Tralala Thailand

Bangkok

Hello everyone!!!
I never been to Thailand before.
When i still work at one of travel agency in Indonesia, i never had a chance to brought the group there. But everyone keeps telling me that Bangkok is very closed to Jakarta, and cheap as well so dont bother because they said that i would have a chance to go there someday.
And yeap its true.

I decide traveling to Bangkok on Oct because my hubby would go to Korea with his coworkers on November. Then i ask one of my besties that visit Bangkok frequently since she sell Bangkok clothes in Indonesia.

So in November we went there.
Well, its super exciting back then. Why?

Firstly,
Air Ticket:
 you can find from the most affordable one to the quite expensive luxurious one.

Accommodations:
you can find somewhere luxury like hotels with wide range of prices based on budget, there re also mid range budget like BnB or Hostel or Guest House or a free one like Couchsurfing. Me myself, love to use this app. Couchaurfing, i mean. Since i joined on 2010. It was incredible and helpful as heaven!!
But since my besty never tried this app and she said that she felt insecure to sleep at a stranger house, plus she will buy many clothes and she said it would be inconvenient, so we decided to stay at cheap hotel near Pratunam Market. Its clean but very small and a bit creepy. And when she back to Jakarta, i moved to my CS Host . She was amazingly nice, she even borrowed us her mirror-less camera on the first day we arrived at Bangkok.

Foods:
omg!!!! I love the foods!! I never expecting that i would love foods here since i didn't like sour and spicy too much and i wasn't into Thai food. I proved wrong, absolutely. 😂😂
The foods were amazing tasty and they re cheap!! from the street foods that u can find almost everywhere to the world class restaurant. Love love it!!! And the fruits re so freshhhhhh and affordable!!

Transportation:
nah, beware of Tuk Tuk i have to say. It raised the price so high since they knew that we re tourists. It so pricey but fun as well. Mostly they offer higher price than taxi. Crazy. But yeah, you have to bid 50% OFF minimum. More to 60% would be better.
Taxi is tricky here. When the driver knew that u re tourist (since u cant speak thai) they wouldn't start the argo and just charge u with high price. No matter what, u have to ask the argo to be start. If they refused so wait until somebody said yes.
Except when u want go to somewhere far, u can bid the price but not with argo. 😂
You can also use Bus, BTS, and MRT. But sometimes it needs 15-30 minutes walk to the destination, so if u dont want to walk, just bid tuk tuk then. 😆😆

Where to shop:
woww its amazing place to ladies!!! There re many shopping center here!! If u want something branded, luxury, designer brand you can go to Central Mall, Siam Paragon, Emporium.
But if u want something vintage and lovely with mid range budget u can go to Cha Tu Chak that only open on weekend only and u can find street foods as well.
And if u like affordable clothes u can buy at Platinum or Pratunam Market.
Pratunam Market is a cheap place to seller. Its a morning market that open between 3 AM- 8AM.

Well i love Bangkok despite of the hot weather and tricky transportation, but the people re warm and super friendly even they barely speak english, and the foods, cafes, shopping center were amazing. Love this city. And also u can find beautiful places, and picturesque places, romantic place, shows and everything. We also enjoy the floating market experience as well. Such an unforgettable journey.


ITIN:
Thurs/ 24 nov/ Day 1:
23.00 check in hotel

Fri / 25 nov / Day 2:

10.00 grand palace (Na Phra Lan Road) and wat arun ( 158 Wang Doem Road)

12.30 lunch at UNICORN CAFE
Address: 44/1, Sathon 8, Silom, Bang Rak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
Getting there: Take the BTS to Chong Nonsi, walk past Residence Hotel towards soi 8, Sathon
Contact: +66 86 397 9262
Opening hours: Tue – Sun, 12pm – 8pm

15.00 HELLOKITTY CAFE
Add: SiamSQ1, Bangkok
Tel: +66 2 115 1335
Daily: 10am – 10pm
Nearest BTS: Siam

17.00 platinum
19.00 dinner at rome restaurant
Address: 454 Nong Nong Phlu
Getting there: Located outside the city – Taxi or private car
Contact: +66 2 444 1088
Opening hours: Daily, 5pm -12midnight

20.30 teddy house, patinya siam square


Sat/ 26 nov / Day 3:

10.00 damnoen saduak market

11.00 REVERIE CAFE
Address: 23/, Thanon Sukhonthasawat, Lat Phrao, Bangkok 10230, Thailand
Getting there: Take the MRT to Lat Phrao, take a 20 minute taxi ride to the coffee shop
Contact: +66 2 932 9388
Opening hours: Tue – Sun, 10:30am – 9:30pm

13.00 lunch at AUDREY CAFE
Add: 136/3 Thonglor Soi 11
Vaddhana, Sukhumvit 55
Tel: +66 2 712 6667
Daily: 11am – 10pm
Nearest BTS: Thong Lo

14.00-16.30 cha tu chak

17.00 CHOCOLATE VILLE
Address: 351, Khan Na Yao, Bangkok 10230, Thailand
Getting there: Located outside the city – Taxi or private car
Contact: +66 83 077 3738 or +66 81 921 2016
Opening Hours: Daily, 4pm – 12midnight; it is recommended to arrive at the earliest hours, preferably with a reservation during weekends and public holidays

20.00 central


Sun/ 27 nov/ Day 4:

