Sweden

Bought my first ever TOTO ticket today under the impatient guidance of Nicole Seah over the phone, while the aunty behind the glass judged me for a good 2 minutes. But we didn't win shit. Which was awfully upsetting given the fact that I spent my entire shower time (which is pretty long) fantasising about the wise and not-wise things I'd do with the money.

So whatever, here's Sweden photos from 1.5 years ago WOOHOO cheers to procrastination. 

We caught a 15h train from Stockholm up to Abisko to catch the Northern Lights and I blew the kind of money I'd be likely to spend on my honeymoon but it's fine because you get what you pay for. And also because I'll probably die a lonely soul so I guess we can consider the honeymoon already ticked off the to do list. 

One of the best trips on exchange, even though I had a gazillion doubts because of the price and usual uncertainty that clouds your ability to decide since the northern lights aren't always visible. Also, for 100 euros to go husky sledding I thought we'd be eating some huskies or on 700 thread count Egyptian seat covers or something but no. 

It's fine. It was good anyway, and Jo and I had plenty romantic moments lying in the snow in 6 layers of winter clothing, Northern Lights and star-gazing. (Hi jo i know u read dis I miss u)

Matchy beanies courtesy of Primark whoop whoop

Blur cos I'm a shit photographer 

+

It really wasn't that green in real life everyone, don't be fooled. Its just that setting the camera on a longer exposure to capture the photo lets in more light so the green is brighter in photos.

+

It was still beautiful

+ 

But it wasn't Brother Bear-beautiful.

100 dollah for a view of dog butt.

Honestly one of the best experiences I've had in my entire life, literally dashing through the snow, with more snow falling around me, the crisp winter air smacking me relentlessly in the face and feeling every bit like a princess in a Disney movie.

Cooking a meatball dinner (cos Sweden) in our cosy af cabin

We only had about 3.5h in between our flight from Kiruna>Stockholm and Stockholm>Barcelona so we decided to do the only thing a decent human should when in Sweden --- visit a Swedish Ikea to eat authentic Swedish Ikea Meatballs. 

One more thing ticked off the bucket list. 

Thank you Sweden, you were too beautiful.

The lousy-ass journey called growing up has officially also come to include killing most of the fun associated with CNY. Maybe its the lack of kids screaming and running around, or that 21 years of eating all them CNY goodies has finally begun to lose its appeal, or we've become so accustomed to the usual, yearly procedures that await us the moment the festive season hits -- greetings, thank yous, questions like "so when are you getting married?", "are you working yet?", "where you gonna work at?", lunch/ dinner (with probably the same dishes as last year's), hours of lazing around and mini 'lil photo shoots.

Along the way we've come to realise that the amount of money you get from angbaos is never gonna go above a certain amount - so you give up on the race of arriving early to wait for relatives to hand them to you, and opening them all as soon as you get home.

And when you're old enough so that meeting each other isn't just about rolling around on the floor and giggling about half chipped nail polish, small talk only lasts so long before you turn back to your phone for the next few hours of the visit. 

No wonder I never understood why my mother always seemed so indifferent to CNY when I was younger hahahhahaha. 

Sihanoukville

So when I convinced Philo to go to Camby with me he insisted on squeezing in a beach segment so O K we booked a nice little place that had plenty of old retired people who smoked a lot and everywhere - at breakfast, by the pool, during their late night chats. What a life though. 

We:

- Spent a full day at Otres Beach which was stunning

- Had salty salads during lunch

- Read A LOT of Harry Potter (thank u Amazon 4 the invention of Kindles)

- Got a massage by the beach (imagine lying by the beach and falling asleep to a therapeutic massage and the sound of the waves crashing against the shore. 15/10)

- Sat in the sea and watched the sun set

- Took a motorbike back to our retirement hut (basically upped 10 EXP from this cos I've never been on one hehe)