bali: part II

BALI: PART II. Our third day in Bali was spent in Ubud, a wee bit up north from Canggu. There's quite a bit to see there, so it's also a little more touristy, but still not overrun like Seminyak or Kuta. We rented a driver for the day and started at the rice field terraces, then we headed to the monkey forest (where we witnessed a monkey rape), the Goa temple and the Batur Mt. volcano. We also stopped at a plantation farm thing, where they among other things produce luwat coffee beans, which are coffee beans eaten and then pooped out by these ferret-looking animals, it's suppose to be yum yum, but I prefer not to consume things that have come out of a butthole, thank you.

bali: part I

BALI: PART I. Oh snap, guess who's back? Bali was a dream, much more exotic than I had expected. The day before jetting off I found a super affordable room in an amazing villa in Canggu, which is north of Seminyak and Kuta, the party areas, so it's more quiet and not very touristy at all (God bless Airbnb). The foreigners you do meet actually live in Canggu or like us do not want to get caught in the touristy hustle and bustle that Bali can be. We rented scooters, we ate a lot, we met some really great people and basically just did whatever we felt like doing...Sooo relaxing... Oh Bali... Aku cinta kamu. ♥

adios amigos

ADIOS AMIGOS. Off to Bali for some Eat, Pray, Love inspired days with my buddy-buddy Sabrina, back on Tuesday. Have I ever read Eat, Pray, Love? No. But Sabrina sums it up as finding oneself and I desperately need a getaway to just breathe, relax and soak up some sun (weather forecast: sunny, 30 degrees, thank you Indonesia!). I feel like the last few weeks have been so busy and intense and monsoon season can be so depressing. Sunshine, here we come! :)

gueven: day 2

GUEVEN: DAY 2. On the second day, we slept in and then it rained and rained, so we were confined to the apartment for a bit, then we headed downtown to Maxwell Food Center, another hawker, again for chicken rice, so good. Then I showed Gueven Marina Bay, where it started raining so badly once again, my feet were soaked! Then we got home, changed and headed to dinner at my faaaaavorite, Din Tai Fung (it never gets old!!!), with Maurice, Sabrina and William, and then Cold Stone. Then Sabrina and I showed Gueven Clark Quay, a bar/club area and theeeen we headed home for a good night's rest (Gueven is zzZzzZz as I prewrite this post :)). 

gueven: day 1

GUEVEN: DAY 1. After my last exam I had lunch with some friends and then rushed home to tidy up my room before heading to the airport to pick up Gueven. We then had dinner at a food hawker Holland Village, yumming chicken rice, nasi lemak and fried carrot cake, so good. Then we went for drinks at the university bar, since it was Joel's birthday the next day and I would not be seeing a lot of my Maastricht friends anymore, since they all leave to wherever soon. Such a long day that for once I was glad to fall into my bed, despite its flintstone hardness.

maastricht meets rotterdam

MAASTRICHT MEETS ROTTERDAM. Last Wednesday night (I so thought of copy pasting in Katy Perry lyrics, but refrained, I'm not thaaaaat lame!), I went out to Le Baroque at Chijmes and Butterfactory with some friends from Maastricht, who are also on exchange here. One of my last ladies nights in Singapore, I feel a teardrop coming. :) the majority of the photos turned out pretty ridiculous, I just wanted to especially share this shot of the full moon on Marina Bay (blurry, because taken at night with no tripod by my little camera). Exam tomorrow, after which Gueven touches down on Singaporean soil, then Bali and then Bianca visits and then I'm already off to Vietnam, last stop before heading back to Europe, ahhhhh. Time flies by way too fast. 

blogger's depression

BLOGGER'S DEPRESSION. I've been suffering from a blogger's depression lately, just have not felt like posting anything at all. Maybe it's the upcoming exam that I have not studied for yet or the fact that my Essie good to go! is empty or it's the monsoon grey that rolls of Singapore every day, which, don't get me wrong I still prefer to a cold, wet, mushy Rotterdam winter, can still be so depressing. I don't know, but in an attempt to shake it off, here is my first post in a while! 

