What Do You See In This Picture?

[Edited on 27 April with published comments and my views added in pink. Highlight to read if the font colour is too light for you.]


This vintage picture of a vintage miniature van has been the wallpaper of my work laptop for the past few months.



One day during a department meeting, I was staring blankly into this picture when I noticed for the first time something which I've never noticed before. Apparently, two other colleagues sitting behind me were also drawn to my wallpaper. After the meeting, one of them asked me what this image was about and we started talking about it. I asked if she had found anything amiss in the picture and to share her views with me. After coming to conclusion with almost the same view, we started eliciting responses from the people around us.

So folks, what do you see in this picture? Do share with me your views. It could be anything! An interpretation, a picture description or your feelings about this picture. I'm bursting to tell you what I see but I would love to hear from all of you first!

[Publishing of comments are on hold coz some of you might just be notti and read the comments before forming your view.]


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My views:

This photo exudes a lovely vintage feel with a sunset wash of tone. The depth of field photography brings our focus to the van. This van reminds me of a vintage VW van. It is definitely a miniature as you could compare its size in relation to the fallen leaves around it. Everything looks so beautiful but there is something that sticks out like a sore thumb -- the thumb tack on top of the van and what looks like blood!

What is the intent of this picture? Why is a miniature van with a bloody thumbtack being depicted? Is there a sinister story behind it all? Was this little toy left at some playground to hurt people? Why is such a beautiful miniature van used for such purpose?

All the above questions were running through my mind once I spotted the bloody thumb tack. I can't even remember where I got this image from. It must have been during the period when I was choosing vintage images as part of my personalized Christmas gifts to friends. Try as I might, I couldn't trace back the source. 

It was fun reading your comments and for those who spotted the bloody thumb tack, good for you! I had so much wanted to reply to you in excitement. I can't believe I only noticed this detail way after having this image as my wallpaper. For those who didn't spot it, it's ok. You are just like me. Some of my colleagues couldn't even see it was a miniature van. One commented that the umbrella on top of the van looks weird though she can't figure out why. 

I guess I would have to find a new wallpaper soon. The bloody thumb tack has since grown from disturbing to intriguing and any longer I might just become desensitized to such morbidity. It is just so difficult to find a picture I like with enough simplicity on the left so that my desktop icons are still easily visible. 

The Would You Rather Beauty Tag

Hi everyone!

The lovely Sharlynn of The Blackmentos Beauty Box tagged me to do a Would You Rather Beauty Tag last Sunday. It is one of those stranded island kind of questions, only that this is all beauty related.

I'm well-known for not completing tags or taking a few months to do them. By the time I got down to doing them, all the hype would had died down. I usually take a long time to do them as I find tag questions difficult to answer since I can get really indecisive at times. This Would You Rather Beauty Tag seems fun and easy to do so here goes!




1. Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lip glosses or lose all of your palettes and eye shadows?

I would rather lose all my palettes and eye shadows.

I only use eye shadows during special occasions. I've probably got about 7 palettes and eye shadows combined. Except for 2 of them, all the rest are gifts.

Mascaras and eyeliners are just about the only daily make up I NEED in my life. Whenever I do not apply mascara or do not line my eyes, there would be at least 1 person asking me if I were sick. Ah, the wonders of just mascara and eyeliners. I'm not a lip person but I do have my subtle colour-changing lip balm with me all the time. So yeah, definitely an easy choice for me to make.




[image source]


2. Would you rather chop all of your hair off or never be able to cut it again?

The question didn't state that I could never grow my hair long again after chopping it off right?
I would chop off all my hair coz hair could always grow back again. Besides, I do fiddle with the thoughts of shaving my head for Hair for Hope when my good friend and my 2 sisters did it.

I would also choose chopping my hair off any time coz do you ladies know how it feels to NEVER be able to cut your hair EVER AGAIN? Your hair would look like these people in the collage below. I'm not sure about you but I know that I would scare the hell out of myself when I look into the mirror looking like these people. I would also scare the hell out of anyone at home should I walk around the house looking like that during the witching hour.

UGLY!




Long straight hair. Long straggly hair. Long tangled hair. Long dreadlocks. Long curly hair. If you could never cut your hair ever again. They would become helluva UGLY. Heck, I feel goosebumps typing this portion as I look at the ghostly long hair figures from the top of my eyes.

UGLY!




I know MANY bloggers who did this beauty tag answered that they would rather never be able to cut their hair again. Most of them are beauty bloggers with really lovely long hair.




Black, brunette, blonde, ash. Hair with great shape. Sleek shiny with highlights. Soft choppy layers. Light wisp of curls. These are examples of long hair which I absolutely heart. I didn't even include those self-tonged curls coz I could write a whole post about them.

Wheet!




