From Istanbul with Love :D

Istanbul where the East meets West.

I have been wanting to visit Istanbul ever since I read it on my history book back in college time and I know I will love this city. It is really worth 17 hours flying from home to Istanbul with few hours transit in Abu Dhabi, I was flying with Etihad. Well another great experience to flew with UAE airlines. I was sitting next to a guy from Jeddah, he is pretty cute :), he was flying from Brisbane. We had a conversation through the journey and I found it fascinating to know about how the people in Saudi Arabia lives. I had 5 hours transit in Abu Dhabi where I met a girl from Hongkong and a Thai lady who married to a Greek guy, a Turkish guy who is working in South Korea and thinks I am from Korea - trying to talk to me in Korean :). I flew with Turkish Airlines from Abu Dhabi to Istanbul, which was one of the worst airlines I ever experience, the plane was steaming hot and the seat was very cramped. I dont like the stewardess as well. So after 5 hours steamed on the plane and sitting next to two bitches who didn't let me take my toilet break, I reached Istanbul. The weather was perfect and the hotel sent someone to picked me up :)

I was enchanted by the city, with the road, train and bus system. The city is clean and pretty! It took about 30 minutes to reach Sultanahmet, the heart of Old City in Istanbul, where the hotel located. I really can't wait to explore the city, to see all the amazing buildings here. Istanbul is full with a lot of Byzantium and Ottoman architecture from the Palace to the mosques. 

A lot of people warned me about Istanbul especially about the Turkish guys and about the Muslim culture there. Well it is not as bad as I think, the Turkish guys yes - they are not dangerous species but they are very flirty, whenever you are walking on the street they try to get you to buy something from them, some of them are very polite and didn't force you to buy tho.

Me and my bf (ehm..) we stayed at Grand Peninsula hotel, right at the heart of old city - Sultanahmet, it is walking distance to everywhere and also a lot of cool hang out place and restaurant to eat. The hotel is nice, the staff are friendly and helpful. The receptionist gave us a lot of good recommendation for places to eat and hammam. One of the recommended place to it is Tria Elegance Restaurant, all the food here is delicious and their Meze is the best as well the Hummus.

You will not leave Turkey without having a hammam - the Turkish Bath. Me and bf went for Suleymain Bath which is one of the oldest bath in the city and was used by the Sultans. It is one of a good experience. I love it!

Aya Sofia was my first stop. It was a church during Byzantine empire and later it was used as Mosque when Ottoman Empire conquered Istanbul, now it functions as museum. I was amazed by the building and the architecture. The entrance fee for Aya Sofia is 25 TL. 

Blue mosque, this is one of the signature buildings in Istanbul where major movie setting like James Bond Skyfall and Taken 2 was shot here. Blue Mosque is not really blue at all, I dont know why the called it Blue Mosque. The mosque is open till late and closes during the prayer. I like the interior of the mosque better than Aya Sofia, to adore the detailing of the painted dome, the mosaic art on the windows, it is just amazing.

Topkapi Palace is the home of Ottoman Sultan. This whole complex was converted to museums. Admission fees is 25TL. It is really worth to check it out, there are plenty of things from ancient era from beautifully crafted swords, armor, cloths, clocks!

Grand Bazaar and Spice bazaar is the place to find Turkish souvenirs, you can bargain and they will happily give you the best price. Try the Turksih delight, it is something like mochi with fruity flavour and pistachio nuts.

Taksim! is the major shopping areas where people hang out and chill, there are plenty restaurants and shops selling local hand made products, accessories, etc. I like to walk around the small alleys, pass through the restaurant. Kim showed me a tea place, this place straight away became my fave place. It is kinda hard to find the main entrance to this secret tea house, it is a very tiny alley, maybe as big as one door size alley between the shops, the more you get into the alley the road become wider and suddenly there is a big court yard full with the tables, chairs and locals having chai. We had two cups of tea before we heading to Galata Tower. There was a big protest in Istanbul while I was there, was not sure what was that about but its peaceful and no violence protest. It was safe.

Galata Tower (reminds me of Rapunzel's tower). You can see the panoramic view of the city from the top of the tower, they have restaurant and night club as well. Admission fee 12TL.

Promegranate juices are everywhere, its Kim's fave. If you buy it around Sulthanamet is more expensive 5TL/cup, around taksim or galata bridge you will find it for 3TL and orange juice for 1TL.

Laters xoJ

Jakarta!!

