beloved bel

Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This is the book which I recommend you reading now. Ironically on that fateful night before relocating here to London more than 2 years ago, WM & JH gave me this book as a farewell gift, for me read during my long flight here. Whilst I appreciated their kindness, I never quite got thru reading the first 2 chapters (and looking back I cannot understand why). Then in June, I moved to my new place and with the daily travel on the not-very-pleasant DLR to and fro from work, I realised I should, like most commuters, be armed with a book in tow to keep me entertained. This book is a real story of Liz Gilbert's travels to Italy, India and Bali in search of her happiness, pursuits and balance in life after her divorce. The way she writes is so real and in-your-face, I just love her style of writing. My favourite is the part in Italy where she stayed in Rome for 4 months learning the beautiful Italian language (language of love she calls it), explori...

Min was here to visit with her hubby Derek. They went to Norway and Iceland doing similar trips to mine two years back, and made London their last stop. The emails we exchanged prior to them coming over were almost non stop. We were getting so excited planning to meet up, fretting over where to have her macaroons, our high tea, and which musical to watch. Finally, all was put to rest when I met them here. Having four free summer half days off at work, I spent 2 afternoons with them and ahem the shopaholic side of me overshadowed my normal self, so instead of bringing them to some famous London landmark, (well if you consider the shopping belt a landmark...), yes I brought them shopping first. Primark, no less. But hey, that was an experience in itself. For where can you find such good buys in London right? ;) And I am quite sure they enjoyed it, especially Min. heehee A snapshot of things we did in their short stay here... trying the best coffee in London and having a light lu...

I came across some old black and white photos of Tower Bridge taken in the early 1900s and thought it would be interesting to post them to have a mini comparison of Tower Bridge: Then and Now. What a strange feeling, to know it has been standing there majestically over the River Thames for a really long time spanning throughout many generations. And then looking at it today with my own eyes, in the modern world that we are now. It's kinda difficult to reconcile these two facts don't you think? http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/TBE/EN/BridgeHistory/

August is the month of summer parties for Hillsong church and I chose to attend the Summer Boat Party last Friday night. BBQ food and cruising along the Thames at night, why not? However, the rain in the day dampened my mood for it, and with a busy day at work, all I felt was to go home and lie in my bed and reeee-lax. But having paid for it and agreed beforehand to go with my friends, I had to go. And it's one of those events where I turned up not looking forward to it, but eventually leaving as happy Bel :) I don't know too many friends in church and on the boat, I saw a few people whom I've not seen for a very long time. And the best thing was that the rain stopped in time for it, and we managed to stay on the deck for most part of the night taking in the breeze and admiring the sights along the way, including my all time favourite bridge- Tower Bridge. Oh and the Houses of Parliament looks gorgeous all lighted up at night too.

Sometime back, Sarah invited us few girls to join her back home in Glasgow for her birthday weekend. Coincidentally, her birthday is on 9 Aug, Singapore's National Day so I told her she has some sort of affinity with Singapore ;) I thought it was somewhat a nice gesture of her and I agreed, and so together with Gabby, Nadya (another of Sarah's friend from Hillsong), we flew up from Luton. We spent the night over at Nadya's as she stays 10min away from Luton airport. When we woke up at 5am, I was greeted by a beautiful sunrise, and with the calmness and crisp fresh air in the countryside, wow I had to capture some shots already! This marks my first trip out with non-Singaporeans and I was eager to find out how different would it be. This is also a very different trip as we spent a lot of time with her really nice and friendly family, the Mcphersons (including meeting her almost famous lil 3 year old nephew Jack). Highlight of Day 1 - Cath Kidston store On the fir...