Do you Love KL?(short visit to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, my first solo travelling)-part 1

Sebenarnya dulunya sudah merasa puas sehari mengunjungi menara petronas (sewaktu balik dari Thailand, yang ceritanya belum terselesaikan juga), dan cerita teman-teman yang sering bilang tidak ada yang menarik di KL selain menara petronasnya , namun lama-lama penasaran juga melihat ticket pesawat yang super murah dari Bandung ke KL. Dan akhirnya, terbersitlah keinginan untuk mengunjungi KL lagi, tapi short visit aja. Konon katanya 1 hari juga cukup untuk mengunjungi ibu kota negara tetangga ini.

Maksud hati pergi di Labor day 1 Mei yang jatuh di hari Jumat, lumayan kan minggunya bisa buat istirahat, euy waktu mau beli ticket jatuhnya udah mahal. Yo wis batal akhirnya mengunjungi teman yang punya baby  di Yogyakarta yang belum juga kesampaian (sampai anaknya udah umur setahun). Dan akhirnya 2 minggu sebelum fasting day, nemu juga tuh ticket murah....Tapi berangkatnya seminggu kemudian, alias tanpa prepare apapun, keputusan sudah bulat, nekat aja, hidup cuman sekali koq dibuat susah.! 

Pagi-pagi setelah berhasil beli ticket seharga IDR 847K PP all in sudah termasuk pembelian via credit card , pake hp samsung grand duosku yang batterynya sudah 1/2 performanya, langsung deh cabut ke BEC beli HP baru buat modal solo travelling. Karena nggak sempat prepare apapun, smart phone tuh barang wajib yang bisa membantu menunjukkan arah kalau lagi kesasar via aplikasi google maps yang so far sangat membantuku. Sekaligus beli yang kamera depannya bagus buat selfie, coz akan sangat susah kalo kemana-mana minta orang asing fotoin. Akhirnya jatuhlah pilihan pada Asus Zenfone 2 yang punya kamera depan 5 MP,kamera belakang 13 MP, RAM pilih yang 2 GB aja (tersedia juga yang 4 GB), dan sudah dilengkapai adroid versi terbaru si Lollipop.Pulang dari BEC sempetin nukerin ringgit di dollarindo yang ternyata ratenya agak mahal dibandingkan GMC. Tapi ya udahlah, la wong nukerinnya dikit pastinya bedanya cuman dibawah 50 ribuan. 

Dan ternyata that week, my work was so hectic. Pulang-pulang sudah tidak punya tenaga untuk selancar di dunia maya sekedar untuk memantapkan petualangan. Namun masih sempat menyempatkan diri untuk booking hotel, sempat bimbang antara menginap di sekitar KL Sentral atau bukit bintang, akhirnya pilihan jatuh pada D'or Hotel bukit bintang, single room yang seharga IDR 330 K. Sempat kepikiran untuk menginap di hostel,tapi koq kebanyakan mixed dorm, kalau nggak gitu kamar mandinya jelek banget.

Hari jumat masih ada acara gathering  dikantor sampai malam. Pulang jam 10 malam, baru packing buat besok paginya. Cuman bawa kaos 2 setel, legging dan peralatan make up sekedarnya, no towels or toiletries, pake yang dari hotel aja. Ransel rasanya ringan banget. Tidur jam 12 bangun jam 3 pagi,jam 4 pagi berangkat dari rumah pake motor, sampai bandara jam 4.15 counter check in belum buka,lupa belum print lagi, akhirnya pake mobile check in dari HP tapi nggak bisa print karena mesinnya yang dibandara husein rusak. Jam 5 counter check in udah buka, cuman nunjukin HP bisa dituker dengan boarding pass. Its so simple!!!. Di ruang tunggu, ketemu sama teteh-teteh yang juga akan ke KL, ternyata sebelahan dipesawat.

Pas jam 6 pagi pesawat take off, sudah tidak bisa menahan kantuk karena cuman tidur 3 jam, tertidur pulaslah di pesawat. Bangun-bangun  pesawat turbulence agak kenceng. Sempat ngeri juga karena ingat kasus Air Asia yang sempat hilang karena Awan Columnius. Tapi alhamdulillah selamet, safe landing di Bandara KLIA2 (dulunya LCCT) kurang dari jam 8 WIB, atau jam 9 waktu Malaysia. Dan ternyata bandaranya sudah jauh berbeda dengan April 2014 lalu saat aku terakhir kali kesini. Sekarang KLIA2 sudah dibangun menjadi bandara yang megah, mirip-mirip Bandara Changi yang di Singapore.

Waktu turun, tetehnya bilang mau bareng, ternyata si teteh belum pernah keluar negeri, masih agak2 bingung gitu . Keluar dari imigrasi, dia bilang suaminya masih di apartemen, belum sempat jemput dan jadinya ketemunya di KL Sentral. Ya sudah, aku ajak bareng sekalian, terus si teteh minta dianterin beli Malaysian simcard. Akhirya aku anterin ke counter hotlink semacam simpatinya Indonesia gitu Mbak-mbaknya nanyain kita di Malaysia berapa hari, kita bilang 3 hari. Dia ngasih kartu perdana buat tourist seharga 21 RM yang sudah ada internet 2GB berlaku untuk 3 hari. Woow, its so cheap!!Akhirnya yang awalnya niat untuk beli kartu perdana di sevel,beli juga sekalian disini. Jangan lupa kasih passpor, untuk ngaktifin perdana di Malaysia kita membutuhkan ID. Setelah diaktifin internetnya dan HP dikembaliin, ternyata......sinyalnya 4G!!!Baru kali ini nemu sinyal 4G biasanya paling banter di Indonesia  HSDPA+.

 

Hotlink si sinyal 4G

Keluar imigrasi langsung nyamper Aero bus ke KL Sentral yang nongkrong di depan Bandara. Bus ke KL Sentral kalo nggak Sky Bus yang warna merah bisa juga Aero Bus yang warna kuning. Tapi sekarang buat naik busnya ticket nggak bisa beli langsung, harus beli di dulu di bandara, harga ticket RM 10. Kita dapet ticket jam 10.30 nyampe KL Sentral jam 11.30. Setelah pisah sama si teteh  yang nungguin suaminya, langsung deh naik ke lantai atas  mancari amunisi buat perut yang sudah keroncongan karena belum sarapan. Sempat kesasar!!Karena sekarang KL sentral terhubung dengan NU Sentral mall yang lumayan gedhe, jadinya agak susah mencari KL Sentralnya. Pas naik ekskalatornya ternyata salah arah. Aku malah kearah kanan menuju mallnya, harusnya menuju kearah kiri langsung ke KL Sentral. Disini petunjuk arah memang nggak begitu jelas.Dan saat nanya ke security, jawabannya serba tidak jelas, ada yang bilang diff building lah, ada yang bilang suruh naik lift dulu lah,baru  terselamatkan setelah nanya mbak-mbak dimeja informasi yang super ramah dan walaupun dengan bahasa melayu tapi mudah di mengerti.

