Lantern Festival in Darling Harbour

Another Saturday, another day out to the city with my brother.

First, a quick stop by N2 (I swear, ice-cream stops are a tradition now). The main reason was because I was dying to try the Green Tea Kit Kat flavour that they offered.

After waiting for a considerable amount of time, we finally managed to snag ourselves two (the waiting time after ordering was insane!).

Fortune Cookies and Cream (really just Cookies and Cream) and Green Tea Kit Kat flavour

Though, I can assure you, the Green Tea Kit Kat was so good. I loved every bit of it and I ate it entirely (I usually struggle to finish a single serve. To be fair though, I hadn't had lunch. But none-the-less, it was by far the best N2 flavour I've ever tasted).

Afterwards, we went out to Darling Harbour and found ourselves mingling with all the other families who were out in the area to celebrate Chinese New Year at the Lantern Festival. This time, unfortunately, I believe I may have been mistaken as a very young mother. I wasn't exactly wearing clothes that suggested otherwise.

Toooootally rocking the 90's 'jumper around the waist' look right there

There were plenty of freebies to snag, and performances to watch (so many traditional Chinese performances, which I really, really enjoyed. Probably the highlight of the Festival, though the decorative lantern pathway was a close second).

To be honest, there weren't many markets or anything to enjoy. Most of our time was spent purchasing (very, very expensive food) and sitting on the grass watching performances.

Sugar Cane Juice, with a hint of Lime

'Crispy Ramen Snack', which, although tasted good, was not worth the $5. Also, it's basically MSG in a container.

But, as always, the food was nice. At least, that's what I tell myself (anything that I paid a lot of money for tends to make my subconscious believe that it's tasty). My brother loved the sugar cane juice though (that one was probably more worth it than the other food we ended up consuming).

We had a bit more time to spare, and my brother wasn't really feeling it to chill out at Darling Harbour's playground, so we decided to take a bee-line to Kinokuniya, the book store, near Town Hall.

So many nicely covered classic novels! Ahh!

Needless to say, we walked out of there with a stack of books (literally; three for each of us. I know, terrible, isn't it). I promise you I'll read them all! And the Kinokuniya membership means 10% off every purchase so that's more incentive to buy! (Though, we all know that's just my excuse...)

I also saw the official 'The Gender Card' handouts lying around in the store (they'd gone viral a few days prior) and grabbed a couple. 

I could go on a feminist discussion here, but now is not the time nor place for that.

Perhaps some other time (but preferably in person; those discussions tend to be more productive).

Anyway, it's getting late, I need to check through a video I just edited, and I also need to go to bed because it's past 12am and I have to wake up early tomorrow for Uni O-week day 1!

Rose scents // A little bit of DIY

I've never been the kid who's done a lot of DIY crafts during my childhood. Don't get me wrong -- I loved DIY, I really did! I just never did it because... I'm not sure why.

But the other day, still stricken with my motivation to be 'homemade', I decided to recycle a few roses that had been leftover from Valentine's Day.

What I used:

• Dying roses
• A small mesh bag (?)
• Used tea leaves (French Earl Grey)

So, after sadly and ruthlessly snipping off the flower heads, I plucked off the petals and put them in a bowl. I know, gruesome, isn't it?

After collecting a fair amount (an entire bowl full), I gave them a really quick wash because I wasn't entirely sure of the cleanliness of the petals. Though, in hindsight, I realise that it probably was not necessary to do it. In reality, it really just made the petals moist, thus lengthening the amount of sunlight-exposure necessary to dry out the petals.

Trying to wash petals is actually a really hard task, because of their hydrophobic nature

After washing them and decanting away the water, I placed the rose petals in a plastic container and really just bathed them in sunlight until they dried up. I also added in some tea leaves because I always feel bad about throwing away used tea bags.

Remember to mix them every-so-often, just to bring up the shaded petals at the bottom up to the surface

After they're all well-and-truly dried by the natural sunlight, all I did was transfer them into a pretty little small bag and ta-da! It was done.

It actually smelled really nice, I'm not going to lie. It was such a nice feeling to have actually succeeded, because I often don't mix well with DIY things (trust me.)

To top it off, since we were in the mood, my brother and I started this clay-craft set that I had lying around (which I purchased a few months prior) and made little key-chain figurines. It's been a long-lost childhood dream of mine to do something like this, so it felt heaps great to finally get around to it (even though I'm now officially an adult)

They're not perfect, but the pride is still strong

Anyway, not much of an interesting post, but it's a little something I did at home. I had the photos lying around so I figured I'd do a quick post before I'm swept away by the musings and currents of University life (which is starting so soon! I'm not sure if I'm ready for it all).

