Sitting in a beautifully sunny garden in Milan right now.. and about to tell you a story about an afternoon spent in Bordeaux during one of the last days of 2013, in the winter!

My best friend from home, Joyce, had come to France spend the Christmas period with her partner Clem, whose family lives in Bordeaux. I joined in for one week.

^This is my favourite photo of the city that I’d taken during the trip.

Bright circle lights hanging over the streets illuminate the city at night.. it felt magical!

^The fleuve

I just liked the look of these naked, leafless trees. And then ME! In hindsight I should’ve worn something more along the lines of.. neon yellow.

^Me, Joyce, Clem.

It was SO GOOD to see these two again! It’s always a funny/fun/crazy time think it’s cos we’re all so mad..

We took one day out of the week that we spent together to go out and have a wander around Bordeaux. Started with lunch at some brasserie which name I sadly don’t remember – but it was nothing super special so I thought it unnecessary.. haha

^Joyce’s steak tartare

^Stuffed eggs and oysters

THE TREE BRANCH

So, after lunch, when we went out to where all the naked trees were…. I found this tree branch with bright orange leaves still attached, lying lonely on the ground. Naturally, I befriended it and invited it to join us on our city stroll.

I introduced it to Joyce. She was receptive.

Unfortunately, Clem refused to be friends with an inanimate object. I had to chase him down so many streets with the branch, pestering him.

“SAY HELLO to the branch!!!”

Clem said he was embarrassed to be seen with us.

Eventually, with a LOT of annoying behaviour by Joyce and I, Clem relented and ACTUALLY SAID HELLO TO MY TREE BRANCH!!! HA ha hahahha

I pushed it by trying to make him say more, but I think that was his limit.. but it’s ok, we got the whole thing on video.. 🙂

It was a rather grey gloomy day that afternoon. But the sunshine was in US!

We went to a couple of beautiful toy stores and I bought myself a plush.. banana. What else, right?

Saw this cool art installation near the church:

At first I thought WOW what a cool tunnel thingy.. that’s somewhat like a ball..

We went inside and took some photos

BUT THEN AT NIGHT!

Isn’t it so cool! I hope to have something similar in my own garden. Umm someday.

^Joyce brought her Carebear out.

And here’s a little behind-the-scenes shot:

>

HAHA!

^I thought there was a certain beauty in the monotonous colour palette that was seen in Bordeaux that day. Quiet, peaceful, and a little bit mysterious! A perfect setting for someone like me to come prancing about with a brightly dressed tree branch..

And oh yeah, I also learnt that you can buy a model of Picasso’s nose. My favourite is the watermelon one – seen on the bottom row, far right.

I like the idea of having a colourful Picasso’s nose in my handbag or pocket. That way I can pull it out at random times.

“Hey, look what I have here, a NOSE”

It’s a good way to meet people, I think.

While I can’t say that I ‘fell in love’ with Bordeaux – like I do with many places I go to – I did have a lot more fun than I anticipated! The people were fairly friendly.. there was even a night when we ended up at some random dude’s flat to share a few drinks.. but that’s a story for another day.

The city itself was also more vibrant than I imagined. Admittedly I didn’t spend too much time exploring it since most of the week was spent with Clem in the suburbs with his family and friends.

Wanna go to Bordeaux? Check Monarch for cheap flights from London! They’ve got a concise little guide to the city too.. !

AKA 

How to Have Too Much Fun / Embarrass Yourself / Go Crazy at a Festival

This is way overdue, but BANG here’s my post about my time at Wilderness Festival 2013, held last August in beautiful Charlbury near the Cotswolds. It was a rather last-moment decision to attend (like many of my big life decisions..) and omg it was THE best decision ever! SO here are about 50 photos and some accompanying text in an attempt to best share with you my experience at what I frequently describe to my friends as ‘The Best Festival Ever’ 🙂

The THING about Wilderness is that.. it’s not just a music festival. I like to say that it’s a festival that celebrates LIFE! Because there’s so much to see and to. It’s full of stimulating activities and experiences which enrich your life.