Sometimes beautiful long hair comes as a whole package. Say, if you are dressed in super hot shorts with long tanned legs, it sort of accentuates the beauty of your long hair. The right hair colouring like cool ombre tones also bring out the beauty of an otherwise dull long hair. And if you noticed, I used the same black hair picture again coz I personally lurve the soft look for black hair and not those overly straight and shiny kind of Asian hair for shampoo advertisement.

Wheet!




But ladies, if you were to NEVER be able to cut your hair again, they would slowly become like this. Perhaps some of you could still find leg length hair beautiful, but I seriously want to take a pair of scissors and snip these hair off. Do they actually sit on their hair? What if the wind blows their hair and brush them across street dustbins etc?
(I'm aware that I kept using black, brown and blonde hair. No offence to the auburn. I guess people with auburn hair has enough sense not to keep their hair that long.)

Um... En route to UGLY.




So this is what would happen to your hair if you were to never be able to cut them again. Cue to look at first two collages again if the above fails to dissuade you.



3.Would you rather have coral cheek or pink cheek?

Pink cheek.

Most coral kinda look too orangey on me. Besides, there are many different shades of pink but only those few shades of coral.


4. If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or make up?

Clothes definitely.

Remember that I could survive with just mascara and eye liner? Why would I need $1000 worth of mascara and eye liner? Give me $1000 for a wardrobe revamp any time.


5. Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?

Now I thought that this question is weird coz eyeliners to me are mainly in black and also in shades that eye shadow carries. Those colours as lipstick??? Totally weird.

And lipstick as eyeliner? Seriously? Oily lipstick on your lids makes super oily lids. Come on. I don't understand the logic of this question at all.

If I definitely have to pick one, I would go with applying black eyeliner as lipstick for Halloween.


6. Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?

Definitely Sephora!

I love variety; I could buy lots at Sephora. I don't even own a single MAC item. And that's why I'm not a beauty blogger.


7. Would you rather only use one eye-shadow colour or one lip colour for the rest of your life?

One lip colour.

I usually only wear lip balm and I realised that all the lipsticks I have are in almost the same shade. However I have a few colours of eye shadow and they all create different looks.


8. Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?

It is difficult for me to choose. Singapore is a tropical country where we have sunny and rainy seasons and it is usually hot and humid at any time of the year. Yet, I would always need an outerwear in the freezing cold office. I would go with wearing winter clothes in summer in an air-conditioned place. How's that?



[image source]

9. Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?

Bright nails.

I love painting my nails in nudes and pastels so I would think those are considered bright? I love how classy dark nails are but they look like crap when they chip.


10. Would you rather give up your favourite lip colour or favourite eye product?

Give up favourite lip colour.

If you haven't already figured out after the 10th question, I'm an EYE person. I don't have big eyes so I'm really into eye products to enhance my eyes.


11. Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun?

Messy bun.

I love wearing my hair in a messy bun at home. You know those hair hacks that says tie up your hair in a ponytail during bad hair days? No such thing for me. A pony tail has to look good too. A bad hair day hair equals to a bad hair day pony tail. You can't see a bad hair day in a messy bun. So there.



[image source]


12. Would you rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lip gloss?

Rather never use lip gloss.

I could still use lip balm, lip stains and other lip products other than lip gloss. I hate the stickiness of lip gloss anyway. I simply NEED to paint my weak nails with a coat of nail product even if it is just a transparent coat. I can't stand them soft and weak and unpainted.


13. Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?

Sharpie? Seriously? When you talk about sharpie them in, do you actually mean that marker? Hell no, that's as bad as having no eyebrows. Maybe I would choose to sharpie them in everyday and hone my skills over time and have skills of drawing eyebrows that do not look like sharpied brows. 




14. Would you rather live without make up or nail polish?

Without nail polish.

As much as I love to paint my nails, I need my eye make up more. Having my usual mascara and eyeliner on would enlarge my eyes by two times. If you want to know how my eyes look without make up, just look out for photos when my eyes look like slits.




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Thanx Sharlynn! I had lots of fun doing this beauty tag. Even though I'm not a beauty blogger, I hope all of you had fun reading my silly answers.

I'm tagging the following friends. Please do the tag if you find it fun. No obligations at all. Anyone reading please feel free to do the tag as well if you like.

Anna from Panda Loves Eyeliner
Jo from White Roses and Coffee
Kim from A Very Sweet Blog
Kizzy from The Dainty Dolls House
Lilli from Candy and Style
Mira from Glam Devils
Stanislava from Sun and Sany
Sonia from Daring Coco

Below are the questions for anyone interested!

