Basically it shows you random spots from around the world in Google Map Street View, and you have to guess where in the world you are just from looking around and navigating the map. It sounds like it should be easy, but there really are a lot of nondescript looking places around the world! You then pin a place on the map where you think you are, and the game tells you how accurate (or wildly wrong) you are and awards you points accordingly.

You can navigate the map like you’re in street view, by dragging your mouse around and looking at the environment around you. The map on the right is where you pinpoint your location

The answer is revealed in a pop-up after you hit the ‘Make Guess’ button. The hills and greenery had me thinking Australia or New Zealand somehow (Point B), turns out I was quite far off (Point A) >_<

You have 5 tries and a score is totalled up at the end of the game, with your results shown in the map. As you can see, I had 2 very accurate guesses (A & D), 2 somewhat close guesses (B is Central vs South America while in E I at least got the region right!)

Think I’ve proved pretty decent on the few runs that I’ve had so far, I usually manage to guess the region I’m in about 80% of the time, and quite often I get the country right too *preens*. But there was also the time I thought the Irish words were some sort of -stan language, so… yeah I have my moments…

I’ve always loved me a good geography game. I was really sad when they closed down the facebook game GeoChallenge on Facebook – my family was ridiculously competitive about it – and I still play the occasional Traveler IQ challenge just to keep those skills sharp.

Can you guess where this road leads to? There are no sign or cars on this road. Take a guess for yourself, check your answer at the bottom of the article and tell me how you did!

This game was created by Anton Wallen as a Chrome Experiment, but it seems like lots of people have happily jumped on the bandwagon, with articles asking experts on their protips and other tips to get high scores.

Well here are my tips for what it’s worth: Some of the pictures might just seem mighty impossible to figure out where on earth you are, but my advice is to go with your gut feel and you might just surprise yourself with your own accuracy – the first thing I do is to look out for signages which usually give the best clue of what region you’re in, if not, the architecture, flora, skin colour of people (faces are blurred) and just the tone of the picture usually give some indication as to where in the world the photo might have been taken. Whether you turn out to be right or woefully wrong, you would have learnt a little something about a far flung corner you’ve never thought of in your life.

Go try it out at GeoGuessr.com! This is definitely more educational and interesting than Candy Crush!

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Answer to picture above: I guessed Malaysia, based on the road condition and something about the grass and trees and clouds that made me think tropical and somewhere close to home. The answer is somewhere on the Northern tip of Darwin, Australia

Well technically it’s almost East Timor, which is almost Indonesia, which is almost Malaysia, no?

The thing I’ve found about popular international fashion brands is that everyone (and their mother) is wearing them – unless you’re just getting nondescript basic pieces, it’s not uncommon to walk along our main Orchard Road shopping belt and see someone else wearing that same patterned H&M dress that you just picked up a week ago! What’s worse, this same thing could happen to you… even in Europe or somewhere far-flung because these brands have gone so global, and they’re usually so cheap, everyone has to get their hands on them!

This is how fashion shows look like when you’re not a VIP. Sadly to say, the organization and personnel managing the show could be much, much better.

I was at Blueprint Singapore over the weekend, and it’s a tradeshow that showcases the best in Asian fashion, with a focus on our own Singaporean designers as well as Asian names around the region. I was lucky enough to score invites to the Parco Next Next fashion show as well attend Blueprint Emporium, where the designers set up shop and sell their wares to the public, often at really discounted prices!

I love getting things from Singaporean designers because their work is usually produced in smaller, more limited quantities, so you’re less likely to have the girl sitting next to you on the train wear the same thing. This means that the prices of the clothing tends to be higher than that of your mass-market brands and can be tough on your wallet, but also means less people wearing them, My best advice for the thrifty is to sign up for their mailing lists and wait for the off-season clearance sales because they can usually be slashed up to 50-90%! You’ll have to make do with limited range and sizes and not be ‘in-season’, but it’s totally worth it for the price that you pay.

Gratuitous Selfie – I’m wearing Hansel (cardigan) and Chalk (top) which were both off-off-off-season steals but mostly my hair was behaving excellently that day and I got a ton of compliments on that ;P

Also, clothing can be a great souvenir from that country, a practical alternative to fridge magnets and kitschy keychains! I particularly love visiting Bangkok because of their talented Thai designers, and I hope fashionistas coming to Singapore can feel the same way too! Here are some of my favourite Singaporean fashion brands that I own:

Hansel

I covet this piece. Look at the cute synchronized swimmers around the collar!