There’s fantastic FOOD, art, beautiful people, poetry readings, dance classes, cricket, circus shows, fire twirlers, wild swimming, archery, crafts, hula hooping, a BUBBLE STAND, night-time raves in the forest, lanterns, fancy dress, face painting, books hanging from trees which you can take and read, a SPA, science lessons, horse-riding, cooking classes, speed dating… there’s just SO MUCH that I get overwhelmed and excited just trying to recollect it all! Just imagine ALL THIS set upon rolling green hills and big beautiful trees..

I borrowed a Cath Kidston tent from my dear friend Hannah – and set it up ALL TO MYSELF. If there’s one festival camping tip I can divulge it’s HAVE YOUR OWN TENT. Having the space and privacy is amazing! Also I get to lay around naked without a care then the sun gets in and tries to burn me alive during the late mornings.

There were three of us in the group who were originally from Malaysia one of the girls actually brought a Malaysian flag to the festival! We were wondering if there were any other people there who were from Malaysia as well.. we concluded: probably not. They set up the flag at our campsite. How cute!

FOOD

2013 headlined by Polpo, Hix, and Ottolenghi – i.e. they catered the nightly banquets.

There was also food by Moro, St John, and J. Sheekey.

I had most fun eating throughout the day from the many stalls that served the festival all day! I have to say, it was rather refreshing not to see the usual crappy kebabs and other junk food that you’d usually find at other music festivals :p

^pulled pork meal

^freakin’ awesome cheeseburger.. drooling right now. RIGHT NOW.

^salt beef on fries topped with cheese

^edible flowers

Yeah, EDIBLE FLOWERS. From one of those health food thingies. Of course I had to at least try it, so up to the counter I went and collected my free cup of.. flowers and other plants. There was some kind of dressing drizzled on top but you know what? IT SUCKS. That’s the truth. So dry and.. tasteless..hmm.

Eating that enriched my life in terms of introducing to me what it’s like to be a wild grazing herbivore (one tick off the life-experience list!), but nothing more..

^a little teatime section complete with big red London bus!

^Having breakfast at the Moro tent

There were lots of haystacks to lounge on.. isn’t that so hipster cool? Hahaha

SUNSHINE / PLAYTIME

We were SO lucky. The sun LOVED us and showed itself all through the festival! Needless to say everyone was in a great mood. It was truly a festival full of love (fuelled and encouraged by sunshine).

During the day, people would just laze around on the grass. You’d never get bored because there’d be so many quirky people to watch. Art to see. Books to read. Music to listen to. Games to play. You just can’t be bored.

We were happy just to BE on the grass!

^Linda, Me, Aishah

We’d spend ages on this particular hill near the lake, soaking it up. Every day.

It was one of the quieter areas. I thought of rolling down the hill, but fortunately I had enough brains to restrain myself for fear of rolling all the way into the cold water.

SO, I went to a water-free zone to do my rolling and land-hugging instead:

^dry swimming here.

My friends were so embarrassed that they stayed away and used the camera to document my actions instead.

I did all sorts of rolls – forwards, backwards, sideways.
I was SO HIGH ON SUNSHINE. HIGH ON LIFE. I couldn’t stop!

I started talking to random people passing by, trying to persuade them to join me on the ground.
I crawled around like an animal. I felt like an animal. I slithered around like a worm.

It was one of the funniest/happies afternoons I’d ever had. You know when you can just LET GO and not CARE what anyone in the world thinks (they think I’m crazy).

But hey, look at these cool chicks:

Aishah later indulged in my madness (how could you resist really) and then got bitten by me.

^I also met a bee! And look how our colours match.

I’m wearing: Top from Malaysia // F21 shorts // Saltwater sandals

I thought it was a good idea to collect pieces of confetti from the ground in an attempt to recycle/re-throw them.

I thought wrong. Don’t try this. It’s not worth the effort.

^Yeah I know you can see a little something orange but it’s just a spot of my bikini, ok?

My dress was designed/made by Joyce. Shoes are Converse. Headband from Topshop.

