1st Day in Xin Jia Po (Singapore): Live While We're Young!

After checking-in, putting away our luggage, clearing things, we began our first day in Singapore. Yeah!

So our destination on the first day were: Chinatown (for eat), Singapore City Gallery (just spent about 10 minutes here), Red Dot Design Museum, Merlion Park, Esplanade, and Orchard Road.

Because we haven't eat our lunch, we decided to find something to eat in Chinatown. I don't know if I can say this or not but Chinatown felt like Pasar Baru for me. In Chinatown, there were so many Chinese New Year's ornament and people started selling things for CNY like cheongsam, angpao, sunflower seeds, and things you usually find in your relatives home in CNY.

Pasar Ba--eh Chinatown

Chinatown wasn't that crowded by the time we arrived. Probably because it was still 4 p.m in the afternoon so I thought some place just opened for business. Chinatown was busier on the night time, I can't even walk properly when I visited there at night.

Chinese New Year's Ornaments, here and there... (Chinatown)

After going from ujung to ujung, we finally made our choice. Gitta ate Hainanese Chicken Rice and the price is about S$6 or S$5,50, I forgot about it.

Hainanese Chicken Rice, you can never go wrong with this...

And I decided to eat Minced Pork Noodles. It costs S$4,50 and to be honest I picked the wrong menu. The noodles and the soup were indeed good, but... the meat wasn't my favorite because I indeed a picky-eater when it comes to meat. But after all, we were full and ready to go!

Sorry, non-halal. But there is prawn noodles too!

We decided to go to Red Dot Design Museum after grab our late-lunch. And luckily, Singapore City Gallery is nearby too! I've wanted to go to those places because people said it was worth to see. The first place we went to was Singapore City Gallery. But, too bad, by the time we arrived, the 2nd floor which was the exhibition room, already close because it was already past 5 p.m. We only got to see some things on the first floor and also Singapore's miniature! 

Singapore City Gallery looks like an office tower. But it is a gallery. I'll explain later on because we decided to go here again in our 3rd day. 

Bench, they said. It was in Singapore City Gallery.

So, Red Dot Design Museum is located nearby Singapore City Gallery. It took around 2-3 minutes to walk by foot to go to here. The building is kind of eye-catching with its red-colored and it's a photogenic zone (?) haha...

To go inside the gallery, we have to pay S$8 / person and after that we can see unique things. But, I didn't recommend this place if you aren't interested in design or tech. We just saw some arts, some things like Tupperware inside the box, refrigerator which has been transformed into a smart one, modern wine cellar, iPhone three-five-five-C and iPad and so-on, big umbrella, and... the lamp. We spent our $8 just like that. To take photo of things and even make funny poses. Thank you, Red Dot!

You can stand under my umbrella, ella, ella, ella, eh eh eh~

The next destination was, Merlion Park! Yeah, that legendary and a-must-visit-place-to-take-photo-with that famous Merlion statue (fyi, the bigger Merlion is in Sentosa Island). People go here to make funny poses and well, taking photos in front of Marina Bay Sands building across the river.

We went there using MRT from Tanjong Pagar Station (it is the nearest station from Red Dot Design Museum and Singapore City Gallery) and I forgot if we got off in City Hall Station or Raffles Place Station. Either way, you still can walk by foot to Merlion Park because it is walking-able (?) and the air condition is better than Jakarta so it was nice!

What I remembered was we need to walk by foot to go to Merlion Park from the station we got off because... we didn't have internet connection so we can't really check on if we're going to the right direction. We depend on the signboard here and there. The nice thing about Singapore is the signboard is very clear and it is very accurate so don't be afraid if you don't know your way. Really.

Merlion Statue

Finally, we arrived in Merlion Park! As we've predicted, people flooded this place and many of them were foreigners. I did hear Thai, Korean, Chinese, Melayu, Indonesian... Most of them were taking pictures in front of Merlion or Marina Bay Sands building.

So, I didn't get to take photos with funny pose here but I just like to take pictures around the statue itself. We just took a commemorate photo and then walked away, crossed the bridge, and just enjoyed the wind-breeze and the sunset.

We decided to take a rest near Esplanade and watched the skyline. The weather was cool and the sunset was nice. I really embraced my time here because I felt calm only to look at the river and the lights. There weren't so many people here so it was nice. People usually went here with their camera and tripod. Probably trying to take photos with long exposure which I tried it too and failed cause I didn't use tripod. I ended up chit-chatting with Gitta, taking selfies, and felt the wind-breeze.

View from Esplanade.

