(Pre)Nottinghill Carnival 2018

(Insta: Theejamaicanbeauty)

One word. Relaxing.

This time I spent in Thailand was nothing short but amazing. This was my second time going and I absolutely loved it even more. I had a ton of more time in the country so I spent a lot of it just roaming around and just relaxing and soaking the sun.

The first 5ish days were hectic. Flew into Bangkok and from there flew to Koh Tao where we took our scuba diving courses. Quite a challenging yet rewarding experience for I am not a great swimmer nor am I comfortable with the deep water so I feel like with this experience, I really pushed myself beyond the boundaries of what I was capable of doing and it has opened my eyes to yet more a world out there of something different. And what made it fun was that we met up with my friend’s friend whose from the states but is currently traveling around the world and doing a lot of freelancing work. But not too long after, she found a love for Koh Tao and found a job as a Yoga Instructor. You go girl! So happy for her. Wishing her all but the very best.

From Koh Tao, we took a ferry to Koh Samui. And in Samui, it rained the entire time. Like the entire time. It wasn’t hard rain, but moreso little drops. The island is much bigger than Koh Tao, a bit more laid back. There’s not too much to do for things are quite spread out, but it was still nice. When I travel, I enjoy walking around and just seeing the spots hoping I run into a hidden gem. I like to have places that I want to go but I also don’t mind exploring on my own for a lot of expected things can come up and turn out fun.

Flew north to Chiang Mai. And before we get to Chiang Mai, can we talk about the Koh Samui Airport!!! Because its on an island, I guess half of the airport is inside but mostly its outside. Its looks almost like an indoor mall, but its outside. There’s a ton of storefront shops you can visit and they also have these platforms you can sit under for shade (well needed for it was raining pretty hard) and they knew I didn’t eat. The airport provides free snacks, yes FREE snacks. I was soo happy. You don’t understand how hungry I was. They had a few thai snacks that I wasn’t familiar with, but they had this ham sandwich, some juice, and water. I was in heaven.

I went solo in Chiang Mai, but it was awesome for I was on my own, I can do what I want, when I want and no one to hold me back. The city itself was super neat. Tons and tons of temples, lots of bomb ass food (per usual) and tons of great things to offer. There, I got to take care of elephants which was a very cool expereince. Elephants are pretty smart and they eat a lot! The younger kins were so playful esp when it came to bathing in the water. It was so cute. They all had some interesting personalities. I think it would be cool to volunteer for a few weeks hanging with elephants. Definitely gonna look into that in the future. I also ran into these two women from Las Vegas from this cheap city tour I went on. They were so sweet and down to earth. I really enjoyed them so much that I hung with them on the next day. We went to a night market and tried local Thai wine. It tasted pretty good. Students from the local university make the wine (amazing) and I believe each glass was like 50 baht (a dollar y’all). I was in heaven.

We flew to Singapore in which also rained the entire time we were there. We still had a nice time. WE had a very lavish dinner at a buffet in a hotel in the Sentosa area. Then went out to a club that we thought that it was Hip-Hop but just another shitty EDM club. Missed the countdown for i was too busy in the bathroom but you know, we still had a good time. Even though it was raining, it was crowded. There were tons of people out and my feet were killing me (damn you heels). Taking a taxi was impossible so we took a bus back to our hotel. It was crazy.

The following day, we went out to downtown area to the Marina by the bay where they have that amazing green lavish garden. Then, we went shopping and my friend was going ham in the beauty section for the items sold in Singapore are much cheaper than back home. And you know what’s crazy, from there we walked from downtown to our Airbnb in Geyland. 45ish minute walk (which I don’t mind). It was dark, yet nice and quiet and the weather was amazing.

Flew back to Bangkok where we ended our trip by meeting my friends that I met in China from my A+1班 class at Fudan. We had such an amazing time. Bittersweet moment and my friend really liked them. I was so scared that she wasn’t gonna click with them or say something crazy but man it was a good time! We had these amazing cakes, reminisced about our times in China, we even talked about bitcoin and the future of currency and investing along with lots of good laughs.

Photography for Life

I’ve been taking photos for as long as I can remember. Back in the 7th grade, my father bought me one of those point and shoot Sony cameras for like $75ish dollars from Circuit City (RIP) and I went crazy. I would take it to school and take photos of everything. The hallways, classmates, the art in the bathroom stalls…you name it, I got it. When my aunt from NIgera flew into into America, I took so many of her (and I lost all those photos due to a computer virus RIP). Beyond that, I was in love with it. Around this time too, Facebook was just getting popular so a few people asked for a new profile picture. Sending them was the hard part for we didn’t have smart phones around this time and some phones weren’t capable of sending/receiving pictures (damn you bluetooth).

But that spark came to an end when the camera somehow stopped work. I was so devastated. So I went through an almost entire period of high school where I took very little photos. We could not bring our phones into our high school, I didn’t have a camera, and iPods weren’t aloud either. So there’s that. But in my senior year, joined yearbook and was introduced to my first ever DSLR. Y’all, I did not know how to use that camera for my life , but I was taking a lot of shots. Sports teams, events, friends, you name it. I felt so proud putting that yearbook together and saying “I took that.”

Fast-forward to 2015, it was just days before I was flying to China, I bought a Refurbished Canon Rebel T3 off Amazon for $250 (mad cheap). That’s when everything changed. For the first few months, I took quite a few photos (not enough) but they came out pretty decent. Some good, others not so good, but it was all baby steps. I tried using online tutorials but with my VPN not working and step to step guide simply not being enough, I gave up. But then I met my friend who showed me some basic controls and how I can change the f stop, shutter speed etc. and that changed everything. My photos became like 2x better. Thanks! But I still was unsure of what I was doing to be honest.

So when I got back to the US, I took a Intro to Photography course and everything just clicked. She broke it down and really explained to my class how the aperature and shutter speed can affect your images and white balance affecting the color along with using it freehand vs tripod. This class really changed the way I view photography and taking photos. With that, it inspired me to pursue more of the hobby.

Nowhere near a professional, but its something that I love and enjoy doing on my free time.

Cartagena , Colombia

IG - iamkrystaldanielle