Dear appetite...

WHERE
ART
THOU?

Did I leave you in Singapore or Indonesia?
Have you evaporated somewhere?
You haven't showed me your presence ever since I arrived back in the US.

In any case, I'm sad. I've been skipping quite some meal time.
For sure I know it doesn't sound good.

Summer in SG pt 2: Dancing Fountain

Day two of Singapore!

Whoa takes me a while to get this post up! Sorry for the delay. School's been holding me up. Anyway it's going to be a little bit shorter than the last one.

I forgot what date was that, but I woke up quite late in the morning. Mom and Dad had been up since morning and they went out for a moment to look for breakfast meals. It was true that the hotel didn't offer typical breakfast meal service like any other hotels would do, but that's okay!

Around 11 (sooo late, I know right???), I got up for real and munched on Nasi Lemak my dad bought for me. My mom and dad had apparently taken a long walk to Chinatown just to get their meals and mine - very much appreciated for their effort. After brunch, I took a shower and got dressed, and we needed to decide where to go today. I heard many people were recommending Vivo City as another shopping destination. My mom and dad also agreed about going there, so it was settled then.

We took a bus ride to Orchard Road to have lunch at Lucky Plaza (second meal of the day, only an hour away from the previous one). I helped myself with a plate of chicken rice. Chicken rice is also another authentic delicacy Singapore has to offer! Shortly after, we shopped a little and decided to take a bus to Vivo City for shorter trip instead of MRT. It was raining outside so the roads were a bit slippery. Too bad we didn't bring umbrellas cos we didn't see it coming.

Vivo City is, well, huge...much bigger than any other shopping centers in Singapore. Unlike other shopping center who were connected or located next to each other in Singapore, Vivo City is an independent mall, a shopping town likely Grand Indonesia in Jakarta, only Vivo City is located at the seaside facing Sentosa Island rather than at the downtown. We strolled for a while and went to the boardwalk to take pictures.

The boardwalk itself resembles a vast veranda overlooking the sea filled with a shallow pool where everyone could practically splash into. Some fine restaurants could be found at its sides.



The boardwalk apparently didn't just overlook Sentosa Island, but also before my eyes was one of the theme parks I'd been dying to go to: Universal Studios Singapore. The infamous dueling coaster tracks and the Far Far Away castle just stood there far enough for me to reach. I was thinking once of spending the rest of the afternoon there, since my friends - who had clearly gone there - implied that the theme park is small enough you can even explore it within 2 hours. But that'd be just waste of money, so I had to skip US Singapore this time.



Dad got instantly captivated with National Geographic Store. It was actually my first time seeing it as I've never seen any of them before, not even in the US.



Dad was particularly mesmerized by a simple, blue sling back with the National Geographic logo, but he hadn't got it till later in the afternoon.

Wine festival! Dayum!!!

After nearly 3 hours strolling in Vivo City, we barely shopped anything. Mom was apparently hunting for a Bossini Store but since there was hardly any at Vivo City, I suggested we should move our shopping destination to yet another famous spot in Singapore, City Hall. I didn't know whether it should be better called City Hall cos that's not the actual name of the collection of shopping centers. I just happened to label it that way since we needed to take MRT to City Hall station, which is directly connected to the bunch of shopping centers I mentioned.

I looked up for the nearest Bossini store on my phone's internet. I believe the area should at least have one. Bossini's quite popular in Singapore and it's impossible not to find it in one of the most popular shopping spots after Orchard.

After nearly half an hour walking through the city underpass complete with rows of restaurants and clothing stores, we reached Suntec City and found a Bossini store there. At once I thought mom was getting herself something but apparently all she wanted to buy was just a pair of jeans...for me (mom, I got jeans overstock both at my home in Jakarta and even the one in Cupertino, but I really appreciate you for still buying another pair for me :')

Well, we took a while to decide where to go next cos the day was still young (it was around 5). We actually have been thinking to do a bit different activity other than eating and shopping. We needed a little bit sightseeing! Mom offered me to go on a duck tour in Marina Bay, dad mentioned a river cruise would be operating up till evening near the hotel. I quickly found out that duck tour was hella pricey! So scratch that one. River cruise sounds quite boring. The price was slightly cheaper than the duck tour though, but still I couldn't stand its expensiveness.

However, I came up with the idea of seeing "Songs of the Sea", a famous water show in Sentosa, all of a sudden. I browsed for the tickets and found out they were actually much cheaper and looked even much more promising than the duck tour and the river cruise. Too bad mom wasn't a fan of seeing "dancing water", as she mentioned.

