Singapore - sept 2012

I went to Singapore for holiday with my friend (finally not office duty) we stayed there 14th -16th September 2012. We stayed at Kam leng hotel in jalan besar, Little India area. It is 3 star hotel with minimalist design. The room is small but still proper for 2 pax. it has no cupboard or drawer, they just provide hanger for your clothes, but you can borrow iron without additional charge here. Bathroom is clean but it has no curtain for shower. so u need to queu, bcos it has no gap between toilet and shower.Good thing about this hotel is there is bus stop in front of the hotel. u can took bus right to the city. And it's walking distance to Mustafa center (well, not actually walking distance since it's quite far around 15 -20 minutes).

 

The Kamleng Hotel Lobby

 

This is the hotel look from cross the street

 

 

 

Hoa nam building bus stop in jln Besar

 

 On the first day we went to Clarke quay, it's a hip place for hang out. Lots of bar and restaurant along the canal. and there's some street performance also. From hotel we took bus no. 130 from Hoa Nam Building) bus stop. we stop at Bugis station and took Bugis MRT and then stop at Orchard.

in Orchard MRT we took blue line to bukit panjang but we stop in little india for MRT exchange into purple line to harbour front. We stop at clarke quay and walk to singapore river

 

 



 Clarke quay

 

Lantern festive along the river

restaurant along the way

 

 Clarke quay is a great place for night out. you can have dinner, go to club or just simply sit along canal and see city lights.

 

On the next day, we went to USS. It's located in Sentosa. i took bus no. 130  (Hoa Nam Building) stop at Bugis station (5 stops), i took Bugis  MRT  (to bukit panjang) – stop at little india (change into purple line to harbour front) – stop at harbour front  – took monorail to sentosa. it's around half an hour from kamleng Hotel.

 

USS is quite hectic so i suggest you to come before 9 to avoid human traffic inside. First game we took is transformer, because it's new and everyone want to ride it. it's my 5th time to USS but i never get bored with all rides. and attraction :D my favorite is transformer, the mummy and steven spielberg. Oh and now they perform sesame street too.. my first time watched it. It's better if you get the map and special performance schedule, it helps you to plan your activity inside so you can watch all performance.

 

After USS we went to marina bay and had dinner at marina Baysands. The mall is big, it has river wit canoe for people who wanna ride it, the concept is like the venetian mall in Macaw (you can read my blog about it).

you can also watch laser performance every 8pm. good place for sightseeing.

 

New sesame street performance

In one of souvenir shop inside USS

 

 in front of marina Bay Sands

 

 it's in Marina Bay ok, no flash, can't see my face

 

 

After that we went to Mustafa center, since it's 24 hours so we spent our midnight there to buy chocolates, souvenirs and body care that is no available in indonesia. Love Mustafa center a lot, my must go place everytime i went to Singapore. Overall staying in Singapore with budget travelling is ok, total spend per pax is only IDR 3,500,000 (flight,hotel,transport,meals,souvnirs). we took Air Asia promo and eat at kopitiam. this kind of holiday is very affordable. Hope this blog will help you.

 

 





Surabaya

I'm in Surabaya for business trip. from 2 - 5 October 2012. Surabaya is the capital city for  east java.  It's almost like Jakarta but the weather is hotter.i stay at Java Paragon Hotel, it's a 4 star hotel near biggest shopping mall i Surabaya. Overall stayed are okay, only it's a little bit slow in service but friendliness are great.

This is the deluxe twin sharing room



This is the bathroom look, no bath tub only shower

 i ate duck for dinner. it's traditional fried duck with chillies (sambal). taste great, well the place might not look representative, but i guarantee the taste will not dissapoint you at all. The duck known as "bebek tugu" due to its location near Tugu pahlawan monument.

