Central

'Always tell someone how you feel, because opportunities are lost in the blink of an eye, but regret can last a lifetime.'

Pottinger Street

'The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.'

Four Seasons Langkawi

'Do not fall in love with people like me. I will take you to museums and parks and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place so that you can never go back to them without tasting me, like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible, and when I leave, you will finally understand why storms are named after people.'

Mamutik Island Photo Diary

'I have learnt this along my journey: letting go does not mean loving less.'

Featuring: AC's photo diary in Kansai province

'The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do.'

Featuring: Alice from Form42's summer SKINCARE beauty secrets

'I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.'

Hong Kong

'You will never be completely at home again, because part of your heart will always be elsewhere. That is the price you pay for the richness of loving and knowing people in more than one place.'

Featuring: AC in Wakayama

'Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.'

Where to SHOP in the virtual world

'It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and what is done in love is well done.'

Philippe Model Paris, Dolce & Gabbana

Beauty

1. Space NK
2. Chantecaille
3. Liberty London
4. Harrods

Style

1. Net-a-porter
2. Shopbop
3. The Outnet
4. Style Nanda
5. Revolve Clothing
6. Three Floor
7. Bloomingdales
8. Selfridges
9. Free People
10. Asos

My Cinderella moment: clockwise starting from the beige beaded heels - Philippe Model Paris, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Christian Louboutin, Alice & Olivia.

More detailed posts in the making! Coming soon...

Love,

K

Where to EAT in Sydney

The Mad Hatter: 'Have I gone mad?'

Alice: 'I'm afraid so. You're entirely bonkers. But I'll tell you a secret. All the best people are.'

Vivid Sydney

'The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but seeing with new eyes.'

Kyoto

'For once you have tasted flight, you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards; for there you have been, and there, you will long to return.'

Bondi

'What a wonderful thought it is that some of the best days of our lives haven't happened yet.'

My Top Five Hair Products!

'She would be half a planet away, floating in a turquoise sea, dancing by the moonlight to flamenco guitar.'

Featuring: AC in Nara

'Of all sad words of mouth or pen, the saddest are these: it might have been.'

The Beautiful Alice from Form 42

'Once you learn how to be happy, you won't tolerate people who make you feel anything less.'

I have never dreamed of blogging. Mostly because I am one of those horrifically technologically handicapped people who only know how to check e-mails and use Word, and partly because I was apprehensive about overly judgemental people. Then I realised, I would do this for myself, just to make me happy.

The Museum of Contemporary Art

'There are times to stay put and what you want will come to you, and there are times to go out into the world and find such a thing for yourself.'

Meeting Miranda Kerr and Gary Pepper

"'Someday' is a disease that will take your dreams to the grave with you."

It was another glorious day in Sydney, I think I've been really lucky with the weather for the entirety of May when it was supposed to be winter! We decided to make the most of it and headed out to Hyde Park for some tea and a picnic after work. What we hadn't planned was for Miranda Kerr to be having tea at the same spot, and even better, we had a brief but lovely chat with Nicole (Gary Pepper Girl). I think people who have the courage to go after their dreams are really inspirational, regardless of how far they make it.

Featherdale

'To realise one's destiny is a person's only obligation.'

Continuing on from Katoomba...

I spent the entire bus journey in dreamland, by the time I woke up, I had already arrived at Featherdale!

Katoomba

'If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine. It's lethal.'

Morning sunshine!

We woke up at 6.00a.m., headed over to Coffee Boulevard for breakfast, and hopped onto a tour bus taking us to Katoomba. Legend goes that there once were three sisters, whose father was a powerful magician. One day, they followed their father into the forest where the Bunyip resided in. Not knowing that the monster was easy to wake, they had a rock-throwing contest, and the youngest of the sisters, by mistake, threw her rock too far, and it tumbled over the cliff, landing right in front of the Bunyip's cave. Naturally, he woke, they screamed, their father screamed. And his solution was to turn them into stone with a magic bone. The Bunyip then began chasing the magician, who in turn became a Lyre bird and lost the magic bone in his flight, which explains why the sisters are still here today, in their stone form.