10.00 breakfast at PERHAPS RABBIT ( ALICE IN WONDERLAND)
Address: 5/1 Ekkamai 10 Alley, Khlong Tan Nuea, Watthana, Bangkok 10110, Thailand
Getting there: Take the BTS to Ekkamai station, exit 1, walk to Sukhumvit 63 and then take a taxi ride to Ekkamai soi 10
Contact: +66 96 616 3314
Opening hours: Daily, 9am – 9pm

12.00 lunch at RABBITO CAFE
 Address: Sukhumvit soi 101/1, in a small shopping centre called Di Wavery Community Mall,
Getting there: Take the BTS to Udom Suk, walk for about 15 minutes towards Soi 101/1
Contact: +66 61 632 2365
Opening hours: Tue –Sun, 12pm -8pm

14.00 cha tu chak
17.00 platinum
19.00 dinner with beijing friends
20.00 siam paragon

Mon/ 28 nov/ day 5 :
10.00 B STORY CAFE
Address: 89/35 Phayathai Rd, Thanon Phetchaburi, Ratchathewi, Bangkok 10400, Thailand
Getting there: Just outside BTS Ratchathewi
Contact: +66 662-6565677
Opening hours: Daily, 10am – 11pm

11.00 rose garden
15.00 VILLA DE BEAR
Address: 5, Ratchapruk Rd., Bang Ramat, Taling Chan, Bangkok 10170 Thailand
Getting there: Take the BTS to Bang Wa, then a short 15min taxi ride to VdB
Contact: +66 98 496 624
Opening hours: Daily, 11am – 12am

17.00 dinner at scirocco
19.00 central teddy house


Tues/ 29 nov/ day 6:
11.00 breakfast and lunch at KARMAMARKET DINER
30/1 Sukhumvit Soi 24 Bangkok
Tel: +66 02 262 0700
Daily: 9am – 11pm
Nearest BTS: Phrom Phong

13.00 SISTORY ROOM SHOP
Address: Sistoryroom Shop Soi Lat Phrao Wang Hin 8, Bangkok, Thailand 10230
Getting there: Take the MRT to Ratchadaphisek, and then a short 15 minute taxi ride
Contact: +66 85 566 5508
Opening hours: Tue – Sun, 12:30pm -8:30pm

15.00 MBK
19.00 seafood
20.00 siam paragon


Wed/30 nov/ day 7:
Go home

Introvert Aceh

Hello everyone!
Gosh! It took so long for me to write this, since writing needs the idea how and what to write, the memories, and the most important: MOOD.
Well, for indonesian people, Banda Aceh is a familiar city, but not all of us had been there.
Well, like most of us know Banda Aceh is a moslem city, but doesnt mean theres no other religion.
Banda Aceh got a tragic disaster, Tsunami on 2004. It was horrible, more than 230.000 people died on that occasion. But the city has been rebuilt and move on! Become a much better one. Not like other city in Indonesia, Aceh has their own police called Wilayatul Hisbah or Syariah Police. Their job re to punish moslem people if they don't wear "Hijab" or a proper cloth for Moslem Ladies. They have to cover all over the body including hair, arms, legs, and theres no indentation, like boobs or legs or butt or anything improper. And also to punish the prostitute, people who using drugs and alcohol, people who do PDA (Public Display Affection: means no kissing no hugging no "hand in hand" or "gandengan tangan" in Public), punish couple who check in to the Hotel (not "Muhrim" or "husband and wife" ).

Well in other cities in Indonesia, Moslem Ladies have their own right to do what they want to do. Its up to them whether they want to wearing hijab or not. Mostly they wear it when they decide they re totally ready to wear it. But in Aceh, its a must. Theres no big malls in Aceh, theres no cinema in there since its forbidden, and cannot congrats happy new year, happy valentine, happy birthday, merry christmas etc, but however not all of them really using that terms.
But obviously, theres no New Year Celebration there. The public area is close and secure by the guards during that day.

Even so, they said its okay for Non Moslem Ladies to not wear "hijab" or scarf to cover head and hair.  But we still have to wear appropriate clothes. Means long skirt, long pants and long shirt. But based on my observation, its better to wear Scarf as well. Just to cover the head at least. It would be much more convenient.

The public transportation re just the same with Jakarta. Can use "angkot"  a public car who hope on off, and a bus. But mostly people there using their own car.

The most famous thing in Aceh is their coffee. Its called "Sanger Coffee" and it was totally delicious!!!!! Omg, i love that coffee so muchhhhhh!!!
There re LOTS of coffee shops there and they re always crowded til 2 AM!!! Thats crazy!

How about foods?
There is "nasi gurih" a kind of Nasi Uduk, sea foods since its near to the ocean,
"aceh noodle" the noodle is big and thick, they served with the aceh spices, there re original taste, with prawn or crab;
"Aceh fried rice" is totally amazing, they served with seafoods ;
And dont forget the yummiest meal: " ayam tangkap" fried chicken that fried with the fried leafs.

And its totally funny that some of the shops only served two beverages, which re papaya and cucumber.

Marvelous Maldives

Hello Bello!!!!
Sorry it took a while for me to finally blogging and review my honeymoon trip. You know even writing is in my blood and one of my hobby, but you need a MOOD BOOSTER or just a mood to write. Lol.
In this case, i need 3 months for i write finally.

Well, honeymoon is a holiday phase when newly wedd couple re excited to through it after their wedding.