Life's going to be hectic in the next few weeks, so I'm trying to post all of this now so I don't lag behind later, or I'll be sure to regret it.

Take care.

French Earl Grey, ft nectarines and lemon juice

Ice cubes, lemon juice, white nectarines, and lots of bags of tea

Decided it would be fun to brew a little bit of ice tea, since it's been a while, and I'm still in the mood from the home-baking session of yesterday.

So, with my stack of T2 (still leftover from the several boxes that my friends gifted to me for my birthday, bless them), I swirled up a large jug of French Earl Grey.

What I love about this flavour is its fruity twist to the casual Earl Grey black tea flavour. I've never been a fan of too fruity teas; since I generally drink tea hot, I find that fruity hot tea tastes a little out-of-place. French Earl Grey is able to infuse both the mild fragrance of rose with a small twist of fruit, yet maintain the classic taste of a cup of good ol' black tea.

But really, the smell is gorgeous and sometimes I wish I just had this aroma wafting around the house consistently.

To make the whole jug, I ended up using three full cups of hot tea, with a total of four tea bags (yes, a lot.)

Too much T2?

In using so many, you essentially end up with a really strong brew of tea, which is what you want. The reason for this is because as you add the ice later, it'll dilute the solution by a big factor.

To make it a little bit fancy (and healthier), I also cut up a few white nectarines that I conveniently found in the fridge (they tasted so sweet and I basically ate two on the spot) and added a cube of frozen lemon juice for a little bit more citrus.

Frozen lemon juice is a resource that my family has in quite an excess -- always available within a few metres distance (i.e., in the fridge). We literally have containers and containers of this ingredient, and sometimes I question why.

But we all know lemon juice is healthy, and my favourite remedy when sick is to whip up a few cups of honey lemon water. With frozen lemon cubes, it's heaps easier to make it, since all you have to do is dissolve honey in water and then add a few cubes.

Not to mention just adding a cube or two to a jug of ice-tea, just for the shot of a lemony twist.

So, after a little bit of relaxing creativity and having fun setting out the jug to make it aesthetically pleasing, I took a few photos, and then returned back to work (yes, I know university hasn't started just yet but I find myself dumped back into a week of work-load).

Although it's true, I used about an hour to do this (including editing photos and uploading here), I think it was worth it. I enjoyed it, it helped me unwind, and now I'm pumped up and ready to jump back into work (along with my nice little cup of ice tea to get me through the day).

Ahh, let's see how long this 'healthy' Manjekah will last.

Also tried drying out rose petals today (just a side note).

Take care.

Baking Bad // ANZAC cookies, a chocolate tart, and green tea macarons

// Recipes at the bottom of this post //

With goals and aspirations to try and bake more, and do more food/cooking photography (and also learn a bit more), I present to you 'Baking Bad', because I really just could not resist the pun.

Often in baking, especially my journey with macarons, the final product isn't a success. Or, for me, the first one is, but the second, third, fourth tries aren't. But that's okay. It's a learning curve and you really have to keep trying and remember that "if they can do it, why can't I?". 

So, with the new busy lifestyle ahead of me, I'm still going to try to bake/cook occasionally, because it makes me happy and I like having a shot at food photography. There's something fun about organising the dish so delicately so that the entire meal comes together in an aesthetically pleasing shot. Whilst I begin my descent into an overdose of sugar, hopefully I'll learn a few things about cooking and product placement, but even if I don't, I'll 'bake it till I make it' (too many 'bake' puns have been made in the last 24 hours).

...

Before Uni hits us square in the face, a few friends and I thought it would be nice to satisfy our baking cravings.

It'd been a long time since any of us had baked (personally, over half a year! Almost nine months, actually), and we missed it tremendously.

I don't know a lot about cooking, I'm not going to lie. But even today I learnt a lot more about baking (from the master herself: MA; please open your own home-bakery ASAP!!), and I'm not going to lie, it was fun (it really was).

Although lighting wasn't optimal, there was a really nice glass door that made a great source of natural light. However, the somewhat difficult lighting in the kitchen meant it was kind of hard to film the cooking process (also, it was getting a bit too cramped to stuff my tripod in there). So, after a few attempts, I decided to alter my initial plan to make a video, and instead, stick with only photography.

First on the list was Green Tea Macarons!

