2015

note: the captions are pretty wonky, i.e., they appear on some screens then stretch out and disappear on others. I’ll try and figure it out, but my captions aren’t super important or anything.

berlin - my first time in europe!

when obligatory boarding pass photos on your insta made you look cool (well I guess they still do?) - I remember being pretty giddy with excitement!

i’ve travelled with friends before, but this was my first flight completely alone (i was 17), so i took a lot of random photos??

wish i could tell ya this was berlin… but no… this is the really creepy hotel room i was placed in in doha because the connecting flight just flew off without us 🤠 this was the first time i’ve ever felt unsettled in a room - i felt so off i checked out at like 3am

more random photos, but i’m keeping this as a note to which hotel i stayed in!

hey at least i got enough time out of this extended transit to see the iconic bear at the airport

taking photos of unique food and snacks as usual - wish i actually tried these

no idea why i took this photo?? i have a vague memory of the wifi being so crap that i had to sit by the door for it to connect. either way, i think the door sign is so cute! they’ve used the traffic light signs in berlin to indicate ‘do not disturb’

first time walking around town after having my trip cut short by about a day

german mcdonalds! i remember being pleasantly surprised by how fresh and well-assembled the burger was

this was actually my first time seeing a sinlge-use pack of nutella

probably took this because a train station was named after me… surely

i will always be hopping around stationery and gift shops wherever i go

i had a day to myself (my mum was there on a work trip), so i popped by all the cool/hipster-y stores

nice vibes, i just remember everything being way too expensive

ahh… cute gift shops with trinkets i don’t need as usual

i think this was a cafe+gift shop! no idea what this was, i remember it tasting alright, not great, not horrible

wasn’t meant to include another angle of the same food, but here it is

would’ve never guessed, would’ve just assumed it was m for mag

does anyone remember this weird period in human history where segways were like, seen as one of the coolest inventions ever? always loved how goofy it looked to see an entire tour group ride by on them

very first bratwurst i had, i think! my first experience of curry not actually being spicy at all

also my first experience witnessing an arizona tea that massive

artistic shot of a street, captured by a not-so-great photographer

another attempt at artistic street shots

until you go closer and find out i just wanted to capture this odd building

same museum, but perhaps more artistically shot

inside some museum, no idea which one or why i was there

boat tours are always fun, but i never learn my lessons in that they’re the worst opportunities to get any decent photos when you’re on a moving vehicle

architectually pleasing buildings that i no longer remember what they are anymore

ok this i think i remember - this was the parliament/government building i believe?

and proof that i was, in fact, on a boat

back when i thought a shot of a cafe that just looks like a starbucks was aesthetic

ooh i gotta go find out what pressing this was - banks’ debut album was my 2015 earworm

we took a day trip out to sans soucci! starting off strong with an overexposed photo

another attempt at artistic shots i’m guessing

look, this work of architecture was massive, and i’m not a great photographer

underexposed shot of the beautiful gardens

overexposed shot of the beautiful gardens. as you can tell there are a couple of photos i’ve missed in my deletion process

okay this is a decent shot, such a beautiful palace

y’kno how there’s this recount by two teachers (?) where they were at some historically significant palace and they swore they travelled back in time because they saw victorian era people walking around? I haven’t been to much of these places so this is what i visualised when i heard of the story

beautiful beautiful building, slightly crooked picture

it was probably my first time inside an actual palace, so i was pretty awestruck at the interiors

also probably my first time seeing these ornate paintings (whose originating time period i have no clue about), because asia doesn’t steal stuff from the west

the lourve wishes it was this empty, or at least i wish it was

this entrance… reminds me of oceans 8 for some reason

i think even a boomer tourist could’ve taken a better photo than this one

judging by the graininess, i probably zoomed into this painting into oblivion with the intention of using it as a meme

not sure i would’ve enjoyed this kind of public bath

odd angle but at least it shows just how expansive the palace compound is, stunning!

ah, a better photo of the palace compound

more beautiful ornate paintings surrounded by beautiful ornate interiors

ooh i remember this hallway being especially breathtaking

a stool??? apparently so beautiful that i stuck my phone against a window/door to take a photo

another photo showing how huge the palace was

i’m pretty sure i’ve taken more photos of this trip, but somehow my gallery just jumped to this photo i took at a souvenir store - i was very intrigued that they were selling pieces of the berlin wall (something something… about capitalising on the supposed fall of fascism)

last meal in berlin! had to be currywurst of course. all i remember was a bee flying into my fanta, and just how many bees there were in this damn city

taiwan to celebrate a pal’s 21st!

this trip was so fun and especially memorable - we managed to pull off planning an entire trip without my friend’s knowledge! of course we made sure that he was free and had people close to him in on this (so in that we got his bag packed for him), and we surprised him at the airport, blindfold and everything.

look! another predictable boarding pass shot!

no wayyyy, we have upgraded to a group shot!

i miss this so much, every day i wake up and wish taiwanese/chinese breakfast was more accessible… 永和 my love

i remember this day so fondly - we booked a private driver to bring us around the more inaccessible nature-y parts of taiwan on our first day. he was blasting a-mei’s discography for the entire day and we were living for it. anyway - first stop was Yehliu Geopark!

