uni has officially come to an end! with summer being in full swing and exams on the back of my head, i took the opportunity to travel and explore different parts of the uk. upon visiting loksze up in coventry, we made a trip to the local market, not to pick up fruit and veg, but to take some hipster shots. it wasn’t long before a disgruntled grocer came to tell us not to take pictures of him and we got put off by the idea of shooting to the upset of angry butchers. enjoy also the random pics of veg and brooms shot discreetly by loksze.

-heather sham

there was this one time that etain, kelly and i decided to hit up a yoga sesh up in sky garden in fenchurch. the morning started off at 6:30am with a full hour of mixed yoga positions and tied up with a healthy, aesthetically-pleasing breakfast consisting of natural yoghurt, croissants and fruit salad; not to mention that it was served buffet style too.

(some beautiful images courtesy of kelly!)

luckily, kelly was situated slap bang in the centre of london bridge and so we crashed at her apartment for the night (i.e. a few hours of sleep) to head out out before sunset the next day.

this morning was by far the most productive i’ve ever had – and the most relaxing too. as we tried to pose and pretend that we knew what we were doing, the golden sunrise casted itself through the blank windows to radiate a warm heat.

after a few silly photos, kelly had to head to work (cos why not do an hour of yoga before work?!). and so etain and i decided to head upstairs for a few photos against the minimal architecture.

a cheeky self-timer one too:

tell me these photos speak ‘candid’ and ‘model’.

if this post about exercising and ‘zen-ness’ speaks to your lazy soul, head on to the sky garden website to see their next availabilities for yoga and breakfast overlooking the shard.

and a last one of etain back at kelly’s apartment!

-heather sham

during my time in korea this summer i was rekindled with my homestay family from last year. they invited me for dinner and said it was about half an hour’s drive away, but little did i know that it would be on a mountain top overlooking the beautiful mountains and a sunset which truly resembled an organic, fresh egg yolk.

my host family had 3 beautiful children who made me feel right at home last year, and we had the most amazing time sizzling pumpkin slices and wrapping meat in lettuce leaves.

as we barbecued away, we caught up on our past year and shared how God has blessed us. and as we did, the sun became to set til the most vibrant golden cast of light swept through the trees.

we took a break from food to catch the sunset. we climbed down from our campsite and approached a clearing where we had the most beautiful, clear view of the horizon. the whole place was literally worshipping and glorifying God – the mountains, the sun, the trees, the water, everything.

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we took some group photos to remember this perfect day. and yes, we then resumed to our feast.

just as the sun had gone down and we were all taking a break from the humid air, all the mosquitos began jumping out. thankfully our host dad was prepared so he burnt some incense to deter the mozzies and we passed around some mozzy repelling stickers to guard ourselves.

the original plan was that we all camped out in the tents for the night. however the mozzies got the better of us and we ended up packing up and driving home. we’ll endorse nature with open hands…one day.

so so grateful for this beautiful time.

-heather sham

first note to self: you cannot holiday in copenhagen on a student budget.

second note to self: it’s pretty darn cold in january.

spontaneity always hits us. it was 2 months before we flew off that etain imessaged me one evening saying how her uni friend flew off to copenhagen and back in one day, for a short trip. (short indeed). i guess cos it sounded so easy we ended up booking our flights that day. we stayed for 3 days 2 nights and rented out a cosy airbnb in vanlose, which actually turned out to be a bit of a trek into the city centre every day.

we didn’t have much of a plan, again. but we played along cos copenhagen wasn’t that big of a city anyway. we stumbled across a food market which was beautifully lit in the evening. i managed to snag some homemade spaghetti in the flavours truffle and ginger as souvenirs.

the next morning, we decided to splurge a bit for brunch and went to a cafe called kalaset. it was situated on the corner of the street, outlined with colourful and vintage decor, and had a good mix of vegetarian/vegan options.

well well well…we have a tradition for visiting beer factories. we loved the heineken factory back in amsterdam and decided to a pay a visit to the carlsberg one here. we didn’t have a plan before this holiday, but if we did, the factory defo made it.

we had a tour around the factory, petted some horses and had some beers and ciders. it was defo fun, but heineken was so much more bigger and had more interactive activities. maybe because it was so cold too, we would much rather have our beers inside and chill.

i’d say half the time we were in copenhagen we were looking for indoor spaces to dodge the cold, which was coldddddd. our ears always felt like they were falling off. we visited cafes, toyed around at a toy store similar to hamleys, and visited design museums. hashtag cultured?

oh, and we did get a hotdog.

-heather sham

whilst in korea, michael and i dropped by a city called jeonju, after having spent the weekend in a massive bamboo forest in gwangju with my friends james and sean – read it here! we booked into a youth hostel last minute and upon having done no planning for our holiday and befriending the hostel manager, we were introduced to ‘hanguk jip’, a restaurant known for one of the best bibimbaps in town.

the restaurant was only a short walk away from where we were staying and we were surprised that we didn’t have to wait long before the two of us got seated on a four seater table. apparently jeonju is known for serving up many side dishes with your meal, and we were sure surprised with the sheer amount of sides we got including kimchi, a fresh leaf salad, beans, sweetcorn, a soup and even baby crab!

our hostel manager told us that this restaurant held 3 michelin stars so we were excited to dwell into their rice bowls. mike got the one with a stone pot, whilst i tried the one served in a metal bowl. they taste the same to be frank, it was just the appearance of it which was different. i love my raw beef too, and this was so welcoming to my taste buds.

the bibimbaps only cost us around 15,000 won each (around £10) which we found a bargain as that was the average price for one in the uk, except this was top quality. the toilet was also situated by their oriental garden which mike and i enjoyed whilst we rested our bellies.

we highly recommend this restaurant and their authentic bibimbaps in jenoju before heading over to the ‘hanok village’ where you can rent out a hanbok (a traditional korean costume) and tour around a ‘village’ of 800 korean buildings.

we left with our stomachs full, and hearts full.

-heather sham