You’ll love the fact that the brand was named for designer Jo Soh’s dog, and the quirky store displays which are her hand-drawn creations. Her clothes are often themed rather whimsically, whether it’s based on local dessert Kueh Lapis or Flying Donkeys – her latest range involves synchronized swimmers that feature prominently in print and pattern on the clothing. Hansel clothes are good for office and casual wear but unfortunately not cheap, with prices usually ranging between $200-$300 on average. The good news is that she now has a diffusion range called Hello Hansel that is around the $100-$200 range.

Visit the store at Mandarin Gallery Shopping Arcade for the full Hansel experience, but certain designs are also stocked in other shops. Check out my review on Yelp here.

Ignore the sock (It’s a Happy Sock) and focus on the Hansel dress!!

Chalk

Slightly whimsical but always pretty – I own this dress and adore the pretty (but useless) capey frill on the back

Another local designer whose clothes I own too many pieces of, Priscilla of Chalk does sweet feminine clothing that generally are great for casual and when you want to gussy yourself up a little – they’re usually quite simple and make you feel pretty =) Her stuff is usually is usually in the $100-$200 range on average. She was an upcoming designer in the Parco Next Next fashion incubator programme but has since graduated and has done pretty well for herself locally.

You can find her shop at Parco Next Next (Level 2, Parco @ Millenia Walk), with certain designs stocked in other shops.

look, it’s me in Chalk! The leaf clip is also designed by a local accessories designer our of recycled bag leather called All Things Green and Beautiful

Max Tan

I own that dress and look about half as good. And for the record, that model is actual a guy, for reals (he has better legs than I do)

The clothes from Max Tan usually have very unusual silhouettes and cuts, and are always fun to figure out how to wear – I have a dress with shirt sleeves for a belt and another one where the premise is how many ways you can interpret a white shirt! There’s a certain androgyny about the clothing as well – colours are usually monochromatic and colourblocked but the weird cuts do add some drama – definitely for the adventurous! He was also a graduate of the Parco Next Next programme and has since gone on to recognition overseas as far as China and Copenhagen! His stuff is not particularly cheap either ($100-$200 range if I remember right), but there is a cheaper diffusion line called Liquid by Max Tan which is much easier on the pocket.

You can find Max Tan stocked at a few retailers in Singapore and internationally now, check out the website for more details.

Tong Tong

This is not distorted by a fancy lens – the shop entrance seriously looks like that, it’s awesome! (the Chinese characters on top say ‘tong tong’)

My most expensive dress ever bought in my short life has been this silk cheongsam by Tong Tong – the shop is located in the rather quiet Shaw Towers, but you can’t miss the funky circular doorway that makes you feel like you’re walking through a tunnel! Tong Tong is really popular among the office lady crowd for their traditional Chinese cheongsams and inspired clothing, but usually rendered through unusual fabrics and cuts to produce surprisingly modern pieces. Stuff here is not cheap, with dresses averaging $300 – $500, and stuff rarely goes on sale, but it is a very pretty store to browse!

Find Tong Tong at Shaw Towers, 100 Beach Road #01-04/05. Check out my review on Yelp here.

Shopping for special occasions – guess which one I bought? Hint: It’s the one that doesn’t look like Japanese washi tape

Of course there are a lot of other local brands that are fabulous, these are just some that I own personally and that I would recommend to any visitor friends coming to Singapore. Perhaps later on I’ll go another post on my favourite shopping spots, especially those that would be great for locals and visitors alike – I am slowly growing my AFAR wanderlist here. Do share any of your favourite brands in the comments!

You can also ask me about my shoe collection – yes ALL those shoes are mine, I’m not having a house party! Sadly none are local though, save for the strappy black m)phosis sandal in the third row which is falling apart but has lasted surprisingly long

You might have seen Cherie Anyhowly’s Rules to Adventure By earlier, here’s her contribution to the ongoing Wallpaper Wanderer series. She’s an avid motorbiking fanatic and has in recent trips ridden all the way from Singapore up to Thailand and even Myanmar! Now that is some go-getting spirit. Besides being a great artist, she also spins a great yarn…

I need to travel anyhowly

 Cherie Anyhowly:

Nakhon Sawan, Thailand

More on this particular trip on Cherie’s Facebook Album here.