I had a great and refreshing weekend with Hong Ha, who stopped over Singapore for 3 days, and Bac Khue, who joined us on Saturday, both left last night. It's always to nice to spend time with family, especially when you're away from home, and with "home" I do not even know which place I actually mean. :) today is laundry and study day (it's almost 5pm and I have not studied nor done the laundry yet...), monsoon downpour just commenced, frustrating... Perfect weather for blogging though, so here are the pictures from the weekend, 3 days squeezed into one post, ready, set, go!

yellow diamonds in the light

YELLOW DIAMONDS IN THE LIGHT. Obsessed with my new knit, seriously... Wearing it as I type... Oh goodness, I foresee another rehab intervention situation coming up (white lace top, I miss you!). Anyways... It's been such a loooong and tiring day, consisting mostly of indulging in Indian food, claypot, a waffle, a lot of iced Milo and Asia Pacific Business Environment, spot the mistake. No fun. But I did come home to this wonderful sunset outside my window, so it kind of makes up for the uneventful day (and the extensive monsoon rain). Off to bed now, good night world! :)

zouk flea market

ZOUK FLEA MARKET. I had heard about the Zouk flea market months ago, but found no dates as to when it would be. It's only held once every six months or so, so I was ecstatic when I by random found out it would be this Sunday. Basically its a flea market for charity in one of the most well-known clubs in Singapore, but actually its more like a epiphany of Asian hipster, with everyone being oh-so-cool with their thrifted maxi skirts, non-prescription glasses and lime green men's shoes. Haha either way, when we were about to leave my eye caught this amazing knit (subsequently caught by an amazing cardigan, and then a necklace), and I tried, but could not fight it, I had to get it all (Maurice was no help in all of this, but more of an instigator)... Ayo, I do not know how to get this all in my suitcase and back to Europe... 

national museum

NATIONAL MUSEUM. Friday. Actually planned on botanic gardens, but monsoon downpour made it impossible to get anywhere dry, so museum day it was, followed by my favorite, Din Tai Fung, dim sum heaven. Then a Cold Stone Chocolate Devotion, disgustingly good. And finally, vino by the Singapore River. Oh boy... Credit card bill, go easy on me...

lightroom

LIGHTROOM. Woke up early this morning for an Adobe Lightroom introduction course. Needless to say, I was utterly confused and very lost. Playing around with it a little at the moment, and I must say I am surprised at how much you can change a picture (quite sad what photography has really come to: edit, edit, edit), but I cannot seem to get it just right yet... Ayo... Pictures from the National Museum yesterday to be posted soon, need to direct my full attention to Modern Family my group project first. :)

scariest place you'll ever be

SCARIEST PLACE YOU'LL EVER BE. With recess week coming up and no more classes (had an oral test this morning and have an exam coming up November 22nd), I am taking advantage of my last free days in Singapore to explore. I realized I moved to Singapore and just started living, and never really went through the whole tourist experience, my goodness do I have a lot to catch up on before I leave. So, first stop: Haw Par Villa, which, as the title already says, definitely is the scariest place you'll ever be. It's actually a "theme park" but not a la Sentosa or Universal Studios, it's a Chinese mythological theme park... It was founded by two brothers, the founders of Tiger Balm actually, since they felt Singapore was becoming too amoral. Wikipedia calls it "a venue for teaching traditional Chinese value". I just think it's terrifyingly scary and very, very weird.

kuala lumpur: day 3

KUALA LUMPUR: DAY 3. Last day in KL... Sightseeing en masse, Hard Rock, Petronas Towers (agaaaain :)) and then Mont' Kiara (!!!!!). 

kuala lumpur: day 2

KUALA LUMPUR: DAY 2. Batu caves, Petaling street, Nandos, more sightseeing, more food, more sightseeing, even more food, gin tonic, goodnight.

kuala lumpur: day 1

KUALA LUMPUR: DAY 1. 

bits and bobs

BITS AND BOBS. As my time in Singapore comes to an end, here are some of the actually rather unexciting pictures taken by my Blackberry during the exchange (I feel like lazy hari raya day justifies quickly just posting a pre-written entry). Pictures from KL to come once I have compiled mine with Sabrina's, who has already posted some here.

fantabulous: part duo!

FANTABULOUS: PART DUO!
P.S. Off to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend with Sabrina and Maurice. Wishing you all a lovely end to the week. :)

fantabulous: part uno!

FANTABULOUS: PART UNO! ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay, one of the highlights of my time in Singapore. Titantic and Dali, the best exhibitions I have ever been to, really amazing and the architecture of the museum is just surreal, as is all of Marina Bay actually. One of the best days so far in Singapore, also because of dim sum lunch at Din Tai Fung before the museum, Marina Bay water show and Mexican dinner at Clarke Quay afterwards. Love, love love, or as YeiJi would say, fantabulous.  

oranje

ORANJE. Random post. Photo was shot by Max at the Education Resource Center after the Timbre Rock Concert.