The Japanese book Desk & Sweets and its cover is bringing smiles to my face.

Though sugary candies + snacks aren’t that healthful, the styling + aesthetics are tonics to the eyes. Enjoy a few sample pages here (while link lasts).

Have you visited my bookshops yet? I’ve added new categories and put up more books + useful gadgets.

Let me give you a glimpse of one of the books in the Japanese section. The book [フィモソフトで作るビーズアクセサリー] is about modelling with Fimo. I bought it 3 years ago at a point when I wanted to know more about polymer clay. The colours, designs and presentation was and still is appealing to me.

Greetings from her capital Hà Nôi!

With this being a working trip, the weekend was the only time we had to explore the city. And like always, we like to do it on foot. We walked a lot under a scorching sun and sought refuge in an air-con cafe, if we happened to see one.

Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum

19 May, the birth anniversary of Uncle Ho (who is none other than Ho Chi Minh)

Florist and her cool bicycle

Old City Gate

Polish embassy

St Joseph’s Cathedral

We tried the strawberry cone

Lenin Square, opposite Flag Tower

Dong Xuan Market

Chubby dollies in a toy shop

Some imported items are tagged in shops

Pretty teapot + teacups in an amusement park

Around a residential neighbourhood

Random jots:

• Exchange rate from the money changer:
  SGD 1.00 = VND 13,200 = USD 0.72

  Exchange rate (13,600) offered at the hotel in Hanoi was more favourable.

• Handling money in 10s and 100s of thousands can be mind-taxing! Paying 40,000 (SGD 3) for my daily package lunch/dinner is really something and so is paying 110,000 for a taxi ride. A quick relief from this sudden trauma was to cover up the last four digits on any value to get a rough conversion.
• Rain that fell in the night marks the advent of summer.
• The day brightens up early at 5am. I woke up one day thinking I’ve overslept but it was only 6am.
• Crossing a busy road in Vietnam is liken to entering into warfare. Sometimes I will walk cross the 1-way, or even 2-way (with no clear divider in the middle!) roads like a fearless warrior…not minding about the mingling with traffic at such close proximity. Feels quite cool even. However other times the mere sight of the swam of never-diminishing motorcycles and cars terrifies and hence dreariness + hesitation sets in…
• Some cab drivers don’t like to give way to crossing pedestrians unlike the more disciplined motorcyclists.
• There are several chic and interesting small boutiques on Ba Trieu street.
• Vodka is cheap. And so are roses.
• Some recommended taxi companies: Hanoi Taxi, Taxi CP and Mai Linh
• The conical hat looks very protective against the sun.
• On the plane journey, I watched an episode of Before and After (大改造!!劇的ビフォーアフター) home makeover show. It was truly a fascinating transformation for a really cramp space for a family of 6. Unthinkable!

I’ll sum up my adventure in Hanoi in 2 more posts – Made in Vietnam and Vietnam + publications.

Here’s a very inviting country home as seen on the website of a Hungarian home decor magazine, Otthon.

I’ve no clue what the site says, but it looks like there’s a contest for readers to vote their favourite home and the couple who owns this cosy abode is one of the finalists.

There were many signs pointing out that Self-made Stationery – Handmade goods for myself (手づくり文房具) by Udagawa Kazumi would be a good book to get while I was in Tokyo in February.

Good + simple ideas to replay, explore and build upon. Without further ado, allow me to show you some of the signs:

Envelope-accordion.

Perforated notepad.

Magnetic paper clip holder.

Page marker, using the edge of an envelope.

Fabric book cover.

Used-ticket covered notebooks.

Gift bags made from envelopes with and without window.

Get your own copy from my shop, while stocks last!