Shuutravels

Unfortunately, I have not had the time to do my weekly spring runs in Regents Park as I've been busy trying to make full use of my gym membership. So I think I missed the peak cherry blossom season in the park, but nonetheless, given today's good weather I was adamant on visiting Regent's Park before sakura trees cease to blossom. I didn't catch all the cherry blossom trees in their full pink glory but I did get to see the falling petals which looked like the most magical spring shower ever. Almost bridal, I would say.

With spring and 21 degrees celcius here, it's time for pastels and bare legs! I've recently only shopped and missguided for the first time ever, and I love it! They have such pretty designs and I couldn't resist getting a bunch of assymetric skirts from them and a shearling coat (which was only GBP25!) Anyway, in light of spring and cherry blossom hunting, I decided to go for a pastel look with a mint/powder blue assymetric skirt and a pink cardigan today. Scroll away :)





Hehe, till next time! Loads of flowers and love x

London today is 21 degrees celcius *jumps for joy* Time for cardigans and tank tops and bare legs #thisislife

Today is also the perfect day to visit Lanka, a cute litte Japanese cake and tea salon on Finchley Road. Amanda has been raving about this for months and I finally got the chance to visit this lovely little gem of a cake shop.

We ordered four cakes to share and two pots of tea, and it is probably an understatement to say I was in heaven! Japanese cakes have the perfect texture. Unlike the usual heavy cakes you find in Western cafes, these are so light and moist I could eat them all day. Probably not very good for the waistline. Still, I'm definitely going back to treat myself once exams are over. So here, let the photos tell the story and whet your appetite...

Last summer I finally fulfilled my dream to visit Penang after hearing so many mouthwatering stories about the place. So, a very full belly and many months later, here's my take on How to Eat Your Way through Penang. (But first, let me take a selfie... - yes for 3 days, I took an unbelievable number of photos, but hey the murals in Georgetown are so cute!).



We randomly decided to pop by a Penang laksa street stall because well, the dish has Penang in its name so maybe it'd be nice?? I'm not a fan of the Penang laksa they serve in Singapore 'cause it's too fishy and taut for me but unfortunately the flavours here are even stronger :X Sorry Penang Laksa, I guess we're just not meant to be.



This wasn't on our planned itinerary but I'm so glad we visited it. (Actually, we only went in because it started pouring heavily and we only had one umbrella to share.) My impression of batik before I entered this museum was solely defined by those perankan batik styled clothes or table cloths or what have you, but boy was I wrong! I was so impressed by the variety of subjects and landscapes exhibited. I never knew batik could be used like this haha. There were some really gorgeous pieces of art, and I especially love how batik colours can be so rich and translucent at the same time.





This was another interesting stop on our itinerary. Remants of Penang's Chinese settlement history, there are six clan jetties along the coast, each named after a Chinese clan. We visited a couple of them, but the Chew Jetty is probably the most tourist friendly with many shops and a substantially wide and long walkway such that I didn't feel like I was intruding into people's homes. People actually still live here. It has modernised a lot with electricity cables and water pipes running everywhere, but it still amazes me every time I visit such places. Citygirl93 or entitledkid93?


I don't know which came first, Singapore's wheeler's yard or this one, but this cafe had a bicycle theme as well. We ate here when we first touched down into Penang as we only managed to reach Georgetown past 9pm, AND BARELY ANYTHING WAS OPEN (I can't believe it??). We had aglio olio and a lava cake to share but meh, food was mediocre.

Over our next two days in Penang we visited a couple other more 'atas' Western cafes (we went to Behind 50 and Mugshot Cafe too) but they all seemed lacklustre. Not saying the food wasn't good, but it was relatively expensive. I mean definitely cheap as compared to Singapore cafe standards, but I have such a soft spot for hawker food and with hawker food at just about every corner in Penang, it just seemed like a waste of stomach space to visit these cafes hahaha.

I love CKT!!! This one was special, as they use duck eggs to fry with the CKT instead of the usual chicken eggs, making the flavour much richer. The next time I go to Penang I must totally starve myself before that so I have extra stomach space to eat more of these nomnomnomnom.


This is the famous chendol place that everyone goes to. You have to pay more to sit in the store so most people just hold the bowl and stand around. I was quite disappointed though. I've heard so many raves about this place but I felt it was just meh. There was a nice thick coconut taste and they were very generous with the ingredients but I was feeling so hot and sweaty from all the walking around and I guess my stomach just wasn't craving chendol at that point in time. The bowl warmed up pretty fast too because of the scorching sun. Oh well. If you're a chendol fan I guess you should still give this a try!



And that's it! Penang is such a fun destination (see crazy photo above). We ate much much more than everything I've covered above but I was too busy eating to take photos at every stop haha. Oh, also, DO NOT EVER WALK TO GURNEY DRIVE FROM GEORGETOWN. I have no idea what we were thinking when we decided, at 8pm, to take the treacherous 30min to Gurney Drive. Well, burning off some calories was probably the impetus, but nope. Never Again. Firstly, the roads are not very pedestrian friendly. Not only are there no side walks, we had to jaywalk across many VERY BUSY intersections that were not very well lit. Also, yes, I felt like I could get mugged any time. Thankfully the final stretch of the road leading to Gurney along the coast was full of posh Penang condominiums so I felt a little more safe. But, very bad idea. You will thank me for the warning hahaha.

Alright, update with more trips next time! If you're heading to Penang soon and would like a map of where I visited in Penang you can find it here xx

I FINALLY. Got to visit NYC last year. Pardon the mega-belated post, but nonetheless my affection for this vibrant city has not waned. And yes, everytime I update le blog it is during exam period because somehow I will find time to do things that I have never otherwise had the time to do. I'm sure you understand the irony lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Here's 2014's music list. Because I do this almost every year. And because music is so important to me (how do people survive without music?? I know some people who don't even listen...). In fact, listing this actually helps me recall and reflect on the past year...

(in hopefully chronological order)

All of Me John Legend
Burn Ellie Golding
Let Her Go Passenger
Please Don't Say You Love Me Gabrielle Aplin
Wings Birdy
Timber Kesha
Drunk Ed Sheeran
Magic Coldplay
A Sky Full of Stars Coldplay
Summer is Over Jon McLaughlin/Sara Bareilles
Rather Be Clean Bandit
I Will Never Let You Down Rita Ora
Fancy Iggy Azalea
Problem Arianda Grande
Bang Bang Jessie J/ Arianda Grande/ Nicki Minaj
Girls Chase Boys Ingrid Michaelson
Chandelier Sia
Work Iggy Azalea
Chasing the Sun Sara Bareilles
Blank Space Taylor Swift
Thinking Out Loud Ed Sheeran
Style Taylor Swift

Bring it on 2015. This year has been a mad whirlwind but I have accomplished so much more that I thought I could and it has all but ended on a good note. I'm turning 22, and I can't wait!!