Stupid GPS and a Sneak Peek at Next Getaway

October 3, 2010, Sunday

Oh my, I don’t know if I ever again will truly rely on GPS!! So here’s the story. Mum and dad had reserved a resort at Kintamani for the next holiday. Since I’m pretty much a curious person, I asked mum a lot about this place until she couldn’t take it anymore and suggested why didn’t I checked the place out myself. And me being me, I said why not? That day was Sunday, so our plan *initial plan* was to go to church at 7 am, go to Kintamani, have lunch at Warung Bu Oka, Ubud, and finally pick up mum at the airport. But as usual, a plan is a plan. What is a plan without someone *unintentionally* trying to mess it up? (In this case that person was me). Yes, I wake up at 7, the service begin at 7 while it took us approximately 45 minutes to drive to church from the hotel. So, we decided to skip the morning service but we would still go to church… why? Because I really wanted to eat lumpia (spring roll) sold at church food court.

After we grabbed those yummy lumpia, Kintamani was our next destination. Now, this is the turning point. Dad was going with us, so he could show us directions, but… BUT… because of this new GPS device installed in our car, we would like to try it. This way dad wouldn’t need to pay that close attention on the road. So we followed the GPS directions.

It was okay for I think the first 20 minutes before bf missed the turn. Sure enough, the GPS showed us the alternate route. Then, us being innocent, without suspicion followed the directions. The roads pointed by the freakin’ GPS were all small roads, we even made a joke that time: “Even the GPS knows the side road”. After a while, things got worse, the road became even narrower, windier, going up and down in a dangerous steep, not suitable for car. But we kept on driving. Not long, we heard a loud scratching sound from under the car. Yes, the road condition was that bad it scratched the car body. The joke was on us then :( We decided to turn back, and what a nightmare. The road was narrow, with a dried small river on either side. And when the car passed the same road, we heard the same heart-ripping sound (oh, I felt sorry for the car).

Well, we were a bit down at the time. But felt a bit relax after we reached the resort. It’s a lake-front resort, very quiet and isolated.

A long journey caused us hungry and as planned, we headed to Warung Bu Oka. Now, there was a Balinese wedding ceremony held at the temple next to Warung Bu Oka. It turned out to be Happy Salma’s wedding. Well, because of it, they closed down the place for the day, so we decided to go to Bu Oka’s other restaurant :p Oh yes, we all  couldn’t take anything other than Bu Oka’s famous “Babi Guling” for our lunch. Bon Appétit.

Home Sweet Home

October 01, 2010, Friday

Me and bf went to Bali for the weekend. It was a short trip but enough to lift up my spirit. Boy, heaven knows how much I needed holiday. Anyway, our flight was at 9 PM, so we had to rush after work to catch the flight.

October 02, 2010, Saturday

Early in the morning, we packed our bag again coz mum had booked us a hotel room at Nusa Dua. But sadly, mum couldn’t join us, she went to Semarang later that day. We had our breakfast at Sanur beach; a local fave, Nasi Bali. The place run by three Balinese women and not that commercialize that it’s known only to local. Afterward, we sent off mum at the airport and straight away went to have… a SPA!!! Oh gosh, my shoulder and back were killing me for the past few months, so having a spa was just a must ha ha. The last time I had spa was.. I think December 2007… Kinda like déjàvu to me. Only this time, I was with the person who, despite knowing the ugliest side of me still wants to be with me. Hmm.. enough about that, overall it was a nice, relaxing time.

After being pampered, me, bf, pa, phopho and her two sisters went to Sanur to have lunch at Mak Beng warong before headed to Novotel Hotel. Mak Beng warong only has one single menu, i.e. fish head soup and fried fish. The fish head soup? Super delish.

At the hotel, I couldn’t wait another minute to throw myself into the swimming pool. Hungry after rounds of swimming, there’s no better place for dining out than Jimbaran! Pa managed to get the big family gathered in. What a nice way to end the day with the lovely crowd.

 

The three sisters

 

Greetings from Singapore Flyer

August 29, 2010

I finally got a chance to take a ride on Singapore Flyer. It’s a giant ferris wheel with an approximately 40 stories in height and claimed to be Singapore’s most recognizable icon. The ride lasts for about an hour (or maybe less?? couldn’t remember). What I enjoyed most was the height!! I love high places where I can observe everything below, and indeed, what a breathtaking view I got to see from inside the Flyer capsule. We went there at noon so we still got a clear view of a blazing Singapore city. I wonder what it’ll look like at night, must be more awesome.

