sugarloaf ♥ express

Although a bit late:

I've been in Singapore since Saturday with my family, partly spending Easter holiday and partly accompanying my bro in surveying universities for his MBA next year.

Actually I almost decided not to go. My flight was at 8.30a and we had to leave home at 6a. I went to sleep at 4a with a slight stomach ache, and was abruptly awoken at 4.45a with acute GERD attack and cold sweat due to the pain! x_X As far as I could recall, that was the second gastric colic attack I've experienced. The first one led me to ER in the middle of the night for Buscopan & Zantac injections. This time I woke my mom (who's a medical doctor) to ask for medications, but there was no sign of Buscopan or Librax at home. So I had to make do with hot water and Pankreoflat. Initially we planned to stop by the ER at Medistra hospital for quick injection en route to the airport, but then the pain slowly subdued and we headed straight to the airport instead. I've been keeping my activity in Singapore low & eating very carefully due to the problematic stomach.

Ibis on Bencoolen is minimalist, compact, modern, and very clean! The rooms might be too small for everyone's liking, but I don't mind it at all. I prefer new & clean hotels (albeit small) than large ones but old & dirty! There's free wifi inside every room (see this speedtest!). I've been abusing it for torrents and video downloads like there's no tomorrow *lol*

Easter Vigil mass at Novena Church (St. Alphonsus) took 2.5 hours and the ceiling/wall fans were too strong! GAH, I totally hate the winds, especially coming from fans -_- Wee Nam Kee hainanese chicken rice wasn't as good as it's always been.... whyyyyy! >_< (No, it wasn't because of my still-sensitive stomach, coz my dad also said so)

Going to Singapore is never complete without eating at No Signboard Seafood! xD So today we had lunch in its branch at 414 Geylang (supposedly the best according to locals & from our own past experiences). Too bad my stomach still wouldn't compromise, so I really had to control myself to have veeeerry little of the restaurant's most famous white pepper crab (which I REALLY LIKE! ;_;). My favorite dishes include the very tasty geoduck clam soup, white pepper crab, crayfish with mee hoon, and No Signboard special beancurd.

After visiting caramichi's place, we went to Takashimaya for kakigori green tea dessert at Aji Tei :9 This is another not-to-miss place to eat when in Singapore! xD Although my Royce chocolate stock is somewhat still complete, I bought the nutty bar chocolate and potatochip chocolate ^^ And you know what.... the Royce shopping bag with the chocolate boxes was left in the taxi on our way to the hotel!! o_O;; But luckily my bro took the driver's name card, so the taxi delivered the bag to Ibis! THANK YOU SO MUCH, Mr. Kind Taxi Driver! ｍ(．＿．)ｍ  To think that I almost lost S$40 worth of chocolates...! ;_;

Yes, that's what I always do whenever I go to Semarang. In fact, that's the only activity in this tiny city! The distance from one place to another is too close, it always takes too short of a time, totally the contrary of Jakarta xD I often found myself with nothing else to do before the next food session :D Thank God for BlackBerry, I wasn't too bored!

So I had culinary trips today: breakfast of nasi liwet in front of St. Joseph elementary, lunch at Warung Mak Tompo (opposite of Koh Liem), early dinner at Lind's Cafe (praline mochaccino ice cream, of course!), dinner with my cousin at Pesta Keboen, continued by dessert at Lind's Cafe (yes, the same ice cream again xD).

Tomorrow morning I'm planning to meet utaoutao. Hopefully we can wake up early :D Gonna be the last day in Semarang, so more culinary trips in order before our 3p flight tomorrow ^^

And here are the photos at Lind's of my cousin and I, taken by my bro.



BlackBerry is love ♥
Sent from the awesome elyseberry ☆

I can't believe that the year almost comes to an end!
Christmas is only a week away...

On Christmas day, my family and I will (hopefully -- if the visa is accepted) go to Italy & France ^^v

It was really a last minute decision. We applied for the visa only a week ago.

When I told dad that my friend's wedding was cancelled, he sms-ed me (yes, you read that right: SMS!) the next day, asking whether we could still go on Europe tour this Dec. We initially had wanted to join the pilgrimage tour to Italy, France, & Portugal. But naturally, by then all the tours were already closed to new participants, because it was only two weeks away from the tour's departure date. So we decided to go by ourselves. It's actually my vacation preference! I always love arranging my own holiday trips.

So within 2 days, my mom and I frantically booked plane tickets, prepared all the necessary documents for Schengen visa application, booked hotels (random hotels -- only for the visa purposes -- and will be cancelled very soon), etc. It took my mom 3 visits in 3 consecutive days to the Italian Embassy for them to accept all the documents & our passports! During the first 2 days, there were always something insufficient: this document, that document, etc. Gah, so annoying! x_X Thank God they finally accepted everything on the 3rd day and told mom to pick up the passports on Dec 23rd. They're not saying whether they will issue the visa or not. But supposedly they will, right? >_<

Now that the crucial parts of the preparation are done, I can relax a bit and focus on the next tasks, like booking hotels (in Milan, Paris, Lourdes), buying plane tickets (Milan - Paris, Paris - Lourdes), researching of what to do for New Year's eve & what to see in each city, etc.

