Ivy's Travel: Summer in Japan Diary {Part IV}

Previous posts on Summer in Japan Diary Part I, Part II, Part III can be read here. (click on link).

DAY 5 - FUSHIMI INARI SHRINE - SHINKANSEN KYOTO TO TOKYO - JR KYUSHU BLOSSOM SHINJUKU HOTEL - MAISEN TONKATSU - MAGNOLIA BAKERY - SHIBUYA

Since we don't have much time in Kyoto, we have to choose between either Arashiyama Bamboo Forest or Fushimi Inari. We ended going to Fushimi Inari with reasons that it is closer so we can spend more time exploring the place rather than rushing back and forth Arashiyama.

Ivy's Travel: Summer in Japan Diary {Part I}

 

Hello! Welcome to my Summer in Japan travel diary!

To most people, summer might not be the best season to visit Japan. We know that the peak times to visit are in spring and autumn, but we had our reasons. The very first one is that when it comes to traveling, Hubs doesn't have a flexible schedule. We own a humble business and though it can be managed without having him there everyday, He always there. He's a workaholic and I love that about him. My parents are both workaholic too, we have our small family business, so since my childhood, I am used to the idea of having long holiday only on Idul Fitri or new year where here in my hometown, most business will closed for a period of week or two.

Ivy's Travel: Christmas in Bangkok Diary {Part I}

Another Bangkok travel diary, this time on Christmas. Obviously, we didn't plan to go to Bangkok to celebrate Christmas since it isn't the best city for it. The majority religion in Bangkok is Buddhism, so you hardly see any big celebrations nor Christmas decorations here. 

To cut straight to the story, we spent 6 days in the city and again, we stayed at our favorite hotel in Bangkok, Amari Watergate Hotel. I'm not going to talk much on this as I've covered on why we love this hotel on my previous Bangkok trip. But to say it again, if you like street food and shopping, Pratunam is the best area to stay in Bangkok, and Amari Hotel is the best one to stay, good accommodation with great location. 

Ivy's Travel: Bangkok Travel Diary {Part I}

Writing on travel post is never an easy one. The amount of time for choosing from hundreds of pictures, then editing them and the long writes. One of the reasons why I'm forcing myself to always do this after travel is because I enjoy rereading them and memorizing back those travel days. Also, I hope it can somehow be helpful for people who plan to travel to the same city, since I gained a lot of knowledge from blog walking on others' travel posts as well.

Ivy's Travel: Christmas Festive in Singapore

It always fun to be in Singapore during Christmas since we hardly see any Christmas celebration in Jakarta. Though I'm not Christian, I do admit Christmas decorations are the best. One of my bucket list is to be able see Christmas in New York in person.

This post won't be long, since I only want to show you what Christmas look like in Singapore. Orchard Road, the heart of the city, was filled with lights, Christmas trees and ornaments. A sight to the eyes. 

Ivy's Travel: Dubai Travel Diary

Hello! :) It's time to share my stories in Dubai. It took me quite a time to write on this one as I'm not really sure the best way to describe this whole trip. My travels had always been personal, with my family mostly, or with friends that I am really close with. This one is... different, in a good way. 

Ivy's Travel: Bangkok Pattaya Diary [Part 1]

This year's CNY the whole family decided to not celebrate the old tradition in town, and since it's sort of long weekend, we flew to Bangkok.

Hotel Reviews: JW Marriot Kuala Lumpur

JW Marriot hotel chains always impress me in so many ways, but mostly for its classiness. If there's  one thing you wouldn't have to worry when you stay at Marriot, is the overall classiness & the absolute comfortableness.

Hotel Reviews: The Westin Kuala Lumpur

I have to admit I am not an easy person when it comes on choosing the place to stay during holiday. I am someone who really needs a good sleep, like really! Also I have very strict rules when it comes to where I sleep. I'm not OCD, but I couldn't sleep in a hotel bed with bedsheets other than white. It has to be those white clean sheets. Otherwise, I will have trouble sleeping as I couldn't keep on thinking if the sheet is dirty. The second thing, it need to have a clean bathroom. I will not be able to make numbers in a dirty bathroom, not mentioning taking a bath.

