Part I : Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur)

I've finally got round to uploading my holiday photos. The above pictures were all taken at Jian Wei's grandparents' home in central(ish) Kuala Lumpur. The house was built in the sixties/seventies' and was cool and spacious, full to the ceiling with midcentury furniture and Chinese antiques, and situated in a lush garden of banana leaf and cheese plants. At night time we could see the glittering Petronas Towers from our bedroom window and in the morning hear chanting from the nearby mosque.

Jian Wei's grandparents were absolutely adorable and so hospitable and every morning introduced us to a new local fruit; ranging from mangosteen to rambutan to durian: the King of Fruit. We could get up whenever we fancied and saunter downstairs to find everyone reading leisurely, sprawled out on the large assortment of chairs (there were at least twelve in the room), beneath the rotating fans on the ceiling. Breakfast would consist of roti carnai, pancakes with curry, or toast. All washed down a mug of Nescafe made from a three-in-one packet as the idea of milk seems anathema to Malays.

I had the most wonderful time here and Ah Ma and Ah Kong were so kind to me, it felt such an honour to explore their lovely house and to be taken under their wing.















A lot of durian. A fruit with the texture and taste of melting blue cheese and the proclaimed 'king of the fruit'.





Kuala Lumpur itself is a chaotic, noisy and verdant city with plenty of charm and palm trees, crumbling colonial architecture and a inner city monorail. Beneath the shimmering skyline are densely populated China Towns, Little Indias and Malay markets where food is evidently the catalyst for every form of social activity. The food halls and street vendors sell a variety of fusion cuisine and odd confectionary (blue sponge cake anyone?) and you can buy everything from a fake Chanel handbag to a locally produced batik dress. I was very tempted by the impossible quality of the Chanel 2.55s...

The next installment of this photographic series will be of Singapore. All photographs taken by myself using Pentax MZ-M.

A second spring

COS jumper // Topshop Boutique jeans // Thrifted silk shirt, loafers and bag // vintage leather belt found down back of wardrobe in my new house










I wore this outfit, featuring my gorgeous new COS jumper - a birthday gift from Jian Wei - to Judy's Affordable Vintage Fair in Bethnal Green on Saturday. The fair was enormous and set in a really interesting old bath house with masses of stalls and a vintage tea party. I saw lots of lovely things however, as my vintage tastes are turning ever more towards the pre-1960s, I naturally gravitated towards everything that was simply not affordable. My sister Cassie fared much better: despite possessing a slightly apathetic approach to vintage clothing she returned home with forty pounds' worth of leather satchel and Levi's cut-offs. The peanut butter cupcakes are also worth a mention of their own.

The belt pictured is something I've been meaning to share for a while. A real leather waist belt is something I've been meaning to acquire for a while so I was absolutely over the moon when I discovered this ancient one whilst Jian Wei and I were moving the 1930s/40s wardrobes in our new bedroom. As our current home has been in my family for over three generations it gives me great pleasure to think it must have belonged to one of my family members and, as it goes with everything, I have been wearing it non-stop since discovering it. It even has a brass buckle!

We've been trying so hard to get our bedroom decorated and it's been a mammoth task as the walls were completely covered in cork tiles and magenta paint in the seventies. As the tiles were peeled off they either took chunks of plaster off the wall with them or exposed lumps of fossilised brown glue which we've had to use a stain block to conceal along with up to three coats of white emulsion. Still, after poly-fillering like mad and sanding 'til our fingers bled (almost), we are almost at a stage of having a completely prepared room for the final and most important stage - painting the perfect shade of pistachio green.

All photos by Jian Wei.

From the first summer in London

A bumper post of pictures taken throughout July and August when Jian Wei and I were first moving things down into the new house, not to mention stalking each other around with cameras. Malaysia and Singapore pics are now on their way! Hope you're all enjoying the beginning of Autumn.

Twenty-three

Today is my birthday and here is a little documentation of my earliest years, from birth to primary school. My manager noted that in the above picture my mum doesn't look as though she's just given birth and put this down to the fact that, as I was her sixth baby, she was a dab hand at the whole process by this point. Also, would you have thought she was forty-two in this picture? At some point I will have to scan in some of the amazing pictures my parents have of themselves, friends and family in the sixties and seventies as their wardrobes were incredible.



Teeny tiny dreadlocks and diet of kiwifruit signalled the transition from babyhood to toddlerdom.





I wonder whatever happened to this 'Dulcie' jumper. Also, note how disastrously home-cut fringes have remained a recurring trope throughout my twenty-three years.



On the right I am pictured with my younger sister Cassandra. She is currently staying with me for two weeks while she undertakes a two-week work placement at Chessington Zoo. Yesterday she involved feeding baby meerkats with a bottle!

I have today and tomorrow off work and I am celebrating my big day with a small dinner party. I should be making bannoffee pie as I type but instead I am enjoying some lamented blogging time (and a Sailor Jerry and coke...) I am so sorry I have been so absent around here but I now have my own laptop (and charger!) here in london, a functional printer-scanner, camera and packet upon packet of developed film to scan and upload so blogging will hopefully find some space to squeeze in among working three/four days at L.K Bennett and studying my masters part time. Speaking of L.K Bennett I bought myself a wee birthday present (or two) there yesterday (using my uniform allowance) and came home with a beautiful leopard print pony skin leather belt and the perfect grey marl wool cardigan with 'v' neck and geeky pockets. I will be wearing them at work for the next six months along with my FREE items yet I am confident that I will wear them for many years to come as they are such classic pieces and the quality is top notch.

I will endeavour to blog tomorrow featuring pictures of my birthday presents. I have a little stack of gifts piled on the table and I am saving them for later...