Wedding at Burkill Hall

My sister had just held her wedding yesterday at Burkill Hall in the Botanic Gardens. The upper floor of the hall is normally not opened to public, while the ground floor usually exhibits a VIP orchid named after some significant people around the world.

As instructed by my sister, my family arrived early... maybe way too early because the tables and chairs had not been setup yet.

The empty 2nd floor of Burkill Hall

View of the empty garden from the 2nd floor of the hall

The 2nd floor of the hall can accommodate about 9 round tables, while the ground floor can fit in 4. Our lunch was served buffet style.



It was raining the whole morning. Fortunately, the sun came out in the afternoon and the garden solemnization was carried out as planned. It was quite a chore trying to get the guest seated, because no one really want to be baked under the hot sun. Thankfully, the Justice of Peace kept the ceremony short and sweet.

The thing about having such garden weddings, is you got to be prepared to do more planning and DIYs on your own. You've got to book your own food, source for wedding musician(s) and put up your own decorations.

DIY 2R Paper Photo Frame

My Martha Stewart craft punches that I've ordered from Amazon arrived last night! As compared to the local scrap-booking stores, the price is approximately halved when I buy from Amazon (now that there is free shipping for purchases above USD 125). While there are already paper photo frames being sold in stores, I couldn't find the ones for 2R-size photos.

This is how I make my 2R photo frames (6.6cm by 11.5cm):

	Using the Marvy Uchida Clever Lever Extra Giga Craft Punch (product code: LVXGCP_64 for the rectangle punch), make a punch off-center, as shown in the picture. I've used a 4 1/2" by 6 1/2" (11.5cm by 16.5cm) paper. The punch out is 4.4cm by 7.6cm.
	Using the Martha Stewart Crafts Scoreboard, score two lines at 5/8" and at 3 1/4" as shown in the picture.
	Cut off the 1.5cm of excess length.
	Fold the paper along the scored lines and stick the corners together as shown in the picture. I've chosen to use the double-sided tape, which is easier and cleaner. Leave one side untaped so that the photo can be slided in through this opening.
	I used the Martha Stewart Crafts Trains Edger Punch and made a paper ribbon. After punching along the edge of a paper, cut off at 1.5cm at the base of the punched out trains to form the ribbon.
	The paper ribbon has to be longer than the width of the frame, so that the ribbon can be folded to the back of the frame. I used small pieces of double-sided tape to hold the ribbon in place, at the back of the frame. Alternative, uhu glue works too.
	Finally, add more embellishment according to your likings. Insert a 2R photo from the opening at the top and it's done!

Here are the other designs that I've done by varying the decorations at the bottom of the frames.

Hello Kitty Exhibition at Langham Place

We bumped into a Hello Kitty exhibition at Langham Place! We didn't know about the display beforehand, but we wanted to escape the hot weather outdoors and planned for some shopping in the malls.

The place is, of course, packed with people.

A queue formed at the Hello Kitty bus.

Side-view of Hello Kitty bus

Hello Kitty and Dear Daniel in Chinese opera costumes

Hello Kitty shops

Hello Kitty Airline

Hello Kitty photo studio

Dear Daniel in his convertible car

Hello Kitty noodle stall

Tim Ho Wan

KB and I decided to try Tim Ho Wan (添好運) in Hong Kong, because the queue at the newly opened one in Singapore is too crazy long. This restaurant is said to be the cheapest Michelin-star restaurant. Although, ideally, we should visit the original store, but some online sources suggest that it has relocated. So, we took the easy way out and went to the branch at IFC Mall, which we could easily find.

We took the queue number and wait outside for a short while. The outlet is rather small and the patrons mostly sit in a row in tight spaces. The staffs there are not particularly friendly too. I was a little afraid that I might be scolded if I call for their assistance too many times.

Glutinous rice


Prawn dumplings


Why doesn't the vermicelli roll come with any sauce?


Baked bun with BBQ pork


Osmanthus jelly

Ngong Ping

Two years ago, I visited Ngong Ping (昂坪) with a group of girlfriends. And this year, I came back to visit the same place with KB. In the same way, we took the bus up the mountain. For some reasons unknown to me, the queue to take the cable car is extremely long, while it's all quiet over at the bus terminal.

Sadly, I didn't make it up to the Big Buddha this time. The weather was probably too hot for me and I was dizzy halfway up the long flight of stairs. So, we had no choice but to go back down and take a rest in the shade. I wonder if I would ever have the courage again to try to conquer such stairs... perhaps, I might try if the weather is cooler.

If I didn't feel sick, I would want to visit Tai O (大澳), which is on Lantau Island (大嶼山) too. But KB was worried and insisted that we go back to our hotel to rest. So, we took the cable car back to Tung Chung (東涌) and took the MTR back to Tsim Sha Tsui (尖沙咀).

Gundam Exhibition at Times Square

KB and I were walking pass Times Square when we spotted the giant Gundam figures. We were suppose to be looking for our brunch, but ended up distracted and delayed our food hunt.

The two giant Gundam figures located outdoors

Life-size Gundam soldiers

More Gundam models were on display inside the mall

Chubby Gundam

Garden Restaurant (花園酒家)

I've already been to this dim sum restaurant when I came to Hong Kong in 2010 and in 2007. Back then, the food menu was printed in colour, but now it's in monochrome. However, the food remains just as nice as before.

Second floor of Garden Restaurant