Silicon trays are such a genius niche market! Once you try it, you're never going back.

If I had to say that I was anywhere near 'skilled' at baking a particular dish, it would be macarons. The reason for this is not necessarily because I am good (occasionally they still lack feet or crack), but because it's the desert dish that I've made the most, and I probably understand more of.

With a lot of trials in the last two years, I've finally managed to get the process down pat. In saying so, I still did a little dance of celebration (literally) when I discovered the macaron shells had produced absolutely beautiful feet whilst in the oven (yes!!)

We started with the macarons because as we all know, they needed to be left out for a while to form a nice, hard outer layer before we could chuck them into the oven.

Today was also the day we experimented and tried using the silicon piping mats (property of MA's). I'm not going to lie, although we were initially hesitant at using them, they were such a good decision to make. The macarons from the mats turned out so perfectly shaped, round, with good feet, and bottoms that looked as smooth as a baby's... well, bottom.

With an initial slight problem peeling them off the mats (best to leave them to completely cool), they all were removed in tact and by-far the best macaron shells I've made in a long time.

Shout-out to DS for holding the plate, haha

Whilst waiting for the macarons to cook, we also started on the ANZAC cookies.

For those who don't know, I absolutely love ANZAC cookies. Like, with a passion. Like, "I will pay a Library Cafe a ridiculous amount because I have a really strong craving for ANZAC cookies right now and they're selling them". (legit).

So, when the others (DS, MA, MM, and JY) agreed to making ANZAC cookies, I immediately grew excited. I hadn't made them in five years (and thus forgotten the process), and so I was super keen to learn again and perhaps make it at home myself in the near future.

Watching MA work her magic, the ANZAC cookies were completed in a jiffy, and waiting to enter the oven as soon as the macarons were out.

They turned out fantastic.

And might I say, delicious.

I couldn't stop eating all the mini ones that we made. (There seems to be an obsession that every time we bake, we must make mini versions of the food. They just seem to taste better, even though we all know it doesn't.) By the time we were ready to plate up, I swear half of the ANZAC cookies were gone already (not even joking).

Thanks JY for being a hand model

Okay! Onwards to the next food!

The chocolate tart was MA's idea (as was the chocolate ANZAC cookies), and so with careful precision and much wisdom, she also whipped up the pastry in a flash. As that was cooking up in the oven, we moved onto the tart filling.

I've never made chocolate tarts before, so this was a super new experience as well.

With a few problems with bubbles under the pastry (which was quickly corrected and dealt with), we managed to produce a nice looking tart. Although the pastry was a bit over-sized (we kind of had no choice, since the cooking-tray was that size), it looked quite alright!

With some creativity and spare fruit lying around, we managed to decorate the tart with some icing sugar and strawberries, and it really was the final touch in making the tart look that extra bit more.

Yum

With everything well and cooked, we lay out a white tablecloth (also improvised) and spent a good five to ten minutes taking photographs (mostly outlays) of the fruits of our labour.

DS

With much improvisation, fidgeting around with the props (fake flowers from a wreath that we found on the table), and struggles as I tried to take an outlay photo with a 35mm (and 1.5 crop sensor, also made more difficult due to my height), I think we all finally managed to take a decent overview pic.

After much struggle

It had been a long day of hard work (about three hours in total of solid cooking), and with much inexperience (exception of MA), we managed to do it! And since I have yet to experience any signs of food poisoning, I think for now we can conclude that it was a success!

Eating the food was just as good as baking it.

As said before, I already loved the ANZAC cookies. I'm also quite a big fan of matcha/green tea, and so the macarons were tasty (though, over the many times I've baked them, I've started to get over the initial fad and they're not that special anymore -- they didn't taste, y'know, oh-my-god-this-is-so-good-it's-basically-made-from-the-tears-of-phoenixes-and-puppies). The tart itself was a great consistency (the nice, fudge thickness), but I've never been a fan of overly-chocolaty foods, and especially tarts (unless they're lemon or cheesecake). Though good, I sort of treated it like how I treat mudcake and fudge -- nice to try and tastes good, but I'd probably only have, at maximum, one slice per week.

But, none-the-less, they looked nice, they turned out a success, and we all had a lot of fun whilst doing it. (It was also heaps great to finally catch up with friends -- a few of them I hadn't seen in a while!)

So that concludes Baking Bad session number 1. I'm sure it won't be the last (at least, I hope).

Over and out.

...