Honeymoon place are decided by the couple depends on their need and compassion.  For me and hubby island where it has a hot weather and highlands which has a cold weather re almost equally the same. We like traveling, so whether its a view or island we like it. Even we like view more to be honest. View and historical architecture. Well the reason why we took Maldives for our honeymoon was not only it has an amazing pearly water sea, its because we thought that the best time traveling to the island and enjoy the intimation and the sincerity of the island was only after the wedding. After that it would be boring because the sparkling wasnt too spark anymore. 😂 i mean, if cities like Japan or US, view like NZ or Swiss, cruise like Alaska.....we could go there even we already have kids and grandkids and it wouldnt be boring. Well, actually Maldives is the second option for us. Or for me. I really want go to Bora Bora since i was a kid for the honeymoon. Its far far away in Pasific Ocean and its too expenseive to go there so i and my hubby decide to to Maldives for the honeymoon.


Well..maldives is a moslem city. Part of the Srilanka. So make sure when you arrived at the city wear something appropriate and conservative. Most of the citizen there were wearing Hijab and there re lots visitor from the Mekkah, and Turkey too. Just make sure of that because its truly inconvenience when people look at you or even reprove you.

But when you arrived at the island feel free to wear someting provocative like bikini etc.
just make sure to bring the MUST tools to the beach like sunblock, glasses, hats, and more outwears.

And dont forget to bring the wedding certificate too! Just the hard copy .

There no VISA needed for Indonesian Citizen.

Going to Maldives was relatively easy. Firstly you can googling and browsing which island that you like. Or which resort that you like. Every resort have their own benefits and facilities.  like own pools etc.
i and Iv choose Holiday Inn Resort Kandooma . Just like the resort, view, and the beach.

You can book to the resort by yourself. Every resort have their own website. Its bed and breakfast basically. But you can get the Full Board ( three meals in a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner) with additional charge. And the sport activity too. You can sign up by travel agent or just sign up on the spot. Since David is my colleague in my past company and now built his own travel, so i decide to bought the package with him.
The bed and breakfast for sure.

We choose the Overwater Villa since its private and the view was breathtaking and more importantly its over water!!! Its not precisely in the middle of the sea, but still it just stunning.

The re many airlines to Maldives like Srilanka Air, SQ, Tiger. You can choose based on your needs, budget and flight time.

Well since the foods there re quite expensive so i decide to bring pasta, indomie (instant noodle), abon (dried beef shredded) etc so we dont have to eat at the restaurants every time.

There re many restaurants there. But our fav was the Fisherman Buffet where you can eat all the seafoods. All are fresh and yum! Super love it. We ate with the view and the serenity of the waves. So incredible, isnt it?

And the breakfast itself are so complete. International, surely. There re so much dish that you can choose and you can definitely eat breakfast like a king. So never missed your breakfast. 😆 i love breakfast time since i was a lil girl so i genuinely enjoy this so much.

There was pool too in Holiday Inn. And theres a gelato near the pool. Nice taste and quite cheap in Maldives since there was a promo buy one get two from 1-4 pm 😅

The service was awesome and satisfying!
Since we got picked up at the airport to the resort by the nice gorgeous boat. They gave us drink and the hot towel. Also, when we arrived they gave us the map, welcome drink and
a bit guide.
We just can do everything that we want to. The resort itself re sooooo beautuful and convenient. They have two air conditioners and they re cold. And the wifi was so amusingly fast!!!! Like one of the speediest internet that i have been used.

They served champagne and the handwriting congratulation note which was sweet even we knew that it couldnt be the real manager who write that. But still, it was great.

There was also the decoration. Soft petal and the leaf name.

They not just served the basic complimentary but also Hits for kill the mosquitos but we seen none so we never used that :p, the beach sandal, beach towels, floating rubber, the plates, forks, spoons, many kind of glass, even medicine and the Soffel. Lol. Even we could request for the mirowave. Greattt right?

And there re tv cable for sure at the living room, the sound system for listening the music fro our phone and charge it all by once. The alarm was multifunction. You can charge your phone while listening to your songs or the radio if u want.

The balcony was nice too!

You can bath indoor with the shower or bath tub while enjoy the view at outside and there was shower too outiside so u can took a shower directly after swimming.

It was so pleasant and theres no regret that u choose this resort for our honeymoon.

PALAWAN EL NIDO

Prodigious Philippines

Day one - arrived at Ninoy Aquino International Airport Manila.
Check in to the apartment, put the belonging, and enjoy
1. The breakfast at : TASTY DUMPLING, CHINATOWN.
Then start city tours to:
1. Manila Cathedral
2. Quapio Church
3. Lunch at : CHOWKING. Try the HALO HALO ICE CREAM.
4. Star City (p450) www.starcity.com
5. Dinner at Sentro (  Greenbelt 3, Makati)

Day two:
1. Breakfast at LUGANG CAFE (Glorietta, 2,GF, Makati)
2. San Agustin Church
3. Mall of Asia
4. Lunch at MANG INASAL ( 3rd floor, Hyundai Center. Ayala Avenue, Makati )
5. San Sebastian Church
6. Dinner at THE ARISTOCRAT (146 Jupiter St, Makati, Metro Manila)

Day Three:
1. Flight to Palawan Island, Puerto Princesa and continue by van for another 7 hours including stop for lunch and rest.
2. Arrived at cottage.
3. Dinner at ART CAFE

Day Four:
1. Breakfast at Cottage
2. City tour (tour A package) including:
Small Lagoon
Big Lagoon
Secret Lagoon
Simizu Island
Seven commandoes beach
Picnic lunch
Start from 09.00 to 16.00 (more or less)
2. Dinner at SEA SLUGS (seafood)

Day Five:
1. Breakfast at cottage
2. City Tour (tour C package)
Including:
Helicopter Island
Hidden Beach
Star Beach
Matinloc Shrine
Secret Beach
3. Back to Puerto Princesa (7 hours by road)
4. Check In Hotel