Dear strangers,

Few weeks ago, I had a job interview, I never expect anything from the applications I sent out to few companies. I half give up about finding the right job, but well God maybe always have surprises for me, a company called me and get me on an interview and I got a job! I am ready to move to India! I have been praying to go out from Singapore, and well this might be the answer for my prayers. I never thought that I will ever move to India or even visit the country but there always a reason for everything, and maybe this is the best for me at the moment! It is kinda hard to relocated to a small undeveloped city but I told myself that I don't want to see myself grow up and die in Singapore, being to comfortable there and if I am at third world country I won't survive. I want to see myself survive in any kind of condition or country I live. In the end I believe, there is a rainbow after the storm. You just need to try hard and don't give up, good things will come at the end.

I am back in Jakarta. It was not a good trip to start with, I had an overweight checked in bagage and I had to pay 60SGD for that, and then the first day when I arrived, I went from airport straight to embassy and the Indian embassy was closed due to the Indian public holidays. I was so hysteric and angry! but I met two of my girl friends for lunch, it brighten my day!

The next day, I went back to embassy, and to be honest I hate Blue Bird taxi, the driver was so stupid didnt know the way at all, he got me to TMII!!! He wasted my time I almost late to go to embassy to apply my visa. Finally I arrived at the embassy and my visa will be ready by next Monday.

I spent my weekend walk around at Grando with Nani, Kadek and Sasa, well it is just girls time really and then the next day we spent a day in Bogor with Tio and Mitha, paid visit to my hairstylist as well to Sasa's aunt.

And then Monday I met Andy - he brought me around the Kota Tua where I see the historical buildings but too bad the museums were closed.

Today my last day in Jakarta I spent it with my ex housemate, those guys that I have known for years lived under same roof with them. Time flies, we are busy with our life but I always wished that we can hang out like we used to be. I miss those time. We went to watch Looper and then hang out at Monas.

Anyway thanks everyone who always there for me and for those who have spent their time for me. I really appreciate it and I love each of you!

Sunda Kelapa Harbour

Monas

I am pretty happy with my life now especially with my kjære! I am looking forward to each of our holidays and plans! :D

I am flying off end of November and I will update soon once I reach India!!! I can't wait for the next adventure!

Laters!!

Jen

Happy Birthday!

Dear stranger,

It is another year passed, I marked a new milestone. Well nothing special about my birthday no big party or whatsoever. As I grow older I prefer the quite quality time with friends. I had dinner at Sushi Tei with my childhood friend Elis and we went to watch Taken 2, some surprise came in the between where those group of friends came to sang me happy birthday with cake at Takashimaya, I was overwhelmed and happy. And then the surprises didnt stop there, more wishes from friends and I think more surprises will come this week. I just wish for the best now.

This year is the best year of my life, went for trips and maybe I have the answer that I have been waiting for. Finger crossed but I wish all the best for everyone out there....

I have been swimming a lot lately :D and getting tanner! Hmmph

God morgen!

Me through the years!

Dear strangers,

I just found pics of me with friends or family from 2008. Oh my! I changed a lot!

Me & My cousin at the wedding. 2008. My hair was long and I was fat.

Me & P Thee - 2009. Durham - England. My hair was short and still fat. I remember this trip I went to Durham with P Giff.

Mori's bday. 2010. Singapore. My hair is short not sure if I was fat or skinny. 

New Year 2011. I was super skinny, stress a lot from work. sigh.

July 2012. Pau & Norman's wedding committee dinner. Gain weight after back from 6 months holidays!

Fem's Bday lunch. July 2012. I miss all of them!

AWWW!!!!

September :D

Dear strangers,

It has been almost a month since I am back here, time flies. I made new friends with my neighbour an Australian guy with his Indonesian wife, they are a very nice people. They shared a lot of stories with me, which is fun and good to pass the time. I have not find any job that suits me yet, I went for interviews but there were only 2 jobs that I am so keen to work for. I hope everything works well for me.

What I have been doing for the past two weeks?
Mostly I hang out at the restaurant or at my neighbour's house, chill at home - trying to enjoy my life to the max at the moment because I am not sure when is the next time I am going to have this moment anymore ( I hate the fact that I need to go back to office), swimming - yeah I went for 3 hours swimming today, did some shopping (I start to hate shopping, Orchard road is boring for me), went for the foursome birthday bash. Cousin's bday celebration at TCC and he treat me eat at Paul as well :D.  I wrote an article for IPA about traveling, but I know I lost my damn mind while I wrote it. Will let you know the link tomorrow.

I hope everyone will enjoy another week ahead at planet earth.

I know I will :D

Foursome bday bash!

Jen

night festival 2012, cake, and brunch!

Dear strangers,

I have not updated much about what am I doing lately, well I pretty much enjoying my life to the max, a friend visited me last week we had brunch at Wild Honey - Mandarin Oriental, it was a very expensive brunch ever, starts from 19 bucks. I had Tunisian breakfast which I found it very nice - two slices of bread with egg in tomato sauce and eggs and some kind of salsa sauce.

