Travelogue (America)

So here's some of the places in United States that I managed to visit in the 6 years I lived there. If I were given more monetary flexibility, I would have traveled more! The desire to travel came when I moved to Los Angeles. That would be when I was officially "off the leash" from my family. (sound wild, but NOT). In addition to that, I took up part time job while doing Masters. This gave me extra income. So whenever there's any holiday, I would take that opportunity to travel with close friends. 

My favorite cities?
1. San Francisco & Los Angeles
3. New York

It's hard for me to pick between San Francisco and Los Angeles. People often asked which cities I prefer since I've lived in both for 3 years each. Each city is unique on its own. I love San Francisco because it is a very romantic city; everything looks so picturesque. The weather is the best because it doesn't get warm like Los Angeles. There are many places you can visit in SF - Gold Gate Bridge, Sausalito, Lombard Street, Union Square, Twin peak, Fishermen's Wharf, Museum of Fine Arts, etc. And you can never get bored of these places no matter how many times you visited them. SF makes a better tourist place than LA because it is a prettier city. People are friendlier too. Food here is awesome. Some of my favorite restaurants are Tani's Kitchen, The House, Shabuway, Dojo Ramen, etc. Yes, those are ASIAN food. In addition to good food, SF has good public transportation. You can easily take bart or buses to almost anywhere.  

The downside of SF would be the hilly downtown road. It can get a bit stressful when you drive in SF. The roads can get so steep that  you have to make sure your car brake is on when parking. SF can get really foggy too (in the Summer), especially in Daly City. I used to live near the Airport and sometimes the fog can get really thick that you feel you are driving in some eerie scary haunted road! You can barely see anything in front of you. 

Golden Gate Bridge

 Union Square

 Palace of Fine Arts

Twin Peak 

And as for Los Angeles.. it is a totally different city from SF. What do I love about Los Angeles? I love the fact that the city offers a wide variety of food - chinese, japanese, korean, vietnamese, greek, italian, french, everything you name it! I guess California has the highest percentage of Asian throughout the whole nation - many lived in LA & SF. And strange enough, LA is where I fell in love with Korean food. LA has a koreantown and they offer different types of korean food. The food in koreantown taste as good as the ones in Korea, some even taste better! LA has a more variety of food and nightlife as compared to SF. Most of the cafe places close really late at night unlike in SF. 

Places to visit? Of course there's theme parks such as Disneyland, Universal Studio & Six Flags. There are museums that you can visit such as LACMA. We usually go to LACMA to take pictures with the giant lanterns. The city is also known for the beaches. That you can't get it in SF because of the cold & foggy weather. You can go to Malibu, Santa Monica Beach, Huntington Beach, etc.  There are many places that you can go for hiking too - Runyon Canyon, Eaton Canyon to see the waterfall, Griffith Park Trails etc. 

The downside of LA would be the CRAZY traffic. The intersection between highway 405 & 10 is named the most traffic area in the whole United States! And to think that I used to live right off that highway. The weather can get really hot too. Winter can feel like summer because it doesn't get colder than 10 degree celsius?  

 LACMA lights 

Santa Monica Beach

 Disneyland

Eaton Canyon Hike

 Hollywood Sign Hike

So now you know LA & SF have different things to offer. I can't really say that I prefer one to the other. I love both cities. :) 

My 3rd favorite city would be New York. I wouldn't want to live there, but I would go back to visit the city. It is a fast paced city. Everyone just seems to be in a hurry. New York is the best place to go if you want to experience the real meaning of Christmas. You can even get a white Christmas aka snow on Christmas Day itself! Christmas songs are being played in every store and Christmas trees and decorations are everywhere. I love it! I want to visit NY every Christmas. ~~~ !

Places to visit would be to the Empire State building, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Top of the Rock & Rockefeller, Times Square, 9/11 memorial etc. There are many yummy places too such as Halal Guys (Gyros - Da BEST!), Ippudo Ramen, Serendipity, Toto Ramen and Peter Luger. New York is the place where people walk from one place to another. Traffic can get really bad especially in downtown. People rather walk than be stuck on traffic or paying for parking. Be prepared to walk  a few miles/kilometers a day or you can just take the subway/ taxi. 

 Statue of Liberty

 On top of the Empire State Building

 Rockefeller Center

Times Square

 Times Square

 On the street of New York with my family - notice that I am the smallest & shortest. 

This is not NewYork, but we were in the city of Buffalo playing with the thick snow!

