The Rise of Rooftop Bars – Why I Can’t Get Enough of Sky-High Sips
In the last week I visited two new rooftop bars. One because its birthday month and doing something different on your special day is definitely Joie de vivre and the second,well, we don’t need an excuse for a midweek beverage other than for a girlfriend catchup and connect. With the many bars on offer around this beautiful city, why does the prospect of sitting outside in the fresh air, above the commuters on the ground watching the sunset make me want to push everyone aside as I run for the elevator?
Published : Sylvia Jimenez
Embrace the Ocean's Lessons for a Calmer Life
Come summer or winter, you know where to find me—at the beach.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Embrace the naked, my experience at the Onsen.
Sitting naked in front of strangers was not on my bucket list or my yearly activity-to-do for 2024 leading into 2025. Still, the power of shedding layers, enveloped by water has a certain thrill when we jump out of our comfort zone. The ancient Egyptians did it, and so did the Greeks, Romans and Mesopotamians. Scandinavians do ‘Sauna.’ Folks from Türkiye have perfected it and the Japanese are still doing it. Nothing screams ‘Vulnerable’ like baring your breasts or making sure your Punani is perfectly coiffed for people who don’t care. Yes, that’s right, don’t care. When you bare all at a Japanese Onsen or an Ottoman Hamman experience no one cares what you look like, so why should you?
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
21 observations why you should go to Kyoto
In the spirit of Japan’s famously meticulous order, I figured the best way to share my Kyoto observations (the ones you won’t find in a tourist guide) is through a list. Here are the top 21 observations and recommendations.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Unexpected Joys: Human Connection in Japan
The trip to Japan was memorable not for its famous sights but for the warmth of human connections. A simple interaction with a kind store assistant named Koji highlighted the profound nature of kindness in daily life. Small gestures, like his assistance with laundry supplies, left a lasting impression, showcasing Japan's culture of respect.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Friends come and go and come and go
I hear the ping of the messages’ arrival on my phone. It’s 5:45 am, fifteen minutes before my set alarm, but I already know who the message’s sender is. Madam Z is an insomniac and most days is found watching the sunrise at the nearby beach amongst the hard-core joggers and dog walkers. She listened intently the day I revealed my love of the ocean because ever since then, she has sent me a beach photo (almost daily) that lights up my bleary eyes even on the coldest winter days.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Beachside morning and a shared moment
Today the beachside wasn’t just a shared destination, it was a reminder to appreciate the moment, the sound of the waves, the warmth of the 9am sun and a testament to how easily strangers sit close, upholding social decorum to not invade personal space and like a Mills and Boon novel, everyone was dreamy, and the atmosphere was euphoric.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Lost and Found: a mini self discovery in the back streets of Budapest
I wish I could say that hitting up Budapest solo was a calculated move, but honestly, I just followed my feet – they have a habit of taking me to the coolest spots! Budapest, this architectural diva draped in history, was my playground. While everyone’s queuing up at the tourist hotspots, I dove headfirst into the city’s secret nooks and crannies.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
What happens to the photographs?
She would have been 100 today.
Published : Sylvia Jimenez
Roller baby
a girls roller skating obsession in the 80s
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Niceness is (thankfully) still alive
This post is more of a happy affirmation rather than an observation, but if taken in the context of human behaviour, then I’m pleased to say that people are still inherently nice. My youngest, Master V, is employed as a Trolley boy at a local garden nursery. It is his first officially paid casual job means he is privy to the perfect balance of fresh air, movement and a clientele of grey nomads with a common interest of the gardening kind. And for me, it’s a great source of character observations for my upcoming stories, but that is for another time.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Love Letters and other hotel slippers
There are two kinds of people. Hoarders and non-hoarders. And if you happen to be the offspring of a baby boomer, chances are you would have likely shared a home with a hoarder. This was evident in the days I dedicated to clearing a dead man’s history. I had an inkling that dear old dad used to hang onto just about everything, not because I found shoeboxes filled with mini soaps, tiny shampoo and conditioner containers, toothpaste packets, tea and coffee pouches swiped from the hotel rooms he frequented since retiring, nor did the drawers full of medicine receipts, travel booking confirmations and retro postcards sent decades before, but in the cupboard, yes, a cupboard full of pristine, still-in-the plastic-wrap hotel slippers. The type that robust bodies saunter about when the sauna session is complete.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Where have all the love songs gone?
I wouldn’t say I’m stuck in a time warp, but my teenage years in the 80s have had a profound psychological impact on my memory. The other day, the clever little elves at Spotify suggested a ‘recommended playlist.’ It was titled ’80 Love Songs,’ which I found confusing as I had not listened to anything remotely close (to pick up on the algorithm), but it got me thinking, ‘Where have all the love songs gone?’