Sampai KL sentral cari-cari makan dulu, pengen beli nasi lemak di Medan Selera ternyata lagi di renovasi. Akhirnya membeli Curry noodles di Meals Station, yang porsinya tiga kali porsi orang dewasa dengan harga yang sangat murah. 1 porsi Meals Curry Noodles cuman seharga 8 RM, 1 ice coffee hazelnut seharga 5 RM, padahal didalam mall. Sayangnya pelayannya kurang ramah, whateverlah!!yang penting makanannya enak. Dan saat mie nya datang, rasa currynya nendang banget, lengkap dengan 3 potong ayam berukuran sedang dan beberapa tahu pong!!Curry terenak yang pernah kurasakan (ato karena lapar ya). Tapi ya gitu karena porsinya gedhe banget aku cuman bisa makan sepertiganya.

 Look at the spoon and the medium ice hazelnut coffee...that was a panci not a mangkok!!!

Habis makan sudah jam setengah satu, langsung mencari ticket KTM atau komuter yang ada di dekat Meals Sation. Di KL sentral sendiri ada LRT, KTM, KLIA express (ke bandara KLIA) dan juga sky bus atau aero bus ke KLIA 2. Ticket KTM ke batu caves 2 RM sekali arah dengan waktu tempuh   kurang lebih setengah jam. KTM ini mirip-mirip LRT atau Monorail, cuma beli ticketnya di counter tidak seperti monorail atau LRT yang bisa pakai mesin. Keluar dari KTM langsung ke batu cavesnya, jadi tidak akan kesasar. Akhirnya selfie, kenalan sama turis hungaria yang minta difotoin dan nanya arah toilet, muter-muter batu caves dan naik ke kuil didalam gua yang harus di tempuh dengan menaiki 242 anak tangga. Padahal aku phobia ketinggian, namun sayang karena udah sejauh ini ya sudah aku nekat aja. Ternyata phobia bisa dilawan oleh kondisi kepepet dan rasa nekat.

Nyampe atas, pemandangan didalam gua lumayan bagus. Foto foto sebentar dan akhirnya memutuskan turun. Sampai bawah rasanya  kaki oh kaki.....sumpah capek banget (dan gemetar karena takut ketinggian). Hampir sama saat menuju curug cimahi yang anak tangganya mirip kayak gini, dan dulunya kutempuh dengan lebih  gemetaran. Saat ini karena aku sendirian, mau nggak mau harus kuat!!. Kembali ke stasiun komuter beli ticket pas nyampe bawah pintu komuter sudah ditutup. Sempet teriak teriak minta ditungguin , la gimana ditungguin...wong pintunya otomatis. Terpaksa menuju komuter diarah sebelah dengan naik turun tangga lagi ke arah seberang.

Sesampainya KL Sentral, langsung masuk ke Nu Sentral Mall untuk mencari monorail ke bukit bintang. Kalo nyari monorail lumayan gampang karena petunjuknya arahnya jelas, cuman letaknya beda bangunan sama KL Sentral. Harga koin monorail KL Sentral bukit bintang kalo tidak salah 2.1 RM, belinya pake mesin. Karena pake uang kertas lumayan agak lemot juga mesinnya, sampek minta seorang teenager di belakangku untuk bantuin. Ternyata kuncinya cuman kesabaran, kalo nggak mau masuk ya coba masukin ulang!!

Tap this when enter the gate, put inside to get out

Turun stasion monorail bukit bintang langsung aktifin gps buat mencari Dor Hotel. Setelah jalan kurang lebih 500 m melewati alor street yang belum begitu ramai, sampailah di hotel yang berada persis di belakang alor street. Check in jam 4 sore dihotel dengan berbekal bukti email booking dari booking.com . Sesampai di kamar langsung mandi lalu tidur untuk melepa

Bangun pukul 6.30 waktu Malaysia, sempat browsing sebentar untuk mencari alternatif transportasi ke lokasi yang ingin kukunjungi malam ini, menara petronas dan , china town atau petaling street. Menarik, ternyata keduanya lebih mudah ditempuh dengan menggunakan bus Go KL gratis  dan kebetulan bukit bintang merupakan tempat yang dilewati 3 jalur bus Go KL, jalur biru, jalur hijau dan jalur ungu.

Keluar dari hotel sekitar pukul 7, kondisi masih terang benderang seperti pukul 5 di Indonesia. Jalan alor belum begitu ramai, walaupun hampir semua penjual sudah bersiap dengan dagangannya. Aku berjalan menuju stasiun Ain Arabia, yang berjarak kurang lebih 500 m (or may be more), melewati jalan tikus yang ditunjukkan oleh google maps. Untuk menuju ke menara petronas, kita bisa menggunakan bus Go KL jalur hijau. Semua bus KL berwarna ungu, tanda jalur terletak didepan bus.
Ada beberapa turis asing mendekat dan menanyakan harga ticket bus. Sewaktu aku jawab free, mereka setengah nggak percaya dan nanya "even for the green lines?".Setelah aku mengiyakan, mereka masih ragu-ragu dan memilih mundur ke belakang (mungkin nanya lagi ke orang lain). Bus pun datang dan perjalanan ke menara petronas hanya ditempuh dalam waktu sekitar 15 menit. Sebenarnya jalan pun cuman sekitar 1,5 km dari hotel, tapi kaki udah capek banget gara-gara naik tangga ke batucaves. Aku lihat group mbak-mbak bule tadi nggak ikut naik, whatever lah!!!Masa informasi kaya gitu aja nggak tau, kan bisa browsing di banyak situs, udah gitu dikasih tau nggak percaya.

Dari pemberhentian bus, masih jalan sebentar ke menara petronas, cari-cari spot yang bagus buat foto-foto. Dan ternyata benar, menara petronas emang paling bagus diambil fotonya waktu malam. Selfi aja disini, nggak males mau minta bantuan orang buat moto.

Setelah puas selfie, mampir bentar ke suria klcc. Banyak dijual coklat disini, cuman males untuk mampir, besok di central market atau kl sentral juga banyak. Liat baju juga males,mending belanja murah meriah dibandung. Muter-muter bentar, akhirnya keluar dari Mall dan mencari bus Go KL lagi, cari yang jalur hijau juga, balik ke bukit bintang dan transit ke jalur ungu untuk menuju petaling street.

Sampai petaling street yang hanya jalan sekitar 50 m dari pemberhentian bus, ternyata kebanyakan hanya jualan arloji dan tas. Tidak tertarik juga untuk liat, tujuanku disini ingin cari souvenir gantungan kunci atau magnet kulkas atau kaos malaysia. Akhirnya nemu juga dibagian agak dalem, ada tas-tas juga yang bertuliskan I love KL.

Setelah puas belanja, balik lagi stasiun busnya. Masih mencari bus yang sama untuk menuju pasar seni (karena busnya hanya satu arah). Stasiun pasar seni merupakan pemberhentian terakhir, namun setelah semua penumpang turu, bus putar arah untuk menuju ke trayek kebalikannya.

Sampai bukit bintang sudah jam 12 malam, bus beroperasi sampai jam 1 malam. Turun dari bus sempat muter-muter jalan alor yang sudah ramai sekali, membeli burger dipinggir jalan lalu mencari softdrink di sevel, sempat nanya-nanya souvenir juga di kaki lima dekat jalan alor ternyata harganya lebih mahal dari petaling street. Jam 1 an, nyampe di hotel bersih bersih badan langsung deh tertidur pulas karena kecapekan.

