escaping winter - september edition

Yes, it is still winter in Melbourne in September.

Off to Turkey this time.

Places visited:
Istanbul - Hagia Sofia, Topkapi Palace and Harem, Sulemaniye Mosque, Grand Bazaar, Egyptian Spice Bazaar, Galata Tower, Galata Bridge, Basilica Cistern, Dolmabache Palace, New Mosque, Blue Mosque, Bosphorus river, Taksim Square, Sultanahmet area.

Also went to Pamukkale and Cappadocia.

I'd say Hagia Sofia was really amazing but I left my heart in Goreme, Cappadocia. The tranquil scenery at night and the hot-air balloon, it was grand.

Facts and quirks:
- Turkey has seven weather regions. In Istanbul it was around 20 something when we went and at the same time in Cappadocia, it was around 15.
- Raki is an alcoholic drink from Turkey. You either love it or hate it. I don't mind it.
- There is a website for all restaurants serving deliveries including chinese food, japanese food, KFC and McDonald's. Order online, select method of payment and boom, food will be delivered to your door. What a beautiful world.
- Every hotel can arrange for airport transfers which is pretty handy.
- Breakfast at the hotel we stayed always consist of bread, jam, cucumber, tomato and cheese. I am not a vegetarian, again I am not a vegetarian.
- Calling of the prayer. I'm used to it because I'm Indonesian but for Europeans/Americans/Australians it was probably a cool thing to experience.
- In Istanbul everyone is friendly, overly friendly I would say. But maybe that's because they're trying to sell you stuff.
- In Istanbul wherever we go, we were always asked if we were Japanese or Korean or Chinese which of course we weren't all of those. Some even go further and asked if we were from Afghanistan?
- Someone called one of us Pikachu. I was once called Sultan. I wish right?
- Someone from a restaurant asked where we're from and when he found out we were from Indonesia he said this, "Oh Indonesia, very beautiful country. I've never been". OK...
- My friend gave the same person an Indonesian cigarette and didn't like it.

I don't know why but everytime I travel I always bump into Chinese tourists and they have always managed to piss me off. This time it was at Topkapi palace and we were trying to take a photo of a scenery but they managed to run into the frame so we had to wait for a bit. So afterwards, when they were trying to take a photo, it was our turn to run into their frame. An eye for an eye right?

There was also this one time at Dolmabache Palace where there were two guided tours, one was for Turkish people only and the other one was for an English-speaking guide. These two Chinese tourists went along the Turkish one and was asked to join our queue. The attendant explained that they weren't supposed to be in that tour but instead of complying one of them became hostile. Such behaviour.

Generally Turkey is a really nice place to go to, quite photogenic, people are friendly and prices are quite cheap compared to Australia. Good food, great coffee and tea too. I really miss the mash aubergine in Goreme dubbed the Sultan's Favourite in that particular restaurant.

The manager at the hotel we stayed at in Goreme asked me if I wanted to sell my (new at that time) iPhone 5 because they didn't have it for sale yet. He also gave us a free upgrade to the Presidential Suite for free. Maybe it was one of his efforts to get me to agree to sell my iPhone? It was really nice though.

It was a great trip, also for reasons I won't divulge here and I wouldn't mind going back. Not right away though. Maybe someday. And I definitely will want to go back to Goreme.

Next trip? I'm going home for Christmas and will be spending New Year's eve and New Year in Bali. Yeah typical right? But there's also a back to Japan trip coming up in March next year so stay tuned.

Turkey trip pics are up on my Flickr. Enjoy.

escaping winter - august edition

Well I wouldn't say spending two weeks in Jakarta is a holiday but since we had a family thing going on I went back for a bit, not to mention having to apply South Korea's tourist visa.

The travel agent that we're going with applied for my visa and I was told that it's the 'express' application so we had to add about $30 for the fee. I was sceptical at first but apparently it was really quick, They submitted the application on Monday and obtained the visa by Wednesday. Superb.

