European travel from Australia: currency conversion and travel cards

There are many other resources on these topics and feel free to browse around for a wider range of opinions but what I did was to use S Money to do my currency conversion (I used Travelex for the New Zealand but S Money is offering me a much better conversion rate, S Money isContinue reading “European travel from Australia: currency conversion and travel cards”

Moonlake’s Approach to Writing Exercises

Those who followed my blog for a while should probably know that I’m a whimsical person when it comes to reading and writing. So that’s my approach to writing exercises if I have to sum it up with one word.  I bounce around with writing exercises in that if I grow tired of one, IContinue reading “Moonlake’s Approach to Writing Exercises”

Remarkable Women in Ancient China (21)- Yoshiko Kawashima

Who is she: Notable Life Events: Moonlake’s thoughts on her:  I think this is a woman that is worthy of being cast as a female lead for sure (there was definitely a HK movie about her where she was played by Anita Mui): she has outward charm and she knows what she is doing.  EnglishContinue reading “Remarkable Women in Ancient China (21)- Yoshiko Kawashima”

Upcoming European trip in May- planning details and resources

This is not a travel blog per se but because I always obsessively plan my trips down to literally minutiae, I might as well collate the various bits of knowledge I’ve gathered for newbies like me.  Firstly, for itineraries, I’ve found the following sites very useful as templates and I can adapt them for myContinue reading “Upcoming European trip in May- planning details and resources”

The Reading Experience: has Writing Changed it?

For me, the short answer is no.  The long answer is well, writing could have changed it in a theoretical sense. Because, like a mechanic, a totally valid way for learning is to take a piece of writing apart and try to reverse engineer something of your own. In that sense, as a writer, oneContinue reading “The Reading Experience: has Writing Changed it?”

Chinese Lore- a selection of mythical fauna (19)

Xiao Physical Description: A monkey-like bird with two pairs of wings, a single eye and a dog-like tail. Special Properties: The sound of its call is like that of magpies. Consuming its meat cures stomachaches and diarrhea. Yong Yong Fish Physical Description: A fish that looks like a yak. Special Properties: The sound it makesContinue reading “Chinese Lore- a selection of mythical fauna (19)”

A Changing Relationship with Cozy Mystery

I feel like I have said this N times already but sub-genre is a concept that comes slowly to me. Hence, I never quite grasped the concept of cozy mystery until recently and my first time experience didn’t amount to anything even close to liking. I felt the pacing was too slow and there wasContinue reading “A Changing Relationship with Cozy Mystery”

Moonlake’s Book Discoveries: March 2024

Mystery The Mercenaries: Blood Diamonds by P. W. Storm It’s a complete mystery to me why this is filed under fantasy on my local library catalogue and this is the ebook catalogue nonetheless. The book cover also doesn’t speak fantasy either. Technically this is not a mystery like I usually read but a thriller aboutContinue reading “Moonlake’s Book Discoveries: March 2024”