Photo Diary: Takayama - Kanazawa

 

You know the day's going to go perfect when you start it off with a view of your favourite flowers, sitting prettily in a pot beside a bicycle. We started off the day with the Asa-ichi Market, with all sorts of small roadside stalls and an extremely sporting fruit-stall owner who gamely posed for a photo (he had a really cool apple-peeling-and-slicing machine). The city girl in me squealed at the abundance of fish in what would be called a large drain in Singapore.

After that, we took a drive to the Shirakawa-go Ogimachi Gassho Village, with its iconic village huts, all complete with a 60 degree angled roof. Apparently the sarubobo monkey doll is supposed to bring happiness to the owner, and I bought one, because I'm a sucker for things like that. I must have more than a drawer full of kitsch touristy souvenirs already but I can't seem to stop buying them. There's also really nothing like an ancient-looking village with daisies and rice paddy fields-- they make for amazing photoshoot locations. I spent a goodly amount of time chasing birds around (the sheer variety in Japan is just amazing), attempting to get a clear, close-up shot of them, but few of the feathered creatures wanted to cooperate with me, and it was with much difficulty (think me climbing onto benches and random ledges) that I managed to snap a few clear shots of that plump little bird. 

We visited a sakura-tree garden, but sadly the season for sakura has long been over, and we were greeted with the sight of barren trees. The perpetual rain made the afternoon a little dreary, but nevertheless everything was still spectacularly beautiful. The last photo is of yours truly, posing in front of the Kanazawa Castle and looking gloriously minuscule in front of the magnificent building, clad in my new gingham midi from Fairebelle. 

xx

Heart On My Sleeve

{sweater: Nex / pants, H&M / shoes, Vans / rings, cache cache / bracelet, Beadstreet / bag, BKK}

(photos by Siu Farn)

I'm back from my uni orientation camp at long last, and finally managed to spend some quality time with my bed, and my computer! (This may have been the first time I ever woke up past noon.) I'm naturally a super-introvert, and majorly shy to boot, so, wow, this camp was a real eye-opener. I don't think I've ever been forced to have close contact with the same group of people for five whole days. At the end of it all, the first thing I did when I got back home was to lock myself up in my room alone and stare at the wall. I know, that makes me sound a little like a psychopath. Nevertheless, I met some great people there, and others that I really respect and admire, and overall, I wouldn't trade the experience for anything else in the world. Thank you for an amazing and crazy 5 days, Maestro.

But anyway, back to the outfit. I went around telling my friends that this would be my standard "cute and geeky uni-student hanging out at Starbucks studying" school outfit for the next four years of my life, but I kind of get the feeling that I'll look more like a hobo, with unkempt and messy hair, a plain t-shirt, and sloppy jeans. When I wore this to the office, I got a varied set of comments: "You look like a Christmas Tree.". "You look like a watermelon.". "Your sweater is so cute! It's really... holey.". "Are you even wearing anything on underneath the sweater?". It's nice to know that my outfits generate such talk. It's been... quite some time since I started wearing jeans and sneakers again, but yeah, I'm a jeans and sneakers kind of girl, underneath all the poofy skirts and feminine tops. I'll be off for an OG outing now, so see you all when I get back!

xx

Ubiquitous

{top, Bugis Street / jacket, Fabfad / necklace, Talisman's / skirt, Kitschen / shoes, Doctor Martens / pouch, Sephora / NYX Butter Lip Gloss}

(photos by Siu Farn)

Ubiquity is underrated, in an age of 'I wanna be different from everybody, so I'm going to wear things that are radically set apart from everybody else'. Some days I just want to fade into the background (or wallpaper), and wear the exact same thing that everyone is wearing-- perhaps an old-time desire of wanting to fit in. How we have progressed; in order to fit in, we have to be different and unique. Am I making any sense? Perhaps not. I just ended my orientation pre-camp and I am, to put it simply, dead on my feet. My throat (still unrecovered from the previous week's horrifying illness) throbs and my head hurts at an intensity to rival the pain in my throat.
Nevertheless, here's hoping for the best during orientation! Goodbye comfortable bed, wi-fi access, clean showers and clothes, and all things that make an introvert like me happy-- for a week, at least. See you all soon! xx

Photo Diary: Mount Fuji

{top, Bugis Street / jacket, Fox / pants, H&M / shoes, Doctor Martens}

I’m a city girl, through and through—I like being surrounded by a concrete jungle, I enjoy the comforts of air-conditioner and internet access, and just basking in the general feeling of being in the twenty-first century. It’s odd that in Japan, I could let the chilly mountain air replace the air-conditioner, and seeing the greenery up close fascinated me far more than any photo on a digital screen could ever hope to.

Standing in the freezing air in summer clothes (it was around 9 degrees Celsius), with my frozen hands wrapped gingerly around my camera, I felt something akin to freedom. Mount Fuji was a magnificent sight to behold, all dark and jagged and covered in layers of pure white snow, basking in cushions of translucent, flimsy clouds. We were lucky enough that the mountain saw fit to emerge from behind the curtains of fog and clouds to allow us a glimpse of its majestic silhouette for a few minutes before it retreated again. It was a sublime feeling, and I even managed to capture the beautiful flight of a strikingly handsome bird (though it may have just been a common crow).

The Hirayu Great Falls were a rushing burst of exhilaration and wonder, all packed into one large fall of sparkling water. I stopped so many times to take photos of the miniature flowers and dewy leaves hidden within the grass that I lagged far behind the entire group, but it was worth it—if you look closely, you can see a small piece of dandelion fluff falling off the main head of the flower.

A traditional Japanese dinner and futon awaited us at our hot springs hotel, and I must admit that I was completely befuddled at the array of plates and bowls in front of me, and in the end my hunger manifested itself into something like “I don’t care which bowl I’m supposed to eat first, I’m just going to eat whatever is nearest to me and looks good.”.

And even now, looking back at these photos, I miss the cleanliness, the purity of that place—imagine that, me, a city girl, missing the mountains. 

xx