Day Six:
1. Breakfast at Hotel (WHITE FENCE)
2. Underground river
3. Buffet Lunch
4. Check Out Hotel
5. Flight to Manila
6. Supper at Italiani's (Glorietta)

Day Seven:
1. Breakfast at ALLY's ALL DAY BREAKFAST (Malingap St, Quezon City)
2. Greenbelt Mall
3. Brunch at MAPLE (Shangrila Plaza, Shaw Blvd, Mandaluyong)
4 Lunch at GLORIA MARIS (Missouri St, Greenhills, San Juan)!
5. Fort Santiago
6. Tea Time at L'Opera
7. Dinner at ABE Restaurant (Mega Mall)

Day Eight:
1. Visit Tagaytay City (highland) [1-2 hours from Manila]
2. Breakfast at BREAKFAST AT ANTONIO's (Tagaytay Ridge, Cavite City)
3. Sonya's Garden
4. Museo Orlina (glass house museum)
5. Lunch at GERALDINE's SODA FOUNTAIN
6. Puzzle Mansion (Cuadra Street, Brgy Asisan, 4120 Cavite)
7. Back to Manila
8. City of Dream
9. Supper at JOLLYBEE (everywhere)

Day Nine:
1. Breakfast at RUSTIC MORNINGS BY ISABELO (Isabelo Mendoza St, San Roque, Marikina)
2. Intramuros
3. SM CITY MANILA
4. Buy "oleh oleh " like LONGANISA (sosis babi mirip lapcong tapi kulitnya uda dikupas dan super enak, lembut dan ga terlalu manis), GOLDILOCKS (jual  berbagai macam kue) , POLVORON (yg terkenal rasa UBI), DRIED MANGO (yg terkenal merk CEBU)
5. Dinner at HARBOR VIEW RESTAURANT (1000 Katigbak Parkway, Rizal Park, Luzon)


Recommendation Accomodation:
1. Makati townhouse (include car and driver)
2. Best Western (3)
3. The Picasso Boutique (3.5)
4. Makati Shangri-La (5)


City Tours at Palawan Island, El Nido. Underground river + accomodation+ transfer + tour A + Tour C :
HARBOUR BAY TRAVEL AND TOURS
18 Fernandez Street
Mobile: + 63 9088 925 477

MANILA

Hii there! Its been a while. You know, to write anything you need a good mood to write. And i just have found that mood to write minutes ago. 😂😂
So, here we go. 
I never imagine myself to visit Philippines. I mean i love traveling and i will definitely visit all countries  including the most unattractive country like India or Ethiopia . But i love new things, new adventures. But the story why i visit Phil because Ivan (my bf) went there for work. So i, my family and his family decide to visit there at lebaran holiday. I have a little knowledge of Philippine. I just know Boracay , its a famous island like Bali and Cebu where you could swim with whale and shark! Very fascinating right? 
But after deliberation and some information from local friends of Iv's, finally we decide to visit Manila and Palawan Island. Instantly i and my brother start to googling and searching and heckk yeahhh it is definitely a worthed place to see! Its fab and have an amazing view. So we start to book our plane. Well at first we try to book Cebu but theres no meals so we decide to book Philippines Air. Just cents more expensive but have meals and much more comfy based on people's review. 3.4 mio/pax 
Dont ask for SQ, it far too expensive for us. Like 15 mio/pax. 

We tried some resraurants including Breakfast at Antonio's at Tagaytay. It has a really cozy ambience of Latin american. And i love all the uniform, place and foods!!! But the price isnt too friendly. 

Tagaytay is like a high place in Manila, in Jakarta its like puncak. 
Nice one. And not far from Manila. 

In Manila there are ride that called "Jeepney" its like Jeep but its like angkot version in indonesia. Haha. Jeepney actually is a derived version of jeep which US military used as utility during the war. 
It made by steel and its really like angkot because they are freely go anywhere they way in a bad way. 😂
But beside the famous jeepney, you could also try MRT or tricycle.

In Manila, we also went to the malls like Shangrila La Plaza Mall, SM MALL OF ASIA, SM MEGAMALL and GREENBELT in Makati ( place where we stay, just 5 mins from our apartment) And yeah its quite big like Jakarta but not too fancy like Plaza Indonesia or Grand Indonesia. But its worth to see and don't forget to buy the famous snacks Polvoron. 
There are many flavors, but the fav one is Ubi( sweet potato)

Like we all know most Philippines people are catholic and so do we. 
We enjoy ourselves by visiting church to church, and the church are huge and beautiful. They have a different rules compare to indonesian's catholic church. 
And yeah of course we went to Manila Cathedral. They have many schedule by the way since too many person go to church, so it wont be too crowded.
Also. San Agustin 
Nice church, seriously. 

If you like museum, you must go to Filipinas Heritage Library and Ayala Museum. But i didnt went there because there is no enough time :( 
Also you have to go to Intramuros its like an old city and has pretty garden and also has something like Maccu Piccu. And there are a lot of Plaza there like plaza de roma, plaza miranda etc and all are pretty. 

Nah, my fav topic. FOODS!! Lol
There are a lot good food there! 
There is Jollibee, most famous fast food in Manila and you could find it anywhere. Because Jollibee are everywhere!! Haha. Jollibee serve fried chicken etc. 
At CHOWKING, You can taste its famous ice cream called HALO and also there are much snacks like dumplings, spring rolls etc. 
and yeah dont miss GOLDILOCKS, they have all delicacies of those with a sweet tooth like Ensaymada, mamon (a spongy round cake) and surely savory Sariwa and the MOST FAMOUS LONGANISA (its like lapchong but WAAAAY MUCH MORE DELICIOUS!! ) beware: it content PORK 

And yeah enough about Manila, later i wil talk about El Nido. 
Still long way to go

Stupendous Japan

Hii there!!