Yes, I miss America very much. I would definitely visit all these places again. Some people would say that America is not safe because there are many "unstable" people that go on a rampage killing people. I can't deny that. However, I believe everyone has their time to come and go. If it is God's plan for them to leave, there is nothing you can do but to accept it. Of course daily prayers for protection and guidance would help to prevent any unexpected circumstances. 

With lots of love,

Claraaaa <3

Aceh & Weh Island

People have the stereotype that Aceh is not a safe city. But after my visit, I would say that is totally incorrect. 

So Aceh? 

Aceh is a province located at the northern end of Sumatra Island. Its capital city is Banda Aceh. The reason why people claim that it is unsafe is because it has the highest population of Muslim in Indonesia. The city itself follows the Muslims customs and laws. That said, there is a very strong support for Muslim across the province. People are required to wear pants that are at least knee length & non-sleeveless shirts; Muslim women are to cover their hair (wear a jilbab).

The whole province neither have a movie theater nor karaoke (probably only one or two). So the only entertainment there is is hanging out at coffee shops. Aceh is known for having many coffee shops with good quality coffee beans. 

The western province of Aceh was badly hit by Tsunami in 2004. Out of the 230,000 people that died or went missing worldwide, more than half came from Aceh itself. 90% of Banda Aceh city had to be rebuilt. 

I was curious about Aceh and since Dad wanted to go, my sister and I decided to tag along. We spent 2 nights in Banda Aceh and 1 night in Weh Island (a small island 45 min from Aceh). Having able to see the city for myself, I was pleasantly surprised - people are friendly, food taste good, city is safe and clean.

Day 1: Jakarta - Aceh
Woke up at 5 AM because flight was at 8.45am. We took Lion AIr because that was the only direct flight - 3 hours -. And as usual, the flight delayed for 30 minutes. 

But anyways we literally ate 5 times the moment we landed in Aceh. *FAT ALERT*

Traditional Aceh Food. It is somewhat similar to Padang style food, where they give you a variety of food in small portions. A few of Aceh's signature dish is "Ayam Tangkep (Caught Chicken)" - chicken cut into small pieces fried with pandan leaves & "Hot & Sour Fish Soup". I managed to try the Coffee Luwak (Civet Coffee), well expresso, for only 15,000 IDR (USD$1.50)!!! Coffee lovers would know how expensive this small cup can get. Why is it soooo cheap? That's because the owner has his own coffee plantation. The next food that we tried is "Mie Aceh" (Aceh Noodle). It tasted more like Hokkien Mie (Singapore style). However, we ordered the Aceh noodle crab.. so they literally put one whole crab with the noodle! And it costs only 35,000 IDR (USD$3.50)!!! After which we continued our culinary trip to eating Chicken Satay! It tasted okayyy.. but the sauce is really good, you can taste the peanut and spiciness. And as for dinner, we had another traditional Aceh Food that is similar to lunch, but I prefer lunch to dinner. We did not stop there. Our last meal for the day would be eating Roti Canai & drinking Teh Tarik. This is not Aceh food, but they tasted good! They even had Roti Canai with Durian, like REAL durian in it. Unfortunately I did not try it because my sister could not stand the smell of it. So that was the end of our first day - full of eating. 

While we were experiencing Aceh food, I noticed that people did not have judgmental look towards us being Chinese Indonesia. They are all in fact really nice and friendly and made sure that we got our orders right. None of the people that we met or passed by intimidate us. We were just enjoying our food and them doing their own business. 

 Here are some of the places we visited on our first day! 

 SITUS CAGAR BUDAYA - This monument was built for the girl that Sultan fell in love with. *I think*

 A Bell from China back in those days when they were traveling to Aceh. 

A showcase of how a traditional Aceh House looks like. 

Day 2: Aceh - Weh Island

We took a ferry for 45min to Pulau Weh (Weh Island) and its city is called Sabang. The island is known for its diversified ecosystem; coral reefs around the island are known for attracting many different types of fish. 

Here are some of the breathtaking views of the beautiful island... you can't get enough of it! And again, the people here are really friendly and they made sure that we enjoyed our stay in the island! 

 Having coconut & rujak while overseeing such breathaking view! for just 20,000IDR (USD$2)! 

we did snorkeling too! There's ALOT of sea urchins! 

We also visited the most western part of Indonesia! 

