Food and Factory Outlet Hunting Day

Last Saturday I went out of town to Bogor for Food Hunting and
shopping spree with two friends, one of whom is actually a denizen of Bogor but only stays there during weekends because of the work is in Jakarta. These two friends like to eat out at restaurant new to them.

Bogor is an hour's reach by car from Jakarta and it is known as the city of rain because the rainfall is relatively heavy there. Bogor's temperature used to be much cooler than Jakarta's, but don't expect that in current weird world weather, you'll be disappointed. Btw, if you haven't been to Bogor, then visiting Bogor Botanical Garden is A must!! It has a great collection of very big trees, various plants, and better quality of air.

We're lucky there's no rain during our visit there, though it did have rain earlier in the morning as reported by my friend's Mom.  Seems we had the mojo to stop the rain  :-D
We first visited Venus Bakery which is famous for its mini buns called Roti Unyil, then we hop to a nearby shop for Asinan Bogor (salted fruits or vegetables). Finish from there, we stuffed our stomach at Gurih 7, a Sundanese restaurant with open spaces in nature concept. The foods there are ordinary but not disappointing.

photos by:alo7

As our stomachs were tamed and our energy recharged, we went for thrifty shopping spree at Factory Outlets :)) ...but we didn't really succeed and only got one stuff for each of us from three FOs that we visited.

Went again for food hunting, and the next stop was Macaroni Panggang -roasted macaroni, where we ordered for a take away, a medium size of special  Macaroni Panggang cut into half -paid additional charge IDR 3K for cutting it; one half for me and the other for C...we're being thrifty of carbo intake :-P. The special one is the one with additional mushroom other than slices of beef. This Macaroni Panggang seems to have become one of Bogor's prides recently, and its taste does satisfy the taste buds. Hope one day I'll be able to find its original recipe, like last time I got an Original Tiramisu Recipe from my Italian teacher.

Out of MP, we went hunting at two other FOs again, and again got each of us just one stuff. Since it's almost 5pm, we took off for a street hawker seafood stall which receives a good review on one of our national newspapers -Kompas. G said the stall opens at 5pm. We ordered "Crabs in Padang Dressing", "Fried Crabs with chilli" and "Steamed Blood Cockles", and half portion of steamed rice for each of us. As we're about to finish from there, the stall was starting to be overpopulated with its visitors. I didn't find anything special about the cooking there, and I was a bit disappointed and now I have a doubt if that is really the one mentioned by Kompas.

Going to Vietnam?

Recently when I and a friend were at a bookstore, she spent most of the time in the travel books section. She's a travel freak and she seems to know the tips on how to travel within budget. Like for instance, hunting for special flight rates, so she sometimes has already booked some flights in advanced. If I'm not wrong, Vietnam is amongst her fix travel plans, and it will not be the first visit for her, but I think the third (?) visit. So, I knew when I found out about Vietnam Super sale, this sure is gonna be on her menu :)

By the way, I'm not talking about clothes and bags shopping spree sale time here, but this sale is set by Accor hospitality!! Yes, so for the travel freak like her, this will be a great deal, cause Novotel, Grand Mercure and Mercure are well-known hotel brands. However, I'm curious why she always wants to visit Vietnam? I knew that she met her recent boy friend while they both were travelling in Vietnam years ago, so is it for the sake of her private beautiful memory or is Vietnam indeed worth visited repeatedly? Good idea, I will ask her when I meet her this Saturday :) Oh no, I should contact her quickly because that Vietnam Hotel Super sale offer is only running for 7 days, ie. 7- July 13, 2009 and that's for the stays from July 17 till September 30, 2009.

In the meantime, I can only find out from the internet about the beauties that one can find in Vietnam. I am now curious about Ha Long Bay, which is apparently a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where 3,000 limestone islands scattering on the South China Sea, creating a strange, eerie but very beautiful scene. I wonder the feeling that will overwhelm when sailing through those islands. I also read, those islands comprises bizarre cave formation and grottoes. Cool!!

