Just another weekend

The past weekend was HECTIC. We had Halloween Party on Friday in Jakarta before heading over to Singapore on Saturday & Sunday. Singapore trip was supposedly an errand trip. However, I managed to go to Singapore last month for a day trip and completed all the errands. Since we booked the tickets & hotel 2 months prior, this trip was more of a culinary, shopping & meeting up with friends. 

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

Here are some of the pictures from Halloween! Not all of us managed to dress up since Jakarta doesn't really have a Halloween store for us to shop costumes. I decided to wear my red dress that kinda look like a middle eastern-ish dress (even though my friend got 'upset' because she said it doesn't look like any costume). 

We went to Colosseum that is located in Central Jakarta. Central Jakarta is known for its red light district. I was hesitant about going there because of what I've been hearing. Nevertheless, we went there because our friend opened a private room for us all. I think it's way safer than being in the dance floor with strangers. It was a fun night! :) 

 1 NIGHT IN SINGAPORE 

Our flight to Singapore was 08.30AM the next morning and we had to make sure that we leave for the airport latest by 06.30AM. Thankfully, we managed to wake up on time to catch our flight. It was an EXTREMELY short trip to Singapore that we barely have enough time to do anything! Unfortunately for this trip, I did not take many pictures. :( So here are some pictures that my friends took. 

Once we landed in Singapore, we took the taxi to our hotel and head for our lunch at Aoki. 

Hotel - Holiday Inn Express @ Orchard Road. Stayed here twice and I am very satisfied with this hotel. Not only it is located in the heart of Orchard Road (opposite Paragon), but its price is also very reasonable (About SGD$200 all in). This hotel is definitely the cheapest that you can find around town area. The hotel provides free parking, free wifi & free breakfast! And if you are an IHG member, you are able to have an early check in & out. So this is the hotel that I will be staying whenever I am coming to Singapore. 

#1 Lunch @ Aoki
1 Scotts Road. #02-17 
Shaw Centre, Singapore 

Our first stop for lunch is Aoki. We had to reserve this restaurant a month in advance! The restaurant is known for its fresh sashimi. However, we did not order that for lunch. Intrigued by fellow Indonesians' instagram pictures of the Wagyu Truffle Donburi, we decided to get that instead. The donburi was not on the menu and so we did not know about the price until the bill came. I love truffle and I love wagyu and thus this is by far one of the better ones I've tasted. The wagyu melts in your mouth with the truffle on top of it. IT'S SO GOOD! However, I don't think the restaurant service is on par as the quality of its food and price. Anyways, a bowl of 70g wagyu truffle donburi with the real truffle cost SGD$156... I guess if you order without the truffle itself, the price would have been halfed. So if you are not ready to spend that much money on such a small bowl for lunch, then I suggest you going to Fat Cow instead. I would say that Fat Cow Seared Foie Gras Donburi is not as good as Aoki's but it's three time cheaper with bigger portion! I'll come back to Aoki to try their sashimi, which is definitely far less pricier that the donburi!

Wagyu Truffle Donburi - 70 gram

#2 Dinner @ Fordharm & Grand

43 Craig Road, Singapore 089681

Our second meal for the day is at Fordharm & Grand. This wasnt our initial dinner destination. We were supposed to eat at Market Grill but they had an hour wait... So my friends decided to head to this restaurant. Even though I grew up in Singapore for 10 years, I have no clue about good restaurants. Thankfully, my Singapore friends always bring me to good places to eat. Yumm! 

Appetizers:

Green Asparagus, egg confit & Joselito Jamon

Main Course:

Lobster Linguine, ginger, chilli, coriander & olive oil

Fish of the day, tiger prawns & Ratatouille

Slow-roasted duck leg, sunchoke & Foie gras

Roasted Chicken roulade, carrot puree & glazed vegetables

Dessert:

Banana cake, caramel, chocolate chantilly & vanilla ice cream

Overall good food with good price and good service! Me likey and will come back for the second time. 

Appetizer - Green Asparagus 

Slow roasted duck leg

#3 Snack @ Honey Creme
313 Orchard Road (next to taxi stand of 313 Mall)
#01-37, Singapore 238895 

Honey Creme is a Korean Style soft served Ice cream topped with interesting toppings such as popcorn, Cotton Candy, Honey comb, etc. I've tasted this style of ice cream in Korea itself. If I were to give the one in Korea an 8.5/10 for its awesome taste, Honey Creme would be 5.5/10. :( It is definitely not as good as the one in Korea. Honey Creme is overpriced (price ranges from SGD5.90 - SGD 6.90) for a small sized vanilla soft serve ice cream and a topping. I ordered the honey comb and they gave us a minute size of honeycomb. The taste itself is a little bit too heavy for me. The one I had in Korea serves bigger portion & topping and the vanilla tasted light and not as sweet. 

VS this MILKY BEE IN KOREA! The size is bigger and way yummier! (though you can't really see the size difference from the pictures)

#4 Lunch @ Taste Paradise

Ion Orchard

Level 4 

Our last meal in Singapore is at Taste Paradise for Dim Sum. We made a reservation the day before just in case there was a waiting line. The Dimsum here is one of the best. Again, I did not take pictures. :( I do not eat Custard bun (Liu Sha Bao), but people said it is the best one in town. The restaurant is also known for its deep-fried prawn with mango roll. We had the regular dimsum dishes and every single dish tasted really good. My favorite dish of all is their XO Carrot Cake. Good dimsum comes with a price tag. You can say that Taste Paradise is a fine dining Dimsum place. There were 4 of us and it cost about $20 per person for a total of about 10 dishes. 

Some pictures we took while visiting Singapore. 

This pretty much sums up my short visit to Singapore. I really want to be able to stay in Singapore more than just a weekend but time is never really on my side. Nevertheless, I am thankful for the time given to me to be able to visit the country I grew up in. 

With lots of love, 

Claraaaa <3

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