Jakarta, Day 1

so i went on a girls-only trip to Jakarta last weekend. i didn't believe it either when Mr.Pilot said i could go teman Mashi for three days (mere sympathy because her friend had to bail on her? not too sure about that, but i'd rather not push it!!!). he was rostered for the weekend so in a way i wouldn't be missed as much, no?

my one regret about this trip was that she planned it inconveniently BEFORE pay-day!

well anyways, since Mashi's flight was scheduled to leave at 0950 at KLIA2, i decided to pick the 0910 flight so that i wouldn't have to wait so long at Soetta before her flight came in. unfortunately Mr.Pilot's reporting was at 0620 and i hadn't finished packing by then despite me planning to chill at the airport for the next three hours, all due to a no-water scare at 2am -____-

after fruitless attempts at randomly turning on and off taps we only realized that the reason for no water at our house was someone had turned off the main pipe at the meter OUTSIDE, which we never bothered to check T_T (we installed a pressure pump the day before so the water was temporarily turned off).

by the time i reached back home i only had less than an hour to pack and reach the airport if i wanted to check-in on time, so no time to say goodbye to the kids, whoops. i'd forgotten how long the check-in queues could be in the mornings; that morning the queue practically extended to the F counter!. 8.15am and the check-in line was still 5 kilometers long so i ended up running to the stand-by counter and checked-in there. they usually give priority to final call flights provided you strain your ears to hear their announcement.

the automated gates at immigration was kaput, so i had no choice but to join the long queue. i got a stamp in my passport though, haha. i was a bit miffed that i went to HK last year and didn't get a single stamp both ways. what's the point of paying rm200 for a passport renewal and not being able to prove that you actually went out of the country? =P.

i only had less than half hour before the gates closed, so no time to visit the satellite building for no reason =P

morning selfie before boarding

first flight out for 2016

the flight to Jakarta wasn't full. i practically had the whole row to myself (row 29 lol). economy food was mediocre (compared to Mr.Pilot's choice of business class menu hahahah), the curry barely had anything in it but gravy T__T. luckily the aircraft was one of the newer ones, so i was happily preoccupied with The Peanuts Movie throughout the 2-hour flight =D.

the cabin

a whole row practically to myself

morning cloud porn

breakfast

Charlie Brown for in-flight entertainment

i landed at Terminal 2 at 11.10am. i've forgotten how boring Arrivals were; there wasn't much to see or do except to either eat or wait for your ride. after reading back my messages with Mashi i only realized that she was going to land at Terminal 3. haiz. okay so luckily she mentioned that there was a free shuttle bus service to get around terminals, so off i went to look for a bus - after i changed into a more comfortable pair of shoes. geez, i swear that most of the shoes i own aren't travel-worthy. at first i thought of walking but yeah ok i had to scratch that - Terminal 3 is nowhere within walking distance of Terminal 2, pui.

welcome to Indonesia

the airport wifi connection wasn't so good; i kept getting disconnected. i waited over half an hour for Mashi to emerge from Arrivals. instead of taking a taxi to get to town, we decided to take the Damri bus to get to Gambir Railway Station in Central Jakarta (adventure! she calls it), which cost us 40K. i fell asleep on the bus, i was too tired from waking up early lol.

Jakarta traffic is horrendous, i tell you. it may seem like there's barely an inch of gap between the other vehicle beside you (while zooming off at fast speeds), but oddly enough they drive in such a way that i have yet to come across any road accidents during my stay there. in other words, diorang lagi skill. haha.

after looking for train tickets at the train station, we decided to have lunch before heading off to the hotel. i'm not very adventurous when it comes to Indonesian food, but ayam penyet i can still take. the sambal was really spicy. aaaaand the ayam penyet in the menu looked far more bigger n juicier than irl, lol.

our lunch - nasi ayam penyet. and es teh.

so off we went to grab a taxi to get to our hotel, situated in South Jakarta. we paid 50K for the taxi, which in turn manage to get us lost because the taxi at didn't know where the hotel was even after giving him the address. T____T.  he even had to get down and ask around for directions, haha.

one landmark we passed was the National Monument, or Monas. with our tight schedule, pity we didn't have time to drop by. Mashi was amazed by the kereta kuda we passed by. lol.