FESTIVAL STUFF

We would pass this little breakfast section every morning when walking to the main festival grounds from our campsite (there are more unpictured).

Lots of great food to choose from AND free Innocent smoothies on your way out.

The camping facilities were all great – clean and sufficient to meet demand.

A hula hooping area! Too bad it seemed to be only for kids.
I for one happen to be pretty good at the hoop. Haha!

  

^Group/cooperative art to get your creative brain working!

You can also make your own festival headpiece using REAL LEAVES AND VINES AND FLOWERS! Nature! YES! No plasticky, gimmicky stuff! Hehe

Write your deepest wishes on a paper leaf and pin it unto The Wishing Tree! Or be really nosey and read what other people wrote (I chose this option).

^One of the random books you can find around the festival. Free for you to read! And full of love <3

^Happy swings for the kids!

Oh and then there was this weirdo playing guitar with a beatbox and singing weird stuff. And mad girls dancing. I loved it:

SUNSET / NIGHTTIME

A magnificent sunset presented above us every evening. Wait maybe I missed one evening. Not too sure there.

The headliners in terms of music included Empire of the Sun, Noah and the Whale, Rodriguez, and Tom Odell. I loved the first two most!

We decided it was most comfortable and warm to roam around after dark wearing our animal onesies from Kigu.co.uk.

^The Bubbles Inc Stand

OMG this was one of my favourites ever! It just blows bubbles ALLL DAY AND ALL NIGHT LONG. Small ones, big ones, smoke filled ones, etc.

Here’s a clip of the quirky umbrella dude spinning bubbles:

There was a nightly flying trapeze theatre/dance thingy going on.. it was amazing!! I forget the name of the company which runs it.

Oh and here’s a clip of Empire of the Sun performing one of their biggest hits, Walking on a Dream:

Making our way into the valley in the forest every night was an adventure in itself. You’d see scores of people in their crazy impressive fancy dress/costumes.. some draped in LED lights or smothered in paint and glitter. Lanterns and flags and other lights adorned the trees. A whole variety of music coming from different sources. People dancing. People rolling around on the ground (see? i totally belong).

You could feel a definite ENERGY. PARTY ENERGY! Haha.

Then you’d past certain areas, like the green one above, where people would be chilling out or milling about as others weaved between them, heading towards the parties. Somewhat like a pre-party drinking area.. I suppose.

^There are two pics of the same scene cos I couldn’t decide which coloured light was better? Haha

Who knew that partying at in the forest could be SO FREAKIN’ AWESOME? Well the festival organisers knew but anyway.

I was outta control! The music was so good! I ran up and down the hills. I jumped around till my knees hurt. We brought a shitload of glow sticks with us and shared them with strangers – who then became our dancing friends of course. I smiled till my face hurt.

And.. No festival is complete without a pair of Prizmeyez diffraction glasses! I take mine with me everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

On the last night, I decided I wanted to party the entire night until I was absolutely pooped. I ended up at some after-party somewhere. I shared a bonfire with some randoms. I made some new friends. We laid on the ground together atop a hill and watched the stars glow in the night sky above. We hugged. We rolled on the ground. We talked about serious things. Ridiculous things. About food.

Soon, I felt the sun starting to rise and I thought, ‘ok, time to locate my tent’.

It was a long walk across the festival grounds. BUT SO BEAUTIFUL! Everything was shut and empty; void of people.

I realised I had my camera with me. Why not use it, right?

I took some pictures of the festival emptiness. It was rather surreal.

Then I took a picture of my face.

I came across some haystacks under one of my favourite trees that I’d lay on to watch the fairy lights above the previous nights.

‘I’m coming!’, I said to the haystack, as I set the camera on self-timer.

^Result!

I also took this..

And then I made this video..

HOW did I think that it was a good idea to roll UP a hill???

All I know is.. if I was happy enough to have done that AND recorded it, it must’ve been a damn good night.

Oh yeah, thought I’d share this little comparison chart I saw in the papers following the festival, hehe:

It was my first time visiting Canada. Took this pic as the the plane was getting ready for landing. How GREEN, right? It’s like.. a garden of little broccoli tops.
^This was taken a bit earlier. I love it because it captures pretty much the full gradient of the sky from top to bottom.

