Wat Pho & Wat Arun - Bangkok

     Happy birthday to me !!! Had a great party last night with my darling Yasmin and Azzam. Did a little bar hopping, one of my favorites definitely Q Bar at 34 Sukhumvit Soi 11 - which I recommend you to stop by there for drinks and dance. Speaking of which, wow, 24 years old, even  to be honest nothing really special with number 24, but it's all about the upcoming projects and trip that really excites me..Ok, that's enough with the birthday speech - my last day in Bangkok, I went to Grand Palace, Wat Pho and Wat Arun. I took Chao Phraya Express Boat ( one way ticket 40 THB ) from Saphan Taksin Pier / Saphan Taksin BTS station to Tha Tien Pier. More info about the route, fare, and time table you can click Chao Phraya Express Boat . From Tha Tien Pier, I took a small boat ( 3 THB ) to accross the river going into Wat Arun monument ( 50 THB ). While The Grand Palace was full of tourists and local people, I found Wat Pho and Wat Arun more interesting to explore. Fell in love with the details and color of the temple, completely different with most of temples I've seen by far. Done with Wat Arun, I took the small boat again back to Tha Tien Pier, stay tuned for more photos from Grand Palace...

Khao San Road and D&D Inn

Democracy Monument

My best friend lost her passport just 10 hours before our flight to Bangkok. We have planned everything ( well actually she planned everything ) from accommodation, itineraries - including my birthday dinner.It was such a shame I ended up flying solo. Traveling solo actually isn't a big deal for me as I've done that many times and always met lots of people, but this idea of 2 bff exploring Bangkok together, celebrating my birthday - aww seriously they all sounded too good for me. Anyway, Ricil going to make a new passport on Monday and we're gonna travel together sometime in August. 

Nowwww reporting live from Khao San Road - Bangkok, I arrived last night, had a lil adventure getting into Khao San Road - without taxi. For me airport has always been adventure no.1 when it comes to travel to new places. I hardly do research and always prefer to take public transportation, it's even more exciting when i dont actually speak the language. So I asked the airport officer and they told me to catch the shuttle bus from the Gate 5, it's free and the shuttle bus will take you to public transportation.

In the public transportation area, after asking different people how to get to khao San road, they told me to take white mini van number 551 for only 40 baht. I met couples from Germany and Russia and together we found out how to accomplish this mission to get to Khao San Rd. 

The mini van stopped nearby the Victory Monument, with a broken english the driver told us to accross the street and catch bus number 59. 10 minutes later the big bus number 59 arrived ( 20 baht ) and less than 30 minutes we arrived near the Democracy monument, just next to Khao San Road.

Khao San Road reminds me of Patong, Pham Ngu Lao in Vietnam. Backpackers favorite stop in Bangkok. Super loud music, backpackers drinking beers, partying, local restaurant and ahhh my favorite street food ( happy to have 30 baht mango sticky rice and another 30baht for Pad Thai ), with local people selling stuff from clothes to souvenirs. Always good to see different vibes in different countries. Then I saw this D&D Inn, staying in a standard room- very clean with AC, toilet, rooftop swimming pool, tv for only 600baht per night. Including free breakfast buffet !!! Exactly what all backpackers need in this summer yayy

So here I post some photos from Khao San Road and the room in D&D Inn. Its unbelievably amazing how things are cheaper in Bangkok than Phuket. You don't have to go to any restaurants, simply because the street food offers excellent meals. Will post soon about transportation and places around Khao San Road, stay tuned

Street food at Khao San Road

Rooftop pool at D&D Inn

Shanghai

I took the D313 train departed at 7.30 pm from Beijing South. The receptionist from Sunrise Hostel - where I was staying in Beijing - helped me booking the ticket, it was around $90 or RMB 616 for a soft sleeper train, very clean and comfortable in fact I had a really good sleep there. We arrived around 8 am in Shanghai, as Walid recommended me to stay at Mingtown Nanjing Road Youth Hostel, from Shanghai  Railway Station I took metro line 1 to People Square then change for Line 2, go to East Nanjing Road. Exit 1, turn right and take the road which cross the pedestrian street, turn left in the first corner and voila…I found the hostel. 60 RMB per night for dorm room, the hostel only few minutes walking distance to The Bund, People Square and metro station. Offers high-speed internet connection, kitchen on the second floor, cafe, private lockers, toilets and amazing staff. They were very helpful when I lost my credit card, one of the girl there was very sweet talking to the police officer and bank people when I was too panic realizing that I wouldn't have enough money to survive in Shanghai. 