This is the (simple) itinerary as of now:

Dec 25: fly to Rome via Singapore (by Singapore Airlines).
Dec 26: arrive Rome. Stay at Villa Maria Ines at Garampi, near Vatican.
Dec 27: day roundtrip to San Giovanni Rotondo. About 4 hours by car one way *gasps*
Dec 28: train to Milan (4 hours! @_@).
Dec 29: enjoy Milan & fly to Paris in the evening.
Dec 30: fly to Lourdes early in the morning. Stay at Lourdes.
Dec 31: fly to Paris early in the morning.
Jan 1: enjoy Paris. It's New Year, baby! xD
Jan 2: fly to Singapore in the evening. Bye bye Paris! ;_;
Jan 3: arrive Singapore in the evening.
Jan 4: Singapore
Jan 5: Singapore
Jan 6: fly to Jakarta at night. Bye bye vacation! ;_;

I've bought some winter clothes, but I can't find the white earmuff that I bought in Tokyo last January ~_~

Edited at 5.56 AM:

The white earmuff is found, YAY! It ended up in my mom's wardrobe somehow.
Now my gloves are gone missing >_<
 

I really suck at making a short summary. Blame it on this detailed & organized personality of mine... As it is said: your strength can be your (greatest) weakness. Hanyaaan... *_*

So, continuing from part 1 of the 1-month christmas vacation story, I present to you:

The (very long) holiday summary! :D

Dec 14-17 (Singapore)
Singapore with friends (a total of 10, including moi). I used my mileage for a free Singapore airline ticket (I went by myself, my friends went together by AirAsia). We stayed at Lucky Plaza apartment at Orchard (the unit is owned & managed by an Indonesian lady), so it felt like home. As for the daily routine: basically, we ate lots, shopped even more (while also buying things I might've needed for my 1-month vacation), and hangout at a different cafe after dinner each night. We left the apartment before lunch, and we went to bed after midnight. Too bad it was raining most of the time.. But it was fun nonetheless.

Dec 19
The 1-month vacation (USA, Mexico, Japan) with my family begun. Transit in Singapore & Hongkong.

Dec 20-22 (Las Vegas)
Arrived at Los Angeles in the morning of Dec 20th. Later that evening, went straight to Las Vegas by car (about 4-hour drive) with my family & my friends (I stayed at his apartment in Irvine during my stay in the US). I got a great deal at Planet Hollywood (only $75 a night!). The routine: slept after 5am, woke up after 12pm, brunch @ Bellagio's The Buffet (Dec 21) & Paris' Le Village Buffet (Dec 22) until 4+ pm, took photos of Bellagio & around (Dec 21), Paris, Venetian & Wynn (Dec 22), shopped at Miracle Mile shops, dinner after 11pm. Since dad & bro wanted to watch a show, I bought them tickets to see Zumanity. I went shopping with mom instead, and my friends played at the casino. Drove back to Irvine in the evening of Dec 22nd.

Dec 23-30 (Mexico)
Mexico pilgrimage tour.
I used the service of Mexico Travel Advisors (contact person: Miguel Robledo) while in Mexico. It was the cheapest & most flexible tour that I could get. In fact, the price was almost half of the other tour offers. I got a satisfying experience from them, especially since I'm a very detailed person, I confirmed everything to the slightest details and Mr. Miguel always responded.
We got a private tour (just the 4 of us, using Lincoln town car, with Raul as the driver and English-speaking guide), isn't it wonderful :) I made the tour itinerary myself (from researching here & there). Everyday we chose what time to go, and we could also skip the itinerary (very, very flexible!).

This is the summary of the itinerary:
 

 

Dec 31 - Jan 2 (Irvine)
New Year's eve: late lunch at 4p (resulting to gastric problem!), Little Tokyo (just to kill the time - grocery shopping), 9pm mass @ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels with Cardinal Roger Mahony, celebrate new year @ Universal City Walk, supper @ Bubba Gump (gastric problem started).
New Year's day: lazing around at home (my friend's), while my mom & bro went shopping nearby. Dinner @ Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, Irvine. My dad & bro left the US on Jan 2 (coz they had to work, obviously), staying in Singapore from Jan 3 - 6, before going back to Jakarta.

Jan 3-8 (Irvine)
After dad & bro left, my mom & I started to go to the storage & work on Jan 3. The storage closes at 6pm (earlier on weekends), so here's the daily routine: woke up around 10a, brunch around 12p (either at home, outside, or bring food to eat at the storage), went to the storage & worked until it closes, threw the trashes away at friends' apartments nearby :P, went home (take a bath), dinner outside (then either shopped a bit, or went straight home after dinner).
Exceptions: on Jan 3, I met my close friend Faye at Irvine Spectrum Center for lunch.
Gastric problem lasted for a few days, so I couldn't enjoy the food as much as I wanted to.

Jan 9
We decided to spend the last day NOT working, so we finished everything related to the storage on Jan 8. Went to Los Angeles this day. Lunch @ Little Tokyo, mass @ Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels (and took daytime photos, since it was dark when we went there on New Year's eve), visit Wine House (to seek for Dolce by Far Niente), dinner @ Thai Nakorn (at Stanton) - a reunion with my close friend Shirley, her husband & her cousin, then back home to pack.

Jan 10
Flew to Tokyo, morning flight. Got a free upgrade to the United Economy Plus seats by chance ^^

Jan 11-15 (Tokyo)
TOKYO! :D (wikitravel)
This part will be written separately (it will be on vacation recap part 3) as it has more detailed stories. I don’t want this entry to be too long.

Jan 16 (Singapore)
Arrived at Singapore after midnight. Got a free overnight hotel stay from United at Grand Mercure Roxy Hotel. After we slept till noon, we went to mass @ Novena church & had lunch @ River Valley Rd, then treated ourselves to a body massage @ Healing Touch :D We really needed that! So relaxing.

Our SQ flight back to Jakarta was the last one (at 9.20pm), so we arrived at home almost midnight due to the traffic jam.

Bye bye vacation! *sniff sniff*
Tanoshikatta yo!
Jakarta is soooo hot, humid & dirty! -_-
Aaah, back to reality & routine…

PS: Tokyo story will follow soon on part 3. Stay tuned.