Accor Hotels City Super Sale

One of my buddies is very excited about her holiday plan next month, because she is going to enjoy her days for half a month in Europe. She has meticulously picked the tour package by checking its destination, itinerary, price and also accommodation. She's very happy to find out that her tour travel says that most of the time the company chooses branded hotels like Novotel or at least Ibis, those of Accor Hotels. I remember sometimes ago when I stayed at the Novotel in Bogor city, I loved to come to its Bale Bengong -or in English it can be described as a place for doing nothing- which is located on a huge tree. So I agree with her choice, with that kind of hotel choices that tour packaged sounds promising.

How about you? Do you go this holiday season by joining a tour package, or loosely? Whatever choice you make, don't forget to search for your hotels. Like my friend, I also play carefully when choosing hotel. We need to have a good sleep too to restore the energy, right?

Now this is a great news for you who are coming to Asia Pacific -that of course includes my beloved Indonesia, there's a great bargain rates from Accor Hotels City Super Sale. The bargain rates would even become more exciting if you book online between 23 - 29 June for stays between July 10 and September 30, 2009, because then you will be able to save up to 60%!!

Go check it out now, and book this limited time offers for your vacation in Bangkok, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Hanoi, Manila, Mumbai, Sydney and Auckland. Don't forget Bogor too, if you want to see my favourite Balai Bengong ;). Yes, Bogor is included amongst 27 cities in that offer.

Visiting Volcano with Socks in Crocs

Some days ago on my entrecard-hopping I came across Lilly's post which is asking about what is the worst fashion trend. I giggled as I read 2 things that she points out: wearing sandals with socks, and crocs.

Well, I just combined the two of them when I recently visited a volcano, Rakata, the Son of Krakatau.
I wore crocs sandals with socks. I know some crocs have silly design, but mine are the non-silly ones :-D

I decided to wear them for a practical reason only, because the volcano is located on an island and I reached the island by boat. There's no dock there, so visitors have to jump into the water. That's why wearing sandals is more convenient than wearing sneakers or mountain shoes. Besides in my opinion, regardless their designs crocs are light and comfortable to wear.

The island itself, except a little part of its beach, is mostly covered by particles from the active volcano -the volcano was "coughing" many times when we're there. There's almost no tree on the volcano, that's why the particles from the volcano that lay thickly on the ground become very hot when the sun is up, and in August the weather is usually very hot. My feet would cry if I didn't protect them with socks :-)) That's why I put on the socks.

Notice that my crocs have their back straps? I took the straps from my other flip-flop. It's my anticipation, so my sandals would stay attached on my feet as I walked on the loose surface, and to make my walk easier. I found out later, it's not as easy as I thought!!

At least I caught two girls were starring my crocs, I thought either they think my mutant crocs look maladroit or they're admiring them. It turned out to be the later, as they later told me "your sandals are uber cool." :-D

Dog is a god?

dog house with carport?
Unquestionably according to Hollywood, All dogs go to Heaven, but for sure as much as I love this benevolent creature, dog is not a God with a capital letter.

Dog is a god is only a name of dog's houses design made by an Italian designer, Marco Morosini. I learned about him after my friend Chaterina forwarded me an email containing some cute pictures of dog houses with "travel dog's house" written on each picture.

As a dog lover, it's impossible for me not to google the words "travel dog's house" after seeing some of these following photos...

pheww...I'm ready to nap now

dog caravan

where's the porter?

my house uses fake fur of course

temple dog's house

where's my neighbour?

Marco Morosini and..no, I'm not a trophy
Photos source marcomorosini

dream itinerary

The Wikipedia about tourism states that the most visited city and country are Paris and France. If you haven't been there maybe you should put this destination on your future travel list, and start to find the best deal of transport and hoteles en Paris.

So far, I have been there only twice, well, at least that made me meet Eiffel Tower in 'person', set foot on the top of it and admired Paris from its sky. I also went to Notre Dame Cathedral to fulfill my childhood dream to see the place that I'd once only known from the Hunchback of Notre Dame novel. I didn't forget to visit Louvre to smile back to Mona Lisa, and also, because I needed to see The Louvre Pyramids, a famous creation from a famous architect, I.M Pei. I love beautiful architecture, be it old or modern. That is why I love Europe, why I have listed Spain into my future journey.

I want to see La Sagrada Familia and all other buildings touched by my favourite architect of all architects, Antoni Gaudi. His buildings that are scattered in Barcelona have obsessed me, and his unhappy ending life makes me even want to know him more through his buildings. Other building that also a must see is the famous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, a masterpiece by Frank Gehry, another famous architect.

