Day-2: When in East SG [Tree Top Adventures!] 🌳

Friday, 23-Oct. My second day, day off. 

I’ve been eyeing this kind of thrilling activities ever since I tried it back in Wyong, Australia. And I can’t believe we do have it too here in Singapore!! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

Believe it or not, the very first time I tried it I had my eyes teary I couldn’t believe I tortured myself taking such a dangerous activity and high above from the ground, like that. I was quite sure it would be my first and last time walking on a rope 5 meters above the ground and I couldn’t stop cursing on myself. I almost cried when my friend, Uni, insisted us to take the third level instead of me sitting down at the ground trying hard to get my sht together…

But that was me three years ago. <(￣︶￣)>

Not long after that momentous activity, I am craving for same kind of adrenaline-pumping adventure! Apparently I found being so high above the ground – with safety harness on, walking from one tree to another, climbing, swinging, flying-foxing, tip-toeing, jumping, crawling, are VERY addictive! I was thrilled to try this adventure! (╯✧▽✧)╯

Forest Adventure

• Location: Bedok Reservoir Park, Singapore 479244
• Phone No.: +65 8100 7420
• Opening Time: 9.30am – 5:30pm
• Entrance Fee: NA
• Ticket Price: S$25 – S$50

Day-1: When in East SG [Changi and East Coast] 🌅

Thursday, 22-Oct.

How lucky I finally have my holiday in the midst of this worldwide lockdown! Singapore is currently on Phase-2 of Circuit Breaker. We don’t call it Lockdown here, we don’t want to make everyone panic. But what is Circuit Breaker?

“The 2020 Singapore circuit breaker measures, abbreviated as CB, was a stay-at-home order and cordon sanitaire implemented as a preventive measure by the Government of Singapore in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country on 7 April 2020.” ~ Wikipedia.

Phase-2, however, has been implemented since 18 June 2020. Just two days after my birthday – yes I belong to that sad group of ppl who couldn’t celebrate birthdays due to this virus. The Multi-Ministry Taskforce announced on 15 June 2020 that Singapore will move into Phase Two after 18 June 2359 hours. This is because community infection rates have generally remained stable, cases in migrant worker dormitories have declined, and there are no new large clusters emerging.

Ok, enough for the lesson. So where did I go during my hols? (o˘◡˘o)

East! Me and my friend, ciMel (you should remember her from my Kyushu and Hồ Chí Minh holidays!) main goal was to buy facial treatment product, skii somewhere in Changi Terminals – not sponsored! So, our first stop was:

Jewel! 💍

• Location: 78 Airport Boulevard, Singapore 819666
• Phone No.: NA
• Opening Time: 24 hours
• Entrance Fee: NA

Day-3: When in Yogya [part-2: walking around the town] 🧦

Wednesday, 19th Feb 2020, drizzling afternoon!!

Thankfully the rain subsided just after we had our lunch! ♡＼(￣▽￣)／♡

We were not planning to stay late today, because we had so many walks and we had to catch a train back to our hometown tomorrow at 7AM. So we did the afternoon Wednesday in slower pace.

But before that, here’s a picture of me enjoying my chewy-vanilla toast I loved it SO much! I had the same toast for 2 nights in a row!! (/▽＼*)｡o○♡

Day-3: When in Yogya [part-1: walking around the town] 👣

Wednesday, 19th Feb 2020, very hot morning!!

After having a gloomy day on Tuesday, we got a suuuuper hot day this morning! And with that, we can follow our itinerary as planned! ヽ( ⌒o⌒)人(⌒-⌒ )ﾉ

We were still twinning out with our hats. And yes that was the batik I bought yesterday! ╰(*´︶`*)╯♡

We had about 12 stops today, so I have to separate them into 2 parts, like yesterday. Cyn agreed with the route I proposed. Our first stop was Taman Sari Water Castle. We called grab to pick us up before 9 in the morning.

Located near the Keraton, this place was also known as the garden for the Sultan of Yogyakarta. Tamansari was originally built for multiple purposes yet now only several buildings remain. Some of its original functions were a place to rest, to meditate, to work, to hide and to defend the Sultan’s family.

Taman Sari Water Castle ꦠꦩꦤ꧀ ꦱꦫꦶ
Address: Wisata Taman Sari Jalan Tamanan, Patehan, Kecamatan Kraton, Kota Yogyakarta
Phone No.:
Opening time: 6AM to 3PM
Entrance fee: IDR 5,000 (for local) IDR 15,000 (for international)

Day-2: When in Yogya [part-2: City Tour in The Afternoon] ☔

Tuesday afternoon, 18th Feb 2020, cloudy and rainy.

We are now heading to Prambanan Temple,  which is about 1 hour away from the previous castle. Same as the previous temple we visited, I’m sure there are price difference between local tourists and international tourist. We did buy the combined ticket back in the first temple. So here me and Cyn just walked our way through the non-queuing ticket counter. Yes, the temple wasn’t so busy, probably because we visited during daytime and was not in any holiday. There were few students having a study tour, a group of Korean tourists, two Japanese ladies and us. (๑˃ᴗ˂)ﻭ

Did you know, this temple is the largest Hindu temple of ancient Java, and the first building was completed in the mid-9th century. It was likely started by Rakai Pikatan as the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty’s answer to the Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty’s Borobudur and Sewu temples nearby. Historians suggest that the construction of Prambanan probably was meant to mark the return of the Hindu Sanjaya Dynasty to power in Central Java after almost a century of Buddhist Sailendra Dynasty domination. ヽ(・ω・)ﾉ

Candi Prambanan ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶ​ꦥꦿꦩ꧀ꦧꦤꦤ꧀
Address: Jl. Raya Solo – Yogyakarta No.16, Kranggan, Bokoharjo, Kec. Prambanan, Kabupaten Sleman, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta
Phone No.: +62 274 496401
Opening time: 6AM to 5PM
Entrance fee: IDR 40,000 (for local tourist, adult!)
Culture: Hinduism

Candi Prambanan

Day-2: When in Yogya [part-1: City Tour in The Morning] 🌞

Tuesday morning, 18th Feb 2020, sunny.