Well, all this thanks to a colleague of mine. He’s funny and kind (there, I give you that Brandon *grin*). He got two special-price tickets so I took them haha. Thanks a lot man.

my new baby

Di email katanya ipad gw bakal dikirim tgl 19 august, eeeh ternyata dikirimnya lebih cepet. Hari jumat tgl 13, pulang kantor aku langsung ngepel2 as usual, trus tau2 ada yg ketuk pintu rumah, and tadaaa… dhl delivery man berdiri dengan manisnya sambil bawa kotak ipad ^^ Hmm have been using it for playing games instead of initial intention (ie. Reading books :p

Weekend with Friends

Singapore Art Festival, June 5, 2010

Uda lupa chronologist-nya gimana saking lamanya ga di-post hehe. Seingetku, kita ketemuan di Takashimaya buat lunch bareng di Korean resto, after that, off we went to Sing Art Fest. What a hot day! Kita nonton performing art dari France artists, seperti biasa, kalo nonton yg model2 contemporary art gitu suka ada perasaan uneasy feeling… mungkin karena temanya juga kali yah.

 

Marina Barrage, June 6, 2010

 

 

 

 

 

 

Klo yang ini bener2 mengecewakan, gw pikir Marina Barrage tuh keren abis tempatnya, eeeh ternyata ya cuman gitu, reservoir doank. Banyak orang yang maen layangan. Jd inget cerita Kite Runner :p

 

Marina at Keppel Bay, July 31, 2010

Nah ini pas si Mr. Rendy aka Unko dateng berkunjung ke Sg. Ceritanya hari sebelumnya gw diajak si boss ke Marina at Keppel Bay, tempatnya bagus, ada banyak yacht lagi nangkring. Yang gw seneng dr tempat ini tuh ada water-front cafe. Enak banget buat santai-santai, ngobrol, enjoy a cup of coffee, and of course I can see myself spending a hell lot of time reading a good book there. Jadi, besoknya gw ajak mereka kesitu buat having brunch hehe.

I had mushroom soup, yum                            Bf got himself … forgot the name :p

 

Movie Weeks

 

For the last two weeks, we’ve been spending our weekends watching movies. Some of them are Inception and Despicable Me. Okay, I was a bit skeptical about Inception, coz I don’t really like watching movie that requires me to think! Come on, you’re supposed to be able to relax, sit tight, and enjoy the popcorn. That’s what a good movie is all about *at least for me*. Well, how wrong I was. I love the movie. I enjoyed it so much I could watch it again the second time! It left me with an uneasy feeling, the one I always get whenever I watch a good movie.

As for Despicable Me… to be honest, I really didn’t want to watch it, seriously, I didn’t. It was because bf seemed to be all enthusiastic to go and watch it. So I was like… “okay I’ll go, but just for the sake of watching it”. And again, I was wrong. Despicable Me was refreshing though not that good it deserves only 3.5 out of 5 popcorns from me :p

It begins a bit slow but things got more exciting when it reaches a part where the world’s greatest villain starts to build relationship with the three little girls. From there, I started to enjoy the movie. And the yellow minions, aren’t they adorable? The way they talk and laugh, lol, I couldn’t help but wondering whether they will have minion dolls available in store anytime soon haha. Would be happy to own one.

After 12

Baru aja nonton acaranya Jamie Aditya, After 12. Jadi ini ceritanya Jamie pergi ke negara2 di Asia, trus ya cari tau tentang night life disitu, ke tempat2 yg masi buka after 12, nyobain local delicacies nya juga. Nah kali ini liputannya tentang a night life in Ho Chi Minh. Trus si Jamie comment:

"Now I know why Vietnamese adopt 'Joie de la vie' so much. It's because they almost die crossing the street everyday!! Do not ever try to cross the street in Ho Chi Min City!" 

And... that was it, the killer one-liner LOL :p Senengnya nonton acaranya Jamie Aditya ya ini, dijamin adaaa aja comment2 aneh bin ajaib yang keluar dr dia wakkakkaka. Sepanjang acara dia nge-joke terus, lumayan jd obat stress, what a good show!! Two thumbs up. Jadi kangen sama jaman2 aku dulu masi smp, nonton mtv asia ^^ hhh I love funny guy. Me a big fan of you, Jamie *star-struck mode on*

Sir, Where's Your Manner??

