An almost family reunion

It is most definitely winter now. Biting cold wind, dreary sky, light sheets of rain, fat rain, intermitent rain, not to mention the occassional hail storms ... ah Melbourne, your winter is much dreaded.

It's a shame my dad had to come down under in this kind of weather but if he hadn't he would have regretted it. Excitement was been building up over the welcoming of a new member of the family: my niece. Me, my older sis, jiman koko and mum have been gushing over her cuteness so much that it tempted my dad to book a last minute flight to come to Melbourne for a week. That was 2 weeks ago. It was worth it :D Younger sis came to visit from Perth too and what a lazy relaxing week that was for me. That was also the week that Diablo III was finally released to the dismay of many girlfriends, fiances and wives.

Oh, little brother had to study for exams so he was stuck in Malaysia. Family reunion? Almost, thanks webcam!

 How I imagined my bro really felt

 The whole family bunking at my sis's apartment living room. Jan and I on our own lappies.


Some sketches to finish off!

Random sketch of garden stuff

An overly colourful but supposedly white cockatoo

P.S. Happy birthday Janis!

Mid-fall

One of the hobbies that I've picked up (among many) since moving to Melbourne is gardening. And I've gone in pretty full force too! Renting a house means turning the backyard upside down, full on renovation style is a no go so I've opted for planting in pots; and spring bulbs thrive well in pots.

Last year I started out with a bag of giant freesia bulbs. They were planted a little too late so the flowers only bloomed for a short time and in small numbers. After more research I've decided to try planting more freesias; wild, giants and refracta albas, hyacinths (they smell nice!), jonquils, irises, tulips, crocuses and a few wild bulbs I found in parks. They've been planted since early fall so most of them have started rooting and some of the green shoots are starting to poke out. *exciting*

 

Giant freesias - white and yellows

 

Jonquil bulbs in pebbles and water

 

 The roots are growing well!

Green shoot sprouting out of one of the jonquil bulbs

Onion weed - small white bell shaped flowers, wild

 I also have an airplant collection

 

 Attempting a few mini terrariums of mosses as well - coriander seed got caught in one of them

Re-vamp attempt

This blog has been on hiatus for some time; I have been keeping myself busy but I feel it's time to set aside some time to do what I like most.

To start off, the completed peacock sketch which I started years ago as written in this post was finally finished in 2011:

I was glad to know that my aunt was very pleased with her commission!

Other random sketches worth showing in between then and now:

Nadal in the sweltering heat of the Aussie Open 2012


Drawing for the cover of our 1st year anniversary photobook



A sudden found fandom of the One Piece manga... truly AWESOME

Enough sketches for now. Next post might contain more photos =)

To a friend who's always been next to me since kindergarten

To a friend who've never judged me or my actions

To a friend who sets me back in the right direction when I've gone astray

To a friend who've always been by my side when I need her

To a friend who always lends an ear when I need someone to listen

To a friend who understands me more than I understand myself

To a friend who supports me no matter what I've chosen to do

To a friend who travels thousands of miles just to visit to me

To a friend who everyone deserves


I'm so glad to have someone like you in my life. Wish you all the happiness this new year. Happy birthday Angie =) Miss you and love you lots! *hugs*

Inspiration from the land of the rising sun

Ahh, finally finished editing all the sketches and the year has already gone! Happy new years =)

I didn't have time for many sketches for the Japan trip but I put quite a lot more effort into the editing. The following drawings are going to be very colourful :D Quite fitting for a country so rich and vibrant at any hour of the day!

The first of the sketches are from Ghibli. Visiting the museum in Mitaka, Tokyo was worthwhile and I wished I had spent more time there. Unfortunately, we had just come back from a long trip from Osaka that day and the museum closes at 6pm. I had 2 hours to soak in all the magic as photos were forbidden within the building =(

Hann got me a gift from the Mama Aiuto Shop (thanks!) : A small box with the iconic Totoro character waiting for the catbus



The musuem had a rooftop garden with a robot statue from Laputa - Castle in the Sky. We got up just in time for sunset (around 4.15pm) and were greeted with a great view



All entry tickets came with a single viewing of a short animated film, which change every few months, screened only in the museum theatre. The one we saw was of a breadmaking goblin witch (?) which found an egg princess (?) and put her to work in her bakery. The egg princess was able to knead a large amount of dough which turned into a magical walking doughman when it was touched by moonlight. Together they tried to escape the goblin witch. It was really cute and enjoyable even without dialogue! The film only lasted about 15 minutes.



Apart from the awesome Studio Ghibli, Tokyo (and all of Japan in general) has fantastic public transport. We never had to wait for more than 10 minutes for the next train. Once inside, you can see everyone's mobile phones glued to their hands. I also noticed their right thumbs are usually flatter and wider than average. Too much texting maybe?