Our driver picked us up at 7 from our hotel and drove for about an hour to Borobudur Temple. We arrived at the parking lot at 8AM, and cheerfully headed to the temple. We walked slowly, found some photo spots here and there and took our time to get to the temple. ＼(＾∀＾)メ(＾∀＾)ノ

We were lucky the temple was not crowded when we arrived. There were maybe less than 20 tourists, including one Japanese group, one local group, less than 4 worshippers, and us.

FYI, 1 adult ticket is IDR 40,000. But if you buy combined ticket (Borobudur + Prambanan) or (Borobudur + Ratu Boko) it will cost you IDR 75,000 – cheaper! We bought the first combined ticket because we know we don’t have enough time to visit Ratu Boko anyway, so we gave it a miss.

Candi Borobudur ꦕꦤ꧀ꦣꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦣꦸꦂ
Address: Jl. Badrawati, Kw. Candi Borobudur, Borobudur, Kec. Borobudur, Magelang
Phone No.: +62 293 788266
Opening time: 6AM to 5PM
Entrance fee: IDR 40,000 (for local tourist, adult!)
Culture: Buddhism

Day-1: When in Yogya [it was all started when…] 🚞

…… I had extra 5 weeks off after I left my previous job in mid Jan, and before my new job started in March. I initially just wanted to have one week back to my hometown to check out on my parents then head back to Singapore to be a homebound tourist (everything is expensive in Singapore especially if you’re jobless!). But thanks to the virus I was stuck in my home land for more than 4 weeks! (⇀‸↼‶)

What did I do during my holiday? Oh I really wished I could hopped on to trans-siberian train for a week or two, stayed for another two weeks in Москва and Petrograd, learned Cyrillic Alphabet, but instead I was too afraid going to the airport with strangers I wouldn’t know where they’re coming from – or maybe I’m just getting old and those non-sense anxiety started to hit my reality?

But really. What did I do during my holiday! I learned to cook few Indonesian and Thai dishes, chocolate pound cake and a failed loaf, hung out with a handful of friends (I’m quite picky in choosing friendship because not all deserves my time and attention – no I’m not gonna describe it any longer here), went shopping with my parents, watched Japanese tv series, and lastly but took most of my time was playing The Sims and blogged about it. (*¯︶¯*)v

So that Thursday afternoon, I had this impromptu thoughts of getting out from my hometown and explore another city, like Yogyakarta, for example. I’ve been there many times with my parents but haven’t really got  a chance to explore the city. And luckily I had a friend who said yes to that! ヽ(≧◡≦)八(o^ ^o)ノ

🎵🎵🎵

Pokarekare Ana (Māori Love Song) 💌

This is based on the best early account of the story sourced from Sir George Grey’s ‘Polynesian Mythology’, first published in 1855.

Hinemoa was the daughter of a great chief who lived at Owhata, on the shore of Lake Rotorua. She was very beautiful, and because of her beauty and her high rank, many young men desired her as a wife. One of these was Tutanekai, but he knew that though he was of good birth, his rank was not high enough for Hinemoa’s father to accept him as his daughter’s suitor.

So for a long time Tutanekai hid his love. He saw Hinemoa only when there were great meetings of the tribe, for his home was far across the water, at Mokoia Island in the middle of the lake.

When the people gathered together he would content himself with gazing at Hinemoa from a distance, and yet it seemed to him that sometimes she would return his looks. But he thought to himself, ‘There are many other young men more worthy than I of winning Hinemoa’s heart. If I approach her to declare my love, perhaps she will be displeased.’

Day-9: When in Auckland [and back to SG!] 🛬

Saturday, 17 Aug ’19, 

Today we had to catch the afternoon flight. We had ample time to enjoy our breakfast in the hotel before we headed to the bus stop. (*・∀・)爻(・∀・*)

We booked SkyBus bus to transfer us from Auckland city center to airport which cost us S$18 per person. To help my readers, please see here to find SkyBus time table; https://www.skybus.co.nz/auckland-city-express/timetable

And see here to find where you can hop on the bus and alighted; https://www.skybus.co.nz/find-your-stop

SkyBus ticket is an open ticket, it can be used anytime before the expiry date – 3 months after you bought the tickets. This bus is very convenient especially if your itinerary keep on changing and suddenly you decided to try the local train to (or from) the airport. ☆⌒(≧▽​° )

Here are some of the leftover pics I have on my phone and please respect the proprietary. (*_ _)人

Rotorua Museum Government Garden Tours

Day-8: When in Rotorua [to Hobitton to Caves and back to Auckland] 🏞

Friday, 16 Aug ’19, 

By 6:20AM we already sat outside the i-Site Rotorua, waiting for our shuttle to go Hobbiton, GlowWorm and Ruakuri Caves, then transfer back to Auckland with our big luggages. ٩(ˊ〇ˋ*)و

We took this activity 2 Caves & Hobbiton END AUCKLAND from VIATOR and cost us more than S$334 per person. We thought this was a good offer since we don’t need to worry about our transfer back to Auckland and additional cost if we took bus or train.

Our first stop was Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata. It took us about 1 hour to travel from Rotorua city center to Matamata.