I was so excited to be crossing the Atlantic again. I’d only been once before – in 2007 when I spent three weeks in wonderful San Francisco. Really I was just so RELIEVED that I was actually ON that flight at all, having received my visa only 12 hours prior… so much drama.

A big THANK YOU to WeHostels again for the opportunity. And also thank you my lucky stars that this all ended up happening..

You see, the reason I even knew about the comp was because of a bouncy, happy, pink-loving, jetsetting girl called LOLA. We’d been internet-friends (is that a term) since earlier in the year – drawn together by our similar personalities: positive, optimistic, and FUN-LOVING. She encouraged me to enter the comp so we might have a chance to meet in Toronto.

“I’m gonna enter it, win it, and see you there!”

And I did! I couldn’t wait to meet her!

  

One of the first things I did upon arriving in Toronto was get a cheap eat from a hot dog stand.. I love that shit. ‘Street meat’, they call it.. hmm. Totally unglam. But for $1.50, fine. Haha! (Thank you Karla)

As soon as Lola heard I was coming, she arranged a place for me to stay: a room in an awesome four-storey townhouse on Bleecker Street (somewhere north-east of downtown Toronto). With a bunch of other travel bloggers. We nicknamed it the ‘Real World TBEX’ house, complete with our own hashtag (#RWTBEX). Social media geeks….. …

  
^Left: Outside of the house / Right: Bleecker Street

^Bay window in the top floor room, where I slept. It was a massive room that took up the whole floor. It had two queen beds and its own toilet.

The house was organised and provided by Flipkey, a holiday rental service not unlike Airbnb (the one I use most). I’ve been discovering more and more of such websites lately.. I should make a list soon as it’s such a fantastic alternative to hotels! And then there are higher-end options as well, such as renting luxury villas, amongst others.. these I’ll save for when I make more money 🙂

^Crossroads and tram tracks at the south end of Bleecker Street.

I sent Lola a link to the Build A Dream ‘Snack Shack’ a couple of weeks before the trip. Of course, that crazy mofo (I mean that in the most lovable, endearing sense) only went and BOUGHT IT. I think it was the knowledge of this fact that fuelled my determination in getting that visa and making sure I got my ass over there..

I mean.. A CARDBOARD PLAYHOUSE WHAT MORE COULD I WANT REALLY?? 
This woman KNEW ME before she even MET ME!

It wasn’t long before it was set up.. do you see all the bottles on the countertop? That’s how sturdy that thing was. Build A Dream Playhouses – not just for kids for sure! We turned ours into a bar, pretty much. And named it The Confessional (it wasn’t me – I just provided the toys and props, obviously).

Above pic is of Chris of Captain and Clark, and me in clearly the best hat ever.

The following pics are an accumulation of about three occasions of mucking around the house/’snack shack’:

  
^Left: Chris and Gerard / Right: Craig, Tawny, & Erin

  
^Sharpies! Needless to say, I did the majority of the doodling..

^Love my little drawing of Chris? Hahaha

  
^Right: Ted on the guitar. I decided to give him a kind of mohawk..

Ted was so drunk when he brought his guitar out and attempted to serenade us. I don’t even know WHAT he played.. or if it was even anything that was really music at all. Poor him, he kept saying that he didn’t normally sound like that. The next morning when he was sober, he sported the guitar again to show us that he REALLY COULD play and sing. Awh, it’s not like we didn’t believe you the first time! Haha 😉

^With Lola! She came bursting through the front door fashionably late. As you can see, I’d already changed into my sleeping t-shirt..

^I brought face paint, too!

  
^Lola of course brought moustaches.. or should I say ‘mustaches’.. / Erin appreciating the floor.

^Lola, Erin, & Ted. Ted can play guitar, don’t forget!

Now THAT is a moustache.. I have a particular friend in London *ahem* who keeps pointing out the tiny little baby hairs on my upper lip and making me conscious about it. So conscious that I actually looked up and considered laser hair removal (see, I even found a clinic near me!) for a while.