after literally going around in circles, we finally FOUND made it to the hotel, lol. the hotel was only four stories high, with breakfast being served at the restaurant on the fourth floor. the room was simple, yet functional. it had a queen-sized bed, a tv, a gigantic fridge even bigger than the mini bars you find at hotels (to comfortably hold all the food tourists buy no doubt hahahahah), air-conditioning, hot water, a balcony (with not so much of a view lol), so it was all good. oh they even had wifi! big plus for someone who refuses to activate roaming overseas =D.

the extra facilities that they had was a 'fitness center', a pantry at each level where you can cook if you wanted to, and also free laundry service for 4 garments per day (top, bottom, bra and undies AHAHAHAHHAHA ok just kidding).

our accommodation

simple yet functional

balcony view. LOL

Mr.Pilot sent some cloud porn photos. he had just arrived at BKI; it's been two months since his last flight. his cloud photos are way much awesomer than mine; he gets first class view of them lol.

Mr.Pilot's cloud porn view

we decided to go sightseeing on foot before heading over to HRC Jakarta in the evening to catch the live band, something Mashi says we must do while in Jakarta =D. the nearest mall to our hotel was Kuningan City Mall so off we went.

i'd say that for me malls were really so-so, unless you're really into mall-hopping or if you were looking for something specific to get. we stopped by their local supermarket just to ogle at their stuff. it's true when bibik says that what you find here cannot be found there, and vice versa (which explains why she just loves to buy packages of milo and maggi and ship them back to Indonesia). i just had to take a photo of their local medicine to send to bibik back home, lol. how i go by our Panadol is the same way she goes by her Bodrex =D

obat Indonesia LOL

since our train the next day leaves at 5am, we had an early dinner first at Cafe Betawi before ending the night at HRC. the food here was ok, although i found my dish to be a bit too spicy.

slightly higher-end dinner

bakwan baso

mashi's nasi goreng

toilet selfie at Kuningan City

we couldn't book a table at HRC so we put our names on the waiting list and walked around Pacific Place Mall while waiting. someone kirim an HRC souvenir but the one Mashi was looking for wasn't available, so in the end she bought some pins for herself, because they were on sale (buy 1 free 1 i think).

HRC!

Pacific Place Mall

the live band started 10.30pm so about an hour earlier the restaurant called us saying our table was ready. while waiting for the live band to begin jamming, Mashi did some research on Bandung (she subscribed to 3-days overseas data) while i sipped my drink and cursed the lousy wifi data connection haha. did i mention that this was my first time at HRC? i still don't really get why everyone gets so hyped over HRC merchandise. maybe i should experience their hotel or something one day. i left the restaurant two hours later almost half-deaf in the ear. lol.

Hard Rock Cafe Jakarta

first live band experience

some strawberry infusion

both of us went back to the hotel and pengsan terus because we had an early day tomorrow.

Day 2: Bandung!

back to work

Bali Day 1, Part 1

ever since the husband completed training a couple of weeks ago, he has A LOT of free time on his hands. since the children were still on school holiday, he decided to bring the elder two for a short swim-holiday. my kids are swim freaks, berjemur under the sun until hitam legam and they still won't care haha.

so were up bright and early at 5am, got the kids ready and left the house at 6am. the night before was total chaos as i hadn't finished packing, and it had to be the day that the old trusty refrigerator decides to break down on us. we had a bit of a chore on our hands to try and 'save the veggies' (we went holidaying in Cameron the day before) and especially with very limited fridge back-up (we only had a standalone freezer) so we turned down the thermostat on one freezer and made it into a makeshift 'fridge' while waiting for someone to come repair our fridge the next day.

well anyway, this was our first time flying on standby; unfortunately wrong timing as it was school holidays, therefore most of the flights were full (sweat). the 9am flight was full, so we had to wait for the next one three hours later (MAS flies to Bali three times a day, did you know? lol. the crew don't have night stops there unfortunately, boo). it happened to be that there was another family of 5 also waiting on standby for the flight to Bali, so it's 4 of us against the 5 of them hahahahahahah what were the odds that there would be NINE available seats on the next flight?

ZERO to NONE i tell you!

the lady behind the counter told us the 3pm flight was overbooked, and the next morning flight was also unavailable. all nine of us were on standby for the noon flight but there were only three available seats. the husband was already thinking that if there was no other choice, the kids and i would fly first, and he'd catch the next available flight (say whaaa....?). but then he had the bright idea to request jump seat for himself (a friend he met earlier this morning requested for jump seat to KK but the flight was totally full), so off he went to seek the Captain's permission. the husband flew with the Captain once many months ago; apparently he wasn't too thrilled about having an extra person in the cockpit, but after much pleading he finally relented (yay!).

i kinda felt bad for the other family though. but their party wasn't able to fit into the noon flight anyway; and she also told me she's gone for holiday many other places before this, so kasi can kat kitorang la, ok? hee~~~~~

waiting standy

i actually got a seat at the emergency exit while the other two kids got a seat together at the back. but the lady who was supposed to seat beside them graciously offered to exchange seats with me since she was traveling alone and didn't mind the change. i'm so grateful for her kindness!