I love Bandung, The Capital City of Sunda Land

Sunda Land sini bukan " Sundaland "yang mengacu pada sebutan bagian bumi kita pada zaman es, dimana pada saat itu Pulau Jawa, Sumatera, Borneo bahkan Philipina adalah satu area dengan bagian bumi di utaranya yaitu Malaysia,Thailand dan sekitarnya. . Namun lebih pada pembahasa inggrisan tanah sunda yaitu "Sunda Land ".  

Setelah 10 tahun lebih tinggal di salah satu bagianTanah Sunda, B ,asli, bener, jujur, banyak banget hal yang sangat menarik dan istimewa di Tanah Bandung ini.

1. Cuaca yang paling nyaman kategori kota besar di Indonesia

Walaupun sudah tidak sedingin dulu, namun rata-rata suhu di Bandung masih jauh lebih nyaman di bandingkan dengan kota-kota besar lainnya di Indonesia. Tidak terlalu dingin namun tidak terlalu panas (karena gunung yang paling dekat dari rumah jauh, sekitar 20 km, jadi suhu tidak begitu dingin). Menurut wikipedia sih suhu rata2 24 derajat C, tapi kalo lagi musim dingin mencapai 14 derajat Celcius dan bisa mencapai 30 derajat Celcius saat panas.

2. Surganya Belanja (sudah dibahas pada post sebelumnya). Banyak tourists jauh-jauh datang ke Bandung hanya untuk Belanja, bukan hanya domestik bahkan turis manca sekalipun (cuman Malaysia sama Singapura sih)

3. Surganya makanan enak

Siapa tidak kenal seblak keripik setan, klapeertart (walaupun asli Manado tapi di Bandung malah lebih hits), Brownies Amanda, Bolen Kartika Sari. Bahkan tempat makan legendaris seperti Braga Permai dengan menu-menu klasik zaman Belanda, cafe seperti Kampung Daun ,Sapu Lidi atau Cafe unik bentuk sarang burung ala Dusun Bambu, Sierra Cafe dll. Saking kreatifnya orang bandung soal mengolah makanan, aci(tepung tapioka) aja bisa menjadi aneka makanan berjudul ci (aci) seperti cireng, cireng crispy, cimoll, cilok, mungkin ada ci ci  lainnya yang saya tidak familiar?

4. Kota terpilih untuk dilaksanakannya KAA (hehehe)

5. Surganya tempat wisata.

Sudah jelas kalo ini mah. Walaupun tanpa pantai yang biasanya menjadi daya tarik utama tempat wisata, toh Bandung masih punya kawah putih, tangkuban perahu, berbagai macam curug dari Penganten sampai Malela yang seperti Niagara, stone garden yang merupakan taman batuan peninggalan zaman megalitikum (katanya sih mirip yang di Christmas Island) dan masih banyak lagi

6. Tempatnya ITB, salah satu kampus tertua di Indonesia (urutan ketiga)

7. Tempatnya legenda Sangkuriang dan Dayang Sumbi yang terkenal.

Bahkan pemandangan rumahku saat ini adalah gunung bohong yang konon menurut legenda sangkuriang ditempat inilah Dayang Sumbi bertemu dengan Sangkuriang setelah sekian lamanya mereka berpisah.

8. Tempat asal lagu Bubuy Bulan, lagu daerah yang paling mendayu biru saat aku kecil. 

 Saat kecil, suka banget nyanyiin lagu itu. Pas sekarang tinggal disini dan sedikit mengerti bahasa Sunda baru tahu kalo hampir semua penyebutanku saat dulu salah, bahkan kata-kata yang kuhafal juga salah. Sayangnya belum pernah mengunjungi Situ Ciburuy, karena  beberapa banyak yang tidak tidak menyarankan untuk berkunjung karena konon angker.

 9. Daerah Industri yang cukup pesat

Makanya aku  disini sekarang karena bekerja disalah satu industri.

10. Gudangnya manusia bertampang rupawan

Karenanya banyak artis yang berasal dari kota bandung,seperti Laudya CB, Raffi, Andara,Nicky Astria, Derry Drajat,  Nike Ardilla (alm) dan masih banyak lagi. Bahkan artis muda yang sedang naik daun Citra Kirana yang berperan sebagai Rumana di Tukang Bubur Naik Haji, rumahnya hanya sekitar 200 meter dari tempatku (walau nggak kenal sih, tetangga aja yang kenal hanya radius 2+2 rumah ). Anak-anak orang jawa yang sudah menetap disini juga tampangnya jadi bagus-bagus, biasanya sih berkulit putih dan berambut tebal. Sayang belum married dan punya anak, siapa tahu ntar anakku bisa jadi artis juga, hehehehehe.

Sebenarnya kalo di list masih banyak lagi sih, sayang sudah ngantuk. Nggak tau nih kenapa lagi seneng banget bikin ulasan tentang Bandung. Yang jelas... even I am Javanese, I love Bandung, I love Sunda Land (and I still Love Trenggalek too...cintaku jadi terbagi-bagi nih,heheheehe)

Tempat Belanja Termurah di Bandung (Cheap Shopping Places in Bandung)

Kata orang, Bandung adalah surganya belanja , hal itulah yang sering aku baca dan aku dengar dari dulu semenjak aku masih tinggal di kota lain, atau bahkan sekarang saat sudah tinggal dan menetap di Bandung. Wajarlah, sebutannya aja Paris Van Java (Parisnya Jawa) tentu saja Bandung menjadi pusat mode di Jawa, atau bahkan mungkin di Indonesia. Hal ini tentu saja disebabkan karena banyaknya industri tekstil di Bandung, sebut saja Cigondewah, Cibaligo dan Ci Ci lainnya yang aku sendiri tidak begitu hafal , karena aku lebih tertarik pada dimana baju-baju tersebut di jual dan bukan dimana baju-baju tersebut di buat. Dan kemungkinan juga majunya industri mode di Bandung disebabkan oleh antusiasme masyarakat Bandung sendiri akan mode. Disini, dari pengalamanku sendiri tinggal di Bandung selama 10 tahun, terlihat hampir sebagian besar masyarakatnya modis, dari yang bermobil, naik motor, naik angkot atau bahkan pejalan kaki, semuanya cantik-cantik dan  berpakaian model terkini.

Tempat belanja di Bandung sangat beragam,dari pasar yang ada disetiap sudut kota, sebut saja Pasar Baru, Pasar Andir, Pasar Gede Bage, Pasar Antri Cimahi, pusat perbelanjaan (Shopping Centre) seperti Kings, ITC,BTC, Cihampelas, mall-mall yang menjamur seperti PVJ,BIP,Ciwalk,Transmall (dulunya BSM),Istana Plaza , sampai factory outlet yang menjamur di jalan Riau,jalan Djuanda (Dago) , jalan setiabudi dll.

Lalu pertanyaannya, tempat manakah yang paling recomended?Well, itu sangat tergantung dari apa yang dicari, barang branded, barang branded model terbaru, kualitas atau bahkan harga. Jika yang di cari barang branded model terbaru, tentu saja tidak perlu dibahas, karena pastinya ada di outlet mall-mall terkenal. Nah disini aku hanya akan membahas dari segi harga, yaitu tempat belanja paling murah (menurut pengalaman aku pribadi) di Bandung.

