Lunch at Hongdae

Last friday, I met up with Ken for an overdue catch up session in Hongdae (홍대). This was my first time back in this neighborhood again and it certainly felt good to back in a familiar place. If you visit Hongdae frequent enough, you'll eventually noticed that there are certain spots that are very popular for meeting point. Exit 8 and 9 are those spots for Hongdae subway station. Whether you come in the morning or in the afternoon, there will always be people standing or sitting around those exits, looking at their cell phones waiting for the people who they're gonna meet to come up from the steps.

So, following the popular choice, Ken and I decided to meet up at exit 8. It's just easier that way to find each other. We haven't seen each other for almost half a year and it was nice to feel that almost nothing has changed since our last meet when he showed up and greeted me like we just hung out yesterday. We made our way to the lunch place, Gaemi (개미), around Sangsu (상수) area and the food there was delicious and cheap. We had the Steak Rice Bowl (스테이크 덮밥), the Cube Steak Rice Bowl (큐브스테이크 덮밥), and the Salmon Rice Bowl (연어 덮밥) to share. And each menu was under ₩10,000. A pretty good place for a solid lunch I would say. We walked around the area for a bit to shoot some stuff before moving on to the next place. It was a successful lunch outing overall. 

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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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Paul Bassett

For those of you who doesn't know, I've been spending time in my hometown these past few months and now I'm back in Seoul again. Spent the first day back just chillin' with @unlikelysquiggle at Paul Bassett (폴 바셋) the whole afternoon after meeting with @soozee324 to wish her a happy birthday. I've passed by Paul Basset hundreds of times before, but never actually tried this place before. The places always seem to be crowded for some reasons when I passed 'em by. Ordered royal milk tea lattes and the earl grey roll and we were pleasantly surprised on how good the food and drinks are. And by good, I mean not too sweet. The cake was really moist and fluffy too.

Anyways, I will be staying in Seoul for a while so things should be interesting in next couple of weeks. You can follow along daily on my instagram or my snapchat (@greysuitcase) to get a peek on what I'm up to here in the city. 

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Sightglass Coffee

Up to this point, I have posted many posts about cafes that I've visited in the past. And if you've been reading this blog for a while, you'll know that I'm no food or coffee experts by any means. Most of writings involved the description of the place and whether or not I enjoyed their food or drinks. Some common things about the places I've shared are: first, they are usually nicely designed or cozy spaces and/or, second, they have great selections of tea, non-coffee drinks, or hot chocolate. So with that said, to make it a little bit interesting, from now on I think I'll try to share a little story about interesting things I saw or experienced during my visit or maybe just something random about me to mix it up a little ;)

I've never been a big on breakfast kinda person. I don't really get hungry when I wake up, not 'til a couple of hours later anyway, so breakfast is not something that is mandatory for me. But when I'm in the mood for breakfast, there are certain things that I enjoyed the most during these morning meals. A cup of rich but not-too-sweet hot chocolate with a perfectly baked pain au chocolat on a warm spring morning is one of them. And Sightglass Coffee actually serves that combo. I had a really pleasant morning hanging out with my mom at this place, eating pastries, people watching, and enjoying the warm sunlight that came through the window next to where we're sitting. If their famous coffee selections doesn't really convince you to check this place out, maybe their beautiful floor tiles will ;) 

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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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