Do you have something that inspires you to travel?

What do you put on your wallpaper or just look at to inspire yourself to travel? It could be a fabulous quote, inspirational people, picturesque scenery, or even a quirky picture on your fridge… Wallpaper Wanderer is here to make you wanderlust! Send in your picture and a short blurb telling me about it, either through email to theoccasionaltraveller [at] gmail [dot] com or through the facebook app here. I’ll pick my favourite ones and feature them here and on Facebook!

Missed the past Wallpaper Wanderers? Check them out here:

View Wallpaper Wanderer in a larger map

As an artist and a traveller, she also does the most interesting travel journals which make me wish I could draw something prettier than my chicken scratches and faceless people – you’ll see more of her in an upcoming Wallpaper Wanderer post, but one thing I wanted to highlight and couldn’t fit into that post was this particular set of rules she had created, which I thought were very sensible thoughts fellow travellers could live by:

from Cherie Anyhowly here: http://mrrrmrrr.tumblr.com/

Be curious but not stupidly  – very important for travellers whether you’re alone or not, it’s a fine line between the two.

Be trustful, but not more than of your own instinct  – I tend towards caution more than anything when I’m overseas, but there is something so nice about trustworthy people that makes that part of your journey so special. I’ve been lucky with the people I’ve met so far, and I hope I continue to be!

You can’t get lost if you don’t have a destination – Logical and True! Scary for the control freaks to consider though~

You can’t cock up if you don’t have a fixed plan - also very optimistic, which is a great skill travellers need to get through the rougher times.

Don’t eat things that are still breathing – oops did that once already~

Don’t ride alone by night -  Oddly enough, navigating during the day and at night in the same place feels like two completely different locations to me, I generally only drive by day as far as possible.

You can never have enough duct tape – have not had opportunity to test this out, but I will say the same for tissue paper.

It could be worse – it can ALWAYS be worse, life only goes up from there! =)

What are your rules to adventure or travel by? Share your sage advice here!

So the Rise and Hang just seems like such a simple and good idea – it’s basically a set of collapsible shelves that you can pack into your bag that keeps your things separated neatly – I love that you can just hang it up in the cupboard easily and everything is neatly organized like your wardrobe at home without having to unpack – it’s just hang and go!

Check out the pix below, as well as the little video from the Rise and Hang folks that should give you a better idea of how it works:

It’s very simple really – just a bunch of collapsible shelves like the type you can find in Ikea

Hang up your clothes neatly without having to unpack them from your bag!

Stow them away in your luggage easily when you’re done

The Rise and Hang system also comes in a duffel bag version for overnighters

Look how simple it is to use!

Thanks to Rise and Hang for pix and video.

My parents are not above taking the occasional goofy photo – Park Guell (2008)

Barcelona, 2008

I’d been to Barcelona with R for my post-graduation trip in 2007, so it was a bit like retracing my footsteps when the family decided to do Spain the following year. I did end up in Barcelona and Andalucia again, but on top of that we visited Madrid and Malaga.

Here we are in Barcelona’s Park Guell, wandering around the park and basically just taking ridiculous photos (sorry Gaudi!). This was one of the more recent trips that our whole family took together where the kids were mostly grown up – most of all I think my dad was just glad that he wouldn’t have to be the only person driving the road-trips anymore! We also stayed in nice serviced apartments, quite a far cry from the hostels that I stayed in the year before.

Travelling with the family is different from travelling with friends – you stay in different (better) places, do different things (more family friendly, less solitary), and altogether have a rather different (still good!) experience. I’m quite glad for all the chances that I got to travel with my family.

Two years since my dad’s passing, still many more photos and stories that I have to dig up. Also Happy Mother’s Day to my mum!

The tour guides come to the hostel lobby to pick you up at 1010am, and gather up other interested folk from the neighbouring hostel as well. After that, it’s a 10-15min walk to Marienplatz where the other people interested in the tour gather.