Its been a while. or verrry long time. sorry for that. i was very busy on 2014 and i really dont have spare time to blogging. and now i have, because.. i just resign from my company and i make my own shop called @lacesandribbon on Instagram so please check this out just in case you like it. I sell vintage home decorations anyway. 
Okay, lets back to the main topic, shall we? ;)

In 2014 i visit Japan for three times.
Its kinda blur since its long time ago. But i will give many information's that i know.
What is the first thing that pop in your head when you heard about Japan? Sophisticated? Exactly.
Japan is so sophisticated country, when it comes to the tech.
Well, certainly its one of some reason why we have to visit Japan. Japan is well known of its sophistication nowadays, but beside that you will love many things about this country.


1. FOODS
 If you love foods, just like me.. you will love here, because all of my guests and my friends that been here always love their foods. If you cant eat something raw like sashimi or doesn't like sushi, don't worry. Because there are many foods that you could eat just like any Asian foods. Most Indonesian people like sets menu it consist of Tempura, udon etc, and also eggs, there are ramen too. and surely if you fans of the okonomiyaki or takoyaki. You will find them almost everywhere.
Here are the websites that you have to open when you visit Japan especially for culinary.

http://travel.cnn.com/tokyo/eat/40-tokyo-foods-we-cant-live-without-090648
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-foods-try-japan

Dont ask the price, in Japan most things are quite expensive including foods.
Dont think street food are cheaper. because sometimes foods at the mall or store are cheaper than street food. How to eat affordable foods? you could go to supermarket over there or just go find Yoshinoya. Trust me, its even cheaper than in Indonesia and the portions re bigger too.

2. SNACKS AND BEVERAGES
Well, i am snacks lover. Are you?
Every time i visit countries, either its for holiday or work i always try all the snacks that i could found. lols. and Japan is my fav country to find the snacks especially the cute ones. Its getting overwhelmed. There are hellokitty snacks, and you could find many character snacks, many kind of KitKat, not just greentea but also wassabi and also many kinds of Potato Chips and rice crackers. There are also POCKY, since GLICO is based on Japan so you could many kinds of Pocky here.
Well, these are the websites if you wanna look some snacks:
http://candysumo.com/japanese-snacks.php/

Anyway, you could find them anywhere. just go to the small of big market, you will find them. But i have told you something. Japan isn't like any other country who sell a same product all over the cities. Even in the same city like Tokyo for example, when you find another flavor of Pretz Takoyaki (just like when i found it) you hardly could get that same flavor again in another shop. So, when you find something that you want just grab it or you will regret it.
Well, one of my guest wanna bought a kind of snack that i forgot at Osaka and she think she will find again later at Tokyo or any other cities or at airport and it comes up that she get nothing. she kinda very gloom about that sop thats why i told this to you.
How about the drinks?
There are too many drinks there, beside the cute packaging absolutely. You could try the beverages, but its better if you buy them at the store not the vending machine. I know its kind of fascinating and cool buy from vending machine, but it also more expensive. but if you just wanna drink water, i suggest you to bring your own bottle like Tupperware or Lock&Lock which won't leak out, because water in Japan are drinkable. :)

3. TRANSPORTATION
Hmm... when you want go to Japan, you must be think all of the expense including the transport, right? Firstly are plane. If you want something convy and good meals you could took Singapore Airline (SQ) but you have to transit first at Changi for a few hours, but if you look for something fast and easy you could pick Garuda Indonesia or Japan Airlines because they will directly bring you from Indonesia to Japan. Well, GA and JAL also have good meals, i said that because im not a picky and greedy but mostly people said that SQ have a better meal, so i said that. If you want something affordable, you could find GA cheap price at GATF, mostly held at JCC. There are two bach a year, and there are many travel companies are in, including my former company, Panorama.
Well, when you already arrived at Japan you could use subway or just simply a bus that going to the city. The transport there are easy, even theres no 'ojek' or ' bajaj' or anything but you can find bus and subway are easy and convenient but for the first traveler i suggest you to took a subway and don't ever taxi if you have limited budget because it will ruin all of your itin. the taxis argo there are just beyond crazy.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e627.html
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/japan/transport/getting-around/local-transport

4. WHERE TO STAY
Japan have many offer to give you places to stay.
There are many kinds of hotel here, there re the luxury one, or just ordinary, or like LOVE HOTEL that you can rent just for two hours, and it just accept couple which is Male and Female, not gay or lesbian. They will display many kinds of costumes that you could try. there re soooo many, trust me. since Japan is famous with their comics, harajuku, lolita and anime. and yeah, even they have theme rooms and the bed could be up and down. 
Okay, if you wanna pick 3 or 4 stars hotel let me tell you this. Japan's hotel mostly are small, even its 4 stars hotel and the bathroom are really small.
And its hard to find the double room there (one king size bed), mostly are twin share bedroom (two single beds) and because i was a Tour Leader, they just gave me one single bed. urgh.
If you wanna pick somewhere free, just check www.couchsurfing.com 
If you wanna pick somewhere with many facility you could try at hostel or just wimdu.