These stick-on moustaches were rather reassuring.

  
^Craig.. (whose hat was that?!), and Erin pouting probably cos she was craving poutine. Pouting for Poutine! 

^Moustaches are not limited to silly humans!

Lola brought a bunch of merit badges for us to assign to each other. We had a ballot box and everything! I can’t remember which one I got.. but I know I swapped it for one that depicted a shoe with a piece of gum stuck to it. It just looked funny and I felt it represented me rather well.. haha.

  

As you can see, The Confessional never stopped evolving! More and more dumb doodles started to adorn its exterior… (by yours truly..), and it even boasted a bed sheet roof. It was a bar. It was a glowstick-shop. It also smelt of Chris after a while cos he just WOULD NOT GET OUT OF IT.

^Tawny, Me, & Kieu

^With the most beautiful (not just on the outside!) Alex, who bunked with me on the top floor.

 
^Left: CALAN and one of my new toys! / Ted: Supposedly, he’s playing guitar.. you just can’t see it, ok?

Here’s a video I put together – it’s basically just all the Vines I took at the house..

From the video, you’ll notice a couple of things:

1. Flat Deej
I was confused about what ‘Flat Deej’ was at first. Let me explain to you my non-American readers.. First of all, Deej is actually a blogger. He was meant to come to TBEX but for some reason couldn’t, and was really bummed about it. So Lola created Flat Deej to make him feel like he was there. It’s based on the award-winning Flat Stanley Project, in which school children are encouraged to write letters to their friends documenting the whereabouts/activities of a cut-out paper character called Stanley (from a storybook called Flat Stanley).

2. Banana
Actually I just wanted to explain Flat Deej and nothing else.

^Our one group photo! Thanks Alex for this 🙂

I admit I hardly attended any sessions at the conference due to late nights etc – because this bunch were so much FUN to hang out with. It was the first time meeting each other for most of us. In fact I hadn’t even heard of half these people before I got there. But it was the best thing ever..

There’s something so amazing about meeting people who also LOVE to travel! I’d never met so many people who were entirely immersed and so passionate about exploring the world before. It was like MAGIC! Kinda like a special, natural connection. Everyone was so POSITIVE, receptive, EXPRESSIVE, encouraging, and socially adventurous. It was super awesome that I didn’t need to explain (unlike when I meet erm, ‘normal’ people.. for lack of a better word, please, it’s 2am..) my desire to travel and and make it my life’s priority – cos everyone shared that same desire. AUTOMATIC FRIENDS.

SO, at the house, there was:

Craig of StayAdventurous
Craig loves being on the road and his favourite country appears to be Mexico! He’s full of shit and will encourage you to step out of your comfort zone. See the world! STAY ADVENTUROUS! And maybe you’ll end up in his imaginary (but one day hopefully real) Hall of Fame..

Erin of The World Wanderer
Erin is a sweetie who has an immense love for the Vine app, and poutine. She’s a teacher and travels as much as she can during the school holidays. Really she’s just so lovely that I can’t even call her a ***** for having so many days off in a year.

Chris & Tawny of Captain and Clark
Erm, only the most awesome couple ever! ‘Met on Kilimanjaro; Engaged at the Taj Mahal’. They’re both hilarious and witty and make fab videos. Why can’t I speak as naturally and smoothly as them on camera? Ugh anyway. Adventurous, energetic, and fun.. if we lived in the same country they’d be my best friends for sure!

Alex of CrazySexyFunTraveler
I truly admire Alex for her dedication and commitment to her cause. She’s been travelling full time for a few years now and she looks like she should be on a magazine cover! She’s so down-to-earth, helpful, and I love her honesty. She’s outgoing and adventurous.. and of course, a little crazy. My kinda friend!

Gerard & Kieu of GQTrippin 
Why are some couples just so cute? WHY? Recently (or not so recently) back from a year-long round-the-world trip, G & Q are now settling back to life in California.. or trying to I suppose. Haha. They are both SO NICE I wish I could shrink and squash them into a little ball, which I then toss to the ground, releasing them into full-sized human existence….. yes like Pokemon..

