So happy to receive a copy of Going Places in my mail!

Here is Little Mo on the MAS Airlines Inflight Magazine! A few days ago an ex-colleague messaged me and told me he had seen the article when he was on board the MAS flight. And I hadn’t had a clue then that the article had been published. I was just as surprised as him. You can read the article here.

While it’s autumn in Australia, it’s spring time elsewhere! And it’s also cherry blossom time in some countries like Japan and Korea.

Around this time last year we went backpacking in Korea, starting at Seoul and making our way down to Busan. We ate Korean pancake and drank potent rice wine under the cherry blossoms. It was one of those good feeling moments where you sit quietly and watch, as nature smiles back at you.

I was so taken with the pretty flowers that when I returned home, I illustrated my own cherry blossom notebook and cherry blossom wrapping paper. For the romantics, I hope you will enjoy a little piece of my cherry blossom.

One of our favourite travels during our time in Asia was Hong Kong. It was a melting pot of culture, smell, food and arts. My biggest regret was not visiting Chungking mansion. If you are a huge Wong Kar Wai fan like myself, you will know about his cult favourite, Chungking Express. So it really was a shame that I didn’t venture into this symbolic place that had inspired me so hugely into taking an interest in film and arts.

Most of the time, I felt like I was walking in a scene from a Wong Kar Wai film or a Haruki Murakami novel (much of his films were inspired by the author’s writings). I found myself thinking about similar themes in their stories; long dark night, girl and boy meets, a slow jazz number, bright neon lights flickering above, seagulls by the pier, a ferry ride, when dawn comes girl and boy parts.

If only it was that easy to write a novel!

But it really felt like I was walking in one. You’ll know my exact sentiments when you read or watch any of the two artists’ works.

There’s something to be loved about bakeries, the smell of home baked bread, fresh coffee and cakes and girls in cute aprons! When backpacking in Japan, we stumbled upon the cutest bread shop in harajuku. It was tucked away in the alley streets and it had the sweetest atmosphere. We ordered a sunflower and pine nut loaf, a pistachio nut bun and a toasted cheese bread to share between us for lunch. And as we ate, we could see the bakers in the kitchen making new bread.