5. TOURIST ATTRACTIONS
There are a lot of attractions in Japan. so it depends which area that you wanna go first. If you are beginner, i suggest you visit Honshu Island first, where you can go to Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kawaguchi, Mt Fuji, Kobe.
I won't tell all the objects since google is smarter than me. lol. But i could suggest you the link: 

http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/06/07/japans-30-best-travel-destinations-as-chosen-by-overseas-visitors/

what i could tell are: Tokyo basically is like a metropolitan city just like Jakarta or Shanghai, but way moreeee sophisticated. you will love the tech and the toilet. as you can see, you also can buy almost everything there. from A to Z, and if you are a freak gamer or cosplayer...congratulation there are tons of game store over there until you have to push yourself to focus what games that you really like. There are Shinjuku, Ginza, etc. If you like branded things, you should go to Ginza. If you like macarons cafe like Ladure, you should go there too, moreover ONLY Ladure Japan who sell make up, and the make ups are way too cute, seriously. the price? you can guess. ;)
so you can hunt games, foods, and shop like crazy in Tokyo.

How about Kyoto?
Kyoto is a nice traditional city where you can find many historical buildings and temples. If you wanna take a prewed shoot or just wanna have a traditional photograph of you while in Japan, you could take photo shoot there while wear Kimono or Yukata, there re rent shop there. And, the mochi are super soft and yummy. i remember that its hard to stop myself eating those mochi. lol. too yum. there re also ice cream, like peach..sakura,green tea, etc.

Kawaguchi...
there re lots of people said that Kawaguchi is creepily because its a place where many people had suicide. like we all know the pressure in Japan are so high so many people were having suicide by mostly hanging themselves. but there re also people who had suicide by jump from high building or crash themselves into train. well, its creepy. First i went there and stay at the resort,  i couldnt sleep. its hard to sleep since i read and listen to those horror stories, but you know what..nothing there. haha. just pray and enjoy the WiFi and environment. lol.

well, you can also visit Sanrio land..its like Dufan or another disneyland but there re hellokitty, cinnamonroll, my melody and their friends. so cute!
also, you can visit Fujiko F Fujio alias Doraemon museum there, and also museum ramen~! haha
and yeah if you are hellokitty fans you must be love staying there and hunting all about hellokitty stuff. lalalalaaaaaa....~~~~




Nah, after you visit Honshu island (i suggest you to visit on end of March or early or April. its spring time and its really beautiful. )you can try to visit Shikoku or Kyushu like Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Fukuoka etc. of course, there re lots of objects over there! and last but not least, you have to go to HOKKAIDO. its wonderful!!! i went there in 2014's winter and it was so damned good!!

i love the foods (maybe because i love seafood) and i love the cities. it so beautifull!!! there are Otaru (my fav city, it so magical. the re music box museum and also there lots of cheesecakes and chocolate), Noboribetsu (where you can see the geisha, samurai show), Furano (its also pretty in summer where you could see the lavender everywhere and experience lavender ice cream as well!!), lake Toya, Onuma Park and Jozankei. very nice!!

here are the links: 
http://www.japan-guide.com/list/e1101.html


6. CULTURE

Here are the links:
http://www.gojapango.com/culture/culture.html

anyway, japan is well known for its hygiene, you almost never saw any trash there. well.. thats true.. so what things that make Japan is different from Singapore? Singaporean are clean because of the rules, their government..but for Japan the people themselves are clean, they always take care of hygiene..moreover if they go to toilet, they will clean the seat for the next person who come in. so generous right? Even if they are having flu, they will wearing mask. its not like in Indonesia where some people are not bother to cough in a public area without cover with their hands and cover their faces with mask. 

for dinner time, they most unimportant person are sit closer to the door, and they will let the eldest to take the foods first.

for the lovebirds..they are so independent. the boys never pick up the girls, they just meet up somewhere and they buy the movie tickets and popcorn together with their own money. the boys didnt pay the bills. 
but after they got married, the wife who will took care all of the husband's money and just give a small amount of money. 

Startling Singapore Trip With My Besties :*

Hi there! :)
I wanna share some stories when i had a trip at singapore with my besties.
So, one of my besties (Cecilia Niek) that we call Niq wanna join her husband on Feb 2014 to Pennsylvania, United Stated, 3 hours from NYC and veryyyy far from here. So she ask us to have vacation together before she left. We re excited, because we never have a vacation together, moreover to outside the country. So we began to discuss when we will be going, and after we agreed Niq ask Wenny her in law to book our ticket by tiger air. They had promotion price before. But, plus plus re become 800k idr per pax. lols. Its fine because we added baggage etc. we are girls, so its high possibility to us to shop. 
WE gathered 3 or 4 times before we go, talk and discuss about the itinerary. Iv and Kiky (my brother) recommend many places before we go. Iv gave me the complete itin when he had vacation with his family. Very complete, including the address, the directions, the good places to eat, etc. And ki informed us to watch the show. Garden by the bay show and Marina Bay Sands Show, also Song of The Sea.
its really informative.
well, i just bought 100 SGD from my bro because he still hv it, and i bought 200 USD, just in case.

Before we go, we have problems. unexpected problems.
what are they?
First, Devia Buniarto (Depoy) had her master degree thesis trial schedule on 13th of Jan. So pity. So she couldn't go because of that. Its pity for her and for us. Because she must be want to spent her quality time with her besty befire she go and nervous about her final, and lost her flight money, also we lose one of us. :(

Second, Jess as always have some troubles because her panic. But, not a real trouble actually. She said that she lost her new passport, she just have the old one, but finally she found it. errr..

