The Accidental Tourist

……there was a pig’s heart and 2 live chickens involved…..full story later.

Unknowingly, I’ve been doing quite a few family portraits recently. The Lampkins in Moberly, Missouri. My own brother who got hitched recently. Portraits of Anne , her sister and mum as Anne is going to get married soon and moving to Sydney . I’ll post some of them when I have time. Last saturaday, I managed to con persuade Stan and June to let me take their family portrait. Ok actually, it was supposed to be Mother and Baby portraits for Mother’s day but hey we might as get some done for Father’s day right?

You can always tell who calls the shots in the family….

Mummy, the gentle one.

Starting Joash young…..

Thanks to the very cool Cheongs!

ok, I’ll admit it. I have an unhealthy obession with all things Japanese. I think it started with mum dragging me to Japanese classes when I was 10. Just because they needed an extra headcount to start a class. I’ve only managed to pass JLPT Level 4, the lowest level. Mum has JLPT 3. I remember she would paste the copies of vocabulary all around the house when it was almost exam time. She would also drive me a bit crazy with the excessive conversations in Japanese. It’s been 18 years and all i remember are the A, E, U, EH, Os.
Our teacher, Koh San, was a half Jap (Chinese Father). His classes were fun as he loves talking about the culture. We learned Japanese by singing Nursey Rhymes and he would show us slideshows of his pictures from Japan. I learnt abt that strange strange custom of Japanese worshipping the giant wood penis from a very young age but of course, back then, I had no idea what the giggles in class were about. Mum was the star student in class. Her Kanji dictionary, well used as a result of her digillence in studes, was often held up by Koh San in class as he praised his favourite student.

In my teens, i would read up travel books on Japan and dreamt about travelling to Japan. Maybe this year. This year, I could fulfuill my dream to go there.
Meanwhile, here’s some Japanese snacks from Muji.

Sakura mashmallows with red bean paste.

Fish chips with sesame seeds.

“Was this place affected by the Tsunami?” That was the one of the questions that came to my mind and a friend’s when we were on assignment in Padang 2 years ago.

We were not being mean but the city gave us that impression. We were in a 4 star hotel but the amount of debris on the beach looked like it was affected by the Tsunami.

Unfortunately, an earthquake striked it instead. It’s a really quiet, sleepy town. So quiet that on a sat night, we sat in a coffee house and counted the number of motorbikes that drove by.

In my photo essay for Padang, I wrote:

“Once a booming tourist hotspot, the crowds faded away due to scares of bird flu, riots, tsunami and economic downfall in the country in the 90’s. At the time of the assignment, i was told that this peaceful town in West Sumatra has never been infected by the bird flu or hit by a tsunami.”

Now, it’s hit by an earthquake. I always thought some of the attractions in Padang (example, Harau Valley and Mentawai) are gems that need to explored. They have always been unlucky in their tourism from the bad press the other parts of indonesia were getting. (even though they have one of the world’s best surf spot).

Let’s hope things get better for them.