This is one of the more interesting food we tried. It is Sate Gurita (Satay Octopus) for 15,000IDR (USD$1.50). It tasted more like chicken than Octopus.. the sauce is sooo yummmeeeeeh that we ordered 1 more plate! In fact, I think this is the best sate I've tasted! (since I am not a big fan of sate)

Day 3: Weh Island - Aceh

Day 3 is back at Banda Aceh and it was the day that we looked into how Aceh was affected by Tsunami. In 2004, there was an earthquake in the Indian Ocean with an epicenter in the West Coast of Sumatra Island. Having to be the closest to the epicenter, the western part of Aceh was badly hit. First, there was an earthquake with a magniture of 8.6. After 15 minutes, Tsunami hit the island and resulted in over 130,000 either missing or died in Aceh alone. No one knew this was coming. The people thought that the world was gonna end because they had no idea was Tsunami was. Ocean water was gushing into the island at the speed of 300-400 km/hr with the height of about 20-25 meters. So you could imagine how horrified the people felt. 

So anyways, we visited the Tsunami Museum, the boat that was stuck on top of a house and saved 59 lives, and a bigger boat weighing 69 tonnes that was swept by the Tsunami from the port to 5km inland... Imagine that! We managed to hear stories from survivors themselves. Our tour guide even mentioned that their highschool classes were reduced from 7 classes to just 4! Sad to hear these stories. :( :( :( 

 Tsunami Museum 

the 69 tonnes boat that was swept by the Tsunami 4-5km inland!

With such catastrophe that happened almost 10 yrs ago (26th Dec 2004), Aceh was able to rebuild itself and is a better city now. The disaster also helped to create the peace agreement between the government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

This is another interesting food that we had. Soup Sum Sum (Bone Marrow Soup) for 40,000IDR (USD$4.00)! And contrary to the common myths, bone marrow is not high is cholesterol, but high is collagen and fats! YUMM! We had to share this because it was HUGE! We had to drink the bone marrow through the straw! 

Day 4: Aceh - Jakarta

Before we left for the airport, we made one last trip to visit the monumental Mosque - Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman. This is the mosque that saved many lives during the Tsunami. People were climbing up the Mosque to avoid the gushing water. The surroundings were hit by the treacherous water except the Mosque. 

Mesjid Raya Baiturrahman

Overall, I am very satisfied with Aceh & Pulau Weh. We felt very safe and people are very friendly. One of our guests left her phone in one of the places we visited. She called her phone and someone picked up and mentioned that her phone is safe with her. True enough, we managed to get back her phone without the holder asking for any compensation! That DOESN'T happen in Jakarta...! We ate & drink coffee non stop (like 5/6 times a day for food) and the weather was nice because it wasn't scorching hot. In fact, it rained everyday except the last day. But it wasnt that bad. So come visit Aceh if you have the time to! :) 

I can't wait for the next domestic trip! Hopefully it will be in November or December. Indonesia HAS a lot to offer. We just gotta embrace the natural beauty it offers. #iloveindonesia 

Also, I will be making a trip to Singapore (againn ) & Israel in the near future. 

Stay tune for those~~

With lots of love, 

Claraaaa <3

Cambodia & Thailand Trip

HELLO ~

I just came back from my Cambodian & Thailand trip. It was a short getaway of 5 days 4 nights for a visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia & Bangkok, Thailand. 

How do I like it? two words - FUN & TIRING. 

Day 1: Jakarta - Bangkok - Siem Reap.

There aren't any direct flights from Jakarta to Siem Reap, Cambodia. So we decided to take Air Asia from Jakarta - Bangkok, transit in Bangkok for 8 hours before flying to Siem Reap. We arrived in Bangkok at about 10.30am and our flight to Cambodia was at 8.00pm. In the 8 hour transit, our plan was to visit Wat Arun Temple & have lunch in Wang Doem Road (behind the temple). However, things did not turn out as simple as we planned. :( 

#1 taxi driver dropped us at the Grand Palace instead of Wat Arun Temple... !!! 

#2 it started raining heavily. ==" we didnt bring umbrella, and so we had to buy. 100baht per umbrella. My dear friend was bold enough to ask 3 umbrellas for 100baht... .... that made the seller really upset and ignored us instead. it was hilarious.  

#3 we were drenched and had to take tuktuk to Wat Arun because no taxi wanted to drive us there. so we got MORE wet.. zzzz! 

our first attempt taking the tuktuk during heavy rain 

However, the tuktuk driver was kind enough to help us find good food for lunch. It was by far the cheapest & best home cooked Thai food we tasted. I did not take pictures of the food because we were all too hungry. 

Smaller version of Komodo Dragon walking on the street?!