Green Tea Macaron Recipe [click]
Chocolate Tart Pastry Recipe [click]
Chocolate Tart Filling Recipe [click]
ANZAC Cookie Recipe [click]

A year later // A flashback

Let's go back in time a bit.

...

I don't remember when I first started talking to LQ about photography. It happened with time.

It was always nice to have someone around school that understood the problems of a photographer and what it was like behind the camera and editing screens, despite our consistent NIKON VS CANON discussions (that still go on!).

23rd September, 2013

The first time I met MX, through LQ.

After a (slightly too polite) start to our first conversation on Facebook chat (after meeting briefly at semi before I was briskly swept away to take photos), we soon found ourselves talking about photography.

Reading over old chats makes you remember how some of the closest people you work with were once strangers, too.

16th December, 2013.

The first time LQ assists me with photography.

"Thanks for helping out today, btw!" 

"It's okay" 

"Really appreciate it" 

"Hahaha anytime! Ask if you need another photographer and I'll be happy to help" 

"Thanks, I appreciate it. Same goes back to you!"

Most (or all) of our conversation consisted of photography.

Never had I found someone who could sustain such a long conversation on this topic.

4th February, 2014.

The first time I enlist LQ's help.

I needed him to help me film something for prefects.

"you're one of the few people who can operate/I trust with my camera"

I don't remember what exactly happened; I vaguely recall cancellations in prefect plans and a big mess, but that's irrelevant.

6th February, 2014.

The first recorded serious decision to combine photography efforts into a single page.

LQ suggested we form a combined group to post photos, considering we both took photos at school events and uploaded them. And besides, we both trusted the other with our cameras.

"So what are we doing with the photos?" 

"Are we actually combining? And forming a single page?" 

"It's up to you. What would we end up putting on the joint page though? It'd be pretty inactive most of the time HAHA" 

"I guess when we finished HSC it would be more active, I don't know haha" 

"Yeah that's true. Up to you." 

"I guess we could." 

"Actually maybe it's not the best idea to upload all these photos on a page HAHA there are quite a few embarrassing ones"

The hesitation was through the roof.

The insecurities were sky-high.

The uncertainty was beyond measure.

Name discussions fruited. 
"Leo-kah photography?" 
"Are we actually calling it that? No one else would get the pun" 
"Yeah... What else do we call it?" 
"I have no idea now..."

Both unsure of whether the other was serious or not, we approached the idea cautiously, but with a little bit of enthusiasm and the courage to 'take a shot', it happened.

Selective Photography was born on the 6th of February, 2014.

A slightly below-par first display picture, considering our origins.

8th February, 2014.

The first album of photos uploaded to Selective (Muck-Up Day, 2014)

No watermark in sight.

14th February, 2014.

The first serious consideration of a watermark.

"We need a watermark bro"

Also the first mention of the hashtag; #selectivephotography

This was the day of the big blunder; the day of the Selective Hotography watermark.

I have not lived this day down yet.

8PM; A countdown to a hundred likes and constant refreshing and............. SUCCESS.

17th February, 2014.

The first time we coordinated the days we'd bring our cameras to lessen the load on each of us.

It was a good time for team work. AAA week was taking a toll on the prefects but it was a great opportunity for Selective to finally get to business.

18th February, 2014.

"Woo, #selectivephotography!"

"Actually best idea"

"It's so much better working with someone, I swear"

8th March, 2014.

MX joins the team!

Rejoices and welcomes, with much anticipation and excitement from the new team for the new future, followed swiftly by MX's first photo of her Sweetness visit.

Also the first time the hashtag #selective came to fruit.

23rd June, 2014.

Flash forward past Athletics Carnivals and Cross Countries, past Biennale, Quadschools, Greatest Shaves, Camps, Musicals...

We reach 500 likes, beyond what any one of us could possible even imagine.

...

Now, the present.

A year has passed. 

Standing at 872 likes, all of us can still hardly believe what has unfolded in the last 365 days.

For me, it brought me so many new opportunities, and it made me realise that photography can be so much more than 'just a hobby of mine'. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but #selective has opened up an entire new world of photography where I considered what it means to be labelled a 'photographer', what photography meant to me, and really branched out in that field and learnt a lot more about cameras and about myself.

One year. Three people. Thanks to both of you.

I never thought we'd come so far.

Selective photography

Valentine's Day // My brother, good food, fun, and the Lunar Markets

Valentine's Day? Also the start of the Chinese New Year celebrations in Sydney.

So, what to do? A single bachelorette like myself with an eager brother who I've been away from for a time of 1.5 months -- of course this calls for some brother/sister bonding time!

