While I’m gathering my thoughts to pound out my impressions of Sara Douglass’s books, here are some images of France, specifically Vittel and Paris taken early this month while I was there for a work related conference.  Enjoy!

The past three months saw lucky me traveling to no less than five cities, two of which were for the second time.  Here then are my impressions of three of them I visited for the first time – Bangkok, Seoul and Auckland.

Bangkok is many things:  it is a city that is modern in the many malls and hotels springing up at every corner yet there are pockets of slums that hint at a less prosperous past.  It is truly a city for the shopaholic — everything, well almost everything, can be had at a bargain. Lest I’m beginning to sound like a bird with cries of ‘cheap, cheap, cheap’, let me put that image out of your mind by revealing that there are upscale malls where international brands showcase their merchandise,  and unless you have thousands in your wallet, you’d best step aside for the well-heeled wealthy. But I digress, no where is bargain hunting taken up with more passion than at Chatuchat, the Sunday flea market.

Seoul at night
And that, was where hubby and I went on that Saturday we were there.  He had flown in the night before after my business meetings have ended. This being a business trip, I haven’t the chance to explore much of the city, so I was looking forward to discovering Bangkok with the man. Our visit to the night bazaar the previous night was uneventful with nothing much to show except a pair of cushions which I was entrusted to purchase for a colleague.  So, determined to do some serious damage to our wallets, we headed for Chatuchat with much anticipation. 

Forgive me the silence. The traveling, the projects piling up, and the pressure deadlines, are getting to me. But the reading and posting must go on nonetheless, so here are my reviews of two more books from a recent journey.

Mary Higgins Clark is another favourite suspense writer of mine and re-reading Moonlight Becomes You made me recall all the reasons why this author is highly acclaimed for her singular ability to electrify you with her fast moving prose, heart-stopping suspense and clever plot twists. This book throws fashion photographer Maggie Holloway into a potboiler of a murder mystery involving her former stepmother with whom she was happily reunited at a party. 

Aside from the mysterious change of will that leaves Maggie the sole beneficiary of everything with a strange stipulation that she visits an old friend of her stepmother’s, there seems to be no clues as to who the murderer might be, until a visit to a graveyard and the subsequent sudden death of her stepmom’s friend raised alarm bells in her head.