It was 7.30 P.M and we felt that the night was young. We decided to hit Orchard Road hahaha... We took MRT from Raffles Place Station and get off at Somerset Station. We actually want to visit a bookstore and grab our dinner. I remembered entering Takashimaya where we got to  visit Kinokuniya but... we didn't buy thing or grab our dinner. So we just wandered in Orchard Road... observing the night-life (I mean people eating in the restaurant after work hahaha...) and went back to our hostel.

Yeah, it's Orchard Link, not Orchard Road.

We managed to grab our dinner in the nearest 7-11, ate them in our hostel while using internet and enjoying free coffee and tea. Thanks Adler Hostel, for providing us with such good services.

The reason why I wrote the title "Live While We're Young!" was because that day, we forgot that we just arrived in the afternoon and without taking a rest, we went straight to places until night... I thought we walked for 24.000 or more steps that day! Well, all that we know that time was the night is still young, why bother to go home? Lol.

Expense on first day:
Red Dot Design Museum ticket = S$8
Late-Lunch = $S4,50
Dinner (Sandwich from 7-11) = S$2,90
EZ-Link Transport Card = S$12
Single-trip Ticket from Changi to Chinatown (before buying EZ-Link) = S$2,50
Total = S$29,90


So, yeah. Broke. ㅜㅜ

My next post will tell you about our second day in Singapore. So see you around!

(Nb. excuse me for the wrong grammar if any)

Short Getaway: Singapore (January 19th - 22nd, 2017)

Merlion Park

I went to Singapore last week. Actually, it was an unplanned trip. I just wanted to use my passport once before it expired. I have never been travelling overseas, so when I want to go somewhere without visa, I immediately think I should go to the nearest country from Indonesia, Singapore. The plane ticket to Singapore isn't as expensive as the other countries and sometimes if you're lucky enough, you can get promo ticket. I planned this trip in December and decided to invite my friend, Gitta, to come with me since she went there for few times. Luckily, she said she'd like to go. So... yeah... we finally bought the airplane tickets and booked the hostel.

We decided to book the ticket for January 19th and January 22nd. We booked our ticket from Traveloka and got promo price (I think) from Tiger Air. After thinking about where to stay, Gitta suggested a hostel in Chinatown called Adler Hostel, we read the information in Agoda website and it turned out we picked the right hostel. I definitely recommend this hostel to others who wants to stay in Singapore, especially to those who likes to go on backpacking. We booked the female-only room and we've got internet connection also breakfast during our stay :)

So, on January 19th, Gitta and I met at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in the morning even though our flight took time in 11.30 A.M. We've got chit-chatting for hours and again planned where to go. When it's time to board on, the sky turned a bit cloudy and it rained for a bit. I was worried for a little while since I've got headache the last time I rode on an airplane in a not-so-good weather.

Taken before flight

Thanks God, the rain stopped and the weather was good up there. Got a nice flight and safely arrived in Changi Airport! :)

Too bad, I couldn't snap moments in Changi because we were hungry and all that we want was finding our hostel as soon as possible. So, we went straight to the MRT Ticket Machine to reload our transportation card but things happened and I ended up buying a new card for SGD 12 (around IDR 113.000). Well, actually my friend suggested me to buy Singapore Tourist Pass (STP) but we didn't buy it. Hm, I can't really say if STP is cheaper for me because I didn't travel a lot here, and we didn't manage to get on the bus. But if you plan to go here and there, STP is cheaper.

After reloading our transportation card, we rode the MRT and went straight to Chinatown. This was my first time riding on subway so, it was such an interesting experience for me :D

I'll tell more in the next post about the places we've visited, the food, and maybe our expense. See you around :)

Updated!

First day in Singapore
Second day in Singapore [PART 1]
Second day in Singapore [PART 2]
Third day in Singapore [PART 1]
Third day in Singapore [PART 2]

Perenungan Tahun Baru

Meninggalkan 2016, perasaan gue sebenarnya cukup terombang-ambing. Mengingat di awal bulan Januari 2017 gue harus menghadapi sebuah kenyataan yang bittersweet (dan berdoa agar ini berakhir sweet #ea) dan sesungguhnya belum ada goals tertentu untuk tahun 2017 mau mencapai apa.

Kalau gue bercermin ke tahun 2016, gue merasa banyak hal yang kecil-kecil namun indah sekali. Sayangnya, gue nggak sempat merenung pada malam tahun baru atau mengingat kejadian lampau pada malam-malam sebelumnya. Gue baru bisa melakukan ini dalam perjalanan sepulang dari gereja dan saat perjalanan pergi ke satu tempat pada tanggal 1.