First of all, South Korea facts that I learned from the local tour guide during the trip:
- Other than ginseng, South Korea doesn't export produce. This is because their land are mostly rocks instead of soil
- Like in Japan, it's frickin' hard to find garbage bins
- Cosmetic surgery is a common thing. In Gangnam they have more than a thousand plastic surgeons. An eye job could be done for as quickly as twenty minutes
- It's common for guys to wear makeup
- Around 95% of cars on the streets are either Hyundai, Daewoo, KIA or other South Korean brands
- There are more men compared to women in South Korea. If I remember correctly the comparison is 3:1
- Most hotels have wireless internet connection (wi-fi) in their lobbies only
- There aren't a lot of porters available at hotels
- air-cons can't be set lower than 25 degrees in summer because they're trying to go green, but man that was quite a torture (especially this one night when I drank a bottle of soju, big mistake). I think it's also the same in winter
- South Korea isn't a religious country with most people having no religious preference but the biggest religion is Christianity
- Biggest company in South Korea is Samsung

And on to the trip.

We arrived at Incheon International Airport and was taken to dinner straight away. We spent the night in Songdo and was about to visit the convenience store when it started to rain and decided to just stay in and rest for the night.

The next day was the Seoul city tour. Went to the National Folk Museum of Korea and Gyeongbok Palace. I really liked how they showed the exhibits with bevelled letters since they make some really good photo objects. I especially liked this one passageway where it was quite dark and they had some tiles with numbers indicating years and some neon lights lighting the bigger tiles.

Gyeongbok palace was cool. Lots of colour and details. When we were about to leave, the changing of the guards was on so that was quite a bonus.

That day was raining quite a bit and that was definitely a bad combo in the humid summer weather.

Couldn't remember if we had lunch before or after flying from Gimpo airport to Jeju Island but afterwards, we went straight to the Mysterious Road (Dokkaebi-Doro) which earned its name because the surrounding trees created an optical illusion that would make objects appear to defy gravity and roll up the hill. Had some fishcake snack here as well. Food is always welcome.

Halla Arboretum was next. It was pretty much for me like the botanic gardens. Gotten some pretty nice shots here as well then off to the Dragon Head Rock (Yongduam Rock). It was created by nature and looked like a dragon's head and apparently there was a legend behind it, just like any other folklore. I'm not going to elaborate here, google it yourself. And after dinner, that was the end of the day.

Jeju Island day 2 started out with a hike. I love hikes. For me this was one of the two highlights in Jeju. We went to the Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) but I thought it was quite late to catch the sunrise, which was a shame really. I wouldn't mind waking up really early in the morning to get a glimpse of the sunrise since I haven't shot sunrises and sunsets for God knows how long. But again this was a tour and we had to be together, so, quite late we went. I hiked up ahead on my own and left mom and my cousin to hike by themselves. Now that I think about it now maybe I shouldn't have done it. I always just think of taking photos during trips, so so bad. Fortunately I still had my water bottle on my hike down. I gave it to them. And I did buy them soda when they finished. Kiss ass! haha.

Seongup Folk Village was next. We had a look of how traditional Jeju Islanders live day by day and of course it wouldn't be a tour if they didn't try to sell us something. This time it was honey and the Five-Flavour Tea. I tried but didn't buy any. It was refreshing though.

Then to Cheonjeyeon Falls. By this time I was pretty sure most people in the group were already pretty tired because of the hike earlier but I quite liked this place although still quite touristy. Oh by the way, all the places we went to were the touristy places so they were always packed with people because of the summer holidays. Hate the people, especially in photographs. This was also the place where I regret not having a tripod and an ND Filter. It's flowing water! But then again I prefer not to break my back carrying these items with me all the way so I made do with whatever was available.

Then half hour at the Oedolgae Rock (Lonely Rock). This also had a back story / legend but again I won't elaborate. This place actually reminded me of the Great Ocean Road heheh.

