about 90min on the island which i felt wasn't enough cos i just wanted to sit buried in the grass watching the puffins. there were also two ferries to the same island, albeit coming from different directions and some hilarity about 'what if we got onto the wrong one' which i wouldn't have put past either of us. this is the saeme friend who's left me at a restaurant along curry mile, returned to the car in case we hadn't locked it, and then promptly forgotten which restaurant i was waiting at.

the basalt columns looked really familiar and i was wondering why the locals (or UNESCO) had made such a big deal out of the giant's causeway near belfast cos big whoop, more of the same over here. until i learnt that this was the other end of the same causeway and it's nowhere else in the world haha. oops.

the view was pretty darn amazing and i would've skipped along the ridge had i felt more energetic.

can't get enough of them puffins!

danish apartment

ever-resourceful friends booked this gorgeous airbnb right in the centre of town! literally on the main street and next to the best bakery. enter through a heavy wooden door next to a sex shop (aren't they all next to erotic museums of one kind or the other...) and into a light filled courtyard with bicycles and shrubbery. i fell in love with the interior, too. what's up with the amazing scandi aesthetic? they just make everything look cooler and better. there was even a sauna in the apartment, i kid you not. perfect for sitting in fully clothed to dry off after being caught in the rain.

unassuming brunch

copenhagen was an exercise in hedonism and very little sleep. was out two nights in a row, which for a homebody like me, is double my annual quota. stayed in the meatpacking district and laden with the rest of the bbq-ed brontosaurus in doggy bags, we went clubbing. raised a couple of eyebrows and the bouncers were mean. i didn't like being forced to pay to check my coat but when in rome. club was a bit grungy and not really my scene but figure that's what it's like in copenhagen. shards of broken glass everywhere (biggest fear) and music hit and miss. but company, as always, was golden and that more than makes up for all manner of sin. eventually escaped in uber driven by palestinian when aforementioned texan started to get intel on the village he came from. sneaky. 

T knows us all too well and booked brunch atop of the post museum for a civilised hour in the afternoon. in any other city, the place would've been rammed and requiring advance booking, given the gorgeous terrace and natural light. but in copenhagen it was chill and we were the only tourists. i liked how unassuming it was despite its potential. lots of three generation families all there for sunday brunch, no one overly hip and no annoyingly snap happy crowd (just us). taking the lift up was an experience and it felt like we'd gone through the roof at some point!

and because bubbles make everything better, we'd to order asti (augh, too sweet) to make mimosas.

splinter group

copenhagen is synonymous with n*oma and much as i'd have loved to try it (T scored a reso for the entire group...) it just didn't seem fiscally responsible to spend upward of £400 on a meal. maybe one day when i've a bucketload of £££ but hm even then, don't think i could bring myself to spend that kind of money on an experience. could well just be me being sour grapes... who knows ! no surprises there were like minded folk (F is in the midst of redecorating and put the money towards a new bed!) and we led a splinter group to war*pig instead. now war*pig was by no means inexpensive. when we first got there, it looked sort of scandi distressed canteen, all communal dining at picnic tables in the meatpacking district. how a danish summer camp mess hall would've looked if i were to imagine things! but, of course, trust T to do things in style. he booked us the general's room (it's war themed?) in the middle of the restaurant and we were safely ensconced in a glass partition with a thick red velvet curtain. all very swish! and because it was the general's room, we'd 2 x 30l kegs of beer brewed on site (!!!). it didn't take long before we took turns to play bartender, trying to pull the perfect pint as attempts at perfection grew more ill as time went by. the starters came and they were a meal in themselves, followed by a meat tray that could easily feed 500. i kid you not. there may or may not have been an element of schaudenfreude that contributed to my enjoyment of our dinner as M at noma gave us a live commentary of their 17 courses of leaves in various shape and form. subtext: "i'm still so hungry" and "can you bring the leftovers???"

(this was for four people. four.)

escape to copenhagen

 

am so completely weaksauce but the first week of final year got to be a bit too much. think i'm unduly anxious about the whole thing and really need to check out to check in, if you get what i mean. didn't take much persuasion to join the crew in copenhagen. T very kindly organised a weekend for the bunch of us and it'd have been silly not to take up his offer. was last there christmas 2012 and long overdue for a visit. am already partial to scandinavia and felt like hipster central upon landing. where were all these good looking people coming from?!

 small plane and felt like private jet as there were about 10 of us on it on my outbound leg haha. SAS and tickets were exorbitant £500 (!!!) but managed to redeem points because it's a star alliance member #winning, although i was disappointed they didn't feed us on the flight. pay for food? never!