1. Pasar Andir

 Sejauh ini, inilah tempat belanja paling murah yang pernah aku temukan di Bandung. Sebagian besar barang dijual secara serian, biasanya untuk dijual lagi (serian biasanya model yang sama sebanyak 3 pieces, hanya beda warna), namun banyak juga yang menjual secara satuan namun bisanya beda harga sekitar 5 ribu. Aku pernah menemukan kaos dengan harga IDR 17500, dengan model yang sama di pasar baru harga IDR 35000,bahkan di pasar Chatu Chak di Bangkok yang terkenal murah, barang dengan model dan bahan yang sama dihargain 100 bath (sekitar IDR 35000), itupun disana sudah di obral. Jegging stretch katun hanya IDR 30000 (di toko online setauku IDR 65000-80000). Jeans pensil berbagai mode hanya IDR 70000,dipasar baru dijual IDR 130000. Murah sekali bukan?

Jenis barang paling murah disini : celana jeans, jacket (hanya berkisar IDR 50000), rajutan (IDR 20000-30000), busana muslim (IDR 60000-150000).Barang-barang tersebut murah karena dijual dari tangan pertama (alias pembuatnya langsung)
Hindari : beli baju anak karena lebih mahal dari yang di Yogya Mall  dan kainnya kasar.

Kekurangannya : tempatnya kotor, sempit dan bau banget ,walaupun kalo sudah masuk area lantai dasar tempat jual baju,  sudah tidak begitu kotor, namun diarea parkiran sangat kumuh dan seringnya bau jengkol, jadi jangan lupa siapin masker. Yang anti jorok, dilarang keras belanja disini, pastinya akan muntah (diriku juga pernah sekali hampir muntah),jadi jangan harap bisa wisata kuliner disini walaupun ada juga yang jualan makanan, asli nggak bakalan ketelen. Selain itu lalu lintasnya nggak terarah, jalan sangat sempit, becek, dan jalur yang harusnya searah, tetap aja di pakai untuk 2 arah. Lebih baik kalo belanja disini pake motoe. Barang- barang disini juga terbatas, sebagian besar hanya baju yang dijual disini,  dan cenderung murahan. Namun jika kita pintar memilih, banyak koq yang bagus-bagus. Bahkan beberapa juga barang impor yang beberapa aku liat ada di factory outlet, dengan harga 50-100 ribu dibawahnya, walaupun tidak semurah lokal tentunya, kisarannya kalo barang impor diatas 90 ribu.

 2. Pasar Baru

Walaupun tidak semurah Pasar Andir, namun Pasar Baru memiliki kelebihan tersendiri, jauh lebih besar di bandingkan Pasar Andir dan serba ada. Mulai dari mode  kualitas rendah sd kualitas bagus,  bahan kain yang lengkap mulai dari kebaya sd batik  (terutama bahan kebayanya lengkap), perlengkapan sholat mulai mukena dari harga IDR 25000 sd ratusan ribu, peralatan ranjang yang supermurah (sprei, bed cover, selimut), baju batik,baju thailand,baju sisa ekspor, baju india, tas replika berbagai merk, sandal dan sepatu,  baju senam, bahkan sampai mebel dan karpetpun ada . Dan enaknya disini sudah dibedakan berdasarkan jenisnya perlantai. Misalnya, alat sholat dan mukena khusus satu lantai, bahan kain satu lantai, sprei dan bed cover satu lantai, dst. Dan lantai paling atasnya food court lho...lamayan bervariasi dan murah lagi food courtnya.

Jenis barang paling murah disini : sprei dan bed cover, mukena, kain

3.Factory Outlet.

Factory outlet sih dari namanya merupakan outlet yang menjual barang dari pabrik, untuk barang-barang sisa ekspor yang reject ataupun sisa stock dari pabrik. Denger-denger beberapa pabrik tekstil di Bandung, memproduksi beberapa merk branded seperti Zara, H&M, Hugo Boss, Calvin Klein, Esprit, Adidas, GAP, dll. Untuk sekali produksi ,pabrik sengaja melebihkan dari terget yang diminta untuk penggantian yang cacat produksi dll. Jadi tidak semua barang yang dijual di FO "cacat " atau "reject", beberapa juga bagus (jika cadangan tidak terpakai). Namun saat ini FO ternyata juga menjual pakaian sisa ekspor yang diimpor dari negara lain, jadi saat akan memilih barang check terlebih dahulu,  jika barang tersebut bukan buatan Indonesia, pasti jatuhnya lebih mahal (karena impor). Dan barang-barang FO ini gosip-gosipnya akan dikeluarkan di FO 6 bulan setelah barang di outlet resmi diluncurkan, dan barang branded buatan Indonesia tidak mungkin dijual di outlet Indonesia,jadi tidak akan ditemui barang yang sama di outlet resminya disini. Menurut pengalamanku, FO termurah dibandung jika diurutkan

 Urutan 1. D'Sale BTC : harga termahalnya hanya IDR129000. Namun, seperti halnya disemua FO, disini berlaku sistem untung-untungan, jadi jika banyak barang baru datang, jika kita jeli akan sangat banyak barang yang lumayan bagus dan murah.Karena D'Sale ada di shopping mall, jadi banyak tempat makan disini. Tempat makan favoritku disini adalah Ikan Bakar Pak Chimet yang ada di food court lantai paling atas.

Urutan 2. Merdeka FO: jacket musim dinginnya bagus-bagus,pernah dapat Jacket Musim Dingin Adidas Ori hanya IDR 220000, unyu-unyu pula. Pernah dapat juga tank top old navy seharga IDR 15000, legging Forever 21 IDR 35000.
Merdeka FO ini searea dengan Gramedia, BEC dan BIP, selain itu juga ada Cafe Ngopie dulu dan all you can eat japanese food. Cafenya recomended, selain berbagai macam kopi baik panas maupun dingin ,  makanan utamanyapun  variatif mulai dari steak, sop buntut sampai ayam penyetpun ada, dan ada  snack juga seperti mendoan, lasagnya, roti bakar dll. Menurutku sih rasanya lumayan enak , dan aku lebih suka kopi disini dibandingkan starbuck. Guess Why??? Selain karena ada makanan utama,  snacknya  lebih sesuai dengan lidah orang Indonesia, dan dengan tempat yang cozy dengan harga yang miring tentunya.
Favoritku disini : Ice Coffee Blue, mie gila sama mendoan

Urutan 3. The Oasis jalan Riau. Ini termasuk FO dengan harga miring dan dengan model yang lucu-lucu, harga berkisar IDR 50000-200000. Pernah pass lagi sale dapet kaos-kaos branded seharga IDR 20000 disini. Tempat makan?paling cari sekitar jalan riau banyak.

Urutan 4. M&N jalan Djuanda. Ini favorit juga karena murah dan lucu-lucu, sayang udah tutup

Urutan 5. Rumah Mode dan FO depannya (lupa namanya). Pernah dapat jacket Zara kulit hanya IDR 380000, keren pula. Pernah pula dapat dress H&M dengan harga IDR 50000 lebih murah dibandingkan di The Secret jalan Riau (dengan barang yang persis sama)
Disini ada cafe dan tempat makan juga.

Urutan 6. Pabrik Bajoe soekarno hatta. Ini bener-bener  FO dari brand tertentu, dan sebagian besar besar juga baju -baju resmi untuk kantoran. Namun jika beruntung akan dapat yang murah dan lucu juga. Pernah dapat skirt lucu hanya dengan  harga IDR 70000. Harga disini standar sih antara IDR 50000-250000. Sayang nggak ada tempat makannya ^_^
Update  25 Maret 2017 : pabrik baju murih bingits..lucu2 pula!!