MH851 KUL-DPS
time to destination: 2 hours, 49 minutes.

off we go

the mandatory winglet photo

we had the option to choose either fish+rice or roti-canai+chicken curry; the two kids chose roti canai so i took the other dish (and guess who had to finish the leftovers? lol). i practically had to force them to drink thousands of miles in the air pffffft such picky eaters *roll eyes*. there wasn't much interesting in-flight movies to watch, so i randomly picked Four Christmases; the other two decided on watching Despicable Me *roll eyes again*. they can watch this at home, why watch the same thing again??? lol oh well.

to kill time #planneraddictmalaysia

we arrived around 3.50pm in Bali! after going through immigration, we took an airport taxi to our hotel. the husband opted to take the Bali Mandara Toll Road (we had to pay 11k extra) to avoid the heavy traffic (o.m.g. traffic here is horrible!). the husband chose The Laguna in Nusa Dua as our holiday stay, as the hotel was under Starwood Hotels. we were greeted with air jamu welcoming drink which nobody liked except me (so i had to finish all four of them hahahahah).

buat2 minum tu, in the end i had to finish everything haha

we checked into Room 311, with an awesome view of the swimming pool. urmm there's actually seven different swimming pools in The Laguna, so take your pick. did i tell you the room was awesome? the kids were thrilled that there was a bathtub (he-llo! why chill in the tub when you have a choice of seven different swimming pools to chill in????).

awesome fluffy bed

wish they had a couch instead of... that.

the usual desk, tellv and minibar

balcony with a wonderful view of the pool below

the bathroom

marble flooring is freaking cold

toilet selfie!!! cc. Ariep =P

welcoming note & snack

while the husband decided to chill in the room and wait for the luggage to arrive (and officiate the fluffy bed), the three of us decided to do a bit of exploring on the hotel grounds. the kids wanted to see the beach. the resort was so big i had to take a photo of the resort map so that i didn't miss anything (or get lost lol). it started to drizzle when we were walking around. the hotel provides umbrellas but i didn't find out about that until we were heading back to our room.

Resort Map

for those whose rooms were on the ground floor they had direct access to the pool via their balcony. just open balcony door and jump straight in. lol. photos does not do justice to the place. it really is gorgeous in real life.

direct access to the pool

one of the seven swimming pools

artifical 'beach' within the pools

the children's pool

the beach wasn't bad, but it didn't really fit the 'white sandy beaches' description as the husband was hoping it to be. but it wasn't overcrowded and clean, so i'm ok with that. i noticed there were wave breakers further out at sea; you could observe waves breaking against some invisible barrier before it reaches the shore (i'll have to check this out later). i told the kids to wake up bright and early tomorrow if they wanted to do some swimming.

Nusa Dua Beach

evening walk on the Beach

mission accomplished

like... finally.

#flymas #malaysiaairlines #flyingwithwings

jumpstreet pj

i was unwell that day - technically i still am - but the husband wasn't around and the kids were getting antsy due to the long holiday of doing absolutely nothing (apart from playing the ipad as long as it had battery life and sleeping late at night doing goodness-knows-what T_T). so i decided to bring the kids to Jumpstreet. a few of my friends have been there but i was a bit skeptical on whether the kids would be entertained or not. i remembered asking Dayana awhile ago on whether she would be interested in jumping around. she gave me a big fat NO. hahahhahahahhaha.

so without thinking much i bundled up the three elder kids into the car and drove to PJ. Jumpstreet was situated nearby to Jaya One rupanya - where i always get my washi fix at Stickeriffic! lol.

we went during off peak season; entrance fee was RM22 (gst included) per person per session, free for children below the age of 3. but we had to purchase their Jumpstreet non-slip socks at RM5 per pair. if i ever decide to bring them here again, i must remember to bring along the socks.

each session lasts for one hour, which starts and finishes at the top of the hour. we arrived just in time for the 5pm session. at this hour there were barely any one else apart from us and a couple of other kids jumping around. we didn't have to bump bodies with other people! =D

before the jumping commences

i thought Sophia would enjoy jumping around, i apparently was wrong. she wasn't used to the trampoline, and of the ripple effect of others bouncing all around her. she was initially terrified! lol.

it's much safer on the ground, Mommy

but she eventually got the hang of it and started 'bouncing' around all by herself without any difficulty. i took a few videos of her but haven't uploaded it yet. the other two, on the other hand, started bouncing all over the place.

