Pesona Old Town Chania yang Bikin Betah

Memasuki bandara Daskalogiannis di prefektur Chania, mulai terasa kekontrasannya dengan kota Athena yang baru saja saya dan Diyan tinggalkan. Suasana bandara kecil ini jauh lebih santai, fasilitas ekstra pun hampir tak tersedia, seperti kafe, apalagi kursi pijat. Saya harus melupakan rasa lapar yang mulai mengganggu dan bergegas ke halte bus. Setengah jam kemudian barulah bus kami tiba, bus yang akan membawa kami ke kota Chania, kota kedua terbesar di Pulau Kreta yang menyimpan banyak sejarah dan atraksi. 

Setelah melewati jalan yang berliku dengan pemandangan hutan asri, tiba kami di terminal bus tengah kota Chania. Jauh lebih kecil daripada Kampung Rambutan di Jakarta, jauh lebih bersih dan teratur walaupun sama sibuknya. Wisatawan dengan berbagai bahasa turun dan naik bus, menggendong ransel dan menarik koper mereka. Diyan menyalakan ponsel dan menyambungkannya dengan WiFi gratis dari terminal, demi melihat peta untuk menuju penginapan. Oh ya, cara baca Chania adalah: kha-nya.

Harmoni Manis Pahit Kota Athena

- Odeon Herodes Atticus dan pemandangan kota Athena -

Kadang tak perlu banyak alasan bagi saya untuk melakukan suatu perjalanan besar, cukup sedikit rasa penasaran dan video konser yang memikat dari 21 tahun yang lalu. Adalah Yanni, musisi dan komposer asal Yunani, yang bertanggung jawab atas konser megah itu dan membuat saya penasaran dengan situs Akropolis di kota Athena. Maka ketika bulan Mei lalu saya melihat langsung amfiteater tempat konser itu diadakan, alunan lagu “Santorini” bermain di kepala saya. Duh, ingin sekali menikmati musik melodius itu dimainkan tepat di amfiteater Odeon Herodes Atticus ini, walaupun mungkin saya akan menonton sambil menangis karena terharu.

Namun ketika membaca berita tentang aksi sosial di Athena beberapa hari yang lalu, bukan rasa haru yang saya rasakan, melainkan sedih.

Singapore Tourist Pass (STP) Memudahkan Perjalanan di Singapura!

STP bukan Stone Temple Pilots.

Beberapa kali saya ke Singapura, biasanya menggunakan EZ Link untuk commuter biasa, atau beli tiket MRT (dan kadang-kadang bus) satuan. Kali ini, saya baru tahu ada yang namanya STP (Singapore Tourist Pass), berkat Diyan yang rajin browsing. Setelah kami lihat-lihat tarif dan ketentuan pemakaiannya, sepertinya menguntungkan. Dan ternyata, STP ini keluaran EZ Link yang memang dikhususkan untuk turis. Buktinya, kalau kamu ke website EZ Link bagian tourist, akan muncul juga halaman STP. Nah, cocok!

Kartu STP ada dua macam: 

• The Singapore Tourist Pass (STP) 
• The Singapore Tourist Pass Pluss (STP+)

STP (Singapore Tourist Pass)

STP cuma bisa digunakan untuk membayar tarif kereta (MRT dan LRT) dan bus. Tarif STP termasuk biaya deposit kartu sebesar S$10, yang nantinya bisa kamu ambil kembali saat mengembalikan kartu, selama masih dalam jangka waktu yang ditentukan.

Overwhelmed in Neko no Niwa, a Cat Café in Singapore

Meet Little Miss Muffet

It was hard for me to choose which cat café in Singapore I should choose. I would go to all of them (I found about 5 when browsing) but it would take too much time and budget. So I chose Neko no Niwa on Boat Quay because it was the most convenient to our route that day. Kitties, mommy’s coming!

Free Activities in Indonesia: To the Parks!

A loose top and a legging is a comfy combination for a park time. 

When you’re on a long trip, sometimes you just need to look for activities that don’t require spending money. Yeah, been there done that, even for shorter trips. Even if Indonesia in general is cheaper than your country, I bet it’s relieving for you to find some free activities in Indonesia. Am I right or am I right?

The first thing that comes to my mind when asked, “What are the free activities in Indonesia that you’d recommend a traveler?” would be, “Go to the parks!” Parks (or “taman” in Indonesian) are obviously free – I’m not talking about amusement parks, but you can still be amused with the various activities you can do in the parks.

