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About

Hello, and welcome to Lil & {destination:…}

Traveller, urban explorer, learner, photographer, writer, baker, researcher, reader, diver. In no particular order. By way of Malaysia, Ireland, with a few months stints in Canada and in the UAE, now landed in France. More specifically, Paris. This blog chronicles my adventures – local and abroad – as well as the perks and challenges of living (and trying to fit in) in France. I wish I have time to write regularly, and then life happens, so I’m inevitably always a little bit behind…

 

Some minor stuff

You can write to me at : hello [at] lilianlau [dot] com

I’m behind the camera of all photos on this blog unless otherwise noted; I’d appreciate no sneaking around and misappropriating of them. I do not accept sponsored posts, advertorials, affiliated links etc because I like this to keep this space personal.

 

The blog design

I dabbled in programming/coding from time to time. I customised this blog in 2008 based on Focus Grid by Derek Punsalan. The Old School icons were created by Sebastien Durel.

I’ve thought about reworking the theme since, but as a hobbyist, I haven’t the time to keep up with WordPress and web standards development to create something cool and fancy.

 

Last updated: January 2015

11 scribbles & notes

  1. Carina says:

    Lil,
    You are adorable! I can’t find an email contact on your site, so drop me a note via mine. Carina. :) xx

  2. Georgette says:

    Hi LIL…. Loved your article about Daisy’s hunts. I was lucky enough to do the one in the Louvre in October and loved it. Daisy and I became fast friends and I’m looking forward to getting together with her when I’m there in April. Would love to meet you if you have time. Let me know. I’ve been bitten by the Paris bug and am really enjoying spending as much time as I can there. Have a great weekend. Take care. Georgette

  3. Maddie says:

    Hi Lilian,
    I’m not usually the type of person to comment on the blogs of people I don’t know, but I just had to send you a message to say thank you!
    I am an English language teacher working in Paris and I’m currently battling the French administration for my Carte Vitale. The biggest problem I’ve found over the last 3 months of trying has been the complete lack of clarity and uniformity in what people tell me. None of the staff in any of the 3 different Centre Assurance Maladies I have been into were willing to help me, or even tell me clearly exactly what documents I needed !
    Your blog is great and the piece about obtaining a Carte Vitale in France (Huge congratulations by the way!!) is incredibly helpful! Thank you so much for writing simply all the different documents you need and stages to go through.
    I am incredibly grateful!

    Thank you
    Maddie
    (new fan :))

    • Lil says:

      Hi Maddie – thank you and I am very glad that the article is helping someone for real! It took me a long time to figure it out too because, as you said, there’s lack of clear information and it can be fairly frustrating trying to get it all sorted (and stay sane through the process).

      I am lucky I have a good network of support around me (read: my friends and partner who listened to my rants and offered plenty of hugs) and the fact that I’m here for the long-haul means by hook or by crook, I’ve got to make it work!

      Hope you get your carte vitale soon!

  4. elizabethfoley says:

    Hi, Lilian,

    Glad to have come across your blog.

    I’m going to Paris toward the end of October (for the first time) and was researching things to do there. I found your description of the alarmingly high water level of the Seine esp interesting for some reason. I guess because it was physical, personal and came across so viscerally. I like the nitty gritty of things, small observations.

    I’m from Pacific Palisades in California. I don’t speak any other language ! although I did take six years of French in junior high and high school (!). I hope it will do some good, and am cramming to relearn some vocabulary and familiarize my ear to the sound of the language. It’s been 40 years! I’m part french, mexican and irish, with some other things in there. I don’t speak spanish, either~! those are the things I don’t do… ;) today. Things change.

    My husband is going for several weeks to work outside of Paris (EuroDisney) and I’ll meet him there. My grandmother was French. She married an American GI in WWII. He was the acting “mayor”, and she was 15. They were married in the cathedral in Bourges. Anyway, I look forward to seeing France for the first time.

    I appreciate your sensibilities. I have a Facebook page––and last month I signed up for linkedin (my mother died recently and one important family member seemed to communicate through it (?!)); I have them both on the least intrusive settings, but still some things bleed through. Ugh! I absolutely detest the things but attributed that to my contrarian bent, so I’m glad whenever I find others who avoid those services. I’m not alone! I’m a film maker, and human, so I guess that means I have a need for communication, –on my own terms, not mediated by someone else’s business model. I think I have a twitter account but no clue how to use it. (What are hashtags! Rhetorical. I dimly know what they are and could look it up but its too much trouble).

    Anyway….

    Thanks for your blog. If you have any suggestions for out of the way things to do or see in Paris, I’d appreciate them very much! I’m 62, moderately spoiled, moderately active––with a punk sensibility.

    I hope this isn’t asking too much from a stranger. If it is, I understand. I will read more of your blog for some clues!

    Best wishes (and keep up the good work).

    :) Elizabeth

  5. […] that’s a great photo, no? Lilian Lau is a jack of many trades: from an École normale supérieure post-doc science researcher to a […]

  6. […] that’s a great photo, no? Lilian Lau is a jack of many trades: from an École normale supérieure post-doc science researcher to a […]

  7. Lyn says:

    Hi, I made my first visit to Paris in March this year! I loved every minute of it? I love reading blogs about Paris and have such a collection of things to do in Paris that my next visit will have to be a long one. I am enjoying learning French at the moment and can’t wait to put it to good use. I love ThatLou’s blog and my dream is to one day do one of her museum searches. lyn

  8. […] that’s a great photo, no? Lilian Lau is a jack of many trades: from a post-doc science researcher to a wonderful travel writer (links […]

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