Third, me. Well, its really silly and ridiculous thing that ever happened to me. I forgot to extended my passport period. Uhhh, how stupid! So, like we know when we visit outside the country, our passport period at least have 6 months before expired, and mine..less then 6 months. so, its expired at 11 june 2014, so the last date i could use that passport is 11th Dec 2013, and i went to Singapore on 11th Jan. Very silly.
Actually, i want to extended my passport period after i back from Hongkong on Oct, but because i have some troubles in office (and because i didnt achieve the dec target and also because i want to spent my quality time with, so i stop selling) so i wait til i got assignment then i will extended. But seriously, i was so forgot that i havent extended the passport and i really forgot that singapore is outside the country and the lagacy is needed. urghhh.. i just knew the day before we go, because of my bro asked about my passp. 
So, i asked my colleague..Paula and she said if i just wanna visit southeast asia, it would be fine have have under 6 months period, and ways to convinced myself it would be fine..i search on forum about that, Iv search too. And that forum really help me. Thankyou mr google and friends. 
I found on that forum that there re some people who forgot, or they even dunno that they couldnt travelling if they only have 4-5 months left til their pp expired, and some of them lucky enough to passed, and several of them have to pay more. So, some of them who passed said that when they baggage check in they got asked why they didnt they extended their pp, and finally the airline staff ask them to sign the form that the airlines team didnt invlolved and responsible if the passengers have soe troubles there or get deported. And when in sing, no problem at all. And theres one who didnt passed, was because they bought airticket from airasia, and airasia strictky prohibit people to travelling even they just missed several days, for example 6 months - 3 days. the pax told us that he argued to te airline staff and the manager, but still cant travelling, so he have to bought another airticket from Garuda who allow him to fly; but he spent much money because of that. I still feel nervousm because theres no one mention tiger and quite glad because the one who didnt passed was bought airasia instead of tiger. And hopefully i can passed tomorrow morning (i said so with myself on 10th Jan 22.30)

Fourth, Ana get sick. She feel cold and everything and feel not well. :(

Finall, after all the troubles we could go to Singapore, and Iv take us there. Its weekend and coincidentally he was available, and appreciate because he wanna take us to the airport.
Ana looks so unwell, so weak and her stomach hurt and she feel wanna throw up etc, i feel so bad because of it and hope she will recover soon.

Arrived at airport, i was so nervous, but my besties and Iv always comfort me and told me that it would be fine. :) Soon after the check in counter was open, we queued..we re the first passengers who come which is great..we gave all of the passports, and thanks God, the staff didnt say anything about my pp and he just gave the boarding pass just like that. Fiuh.... He even dont ask me to sign any form.

Now, we must queued at immigration and make me even more nervous than before. Iv accompany me, i pray to God and convinced me that it would be fine. :) 
But i cant ease all the jittery and anxiousness. >.<
After i arrived at the front, the immigration staff start to introgate me how many nights i will spent there and why i didnt extented my pp period. I told him that i dunno that i have to extend it and it won't valid if less than 6 months. After i explained that, praise the Lord he release me and remind me to dont forget to extend my pp after i arrived Jakarta. Fiuhh..

So after a quite sweet goodbye with Iv, i and my besties left.
We ate breakfast and force Ana to eat something because she looked so pale.
I feel so so relieved. :)

Flight to singapore :)


Arrived at Singapore.

We spent much of our time at Changi, seriously. After we touch down, we re look around..take pictures, shopping, or just window shopping. Jess is the most excited for shopping among all and there re many things that interesting there, i must admitted. After that, we mush through changi immigration, still a bit nervous and fortunately i can pass through.
We took our baggage and we seek things to eat, and we found thai food, got wifi but with low signal so its a kind of useless, order food , 6 sgd each. Then we bought Garden by the bay ticket, 22 Sgd each, for the entry for Flower Dome and Cloud of Forest. My bro said that if you wanna enter Garden by the bay, its totally free..even theres no admission counter that. But in fact, if we want to come in (by the web) you have to pay for that and after we arrived at changi, the adm people also said so, so finally we bough the tickets because its cheaper than we bought there.
So we took MRT to Orchard, not so long. It just 3 SGD actually. You can bought at the counter or just at the ticket machine, its all in english and chinese, so dont have to worry about that. Just choose your destination etc and you got the ticket. Thats it.

But my recommendation is you buy the tourist card, so you just have to pay cheaper that it supposed, like 26 SGD for 2 days and 34 SGD for 3 days but you can use the card for bus and subway unlimited for 3 days, its much worth right? very nice. 

We dunno about that at first day we arrived there, and jess just told us to bought the regular ticket, so be it. Jess herself have the different card. Its like all in card where you can use that card for pay bus, MRT, taxi, phone-credit cellular, Sevel, etc. just like when i was in seoul. Very useful.
 
After we arrived at Orchard, we took taxi to our hotel, that not much far from there. Our Hotel is near Shangrila Hotel, is a 4 stars hotel at orange road which have the so-so environment. The room itself quite nice and big, we order twin share room that consist 2 queen size bed, very big room. Its really not suitable for honeymooners.

well, we have long queued for the taxi anyway, and we spent like 9 sgd for 10 minutes. so expensive!