5 Ways To Enjoy Jakarta, Indonesia

To tell you the truth, I used to be a Jakarta hater. Having lived in (then) much cooler Bandung and (then) traffic-free Bandar Lampung, Jakarta felt like hell with all the traffic jam, long distances, heat, humidity, and high expenses. But Jakarta has a lot more options of job that I was looking for as soon as I finished college, so I chose to stay. 12 years later, I’m still here. I still can’t say that I love this metropollutant city, but I hate it much less and I can enjoy Jakarta a lot more now. And it’s not without effort.

If you are a Jakarta hater, or still trying to see the goodness of this 487 year-old city, let’s have a tour with me. A slow paced tour to enjoy Jakarta’s often overlooked spots that actually fostered my appreciation toward the city little by little.

So here are my ways to enjoy Jakarta:

Enjoy Jakarta at the park with husband's unisex Dork backpack*. 

Authentic Experiences WithLocals

I was clicking through iPhoto to find some pictures for my latest blog post, when I stumbled upon my Hanoi Trip album. The trip happened almost a year ago, but I still remember the fun that Mumun, Vindhya, Acul and I had! I’m not just talking about shopping at the night market *cough* or the Halong Bay cruise, but also our dinner in the Old Quarter, local style.

Mien, Vindhya, Mumun, Acul, among the locals.

We met up with Mien, a Hanoian travel blogger that we knew from Malaysia, at the hostel we were staying in at Old Quarter. As tourists who wanted to have some local experiences, we asked her to decide on where to have dinner.

The Start of All Girls Adventure in Laos: Vientiane

Vientiane, Laos' capital city, was our real first stop in the trip traveled in April 2012. 

This is a post about my trip to Laos and Thailand. It happened almost a year ago but only now that I have enough time (and dedication) to write about it. So happy just to start it :D

This was one of my favorite trips because, well, I love Indochine in general, and I experienced so many kinds of things in this trip, from the laid back and heartwarming to the eye-opening and yet not so sober. Hahaha.. here we go..!

Singapore Is Not All About Orchard Road

July, 2012

Finally, a little time to steal for updating this blog :D
Now did you think I hated Orchard Road so much? Not at all. We actually had a quick visit there to buy some books and things my sister wanted me to get. But what I want to write now is about our activities other than that and the Andy Warhol exhibition which I've written in the previous post. So here we go!

CHANGI AIRPORT

We heard that Changi airport provides many free things for travelers, not only for the ones transitting between flights. So we decided to take the last flight on Friday night, spend the first night at Changi airport to save some accommodation budget plus we wanted to try the freebies! Yaayy, who doesn’t like freebies?

Andy Warhol Exhibition: 15 Minutes Eternal, Singapore

Several times I’ve visited Singapore and I started to think it’s only good for shopping and that’s becoming less and less interesting to me. A few months ago I found out about Andy Warhol 15 Minutes Eternal, an exhibition of the late Pop Art icon, being held in Marina Bay Sands (MBS), Singapore, from March until middle of August, 2012. After a long (budget) consideration I finally decided to go! Talked Diyan into going with me and booked the plane tickets. Woohoo!

Penang, Malaysia. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun..!

Traveled in November, 2011

It’s crazy how work (and play) has taken up so much of my time, I finally found time to write about my trip to Penang! *fist pump*

So. I had been to Georgetown, the capital of Penang, a few years back. I didn’t have enough time to explore it, so when Cici and Vindhya informed me there was a promo on Air Asia for return flights between Jakarta and Penang, I didn’t think much further. I was in! And we dragged Renny to it as well :D

MARY GRACE IN MANILA, A TOTAL GEM!

Finally…  a post on my last day in the Philippines! And this was traveled months ago! Hahahaha.. sorry, I got busy with work and traveling, but there's no way I'm skipping a post on Mary Grace in Manila, now my favorite cafe!

View from the airport

However, we didn’t do much on our last day in Manila. Bu Susan and Pak Jonjo picked us up at the airport and took us to this elite area called Serendra, consisted of apartment buildings, offices, and shopping mall. Main agenda was to munch on – again – ensaymada at the Mary Grace café! Being a true Manila savvy (Manilaist? Manila-er? Manilan? …) that she is, Bu Susan showed us another branch of this lovely café.

