Suddenly there was the news about the mass killing in France. Dean looked at me and we instantly had the same worried look. We were going to Paris in 2 days time to shoot dUCk’s latest Limited Edition piece that was inspired from a place there, should we cancel our trip??

We were both worried if they were going to have a heightened anti-Muslim movement and with me wearing the headscarf, it would be scary. Postponing this trip could mean another 2 months time because it was hard enough to squeeze in 3 days to travel with our work commitments. At the end of it, we decided to just go, God will protect us. And protect us, He did! I totally understand why people would lose their headscarf when they travel overseas because we would normally be minorities in the west and some even look at us differently (I definitely felt a bit left out in San Francisco because not a lot of women wear the headscarf), so I won’t judge if they do. But I’m telling you, the more you keep it on, the more God would protect you. I was treated sooooo well in Paris, people gave me salam and opened doors for me, the hotel butlers kept sending us snacks, people on the streets smiled at me, I was given priority at shops… it was crazy! THANK GOD we went with our guts and didn’t cancel. Because we wouldn’t have had an amazing break that we needed.

I did an Instagram Takeover for @theduckgroup exploring Paris and shooting the campaign for our new dUCk, so the whole trip revolved around that. There were 3 colours, one for each day that we were in Paris and I took our followers through the story behind this print that we did in collaboration with Bowerhaus. The response was amazinggggg. You can follow the story on the Instagram and Harper’s Bazaar also covered it.

Hope the launch will go well!

We had fun walking everywhere and exploring Paris. The last time we were here was more than 8 years ago so I don’t remember much about Paris. The weather was wayyyyy too hot this time around (hotter than KL!), the sun was directly at us and sunset was at 10pm!! We also realised we’re not big travellers. We don’t understand how people can have holidays that last more than a week! We were homesick towards the end, terribly missing Daniel and Mariam and having work to do. Walking around carefree gets boring after a while!! 3 days was just nice before we got restless.

But it was definitely an experience that I will cherish forever. Having my husband just to myself for 3 days straight and being able to have undisturbed sleep for 3 nights was fuhhhhh…. magical. Hehe.

 

 

More than 8 years ago:

Us back then.

We were a pair of young blood in love, with a bad photographer that cut a part of Arc de Triomphe. Hehe. But I think this spot will be a tradition after today. To take a photo on the right side of the gorgeous structure, near that lamp post that says Place Charles de Gaulle.

Us now.

To many more pictures at this spot with you, Dean!