Hotel Reviews: Aston Primera Pasteur Hotel Bandung

I haven't been to many cities in Indonesia. To date, I have only been to Medan, Yogyakarta, Bali and Bandung. I would really want to go to Surabaya for the food and Raja Ampat for the insanely beautiful beach though. One day, soon. Anyway, having to distance only 3 hours drive from Jakarta, Bandung is a place I visit quite often for a short trip. 

Ivy's Travel: Korea Trip part 5

Previous post: Ivy's Travel: Korea trip part 4

Day 6 (Fly to Jeju Island, Lotte Jeju Hotel)

We took Air Busan to Jeju Island. The flight took around 50 minutes.I couldn't remember the flight fare, but it was not expensive as we took the budget airlines. Aside from Air Busan, one of the most frequent airlines people took to Jeju is the Jeju Air. The reason we took Air Busan is only because at that moment, Air Busan's flight schedule suited us more. We took Jeju Air for our flight back to Seoul and practically both airlines were the same.

Ivy's Travel: Korea Trip Part 3

Day 5 (KTX train to Busan: Jagalchi Fish Market and Haeundae Beach)

The next day, we went to Busan. All hotels in Seoul allow you to keep your luggage with them when you take a trip to other cities in Seoul or the frequent place tourist visits, Jeju Island. It's thoughtful so we don't have to drag all our luggage. It's recommended to ask in advance about the keeping luggage policy to the hotel/ hostels before booking though. 

Hotel Reviews: Grand Swiss Belhotel Medan

Grand Swiss Belhotel is one of the chosen hotel for tourist. The international 5 stars business hotel is adjacent to Cambridge Shopping Mall, making their guests conveniently easy to do some shopping or looking for places to eat. Aside from that, the hotel itself located in a walking distance to Sun Plaza, one of Medan's largest shopping mall and only five minutes drive to the famous Bolu Meranti. 

Hotel Reviews: Sheraton Kuta Bali Resort

Sheraton Kuta undeniably ranked as one of my most enjoyable stay so far. I travel, and during those travels, I love trying out different kind of hotels. To be honest, I used to not, and more often will choose the kind of hotel I've known and stayed before, until I decided to be not so boring. LOL

Hotel Reviews: Novotel Nusa Dua Bali

Novotel Nusa Dua is a good choice for relaxation. Located on the quite side of the island, the hotel features 175 rooms of deluxe and suite with view of garden, pool, and golf course. Aside from the pool lagoon, they also offer private beach club with only five minutes away from the hotel.

Hotel Reviews: Marina Bay Sands Hotel Singapore

Last July, hubs and I went for an impromptu trip to Spore. Both of us were in need of a break that time and with only 1 hour 20 minutes flight, Spore always seems to be the right choice. It was actually a surprise trip from him. Hubs also the one who booked the hotel without my knowledge. If it was me, I doubt that I will book our stay at MBS. Why? Coz no matter how touristy that place is, my heart always stays in Orchard. For the convenient, the food, the shops, everything about it. But boy was I about to change my stubbornness.

Hotel Reviews: York Hotel Singapore

If you are looking for a hotel along Orchard, a nice one with not too shocking room rates, York Hotel might be the one. The location might not beat Mandarin, but the price surely did. The room is a bit old, but very clean and not smelly. I stayed at Mandarin before, and the room is also kinda old.

Where to stay in Hong Kong & Macau

Here are list of places I ever stayed in Hong Kong and Macau. I will also list down some places which I heard also good via friends' recommendation. I will mark which one is personal experience and which one is not.

