Bandung (Part 2/2)

I visited the hot springs and it was really good. The hottest was 40degrees and it was HOT. But quite a good experience. Since it was the fasting month, it wasn’t crowded and we had a lot of privacy. The water was crystal clear and feels quite alkaline.

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We came across alot of beggers – singles, couples and even kids. There were alot of guitarist and singers busking on the road. I was told that was how the famous Indonesian band PeterPan started out.

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I made a 2 hour trip up to the white crater – Ciater Puteh. Its quite beautiful but the smell of sulphur can be overpowering after 10 minutes. This volcano is dead, not active.

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They sold huge sized avacados. The pineapples were superb and is worth a try. Its even better than the Josephine (imho okay).  Strawberry and tea plantations are all around.

Bandung, Indonesia (part 1 of 2)

Ok folks, after much delay here’s the FR on Bandung.

Flight: 2 hours plus.

Attire: You can wear t-shirt and shorts during the day. A sweater would suffice for night. Its not all that cold.

Temperature: lows of 20s to highs of 26. Will only be cold when it rains.

Airport: Small, long queue at the immigration counters. But hardly any walking because its small.

Hotel: Jayakarta Boutique Hotel. Clean. Not near anywhere there’s shopping. you need wheels.

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Factory Outlets: There are many. Prices ranges from USD3 upwards depending on the type of attire, brand and fabric. Its cheap but then again, authenticity can be doubtful for some pieces. You HAVE to know your brands! Rumah Mode is quite swanky. I saw a Mon* Bla*c belt there which doesn’t have the proper “ahem” QC. The ladies will go crazy. They accept both cash and credit cards. There are a few types of clothing there. One with the tag cut, blacked out (you can easily find alot of these at the Reject Shop back home). Another are over-runs and this one you have to check the tag’s intact, no buttons missing or stains AND whether the brand you bought does produce that particular design or not. And there are those which are sized wrongly. Anyway, went to other factory outlets whose names i can’t recall – you really have to “DIG”. Not everything’s nice and in good condition but if you are not fussy then okay-lah. For me, i always like my tags intact and items in good condition which means I end up buying very little. Don’t forget to bargain when buying souvenirs Caveat emptor

Sight-seeing : Went to the active but currently dormant volcano called Tankuban Perahu. The journey up took a little over an hour. Beware of LOADS of vendors who will “tag” along with you long the way to persuade you to buy their wares. They are persistent. Caveat emptor. Other than that it was interesting to see an active volcano up close. My country doesn’t have such.

What to pack for a vacation

I’m going on a vacation tomorrow so I had to decide on what to pack.

How do you pack for a short vacation without lugging along too much?

For example, say you are going away for 4 days. The following pointers will give you a gist of what to pack.

1) Wear a pair of jeans on the departure date with sturdy shoes. You are to wear the same pair of jeans coming back. A good pair of jeans is very important for all vacations. You can wear them all the time without needing to wash it as often.

If the need be, pack clothes that are easy to wash, dry and doesn’t need ironing. This is if you need to pack really light and have to recycle your clothes.

2) For day 2 & 3, pack a pair of shorts or capris and a few tops. I packed my crocs as of all the footwear I have, this is the most versatile. It wears well, wet or dry (not the Ronald McDonald design) and its light! I now own 3 pairs of the same mary-janes in different colours. LOL. The crocs goes in a shoe bag.

3) I have put all my clothes in a laundry bag. The laundry bag will be used later on for dirty clothes.

4) All chargers for the phone, cameras and stuff are in a single bag. Do pack a universal socket thingy – just in case.

5) Get all your padlocks and the keys ready.

6) Have all your cosmetics such as shampoos and soaps in a leak-proof bag. What i did was, I brought along my shampoo, hair conditioner etc that was just enough for those few days and once finished, i just need to toss the bottles away. And okay, those bottles/containers are biodegradable.  This way, you don’t have to lug back anything/everything.

7) Make sure your passport is still valid.

8) Get your money ready.

9) Have your batteries fully charged so that you don’t miss any photo opportunities or be unable to make any phone calls.

10) Foldable bags are invaluable when you intend to do extra shopping and need storage. Being foldable means they take up very little space until they are needed.

11) Bring along all your medicines. If you have allergies or high-blood pressure etc etc, its important that the medicines are with you all the time.

If you have your things packed in separate storage bags you’ll find your luggage in a better order. This is more so if you have to share your luggage with someone else.

Singapore Butterfly Park @ Sentosa

Okay…. here’s a bit of my review on the Butterfly Park at Sentosa Island, Singapore. Do note that I’ve been to the Kuala Lumpur Butterfly Park about twice (Malaysia) and will undoubtedly compare the two together. This review is unbiased.

Singapore Butterfly Park

Transportation: I drove in thus had to pay SGD7 for the entrance fee to Sentosa Island. Parked next to the Butterfly Park and paid SGD5 for all-day parking.

