Hattifnatt Cafe

Hattifnatt - the cutest little cafe that we went to in Koenji, Tokyo! We spent a whole afternoon out in Koenji with Rei Shito and a couple of other Japanese friends as James and I were being photographed along with Rei for an upcoming project of hers (which I can't say too much about right now). We started out at this cafe where we had tea, coffee, too many sweet cakes (banana and caramel pudding, cheesecake and a custard and cream tart) and then lunch which was a cheesy white sauce concoction on rice (can't remember exactly what it was called but it was delicious!) and some sausages and salad. After lunch we went to check out some of Rei's favorite vintage stores around Koenji. More photos of the fun times we had coming soon!

Take Me Back

Some shots taken by iPhone from our week in Tokyo! I'd say we were pretty lucky to have clear blue skies and no rain the whole time. And I was loving it, the air was so cold and fresh that it was actually quite pleasant to walk around feeling like you're wrapped up in a big cozy blanket and having to keep warming the hands up with hot bottles of Japanese tea from the convenience store. My fourth visit to Tokyo and again so many memories. Caught up with our Japanese friends, spent a day out in Koenji with Rei Shito from StylefromTokyo (which I'll do a post on soon!), ate lots of great Japanese food, and just enjoyed meeting people and shooting streetstyle on the streets of Harajuku. Can't wait till next time!

Oh and as a side note, outfit posts and other style inspirations will now be going up on StyleSophomore :)

Time For Tokyo!

Off to Tokyo for my 4th visit and I'm just as excited as the first time! Waiting at the airport to board our overnight flight and tomorrow can't come soon enough. It's gonna be quite an experience, first winter for me in 2 years and my first winter in Tokyo. I'm expecting to instantly freeze. I guess I can't complain though cos right now I'll do anything to escape from this desert weather.

Really looking forward to meeting up with our Japanese friends, meeting up with the lovely street fashion photographer Rei Shito, and I'll also be taking part in an exciting project where I've been asked to be photographed as a special guest for a style-related guide book in Tokyo! Me?! And I also can't wait to shoot street style for the first time in Tokyo and meet lots of cool and stylish people. Will be posting up photos on StyleSophomore while I'm there. See you soon Tokyo!

Minimalist Suitcase Wardrobe

The nomad life goes on! Doing a whole lot of travelling next year, living 2 or 3 months here and there, and I have no choice but to condense my wardrobe plus other essential belongings down to whatever can fit into one cabin-sized suitcase. We'll literally be carrying everything that we own around with us, bar 1 box of books and stuff that we're sending back home.

Clotheswise, I've started to think about what I need to go into this "minimalist suitcase wardrobe" of mine and bearing in mind that we'll be hitting up every city in either Autumn or Spring weather which will be just perfect. Can't wait! So, my list in my head consists of basic things like 3 or 4 merino or cashmere sweaters, a couple of silk shirts, black and blue skinny jeans, a black blazer, a winter wool coat, a lighter jacket or parka, Converse chucks, leather shoes and leather boots (one pair of each), a couple of light knitted outwear like cardigans, a black leather bag and 2 or 3 chunky knit scarves. I picture it to look something like this...

That's all I can think of for now. Whether I achieve this will be one thing and the other will be fitting it all into just one bag. Eeeeek I'm already thinking I need a larger suitcase. Bring on January 14th!

Weekend Fever

Spent Saturday afternoon at a pretty cool bazaar called "Weekend Fever" which is held once a month in Ximending. Really glad we decided to go and it's cool to find things like this and just to know that there is always stuff happening in Taipei. I guess to most people, this is just your typical flea market and how a bazaar should be, but after living in Singapore for two years and constantly being disappointed with how badly flea markets and events turn out there, it's nice to go to something cool and actually be "wow'd" and quite overwhelmed by it all. Nice to see that everything is properly organised, the vendors actually care about the presentation of their stuff even though they are setting up on the ground, and it was nice to be able to pick out lots of people from the stylish crowd to photograph. Will be posting them up on StyleSophomore soon! Some quick snapshots...

Taipei Randoms

It was drizzling all day today and I didn't feel like taking photos of people in the rain so I went shopping instead. Will put up what I bought in my next post. For now, some randoms taken by iPhone from around the streets...

Coffee at Rainbow

We discovered Rainbow Cafe the last time we were in Taipei and we went back there today for coffee. Ordered the apple strudel again and it came out exactly the same as last time, just as delicious as we remembered it to be. And as usual, animals when it comes to desserts (or actually any type of food), we totally devoured it within seconds! The coffee was also really really good too, I ordered the hazelnut latte and the milk was steamed to perfection with a silky and smoothe froth on top. Definitely recommend and we'll be back there again soon. Maybe I'll post some photos of the interior next time (I found it hard to focus using the iPhone cam so they didn't come out this time!)

Time For Taipei!

The time has finally come! It's 6:30am in the morning and we're at the airport, eyes half shut, sippin on hot tea and waiting to board our flight to Taipei. Traveling so lightly that I'm almost certain I've forgotten to pack something. We're bringing with us just two cabin bags, and that includes one which is packed with A3 sized photos for James' street style exhibition next month! Looking forward to so many things in Taipei - of course the weather, but also the cafes, the food, the shopping, the people, the style, the bubble tea, and just being able to live and experience Taipei without having to cram everything into just a few days. It's an exciting month ahead!