After we got taxi and arrived at the hotel, we get ready and get rest for a while. Ana decide to stay at hotel because she felt unwell. And we go to china town by bus. We follow the direction fom the receptionist there, across the bridge and seek the bus who got to there. very easy, you can find the board include the destination and the price. So, after 10 minutes we arrived there. China Town was sooo crowded at that time, like very sultry. Like people everywhere, and we must walk to the opposite direction. Its because nearly chinese new year, so many people visit there to buy things and perhaps to celebrate, because usually there re entertainment in china town at that time, and yes there is fireworks there. very rousing. We even cant see what the people sell , like we found so many alley but we cant see the products because too many people, and its make us dizzy. Moreover, jess the hectic girl walk so quick and forgot where the hainam rest is while niq is starving, so we like have a tension there but finally we found the rest near there and we decide to eat there, where not too crowded. Prices on the menu are really unreasonable. They just bought fried rice, one with prawn and another with pork, it cost 12 sgd each include tax, and mine is 10 sgd nett for th wonton soup. oh my! I really dont got why singapore could be so expense these days???
I knew that i have been 16 years never visit singapore, but its really unexpected. Like, super.
After we ate, we take pictures in nice spot and decide to just walk to clarke quay. Clarke Quay is a nice place, there re many restaurants and cafes beside the small river and the environment is nice, You can find many bar and pub too, with the foreigners. We walk around, take pictures, anjoy the night environment and theres a guy who ask us if we want go to the club? Its free, but we deny it and he didnt insist us. how gentle. ;) well, after that we take taxi to hotel , because we took at night its more expensive than usual.

Back to hotel, take bath and line with Iv...
he fall asleep..


Day Two
Well, so we planned already yesterday night that today we will go to sentosa island while wait vivo open, and we agreed even Jess not excited go there. She hv been to Singapore like million times :p , so no wonder she dont have any enthusiastic.Actually i have been to Sentosa in 1997, but bro recently just been there and he said that theres 'song of the sea' show which is great to see. But plan just plan, it isnt going well. You know girls right? It start when Niq's alarm ring at the wrong time, she forgot to change her date and time, and no one of us who activate the alarm, we trust her. So, its not her fault, literally.its our fault too to not being aware. But after that, i and Ana soon have breakfast, a bit quick because we have to catch the time, but then when we re back they havent ready yet, as i and ana expected. so we wait them to apply the make up and get ready, it need much time, and i kinda hopeless at that time, it isnt possible go to sentosa. so, i gave up and just wait them get ready, and remind them every 5 minutes to get ready. While they re prepare, i make the hair do for ana and the girls like it so they queued to get hair do. lols.
After that, we catch the bus to orchard, and from there by MRT we go to Vivo.. Before that we bought the traveller tickets that cheaper than the basic one.And its really good you know, since Niq and Ana get stuck and they have to exit first and enter again ( i help then to tip tap the card to the exit machine) imagine that we just buy the basic, and they have to pay another 3 SGD for nothing. But we already paid 16 SGD for 2 days and we can go by bus or MRT unlimited. hahaha.
Well, in singapore nowadays or by far that i seen its really rare to find the singaporean, i just found indian who are everywhere, indonesian, malaysian (with hijab) and philipinos with tanned skin and sexy suits. AFter we arrived to vivo, we visit the candy shop that Jess recommend and yeah its the heaven for me, chocolate, candy, snacks everywhere but we decide to but later because when we re back home we will through this place too. So Niq decide to get the money from the ATM like i suggested, she hesitate at first, than i convinced that it will be okay. I knew from experience and i tried many times before, you just have to match the logo. Like visa, mastercard or maestro. If the logo is match, you can get the money with the local currency of course. :)
Niq did it and she very happy and i change my money to money changer because i want to bought foods, souvenirs etc. hehe..
After that we find the food court and eat some traditional foods like laksa etc, its much cheaper than in China Town. We talk awalk, look around, window shopping, try the snacks there, very interesting.
After that we go to giant, i recommend yummy goodness to them and we bought some snacks,i bought chocolate and marshmallow! :D and its much cheaper than in the candy shop. Then, we decide go to Bugis.. at Bugis we found yeah china things..just like in Beijing, cheap and interesting. After walk around, we decide to eat dinner at McD. Find something cheap, and after that we go to Garden bY the Bay.
Nah, theres none of us whos been there so its kinda confusing to find the show place.Its free anyway. 
After we asked several people and walk and walk and start to giving up, suddenly the show is start and we take a seat and enjoy it. The show is worth to see, very stunning, riveting and baffle. Very worth to see, the light is just fabulous! Garden by the bay is very wide so its not eady to find the places, but then finally we find Flower dome but the staff there told us that we have to exit by 9 pm and come back tomorrow to look the cloud forest. So, we decided to go there and by 08.40 we exit and we want to enter the cloud forest, its closed. And we re very suprised when we look the information, that they closed tomorrow..we beg the staff to come in and they said we couldnt and we could come back the day after tomorrow which the time we back home :( :( we re very upset, but jess is the most. well, at least we could see from the outside. lols.
and we already find ourselves enjoy the flower dome. flower dome is fantastic and beautiful, you can see many kind of plans there and flowers. Its better if you go when theres still the sunlight. it will even prettier, i bet. very nice. :) 
and in fact, you must use the flower dome and cloud forest tickets at the same day, you cant use for another day, so even tomorrow is open we still cant go there. very dumb. WE must been there earlier.
But theres nothing to regret, its happened alerady and i imagine that cloud forest's inside just so-so, just to comfort myself :)

After that, we take rest and chict chat. Many things that make me upset, like waiting and wasting times, but i realized that we go here, i go here is for Niq's farewell and the most important for all of these re we enjoy our time together, not the destination but the quality time and it makes me better, because i didnt realize even we miss things but we re stick together, we re having a good quality time together. :)

Back to the hotel, having a great conversation and my parents call me via line, very nice. :)
time to sleep..