Hhh lunch hari ini bener2 bikin bt gara2 ojii san ga tau diri *hmmph*. Jadi ceritanya td lunch bareng colleague di Plaza Singapura, food court. Kita makan berdua di meja buat 4 orang gitu, disamping gue ada meja kosong buat 4 org jg, nah si kakek baru dateng duduk disono. Baru ketauan nyebelinnya pas anaknya (ato istrinya, whatever) dateng bawain makanan di tray. Eeeehhhhhh si kakek dengan seenaknya naruh tu tray di meja gue!!! Reaksi pertama gw: bengong. Trus first thought; ooh mungkin mejanya sempit kali, jd traynya ditaruh di meja gw. Abis mikir gt, langsung inget; lah bukannya meja dia jg meja buat 4 orang ya, kan berarti masi banyak tempat. Jadilah gw emosi donk, tp yaah ditahan2.

Si anaknya/istrinya pergi lagi buat mesen makanan buat dia sendiri, pas balik ya bawa tray lagi donk, si kakek dengan seenak jidatnya naruh itu freaking tray di meja gua lagi!!!! OMG, are you kidding me!! I mean I'm okay if someone put, like, a stack of trays on my table, but please ASK me first!! I'm even willing to help you put those trays back to the stall if you ask me. Gw agak sensi d klo ketemu orang yg ga ada manner sama skali kayak gitu. Tp emang sih disini gw liat semakin tua, mrk makin ga peduli orang lain. Beda ma di jpn. Disana pengalaman gw belom perna tuh ketemu orang2 tua yg ga tau diri. Yg ada malah semakin tua semakin sopannya minta ampun.

Hhh jadi tadi yah gitu d, makan juga jadi ga enak. Hmm harus berusaha jd lebih sabar lagi.

Libur donk!!!

I seriously need holiday!!!!

The Only Thing That I Can Do For You

Pour Mon Amie,

Sampe sekarang, tetep rasanya terharu and so thankful klo inget dulu, how you supported me, cheered me up during the lowest point of my life. Masi inget nabe party kita di Machida dulu, at winter time? hehe. Tiba2 lu and temen2 yg lain dateng ke kamarku and masak2 haha. You really had no idea how much I thanked you for that.

Out of all, a memory that I cherish most, a memory that always, always brings warmth to my heart is that moment, that small party in the evening. Even though I felt like dying, having all my best friends around me  back then comforted me. Meskipun apa yg gw alami dulu sama skali ga bisa dibandingin to what you are going through right now, I’d like to think the same way; that having your best friends with you during this difficult time of yours, to be there for you, can really help in some way or another.

So now, I want you to know, to believe that all your friends that love you are right beside you. And I soo believe in the power of prayer. So, even though I cannot arrange a nabe party for you when you come back *hehe*, at least I can send you a prayer from a far.

Mon Anniversaire

.: May 31, Monday :.

pour mon cher, merci ^^

~ a beautiful red roses bouquet ~

 

pour mes amis

~ Presents from my friends in Japan, thanks to Teddy who brought these to Sing ~

 

.: Little Danbo and the Talking Oji-San :.

 

.: My fave of all, sketch books :.

 

Church Camp@Bukit Tinggi, Malaysia

.: May 28 & 29, 2010 :.

Church camp @Bukit Tinggi, Malaysia

We stayed at a European-village-theme resort located at Bukit Tinggi.

    ~ Life Changer Team ~

 

~ Going back to Singapore ~

1st Universal Studio Singapore Trip

.: May 8, 2010, Saturday :.

When mom and dad came here to have yet another eye checkup for pa, we went to check out the newest attraction spot, USS. Actually I didn't feel like going coz i felt that the $72 entrance fee was too much, it wasn't worth the bucks given the fact that only 3 out of 5 themes are working. That, and of course the size of it. I've been to Universal Studio Japan and USS looks like a mini-me version of USJ. Oh one more thing, no parade!! How come we have no parade??. A theme park *and we're talking about no ordinary theme park here, it's Universal Studio for crying out loud!!* without a single parade is just too disappointing.

Anyhow, we ended up buying the ticket *sigh* after finished wandering about the resort world Sentosa and we really got no idea where else to go. We entered the venue at around 12pm. It was super super hot, i felt like i had glue on all over my body *sweat*.

