It’s Chinese New Year! You know it from the cookie jars, mandarin oranges and ang paos lying around everywhere… you know it from the seemingly quiet streets in the city center even on a weekday… you know it from how everyone ends off with a CNY greeting… and I can’t wait to be back in S’pore & Penang for the festivities! I am indeed looking forward to this Penang trip because it’s my very good & old friend, Cat’s wedding on Sunday and it’ll be a fun-filled, crazy & exciting weekend affair, especially since I’ll be one of her bridesmaids! With everyone back in Penang for CNY and her wedding, it’ll be an excellent opportunity for a Sri Inai-Penang-kaki reunion! I can’t wait!
Accompanied by her best friend-biggest fan-fashion critique-partner in crime, Keana entered the studio with a beaming smile. Still in college, Keana is an aspiring singer/songwriter and boy can this girl sing! (I know because I made her strum her guitar and sing me a few tunes during our shoot!)
Keana comes from a mix parentage. She’s half Malaysian half Thai and with her beautiful golden tan skin tone and luscious long hair, she resembled Kimora Lee Simmons in some of the shots! Just as how I pursued my fashion for the love of photography, I encouraged her to get out there and pursue her dreams, to get her CD out there and do as many gigs as she can. Besides, the local music industry is a booming one with new talents bursting into the scenes all the time! Take Yuna for example!
Wishing you all the best in your future endeavors in the music scene… May you have an exciting music journey ahead filled with lots of rhythms and rhymes and the interesting people you’ll meet along the way!
Happy Chinese New Year! Safe Travels & Happy Feasting!
One’s a Malaysian architect, one’s a Filipino interior designer, both working far far away from their homes in Oman. You’d think late nights at the international office working on a mega big project is where they’d meet right? Nope, it was actually just over a game of badminton!
Jemimah & Farn Sheng, both of them actually love photography, and when one loves photography, you can be assured of a great wedding with loads of details and personal touches from the couple themselves. For one, both of them hand made huge letters, J & F solely used as props for the group portrait session. Not forgetting Jemimah’s sexy red shoes, and the many wonderful cupcakes (ready with doggie bags and personalised sticker to seal the doggy bags!) for guests to savour after their wonderful morning garden ceremony. And if not for the slight rain in the evening, their intimate outdoor garden dinner would have been perfect. Well, for whats it’s worth, it was saved at the very end with a nice photo of the couple, their close friends (who traveled all the way from Philippines and Oman), family and loads of sparklers!
It’s cliche but TIME FLIES! Just 2 years back, I was shooting Joy & Anderson’s wedding at the Marriott and a few weeks ago, I shot their first born, Baby Adriel! If you’ve been following our blog, the name Joy & Anderson would probably sound familiar – we shot their beautiful ROM ceremony at Carcosa, their grand wedding at the Marriott and I had also photographed them in their home with their other two babies, Boy & Max. So they are no stranger to the camera and I was totally looking forward to photographing the new family!
It wasn’t the first time I had met Baby Adriel (he attended Bam-Bam’s 13th birthday party in Dec) but it was the first time I got to interact with him properly. Baby Adriel the Baby Angel! Super cute, super calm and good natured, Adriel was relaxed the entire shoot and happily allowed Jason, Emilia & I to carry him in between the shoot! It also seemed like he’d smile on command!
Towards the end of the shoot, he was drained from all the attention on him and flashing lights that he feel asleep, as intended, which was perfect for the final few b&w shots!
Congrats to Joy & Anderson on their new JAMBA Family! (Joy, Anderson, Max, Boy & Adriel!)
Despite the North-South Korea political tensions, and after unsuccessful attempts in trying to make last minute backup plans for Christmas, we headed to Seoul!
Our plane landed early. The journey from the airport reminded me a lot of Detroit – cold and industrial. In fact, for the next few days to follow, a lot of the city reminded me a lot of the US. Apart from American chains like Krispy Kremes, Dippin Dots (my favorite!) and Bennigans that sprouted everywhere, some parts of the city had similar characteristics to the streets of New York and the suburbs of California.
Day 1 – Shopping!!!
We stayed at the Marriott in Gangnam area and coincidentally, it was also where a subway interchange was conveniently located which made it very easy for us to get around. The first day was allocated to shopping and we headed to Myeong Dong where shops lined the streets at every intersection for one entire block. Here, you can find a good mix of international and local brands, including a 3-storey Forever 21 store! (there was so much stuff to see at Forever 21 I had a headache and had to leave). What I love most about Myeong Dong however, are the street food stalls found at every corner, at every turn. There was one stall in particular, selling deep fried potato curled up onto a stick. Dipped with a special spicy powder, that was THE BOMB!!!
After Myeong Dong, we walked a couple blocks towards Namdaemun market, a wholesale place which seemed unusually dead and empty. So we took a cab, (accidentally hailed a black taxi which Tina already warned us about coz they charge premier rates, double that of the normal cabs) and headed to Doota mall. It was 10:30pm. Yes, we reached the mall late and what most would consider closing time but mall closing hour was nowhere close! We had Bibimbab at the food court before we started shopping. The clothes there are trendy and reasonably priced. However, accessories and shoes are expensive and if you have big feet like me, don’t bother! I guess it was a blessing in disguise coz I acquired 2 pairs of boots and a pair of flats instead of a duffle-bag full of shoes, which would have been the case if I had smaller feet! We only lasted till 1am and decided to call it a night which was still nowhere near closing time! They close at 5am!! Go figure!