Of course while traveling, other than seeing architecture masterpieces, I would love to experience the culture. Spain has a festive culture, such as flamenco dance, matador fight, and this one is my favourite one, La Tomatina – Tomato fight. Ever since I saw it on television, I keep wondering about it.
Well, ok, so from now I must find the best of the best deals for a tourist in Spain including about hotel, I must start to search about hoteles en España, which is including good hoteles en Barcelona, and hoteles en Madrid too, just in case I want to pay a visit to the official residence of the Spanish Royal family :-D

Photo from flickrCC search on Gaudi

Howdy travellers

Now with the help of internet it makes easier to arrange travel to anywhere in this world, and it seems travel websites keep competing each other to please customers in travel industries. Travel.com.au has been since the beginning prepared to specilise in international flights and overseas holiday bookings offer which makes it have extensive source of travel offers such as flights, hotels, cars, holiday packages, cruises, insurance and many more. With that saying, people in Australia can browse available cheap flights of various international flights to Africa, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, Pacific, South America, USA and Canada, or within Australia easily.

Travel.com.au is also a travel agency plus because its crews are experts in travel as well as internet savvy, that sure won't make customers stung.
When Hong Kong, Bali, Taj Mahal or any other travel magnet calls you, make Travel.com.au your companion.

Wanderlust

So the travel bug has bitten you too early this year, and you feel the wanderlust has swept over your whole self. Hold on a moment, the holiday season is still months away, what are you going to do?

This is a perfect time to plan your next vacation because your great adventure deserves an early plan. If sun, sand, beach and nature are your choices, then you have to think of some exotic places that allow you to be surrounded by those elements.

Imagine you stay at a secluded place where nature is just some steps away from the door, where you can see it at the same horizon level, where you can feel home sweet home even in a stranger's land.

Go find on the net about vacation homes, they offer you flexibility, and they come in all sizes that you can pick to suit your need whether you go with your family, partner, friends, or alone. Vacation homes, such as beautiful Cabo san Lucas vacation homes in Mexico and Costa Rica vacation rentals, do literally mean homes that are truly located in surroundings that respond your leisure needs.

Photo by jenschapter3

Lost in UK

Amongst many beautiful countries in the world, I do have my own favourites. They -beside my own country- are Italy, United Kingdom, and Japan. Everyone might agree with my choices, except about Britain.

Aren't the people as cold as the weather there? No, they are not, they have their famous British jokes and I do enjoy watching their Little Britain series.
Other than that there are a lot to see and to experience in UK. I remember my friend and I loved to take a train and go without really specific destination across the UK from one town to another town. We did get lost once or twice but people there were helpful too. Once at a station when we missed the last train to go back to the city where we stayed, an officer or police –I don't really remember- offered us to stay for a night at the waiting room, but we were even luckier when our British friend didn't mind to drive us almost in the middle of the night to another station to catch the train.

Of course since things in UK are not really cheap, that kind of rashness is not recommended. Actually even if it's cheap, it's always better to have some information before set foot in any destination.

If I ever visit UK again, I would first check available resources. Like if I want to surf the cool nightlife in London, I would search about London Hotels to make sure that the hotel is near the hip clubbing areas. I would also first check some Edinburgh Hotels to avoid fully booked situation in peak season like when Edinburgh Military Tattoo Festival is around. Speaking about Scotland, I think everyone should not miss Glasgow too. I went there and visited that beautiful Glasgow Willow Tea Rooms which was designed by the well known architect, Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1904. So a search for Glasgow Hotels is a must too.

I'll be back...one day ;-)

13 = 1+3 = 4 = Good luck!