1. Would you rather lose all of your mascaras, eyeliners, lipsticks, and lip glosses or lose all of your palettes and eye shadows?
2. Would you rather chop all of your hair off or never be able to cut it again?
3.Would you rather have coral cheek or pink cheek?
4. If you had $1000 to spend, would you rather buy clothes or make up?
5. Would you rather apply lipstick as eyeliner, or eyeliner as lipstick?
6. Would you rather only shop at MAC or Sephora?
7. Would you rather only use one eye-shadow colour or one lip colour for the rest of your life?
8. Would you rather wear winter clothes in summer or summer clothes in winter?
9. Would you rather have dark nails or bright nails all year round?
10. Would you rather give up your favourite lip colour or favourite eye product?
11. Would you rather only be able to wear your hair in a ponytail or a messy bun?
12. Would you rather never be able to paint your nails again or never use lip gloss?
13. Would you rather shave your eyebrows and have none at all or sharpie them in everyday?
14. Would you rather live without make up or nail polish?

Taipei Throwback: A Laidback Day at Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf & Tamsui Old Street

I put my Taipei Throwback Travels on hold in December and last updated about the very satisfying dinner at Zui Ma La Hot Pot and supper at Raohe Night Market on Day 2.

Day 3 was a rainy and cloudy day spent at Tamsui District (淡水區) and Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭). (Tamsui is also known as Danshui in Mandarin and I will be using these two terms interchangeably in this post.)

Remember our hotel (Beauty Hotels Taipei -- Hotel B7) with no windows? We had no idea how to plan the itinerary for the day during the rainy season with no windows in our room. Only in the late afternoon after the rain did we leave the hotel room. So if any of you stumbled onto this post googling for Taipei itinerary, I've to disclaim that my Taipei travelogue is a bad guide for you should you be looking out for a packed itinerary.

~*Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯) for Lunch*~

In Taipei, we ate lots of Lu Rou Fan (滷肉飯) or in English, braised pork rice.




We found a place a few streets away from our hotel that served decent Lu Rou Fan. I'm quite particular about the smell/taste of pork and found many pork dishes in Taipei too "smelly" for my liking. This Lu Rou Fan passed my taste test. We ate it consecutively for days.




It drizzled on and off during the MRT ride. How to enjoy the scenery at Danshui with such weather?




Yummy cocoa milk tea and apple-flavored probiotics drink. I bought the cocoa milk tea coz I love chocolate, I love tea and I love the pretty bottle. I almost couldn't bear to throw it away and was searching high and low for a plastic recycling bin to no avail.





~*Tamsui Old Street*~

"Historically Tamsui is a significant place in Taipei history, where it was one of the main settlements for the Spanish in the 1600′s and one of the biggest ports in Taiwan in the 19th century. The waterfront promenade is now a pedestrian-friendly street lined with shops selling interesting knick knacks, old-school game stalls and local snacks." - taiwantraveler.org

A little dog greeted us once we stepped onto the street of Danshui. Taipei is a city that is super dog-friendly. Many dogs pranced around without a leash like this one over here.




We were amazed at the rows of stalls that sold snacks of all kinds and many old-school toys and other traditional items.




But of course the dear hubby was only interested in buying any food that caught his fancy like this curry-flavoured fish balls. They smelled good but we couldn't taste much curry flavour. Fail!




I totally forgot what this was. I only recall kh stopping every few steps to buy food.




Next, the hubby spotted Ah-Mam's Plum Tea and told me it is the most famous plum tea in Tamsui. Apparently he read it from somewhere. Wow, he actually did more research than me!




Ah-Mam's Plum Tea wasn't too bad but it was nothing special. I was probably craving for food more than a tangy sweet drink that quenched thirst.




That's Guanyin Mountain (觀音山) behind us.
I was rather enthralled by the Tamsui Old Street and the waterfront stalls that I almost wanted to spend more time there than at Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf. However, many people and websites often recommend catching the sun set at the Fisherman's Wharf and especially from the Lover's Bridge. Hence we decided we could explore the Old Street at night when we returned.

~*The Ferry Ride to Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf*~

Time to board the ferry to Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭).




It was an uneventful ferry ride except for my sheer amazement at the Honey Stars shape of the breakwater. Or is that even called a breakwater?




Lover’s Bridge (情人桥) soon came into sight. Just look at how many people were on the bridge. Romantic? Nah...




"The "Lover's Bridge", a single slanted tower cable stay pedestrian bridge, that is modeled after a sailing ship's mast and rigging, spans the harbor. The bridge is illuminated by different-colored lights at night, making this area a favorite with local couples and romantics, and a popular site for shooting Taiwanese serial dramas. Outdoor concerts are sometimes held in the amphitheater, and some of the restaurants feature occasional live music." - wikitravel.org

~*Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf*~

"The Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf is well known by its beautiful sunset and fresh seafood. While having sightseeing and leisure facilities, it still holds its functionality as a harbor for fishing boats." - wikipedia.org

Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf (淡水漁人碼頭) offers a boardwalk, chic coffee shops and food stalls.