Jusangjeolli Cliffs. This was my second highlight in Jeju. Also proves that nature could sometimes go artsy fartsy. Loving the patterns on the rocks and cliffs. And the colour too. The rock was black, not gray, not dark gray, black. Just plain black.

Last visit of the day was to the Teddy Bear Museum. It was…amusing? They had pop culture stuff like Monalisa, the Beatles, Elvis etc immortalised in teddy bear form. I walked around and snapped quite quickly and had a bite of what I didn't have the chance to try in Japan before. Lotteria.

That night we went to see the Nanta show. A Cirque du Soleil-ish show utilising cooking equipment. Very entertaining, I would highly recommend this show to anyone.

Next morning we flew to Gimhae Airport in Busan and quickly visited Busan Tower (and the observatory at the top) and Busan International Film Festival Square. Then off by bus to Gyeongju and visited Tumuli Park which houses the Cheonmachong and other burial grounds covered in hill-like green vegetation. I found a wi-fi hotspot while inside believe it or not.

Before going back to the bus, we got to try the Gyeongju bun. It's like a small dorayaki. This time I bought a box (20 inside). Finished them in two days. Then visited Bulguksa Temple where I almost got lost on the way back to the bus. Yes, again, I walked around by myself although we were in a group. Way to go.

I hated the hotel we stayed in Gyeongju since we had to move quite far to the dark alleys inside the hotel lobby to find a working wi-fi spot. Boo!

Next morning was the eight hour bus ride to Mount Seorak. Once there, we went on the cable car to Gwonkeumsung Fortress and, again, I hiked for a little bit and went back down from the area where they didn't have steps anymore. It was foggy, it was wet and I didn't have my hiking shoes on (I wore a canvas all the way) so I wasn't brave enough to hike more than what was recommended.

Highlight of the day (and of the whole trip really) was that in the cable car going up they played Stevie Wonder - I Just Called to Say I Love You. I was laughing inside thinking if they couldn't find any other appropriate song to play in the cable car (Korean songs maybe?) and if the cable car broke and going down, that would be a really nice soundtrack going out.

Back down we visited Shinheungsa Temple and the Tongil Daebul (The Great Unification Buddha). I was, again, walking further on my own trying to visit the monks' residential area while mom was praying but reached a coffee shop instead. A lol moment there.

Second last day in South Korea we visited Nami Island. Only five minutes from the mainland by ferry. Pretty cool huh? This place was famous for the Korean drama fans because the drama Winter Sonata was shot here. It is its own country called Naminara Republic and apparently has their own passport etc (form my internet research). It also supported a lot of art exhibitions and worked a lot with UNESCO And UNICEF as there are plenty of their signs in the island.

Sightseeing ended here as for the rest of the day we spent in Seoul. Went to the ginseng place (I felt sick on the bus on the way). Wasn't allowed to take photos. Hate these kind of places. Learned a bit more about ginseng and tried some. Amazingly my sickness went away (or was it just my mind playing tricks on me). Then 'learned' how to make kimchi but when I told my brother (who's into cooking a lot) what they did (radish and mixed seasonings were already prepared), he sneered. The touristy things you do hahaha.

Then it was shopping time at Dongdaemun Market. I only bought souvenirs, seriously. The rest of the free time, I had my dinner (Burger King, lol) and sat down for coffee.

Last day in Seoul finally. In the morning they took us shopping again but this time for cosmetics (South Korea is infamous for cosmetics) and duty free goodies. I saw the demonstration they did for their cosmetics and I have to say I was pretty impressed, but then again I don't understand cosmetics. And again, I went for coffee by myself haha. I do love my coffee.

After lunch, I had hoped it would rain so we would go to Lotteworld instead of Everland. That didn't happen. So we spent some time in Everland and went back to Incheon airport afterwards. On the way to the airport, one of the bus' tires blewout and we had to wait for it to be replaced, right in the middle of the highway. That was an unforgettable experience. We also went to the toilet which was through a long tunnel under the toll booth and since we didn't have enough time to make it to dinner, we got Maccas instead. More bulgogi burger haha.