look at these cool looking rocks by the sea

i’m making an uneducated guess that they look this cool because of volcanoes, i’m probably very wrong

can’t believe i don’t have a photo of it anymore but one of the rock formations looked like a chicken wing

there were quite a lot of tourists, but there were little pockets of this park that felt so peaceful - we went in the morning where it was slightly foggy and misty, peak vibes

then we had a seafood FEAST. god this was so good

i’ve actually been to taiwan so many times, and visited a lot their beautiful natural landmarks, so every attraction just blends into one another atp

hey don’t knock it until you try it - this sausage was really good, and the stall (at 九分）was run by a really animated lady, not sure if she’s still around though :(

birthday pal treated us to a hotpot buffet as a thank you - taiwan is the motherland of hotpots to me, so affordable and delicious

i’m pretty sure this was taken at the top of taipei 101! always a magical experience going up there

oh this little cotton candy guy became a running joke in our friend group for years - friend got this at a night market, thought it was so cute and wanted to bring it back to singapore… yeah leaving it in the airbnb for a couple of days did some things to this poor guy

i wanted to go here! but i remember the reservations being booked out for months. this was back when character cafes were an effective gimmick

i honestly don’t know why we even tried to look for cafe culture in taiwan, the motherland of street food and night markets. I don’t remember any of the cafe food we had being amazing

ok this was a fun gimmicky restaurant - poop restaurant! food wasn’t amazing, it was passable, we basically paid for them to put our food in toilet bowls and other toilet-related cutlery

wish i took a picture but we sat on toilet bowls too

back to real food - i believe this was din tai fung’s competitor restaurant! prices were slightly cheaper, queues weren’t ridiculous, and the food was just as delicious. can’t remember why i didn’t go back for a meal last year (2024)

like… seriously… why did we have… burgers… in taiwan… electric chair for us

this was a viral cafe! viral enough that people outside of taiwan knew of them as having popularised this ice cream on toast dessert. it was delicious(ly expensive too)

i was about to lament at how we keep trying to find cafe culture in taiwan of all places, but i think this was from the cafe in our really cool hotel! i remember liking it i think

oof i remember this - this is the famous place to go to for beef noodles in taiwan. the noodles were great, but we didn’t have a great experience in most of the places that were hyped up a lot online - we queued for at least half-an-hour before staff came out and said they were sold out/closing, and they were pretty rude about it too lol — oof i remember this - this is **the** famous place to go to for beef noodles in taiwan. the noodles were great, but we didn’t have a great experience in most of the places that were hyped up a lot online - we queued for at least half-an-hour before staff came out and said they were sold out/closing, and they were pretty rude about it too lol

convenience store meals!! we always made sure to leave room for a convenience store run at night, and the full meals they had were so delicious. we were very fascinated at this plastic bag contraption they had, which allows you to safely carry your heated up meal and also prevents the bag from steaming up and soggying up your food.

haul! every trip to every asian country always consists of an excess of stationery purchased

one of our last taiwanese breakfasts… soooo good you have no idea. i’m craving an asian soy milk as i’m writing this, a cup of matcha next to me :’(

ok this cafe meal i remember being good, and it was also a meal we had to scarf down because we made the very well-timed decision of squeezing in an extra food spot on our last day. we were running really close to missing our flight lol

johor bahru - every singaporean’s quick getaway

I wouldn’t even consider this a holiday, because jb is such a common haunt for singaporeans. It’s a great place - currency exchange rates mean that stuff is a lot more affordable, so it’s always fun to take a day or two out to eat, stock up on snacks/groceries/medicine, go thrifting, have a late-night supper, and maybe even a nice hotel stay. I just have to hop on a (usually quiet) coach that takes me from the east of singapore all the way to the west, go through passport control and i’m there in an hour or so.

none of these cafes are open anymore unfortunately lol. but 2015 me absolutely creamed at the opportunity to get an affordable and aesthetically pleasing eggs benny

I’m honestly really sad that this drinks cafe closed! this is by far by favourite rendition of vietnamese coffee - iced and topped with grass jelly 🤤

i also miss this - it’s kinda serendipitous how i’ve loved every cafe that has came and left this specific storefront/unit in jb. first it was this ice cream spot, then just a couple of years ago it was a 24 hour cafe (offee) that my friends and i always stopped by at odd hours (speculoos latte was divine). no idea what’s there now, i’d love to check it out when i’m back!

snippets of daily life in 2015

ten years ago and ten years later i’m still leaving the house for the same activities - trying new food spots and stationery shopping.

i thought i ate with this shot - this was when monochrome tones and marble were like peak tumblr. burgers were alright, diabolical that they gave crisps instead of actual fries/chips

something fancy - not sure if my friend and i liked it because it was genuinely good or because it just looked foreign and fancy

and I think this was a dessert cafe just a few stores down! i remember really enjoying the cakes

i think i remember this! might have been at a cafe at the GRID mall, before it was renovated and called GRID. i think this was my yearly/quarterly catch-up with an old friend.

this meal might’ve been with the same friend, or i might’ve mixed up my memories

cat! where i live in singapore is a pretty old neighbourhood, so the surrounding area has quite a huge community cat population. I love seeing them so comfortable and roaming around my neighbourhood, and i always try to have a bag of treats on me

my favourite washi tape brand, aren’t they the og?! I think this was like an mt-exclusive sale that i went to, so I got a lot of washi tapes. wish they had more of these

LOL i can’t remember whose birthday this was for, but i created a cute shaker feature with all of 2015’s stan twitter memes embedded in there

yes… i was in my studyblr/gram era, as well as my learning french makes me so cool and mysterious era

standout memes

in case anyone was every curious about my sense of humour and how it has evolved (but honestly i’m just trying to clear out the possibly 50% of my photo gallery, which is just… memes)

the year of realising things isn’t it… i still use this genre of memes today lmao

it was a very transitory but fun year️. transitions sure are a lot more manageable when you don’t have adult responsibilities. I moved away from my childhood home (which has still hard - i was very close to my grandmother, and the tumultuousness of home life persisted), got tora, started post-secondary education. I still had the chance to travel and have lots of fun throughout. the memories stick very fondly but that version of me feels quite foreign, hell, even who i was three years ago feels foreign.