Two months back, I watched Sofia Coppola’s ‘Lost in Translation’ for the second time. I couldn’t make it to the end of the movie without escaping moist eyes and feeling a sense of loss. If you’ve ever lived away from a place you call home, or spent months away from family, or just followed your…
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“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” ― Albert Einstein I’ve always found probability theory to be intriguing. It puts a new spin on understanding the world we live in. Nothing is absolute or can be…
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The first week of April marks the return of cherry blossoms to Seoul. After weeks of grey skies, bad air, and bare trees; it was time to get high on pink. This year, I decided to join the herds of cherry blossom chasers across the city. I’d have to become a tourist for that and willingly…
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Even as a child, I never believed in magic or fairies or wondrous places where dreams come true. I never believed in tales of scheming witches, eccentric wizards, and sleeping princesses — waiting to be awakened — by a knight in shining armour. I never believed in spirits, even if, I did get scared in…
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“If you can’t go back to your mother’s womb, you’d better learn to be a good fighter.” ― Anchee Min Mum and I have always shared a special relationship. She’d take my side when my older siblings would bully me. She’d remind me it was important to have faith in myself and work harder whenever I…
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In the seventies, my parents and my toddler brother set out to explore a foreign land. Their expat life was short-lived, but their stories lasted for a lifetime. As a young kid who hadn’t travelled at all, I found their stories to be alluring. I was hooked by a life that was alien to the…
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Earlier this year, we signed up with local tour specialists, Trazy, for the travel blogger sponsorship program. The brainchild of Jahyun and Kristine, Trazy works on the idea: ‘Travel + Crazy’ (equals Trazy). We know how hard it is to find English tours that are off the beaten path here and that’s why Trazy appealed to us. Occasionally, Trazy invites…
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“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” ― Winston S. Churchill We’ve been living in Seoul for over a year now and it continues to amaze us. In this ever-changing metropolis, gleaming peaks of grey quickly fill out blank spaces in the skyline and quirky artworks transform quaint neighbourhoods into popular tourist hubs. There is…
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“The artist’s job is not to succumb to despair but to find an antidote for the emptiness of existence.” ― Woody Allen Last August, a month after we moved to Seoul, I crumbled into pressure, and reluctantly gave up my reclusive ways for cultural classes at the local centre for expats and tourists. I dabbled in…
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A year back, roughly around this time, I was a bundle of jittery nerves and two jelly feet. As July approached, so did my anxiety of having to relocate to a new country. The positive effect of living for two months in Seoul (April and May) — in preparation for the actual move — had…
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