Scenes from Tokyo: TV Towers

Night view from main observation deck of Tokyo Tower (direction North-East) Having been to Tokyo Tower 3 times during daytime before, I have to admit, the view does look nicer at night when the buildings look more uniform in colour (aka. all dark except for the warm lighting)

And I thought it would be nice to pair it up with...

Night view from Tokyo Skytree (direction I-don't-know because I switched views to squeeze Tokyo Tower in) The difference in view does say for itself. And since Skytree is in a relatively residential neighbourhood, the difference in atmosphere is also quite startling. "Oh my god, I'm surrounded by all those intimidating buildings" vs. "Yo I have the entire Tokyo under my feet" 

Plus it's always nice to show off your knowledge of Tokyo by pointing out Sumida river in the foreground~

Scenes from Tokyo: Kanda

New Year prayer crowd for Kanda shrine (the queue behind where I was standing wrapped around more than 2 blocks...) All the salarymen were probably out to enjoy their only idle afternoon in the sun of the year

One of the two staff/cook at Kikanbo Ramen. Delicious spicy ramen!

Scenes from Tokyo: Tsukiji

I half-heartedly followed my buddies on a early morning trip to Tsukiji. The lines for both in-market sushi bar were overwhelming, but we settled in to wait for our breakfast-turned-brunch. While waiting for my own line, I was observing the insane queue next door for Sushi Dai. The people in front of the door was just the tip of the iceberg, a whole crowd was waiting around the corner.

Sushi chef at work while I wait for my sushi brunch. I think I was way too hungry to judge the quality of the sushi by that point lol. After gulping down my plate of sushi, I then suffered from an extremely heavy stomach (consequence of eating too fast) throughout our afternoon stroll in Tokyo. 

Lady praying at the main shrine (and unofficial guardian) of Tsukiji: Namiyoke (Protection against the waves) Inari Shrine. The crowd in front of the shrine made it almost seems like a wedding is going on! 

Golden Gate Bridge at sunset

Was showing a few friends around the city and somehow managed to reach the bridge before sunset (walked all the way from Fisherman's Wharf!). Two of the three stamps on the left dissolved with the watercolour _(:3」∠)_ all the work for nothing ;A;

Displays at Beaty Biodiversity Museum, UBC

Fun museum at UBC with tons of displays to sketch! I ehm....only had time to get through 2 aisles, out of more than 30

Borrowed the crayons (in the kids activities section) to colour~

Scenes from Seattle: Space Needle, Fremont Troll, Pike Place Market, I-5 North

Space needle with the holiday lights on top. Fremont troll under the bridge, somebody decided to paint one of its eyes bright red (which is quite...eye-catching in the grey and rainy Seattle weekend ;A;)

Afternoon sun at Pike Place Market (more like afternoon-cloud-with-5-mins-of-weak-sun) w/ I-5 north by its side

Boathouse, Aquatic Park, Berkeley

Finally got around to sketch the colourful boathouse! I swore I'd come back with colours when I first started out with sketching in ink (black and white). First time attempting reflections in water too! And as I was looking at the water, I realized that I forgot to bring my water jar...(as always happens when I try to pack for more than one thing) So I had to make do with my spray bottle...because I wouldn't forgive myself if I bike home with a black and white boat house lol!