I'm back from Hanoi, Vietnam, after a one week vacation. It was fun and wet. Just like any other holiday, it's always too short.

Here are the sketches I drew during the trip. I'll be publishing them in eBook format in the future with drawing and holiday tips. And in the days to come, I'll also publish the sketches page by page with account of my experience that you can follow at https://www.parkablogs.com/tags/vietnam-trip-march-2015

Video is shot in 4K so you can view it in fullscreen detail.

I bought the Derwent Graphitint coloured pencils to try out today. I totally misjudged the values they can create. They are mostly dark values that don't vary much from each other except for the hue. It will take a while to get used to it.

The Stillman & Birn Delta sketchbook also surprised me with its toothy texture.

Sitting at the cafe sketching these people made me think of how crowded it was. This particular Coffee Bean at Junction 8 always seems to be crowded. I was lucky today to get a seat. While sketching, I saw a few people coming in and walking out after finding out there are not seats.

The coffee here cost around 5 times more than the coffee at the neighbourhood coffee shops. Yet, it's always packed. There are also many students. Back in the days when I was a student, I had to scrimp and save. Now that I've a job, I still feel a bit guilty drinking such expensive coffee.