So from Suntec City, we took a taxi straight back to Vivo City and mom would take an MRT back to the hotel from there. While my dad and I were rushing to the top floor of the mall (Sentosa station) to purchase the earliest show we could catch. Apparently the earliest one (7.00 pm-ish) was fully booked and the next one would be at 8.40 pm. The show wouldn't take much time, and in fact, only 25 minutes. So there was no need to worry not to get a transportation back home (Dude, this is not Cupertino!).

Anyway, we got the ticket. We still got an hour to go before we should depart to Sentosa by monorail. My dad and I grabbed some light meals in Burger King. Remember the simple blue National Geographic bag I talked about earlier? My dad still 'craved' for it but he kept concealing his desire to buy it. The bag had a brand though it might be incomparable to those of Gucci or Louis Vuitton. But the price wasn't so bad earlier! So I had like minutes to encourage my dad to buy it, otherwise he wouldn't stop talking about it.

There...he has it. :)

Around 8.00 pm, we took off to Sentosa island by monorail. The ticket for the show apparently came with the monorail ticket, which makes everything even much cheaper than it looks like! When passing Waterfront Station at the entrance of Sentosa, a pack of people jumbled in carrying Universal Studios Singapore goods. I wanted to go there even worse -_-

We reached the last station (Beach Station) and got to the "Songs of the Sea" venue on time. I panicked a bit since I found ourselves lining up along with what-was-supposed-t0-be a group of Thai tourists. The tour leader passed me by shouting out some random Thai words as if she was organizing everyone to enter the venue in order. Anyway, we parted with them soon and found ourselves some good seats!

The show was spectacular! I was deeply amazed by the use of many effects, involving the pyrotechnic skills, lasers, lighting, and what mesmerized me the most was no other than the water effect. The fire at first half of the show came out nicely along the drum beats. The lights beamed out to million directions accompanied by subtle music. It definitely presents those effect combined with the music. The water formed fountain and darted animations and pictures as if the water itself was a media synonymously a screen. Anyway it was a really amusing show! I could tell my dad was completely blown away! $10 wasn't left wasted for nothing! (yeah you know the reason why I reveal its price now, cos it's considerably cheap)





Before leaving, I took some pictures with the show's mascot, Oscar.

Right after the show, the venue was closed immediately but Sentosa was still crowded as ever! It seemed people hardly wanted to leave the island back to Singapore to call it the night. However, my dad and I decided to take a monorail back to Vivo City. We didn't have heavy meals for dinner so we were thinking of grabbing some in Vivo City's food court at 10pm.


Martabak for Dad


Yong Tau Fu pour moi!

The feeling of devouring the delicacies after a long, exhausting day ended with a good sight and blown away with a show could hardly be defined by words. One thing for sure, it was a good feeling.

After heavy dinner, my dad and I headed to the MRT station located below Vivo City. We caught a train back to Clarke Quay, the nearest MRT station from the hotel. The night was considerably young we even thought of taking a stroll along the river to enjoy Saturday night sight at Singapore!

I have been to Clarke Quay before. It was packed with particularly foreign tourists as you could see fine dinners with beyond-the-budget restaurants spreading all over the place. The famous dining site itself was located across the river, meanwhile my dad and I could only hear the noise of the music blared out of the restaurants from across.

On the way, we also sat by the river for a while looking up at someone being slingshot. Their scream was epic! I could imagine the feeling of nausea and extreme joyfulness overwhelming whoever sat on that very seat being bounced up to the air.

I wondered how much it would cost to try that challenge, but not so long, someone from somewhere close to where I was sitting yelled. "Thank you $40!!!" Thanks dude, now we all know how much it costs. Even if you wanted to pay me with a hundred bucks I wouldn't ever dare to give it a try :)

My dad and I continued our long walk at the seaside until we reached our hotel. We quickly slumped at the bed and that's when we knew how much energy we spent. Our feet had definitely ached so bad I wanted to plug them off and put them on my lap.

In short, we were completely worn out for that day :)

jetlag.

Jetlag.
It's 2:14 am.

Need to get some sleep. I might wake up late tomorrow, but apparently there's something I need to do in the morning
Half of my soul is still left in Jakarta, and a smaller piece of it got left in Singapore.

Uh Monday, I don't want to go back to reality.
Someone please kidnap me back to the land of non-reality,
whatever you call it.

Summer in SG pt 1: Delicacies!

Finally another post!
Yeah I just got back to Cupertino two days ago. So friggin jetlag, even till now. I only slept for 5 hours last night. Anyway, I'm here back to my slowly-awakening story telling mode, after a long time of being laconic. Well, let's just get started.

After spending nearly one and half month in Jakarta, I finally got to spend my last weekend in Asia not in Indonesia, but I picked a destination slightly further from the capital and out of the country border. Yup, Singapore is the one!! I haven't been there for years so it's really a thrill to finally pay our neighboring country a visit, especially I feel like Singapore is my third home (with Cupertino being the first and, Jakarta the second).