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
The scene on the grass
In a small corner of the world, at approximately 12:46 pm on a sunny Monday, our extended family was captured in a holiday scene reminiscent of a 90s Benetton billboard. I can still smell the fresh air. I can hear the swans lapping in the lake behind me. I remember the blog post that caught my attention on my feed and what conversation was being had. The boys headed balls while the girls deliberated whether a swim was a better option. It was hot; clothes were left in the rooms, and lunch was arriving soon.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Water Therapy
The locals laughed and scoffed about my thermal bath mania. Warning, if you don’t want to be confronted with the myriad of rubens-esque physiques, then my suggestion is to omit the customary soak in the mineral-laden waters of Budapest. But if you are like me, and believe all female figures are interesting and extraordinary, then dive straight in, well, no diving, but immerse yourself in the 38-degree water and let the stress of the day simply melt away [pun]. What I loved most, apart from the medicinal aspects, was that regardless of one’s form, all inhibitions were left at the door. Granted I attended on Tuesday Ladies only day, but it was the one few places where being at ease with one’s body was the norm.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Mind-wandering in solitude in a city swarmed by high rises.
Who would have thought that in the middle of inner-city Sydney, a parcel of land, large enough to develop a small suburb lays dormant to real estate aficionados’ grasp, provides solitude to early morning walkers, as well as being a true representative of Australian colonial history? On Easter Saturday I met with my good friend Liz for overdue catchup. We often meet in between our homes for a brisk walk and interesting conversation. She is one who listens intently and offers insightful observations. It was on this crisp morning walk that she showed me Yaralla from a local’s perspective and I’m ashamed to say that living in the area for nearly a decade I had never ventured past the gates. The estate, now heritage-listed was initially the home of a convict turned landowner who later mortgaged the land and was then converted as a convalescent home for returning soldiers.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Moments. In. Time.
Three words to be exact. I’ve read that a great title for a book should be summed up in three words. Your life can also be summed up in three words. Search for Meaning. Life with Purpose. Actions that Matter. Friends for Life. Clean my House. And it was this morning when another three words sprang into mind. Moments in Time. This occurred as I turned the page of a great book I’m reading right now, and when the dog looked at me with those big brown eyes, or when my online shopping was delivered to my veranda at precisely 7:18am, right in the middle of the 6 and 8am intended delivery time. Right. On. Time. It’s these moments where you read a paragraph that makes you laugh out loud, which reminds you of a memory long forgotten. Did I really wear that purple ill-fitting off-the-shoulder ensemble because I had nothing else to wear to the school disco? Or when you know you need to take the dog for a walk, he’s saying ‘Hey lady, it’s time for me to do you-know-what, so get up off your arse and open the front door.’ You laugh at the imaginary speech bubble above his scruffy face and remember the day you bought him home and how he curled up on your lap in a state of complete bliss. Or when the last shopping bag is placed by the door. You now know that you’ve spared two hours of your day not pushing the shopping trolley up and down the supermarket aisles, avoiding that impulse buy, the parking lot, the florescent lighting, wiping down the trolley for any Covid infection, remembering to take your mask. Instead, you’ve gained an insight for reading and looking at the dog, patting the cat or like the sign says, you’ve been able to Take. It. Easy.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Reminisce in your long-term memory; it could define who you are.
At last, I can identify that I have experienced a reminiscence bump! What is it about certain events or periods in one’s life that stands out in the memory bank brighter and more vivid than what was done last week, last month or last year? One theory of the ‘Reminiscence Bump’; the ‘life script account’ describes that during early adolescence, one starts to make essential decisions that have influencing experiences on their identity.
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Receiving a postcard was the best thing that happened to me today
Greetings from lockdown!
Published: Sylvia Jimenez
Somewhere north of So-Ho – October 2000
Currently embracing the armchair traveller movement, more images of past trips emerge as I finally get to the end of a five-decade photographic journey. I won’t even begin to count the number of images I’ve paused, giggled, and sighed at. Come on Covid, go away so we can travel again! When this picture was taken, we were sans children and on a trip to NYC. We learnt about ‘tree rodents,’ the importance of tipping, that a hot dog from a corner street vendor makes for a great lunch and tourist companion, and that coffee made by Australian baristas in Australia will always be the best. Apologies to my U.S friends but hoping for a good coffee we realised was all but a dream…Passing the myriad of mirrored Starbucks coffee shops along W Broadway, we came across this madam who decided to have a snooze. While she was very much alive (yes, we went in to check) we loved the fact that she was not only a fashionista-coloured co-ordinated granny, but that on close inspection she had the smoothest complexion. (Remember we lent in to make sure she was breathing and not in a creepy sort of way.) And as we channelled our inner Samantha Jones we said ‘Girl Paleese!’
Published: Sylvia Jimenez