The Cage was a dedicated area for kids below three, to be accompanied by a paying adult. so we spent most of the hour here, while the other two occasionally explored The Foam Pit - a pit filled with thousands of soft foam cubes, and the Slam Dunk, where you could dunk basketballs, of course.

when time was up, guess who didn't want to go home? LOL.

i'm wayyy to old for this. i ended up with a splitting headache for jumping around too much, hahahhahahahah.

oh, the kids made a new friend, i think his name was Benjy. here they are posing at the mandatory Jumpstreet wall together:

and since we were so close by to Jaya One, we decided to stop by Boat Noodle for a quick bite. did i mention that Aunty Daisy followed us too? she came as a spectator of course. LOL.

i left the kids at Boat Noodle and dropped by Stickeriffic to purchase a Christmas-themed washi for my December layout. i couldn't find any Christmas themed stickers though =(. i didn't know Reet wanted the same roll of washi too, i just touched-and-go because the store was gonna close at 7pm and didn't want to drag the troops along.

merry Christmas!

still another month of school holiday and i'm out of ideas on how to entertain the kids. haha!

Jump Street PJ
8A, Jalan 13/6, Seksyen 13,
46200, Petaling Jaya,
Selangor

Tel: 1800 88 JUMP (5867)

Opening Hours:
Sun-Thurs 10am-9pm
Fri & Sat 10am-10pm

hairbydaisydee

from this:

to this:

i loved it so much and it actually stayed in place (as in did not unravel) that i sported this head for 2-days straight

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

i'm now thinking twice about whether i should get that haircut.

my gula baker

one fine day, i came across this in instagram:

and immediately sms-ed the number to register Dayana. haha.
she did mention that one of her ambitions was to be a baker, hoho
but the last time i asked her and Dinara to bake cookies with me, both of them ended up MIA and i found them upstairs snoring on my bedroom floor T___T.

apparently Gula Cakery was only 15 minutes from the house. been meaning to drop by to try their awesome food (their cakes i hear are awesome, the last time they had a bazaar at SACC Mall they were sold out by the time i arrived, sobs). sil has taken classes before with them and has nothing to say but good things about them. so i is smitten!

the little monster at the start of class:

while waiting for her to finish, i headed upstairs to their cafe. Sunday was nasi kerabu and kuey teow day. but since i was alone and have never tried their cakes before (i've been dying to try one since like forever), i decided on a slice of Peanut Butter and Chocolate cake + a pot of hot tea.

... and did a bit of crappy journaling with whatever things i had in my bag.

i forgot that Gula Cakery had a small section in the cafe specially designed for kids; i left the other kids at home because a) i didn't want Dinara to feel left out because she wasn't registered for the class, and b) too many kids in a restaurant + no form of entertainment = no peace for Mommy.
i'm coming again next time with the kids, Nani.

3.30pm i went downstairs to see what had become of my little baker. Nani told me she was really quiet but followed whatever she was told to do. Nani asked me if Dayana bakes at home, or if she was the one that had wanted to take the class; i told her NEVER (IT WAS ALL MY IDEA) hahahhahahah.

see my daughter's expression? so much enthusiasm there.

Nani was/is really awesome. she oozes with so much enthusiasm it's hard to hate her. haha. she has this never-ending positive vibe that really works for her. did i mention to you that it's infectious as well?

Dayana was happy to take a photo with Nani:

and by the end of the class she was really excited over her cupcakes.
btw, that background reminds me of that pink sprinkle washi i have at home. LOL.

school holiday's coming up and i'm gonna have to think of ways to keep the kids occupied other than being in front of the iPad all day. she managed to learn from Daddy on how to hook up the iPad display to the tv, so she's been watching youtube all day on the big screen T___T.

Gulacakery
11-G & 11-1, Jalan Anggerik Aranda,
BG 31/BG, Kota Kemuning,
Shah Alam, Selangor.

Opening Hours: Tuesdays to Sundays 12-8pm (unless revised otherwise)