Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Weekend Escape : Puncak


Let’s take a break for a while from China trip. In this post, I'm going to take you couple of hours away from Jakarta for a weekend getaway, easy Saturday morning tea-walk in Puncak. Been having some of these photos just sitting around in my laptop, and when I was replying some of fhe readers email about places to visit in Jakarta, I thought...heyyy I should post about Puncak. I actually recommended tourists to leave Jtown early in the morning to avoid the traffic, drive all the way to Puncak. You can spend the whole morning tea-walking, riding little horses, go for paragliding, lunch in Rindu Alam or Cimori restaurant. Perfect if you want to relax, away from skyscrapers, in fact this is my favorite place just to have a long walk, clear my mind, with a bit of day-dreaming. I remember how my girls were excited to do this short trip, Eno was so busy packing and choosing summer outfit, making sure her pants match enough with the top and shoes - for the sake of good pictures with little horse, while Mandy bought us some breads and snacks and Olga surprised me with her super sporty look like a real athlete ready to do marathon. Ha, you know girls are complicated ( sometimes ), except now Puncak surprisingly too hot, even at 6am we arrived at the tea-plantation,  I was sweating a lot. 

Speaking of which, I met 2 backpackers from Germany last Saturday when I was having brunch in Kemang area. My eyes caught this couple looked lost, just standing outside the restaurant for more than…15 minutes. I was exactly like that when I visited Cambodia, Vietnam, Beijing, or any new places I’ve never been before. Confused, scarred , excited at the same time trying to figure out how to get to the hotel, restaurants, bus station, etc. I could imagine it must be not easy for tourists coming to Jakarta or Indonesia for the first time. First, the traffic. Second, the language. I decided to say hello and asked if I could help them. Julius and Petra, students from Germany, were looking for taxi to take them to Gambir train station to visit Bandung. They wanted to do a bit of shopping in Bandung then go to Batu Karas to surf, but not so sure how to get there. I explained them they could either take night buses from Kampung Rambutan which all of you can read my previous post about Batu  Karas and Green Canyon. Aahhh listening to their story about Asia trip made me seriously can not wait til my Australia visa out in the next 2 weeks. From Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne to Tasmania. Stay tuned at Travelagys, meanwhile hope you enjoy photo below from Puncak














The weekend getaway short trip ended with big seafood dinner in 212 seafood Kelapa Gading. Eno was craving for lobster so she forced us to eat nothing but seafood that night. We ordered 10 different meals from squids, lobster, crab, ikan ayam-ayam, vegetables, grilled fish, and many more.

Who says small girls don't eat ?

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Summer Palace

ANOTHER GOOD NEWS for travel and food lovers in Indonesia ! EPICURE INDONESIA 
magazine - April issue  NOW ON STALLS ! Coming to Indonesia to give you  not only food, style, travel and restaurants reviews, but also some ultimate recipes for garden party, tips from top chefs, and many more....just the perfect guide for you ohhh food lovers ! Grab your copy guys ...

Epicure Indonesia April issue 2013 www.epicureindonesia.com

Catch my travel article :D

S U M M E R   P A L A C E - B E I J I N G

        Get ready to fall in love with how gorgeous Summer Palace ( Yiheyuan ) in winter. 16 KM from central Beijing, located in Haidian District, you can take subway line 4 and get off at Beigongmen station. The entrance fee costs you RMB 40. Enjoy walking and ice-skating in the frozen Kunming Lake, explore some old buildings and temple, the Seventeen-Arch bridge and Longevity Hill. I've never seen how's Summer Palace look like in Summer, but I'd say winter is the best time to visit this place. Less tourists, yes it's very cold, my high-heeled leather boots made it even harder for me to walk and run ( they said...beauty is pain ) but  my favorite part...I guess just sitting and watching the boys hanging in the frozen Kunming Lake for hours. Such a simple joy. Didn't believe my own eyes when they pulled my hands to walk with them in the frozen Kunming Lake, I mean in my head was what if all the ice melts and we'll all drown !!! 
       We even danced with some local women in the park, had this funny conversation with a local man that didn't want to take picture with me and my two girls - he thought we weren't beautiful enough, ouch. We really had good times and definitely recommend you to see Summer Palace too

Cheap and yummy crepes for breakfast
Having crepes and coffee before Summer Palace tour
Ten of us left the hostel really early in the morning to visit Summer Palace and Lama Temple. We were hungry, craving for hot coffee and anything..anything delicious for breakfast. Exit from Beigongmen station, one of our guys found this  little food stall selling hot crepes and coffee – just exactly what we need to start the big day. Plus it's cheap ! Perfect for backpackers... 








Summer Palace in winter





Walid Tirouche was an expert gymnastic teacher
Watching the frozen Kunming Lake

9 + 1 travelers