Cloud Forest

One of the best places to visit when you are in Singapore is probably this magnificent Cloud Forest at the Gardens by the Bay. After walking around outside in the 30-something degrees celsius weather (see my previous post exploring the Supertree Grove), walking into this cool-moist conservatory gave us such as nice feeling. We were immediately greeted by the mist of the world's tallest indoor waterfall as soon as we walked in. The view was amazing and it just got better from there. The whole place is like a playground for adults (and photographers I should say). Everywhere you turn, you got a new view of the forest and it's so interesting to see the steel dome as the background to the luscious green plants. You can get lots of interesting angles to shoot on around this place. I went in when the weather was sunny. Sunlight hitting the leaves and there were shadow plays everywhere. But not long after, it changed into a cloudy gloomy weather, just right in time for the mist timing that happens six times a day. The place changed into something else when it's full of mists.

Anyways, this was my first time meeting other instagrammers in Singapore and actually shoot together with them. I had a lot of fun with Venus and Jessica and was really fascinated to see how they see and frame their shots. We took our time and just wandered around the dome for a good two hours or so before moving on to our next location, which I'll share on my next post on this Singapore series. Stay tuned! :)

Wishing everybody a great week ahead!

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Supertree Grove

I've read about it, seen millions of pictures of it, heard about it from tons of different people, and I finally visited it during my last trip to Singapore. The place that looks like it came straight out of the Avatar movie, the Supertree Grove at the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. I know, I know, I'm probably a little late checking this place out since it has been opened for almost 4 years now. But hey, better late than never right?

I have to say the place is super awesome! Seeing and being under those huge tree-like structures made me feel like an ant. For real. Or at least that's what I imaged how ants view us humans (only multiplied that by a hundred or something). I definitely did a lot of neck exercising & look ups when I explored this place. There is also an elevated walkway between two larger supertrees that you can walk on if you decide to check out the aerial view of the garden. If you've never been here, I definitely recommend you to come check out the place (plus they have a couple of attractions in the Gardens by the Bay, which I will be posting on separate posts). Totally worth the visit. A little tip: you might wanna go on a good weather day, or no rain day at least, because the walkway is closed during a bad weather days.

Special thanks to Venus & Jessica, two great local instagrammers who were kind enough to offered to take me around the Gardens for a little meet-up/photowalk session. You'll see them sporadically in a couple of my shots in this Singapore series ;) Go check out their amazing instagram gallery! Venus (@ohvl) & Jessica (@chanchants).

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The Ramen Bar

I had the chance to visit The Ramen Bar during one of my trips to San Francisco. Located in the heart of downtown San Francisco, this place is a collaboration between chef Ken Tominaga and chef Michael Mina. Blending the California cooking philosophy with Japanese techniques and ingredients, their menus definitely taste different than the traditional Japanese dishes. I ordered the Tonkatsu Ramen and Sesame Salmon Donburi. My ramen's broth was a little bit too salty for my taste. The donburi was really nice tho. I really liked the flavors and the texture of the whole dish, and the crispy salmon skin was cooked just right. They also have selections of pastries, desserts, and beverages that you can choose from if you need something sweet or refreshing to finish off your meal.

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The Ramen Bar
101 California Street
San Francisco, CA, 94108

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Boriam Temple

The last destination of our Namhae (남해) road trip was Boriam Temple in Geumsan Mountain (금산 보리암). The temple is located at the top of Geumsan Mountain so there was a little bit of hiking (and a short bus ride) involved for us to get there. The mountain is surrounded by small islands that spread across the Namhae sea which make the view from the top really beautiful. It's no mystery as to why there were lots of locals presence in this place. Most of them are older people with their full hiking attire, but I swear, I think they like come here everyday or something cos all of them looked like they're walking up the hiking trail like it was nothing and they all walked faster than me (shame on me, I know).

Ken, Noah and Hannah decided to do a little bit more hiking to the higher part of the mountain. But since we got there pretty late in the afternoon plus it looked like it's gonna rain soon, I opted to wait for them in the temple area since I was the slowest amongst all of us and didn't want to hold the group back. And I thought it'd be cool if I could get a shot of them from this side of the mountain. They made their way up in no time and back to the temple right when the rain started to fall and a couple of minutes before closing time.

Although we left the park right when the park was closed, we did miss the last bus down the mountain and had to call for a cab. But then, when we were waiting around under the drizzling rain for our taxi in the parking lot, a nice lady saw us and offered a ride down the mountain in her husband's car. We gladly took her offer, cancelled our cab, and four of us squished at the back of their sedan. And luckily we did, cos 5 minutes after we got in, the rain started to pour heavily. The husband was really nice too. He made conversations and asked us questions on our short ride down. We said our thank you when they dropped us off right at our car and scrambling to get into the car to avoid getting drenched by the rain. And with that, our adventure at Namhae came to an end. 

p.s: to the nice ahjumma and ahjussi who gave us a lift down the mountain, 감사합니다! :)

Read the previous parts of this series here:
Boseong (pt.1), Beach Break (pt.2), Damyang (pt.3), Field of Tulips (pt.4), Making Memories (pt.5), Dumo Village (pt.6).

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Special thanks to Noah who drove us around during the whole road trip, to Ken who introduced us to all these places, and to Hannah who has been a great company (and always made sure that I'm okay :P) during this two-day trip. This will forever be my favorite road trip in South Korea :) (until our next epic one at least :P)

Check out their instagram cos they take amazing photos:
@seoul_stateofmind | @noahskim | @hannahmuhh

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Dumo Village

After the two unscheduled pit stops that we had (1st pit stop & 2nd pit stop), we finally arrived at the location that is actually on our itinerary, Dumo Village (두모마을). This place was my favorite location during our road trip. Apart from being a little bit cloudy, the weather was perfect, and with a view like this, how could anybody complain, really. The canola field was really beautiful and everything was in full bloom. You can see rows and rows of this beautiful flower growing on the terraced paddy field.

Up to this point, I've had my fair share of traveling, moving around, living in different cities, and meeting lots of people from all over the world. I can say for sure that the best and most memorable experiences I've had were usually because of the people whom I shared those moments with. The people factor can really make or break an experience. It might sounds cliché, but it's true and finding the right people is something that is not easy to do. Having friends who have similar interests, passions, life principles with you AND with whom you can connect and be real with is like winning the lottery. And at that moment, I felt like I've won three. Plus, we actually got a chance to travel together and shoot together. That's just a big bonus. 

We didn't do anything particularly special at the village, but just the fact that I could share this experience with these three amazing individuals—having fun shooting together, talking and being inspired—was really something that I'm grateful for. This trip is one of my favorite moments during my stay in South Korea and I gotta say, I probably wouldn't enjoyed the view as much as I did without these guys—Hannah, Noah, and Ken. 

(Also, check out Ken's snaps and post on the trip here.)

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