Spending one and a half month in Jakarta when you're on holiday - by any means, not doing anything in weekdays when your friends attend classes in their unis - can be hella boring. So going to Singapore is pretty much like giving me fresh air after being stuck in the messy capital city for a quite long time.

My parents and I booked the ticket exactly a week before departure. We first thought of going there on Lebaran week, but considering that there would be an explosion of people going out of town for vacation, chances to get tickets would lessen as well. So a week after Lebaran would be great cos tickets would be easier to find.

Anyway, my dad and I departed on Friday, September 16, 2011 on 9:30 am by Sriwijaya Air. Mom would catch up in the evening since she couldn't miss a day of work. There's actually a quite surprising moment on the plane. In an hour-long flight, I reckoned there wouldn't be any meals served, but apparently, there was. And even better, it's a HEAVY meal.

A slice of cake, some grapes, and the entree, traditional fried rice with sunnyside egg and spicy fried potatoes.

Sriwijaya Air I think I'm in love with you.
Nuff said.

We arrived at Changi at around 12-ish and decided to take a ride to the hotel by MRT. Oh how I miss this transportation. But since all MRT stops were nowhere really close to the hotel, we needed to stop at the closest stop (that's even quite far from the hotel) and take a taxi to the hotel. We picked Bugis to be our stop and hailed a taxi from there to the hotel.

Our hotel was located at the riverside, near Clarke Quay to be exact. Clarke Quay is a tourist attraction with many unique-themed restaurants. But if you want to dine there, you need to consider your budget cos the place is constantly dominated by foreign tourists, which means....

Anyway, I checked in with my dad at around 1.30 pm. The room was nice and all, but I was panicking over my phone which apparently didn't work in Singapore. But that wasn't just the problem. I had an appointment with my friends in an hour and I needed to get in contact with them. My phone received no signal. So I decided to swap with my dad's temporarily.

At around 2.30 pm, I went straight to Orchard Road to meet up with Eileena and Bella at Lucky Plaza, while my dad was still figuring out how to get my phone works. I give him credit for that...

Gong Cha bubble tea somewhere in Orchard Road.
Soooo darn delicious!

Then we went to Cineleisure and found a purikura booth. We decided to give it a try.
The result wasn't so bad. I kinda like how it turns out cos it automatically gives the effect of brighter skin and bolder, larger eyes, like the ones you see on cute Japanese girls (after all Purikura comes from Japan). Well, in short, it's cute! And we even got the chance to decorate each pics. The two below are randomly chosen.

From Cineleisure, we strolled down to another mall connected to Cineleisure. I don't know the name. Seriously, after landing in Singapore and getting to look around, I think the label "the city with most malls" should go to Singapore instead of Jakarta. I mean, Orchard Road is literally a road with rows of malls lining on its sides!

Oh and yes we spotted Mr Jung Yong Hwa aka the famous singer of CN Blue.
Looking good as always. I forgot what ad this is.

It was approaching 5.00 pm and we thought of having afternoon snacks. So we stopped by at a nearly crowded food court, found ourselves some seats and tried on this carrot cake. Nom nom.

The meeting ended up short cos Bella had a dinner plan with her family, and I had an appointment with my cousin coming up on 7. So I needed to rush to Bugis Junction to meet up with her. Beforehand, Eileena and I took Bella to her hotel where her family had already waited for her at the lobby. Then I was off to see my dad in front of 313 mall who was ready to take me to Bugis Junction by MRT.

And...I finally got to meet Monika, my cousin, at Bugis Junction, while my dad was leaving to pick up my mom somewhere (since she would be arriving in Singapore around late afternoon) Monika and I haven't met for nearly 8 months and she's currently studying dance in a prestigious art academy in Singapore. Look she's getting taller!
It's really sweet to finally meet her after 8 months. We're really close so you can imagine what it's like to finally reunite after a long time. Such an overwhelming feeling. Talking about sisterhood. Yeah I love her SOOOO much.

We basically just sat at the foodcourt while having dinner. I finally fulfilled one of my wishes that I hoped I could do in Singapore, which is to have a bite of its special fishball noodle soup!

Woops. Spotted: a receipt at the right hand corner of the pic :p

We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in Bugis Junction and Bugis Street, a row of shops located just Bugis Junction (The Junction's more like a mall, while the Street takes form of a marketplace selling items in lower price). I went crazy over the relatively cheap and clothes with good styles! It was unbelievable to see Monika - who lives nearby - did the same thing too. I ended up buying a nice $7 striped top and Monika got herself a different top with the same price and a wallet...WITH THE SAME PRICE!

I'm loving Singapore even more, especially I haven't explored Bugis Street before. So this place's kinda new to me.