On the weekend I spent my time with my friend, Elis, we had Indonesian food - it always the best food in the world! We catch up bit and stroll around. In the afternoon we stopped by at Cedele - so called bakery with very nice cakes. I tried the Banana Chocolate Expresso, I think its over rated, it doesnt taste yummy as it looks, a bit of disappointment.

I went to Nightfestival this year, it was awesome. I really like how the light being projected to the building as if they are constructing the buildings use the laser (oh I think you all have to be there to understand what I was talking about).

Some of the light shows at night festival

I went to Nyuk's place last week and he introduced me to this new series Franklin and Bash - it is not as nice as Suits but it is good to kill time while waiting for Harvey to be back in January.
And the past few days was full of surprises :D. I think I am still the happiest girl on planet earth!

Grey

Dear strangers,

A week since I am back from holidays, the weather has been very shitty, cloudy and rain. I know everything were never be the same since I left for my long holidays. I think I change a lot from the way I think and see how I should live my life. I found my passion, things I love to do but I am still scared to take the first step to start it. My next holidays will be soon, I always dreamt to visit this place from long time ago, and I will make sure it will be my next holiday destination, it is not that expensive I can afford it for 10-14 days discovering the country, I wished I could stay longer for months to travel across the country (finger crossed). What I need next is just to find the time because I won't travel half the world away if he doesn't have the same time with me.

I have been reading a lot since I am back too, the last book I read was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It is a good book full of imagination and fantasy about circus, it is breath taking, dazzling and enchanting. Somehow I feel like I was drawn into it and teleported back to my childhood.

It has been a good week and yet I still not sure if I am happy to be back here, everything turned to be a little bit unexpected for me tho but I am happy with everything I have now. Time difference could kill at times but so far I can manage it even though I have no idea until when it will last, but life is not about counting the time and money, it is all about treasuring every moment that you have now, although soon or later all those moments you have is just memories, and the memories and feelings fade. It is important to be happy now than never feel happy at all later. Live and die with no regret. :D

laters!

x

Bali and Lombok

Dear strangers,

Sometimes when people asked me to recommend a place to visit in Indonesia, I am have no idea where to recommend them. Indonesia definitely is a beautiful country with a lot of scenery from beaches to the mountains, the problem is the people. In South East Asia, no one can beats the friendliness and kindness of Thai people.

I went to Bali, it was my third time and sad to say I don't like Bali. It is too commercialized and the locals are not friendly with the local tourists, too many Australians and British. To be honest, during my travel, Australians and British are the most arrogant, rude and a lot of people hate them. Even tho when I was traveling I met quite a few nice British but in general yeah I agreed with most of what people think. Personally I think in general traveler from Europe are very polite especially the Dutch, they are funny and friendly. The Germans as well, French they are soft spoken, and of course the Norwegians I met are the best even tho most of Norwegians are cold.

When traveling to Bali it is not about the beaches, it is also about getting to know the culture. I try to write what I remember about it.

75% of the Balinese are Hindu. In every of the house they will have a small altar to worship and do the prayer. They do the prayer 3 times a day in the morning at 6am when the sun rises, and then at the noon around 12 pm and the last one when the sun set. After prayer usually they will put the rice which has been soak into Sandalwood for a day on their forehead and neck. It is the sign that they have gone for the prayer and hope that they will have a clear and good mind and also they will have a good words come from their mouths.

In Bali, you will never find a building taller than 15m. There is a reason behind it, Pura (the temple where the people goes for prayer) was built on the ground, usually it is only one level. To respect the Pura the sacral place for prayer, the houses and other building can not be built taller than 15m. There is only one building taller than 15m which is a hotel located in Nusa Dua built by the first president Sukarno, the reason is to preserve the historical value of the building.

I will take one long break to explore Indonesia myself and learn the culture, perhaps I can write better things about it.

Beautiful Mt Batur with the Lake Batur on the other side.

There are about 300 people inhabit the village near the mountain, they are known as Tarunyan tribe or Bali Age, they are the native Bali tribe who still believe in praying to the tress or animals. When the Hindu religion came to Bali they refused to believe in it and chose to isolate themselves in the mountain, one of their tradition that still preserved until now is to put the death body under the big tree in the center of the village.

Tanah Lot, Bali. One of my favorite place in Bali, it is too commercialized now but still it has it own charms.

Tanah Lot was built by a hermit (which I have forgotten the name), it is the holy place where he meditated and it is also part of spreading Hinduism in Bali, there are a few pura which built by him along his journey. According to the myth he summon his belt into the snake to guard him while he meditate, that's why you can find the white snake at Tanah Lot. 

Sunset at Dream Land beach. Not my cup of tea too many crowds there, it is not a paradise.