I've got no idea if whoever did this wanted to say "ma tou" (碼頭) as in harbour or simply wanted to anglicize the word by dropping to "u".




All I could think of then was what would happen to those bears when it rained?




You could tell that...




I really love...




PIGS... and cats.




No scenic sun set in sight.




There were simply too many people on the Lover's Bridge to take a wefie there. Besides there wasn't any great view like a golden orange setting sun as backdrop.




By the time we reached the other side of the bridge, the sky became really dark.




Everybody wanted to take a picture with this LOVE structure on the other side of the bridge.




We didn't see the beauty of this LOVE thingy but since a group of Singaporean students approached us to help them take jump shot pictures, they offered to help us take too.




Tamsui Lover's Bridge looked more beautiful at night with the cheery colours of neon.




But of course my camera couldn't capture the beauty of the colours as how my eyes perceived.




This restaurant was almost empty except for 2 tables. One with humans and one with bears.




That's kh's "wtf-face".




As usual, the hubz just had to buy snacks that caught his fancy.




Bye to Fisherman's Wharf. We had a ferry to catch.

~*Tamsui Old Street*~

It is advisable to check out Tamsui Old Street or Danshui Lao Jie (淡水老街) after you've visited Fisherman's Wharf coz you might be lugging home lots of goodies from the old street. That was what we did.




First up, we had to look for a place that served proper dinner. I didn't want to be snacking the whole time. However to kh, beer seemed to take precedence over dinner. Ma La Sun Beer is a brand of millet wine, originally used in Taiwanese Film director Wei Te-Sheng's movie 《Cape No. 7》. The phrase "Ma La Sun" originally means "drunk" in Ami language.




This crab served in broth would make a satisfying dinner for me!

After buying bubble tea (yeah, bubble tea every day in Taiwan), we went in search of the famous Ah Po Tie Dan  (阿婆铁蛋). Tie Dan means "iron egg". It is a hard-boiled egg that has gone through many cycles of cooking, braising and drying until the egg shrinks, turning tough & chewy in the process.

After reading so much about how delicious A-Gei is, we simply had to make a stop at the restaurant where this dish originated.

A-Gei is a large piece of hollow tofu filled with glass noodles and sealed with something like cooked fish paste. The dish is topped off with some kind of sweet pinkish sauce that is similar to the Yong Tau Foo sauce in Singapore. After breaking off the seal, I was completely stupefied by how much stuffed glass noodles that tofu could hold. It filled the whole bowl!

For more pictures of A-Gei and the interesting little crowded restaurant, head over to this blog where a whole post is dedicated to this A-Gei restaurant in Tamsui. I personally didn't understand the hype about A-Gei because tofu, glass noodles, fish paste and the sweet pink sauce all reminded me of Yong Tau Foo which is readily available in Singapore.




We bought lots of Hei Tang Jiang Mu Cha (黑糖姜母茶) for our families at this stall. This is basically a black sugar based beverage with a combination of ginger and other ingredients for different weathers and body conditions. I was totally sold by the taste and the variety for different conditions. The sales lady was so cute and really good at clocking more sales from her customers.




Ooh... How refreshing to see cats in Taipei instead of dogs.




This totally looked like a Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum. The words in Chinese didn't indicate any affiliation to Ripley's but upon googling, it seemed to be. I really enjoyed myself at the Gold Coast one some 10 years back. I couldn't believe many of the exhibits I saw. For a video of the Tamsui Ripley's Believe It Or Not Museum, head over to this link.




For those of you who have been acquainted with me on Instagram, you would have known the story of these Sanrio characters macarons.




Hubby suggested buying these cute macarons and I was HUGELY surprised coz he hates Hello Kitty. He even offered to open the box so that I could snap a clearer picture. Immediately after I snapped, he did this to Hello Kitty... T_T
I... Wanna... Cry.
I was still thinking of posing with the macarons and taking pictures with each character. But all the evil hub had in mind was to buy them, do this to Hello Kitty and make me cry. Lol




If you're interested, here are my other Taipei Throwback posts:
Taipei Throwback: First Night in Taipei
Taipei Throwback: The Curiosities in Modern Toilet Restaurant and Ximen Red House
Taipei Throwback: Bopiliao Old Street, Longshan Temple and Taipei Botanical Garden
Taipei Throwback: Liberty Square, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Shida Night Market
Taipei Throwback: Taipei 101 and Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall
Taipei Throwback: Zui Ma La Hot Pot, Wufenpu and Raohe Night Market

Thank you all for your comments on my previous posts. It has been a really busy work week but as for now, we could relax for the remaining of this week (which is just 1 day) till the next peak comes in. Replies would be slow and I hope to be able to reconnect with all of you soon. In the meantime, please keep the love coming in and have a splendid weekend ahead!