4. King Shopping Centre (kepatihan).

Sebagian besar barang  adalah  baju. Disini barang-barang lebih terpilih dibandingkan dengan PB, tempat lebih bersih dan dekat dengan Matahari dan Yogja. Secara harga cenderung lebih murah dibanding shopping centre lainnya. Tempat makan?banyaaaak.....dari yang didalam mall sampai luar mall, ada ampera juga lho disini (kalo gak cucok sama makanan mall )

5. BTC (jalan Djunjunan).

BTC menamakan dirinya shopping mall, namun menurutku mirip-mirip shopping centre gitu. Kalo jeli, disini juga banyak barang yang murah dan bagus, walaupun rata-rata agak mahal dibandingkan shopping centre lainnya. Dan disini ada beberapa toko yang menjual khusus baju kerja dengan harga miring, ada di lantai atas dekat bank OCBC NISP dan juga dilantai bawah yang menjual jas, celana kerja, dan blazer dengan harga sekitar IDR 100000 an. Namun beberapa outlet mahal juga sih. Pernah ketemu sama seorang Cacik2 yang memborong baju di Elizabeth Otista, ternyata dia ngaku kalo  mau dijual lagi di BTC. Ada penjual di King yang bilang kalo yang di BTC ngambil dari dia juga, pantesan cenderung agak mahal!!!.

6. Elizabeth (Otista)

Suka banget belanja disini karena nggak rame dan barang-barangnya banyak yang lucu dan harga agak cenderung murah. Khusus untuk Elizabeth Otista barangnya berbeda di banding dengan yang di Ciwalk, lebih banyak dan bervariasi. Karena disini gedungnya ada beberapa lantai, dan setiap lantai dibedakan perkategori barang. Disini menjual mulai dari group baju, sepatu sandal, aksesoris, tas, pernak-pernik rumah, dan ada cafe yang menjual es cendol elizabeth juga lho, mulai dari yang original, ice cream maupun nangka. Kenapa aku letakkin di bawah BTC?Karena khusus untuk baju barang disini terbatas (hanya satu lantai). 

 7. Mall

Pastinya yang termurah di Mall yang ada Yogjanya, seperti Ciwalk, Riau Junction dll. Sebenarnya kalo jeli beberapa barang di Sogo PVJ ada yang murah-murah juga lho (kalo discount, hehehe). Tempat makan?pasti banyaaaak...

8. Pasar Gede Bage.
Secara pribadi aku nggak recomendasin sih, namun banyak yang bilang kalo disana banyak barang branded second  (terutama jacket kulit) dengan harga yang sangat miring , bahkan katanya beberapa artispun suka kesana. Namun saat aku kesana, nggak nemu tuh?Barang-barangnya keliatan bekas dan kusam dan bahkan beberapa sudah tidak layak dan dengan harga yang lumayan mahal untuk kategori  barang bekas.

Well, jadi semuanya tergantung dari kebutuhan dan pilihan sih. Kalo aku pribadi karena tidak terlalu mengikuti mode dan tidak suka model yang terlalu ekstrim dan suka sekali barang dengan bahan bagus, nyaman dipakai dan harga miring, tentunya pilihan nomer satu adalah FO, nomer dua shopping centre dan mall.  Namun jika membeli celana jeans, celana kerja , baju muslim dan baju korea aku lebih suka ke Andir , karena rata2 harga di FO lebih mahal dengan kualitas yang hampir sama. Pengalaman pernah beli celana Armani (sejenis jeans jegging gitu) di salah satu FO, ternyata sama aja molor. Pernah beli celana jeans warna coklat Bebe di FO Renarity (sekarang Jesse James ), dicuci luntur. Padaha harganya berlipat-lipat di banding di pasar (dan dipakainya sama).  Dan tentu saja kalo beli mukena, bed cover dan selimut pastinya ke Pasar Baru.. Kalo beli tas ya di FO terminal tas jalan riau atau di Elizabeth .
So which one is your choice?its depends on your comfort and your goal!!

Notes :

Now when I m older and also the traffic in Bandung is worst nowdays, shopping not interesting as before. Traffic killed almost everybody  interest of shopping (except for tourists who getting many and many in Bandung in the weekend).I only shop if I only need something now.

Trip to Thailand and Malaysia : Phuket, Bangkok,Kuala Lumpur (part 3)

Day 3
28 March 2014

After morning ritual :went to the Patong beach, enjoyed playing sand, had breakfast, we back to the hostel to take a bath dan prepare James Island tour. I had no idea about the tour attraction,I read from the Miss Ladda email it just  cave visiting, canoeing and  visit one of the famous movie location. For sure it was James Bond old  movie, Man with The Golden Gun (with Roger Moore as a main role) . So I think the tour was not as interesting as Phi Phi Tour.

The driver of travel agent pick up us at 8:00 am in front of the hostel, and then pick up several other guests in diff location. We walk from the meeting point (one of restaurant) to the Pier, it was rather far, around 500 meter distance. The boat, was diff from the Phi-phi tour, it was big boat not speedboat so it was very slow moving, and that made me was very boring at first. But after several minutes, I feel enjoy the situation. The crews supply us with coffee, tea and soft drinks and even give us some snacks and fruit. And becoz of the boat was big, with only severals peoples (not too crowded) we can walk around the boat, or just sit and feel the sea wind, enjoying the meals (feel like in cruise,hehehehe). Even one group entertaint themself by dancing and singing, and they were good at that.

 The Boat and the passengers

Leaving The Pier



But the situation was very diffirent after 1 hour journey. I saw very very beautiful scenery from the far, so many rocks around us.

It was very very vey beautiful.

Me



We reached Panak Island (not really island), and canoeing.

We must passed that cave to reach inside .

Passing the cave

After passing the cave, the sea sorrounded by the rocks, hidden paradise

Panak's Monkeys climb the tree

Other cave to pass, must in sleeping position if u dont want to stuck or even broke ur body in wo

Passed the cave,to reach back to the boat

We continued our journey to Hong Island (30 minutes by boat), one more canoeing (again...)
to be continued

Photo

Teringat 2 tahun lalu saat laptopku bener-bener mati, yang paling menyedihkan adalah perasaan kehilangan semua foto-foto lama. Laptop pengganti bisa dibeli, tapi foto lama?Kalo hanya mengulang petualangan untuk mengambil foto-foto baru sebenarnya masih mungkin, walaupun akan rugi waktu, tenaga dan uang. Namun ada satu hal yang tidak bisa kita ulang, waktu ke masa lalu. 

Kita tidak mungkin mengulang waktu, walaupun difilm-film, di novel, hal itu mungkin terjadi. Foto sepuluh tahun lalu, akan sangat berbeda dengan foto saat ini, karena kulit kita yang sudah mulai keriput dimakan usia, badan yang sudah menggemuk karena metabolisme tubuh mulai menurun, atau muka kita yang sudah berbeda karena tambahan luka, atau bahkan semakin cantik karena operasi plastik. Foto saat anak atau keponakan kita masih bayi,masih anak-anak  akan sangat berbeda dengan foto saat ini dimana mungkin mereka sudah beranjak remaja, dewasa , sudah tidak lagi lucu tapi mungkin bahkan menjadi sangat menyebalkan.

My niece when still cute, adorable isn it?

My niece when 10 yo, what hairs???