Beijing South

Mingtown Nanjing Road Youth Hostel

Mingtown Nanjing Road Youth Hostel lobby. Wifi and cafe.

Glad that Shanghai temperature wasn’t as cold as Beijing, 5’ Celcius just perfect to stroll along the Nanjing Road with  Bright, Miu and Karla. They showed me around and took me to the Yuyuan Garden, we had  an afternoon tea at this small but simply gorgeous tea house while watching the snowfall, then  went to Xin Tian Di and had a big big Chinese dinner at Bright’s favorite restaurant.  The next day Bright walked me around The Bund , Huangpu River and French Concession. Giant skyscrapers, colorful lights and hundred of tourists capturing their-so-called-Shanghai moment while some local people were busy setting up a big stage for New Year’s eve party tomorrow evening. it’s going to be a huge new year’s eve celebration in Shanghai, with the fireworks, music, party and definitely thousand of people would come together to the Bund. Wow, how time flies really fast that it’s already been 6 months ago since my last visit in Shanghai at the end of 2012. Celebrating quiet Christmas in Beijing and New year in Shanghai was a very unique experience to me,  especially when I lost my credit card, wait nooo, I didn’t really lose it, it was more like the ATM machine kept my card right before I headed for new year’s party. Practically only had RMB 100 in my pocket, had to cancel my trip to Hangzhou and staying in Shanghai instead til my departure back to Indonesia.  Thank God Bright was being really nice that he actually looking after me so I didn’t have to eat the cup noodles 3 times a day. Lesson from this trip, it’s important to always have some extra cash in pocket.  

That's Miss Karla exploring Shanghai

With my gorgeous Miu

Tea time with Karla Mrsan, Miu and Guang Bright

The Bund at night

Runaway Bride

Hot egg tarts and tea definitely my favorite breakfast menu in Shanghai. Just next to the metro station East Nanjing Road – Exit 1 near the Mingtown Nanjing Road Youth Hostel, there’s a small egg tarts shop you should try when you pass by this area. You can tell the cake tastes so good from lots of people lined up since the shop opens til 7pm-ish. Just a perfect companion when ( in this case ) I lost my credit card, didn’t have money, too tired to walk around and prefer to chill on the comfy couch inside the hostel practicing my Mandarin with Francesco and Tony from Australia. Happy that fiiiiinally it was time for me to leave Shanghai ( seriously traveling with almost zero renminbi wasn’t fun at all ) , even tho it was good to reconnect with some good old friends of mine, exploring The Bund, celebrating New Year, culinary, and quality time with Miu. I took Maglev train from Longyang Road station to Shanghai Pudong International Airport, single trip ticket costs 50 yuan. Very fast and convenient. Shame when I reached the airport I couldn't find any Starbucks, McD or Burger King inside the airport but ooh this lil cutie airport man from Aalen, Germany sitting behind me, looking starving and a bit hangover from New Year's party. All Niki got for me was a bottle of coca-cola, and his bad plan to steal some cup noodles from an old Chinese guy next to my seat. Gotta love having someone to chat when it was sooo boring  waiting at the airport, at least Niki probably smile when he read this post.  