T was hosting a house warming that escalated to 90 people. his missus ended up buying a tent in his absence to accommodate everyone! landed too late to join them in the country but satiated my hunger (refused to pay for food in-flight, remember?) at the airport BK before taking the metro to the city. the crew came out post house-warming and caught the tail end of happy hour at katz. was seated next to a quick thinking off-duty policewoman who told me that happy hour was ending and to quickly get my cocktails. why thank you :)

a little worse for wear the next day and more than thankful that T had planned a 1pm start. moseyed through the city to the waterside for a street food lunch! maybe it was copenhagen's idea of a hawker centre haha.

T then took us walking to ward off that post-prandial dip, although that was bound to happen after certain parties who remain unnamed went for double fried goose fat fries when surrounded with a dazzling array of culinary choice. cough texans cough. there was also a fair amount of beer involved because i had not looked into the future and seen the two brewed on site kegs that were to come our way that evening... strolling through christiana was like going back in time. i was reminded of A, a german friend on exchange in stockholm, whose longchamp bag and LV scarf emerged with ciggie burns after her visit to christiana. too opulent, maybe. beautiful cabins and very relaxed vibe in the air.

seven brides

since moving to london, have made it a personal mission every summer to attend as many productions at the open air theatre as possible. started with the sound of music in 2012 and was hooked! also caught 12th night, to kill a mockingbird, and peter pan earlier this summer. this was the first time it rained. and twice! have always had good weather before this and was even a little blase so you can imagine our disappointment when the show was cancelled because of inclement weather :( rebooked onto the be rained out again but it was third time lucky. by which time i could probably sing and dance along with the cast for the first 1/3 of the musical because that's how far it got before cancellation the first two times!

great drive and determination...

paris

had meant to escape to paris earlier this year but work commitments meant a change in eurostar tickets. the only free weekend was the one right after returning to london so no brainer, nevermind it was going to be my last weekend before starting final year and i really should've stayed put to sort things out. felt a bit silly to keep saying it was my final fling before final year because had a little wobble in paris and booked to go to copenhagen during first weekend of final year. old habits die hard, and my flight reflex is a little stronger than the fight.

paris doesn't even need to try and i'm in love. C suggested the new LVMH museum and hm i have to agree with the tourist who sniffed, 'so much space, so little art'. maybe my leanings are more conventional and while i agree it's an amazing space with incredibly architecture (ok, a little same-y but it's gehry after all) it was a bit thin in terms of art work. nothing particularly eye-catching and nothing that made me go 'wow'. i wasn't wow-ed! and that upset me because i'd expected to be.

rooftop bar to end all roof top bars. my love affair with the eiffel tower was renewed. have many happy memories of going to sleep looking at the tower when i stayed with the Bs. they took me in when i was on exchange in stockholm, and a couple of times during my grad trip when they let me use paris as a base. i've watched their boys grow up . met P when he was two and M very kindly drove us from paris to chamonix and he's now all grown up about to go to university. F is elegant as ever, what's up with french women who look so put together all the time, even first thing in the morning. it was lovely to see them again, to see them doing well.

stockholm in singers

after a too-short weekend in KL, i got round two with J&A in singers. they'd been three years ago for a couple of days for our wedding celebration, and A had stopped over a couple of months before that during his great SEA adventure, and more recently for training. but it was a treat to have J and parents in town. was desperate to thank them for hosting me over two summers at their beautiful home in aix. they know how much i love their part of provence with the cezanne mountain and i felt like it'd be hard to top the natural beauty of their immediate surroundings. but singers delivered and i loved every minute of being able to show them my home for a change. pidgin french gets me only so far, but sign language and a few key words and we were good to go. also, J's family is armenian and we went to the armenian church which i think they really liked :) for once paying attention in secondary school during the civic district tour paid off!

took the sampan for a spin and thought to mix up the high and low. i keep saying that in singers it's either <$5 or >$50 when it comes to food. we eased her folks into hawker centre (who'd have thunk that murtabak was close to armenian cuisine!!!) and road side eating. haji lane happy hour drinks, long bar at the raffles and swissotel kopitiam for that mix of high/low gastronomy. 