My niece now, as teenager

Foto adalah adalah satu-satunya mesin waktu manusia  untuk pergi ke masa lalu, walaupun hanya berbentuk gambar, namun gambar bisa mengulang cerita yang mungkin sudah terlupakan hanya oleh memory manusia.

Trip to Thailand and Malaysia : Phuket, Bangkok,Kuala Lumpur (part 2)

Day 2.
27 March 2014

We woke up early in  the morning, wanted to go to Patong beach, that only 100 m from the hostel. Bangla road was almost empty,but already open. I saw some late partiers, tuk tuk driver and some food sellers on the street. Patong beach was very empty too. Its was beautiful beach, but the sand is not as large as Kuta, but more clean. And similar with Kuta, there were so many hotels up front the beach. We can't see sunrise at Patong beach, but sunset .

                                             Bangla Road a night before

                                           Patong Beach Sign

                                         Doves in Patong Beach

After took some photo, buy some snack from food street seller, we back to hostel, shower and prepared for Phi-Phi Island Trip. The Tour to Phi-Phi Island cost 1200 Bath with speedboat (with big boat is cheaper, but cant reach many place). They pick us at 7.30  in front of the hostel, and it took 1 hour from patong to the pier, after pick some others too.

The speedboat was fully loaded, with some chinese tourists,  some westerners and us, locals (we should called ourself local becoz our look  similar with Thai people)

About a half hour, we can see the beautiful beach, Maya beach, the lagoon. Too bad it was too crowded. We stayed for 1 hour, took some photo in that beautiful places.

                                         My travel mate

                                                           Me ^_^,not burned yet

We continued to Loh Samah Bay, snorkel, sightseeing pile cove  and  visit monkey beach

                                            WOOOOOW!!!!

Snorkel, nothing special. The fishes are beatiful, but not many kinds. The coral is bad. Karimunjawa and Ujung Kulon in Indonesia are far more beautiful for snorkel.

                                        Monkeys, similar with monkeys in Uluwatu, Bali.
Then we continued our tour to Phi Phi Island, we stayed a little longer here, to had lunch and got some souvenirs too. There are peoples live in this Island

Our last place to visit in this tour was Khai Island. We spend time swimming and enjoying beautiful white sand here. It told that we can feeding fishes here, but I cant find the spot.

                                          White sands

                                         Ugly me and beautiful rocks!!
We back at Patong at 5 pm, and spend the afternoon watching sunset at patong beach.

                                         Sunset at Patong Beach.

Finally we back at the hostel, took deep shower, walk around Bangla Road, had dinner and black coffee, and had good sleep for tomorrow James Bond Island Tour. We were very tired, but it was worth experience. Maya Bay,Samah Bay,  Khai Island were true  beautiful treasure to see.

All photo taken by me, except photo of me taken by my friend. All were not edited.

Travelling murah Thailand dan Malaysia : Phuket, Bangkok,Kuala Lumpur (part 1)

When I watched Leonardo Dicaprio movie "The Beach", I can't catch the story, for me it was so confusing, but one thing  I noticed about the movie, the place where the movie describe as uninhabitated and forbidden beach, is the most beautiful place I ever seen.  Since that time I list it as one of my dream travel destination.

So after I had only 2 experienced went to abroad (travelled to China for work all arranged by others and visited friend in Singapore), in late 2013 , I planned a  trip to Phuket, and one of friend willing to join the trip with me. So after did so many research , we decided to arrange travel by ourself without any  travel agent. We  decided the date  was 26 -31 March 2014, only short visit since my friend want to visit Bangkok also (me and my friend work at diff place, so it was hard time to combine the date, and she had only  little permittion of leave work too).

So here was the itinerary we planned :

Jakarta-Phuket, by plane, 3 days in Phuket (26-28 March )

 Phuket-Bangkok,by night bus, 2 day in Bangkok (29 -31)

 Bangkok-Jakarta,by plane on 31 March

I buy one way ticket AA Jakarta- Phuket IDR 700 K,  but when I wanted to buy one way ticket Bangkok-Jakarta, unbelieveable, it was far expensive , about IDR 2000 K (becoz  that time was Indo peak season),way too expensive for budget traveller like me. When I search the flight, I use round trip search  and I found the flight cost was cheap, but apparently it was diff when u buy one way ticket, its far expensive. So I search for other flight company, and found that TA had cheaper cost flight. It was  IDR 1200 K. But the problem was, the TA system reject my passpor that will expired on August 2014. And I only  can renew my ticket at least 6 month before expired , that mean on late february 2014, and it took 2-4 week for renewal and that mean I can buy plane  ticket on March 2014 , and that time  the flight will be more and more expensive becoz it was near the due date. 

So after thinking the alternative and  search the AA flight route from Bangkok, I found that Bangkok -Kuala Lumpur flight was busy route (many times a day, once per  hour) , and Malay had diff holiday with Indo, so the flight cost still cheap. And there is direct flight from KL to Bandung, no need to stuck in Jakarta-Bandung Traffic Jam. I rather feel sorry why I didnt find that alternative before I buy Jakarta-Phuket ticket, so instead of wasting time to travel  Bandung -Jakarta who can took more than 5 hours by car (and may be more becoz we cant predict how bad traffic jam in Jakarta) , I can take Bandung -KL, KL-Phuket flight.

So finally this was the final itinerary..

 26 March : 10.am-3 pm  :  travel car Bandung-Jakarta (IDR 100 K)

                     5 pm -8 pm  : Jakarta -Phuket,AA flight (IDR 700 K)

                     8.30 pm -9.30 pm : airport-hostel at Bangla Road, rental car  (600 bath)

 27 March :  Phi-Phi Tour

28 March  : James Bond Tour, Simon Cabaret Show

29 March  :  5 am -6 am Hostel - Phuket Airport, rental car (600 bath)

                     7 am -8 am    : Phuket-Bangkok, AA flight (IDR 600 K)

                     8 am -            : Chatu Chak Market, Madame Tussaud, Khaosan Road

30 March :   Bangkok Tour and culinary , Wat Arun, Wat Pho, The Palace,Asiatiq

31 March :  8 am-10 am : Bangkok- Kuala Lumpur ,AA flight (IDR 600 K)

                   10 am - 8 pm : KL tour

                   10 pm - 12 pm : KL-Bandung, AA flight (IDR 500 K)

All the flight without baggage, we just use backpack. For rental car dan tour in phuket, all served by Ms Ladda. I got information about her from kaskus, one of Indonesian's forum who discuss about  anything,and many recomended her, she has blackberry number and email (billyladda@windowslive.com).When I invited her pin BB, it was not active, and then I email her, but it was late reply.   One more person who kaskuser recomended is Noi Phuket, she has facebook with the same id, and the respond was faster. But some of kaskuser said that the Phi-Phi tour from Ms Ladda  better becoz the famous   Maya Bay from the Beach Movie has the best view in the morning , and tour from Ms Noi had Maya Bay in the afternoon. So I decided to take Ms Ladda Tour. Actually, if you have enough time its cheaper buy island tour  when you reach Phuket . There was so many tour agent around, I saw many in Patong. One of Indonesian group I met when at James Bond Island 's Tour got 2500 Bath for Phi-Phi Tour, James Bond's Island Tour and Simon Cabaret Show . But some not recomended too becoz may be with cheap price, the tour will far diff from deal(like buying  cat in the sack, u will not always lucky, right?). And about the Airport transport to Phuket town or Patong, I read that there some rental car  cost about 150 bath/person or some bus. But we wanted the easiest way, so we used rental car.