Lombok is still not over exposed as Bali, it has its own charm with clean beach with not much wild life as Bali. It is ultimante gateway. I love Lombok. I will come back one day.

Sengigi beach, Lombok, stunning crystal water and white sands. Paradise

Gili trawangan, it is the ultimate paradise. 

I am BACK!

Dear strangers,

It is good to be back, but somehow I miss my other half of life, traveling and the people. Never in my life, I ever thought to go for a long journey with no preparation at all and traveled with strangers. Sometimes being brought up in Asian country and culture made us think that all the strangers are bad people. When I was traveling for 6 weeks, I have learned a lot - those experiences definitely money can't buy and no one ever taught you at school nor at home. We have all the basic things we know from school and some courtesy from home but surviving skill and being street smart, no one can ever teach us that. I bet every of my friends that I have known for years, they will never go for those kind of trips because they concern too much about safety and wants the acceptable place to stay which at least 3 stars hotels with aircon and hot shower. I just take a leap of faith and follow my instinct. And here I am now 6 weeks traveling, safe and sound, getting 4 times darker than before (who cares about being dark, people should start to practice it the phrases don't judge books by its cover), but I was not who I was 6 weeks ago.

This is the best journey in my life, I can't never put it in the word how I feel and how fascinated I was meeting different people with different ideas. Traveling solo is one of the best way to teach us about life and finding who we really are, and finding someone who has similar ideas and thinking like me.

laters!

The beautiful fishing village at Paradise!

Sunset in Paradise, one of the memorable place, thanks for bringing me here!

Angkor Wat - Siem Reap, Cambodia. The most amazing temple I've ever seen.

Siem Reap, it is a small city - the reason people are here is just to visit Angkor Wat, most of Cambodian are friendlier than Vietnamese but still you have to be street smart and make sure to bargain over everything. Angkor Wat is about 20 minutes away from the city centre with tuk tuk. Angkor Wat complex is huge, it takes about 3 days to finish everything. The ticket is USD20 for 1 day pass. You can buy 2 or 3 days pass for cheaper price. To travel around Angkor Wat, you can hire bicycle or take tuk tuk. I think hiring tuk tuk is the best because Angkor Wat complex is quite big and you have to walk alot . The tuk tuk tour cost about USD 12 for two person (that was the lowest I heard from other traveler). 

Where to stay in Siem Reap? There are plenty of guest house or hotel in Siem Reap, but my recommendation is the Garden Village Guesthouse, it is 10 minutes walk from Pub Street and night market where all the night life happens. The Garden Village itself has a bar on the top plays a lot of nice song and serve reasonable cheap and good food with beer start from 50 cents.

Currency? It is good to have keep some Riel and USD is widely use everywhere. The exchange rate is 1 USD = 4000 Riel. Always change it at city where you can compare the rates and never change it at the airport or immigration check point. 

What to eat? Khmer food! Luk Lok and Amok, be adventures try all the traditional Khmer food you can find.

Scam! be careful with the milk scams in Cambodia, the little kids always come to you say they dont want money but they want milk, when you start to buy for one out of nowhere the whole village will come and ask you to buy for everyone, they will chose the most expensive milk at certain mini mart. Be street smart, don't be so easily feel pity for the kids, remember most of Asian country have rough and tough life they do anything for money. 

Cruising down the Mekong River with the plane take off from the air port.

The Night market in Luang Prabang, Laos.

Sunset at the Mekong River - Luang Prabang, Laos.

Luang Prabang, is one of the most beautiful cities I visited. It is small city with a lot of art and crafts, honest and friendly people, yet expensive. 

Currency.

Laos kip is not exchangeable outside Laos. 1 USD = 8000kip. The money changer around night market has the better exchange rate compare to other place.

What to do in Luang Prabang?

Most of the bars and pubs are close at 12am and bowling opens till 2am. The tuk tuk to bowling alley is about 40000kip one way. Bargain and be friend with tuk tuk driver they are more than happy to lower the price for you.

Cruising down Mekong River, the cost is varies, you can get it from 10000 kip per person to 100000kip it depends how you bargain. 

Night market. It starts every day at 6pm. Bargain and bargain for everything. There are a nice juice stall at the end of night market near Luang Prabang ancient hotel, the first stall next to the small alley has the best juice ever, the lady is super friendly. The small alley next to the hotel sells a lot of food. You can find some vegetarian buffet in the night market it cost 10000 kip per plate.

Where to stay?

There are plenty accommodations start from 60000 kip per night for two to 200000 kip per night. Some of the accommodation only accept kip.  

Cycling through Luang Prabang.

Yngve - the Norwegian guy I met in Halong Bay, one of a kind.

Kim - another Norwegian guy I met, he is the best travel partner so far :D