After lunch, we walked to Wat Arun Temple and somehow we came across a big lizard (like the smaller version of Komodo Dragon) walking on the street! It was SO RANDOM that our brains couldnt even process the fact that there's a BIG lizard walking in the street of Bangkok. RANDOM!

Entrance Fee to Wat Arun Temple is 50 Baht

So anyways, we found Wat Arun Temple and it began pouring again. ==" The weather wasn't on our side but we still embrace the fact that we are in Bangkok. Walked around the temple for 1.5hr before we head back to the airport to catch our next flight to Siem Reap! That pretty much sums up our 1st day! 

Wat Arun Temple - really steep steps

Day 2: Siem Reap

The reason we went to Siem Reap is because of famous Angkor Wat temple that is in the complex of Angkor Archaeological Park. So within the complex itself, there are over 200 temples (the area is about 400km2!) This area contains the remains of the different capitals of the Khmer Empire, from the 9th to the 15th century. We visited 3 famous temples - Bayon Temple/Angkor Thom, Ta Prom (the famous tomb raider) & Angkor Wat. The entrance fee to the park is 20USD for the entire day. Thankfully, the weather was much better than Day 1; well,it was scorching hot. I would say the sun is better than rain. So here are some of the pictures.

#1 Bayoan Temple/ Angkor Thom - this temple is my least favourite. There are WAY too many tourists and i feel suffocated. :( 

#2 Ta Prohm - this temple was the location of the film Tomb Raider. It is also known for its trees growing out of the ruins. 

#3 Angkor Wat - This temple was first built as a Hindu temple, then changed to Buddhist temple. It is also the largest religious monument in the world. 

We were exhausted by the time we visited the 3 temples. and I think we walked for more than 10km !!! The weather was so hot that we were drenched from our own sweat. (eww!) We went back to the hotel to take a quick shower before dinner. After dinner, we visited the night market and hang out at the pub. That was the end of our Cambodia Trip! 

Day 3: Siem Reap - Bangkok
Took the flight out to Bangkok and Day 3 was more of a chilaxing day for us. We had lunch, went to the platinum mall, tried thai massage, have dinner & visited the famous Sky Bar Dome. 

Food: We LOVE Thai food - so we had to try as many thai snacks/desserts/food as we could. Of course we tried WAY more food than the picture. Mango sticky rice, Thai Ice Tea & Coconut Ice Cream/Juice are a MUST to eat when you're in Thailand. 

Shopping: We visited Platinum Mall & Chatuchak Market (Day 5). Clothes are CHEAP! I think many Indonesians go to Bangkok to buy the clothes and sell it in Indonesia. The clothes are really cheap that they range from 30,000 IDR to 115,000IDR. I spent a total of 1,800 baht for 12 tops! (opppps) 

Thai Massage: This was our first time trying out Thai Massage. Whole body thai massage for 60min costs 250 Baht. The masseuse used her hands, knees, legs, and feet to work on stretching our body. It felt more like yoga without doing the work instead of the regular massage in Indonesia. 

Sky bar Dome: This is the highest sky bar in the world and the movie Hangover 2 was filmed here as well. It is located at Lebua Hotel. Really pretty view once you are up there. The only downside to this place is that the cocktails are extremely OVERPRICED. One regular cocktail costs about 700baht/268,800IDR... that is even more expensive than in Indonesia! So most people only came here to take pictures. 

Sky Bar - Dome

Day 4: Bangkok 
We visited the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Kaew & Wat Pho on the last day. 

#1 Grand Palace & Wat Phra Kaew
Opens from 8am - 3.30pm & 400Baht entrance fee. 

I believe this is the #1 tourist attractions in Bangkok, because THERE ARE JUST SO MANY PEOPLE... #toomanychinesetourists that you actually feel that you are in China. Like I said, I am not a big fan of crowds, so this place was kinda mehhh for me. But don't get me wrong, it is an extremely pretty and breathtaking temple & palace.

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

Wat Phra Kaew

The Grand Palace

#2 Wat Pho - Temple of the Reclining Buddha

Opens 8am - 5pm & 100 baht entrance fee

Wat Pho is one of the largest and oldest Wats in Bangkok and home to 1,000+ Buddhe images. 

Wat Pho - The Reclining Buddha

Day 5: Bangkok - Jakarta 
Day 5 was pretty much waking up and getting ready to the airport. Overall, it was a fun getaway trip and definitely a memorable one! Glad that I did not get tanner, because the next trip this week will be Aceh and I think that will make me go one shade darker.  

Stay tune for my next trip - Banda Aceh~ 

With lots of love, 
Claraaaa <3