Day 1. 26 March 2014

We were lucky that day. The travel car from Bandung to Jakarta Airport was so empty, only me and my friend and the driver. And that day, the traffic was good too,so we arrived at the Soetta Airport at 2 p m. Had lunch at the airport, and the flight was not delayed. Ms Ladda ask me to send email if our flight was on time or delayed.

Around 8 pm, we arrived at Phuket and passed the imigration. Phuket Airport was small one, similar with Husein Sastranegara Airport in Bandung. We search for all the fetcher with my name's sign, but after a while, we found none. A little nervous becoz we didnt  anticipate this condition. We decide to phone her, but my indonesian number not active in Thailand ( i didnt plan to use my indo number in Thai, so I didnt search information about it). We walk around to search a counter  that sell Thai's number,but finally after some minutes there was a man  with my name's sign approached us  (may be he can predict becoz we look lost).

I ask some question to the fetcher, but he just quite . We wonder if he cant speak English or my poor english he cant understand. Finally he gave me his phone with Ms Ladda on it. Ms Ladda said sorry becoz she cant pick us herself becoz she must go to herhometown , her mom was sick. She advice me to buy Thai Number so we can communicate well. She said that she will meet us when she fetch us to the Airport at 29 March. 

After 1 hour journey, we arrived at Patong. We booked  Kool Backpacker Hostel at Bangla Road from Agoda, we read that it was strategic place, near the beach, and the mall, and the busiest street at Patong.  With our tight schedule, we just need cool place to sleep and shower,and strategic place with affordable price. Its about IDR 200 K per person , so for 2 person you can have nice hotel with that price but far from the beach  (we rather not!!!). The fetcher brought ask to  one crowded  street,  the closed street with so many people and pub around. He said  that our hostel was in the middle of the street ,in front of Tiger Pub , and the car cant reach it becoz the street was closed, so we should walk (he finally speak, and he can speak English??)

We not imagine that our hostel was in the middle of night life in Phuket. It more alive than Legian street in Bali.  And at Legian, I didnt see ladyboys too, or scammers. Here so many people approaches us to offer "show". After splitting the crowth and ask few peoples, we find our hostel. We check in, had shower, and our roommates , a girl from Beijing China offer to show us around. Her name was Katy (her English name) and she was very nice and speak English very good (in my experience when in China, most Chinese not speak English), and that was her first experience went abroad. Woow, first time and Solo traveller, and left her job for travelling. She had funny question, if we were student of work?LOL,with our old face, we can be student? We walk around the street, watch nighlife in Phuket,had dinner and went to seven eleven at Jungceylon Mall   to buy happy tourist simcard (with a lot of  internet quota and speaking credit, and its cheap too, but only 7 day used, suitable for short visit tourist). We talked a lot in our room, and she was surprised when we said we will go to Bangkok on 29 March, becoz on  that day there will be big demonstration, anti government. So all peoples from all Thailand will come to Bangkok. She adviced us to change the itinerary. Well, all ticket already purchased, we didnt know what to do next.

Kimchi, hate it or like it?

 I am English learner, so pardon my poor English (I will happy to receive some advice to improve My English)

Korean drama is popular in Indonesia. Many people sell  DVD copy with cheap price with new  or old serial of Korean Drama. When we usually spend 2 month to watch Korean Drama on TV's until last episodes, with only 30.000 IDR we can watch our favourite serial drama, without time limitation.

By that drama, we can see that Korean people like Kimchi very much. They always have it at their dining tables, and store it at fridge . Some even only mix kimchi with rice and eat as nasi campur. And the red color of Kimchi, made me imagine  if Kimchi tastes so good.

When first time I taste Kimchi at Korean Restaurant, the taste is not as good as the color, far diffirent from my imagination. Something that taste rather good on my taste is the bulgogi. The other food  who mostly have red color, for me it taste  rather plain, but becoz of my taste is universal, I can still eat that.

But recently, becoz of my activity at work, I rarely cook and eat vegetables, I usually buy my food, and only eat chicken or meat or fish with very small portion of vegetables, and usually they cook it very well (I like my vegetables not well cooked, or even not cooked at all). So I have an idea to make Kimchi by myself. It is healthy food and can last a month on the fridge.

I google about the recipe, I follow Indonesian adopt version, and taraaaa.....I have one box Kimchi for one month stock. For me, the taste is better than korean version becoz I added many sugar on it, so it taste not too sour and rather sweet and  spicy becoz I didnt have korean chilli powder, I use Indonesian chilli powder.

My first homemade kimchi...look yummy

Then someday, I packed lunch with some Kimchi, and chicken teriyaki. I had my late lunch and becoz of that I ate my lunch on my desk not at office dining table on second floor. And the noise was started. Most of my friends said that the smell from my Kimchi was very bad. They can't stand of the smell....Hmmm, and I did not feel that at all...I just smell the usual fermentated food. 

So I never bring plain Kimchi to office again. I try to make food combine to reduce the fermentated smell that most people said that was bad.  I google about it, and find Kimchi soup recipe and fried rice Kimchi recipe. The soup on the picture looked so good, so I decide to make it as a test. And that work. The fermentated smell of Kimchi change with the beef meat smell and the bombay union smell. When I take to my packed lunch and warm the soup  at the kitchen stove....my friend said, what you cooked, it smell very good. Hehehehe,  they just dont know the contain of the sup, if they know may be the will vomit,lol.

One more thing I like about Kimchi is it had good effect to my body. After eat Kimchi, plain or as a soup, my body feel warm. Now if I m not feeling well, I always make Kimchi soup, and so far it help to reduce my sickness. Like yesterday, I ate Soup Buntut Merah at some resto, it taste sour and spicy, and fatty, and after eat  that I was not feeling well. My stomach feel rather hurted and I often burp like so many wind on my stomach. I can't eat well becoz its taste bitter on my mouth. So I went to my kitchen, made some Kimchi soup,  eat when it still hot and 10 minutes later...I feel better.

Trip to Guangzhou, Shanghai, Zhengzhou (part 2)

I am English learner, so pardon my poor English (I will happy to receive some advice to improve that condition)

Our trip to China was quite busy, Jakarta - Guangzhou-Zhengzhou-Hualan-Zhengzhou-Shanghai-Guangzhou-Jakarta, all only in 5 days. What amazing journey!!!Actually our destination was Hualan, a small town in the Zhengzhou province,and Shanghai. But no direct flight to Zhengzhou, so we use Guangzhou for transit airport.

Day 1.

Our flight depart at 9 am, it took about 4 hours to reach Guangzhou and about 2 pm we arrived at Guangzhou airport, the temperature was quite cold, its about 15 deg Celcius, so we use the equipment we prepare before, except gloves and winter cap. Guangzhou airport is very big and clean, and not too crowded . May be that airport was new or post renovated. I tried took some picture but an officer came to me and gave warning that took picture was not allowed. Hmmm, but why?

 Guangzhou Airport

The imigration check also had many post, may be more than ten. While waiting my turn, my friend who waited on the line next to me said ,"Look who was behind you",I turn around and saw Marcello Lippi behind me,also waiting his turn to imigration check. Whoa!!!I m not football fan, but since I always watch worldcup, I watched him on TV several time when he was Italian coacher. I also watched some Italian football player who divided on many line, waiting imigration check too, but I dont have  any idea who they were. I only know old player such buffon, Del Piero, Totti or Inzhagi, They looked so young, may be new face.