Last year when I went to Penang Island, I visited a famous Thai Buddhist temple. It's one of tourist destinations in Penang.
Usually in many Buddhist temples we can get fortune reading.
I like this kind of thing, though if I got bad reading, I will never believe it.
Say, I'm superstitious only when my reading outcome is a good :-D

So, as soon as I entered the temple, I asked Sarjid, our tour guide, where can I get a fortune reading. He showed me a machine with a slot for a coin. Since I didn't have the prescribed coin, Sarjid kindly gave me one. I put it into the slot. I don't remember exactly, I think there's a ball in that machine that would go round and stop at a specific number after the machine swallowed the coin. Before I got the result, I had a funny feeling that I would get either 13 or 4, and it was.
As I took out the small paper number 4, I told Sarjid,
- I knew I would get this number

I told him that 4 and 13 are considered as some omens of bad luck by some people in my country, especially by Chinese Indonesian, because 4 sounds like death. Some high-rise buildings with more than 12 floors don't have floor number 13, but 12B or other than 13. Though I never believe in any bad reading, I still felt cross a bit.
But Sarjid encouraged me to read it.
The saying started with something like "you are going to be lonely for a very long time before you finally find happiness in your life."

- See...I knew it I should not read it
+ Don't worry, it's my coin, so it's not your reading at all, just throw it away

But instead, I kept it in my jeans pocket.

In the car, on our way back to the hotel, I frivolously took that small paper out of my pocket. This time, I read the reverse side of the paper.
Surprise....
I shouted out the words, it was written something like this:
"For a married person, you will have your ill wife recovered and she will soon bear your son"

It was intendedly a reading for man. I was supposed to take the pink colour which is for woman.

+ That's a reading for your brother then, give it to him

My brother was also in the car with us. He just smiled widely, but didn't say a word.

At the hotel, I told about that to my sis-in-law who had just returned from hospital after her 3 or 4 days of stay there for her big operation. My Mom and she were happy to hear that, and wanted to see that small paper. Too bad, my brother threw it away, cos fortune reading is actually against our Christian belief :-P

Today my sis-in-law is 5 months pregnant.
But we believe it's only because of our God's mercy that my brother and her will soon have a baby.

Let's wait and see, baby girl or baby boy?

Espionage Game

Excerpted from my chat session

Date : 23/04/2005 Time : 23:44
EG: will do thanks! u know about the witch like receptionist caricature u had on ur blog, few days ago while on an errant nearby that hotel i went to have a peek, gosh sure was quite a resemblance of what u drew
Say: Lolll...really? you can recognise her?
Woww...I'm very happy to hear that!
EG: something like that but didn't get any closer to catch her name. if there are more wrinkles i'm sure must be the witch from snow white

---------- cut ----------

Date : 24/04/2005 Time : 0:11
EG: on the subject of double standard,maybe i can ......(Oo...la...la...c'est censored, parce que still on mission lah :-P)
Say: That will be great!!! Cos, not only me who suspected this double standard attitude, but it was the girl that I met (that interview me for her paper).
Say: I mean it was her that had that thought at first, and I agreed with her
EG: will let u know the outcome,say next week itself
EG: yeah, on with a mision ! hey! what are friends for !

EG is my good ICQ friend from Penang, Malaysia. I asked him sometime ago if he happens to pass near Hotel Berjaya, Georgetown to try to find that receptionist based on her caricature that I made. If he can spot her, that means I had successfully stored her image on my mind and manifested it into the drawing. I was surprised to know that he really did it and even will develop the mission more!
Haha....EG maybe more suitably stands for Espionage Game ;-)

Ms. Receptionist

I got a lingering impression about the receptionists (or front desk staffs?) at Berjaya Hotel, especially about two of them. Amazingly, they look like very similar to each other. Look like twins.
I tried to recapture her image tonight. I should have done it last month though when my brains hard-disk still held a fresh memory of her image.
One of them, the one that I portrayed with the help of PaintShop here, was very very "helpful", "friendly" and effective!

I asked her for a room exchange, because the bathroom didn't have a proper condition, the lid of the wash basin hole was too dense, causing the water to leave very slowly and so to cause puddle and the stick that control the lid didn't work either (yes, I checked everything immediately after I entered the room).

She gave us two choices:
1. Take the room
2. Take the substitute room

Two choices indeed, but both rooms were in similar condition, the substitute room, as can be seen from pictures that I put here look so "OMG". Tell me, was I too choosey, fussy, sushiiiiii??
All that I was asking was a decent room with a decent bathroom, doesn't have to be posh at all.