Entrance fee to the park: SGD16

Lunch: My friend and I shared an 8″ pizza and two bottled isotonic drinks. Damage: not cheap but food was hot and freshly done.

The butterflies : There were hardly any…. pathetic. It was in a rather small space full of plants but not many “residents”. Too many “fruit” things put around as decoration which hampered my walking up and taking a decent photo of the butterflies. Expected to also see the Rajah Brooke but there was none. In fact, it seemed like there were more dead butterflies being exhibited then there were live ones. Pity the two other photographers who where there trying to take a decent photo. It was very boring. We proceeded to the next area of the park which had a host of very noisy parrots, a few kampung chickens walking around AND a very bored iguana. Then since there wasn’t anything else interesting, we walked into another area which housed all the dead insects and some live beetles and stuff. Uninteresting.

Its about 1/4th the size of the Butterfly Park in KL. Someone said that the KL Park is small already so you can imagine how much smaller the Singapore one is. So that was that….!

Verdict : I will never ever go there again because it is a waste of time and money. If you want to shoot macro photography, go to the Botanic Gardens – its free of charge.

Alice in Wonderland… & everyone’s going mad over it

But i haven’t had the chance to watch it yet.

Every where you go in Mid-v has some form of promotion relating to this movie.

I’d love to watch it having grown up reading the book.  **Anyway, I shot this using the lousy camera phone. Didn’t bring out the SLR because of the weight.

Flying the graveyard hour with AirAsia

The two flights I took was the first flights out.
I used to fly out this early but frankly, I do not enjoy it at all now.

Firstly, I had to wake up at 4:45am to take the cab at 5:15am so that I’ll reach there on time (cab fare cost me $110 this time… .faint!). Then its just nothing but walking and walking from the entrance, to the check-in counter to the departure hall and an extremely long trek to the plane. We used to measure walking to the plane by “how many metres it will take”. Now? Now its how many minutes you will take. I think it took me 10-15 minutes.

Flying on a budget flight is like taking a bus. Same long hours travelling, same tiny, cramp seats. And the thing is, the planes are lined up in the airport exactly like a bus terminal. They charge for luggage check in so everyone seems to hand carry. You have to also walk up the plane so carrying heavy bags is not easy.

Has air travelling become so “cheap” and uncomfortable?

It was never like this in the early days of travelling via budget airlines for local flights.

Anyway, once i landed back home, it was again another 10 – 15 minutes walk from the landing strip to the shuttle bus. AND they didn’t open the luggage hatch for luggages SO i had to lug up ALL my bags.

Air travel is more pain and bane.

I don’t think I want to attempt the first flights out anymore. Too tiring. I didn’t go to work today because i was just too exhausted.

Next time i’ll take the last flight out in the evening or take the train.

* i’m very small size so you can imagine for guys who are long-legged, it will be very tight.

Air Asia … again

Okay, i had to buy my return ticket online because there was a queue at the office counter and I didn’t have the time to wait there.

I still think $5 for a convenience fee is daylight robbery.

I am handcarrying my luggage again.

Thank God i bought that backpack. Quite useful. Had used it for the Sarawak interiors, then up a small mountain and now for my flights. But its cramp and all my clothes gets squashed!

Air Asia… your ticketing services sucks blood!

I’m flying off on Friday morning so that means I barely have enough time to complete my tasks.

Here’s the worse part, I booked myself on the wrong flight (time). Was supposed to fly at night, ended up had to fly in the morning. There goes one day’s leave. If i want to change flights (even within 10 mins of booking), i’ll have to pay $65 so i decided to just stick to the original flight plans.

Doesn’t help that Air Asia has decided to charge a $5 convenience fee for using the credit card. This is daylight robbery!!! Its already saving them heck alot not to have us phoning them and booking the flight via phone, we are already doing all the admin stuff that THEY were supposed to do and now they want to charge us for the card’s usage? Ridiculous.

Anyway, I’ll see if i can go buy my ticket from the AirAsia office or not and whether they’ll charge that stupid convenience fee. If they do, I’ll just pay cash.

Peranakan Museum …con’t

Inside the museum

Weddign headgear & jewelry

Our museum tour

Looking up

SG Peranakan Museum

Carrot brought me (and her mom) to the Singapore Peranakan Museum. It was a very very interesting visit. I love looking at old stuff. If walls (and things left behind) could talk, oh the stories they would tell. The carvings, jewelry and just about everything Peranakan was exquisitely made. The Peranakans took pains to create the best they could. Nothing was too small, too bothersome to be made beautiful. I saw some knee pads and they were the most beautiful i’ve seen.

I’ve resized the photos by 50%. Can say that I’m a bit “kiamsiap” with the space allocated by wordpress (yes, I want to stretch it as much as I can). Exif data?Between ISO 100 -160. Shutter speed about 1/10 – 1/80. Aperture f/2.8. All shot handheld, no flash fired.

I had a great time!

Beautifully beaded spectacle holder

Banister