The night was young but the half of the stores was already closed by the time we reached the Junction, leaving some restaurants opened till - maybe - midnight. I didn't know they close early at Singapore, unlike some places, which stay open till dawn especially on the weekend. I took a taxi back to the hotel, bidding Monika goodbye. We need to wait for another year to meet since we couldn't possibly meet the other day (she was so occupied with the whole Dance symposium she was participating that weekend, she even - I guess - sneaked out to see me. Love her even more).

Once I got back to the hotel, I was sooooo surprised to see my hotel room empty. My parents weren't there. Apparently my mom's flight happened to be delayed and I had to wait for them till around 11. When they reached my hotel room, my mom decided to get some rest while...my appetite suddenly kicked in. *horror music on*
My dad - who was also hungry all of a sudden - decided that we should look for something to eat that late evening. AMEN, it's not just me!!!!

We strolled around the famous riverside that we could access through the hotel's restaurant's door to see if there were some restaurants open. Across the river was a sophisticated looking German cafe - Bacchus - that provides beer and liquors with subtle, somehow exclusive vibe. I could see some young adults were sipping on their beer taken from a giant pitcher, and some couples had a warm talk with their wines before them on the table.

At first I was tempted to dine in since they had this bunch selection of fine, imported white wines, but since it lacks of family-friendly atmosphere, we decided to skip it.

Some part of the German cafe I talked about

Since no more restaurants were spotted around, we decided to go back to the hotel and had our midnight snack at the hotel's restaurant. I had cream soup for the appetizer then, my dad and I shared a super giant spaghetti! I mean, the size was totally ridiculous it even exceeded the space in the plate. I remembered mentioning the word "shared" to the maître d’ in hopes the spaghetti would come in a standard one portion. But apparently the maître d’ mistook the word "shared" and possibly interpreted it as in "two portions of spaghetti in a plate". Gee. No wonder.

Forgive my expressionless face.
I didn't know my dad was taking a picture of moi while waiting for our order.

Then I wrapped the night by watching The Haunting in my hotel's room. Can't wait for the other day to come! Another adventure in Singapore awaited!

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Total Food consumed that day:
- Sriwijaya Air meal
- Macaroon
- Gong Cha Bubble Tea
- Carrot Cake
- Fishball noodle soup
- Cream soup
- Spaghetti

Wow, Singapore, seriously, do you put some sort of enchantment on your visitors to become big eaters?

-To be continued-

Jakarta Pt 6: Bring the noise!

Following my internship and some random activities during my 1 1/2 month of summer vacation in Indonesia, I've got a special project (not really) to work on. Actually it's my dad's but I'm there to aid him or in short, be some kind of his assistant. Besides, it's not just any project. Remember the previous post? It has something to do with this post's topic.

Sooo basically my dad helped this freshly established music club grow, along with my former homeroom teacher - Mr B - as the advisor. Thus dad constantly comes to coach every Wednesday during after school time. I was fortunate to attend the club meetings and witness all the fun to kill my boring afternoon.

Mr B and dad arranged the accompaniment using guitar


Rani the main vocalist


Tabitha had fun with the cajon


The multitalented Ambar demonstrated her ability on piano

I honestly felt so lame seeing these girls rocking the music. They've got some serious talents there for the world to see. When I visited them (as seen from the pictures), they were rehearsing for the upcoming school anniversary event. My dad and I helped them picking the suitable songs that we believed not just students, but teachers, adults, and other guests as well would enjoy.

The decision settled on doing the acoustic cover on Katy Perry's Firework and Ello's Buka Semangat Baru for the performance. Those songs coincidentally deliver similar message which is to cheer someone up.

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On Saturday the same week, I came to school right after attending a club reunion to observe the final rehearsal before the D-day.

Too bad I missed the rehearsal (cos I was late for an hour or so) but the gathering wasn't over not till we munched on the JCO donuts I brought for the girls and Mr B. Anyway the pictures above were taken by my dad who had been at school since the beginning of the rehearsal. I asked for the girls' progress and seemed everyone was ready for the D-day! Good to hear!

Recess time people!
To be honest I love these pictures below. They strongly show the hardwork expressed from the faces of these girls and how they finally got some time to relax. Even though I might not participate much and I was merely an audience, I truly appreciate the effort they've put for the performance. They deserve thumbs up for that!

Right after the recess, we all decided to go home since it was already dark. But we couldn't miss any single moment to take some more pictures!





This additional picture features Pak Pendi and Pak Aji who are also school staff, who apparently happened to be at school as well during that time :)



Sadly, I didn't get to meet the girls after this meeting. Last time I heard from Mr B that the girls were doing a great job on the school anniversary as expected, drawing the attention of not just school staff but the foundation members as well.

This means a bright future awaits for these talented girls!
Wishing all the best for the music club!

Stay tuned for the next post, cos I'm going to cover my Singapore vacay!