the crew

we realised that night that we'd been going there for over eight years. i realised how grateful i am for these three in my life, for friends who've seen me at my worst and withold judgment. from the bad influences that they are. there was one low point at the lawsch library when K came with maccas because i was hangry, and C brought his box of teeth to count while i revised tort. K is a quickly ascending the greasy pole that is medical residency in singers, C is finishing his masters in orthodontics (yay london!) having gone straight in after a year of work and being one of the youngest in his class and J keeps getting more awesome, but he's my uncle and i'm biased. one of the things i realise with age and distance is that people fall by the wayside and it's sad to lose people who once meant a lot. on the flip side, i'm all the more appreciative of friends who stay there, whose friendship becomes stronger and the convergent change makes them an increasingly big part of my life and support network.

we used to manage rounds in our hazy youth but now it was a drink each (i had orangina) then early nights because K had to round first thing in the morning and we were all sleepy by 9.

phuket

didn't have many weekends in singers. stayed the first to avoid being world's most absent godparent (godson's first month!) but was in KL for the second weekend and broke free to phuket for the third to celebrate a birthday. very generous friends have a home in phuket and kindly invited us to spend some time there with them. they'd just moved in phuket and i was excited to see the new place, haveing spent many happy days at their previous home. they're the sort of couple i want to be when i grow up, nothing short of awe-inspiring and so giving of their time and energy. i love being around them and can sit and rapt awe listening to their stories and just absorbing their views on anything and everything. never a dull moment and i feel educated merely in their presence. i'm also humbled by how unassuming they are, side by side with the help mopping up the sopping wet dining table after yet another tropical storm. all hands on the deck and no airs nor pretense.

KL

summer time is wedding time and once back in singers, i hunkered down to my elective before realising that NGO work meant i'd to work weekends too. tell a lie, the NGO was great and non pushy / demanding but i was so keen i just didn't want to stop doing work for them. ended up biting off more than i could chew and over-committing, then not wanting to drop all the balls worked harder than i'd in some time. to which my darling sister commented that she's never seen me so busy, not even when i was a pupil. why, thanks.... but overtime was a means to an end and i managed to take work to KL (augh, oh no, morphing into one of those martyrs who humblebrags about work!!!) to attend a dear friend's wedding. was flattered to be one of two (!!!) friends at the wedding, because it was a small family affair. hopping across the causeway to KL also was an excuse to visit J and A. we met in stockholm in 2009 (!!!) and have had almost annual check ins, with J and her family graciously hosting me in aix over two summers, A and J hosting me in perth, they came to singers for our wedding celebration, A was in london last winter and they were coming to singers J's folks the week after. delighted to have had more time with them this summer and ever grateful for friends and friendships that grow with me. 

they knew all the good local haunts and i'm well impressed by their culinary sense of adventure. much braver than i'll ever be if the roles were reversed. they also very very kindly put me up in a swish hotel (!!!) because they wouldnt' hear of me crashing on their sofa. absolutely unnecessary but much appreciated and i did end up spending lots of time on their sofa, just not actually sleeping! 

cracking view from their apartment by day and by night

indulgence at the mandarin oriental. big fish in not so small pond! that tuna did not die in vain.

LA

 

lovely to build up to the wedding with a week of beautiful drives. the venue was stunning and our gracious host had arranged for us to stay at the beverly*hills hotel. have a friend who'd been previously and alleged that it was infamous for illicit liaisons! suppose this was back in the day before cheating websites etc became mainstream. so said friend spent a night there with his wife and realised after checking out that he'd left something behind. as he was driving, his wife rang the hotel but they denied he ever stayed there. then he rang and they still refused to give away any information. so it was only when he turned the car round and drove all the way back to the hotel that he was able to retrieve his lost item. now i'm more curious about what this item was! but so seriously do they take privacy (confidentiality) that i made a mental note to recommend it to people needing cover. oh! no photos allowed either! sign saying no piccie by the pool etc. i'm more afraid of my stretch marks being immortalised on social media but hey, suppose it could always be evidence for naming a co-defendant in a matrimonial hearing....

on that note - the wedding! beautiful set up in the nearby greystone (?) manor. all very english! vows and reception on day 1, followed by wedding dinner at the b*hill hotel ballroom the next day.

watching the sun set over LA while secondhand smoking on the terrace was the perfect end to the evening.