And the flight back, wow, that was tiring.

I flew Incheon-Singapore, then Singapore-Jakarta, went back home, packed up, slept for a bit, then off to the airport again and flew Jakarta-Singapore then Singapore-Melbourne.

I got home 9AM and slept all the way through to 3PM. Super tired. Overall was a good trip, but personally I still love Japan more. Maybe because I didn't have anymore time to explore, I don't know.

Oh, pics are up on my Flickr.

Next trip (last trip for this year) is end of this month. Turkey here I come! I'm not ready yet, aaacckkk!

escaping winter - july edition

OK, my trip this time isn't much of a holiday.

I'm attending my cousin's wedding in Ko Samui and got to spend a few days in Singapore on the way back to Melbourne.

The kicker? I get to make people at work jealous and as a bonus, escaping the gloomy winter weather of Melbourne and bathing myself with some warm (maybe a bit hot) tropical weather. Sun!

There were no major dramas this time. Finally!

The only thing was this time, my taxi on the way to the airport had a data jammer. Isn’t that cool? Actually I don’t know if that’s true or not but the moment I got into the taxi, my 3G went off and even until five minutes later when I restarted my phone it still had a hard time finding 3G. I got the last laugh though.

I was so tired that night of my flight. I caught a cold and on the way to the airport I must have slept almost all the way. That was also the case on the plane. After I got on, doors were closed (seat next to me was empty, yeah!), plane took off and when PEDs (portable electronic devices) were allowed back on I zoned out blaring out music from my iPhone through the Sennheiser earbuds and I was out cold. I even skipped the first meal, or rather didn’t know they were serving it and didn’t wake up until the second serving of the meal which was around two hours before touching down in Singapore.

Met mom in Changi airport and boarded the flight to Ko Samui.

Samui International Airport was pretty laid back. In my mind it was like huts connected together to form a structure. Customs was almost non-existent. You’d think Australia is a pretty laid back country and the custom officers would reflect that. Wrong! But the custom officers in Ko Samui were more than laid back. They just…didn’t care? One of them took my passport, didn’t even check if I looked like the guy in the passport photo, didn’t even ask me to look at the camera, just kept on doing his business until he stamped my passport and without even looking back to me, gave me my passport and I was in.

Five steps later I was already in the baggage area then off to the hotel.

The hotel was amazing. Must be the best resort I’ve ever been into even though I’ve only been into a couple (I’m not the type of person who likes doing nothing the whole day during holidays). Price-wise I think it’s about $450 per night (private villa with outdoor bed and swimming pool) which was OK compared to the villa I visited in Bali ($3600 per night). For me the room looks something like it came out of an IKEA showroom with all the light coloured wood décor but still very nice.

Cons: I had to call a buggy whenever I want to go to the lobby and actually do stuff since the lobby was a long hike from the villa.

Most of my time here was spent in the private outdoor pool with Wi-Fi on my phone and just update whatever on the phone. Yes the Wi-Fi coverage actually reaches the pool area which was a good thing.

And on the fourth day it was byebye fake paradise and hello Singapore.

Checked in at Marina Bay Sands at 2PM, they said my room wasn’t ready yet since the allocated check-in time was 3PM. Not a problem, I had to be somewhere anyway. By the time I returned to the hotel at 6PM, they said my room wasn’t ready as of yet. OK, how long does it take to prepare a room for a new guest? Especially when I finally got in, at 9.30PM mind you, and saw that the room was pretty standard.

Mom was furious at the customer service. They said they’d allow us late checkout which was at 1PM on the day of our flight. Whatever, but for a hotel of that caliber that was uncool and it made it to my unsatisfactory service list. No hard feelings.