Our first destination out of Tokyo was Hiroshima and there are no direct routes on the Shinkansens (bullet trains) for these 2 cities. If we missed the Tokyo shinkansen, it could mean waiting 1 or 2 hours in an in-between city to catch another Shinkansen to Hiroshima. Haha, and we almost missed the Tokyo shinkansen. There was a lot of running with heavy luggage, plus, shinkansen platforms do not have escalators... fun!



The shinkansen ride was also the place I got the best view of Fujisan. Thankfully it was a clear day.



Last sketch for the post, I miss the food. Sigh, hot takoyaki on a cold night was heavenly

Don't think I'll do a food post for Japan like the one I did for KL and Korea. It might take too long to upload xD

Carpentry lessons

We had none and this post is not going to give you much of one either! But I do have before and after photos of the chest-of-drawers/shelf that Hann and I built from scratch.

After, designing, shopping, lots of drilling, bolts and screws (and screw ups) later, we managed to get it to look like this:

Before painting

After painting

Not bad considering we had no experience and we started from just a large slab of mdf board! The project took about a total of 2 weeks to finish but it was good fun and I learned a lot from it. Special thanks to Hann for letting me use all his machines and use his shed for storage!

Next post will be sketches from the Japan trip!

It's good to be a glutton in KL and Korea

This post is all about food =) Very image heavy and as previously warned, do not read this post in the middle of the night unless you want a guilt trip.

First off, let's start with the good ol' roti telur with curry, dhal and more curry from Jaffar in Sunway


From top left - down: Assorted local drinks from a cafe selling ikan bakar (grilled fish); soft and fluffy J.Co donuts; classic vanilla cupcake with a rich icing on top, both from Sunway Pyramid


A hang out place suggested by Rinheart - Winter Warmers, hot drinks were served in delicately painted tea cups but I ordered an ice blended green tea. It was nice and cooling on a hot day in Sunway =)


A small stall next to the cinemas in Sunway Pyramid, decent fries with a large choice of dips, love the slogan too!


A popular meal choice for large group gatherings - STEAMBOAT! Top: BBQ plaza and Bottom: Yuen Steamboat (restaurant of choice for the MEMS gang)


Angie knows my love for Jap food, so she brought me to Rakuzen in SS15. Verdict - very decent serving size and the meal was awesssommmmmeee =)


Took a day trip down to Melaka to meet Shi Jia, bought snacks for the trip, very nostalgic as I haven't had them in ages. Thanks for driving Angie!


The must haves when you reach Melaka from top: Chicken rice served in circular rice balls; Assam laksa; ABC with thick gula Melaka syrup *drools*


And now for Korean food! It was an overnight flight so we arrived the next morning hungry for breakfast. Jiman koko got some kimbab (rice balls) stuffed with gochujang pork yum!
Some more food bought from a bus rest stop, little walnut cakes and fish cake skewers


The huge lunch Jiman koko's mum prepared for us with heaps of assorted side dishes, quite an eye candy too! Everything was so presentable.


Market food! The main dish is called Sunde, with sweet potato noodles and pork blood stuffed in pork intestines. Doesn't sound very appealing to most people but it was pretty yummy!


The menu at a large foodcourt. Much like Japan I'm guessing, they have inedible model versions of the meal on display so you could choose which one you like. So realistic you'll be tempted to eat it until you realise it was all plastic :P


My brother and I were also keen in trying the different fastfoods around there from the top:
A sushi roll and sandwich meal box with fried chicken from a supermarket; LOTTERIA~~ Bulgogi burger was small but tasty!; Dumpling ramyun with sides


We also had grilled eel in Yeoso, about 2+ hours drive from Gwangju, best in the area apparently! The top photo is a raw crab side dish, very fresh and juicy. The koreans would get upset if you tried putting the crabs on the grill...


Later in the Korea trip, we went to a small village near Seoul called Seoshin where we had Seafood korean pancake (bottom right) and hand made noodles (top right)... So YUM! Oh, we also went to a beach laden with oysters which we picked off and ate on the spot :P

To finish off, I have some pictures of the food I made for my sis. Been promising her a three course meal for ages now (she requested asian food) and I finally had the chance 2 weeks ago.

Creamy crab soup for entre
Sticky pork ribs and tofu with mixed veges for main
Strawberry soft chesecake for dessert


Boiling the crab to cook the meat and to make the stock for the soup~


The main meal TADDAAAAA~!


And lastly, a picture of the cheesecake with strawberries on top, not very presentable but at least it tastes good =)

The next post will be short: The making of my chest-of-drawers-shelf hybrid

Korea

Very very late post on Korea. But I have lots of sketches for it so I'm really happy with this post :P

So we arrived at Incheon airport and found out that they don't use the simcard system and we would need to rent a mobile phone at the counter at the airport. Jiman koko did just that and this was the guy manning the counter that day...