Walking from the Hotel to Marienplatz

Sandeman has a few tours that all meet at this spot, the rest are paid tours but the most popular one is naturally the free city toue. To sort everyone out, each person is given a ticket to hang on to.

Ticket in hand

The tour starts out in Marienplatz at 1045am, so you’re just in time to catch the famous Glockenspiel at 11am at the New City Hall, a giant cuckoo clock of sorts that does this intricate little dance of sorts every hour. It really isn’t very exciting, a rather old-fashioned mechanism that displays some of Munich’s historical events. The guide did try and make it as exciting as he could though, kudos to him.

It’s about 3 hours of walking around, so wear comfortable shoes and if you’re there in winter like I was, make sure you stay warm! Here are a few of the highlights from the tour.

The New City Hall is the star attraction of Marienplatz

That’s the Glockenspiel. What I thought was interesting is that the music that the figures dance to are metallic chimes which are affected by the weather, so the music sounds different depending on the weather!

Our guide and our tour group

Looking up

Huddled in a rather cold corridor

A Gluhwein stop along the way to stay warm. Why everyone else headed for the Starbucks is beyond me~

Juliet (ala Romeo and Juliet) statue by the Old City Hall – apparently touching her right boob is good luck

The Church of St Peter is impressive not just for its architecture…

but for the fact that is has a real antique cannonball stuck in its window. After the war, the building was bombed and in pieces, but they managed to locate the original cannonball so they put it back in place when they rebuilt it!

The Frauenkirche, or Church of our Lady, icon of Munich

The tomb of Christopher Columbus

at this particular spot in the church, you can’t see any of the windows that line the sides of the church, which apparently is what tricked the devil in the legend all those years ago. 

And the devil got so pissed off he stamped his foot really hard and left behind a foot print… or you know it could just be a really careless worker back in the day…

The National Theatre

The Gold Line – memorial to those who resisted the Nazis

Distinctively yellow Theatinerkirche

Feldherrnhalle at Odeonplatz, with statues + lions

Odeonplatz

I recommend anyone visiting Munich to check out this free city tour – here’s more on their website, they’re good for tours to Dachau and Neuschwanstein as well.

As a rather belated birthday gift and to inspire travel, S shipped me two books to read. Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne is a classic which somehow I haven’t gotten around to reading, so I was quite happy to get started on this book.

Thanks for the book S =)

It’s actually a pretty easy read – I finished it within a day, so it actually would make a good holiday read if you wanted something not too taxing to read. Some thoughts about the book below, I’m not giving away the plot, but possible SPOILER warning just in case!

For those who don’t know already, the premise is simple – Phileas Fogg is a rather reclusive English gentleman who is challenged 20,000 pounds to go around the world in 80 days, which he undertakes along with his rather hapless French manservant Jean Passepartout, all the time being chased by a police inspector who thinks that Fogg is a bank robber.

The one pleasant surprise for me also was that the party found some time (about 3 paragraphs worth) to stop over in Singapore en route from India to Hong Kong to take on some fuel, so it’s always interesting to see how writers describe my home town, even back in 1873. This description is taken from the free translated text that you can find on Project Gutenberg, which is different from that of the one in my Penguin Classic.

The island of Singapore is not imposing in aspect, for there are no
mountains; yet its appearance is not without attractions. It is a park
checkered by pleasant highways and avenues. A handsome carriage, drawn
by a sleek pair of New Holland horses, carried Phileas Fogg and Aouda
into the midst of rows of palms with brilliant foliage, and of
clove-trees, whereof the cloves form the heart of a half-open flower.
Pepper plants replaced the prickly hedges of European fields;
sago-bushes, large ferns with gorgeous branches, varied the aspect of
this tropical clime; while nutmeg-trees in full foliage filled the air
with a penetrating perfume. Agile and grinning bands of monkeys
skipped about in the trees, nor were tigers wanting in the jungles.

After a drive of two hours through the country, Aouda and Mr. Fogg
returned to the town, which is a vast collection of heavy-looking,
irregular houses, surrounded by charming gardens rich in tropical
fruits and plants; and at ten o’clock they re-embarked, closely
followed by the detective, who had kept them constantly in sight.

Passepartout, who had been purchasing several dozen mangoes–a fruit
as large as good-sized apples, of a dark-brown colour outside and a
bright red within, and whose white pulp, melting in the mouth, affords
gourmands a delicious sensation–was waiting for them on deck. He was
only too glad to offer some mangoes to Aouda, who thanked him very
gracefully for them.