This is the duck, sorry not much light since it's night and semi outdoor

on second day i ate seafood in nelayan restaurant. It's a famous seafood restaurant in Surabaya. there is 2 branch one in mulyorejo and the other one near my hotel. i try the one in Mulyorejo near my meeting office. I ate kepiting saus Padang (Crab with spicy sauce), Tauge ikan asin (tauge with salty fish) and kerang bumbu lada hitam (oyster with black pepper sauce). taste are great, crab are fantastic!! and the portion comes in large portion. great dining experience. definitely will comeback here soon.

The menu of Layar Restaurant

Here's the food from left to right tauge ikan asin - kepiting saus padang - kerang lada hitam

Well not much things i can share about surabaya, but i hope this blog can help a little bit. :)

Bangkok - Thailand

i went to Bangkok at 25th February 2012, i went there with my friends. We spent 3 nights and 4 days there. We arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Airport is great so big and it's really clean and convenience. We rent a car to pick us from airport to hotel. It cost 3200 BHT. We stay at i residence hotel in sathron area. Hotel is good, near chong non si BTS (sky train) station and lots of food stall in the morning for breakfast. Hotel rate is acceptable, around IDR 650.000/ night. This hotel is very tight on person in room. They will charge you for the third person in room. Cleanliness and convenience are ok.

On Sunday we went to chacktuchat market, it's a weekend Traditional market. If you went to Bali, it's more like Pasar Sukowati. everything here are cheap! i got a good quality t shirt for 100 baht. If you buy 3 pieces. it become 70 baht for each. well since it's traditional market, they don't provide air conditioner and it is super hot on the afternoon. i got sweaty.. super sweaty. i suggest you to wear short pants and sleeveless shirt. to get here you can took BTS and stop at mo chit. it's walking distance from BTS station.

inside chaktuchat market

 

after chatuchak we went to platinum mall, it's a fashion mall. it's a shopping heaven.. u can find clothes for 100 baht and dress for 150 baht.good fashion, great materials and very cheap price. some store still accept bargain, but most of them are fixed price.in front of platinum mall u can go to pratunam market. it's like chatuchak but more small area. i find a short jeans for 50 baht or IDR 15.000 wow!! super cheap.. you can get here by taking BTS and stop at ratchadewi and took taxi around 100 baht.

Platinum mall

On monday we went to saduak floating market. it's quite far from main city. it took arond 1,5 hours from the hotel. well it's great experience in floating market. i suggest you only buy souvenirs and foods here, because other stuff are more expensive there.

floating market, sorry i didn't know how to rotate it.. LOL

After floating market, we went to the biggest pagoda in thailand. it's called pra pathom chedi. it's an icon of thailand. After that we went to shopping again at MBK. it's a mall but has more variety like electronics, foods, etc. it's more like ION in Singapore. you can get here by BTS and stop at National stadion.

Pra pathom chedi

At night we went to patpong. At the first time i wanna see pingpong show. it's an adult show that throwing pingpong balls using (sorry) miss cheerfull. But i cancel it since we wanna have dinner and don't wanna vomit after see the show. Patpong is more like red district area. you can get there by BTS and stop at ratchadewi. Along the way, there are pimps that give menu to all passenger. The menu is the prostitution price. You better avoid this street if you female and alone. In patpong night market they sell clothes and souvenirs but the price is very expensive here. for example, i bought a thai shirt for 100 baht at platinum, in patpong night market, for the same shirt they will give you 450 baht. Maybe because most of western came here for clubbing so it makes all stuff expensive. But you can go here if you were curious like me.

patpong night market

On Tuesday we went to Grand Palace, the entrance ticket is around 400 BHT. it's a must see place if u go to Bangkok. After Grand Placae we went to Wat Arun, you have to cross the chao praya river to get there. Here you can take pictures with Thai traditional clothes just by paid 100 BHT, such a great experience. After Wat Arun, we went to Wat Pho. Here you can see the giant sleeping Budha.

at Wat Arun, me n my friend in Thai traditional clothes

Wat pho - Giant sleeping Budha

My overall trip was fun and nice, i suggest that you wear sunblock here. It is hotter than Jakarta. I got tanned here. LOL. Bangkok is very reccomended for fashion shopping. Badly wanna come back there soon. :)