It was mostly catching up with friends, and food. I did visit the Gardens by the Bay and even though in my mind this looked like the place where aliens would nest if they were to start invading the earth, it was still really amazing. I want to go back again since it was raining half-way I was there so I didn’t get to see the whole thing. Curse you weather.

Oh actually on the way to the Gardens by the Bay I was supposed to catch an elevator but I couldn’t find it and so I took the stairs. It was over a hundred steps so it was a bit like London all over again. Bummer.

And last but not least, the excess baggage.

Mine was 15kg, mom’s makeup artist had 30kg of baggage and the winner was mom with almost 50kg of luggage just for herself. So the three of us had almost, literally, a ton of baggage with us. Mom had to pay 23kg of excess baggage because she was flying home by herself.

Now I’m back in Melbourne but I’ll be flying out again in three week time. Jakarta and South Korea, wait for me.

Pics as usual are up on Flickr.

escaping winter

That's right folks. By Friday next week I will be spending a few days under the tropical sun of Koh Samui.

I remember the first time I came to Australia, winter was wonderful, it was something I never experienced before and loved it for the first few years here.

Now I loathe it.

Well maybe not to that extent. I just want the sun back. After all it's only human to want to have what you don't have anymore right?

Anyway, I'll be attending my cousin's wedding in Koh Samui and shoot around if I get the chance of course, then three days in Singapore (to eat mostly) before going back to gloomy winter.

This mini trip will also be trialling me travelling without my Macbook Air but replacing it with a Samsung Galaxy Note instead. Will see how that goes in a few weeks time.

Will update again after the mini trip when (hopefully) pics are up.

Hong Kong & an afternoon in Macau

First of all, Macau.

What stuck in mind? One word, casinos. They're not all located on a strip like in Vegas (I've never been to Vegas but that's what I imagined them to be) though. Macau is divided into three major islands; Macau, Taipa and Coloane, which are connected by man-made bridges and the casinos are mostly located in Macau and Taipa. Coloane is more like the quieter side of the three.

All the casinos are built inside unified complexes, huge ones, which houses the casinos, hotel rooms, food courts and shops.

I stayed in The Venetian, which was built to emulate Venice, as you may have guessed. The resemblance is uncanny! They have St Mark's Square, the canals, the gondolas, Ponte Rialto. The only differences are the air-conditioning and when I was in Venice I don't remember seeing outdoor food courts and Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry and Chanel shops when walking from the Rialto Bridge through the escalator to St Mark's Square. Oh the water was crystal clear and didn't smell. *sarcastic rant ends here*

My friend took me around and showed me some other casino hotels; Wynn, MGM Grand and Galaxy. They're alright. She also took me to the Ruins of St Paul's Church. It was cool on many levels. I was told that they actually tried rebuilding the church ten times and every single time, it burned down. Maybe God doesn't like a church being built in a casino-infested territory? So after the tenth time, they stopped trying to rebuild the church but the facade never got burned down. It is now the symbol of Macau. Amen.

Food? The most famous snack is Lord Stow's Bakery's egg tart and I swear it was the best egg tart I've ever tasted. I'm not usually a fan of egg tarts but I was hooked on this one. My friend also took me to a Chinese Macanese restaurant for dinner and so I don't forget, the name of the place is Cafe Litoral, located really close to Galaxy. If you do want to go in the weekends, book ahead. It's pretty popular.

Ferry ride to and from Hong Kong was effortless. It took an hour each way though.

One more thing, the currency is Macau Pataca, abbreviated MOP. Where did the 'O' come from though? Shouldn't it be MCP or MPT or MPC? Here's the thing, HK$ is received everywhere in Macau (usually with a 1:1 exchange rate) but the MOP is only good in Macau. You can exchange it for HK$ but they will charge currency exchange rates. Cheeky! So make sure you spend all your Patacas before going back to Hong Kong.

So I was back in Hong Kong.

Note to self: don't visit Hong Kong (and Macau) in winter for photography. White skies and foggy days.