Everything the light touches is our kingdom.

The Opera House

'Instead of wondering when your next vacation is, maybe you should set up a life you don't need to escape from.'

Paddington Market

'If you always make the right decision, the safe decision, the one most people make; you will be the same as everyone else.'

Where to SHOP in Sydney

'Be daring. Be different. Be impractical. Be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers. The creatures of the commonplace. The slaves of the ordinary.'

1. Queen Victoria Building

The Fish Market

'The best people possess a feeling for beauty, the courage to take risks, the discipline to tell the truth, the capacity for sacrifice. Ironically, their virtues make them vulnerable: they are often wounded, sometimes destroyed.'

White chiffon blazer: 3.1 Phillip Lim. Blue shirt: Ralph Lauren. Gold necklace with pearl: vintage.

Surry Hills

'My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humour, and some style.'

I know I am blogging a month after my time in Sydney, but Surry Hills was actually the first part of town I hit, being attracted to the thought of trendy restaurants and vintage clothing, not to mention Messina ice cream!

Nara

'What you are most afraid of doing is the very thing that will set you free.'

Hello!

I got my first e-mail asking how frequently I'm going to update my blog! Hopefully I'll be able to post a travel piece once a week (usually Sundays or Mondays), if something comes up mid-week, it will most likely be either a style post or a guest blog! Which leads me onto this piece on one of my favourite places in the world: Japan!

Nara. I don't even know where to begin. For those who just Google image the place, it may seem like Bambi heaven to you. To me, it was a heaven where God decided to remind me my gym membership had long expired, and regular exercise was very much needed. So the story begins.

Featuring: AC in Kyoto

'The things you are passionate about are not random. They are your calling!'

I have dreamt of going to Kansai for many years now. Everyone travels for various reasons; it has always been the daily lives of the people as well as the culture that appealed to me.  I was very fortunate in that I timed my travels just as the Sakura season was at its peak! They blended harmoniously with the landscape, painting gradients of whites and pinks as they flourished.

After leaving my exhaustion behind in the hostel, I took a leisurely stroll along the Shirakawa river. What greeted me was a promenade framed with white Sakura blossoms, waving to me in the wind. As I admired the beauty of the falling petals, an antique plaque caught my attention. It was written by the poet, Isamu Yoshii (吉井勇):

Shirakawa (白川), Gion, Central Kyoto (洛中). A stone with a Waka (Japanese poem with song-like qualities) engraved on it

かにかくに(Kanikakuni – Here and there)

祇園はこひし (Gion-wa-kohishi – is my love for Gion)

寝(ぬ)るときも (Nuru-toki-mo – Even when I sleep)

枕のしたを水のながるる (Makura-no-shita-o-mizu-no-nagaruru – the trickling of the river flows underneath my pillow)

Kota Kinabalu

‘Sometimes, life is about risking everything for a dream no one can see but you.’

First stop, Kota Kinabalu! As soon as you step off the plane, there’s a certain laid back atmosphere about this place. The heat lulls you to sleeps, but at the same time, the array of vivid colours, the pinks and oranges and purples streaked across the sky (also known as a sunset) make you pinch yourself to stay awake. Within five minutes we were at the hotel, fully unpacked and ready to swim. By then night had fallen, all the other hotel guests were dining, and the entire pool was ours! (skinny dipping did flit across my mind at that point) 

Swimming in the infinity pool heated up by the generous amount of sunshine during the day under a star lit sky was really an experience second to none. The sound of water lapping onto the poolside, the fragrance of the Rhododendron rugosum tree permeating the air, being able to swim through a waterfall under the bridge into flowers, flowers and more flowers. The free flowing champagne might have helped too.