Maglev Train

Waiting for Maglev Train

Here's a little budget information in Shanghai

Mingtown Nanjing Road Youth Hostel RMB 60 for dorm room / night

Metro = RMB 2 - 4 / single trip ( RMB 20 per day )

Meals = RMB 40 - 50 / person per meals

Beijing

  

      It was snowing heavily outside the Sunrise Hostel. How I wish I could stay one more night in Beijing but my night train to Shanghai about to leave in 4 hours. Been staying in Sunrise hostel for 5 days with some new friends from France and Germany, I remember the first day I arrived in Beijing, I had no idea where I would stay. Then I ran into this super nice doctor from Indonesia, we happened to ride the same shuttle bus from airport to Beijing Railway Station. He was my first hero from my China trip. Doctor Sugih helped me to find Sunrise hostel, I was so lucky to actually meet him in the airport.
      The next thing, I didn’t want to leave my room because it was too cold outside, I hated the cold, my ear hurts and I wasn’t so excited to explore the city. But then I fell in love with the parks, the Great Wall, the people, my travel buddies, the culture, almost everything I saw here – even my dorm room and this small restaurant, they already like a new home to me. I guess this is what I like most about traveling. Meeting people from all over the world, completely different background, culture , languages. Walid, Salah, and Salim paid their meals and ran to the Beijing South  station to catch train back to Shanghai. I couldn’t run as fast as those crazy big guys, my high-heel boots just not the right shoes to run and since it was my very first time walking under the snow,  I let them go and take my time enjoying Beijing . I was giggling happy thinking about our trip to Summer Palace, walking on the frozen Kunming lake, long journey to Great Wall Mutianyu and the night market where the boys ate worms and scorpions. Super good times !

That happy girl

Temple of Heaven

Wear a comfortable shoes for a half day tour in Forbidden City

Feel free to check my previous post about Great Wall Mutianyu ,Summer Palace, Qianmen Street, Wangfujing Night Market, China InstaGoodies. I spent totally 5 days in Beijing. It's too bad I didn't go to the Olympic sites, Drum and Bell Tower and museums, but if you only have 5 days to explore Beijing then I would recommend you to visit those places and Temple of Heaven, Lama temple and hutongs.

Day 1 : Arrived in the morning * Dongcheng district * Wangfujing Night Market
Day 2 : Half day tour at Great Wall Mutianyu * Wangfujing * Hutong
Day 3 : Half day tour at Summer Palace * Lama Temple * Hutong *
Day 4 :  Shopping and breakfast at Qianmen street * Tiananmen Square * Temple of Heaven
Day 5 :  Half day tour at Forbidden City then back to hostel, check out..next stop : Shanghai...

Here's a budget for 5 days in Beijing. I brought cash $400 to cover my travel expenses for 5 days in Beijing and another 5 days in Shanghai. It turned out that the ATM machine in Shanghai kept my credit card forever, so I survived with $400 til my last day in Shanghai. But really speaking about budget it really depends on how wise you spend it on entertainment, food, transportation, etc.
I personally spent $25 - 30 / day ( accommodation, transportation, meals, admission fees to tourism places ) in Beijing and Shanghai...and was lucky enough I got $450 for return flight tickets Jakarta-Beijing-Shanghai-Jakarta with AirAsia :)

Sunrise Hostel = RMB 55/night for dorm room ( RMB 55 X 4 nights = RMB 220 )
Shuttle Bus from airport, Line 3 to Beijing Railway Station = RMB 16
Metro = RMB 2/ single trip ( RMB 6 - 8 per day )
Entrance Great Wall Mutianyu = RMB 45 ( Plus RMB 80 for round trip cable car )
Entrance Summer Palace          RMB 40

Entrance Lama Temple             RMB 25

Entrance Temple of Heaven      RMB 35

Entrance Forbidden City           RMB 60

Ticket train to Shanghai            RMB 616

Food                                          RMB 20 – 40 / person

normally 5 of us ordered different kind of big meals, like meat, rice, soup and vegetables and share the costs. That way is much easier and cheaper. Avoid eating at the big restaurant in the main touristic street, Clement found us a really nice and cheap restaurant just behind Wangfujing street. Too bad I forgot the name. Other option, fast food restaurant like McD, Burger King, Yoshinoya for those who don’t really like Chinese food.

Temple of Heaven

Lama Temple, Beijing

Kunming Lake, Summer Palace

The room in Sunrise Hostel Beijing

Sunrise Hostel Bar

Time to leave Beijing. Next stop : Shanghai. I took some photos inside the train just in case if anyone of you wonder how's the train with soft sleeper looks like in China. They're sooo comfortable, wish we had things like this in Indonesia.

Beijing South Station

Soft Sleeper D313