Ted of Traveling Ted
Ted’s passion is everything outdoors and adventure travel. He’s a camping expert (who packed some sort of miniature/foldable SHOVEL in his backpack.. haha) and of course, he plays the guitar. I would LOVE to go on a trip with him and do some crazy stuff! TED let’s go sea kayaking! Caving! Skiing! Snowboarding! Canyoning! Everything!

Carolyn of The Lazy Travelers
There’s only ONE pic of this girl in this post.. and it’s of the back of her head. Other times she was probably passed out somewhere whilst the rest of us smiled for the camera! She’s one-half of The Lazy Travelers.. ‘The Wino’
Then of course there’s Lola.. I love her. That is all.

THANKS FLIPKEY for housing us!

Two Sundays ago, London had the luxury of basking in a full day’s winter sunshine. I woke up that morning with a burst of energy.. and so did my friends, because before we knew it, we were plotting to meet at Richmond Station to spend the day on the green with Alberto’s giant kite. There’s no surf and no board.. so I like to call it kite-running. This is when you fly the kite on a large open area, controlling it with your feet on the ground.. and if the wind is strong enough you can even fly up into the air for a short periods!

We had a glamourous lunch of Maccas on the sidewalk as a means of sustenance for the rest of the afternoon.

We had initially wanted to Boris Bike it (for non-Londonders, this is the city’s cycle hire scheme) to the park, but we were stupid enough to think that the Boris Bike rails extended into Zone 4… so that was THAT.

In the end, it was the trusty 65 bus that took us to the green green grass just by Nightingale Lane. Well, us minus Alby anyway, who trailed the bus with his trademark blue bike.

It really was a spectacular day.. especially by London’s standards. Haha.

The air was cold though.. about 5 degrees (centigrade).

Whilst the rest were busy setting up and pumping air into the kite frame, I took the liberty of having a go on Alby’s bicycle. His very HIGH bicycle. I don’t know WHAT made me think that my legs were long enough, cos within 10 seconds I had banged my crotch on the bar twice..  I ended up cycling it standing up.

The kite is up!

Also, now I know why I’ll never really get into kitesurfing. Just SETTING UP that thing is SO much work. After pumping up the kite, you still gotta untangle the millions of strings that connect the harness to the kite. Then lay it all out. Have someone hold the kite while you wait in the harness. Make sure you’re facing the right direction in relation to the wind, and time it correctly so that the kite can take flight when it’s released.

At one point, we would be getting everything ready and JUST as we were about to go, the wind direction would CHANGE, as if to spite us. This repeated like a vicious cycle for about 4 – 5 times. It’s good exercise, though.

Jeremy was getting a kite-flying lesson from Alby that day, so he was very excited.

VERY excited ;p

In this photo you can see Jeremy holding the kite, waiting for the right moment to release it, a.k.a. when Alby shouts the order at him.

Controlling the kite is tough work! You really gotta know how each movement of your arms affects the way the kite behaves.

We were lucky it was windy enough that day for the kite to stay in the air for a while.. although I was mostly watching. And being yelled at to get out of the way….. :p

Jeremy, Izan, Me, Alby

Hmmm *refrains from comment*

All photos in this post were taken using my iPhone 5. I took a few hilarious Vine clips as well (find me @smallcrazy) but I haven’t figured out a neat way to share it in a post yet.. boo 🙁

A BEAUTIFUL SUNSET

We stayed till sunset. And it was a magnificent, golden orange sunset.

I couldn’t help but take a two million photos as the group walked ahead of me towards and along the river in a quest for… food.

Jeremy brought along his classic Penny skateboard.. I’ve always wanted to get a skateboard for myself, even though I haven’t actually skateboarded before. But I’m confident I’ll pick it up easily.. and after seeing Jeremy cruise along on it so effortlessly and awesomely, I’m really wanting to buy myself a hot pink Penny! Maybe for the summer…

I love London. Do you? <3

—————————————-