Well I guess somethings never change – Singapore whether in this century or the last few has always been a garden city of sorts, and you can’t get out without experiencing our food (although that description of mango is actually mangosteen in my version, which makes a lot more sense!)

As its name implies, the story is more of a conquering of time rather than space, and for a book about travel, the main character Fogg is decidedly unexcited about the sights, choosing to spend most of his time indoors. Instead it is his servant Passepartout, who’s lived a rather well-travelled life as a past circus performer and while he’s portrayed as a rather simple-minded person who needs to be bailed out of scraps all the time, he seemed to be the one getting the most out of the travelling, and perhaps more inspirational as a travelling figure than that of the main character Fogg!

The introduction of my book also says that with commercial planes nowadays, what was once a 80-day journey could now be done in as short as 55 hours, a little more than 2 days. Check out the wikipedia page, which charts the journey taken in the book.

80 days, that’s something under 3 months, around 11 weeks worth of travel. Where would you go in 80 days – would you speed around the world, or take your time to really explore one place in that period of time? Share with me!

The traffic getting to Kuta was pretty insane, it’s a long narrow stretch of road fairly close to Seminyak, but you spend most of your time just waiting in the jam. Thank god for air-conditioning… Quite honestly, we didn’t do very much here or see anything particularly interesting here, mostly spent our time rambling around the place until we got too hot and tired and headed back to Seminyak for dinner.

We did get a massage at a random spa place:

Balinese massage here, pretty decent, not too expensive (I forget how much though >_<) but all I remember is that the cloth they draped on me seemed a little damp and rank, which isn’t a big deal since they put oils on you but can ick out the picky

Kuta is also home to the most crazily awesome building that we saw in Bali, the Kuta Angel Hotel.

Seriously what is that facade!

There are statues of… people. And if you look very closely at these 2 photos, you will see that the wall/fence is made up of waves and frogs. I don’t even…

Shopping here isn’t particularly different from that of Seminyak’s, you still have your usual beach bum brands and local stuff, though it feels more densely populated than Seminyak.

Naturally we end up, as all people in Bali do, at the beach. This public beach was a lot more crowded than the Seminyak one and had more touts, selling you everything from ice cream, to surf lessons and tattoos. Difference was that there were lots of beginner surfers on this beach, so we spent a lot of time just sitting on the sand and watching people wipe out.

Entrance to Kuta Beach through the ‘gate’

The beach was filled with folk

Guess which is my foot, it’s the obvious one!

One unusual place we visited was called Beachwalk, a rather clean modern shopping mall that made me feel like I was back in Singapore – there definitely had to have been some Singaporean input, from the layout and tenancy to the Singaporean food in the food centre! Didn’t feel like I was in Bali at all, despite the thatched-roof and all.

We’re actually up on the 3rd floor!

They were also home to the first and only Havaianas vending machine that I’ve seen in my life:

And you thought only Japan had interesting vending machines!

This one even has a foot sizing chart. Though you have to be in real urgent need of a pair of slippers, because for just a little bit more, you can pop into any of the surfer brand shops and get more variety/patterned slippers!

Maybe there are just too many people there now, but Kuta wasn’t a particular standout, and I was quite happy to head back to our villa to soak in the quiet of our private pool.

Did I miss out on the charms of Kuta that has everyone raving about it? Tell me!

I love these particular photo series of Hong Kong buildings from Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze – it’s such a simple concept, looking up instead of ahead, but he took these pix with such artistry you can’t help staring at them, the colours and shapes are amazing! Here are some of my favourite pix:

Love the colours!

Amazing asymmetrical shape

I like this one, but it also accentuates what I dislike about Hong Kong – the myriad of windows close together

This is pretty

And this is unexpected

I’ve taken a few upward looking shots myself, but I can’t say they look anything as pretty as his =)

I quite like this particular one I took in Munich – from the inner court of city hall

Another recent favourite – at the Dubai souk

Photos used with permission. Check out more photos from Romain’s website here. His book Vertical Horizon is available here

‘Vertical Horizon’
Published by Asia One
Hardcover, 160 pages
ISBN: 9789881531681