~ We made a trip to this store whenever we thought we couldn't handle
the heat *grin*, located just next to USS entrance point. An oasis indeed ~

   

 

~ The famous globe ~

   

 

 

We didn't try some of the major rides tho, coz, gosh… the long queue was certainly the mood killer.

At around 6 pm we had enough of USS, so after buying some stuffs for my
brother, we walked out exhausted and sticky!!

Just outside USS, there’s this popcorn store called Garrett Popcorn Shop. I was intrigued coz, according to the ads, is Oprah’s fave, so we’d like to give it a try *Hey, it’s recommended by Oprah =p* Hmm how was it? …Nah!! not nice if you ask me. Okay, I may not be a big fan of pop corn, but the caramel flavor was waayyy to sweet for my taste and the cheese one… I felt like I ate a sponge, didn’t crunchy at all.

Before we called it a day, a visit to Resort World was not complete without first stopping by Victoria’s Secret. Yeahh, I knowww… it’s opened in Singapore!! I got my body lotion I wanted so much after I tried it more than a year ago when Ellen bought one for me from US. Sweet.

Chocolate by the Bald Man and White Kipling

On last Sunday after church service, I went to National Library to borrow some watercolor books, and to go there I have to walk pass Bugis Junction Mall no matter what. Now this is dangerous, everyone, as I already proved it *sigh*. So here's the story. We walked out from Bugis MRT station and moi mind still safely fixed on watercolor books. Everything was fine. But came the moment when we had to pass by the mall. And guess what I saw. A super giant, in bold red 20% - 70% Kipling SALE!!! Now, you tell me if you can just ignore the calling, geezzz... Being a true Kipling fan, I let myself in and kept telling myself that I needed to check a luggage price for my mom (Ma once told me that she wanted to buy one if there was a huge discount). Straight away I went to luggage sector and what a disappointment, the price was still sky high. So naturally, I went browsing the other areas too, handbag and backpack. Oh my, Kipling sure has a lot of beautiful array of colors to choose from. I found this small backpack but i spent quite some time to decide the color. Brown, gray, blue, black, pink... getting dizzy... so finally i decided to take home the cute white Kipling for $91. And right after I paid, I snapped back to reality. Man!! I paid 91 bucks for SMALL bag!!! Oh well, back to the plan. Continued the short visit to library…

Finished with the books matter, we walked back to mrt station carrying the super heavy books under the blazing Singapore sun. Desperately in need for something cold and refreshing, we decided to have some parfaits in City Hall... at least that was our first intention but I didn't know why we ended up indulging ourselves in chocolate at Max Brenner. Now, this cafe definitely is for choco lover. I walked in, sat down, opened the menu, and I was like whoaaa... the menu design itself already shows how much the founders' love to choco is and that makes me want to open a similar cafe *grin*

.: A Chocolate cake with warm chocolate sauce inside. Me in heaven :p :. 

 

Basically there's nothing inside the menu that doesn't scream “YUMMM”, at least to me. Almost all of them use chocolate as an ingredient *what more can I ask?* and I was like a little girl inside the candy store, wanting to try everything. Seriously, if you have a sweet teeth like I do, you should try Max Brenner :p

We finally settled with waffle and chocolate cake. OMG! They were totally delish!

The waffle… oh the waffle… I didn’t know that a waffle could be THAT tasty. I mean, I can eat it without any additional stuff. It’s that good. I definitely will go back for the waffle.

How to Train Your Dragon

The moment I saw this movie's add *that you could find it glued to every pillar inside Orchard mrt*, I knew I didn’t want to watch it. It was just the same feeling I had with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Plus, to me, the main dragon, the black one? That looked like a lizard, I didn’t get it at all. But then one Saturday morning, I happened to catch its review on the tv, and they actually gave it 4 out of 5 popcorns!! So of course naturally I was curious, then the next thing I knew, I watched it on 3d. And guess what!! I loved it I loved it I loved it.

I enjoyed every moment of it. The script is refreshingly funny, it is hilarious. The dragons are beyond cute and the main hero is believable as he was *i believe* in real world. I was instantly hooked right from the start. Not only the animation is superb, the story itself also offers something special. It will leave you with a good feeling, like a sweet aftertaste. Now I wish I could get myself one pet dragon ^^ A definite must see!!