Shopping in Singapore, A Challenge Breaker

I know, I still owe myself a writing about Batanes, Philippines. But this weekend trip in Singapore just last weekend was also so fun and while I have a teeny tiny time to blog about it, then I am :D

Here's a collage of simply what I saw during the stay.

Intramuros and Makati City, The Philippines

DAY 2 – Manila (Sofitel, Intramuros), Makati City (Green Belt)

Breakfast…

Sofitel Plaza in Manila is said to be the best in the city. It’s a 4 (or was it 5?) star hotel, and I was so lucky to get a very great deal from a friend, super super cheap. I’ll keep the ‘how’ as a mystery though, teeheehee.

Breakfast was lavish with yummy-looking food! The Filipinos are big on pork, leaving me less to choose from (trying to stick with the ‘rules’, here). The chicken longanisa, which translates to chicken sausage, is delish as Bu Susan had told me before. It’s sweeter than the usual sausages I’ve ever tasted, so even though it’s good I can’t eat as much as I can with the usual sausages. (I’m big on sausage, by the way.. Sausages FTW!!!)

Mall of Asia and Sofitel in Manila, May 2011

It started from an online conversation between me and Bu Susan, my Filipino ex-boss who now lives in Manila, about visiting her there and island hopping on Philippines’ many islands. One of the many was the Batanes province, at the very north of Philippines. I googled it up, and swore to God I had to go there before I die!

And so I went :D

But lemme blabber about the time I had in Manila first.

Maybe I’ll do the story chronologically, day by day? Here it goes…

Something I Should've Done in My Teen Years Or Early 20's

Blindfold Trip Around Solo, Central Java

I’m back from Solo, Central Java, people! Woohoow! It was only a 3N2D trip in the weekend, but it was one helluva trip! Why? Because it was the first time I (and my travelmate, Vindhya) decided the destination right in the train station! So, this is how it started, summarized in an imaginary dialogue based on the true fact.

Vindhya : I want to take a trip by train.

Me: Where to?

V : I don’t know.

Me: Ok, let’s just decide in the train station. We point a finger, with eyes closed, to a Java map. And whatever is pointed, then that’s where we go.

V : Yeah, let’s do that!

Me : Ok, let’s limit our budget to IDR 300,000 / pax.

V : That’s too little! Make it 500,000.

Me : Really? Okay then. Who else is coming along?

HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM

HO CHI MINH, THE CITY
16 - 18 Oct, 2009

At 7 a.m we were picked up by a private car courtesy of the Hue Holiday Hotel to Hue’s airport.
Before noon we arrived at Noi Bahn international airport, Ho Chi Minh City, at the domestic arrival terminal.

HUES IN HUE, VIETNAM

HUE IN A LITTLE LESS THAN 24 HOURS

Oct 15, 2009

Before I go into details on this pleasant transit between Hanoi and HCMC, let me just tell you that Hue is a very nice city to have a peaceful vacation, which then made me wish that we would’ve stayed there a little longer. I liked the windy air, much like Hanoi, I liked the vacant streets that it was safe to cross, and the laid-back atmosphere. Well, sometimes I do enjoy the hustle and bustle of bigger cities, but now and then a quiet ambience is just what we need to have a sense of balance.

Alright, enough of Socrates talk, let me introduce you a little bit more to Hue.

PLACES IN HANOI AND THE PUBLIC TOILET...

GOING PLACES IN HANOI... 

Hanoi, still in Oct 12 – 14, 2009

Flag pole in front of Ho Chi Minh mausoleum

We didn’t have much else to do in our Hanoi agenda. The great thing about it is that we could just roam about, practice our street-crossing skill, and unexpectedly popped up in areas with interesting shops and just things to see.

OUR HANOI CITY TOUR

Our own Hanoi City Tour was still in Oct 12 – 14, 2009

In exploring the city, we didn’t hire any one to guide us. The internet was already a big help, telling us what to see and where to go. The only maps we had were the ones that we got for free at the airport upon our arrival. Jakarta is way behind when it comes to free maps.

Hoan Kim Lake

This is what always came up whenever we browsed for Hanoi information. It’s a vast lake in the middle of the city, located in the Old Quarter district. Life happens around the lake. And it’s only, like, 10 minutes walk from our stay.