sakura season

leo

land of the long white cloud

street lights dot the city like fireflies on a summer lawn. my heart swell as the plane descends. memories run in rivulets through my veins, but soon overwhelm me. i gasp for air as though i have held my breath for years. 

for a while, new zealand was all of me. 

i remember walking along boulders near the pier every weekend. my knees would tremble at the ocean's tantrums. i saw my life before a salty sea surrounded by pines. i didn't know the future because i thought i was already there. 

then we moved.

passing years accumulate, and i forget about aotearoa. i traverse earth. i forget the first sunrise in the world. i forget lots of things (which resulted in the recommendation of eating more vitamin b and omega three foods). 

this place is like no other, i can never collect all the right words to bring it justice. it's the eden of my childhood.

sweet like sugar cane

lucia, growing
in the garden
of life

sos only (tasmania)

note to self, do not drink coffee if you want to sleep within 20 hours.

cloud atlas

i went to climb sunset peak yesterday.

the presence of silence as you ascend is like entering another world (without traffic, people, stock market screeners, basically what you expect when you climb a mountain). i could hear my heart beat like thunder (and they were thunder because i had just climbed half a freaking mountain without stretching). 

when i met the heavy fog half way, i thought: i could die here, and no one would ever find me.

that's when i heard voices. i turn to find them and three dudes in the distance look at me in unison. there goes my life. one of them runs up and asks if i am travelling alone. 'please don't kill me,' i plead. he laughs as though i have seen through his plan, and i make him repeat after me, 'i will not kill you.'

in the end they let me live and even gave me some water when i thought i was going to dehydrate.

people help the people

nora

the girl who leapt through time

tokyo, japan

fun facts

• camera phones all have shutter sounds, for... reasons
• ghibli is pronounced with a ji, not ghee like i have thought all my life
• there's an unspoken rule of not eating in public, which i broke every moment i was in public
• no matter what time of day, you always say 'ohaiyo gozaimasu' (even though it literally means good morning) on a mountain trail, to be polite and encourage the other passerby, who do not need encouragement really because they are blazing past you
• there are no rubbish bins (anywhere) (okay maybe think of the most inconvenient place, it might be there)

worthy words

1. itadakimasu (say before eating)
2. gochisosama (say after eating, add deshita if it is more formal)
3. oishii! (yum! i got to use this a lot when a friend took me to a japanese restaurant immediately after returning from japan, the chef was probably thinking 'i get it', 'i know', and 'stfu' but because he's a polite japanese dude all he could do was incline his body gracefully and reply 'arigato-gozaimasu' every time i used the phrase)
4. eki is station
5. ranchi is lunch
6. neko is cat
7. AKB48 is an idol group from akihabara
8. hajimemashite (say when you first meet someone)

cosmic matter

maya

we took these photos in between lounging on the floor with endless popcorn and chocolate watching adventure time and exploring mountain terrain and tracing train tracks and making nachos and making more nachos.

wilderness explorer

shoreham beach, mornington penisula: 

the pines on the edge of this forest (sad they could only see their view) all lunged towards the ocean (wanting to be a part of her greatness), but the earth held them back (for she saw everything).

the long way home

remember that time when i was inspired by chinese and bollywood films with cross-country train rides and decided to take a 22 hour seated trip from guilin to shanghai and just wanted to die after about twenty minutes?