The whole MTR experience was awesome. First of all, the tap card system works. The Octopus Card works very well, it's cheap and you can even use it to shop in 7 Elevens. Trains run on time and I never not get 3G. Sometimes it would turn to 2G but most of the time anywhere underground I'd still get 3G. My only complaint is that the gates are too small for me with my sling bag on the side, but again I am considered XL in Hong Kong. Oh, and whenever you're on the escalator anywhere, the lazy line (my line) is on the right hand side, and they have this fascination of holding the handrails, so make sure you hold on tight.

I think my hotel has all-day housekeeping in action. No matter what time of day I past through the corridors, I'd always find their carts lurking around.

I met Bruce Lee at the Avenue of the Stars. It was just a statue but I met him, and fortunately he didn't kick my ass.

A Symphony of Lights is on every night at 8PM. Yes it's free. Come early, the promenade fills up really quickly.

The trip to Lantau Island was definitely memorable, not so much in a good way but still memorable. I started quite late that day and didn't expect it to be raining. MTR ride took about a half hour then it took me some time to figure out where the bus stop was. I asked somebody inside but was only told it was outside. Some help huh? The bus ride was an hour but didn't feel that long, maybe it was the winding road so we kept on turning all the time. When I got to the Tian Tan Buddha (it was big, no, huge!) it was raining hard and I was forced to buy an umbrella. Then it was challenging. On one hand I had to hold an umbrella and on the other hand I had to hold my camera because I couldn't just let my camera hang around to get wet not to mention taking photos and zooming in and out. I think I spent maybe an hour and a half at the Big Buddha and Po Lin Monastery. So I got to the bus stop only to have to wait for another half hour because the current bus was full. Then it was another hour back to Tung Chung and another half hour back to Tsim Sha Tsui.

I also went temple-hopping. Sik Sik Yuen Wong Tai Sin - Tin Hau - Man Mo. The first one, a lot of fortune telling from a chim (bamboo stick shaken out of the box). The second was quite small and I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, so I stepped outside and snapped the inside. The last one was, for me, the most impressive and the hardest for me to find even though I have the power of Google Maps in my hands. It had millions (ok I'm exaggerating, but there was a lot) of coiling incense inside and I snapped like there's no tomorrow. Tried the beef brisket noodle soup at Kau Kee as recommended by a friend. I will come back again someday to try it with rice noodles and the curry one.

A visit to The Peak was disappointing. It was foggy! The Peak Tram was cool though. On the way back, it went backwards at a 45-degree angle.

I also spent some time just wandering around in Central and at one point I was just walking to the Ferry Terminal because I thought I might be able to get a glimpse of the junk boat with the red sails and everything. I was quite tired at that point and was standing at an intersection waiting for the red light to turn green when I turned to the left. The new Apple Store! Once the red light turned green, I went to the middle of the road, snapped it, and walked away just in time before the light turned red again. So I got to the Central Pier and wanted to have a look at the junk boat but couldn't find it, then I went up to the observation deck and I was at the ferry pier going to Tsim Sha Tsui which is where I was staying. So I tapped my Octopus Card and a minute later I was crossing the peninsula and reached my hotel in 10 minutes instead of walking all the way back to the MTR station.

Also explored the markets (not really). Flower market, bird market and goldfish market. All in Mong Kok. I really liked the bird market, the other two were so so.

What I loved most of all: Hong Kong's dusk, the crowds, the food (which I eat a lot of them in Melbourne, especially the congee and wonton noodles), the neon lights and the old Shanghai feel.

I'll come back again someday, some summer days.

Photos are online at my Flickr and also, if you want to have a look at some photos from my recent Bali trip, click here.

more travels

I haven't blogged and posted my recent trip to Bali. Not because I don't want to but because I didn't really like how the photos turned out to be.

On the upside, I will be flying to Hong Kong and Macau this coming weekend, so hopefully the photos would turn out to be awesome.

Stay tuned.