Mengingat 2016, gue menyadari sebagai manusia gue merasa masih sangat kurang. Resolusi yang gue tuliskan di awal tahun akhirnya harus menghilang di tengah-tengah karena gue tidak giat (jujur) dan memang belum punya kesempatan. Baru malam hari ini gue menyadari bahwa resolusi yang gue tuliskan itu sebenarnya ambisi sendiri berkedok resolusi. Tidak digumulkan, cuma didoakan setelah menulis supaya dilancarkan oleh Tuhan. Ada beberapa yang gue pikir saat ini, mungkin gue tulis hal tersebut karena gue iri pada pencapaian orang lain, ada resolusi yang gue tulis terlalu muluk, percaya gue bisa tapi berujung dengan gue bersandar pada kekuatan sendiri dan gagal, ada resolusi yang gue tulis hanya karena gue ingin, tapi tanpa tahu apa tujuannya. Let me tell you, when you don't have something called purpose, ambyar sudah semua resolusimu, nak.

Dari sekian banyak canda tawa air mata pada tahun 2016, ada beberapa hal yang gue ingat...

1. Gue bisa selamat lulus sidang skripsi pada bulan Juni 2016. Ini out of target sebenernya. Gue menargetkan April 2016 skripsi kelar, namun ternyata bulan Juni pun gue masih sibuk revisi. Huft. Tapi, puji Tuhan, Ia masih memimpin, menyemangati, memberi kekuatan, di tengah-tengah keputus asaan gue mengerjakan skripsi. Puji Tuhan, banyak teman-teman yang mengingatkan dan saudara yang membantu proses setelahnya.

2. Menyandang gelar sarjana.

3. Belum lulus, sudah bekerja. Ya walaupun gue sebelumnya mengajar, tapi ini gue beneran dipekerjakan di perusahaan. Perusahaan komik dan nanti bakal bikin webtoon. Pekerjaan gue berawal dari jadi freelancer dan kemudian sekarang sudah jadi penerjemah kontrak. Gue mulai bekerja April 2016 dan... senang dapat berada di lingkungan yang friendly dan welcome. Bahkan bosnya baik sekali :")

4. Baru ingat juga, Tuhan memperkenankan untuk gue menjadi speaker (bukan, bukan benda berwarna hitam itu) pada sebuah acara di SMP gue. Gue yang cuma butiran debu kosmos diminta mengajarkan anak-anak SMP tentang sebuah tujuan (yang mana kadang aja gue merasa masih gagal mencapai tujuan, huft). Intinya sih sebenernya lebih ke sharing pengalaman pribadi tentang bagaimana dulu gue belajar dan lain-lain.

5. Selain jadi speaker, pelayanan ini kemudian berlanjut di acara retreat SMP pada bulan September 2016. Awalnya ditawari, sempet galau, kemudian temen gue mendukung buat ikut. Akhirnya gue iyakan. Gue menjadi pemimpin kamar untuk putri-putri kelas 8 dengan latar belakang macam-macam. Main-main sama anak SMP (membuat gue merasa awet muda) dan ya luar biasa pokoknya lah.

6. Dikirimi e-mail oleh FIFA. Yap.. gue tau mungkin ini hanya e-mail yang juga dikirim ke ratusan ribu orang bakal calon volunteer untuk Piala Dunia 2018. Tapi... gue bahagia melihat e-mail dari FIFA sempat mampir ke kotak masuk gue :")

Gue nggak bisa mengingat hal lainnya, ini adalah enam hal yang paling berkesan buat gue selama 2016. Gue juga nggak akan bisa menggapai semua ini kalau nggak karena anugerah-Nya.

Jujur, malam ini gue jadi kepikiran. Selama ini resolusi yang gue buat kayaknya nggak pakai acara nanya Tuhan. Maunya bikin, Tuhan tinggal accept aja. Bantu lancarkan. Seringkali kita maunya "inginku" dan bukan "ingin-Nya". Lupa kita nanya "Tuhan, tahun ini, Kau mau memakaiku untuk apa?". Gue kepikiran ini setelah pembacaan Firman Tuhan kemarin.

Sebab segala sesuatu adalah dari Dia, dan oleh Dia, dan kepada Dia: Bagi Dialah kemuliaan sampai selama-lamanya! (Roma 11:36 TB)

Tercipta sebab karena Tuhan, untuk Tuhan, dan kepada Tuhan. Demikianlah diri ini seharusnya. Bukan lagi aku, tapi Dia. Bukan lagi inginku, tapi ingin-Nya.  Bahwa segala yang keinginan gue seharusnya berlandaskan keinginanNya, makanya kudu tanya, bukan sekedar buat acc.

Jadi, tahun ini lo mau ngapain Le? Semoga segera diterangi untuk tahu apa yang harus dilakukan bagiNya pada tahun 2017 ini.