Didn't mean to leave my blog to die but... Life gets in the way sometimes. Work and other life commitments have begun to take priority over updating my social media spaces. :')
I've started blogging in an attempt to archive some memories that I'd like to reminiscence on and share some of my personal works, but lately, this past time of mine has become more of a chore than a hobby. I don't know how long I'll keep this platform up... But I'm gonna try.

So just about two weekends ago, Han had his block leave so we decided on a short getaway to Redang!! It was AMAZING.




It was a little tedious to get to Redang cause it's on the other far end of Malaysia, but transport was pretty cheap so we've got no complaints.

Getting there

You can take a coach to Terrengganu, and then a ferry to Redang Island. You can either book a coach that picks up from Singapore, or at Larkin Terminal. But prices are SGD$60 for the former and RM60 for the latter.
The jetty from Terrengganu to Redang Island is priced at about 55RM for a return trip.

Accommodation

There are a number of resorts available, from budget ones at $80/night to the more expensive ones with jacuzzi and a seaside view at $350/night. It all depends on how much you're willing to spend!

Before you book your accommodation, however, make sure you check if your resort is located at the beachside. Otherwise, you'd have to arrange transport to go to the beaches or do your water activities every time.

We stayed at Taaras Beach & Spa Resort. Their beach is so clean with seawater so blue and clear!! I think the resort we stayed at was the best (and probably the most expensive) but the price tag ($200/night for a garden deluxe room) was worth it because we were given free water activities at different hours of each day, and our stay included breakfast. So it's almost like we're paying for the food/activities upfront?

After we arrived at the resort, we also found out that two of the best seafood family-run places were within walking distance from our stay (5-10min walk), so it was definitely worth every penny!! Nothing beats local food!!












We spent most of our days chilling by the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, drinking at their beach bar and hunting for food outdoors! Their coral reefs were super stunning. Oh and of course, we also got ourselves a good massage haha. Twas was a good breather from his army and my work schedule.

Honestly, it's a great spot for couples looking for a short getaway that's relatively far off from civilisation, with almost little to no crowd. Well that also means that you're hardly connected to the Internet or your social media platforms (their wifi is bad). But hey, that also means more quality time spent with each other right!!

Anyway, Redang captured our hearts during our short stay there. We wished we had a little more time (maybe four days instead of three?) on that quaint and peaceful island.





The total breakdown for our 3D2N trip (for two pax):
Accommodation - $400 (two nights, breakfast included)
Transport - $180 (coach and ferry)
Food - $100
Water activities - $50 (snorkeling, kayaking)
TOTAL: $730

That's about $365 per person, but you can probably cut down on the food cause we splurged a lot on food (like seven dishes per meal lol). Otherwise, you can easily get a plate of scrumptious fried rice at 10RM!! All of the dishes you can find out of the resort ranges between 6RM - 12RM.

We also spent quite on sum at the beach bar... We learnt that the locals tend to bring their own cartons of beer there to save on money. I guess we know now :')

Anyway, I brought my gopro to Redang and it was my first time trying some underwater shots!! They turned out pretty cool so I can't wait to get started on video editing. But that'll have to wait till my schedule is less tight.

Been a great break and it's back to the grind! More about that soon!!

Check out my other travel posts:
▶ Redang Island - Video Travelogue

A couple of updates to sum May up.

Update #1: 
May has got to be one of my busiest work months ever. The sudden influx of emails and photoshoots increased significantly, so much so that I barely have enough time to update this blog, or write any travel articles as of late. But well I'm not complaining... Busy is good, and I'm finally seeing the fruits of the laborious hours I've put into my photography portfolio!

Style shoot for anothersole

It's been about four months since I ventured into freelancing and although it did take some time, I'm glad I took that leap of faith to set out on what I've been wanting to do. Financially, I was worried that it may not be sustainable but I think I've been doing pretty alright!! If anything, I'm stoked for what's to come in June. Bigger projects hehehe. More updates on them soon.

Update #2: 
About a week ago, I (finally) managed to take my long awaited break to Bangkok with my girls! Since graduation, the three of us have been planning to head there for some shopping therapy but our work schedules always got in the way.



Lack of photos cause I really wanted a break from my camera this trip :')

But it was a great breather, just spending the days with the people I'm most comfortable with while indulging in street foods, shopping and cheap thrills that got us particularly ecstatic. It's been some time since we stayed up late just having heart to heart conversations.

Definitely missing our beautiful suite at Centrepoint hotel (which we got at a super good deal!!!) and daily dose of cha deng (which is basically like teh o ping but with thai tea). Hopefully I get to go on another short trip before school officially starts...


Update #3:
Just a month ago, Han's family also adopted a new pup (Jodi) and everyday has been so entertaining at his house since!! I've always wanted to keep my dog, so being able to watch and care for the two month-old retriever has definitely opened my eyes up to the dedication and responsibilities it takes to bring up a young pup. She's such a little devil compared to Jacob (Han's five year-old golden retriever), but two dogs in the house really makes the place so much more lively!!



It's so hard to get them together, much less in a photo hahaha.





Everyone gets deceived by her innocent looking face...




The only time she's super obedient^

Hopefully I'll be able to photograph more of Jodi while she's growing up with Jacob!!

A couple of weekends ago, Han and I set aside some time to make some sweet treats that were meant for my dessert table for the 21st party.
It's funny cause Han is actually a chef that works in the hot kitchen, and he hardly does any pastry. But since we've been together, he's already baked more than his past 21 years. But I think he does a pretty good job so why not?