After arriving in the city and being turned away from Aqua S because it wasn't open at 11:10AM in the morning, we decided to eat at Ippudo for brunch to pass some time.

Saturday morning, just past 11am.

There weren't a lot of people; it was the least-full I've seen the restaurant (most times there's nearly always a queue outside of it).

Ippudo, ahhh, my favourite Japanese restaurant (legit). My brother had never been, so I thought I'd grace him with the experience.

And I call it a experience because it really is one. With the loud cheers from the chefs, waitresses and waitors, that accompany you as you enter the restaurant, you can't help but feel like you really are welcome here.

How they manage to cheer so loudly for each and every customer with so much enthusiasm is beyond my understanding, but they really do approach you with such BIG smiles. It's incredibly comforting.

Not to mention that they all speak fluent Japanese -- you rarely come across Japanese restaurants with employees that actually speak fluent Japanese. It surely means something about an authentic cultural experience.

So, with only 1.5 people (my brother and I surely don't count as two people), we ordered a bowl of ramen and some fried chicken.

Ippudo karaage chicken

I love the chicken here. It's such a nice balance of sauce, salad, and well-done chicken. My brother even expressed his love for it: "It's like KFC, but heaps better!". The price is also decent, at three pieces for $4, or 5 for $7.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the soft-shell crab on the menu, which I really like as well, so we passed.

We ordered a bowl of ramen to share; the original one (Shiromaru motoaji). They're decently priced as well, at only $15 for such a filling bowl (which we shared between the both of us).

Also posted this picture on instagram for a free pork bun voucher hehe

Yum yum.

I really like Ippudo, and they're opening one at Macquarie Centre, so super keen to try that out someday!

Anyway, we found ourselves leaving Ippudo in Westfield at 12pm, and so made a bee-line to Aqua S near Town Hall.

I've been a fair few times, and as much as the hype has died down since its initial booming launch (it was a huge thing just a few weeks ago), I'm not going to lie, I do like their ice-cream. It's really smooth, and it's also a large serving (if you don't get the toppings; I highly recommend no toppings because it really is a massive price to pay. $1.50 just for a few pieces of popcorn? What?!).

I was also itching to try out the Strawberry Cheesecake flavour (up till this point I've only tested out Sea Salt and Salted Dark Chocolate).

My brother, since he'd never tried the salted flavours, gave it a shot. This also gave an excuse to get him the topping as well, since it really is a unique addition.

His first time!

We both agreed we liked the strawberry cheesecake more than the salted flavours, though. (But, man, I love cheesecake in general, so I'm probably not an accurate representation. My brother also dislikes things that are simultaneously salt and sweet).

So, with more time to spare before the Lunar Markets (which opened at 4pm), we went to Darling Harbour, which is a stop my brother always loves.

On the way we stopped by to appreciate the new installations for Chinese New Year around Cockle Bay Wharf.

They're lanterns, too.

Also I wasn't aware of these but there were markets in Darling Harbour too! Selling all these little miscellaneous items.

Accurate replicas

Anyway, once our curiosities were satisfied, we spent the next two hours at the various playgrounds in Darling Harbour. We've been here several times in the past, yet each time, it's always entertaining.

It took a good (and long) few years to finish construction here; I still remember when I went there to play back in 2010 and saw the entire place closed off due to construction. It took ages for it to reopen and I was so excited for it. Not going to lie, it was a really big upgrade! And it's lasted for so long, and is still fun.

I decided to challenge my brother; I challenged him to dig to the bottom of the sandpit.

In the past, I've done this amazing feat twice in my life, pushing my childhood patience to the limit and ultimately achieving the taste of self-discipline, perseverance, and accomplishment. With sand all over me and in the depths of hard-to-clean pockets, I stood in the deep hole with so much pride that I remember the moment even today.

All this was sparked by the initial curiosity: "I wonder how deep this goes?"

My brother continued on the tradition.

Spoilers: he made it.

I was a bit tired today, so I didn't take much street photography. Also, there were heaps of people, and being the 'motherly figure' as I had to watch over my brother meant I had less of an opportunity to do some street photog.

My brother thoroughly enjoyed himself, I can assure you that. Something remarkable is how kids can find fun and joy in the most ordinary of household items. Plastic bag? Let's use it as a bucket and fill it with water, so we can use wet sand to make a stable mountain.

