For the first time in years, we traveled back to the Philippines during the Golden Week in China; this is that weeklong holiday, the last big holiday of the year… It was a very short trip but I was so glad that on this trip I finally managed to go to the Kalanggaman Island off the coast of Leyte, part of Palompon, a small city in southern Leyte. This was a perfect getaway – no internet, no electricity except for the power generated from solar panels, almost like back to basics. Here are some photos from our 2-day stay. DAY 1: Anticipating our arrival on the island after a 3-hour…
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This is a 3-part series showcasing the travel albums that are currently on exhibit at the Shanghai Mass Art Gallery (上海群众艺术馆) in Shanghai. You can also read more about this event at the Postcrossing blog. Finally, the last installment is a very mini travel journal. This was documenting our trip to the Silk Road, specifically Dunhuang. This destination has been in my bucket list for almost 20 years! Yes, I have been dreaming of visiting Dunhuang ever since I started studying Traditional Chinese Painting in Tianjin’s Nankai University back in 1994. My classmates showed me photos of when they went, the paintings on the caves, what they had painted and…
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This is a 3-part series showcasing the travel albums that are currently on exhibit at the Shanghai Mass Art Gallery (上海群众艺术馆) in Shanghai. You can also read more about this event at the Postcrossing blog. This second post is about the our trip to the Philippines. Originally we were to go to my hometown Tacloban City, but Typhoon Haiyan/ Yolanda happened and we could only get to Manila. So this travel journal documents what we ended up doing during that year’s Winter Break during the Spring Festival or Chinese New Year. This cover is made from acrylic which I ordered from a local online store, cut to a 6×6 inch…
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This is a 3-part series showcasing the travel albums that are currently on exhibit at the Shanghai Mass Art Gallery (上海群众艺术馆) in Shanghai. You can also read more about this event at the Postcrossing blog. This travel album (I can’t exactly call it a journal anymore as it’s so so so thick that I had to make and customize a new album as soon as we returned from the trip!) commemorates our – me and my 2 kids – first big trip together. Yes, this was made back in 2013 but still love leafing thru these pages every time I get a chance. I also just realized that I did…
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Last April 3 and 4 was a long holiday weekend celebrating the Chinese tradition called Tomb Sweeping Day. We were fortunate to have found an excuse to get out of the city (something I do not typically do especially during holidays in China) at the last minute. We registered and booked our train tickets to Hangzhou with the help to my colleague, Yolanda, whom I’ve also invited along with her daughter to go along on this unique educational trip. This whole trip was organised by a couple teachers from in and around Hangzhou as well as one from Xi’an. I am so very in awe at how we were welcomed warmly and the teachers…
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After a hiccup with our visas in August 2016, kids and I were so excited we finally made it to Australia. It has been my dream to take them to places I have been and then take them to new places that we all can explore and experience. It is interesting to see these places through their eyes as well as experiences new things with them. And for me, this is the most rewarding part of the whole trip. We flew in to Melbourne from Shanghai via Hong Kong. My good friend Mick and his family were so kindly enough to let us crash at his place for a couple…
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This travel journal has taken the longest to complete I think, out of the travel journals I’ve made. One of the reasons was I did not do any of the pages while on this trip because I ran out of batteries on my Instax Share just as I was about to start on it. And by the time we found the batteries, we were nearly at the end of our trip! So I only did this entire journal after returning to Shanghai in between the crazy work schedule. But it is finally done and glad to be sharing some of the pages. This notebook was actually done last year when…
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January has passed and we are now into February, a short month. This post is a bit late but still, I thought I’d share my analogue stack for 2017. Trying to keep things simple in 2017. These 3 notebooks are pretty much my EDC (everyday carry) plus lots of fountain pens. The Stalogy notebook (black cover) was supposed to be last year’s journal notebook but I somehow changed my mind (can’t remember why…), so this year I plan to make use of this as journal and doodle notebook. Passport size Traveler’s Notebook has my 2017 agenda notebook and a Field Notes notebook for notes. Along with these 2 notebooks are…
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Here is a look at the second and last instalment of my December Daily 2016 album. A few parting notes about my experiences with the 9 albums I’ve made so far… I try to just go with the flow and not overthink or otherwise I won’t be able to finish the album(s) within December or early January. I struggled with the 12-pocket 6×8 pages but I was able to fill them with photos from 1 event to make it look cohesive. Not sure if I will use the same pockets next year though I still have a couple packs in my stash that I want to use up. I managed to…
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December! Where did it go? I’m still amazed at how the whole month went in a blur. I think it was more to do with the extra(ordinary) events that seem to happen within the month! Looking back, I am so happy that I managed to get a chance to do the December Daily and finish it within December! And to be honest, I’ve flipped through the pages so many times since, and seeing all we did never stop me from grinning and reminiscing of all those moments. So here is a look at half of my album; the latter half will be in a separate post… (Pardon the glares, I need…