The Excelsior by Mandarin Oriental (5*)

Address: 281 Gloucester Road, Causeway Bay

Comment: Very nice! My personal favorite hotel. Location is superb, near all shopping and food places, MTR station is only 3 minutes walk, across with WTC shopping mall, just steps away from SOGO. Room is not big but very comfy, clean and smells nice. I truly enjoy my stay here. Very recommended.
Oh yes, do go to the cafe espresso in the lobby, they have the famous Macau Lord Stow's egg tart.

**personal experience**

Hotel Reviews: Swissotel The Stamford Singapore

Welcoming February! 

Last week, I went for a short break to Singapore with my small family. I was very happy and excited during the trip as it was the first time that all of us could go on a trip together, due to everyone busy schedule, normally if it was not only me & my family minus my husband, then it will be only me & my husband minus the family.

I was being very careful on choosing the right place to stay as my Dad can be a little bit fussy when it comes to choosing a place to sleep. Normally if I go by my self, I stayed at York Orchard due to it's strategic location and the affordable price, but York is quite old so I know Dad won't like it. After much consideration, I chose Swissotel Stamford. The hotel was very nice, classy and the location was very convenient. It was linked to Raffles City shopping mall and the City Hall MRT was located just below the hotel. 

We had a wonderful stay there and I would definitely stay here again next time I visit Spore.

Totally recommended! 

Swissotel The Stamford

2 Stamford Road

Singapore

Ph. +65 63388585

http://www.swissotel.com/

Table 8: Chinese New Year's Eve Feast

Being born in a small family and not many relatives staying in Jakarta, CNY was not really something big for us to celebrate. However of course we still follow the tradition of CNY eve's dinner (yay!) and wearing new clothes (another yay!) on the new year first day.

Most people now are looking for efficiency to just make a reservation and save all the hassle of cooking at home. My family happens to be one of them. Actually mom loves to cook, but we didn't allow her to cook on CNY's eve as none of us have her cooking skill so it will be too tiring for mom to cook by her self.

Last year CNY eve's dinner, we went to Angke at Kelapa Gading and I can still remember vividly the crappy jam we had at that night. We drove from Pluit around 6.30 pm and we reached Angke at 9 something. It was crazy. I didn't even have an appetite after those stupid traffic. So this year I have been "warned" by my family to be extra careful on choosing the right place to eat. :) 

After a thoughtful consideration between the (safe hopefully no traffic) location and the menu offered, I chose Table 8 as the place for my small family to celebrate sa cap me. I asked several Chinese restaurant to emailed me their CNY menu, and Table 8's menu seemed to be the one most likeable by mom. Usually they have buffet and ala carte style, but for sa cap me, they only served menu set.

Luckily this time, the traffic was extremely smooth. We reached Mulia only in about 20 minutes. This is our Longevity set menu (845k per person) for that night: 

Traditional Sliced Conch and SalmonYee Sang

Peking Duck (Folded with leek, cucumber and hoisin sauce in soft Chinese flour crepe)
Braised Shark’s Fin Soup with Wild Bamboo Fungus and Shredded Fish Maw

Deep-fried Shrimp with Wasabi Mayonnaise and Chili Mango Cube 

Crispy-fried Filet of Sea Garoupa with Spicy Soya Bean Sauce

Braised Sliced Abalone with Sea Cucumber and Vegetable in Oyster Sauce

Crispy Noodle Braised with Shredded Roasted Duck, Shimeji Mushroom and Bean Sprouts
Sweetened Tang Yuan with Red Bean Cream

Deep-fried Crispy Nian Gao and Sesame Ball

 

Overall it was a nice dinner. Great interior, great service, great food presentation, taste was just ok except for the super yummy crispy noodle, most importantly my small great family. 

Happy Lunar Dragon year! =)

Table 8

Hotel Mulia Senayan, Ground fl.

Jl. Asia Afrika, Senayan

South Jakarta 

Ph. +6221 5753271

http://www.thetable8.com/