There was a convenient hole at the bottom of the bag which made for a hilarious picture (I couldn't stop laughing)

Anecdote;

For my brother's birthday, I decided to test him (inspired by a YouTube video I watched a few weeks prior). I gave him a small rubber eraser car for his present, wanting to see whether he would lose his appreciation in the face of such a 'small and simple' gift, as opposed to a more substantial gift.

Before he opened the present, he gave me a hug and was full of smiles.

After he opened the wrapping to find the car, he shouted out 'YAY' and immediately started fake-driving around with the car, not even questioning the present at all.

It was remarkable.

As an adult, my understanding of kids is that they don't really know how to appreciate a gift for the fact of it being a gift from someone to you. I suppose I assumed that most children (especially spoiled ones), including my brother, wouldn't be able to understand that 'it's the thought that counts' -- the Veruca Salts of the real world, so to speak.

But I was surprised. I actually started laughing, and had to interrupt my brother as he dove into his imagination with this tiny car and tell him that his 'real' present was lying in the other room. A part of me wanted to actually leave it at the car, since he really seemed to genuinely love it so much.

Anyway, the point is that kids seem to find so much wonder in the smallest of things. Objects that we, as adults, seem to pass by without so much as a thought, can offer so much to a child with a sense of imagination. Somehow along the years of growing up and high-school, it left us (though, I like to say that it merely went into hiding, and is just waiting to emerge again).

Anyway, anecdote over. On with the story.

Teamwork at its finest.

A bit more fun in the sand, and it was time to clean ourselves up and walk over to Pyrmont for the Lunar Markets.

On the way there, we crossed a intersection. I saw a blind man on the opposite side, struggling to cross the road, and my heart almost did a leap for joy when I saw another man go out of his way to assist him. Not only did he approach him and talk to him, he extended his hand and actually walked the man across the road.

The sight of that made my heart melt (not literally) and it left me with such a broad smile on my face. I was so happy at that moment for humanity that I kind of wanted to cry; it was such a nice moment! Had to mention it.

Throughout the day I was also consistently reminded of my ambition to one day do my own Valentine's Act of Kindness. I planned to go out and give roses to those who don't have the luxury to relax and spend time with their loved ones on a Valentine's day. Things like people who work on the day, emergency service people, security officers at the Lunar Markets, etc., and in general people that should have something nice happen to them on that day. Or, rather, on any day -- not necessarily Valentine's.

Valentine's interactive installation in Darling Harbour

I suppose money and time is always an issue, though. But I plan to do it one day.

Anyway, we arrive at the markets! (Such a long tangent; my apologies)

It was a quaint little thing.

It wasn't as big as I anticipated, though I think still worth the visit (especially as a student who has yet to start Uni with nothing else to do. If you have other things to do, then perhaps not worth it). But, who knows? Maybe in the future it'll grow to be a bigger community event!

Funnily enough, a lot of the food wasn't of Chinese cuisine, even though this was technically an event for Chinese New Year.

So, my brother and I consumed several food-stuffs that weren't actually Chinese in culture. I suppose the reason for that was because we have good Chinese food quite frequently, so we passed this time.

Chicken and Pork kebab; these tasted really good, though they were kind of exy at two for $10.

Been wanting to eat one of these for a while, so my wallet opened up and I forked out $6 for it. It was a nice potato though.

Something which was super nice was The Star's installation of cherry blossom trees (not real ones) with free red pockets hung on them. Each red pocket was filled with two chocolate money coins, which although not much, was a nice addition (and free!)

Also picture worthy!

With our time quickly exhausted out (I had somewhere to be later that night) and the entirety of the markets essentially scoped out within the hour, we decided to make a slow return-trip back to the city to go home.

On our way, we stopped by for some more snacks to consume as we left.

More kebabs, yes. (different store this time though)

On the way back (on the bus), I also witnessed a group of young teenage boys (no older than fourteen, surely) all stand up for a middle-old aged couple, and insist they sit (despite the man's initial polite refusal). It made me smile, too. The day was a good one.

Though a day of a lot of spending, my brother really enjoyed it. He said he loved the day, had a lot of fun, and liked the food (his favourite part of the day was ironically the cheapest part -- just relaxing in Darling Harbour. Well, that says something.) As long as he enjoyed the day out, then it was worth it. (I wish the food was cheaper, though.)

It was a good day out. I miss spending time with my brother, and with Uni bombarding in to sweep my time away, and my brother quickly growing up and facing OC and Selective School exams in the next two years, let's just say I'm not anticipating the busy-ness that will accompany it.

But, for now, the Lunar Markets was a nice day out.

Nice vibe