Check out the dude's whacky hairstyle! It was super geeky coconut cut fringe and then all crazy and funky at the back and top! My mum, bro and I couldn't stop laughing when we saw the guy and secretly took photos of him :P

Weather there was very warm contrary to our belief that it was 'autumn'. The seasons were 15 days late this year so we arrived just shy of the start of autumn. No pretty red and yellow leaves, how unfortunate =(

Spending the first few days in Gwangju was nice and relaxing, for me and my bro anyways. My parents were swept off to dress up for studio photo shoots with sis and Jiman koko and his mum. Dad got a nice new jacket just for the wedding! Here he is checking himself out in the mirror of the hotel room with the jacket on :P


Ed had to dress up nicely for the wedding as well but was ill prepared by bringing an old shirt (!) Therefore he had to go shopping no matter how much he dreaded it ... But at least he looks handsome and he seemed pretty pleased with the black shirt mum got him.



Then off to Jeju Island for 4 days. A quick sketch of buildings inspired by the gel pen drawings on the glass windows of some cafes on Jeju and also in some cafes in Seoul. I really like this style and I'm really glad I managed to pull it off!



Remember I mentioned we thought it would be autumn by the time we reached Korea? Well, I seemed to have underestimated the tropical sun of the south island that is Jeju island. On our last day there we hiked up the sunrise peak at midday, and I got badly sunburnt... LOL

Ever wondered why the koreans are so fair? They are dead scared of the sun and getting tan and this is how they protect themselves...



NOT REALLY! Hahaha, but the korean ajumas (aunties or old women) all wear this huge reflector thing that is a cap during the day. This is an ajuma selling dried chili in a street market of Gwangju. Most of the younger girls look like this:



They love their checks! Guys and girls alike wear checkered shirts of all colours... and it was evident in the shopping malls too. Must be quite a trend.

Speaking of shopping, the night before my sis's wedding I had to buy a bottle of foundation that could hide the burns on my shoulders cause the T-shirt tan was pretty darn ugly. Good thing I was the photographer... meaning there weren't as many pictures with me in it =)



Mum looked gorgeous in a traditional korean hambok, eventhough she didn't get the colour she wanted (pink). You always look better in blue mum. Everyone said she looks scarily like Jiman koko's mum... they looked like twins!



And finally the couple themselves! Jiman koko was wearing a tuxedo (penguin suit ftw!!) with lots of bling (very korean style apparently) and sis had a really nice korean hairstyle with a super long veil which she kept complaining about because it was so hot! Congrats again!



Preview of the next post...




YEAP!!! FOOD PICTURES!!! MUAHAHAHAHA! Do not read the next post in the middle of the night, you are sure to feel like snacking

Busy as a Bee

Bzz bzzzz....


Well, looks like my plan to update my blog in late September failed >.< I have a few sketches inspired by my trip from Korea but I'm not finished with them and I will not upload them till I'm finished... But it's gonna be a massive blog post (hopefully)! So no sketches for this post but! a small update on what has happened so far: Korea - KL trip was AWEESOOMMEE~!! It was great meeting up with everyone again in Sunway and food in KL and Korea was heavenly=) Angie came to Melbourne then went off to NZ :'( Built a chest of drawers with bookshelf from scratch (photos to come - it looks awesome no matter what you say Hann) Zonghui came to Melbourne! Finally! :D Got a new phone! XD (number will not change) And now for the Things I have to do: Upload more sketches for a proper blog post Upload some heavenly food porn for my Korea - KL blog post Finish writing my literature review for my project Finish writing my assignment/exam for research practices Finish planning for my trip to Japan (!) ... can't believe I'm going to Japan!!

Hiatus

Nope, not talking about the July - August hiatus but about the September hiatus as well...




I AM GOING TO KL AND KOREA FOR A 3 WEEK HOLIDAY!!!! :D

So, July has been a super super busy month, with my sister's wedding and Janis coming down to Melbourne. August was also really busy with wushu training and performances... I'll have a few long posts to cover for July and August plus a super long one for September.

I can't wait to meet my friends in KL (ANGGIIIIIEEEEEEE I'm coming to see you in less than 24 hours!!! OMG!!! Squeeaaaaa!). It'll be great to catch up with all my Sunway friends again. I've missed you guys heaps! I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how Korea is like and most definitely looking forward to the food! :P I also haven't met my dad in ages! Cause he didn't come to my graduation last year... hmmpph... ah well. If I do finish my PhD he'll have to come to that one! :P

It's gonna be a very very interesting month ahead indeed. I hope it'll be enjoyable! =) Hopefully I'll be able to post updates at the end of September otherwise this blog would have lost its purpose!




Gonna miss a certain someone in Melbourne too =) Take care!