Why I didn't take the numero uno choice?
Because...I was fed up with the hotel housekeeping.
I didn't want to deal with the housekeeping staffs like in my previous stay. Last time it was frustrating enough when I reported about the wash-basin and the flush that couldn't work properly. There was this housekeeping lady, came with the repairman to fix the problem. The repairman was very kind, he was very helpful, he fix the flush and when he wanted to fix the wash-basin, the housekeeping lady told me that it's actually not a problem at all, because I can just pull out the lid by myself.
I felt like "WHAAAATTTT???"
I told her, it's SO GROSS!
Besides why would I have to do that, I paid for the room with the condition and assumption that all work properly. Besides shouldn't it normally (in any other hotels) have to be that way?
The wash-basin hole lid should actually work mechanically by pushing and pulling the stick behind the faucet, but it was broken.
So I said "No way," and she gave me sour look!
I felt so burnt.
Luckily the repairman fixed the problem immediately and apologised to me for the inconvenience.

The funny fact about the choice number 2: The room is just right beside of the room that I stayed a month previously. That led me assuming that all room in this level has similar condition, this was the 3rd room that I knew on this floor because in our previous stay we took 2 rooms. I told the receptionist girl that maybe the rooms in this hotel are all that "beautiful." She just ignored me :-P

My Sweet Stays @ Berjaya Hotel

Since I've promised my self and I've told some friends about this, today I make this post to glorify Berjaya Hotel, Georgetown, Penang Island, Malaysia.
Here are some beautiful parts and facts about the hotel that I managed to shoot for anyone so to discover the uniqueness of this hotel.

Have you ever seen mold on the hotel window? You can have a panoramic window view framed by molds in this Berjaya Hotel. Superb! Isn't it?





Then this hotel also provides a good circulation in the room through the gap between the window and the window frame. So, yes, a little hot air is supplied 24 hours to warm you whether you need it or not! It's very automatically.




Ohh..and the bed? Yes, I don't want to forget to mention this special extra bed that I had been sleeping on for a week. There, see it? I think it's a pre-historic one! See all the dirt, stain and the tears? Can't imagine what has happened to this bed before. It even has a number, the number is 26B. Cool isn't it!





And some graphic/ artistic work. I guess this Berjaya Hotel really like this kind of pattern, since it's almost always like this. Or maybe Berjaya Hotel has bought the patent of the design?



Its hotel book directory also allows some scribble remains if the hotel housekeeping boys and girls think it's artistic enuf, like this one:


I hope your eyes work properly enough to get what's written there. Poor spelling, I know, but maybe it's still entertaining to the housekeeping staffs.

And look how amazing is the kettle cable this room hotel has. Hhmm..I wonder if all the kettle cables at this hotel are amazing like this, cos in our previous stay at this hotel this was exactly what we also got, but at that time we were afraid to get electric shock which we thought it's not cool at all, so we asked the housekeeping girl to change it.



Enuf about the room, sorry for not showing some little mates! I forgot to take the pictures of those cute ants and mosquitoes. Sorry little mates!

Let's move to the wonderful bathroom.

We had this special effect lighting. Oh, sorry, I think the people of this hotel try to educate guests about saving the electricity. Yes, there are 2 wall lamps, it's a must for the symmetrical visual effect matter of course, but saving the energy is much more important these days, right? I could understand why the hotel housekeeping staffs left it that way.


Look closer.....
It has a polka-dot bathtub! Or should I say semi-Dalmatian-skin-pattern bathtub? Maybe they knew I'm a dog lover? :-P



I forgot to ask the housekeeping people who is the artist who created this cracks on the bin lid. Must be a famous one since they keep it on show.


Again...I forgot to shoot the habitants who dwell in bathroom :-(
Sorry little creepy creatures, but I can mention your race here, how about that? Great eh!
So, I saw one of the natural aviators, the mosquitoes. Sorry that I killed one of that aviators when I stayed in the previous room the month before. No wonder the cleaner boy left the dead mosquito body intact stuck on the bathroom mirror for days, until I confessed to him that I slew that mosquito. Luckily I didn't touch the spider and ants. Oh no...I did murder some ants!

Berjaya Hotel, George Town, Penang Island, Malaysia

The ugliest hotel I have ever been!
sorryyy...I never rant like this!
My head's about to blow!

I must say it now!
There you go!

The only reason I stay at that hotel is because it's near the hospital where my Mom is going to get a treatement.
A 4-stars but with the taste of non-star hotel! The ugliest hotel I've ever been!