I was thinking to ask some photo with him, but suddenly someone, probably his guide called them and ask them to move to VVIP check post. Well, I was not lucky. 

After passed imigration check ,we move to domestic gate to continue our flight to Zhengzhou. Our flight was at 7 pm , and arrived at Zhengzhou about 8 pm. On the Zhengzou , a hired driver pick us and deliver us to The Hotel. He can speak English a little and he said he who will drive us to Hualan for the next day.

China 's Car in Zhengzhou

Day 2.

At 7 am we 've had our breakfast becoz we will meet our driver at 8, and we already check out too, becoz after Hualan we will catch the flight to Shanghai.  The journey from Zhengzhou to Hualan is about 2 hours by car. And something that I admire about China is they have big road even only in small town and most of their cars use gas fuel.

 In front of the hotel Zhengzhou

Street in Hualan

After spend almost 5 hours in one plant  in Hualan, we decide to find someplace to eat, but the driver who was not the same driver with the night before, he is older and  can't speak Eglish at all, we can't communicate with, so we decided to eat at the airport (we use sign language with him).

It took about one hour flight to Shanghai from Hualan. At 8 pm, we arrived at Shanghai and the pilot  gave us information that the temperature in Shanghai that night was 5 deg Celcius. Brrrrh..it was very cold . I use my gloves and winter cap.  

Someone pick us on the airport,some people from supplier company we will visit the next day,  he deliver us to the hotel. 

Night in Shanghai Street

Day 3.

After breakfast, we took taxi to the supplier company we will visit becoz their  driver can't pick us in the morning. Shanghai is metropolitan city in China, so some taxi driver here can speak English. Our hotel is at the downtown, and the supplier company located at industrial suburbs area, about 30 minutes from hotel. Most of the company employee we visit can speak english very well, becoz it was Eroupe Company, some them from Eroupe too.

We did machines check and technical discuss with them, and at 4 pm  their driver deliver us to the downtown. We ask him to deliver us to the shopping center. We spend 2 hours at shopping center  (Shanghai Xinyang Fashion and Gift Market) becoz we will meet the supplier boss at 9 pm to discuss about the result of survey machines at Hualan

Near Shanghai Xinyang Fashion and Gift Market

Day 4.

After sleepless night becoz we back to the hotel at 1 am (after late meeting with the supplier), we must wake early becoz that day was the only day we can do city tour at Shanghai. And we only have time until 5  pm and later we will catch our flight to Guangzhou  at 8 pm. We already check out from the hotel and deposit our beloging there. Our destinations that day were Nanjing Park, The Bund and China Town. 

We use taxi, and for all taxi driver even they can speak little  English they can't read latin letter, so we use printed paper we already prepare. It really help!!!And one thing about Shanghai taxi, they are cheap and safe,  we only spend about 20-25 Rmb average for an route,  except to the airport who rather far.

Nanjing road is just a road who 've had branded stores along the road, but some stores sell food too. We buy some food there and walk to the bund who is not far from Nanjing road.

 Nanjing Road

The Bund is a big  river who have  many high bulding around. On the left of the river from Nanjing road side, it has Victorian Style Building, and the other side of the river , there are so many highest building in Shanghai, one of them is Shanghai TV Tower. I heard that the view at The Bund is very good at night, too bad we visit that in the morning.

The Bund

After The Bund, we walk to the China Town.

China Town in China???

We spend our time for shopping here.At 5, we back to the hotel by taxi to took our belonging and then continue our journey to Guangzhou use night flight. We use taxi to reach the airport and it cost about 90-100 Rmb (I forgot the exactly nominal but it was quite cheap). At the Guangzhou airport, we try to search taxi, but no taxi willing to drive us to the hotel, we dont know why. But so many rented car there and it was so expensive. Finally , after negotiation, they gave their final price, 200 Rmb. We were very tired and it was already passed midnight, we agree on that price. And the hotel is not far from the airport, may be only 5 km far?Fortunately, The Hotel was very good , it was five star hotel. It was 2 am in the morning and after took a bath we had our deep sleep at that nice hotel.

Day 5.

We wake up rather late, had our nice brakfast and use shuttle bus of the hotel to reach the city, we wanted to have our final shopping at Guangzhou. It took about a half hour to reach the shopping mall at the city. The mall was rather small, may be similar with Istana Plaza at Bandung, or a little smaller. But the price was good and had good quality. We spend our left money here, buying food at supermarket for friends in Indo (we already buy many souvenirs in Shanghai)  and buy some clothes for my family. And it was really cheap, even more cheap than in Bandung.

We use taxi to drive us the hotel becoz the shuttle bus not come back as he promise to us. And the taxi driver really really friendly and can speak English very a little, but still he try communicate with us on the way along to the hotel. May be he rarely saw Indonesian tourists?Lol. He said that he dont know where Indonesia located, but he know phillipine. 

After gathering our belonging, we reach the airport use hotel shuttle bus and had our flight to Jakarta. At 10 pm we reach Jakarta and  using rental car that our company hired, we touch down Bandung at 00:00 am (and must work on Monday to prepare ISO audit on tuesday)

My Notes about China :

1. No traffic jam, and they have large  road, good public facility

2. Shanghai is metropolitan city, people have good style, good clothes, and clean.  But its diffirent at small city like  Zhengzhou or Hualan, we saw peoples live in the slum  apartement  (similar with rusun in Indonesia),notes this only my opinion of what I saw.

3. Probably the water is very limited in China (except Shanghai), that why some peoples not bath everyday?or becoz the weather is so cold?

4. Most of China people dont know about Indonesia, but they know Malaysia and Phillipine. They often think that we are phill 's people from our look. When we ask if they know about the famous  Bali, they said they did'nt know neither . I wonder the theory that China people was Indonesian ancestor, who migrated from Yunan to Java Island , that really our ancestor who didnt recognize us (joking)

5. Best place for shopping, becoz the price was so low. But be carefull at the Shanghai shopping center, it was dangerous place. Some people will getting mad if we try to negotiate about the price (even if the price they give very high), and dont even try  to ask about price or even ask about  things u interested if u not serious to buy. I know that weird, becoz the passion about the shopping is to ask as many as possible and get the price as low as possible. And sometimes we buy things we not really interested or need becoz of the sellers are nice and the things are cheap enough..
And BIG NOTES ....Dont try to shop alone . We saw a caucasian who seems travel alone ,  went to one shop and then running away , and  the sellers who already mad still hunt down him, and may be try to hurt him.We didnt  know  wether the mad sellers truly hurt him or just try to scare him becoz we didnt follow them.  I myself  had some sellers getting mad at me too, but I was safe becoz I was with many friends and most men.  But if you are solo traveller and urgently need shopping, just choose to shop in the malls.  The price in China Malls are cheap too,  or you can choose to shop to the place who the sellers have friendly face .  Many are friendly and kind too.  ^_^ you will be ok.

6. They not shy to express themself ^_^, so you will often heard weird voice come from their throat  to remove phlegm, especially on the domestic flight or even when passing on the good street .

That my experiences, hope that soon Indonesia have large road and good facility as good as China so I dont need to have traffic jam almost everyday in my live???.