Despite the North-South Korea political tensions, and after unsuccessful attempts in trying to make last minute backup plans for Christmas, we headed to Seoul! We arrived early which was great because that meant 4 full days in Seoul! The journey from the airport reminded me a lot of Detroit – cold and industrial. In fact, for the next few days to follow, a lot of the city reminded me a lot of the US. Apart from American chains like Krispy Kremes and Bennigans that sprouted everywhere, some parts of the city had similar characteristics to the streets of New York and the suburbs of California.
Day 2 – The Touristy Stuff
The late night before, cozy bed and cold weather outside meant we slept in pretty late. We headed to Kyung Bok Kong for lunch where Myoung Bin had recommended a famous ginseng chicken stew restaurant. After lunch we headed to the Kyung Bok Kong Palace where we walked most of the palace grounds albeit the biting cold and ended up at the palace museum cafe for some hot chocolate to warm us up! (coffee & hot chocolate stops were common throughout the trip as it was one way of keeping warm! Those Japanese heat packs are also one of the greatest inventions! I made sure I kept one in every pocket and slipped some into my boots too! Yes it was THAT cold and I was without gloves!)
A 5 minute cab ride later, we reached Insadong, a quaint shopping district filled with arts and craft and trendy local labels. Attracted to the Christmas lights and the hustle bustle, we walked straight into an open-air mall. Our mission here was to buy gloves, and a proper bag to put all our souvenir shopping from the palace museum. We did find gloves and the guy at the same store donated a recyclable bag to us! How sweet of him! (I suspect it was coz he liked Ming!). We met up with our friends later that evening and headed to Myoung’s favorite BBQ restaurant at Apgujeong. The food was delicious! (Probaby the best meal we had in Seoul! ) Later that night, we checked out a bar/lounge built within a huge container. I particularly loved the concept and layout of the place, especially for a home studio. Just a pity the idea came too late for the FIFOTO studio!
Kyung Bok Kong Palace
I absolutely loved the barren trees in winter, something we’d never find here in Malaysia!
Insadong – open air mall!
We did not have our caricatures drawn. We didn’t need to as we found this hanging at the stall!
Day 3 – Unplanned-Chillax-Christmas Eve!
It was Christmas Eve! We didn’t have anything planned and decided to just go with the flow! A long cold walk from the Apgujeong station and what felt like an hour later (it was probably just 20 minutes but it felt LONG!), we tried some local cuisine and then headed to Lotte World where Myoung insisted we try the Gyro Drop from about 70 meters high. I think we were afraid of the cold, more than the drop itself. From up high, we enjoyed a breathtaking view of the city lights before our hearts fell to our asses and the windchill bit through our adrenaline-filled veins. It was fun while it lasted! We checked out the indoor shooting range which I was stoked about! (I’ve been wanting to go shooting in KL but never got about to doing it!) Amazingly enough, I hit 3 bulls eye and scored a decent number my first 10 bullets! For dinner, we headed to Sin Cheon for street food but ended up in a local Korean restaurant for chicken galbi (the street vendors were nowhere to be found, we figured it was due to the cold weather!). Our Christmas eve party was in Heaven with Myoung and a few of her friends! It was a good night especially after a very late night supper before bed!
Lotte World
My favorite Dippin’ Dots! I think I had at least 5 of these during our stay!
Notice the layer of ice on the water? Yes it was that cold!
The traffic was really bad!
Day 4 – Our last day!
The Noryanjin fish market was top of my list to visit and we finally made it there after getting lost (misdirected) twice! It was no fun being lost in the icy cold weather but we finally made it and with no regrets as it was a fantastic photo op for me! Here, you can find anything live, and fresh! You can pick from a vast selection of seafood and apparently, they would cook it right there and then! What I really couldn’t take though, was how they beat up the fish! They whacked the fish with a wooden stick on the floor to kill it and it happened at almost every stall we walked by. I had to look away! So after walking the entire stretch of the wet market, we found a decent restaurant where they’d cook our fresh seafood. After a good 30-45 minutes of mis-communications in the ordering, making several phone calls to Myoung and watching the freshly sliced octopus squirm on the plate, we got to enjoy our shabu shabu style octopus and flat fish (well, technically speaking, only Ming got to enjoy both dishes. I was too traumatized from the squirming octopus I couldn’t even put it in my mouth even after it was cooked!)
It was 6pm after our “lunch” at the fish market and it was nightfall. We decided to make our way to Apgujeong, another shopping district, slightly more upscale than the ones before. Here, you will find a ton of funky local brands, designer cafes, restaurants and a good mix of international labels and departmental stores. After another hot chocolate pit stop, we headed to Myoung’s for her Christmas house party!
Weather forecasts said it would snow the next day, which was also the day of our departure. We were anxious to wake up to a white Christmas but much to our disappointment, it was just plain cold! I wonder if it did snow later on! Both of us love it in Seoul and can’t wait to be back, especially under warmer conditions which would mean less suffering and more shopping!
Noryangjin
Noryangjin Fish Market
this octopus squirted some water at Ming… it was huge and restless!
… the beat the fish with a stick…
We bought our seafood from a friendly guy nearby the restaurant… he was just posing for my photo, although eating live octopus is common in Korea!
The octopus continued wriggling even after it was placed in our hot soup!