He came up with a menu working on:
Mini lemon tarts, vanilla and rose flavoured macarons, eton mess, bite-sized pavlova with fruit toppings and some tapas style dishes

Sadly, I didn't manage to photograph all of the stuff he made because everything was a rush that day and I just couldn't free myself enough to decently capture the dessert table in a way I liked. So... It's a pity ):
But!! A week before the party, I did manage to style the Pavlova and Eton Mess!! While excusing myself from being his assistant in the kitchen (i'm a pretty useless assistant with my clumsy and slow hands tbh), I styled and photographed his creations.

The kitchen is not where I belong... But give me a camera and that's where I make everything look better :')






Featured: Mini Pavlova, Eton Mess
Chef/Baker: Lam Geng Han
Photography & Styling: Mirabelle Koh

I think I still have a lot to work on (especially on the editing), but not too bad for a first time huh!

I've always wanted to work on food styling and visuals, but I never gotten the chance to because I can't make decent looking meals to save myself. Even if I could, I can only manage breakfast bowls at best. I also never really gotten much food gigs so being able to work with Han on this for a head start was quite the experience! I get amazing food to shoot and he gets nice photos of his works. We make quite a good team huh. :')

All in all, styling photography is harder than most people think, and I don't think the content creators in this field are often given enough credit... Just my two cents.

Since he baked for my 21st, he later got a gig from a client to work on about hundred pcs of macarons. It was a huge task, especially since he's only just start baking more frequently but he did it!

During his last bookout, we spent almost an entire day just working on the macarons. Well Han mainly did everything. My only job was to 1) weigh/sieve the icing sugar/flour 2) prepare piping bag and baking paper and 3) clean up LOL.

In my defense, my real job begins the day after when all the macarons were done. So I got to work styling and photographing the macarons, so that next time he will be able to use these photos to get more gigs heheheh. I brought my bag of styling props just for this!!!







Featured: Macarons
Chef/Baker: Lam Geng Han
Photography & Styling: Mirabelle Koh

We worked on Rose, Passionfruit, Pistachio, Chocolate, Peppermint, Coffee, Red Velvet and Vanilla macarons. But the ones featured above are Rose, Passionfruit, Pistachio and Chocolate flavoured ones respectively. :)

My favourites are definitely the passionfruit and pistachio!! He used legit ingredients (instead of cheap flavourings) so cost price was kinda expensive, but it's the cooking values that Han lives by. Anyway the results were lovely. If anyone of you is looking to order tapas food/desserts for an event or a party, don't hesitate to hit him up @hansculinaryclassics (yes I finally convinced him to create a business ig and I'm still in the process of convincing him to let me be his marketing manager LOL).

Quote "bitterbubblegums" for 10% off total bill!! HAHA I'm just kidding but if you're a friend/reader of mine you can let him/me know!

Or if you're looking for a photographer/stylist for a project... You can drop me an email at mirabelle.koh@gmail.com (Sorry for the shameless self promotion)

Personally, I think the styling photos this time are better than the previous! Hopefully it'll keep getting better. I probably should change up the background cause it's gonna get boring lol. I've already spent about another hundred or two on styling props (sigh that's where my pay goes to). All these in pursuits of pushing my creative limits.

I'll probably have more food photos to put up here when my pretty plates arrive! Can't wait hehe.

Wew I turned 21!!!

Okay, getting closer to adulthood isn't really anything to be excited about but, as of 13th April, I turned a year older. And on the 15th of April, I decided to plan my 21st celebrations with a bunch of my closest friends.

Because I wanted to do a lot of stuff on my own, there was quite a lot of fore-planning and work before the actual celebrations itself. Well, it's mostly the decorations, set-up, logistics and food, but everything was worth it!


Initially, I was planning on getting food catering since it's the most feasible option, aside from its hefty price tag. But Han said he wanted to help me with the food, and while I wasn't exactly sure if I should (because that meant that he would be spending his precious book out time cooking), we eventually made it work after planning our schedules and the menu! Hehe and the menu was so good!! Thank you so much my dear chef. :')

I did manage to style and photograph a few of the desserts that Han made for my 21st. I'll blog those visuals on a later date this week! For now, the decor and set-up.





So I had an idea to do a tropical theme for my birthday, but I didn't exactly want it to be the typical flamingo, pineapple and palm tree decorations all over. So I did some googling and decided on making some sort of balloon arc in pinkish, nude shades with flowers and palm leaves.

My best friends came to help me out the day before the actual celebrations, and it took us about four hours to finish the whole set-up?? I thought it wasn't so bad LOL. But anyway most of my materials are from taobao! Omg taobao just literally helped me with budgeting so much on my deco/set-up!! The balloons, flowers, leaves, dessert stands, wooden trays and some other stuff were all from taobao!

The food was sooo good!! Wish I had taken more pictures when the table was still full with some of the tapas or desserts ):

On the day itself, there was a bit of a rush here and there but I'm glad it all worked out smoothly! Thank you to all the dear friends who came down to celebrate my 21st birthday!!












I think almost everyone dressed up pretty tropical-ly? HAHA totally didn't expect that but I think themed outfits are cool when the whole gang dresses the part.

Nothing warms my heart more to know that I have Han and my best friends to rely on despite their busy work/NS schedules. Things were only a lot easier because I have them around to go through all the not-so-pretty and hectic stuff that goes on behind the glamour of all 21st birthday parties. Thank you Miao Lin, Trisha, Zhiyi, Victor, Kelvin and YeeWah for being such an amazing team! You guys have always been the most dependable and indispensable bros and girlfriends I know. Thank you for always being real with me, and for accepting me as I am. Here's to years ahead as we venture into adulthood! If y'all are planning your 21sts, please hit me up to be your photographer or to help out with decor. :')