sugarloaf ♥ express

This is my third (and last) night in Singapore, and I can't fall asleep yet. Jetlagged? Maybe. But I'm back to my 'normal' sleeping cycle :P
On the first two nights, I went to bed after 6 am, and slept all day long until dinnertime! O_O And so, I skipped shopping, eating lots, and walking around Singapore, because my whole body wanted to sleep instead!

Actually, it's good to transit in Singapore for a few days before going back to Jakarta and starting work the next day. I can rest a lot and recover my fatigue body much better here. Fighting against the insanely cold weather of wintertime in Italy & Paris has taken quadruple the energy, and thus on Jan 2 (the day I left Paris en route Singapore), my body reached its peak fatigueness. I really wonder how I had managed to survive living in the USA for 5 years before (4 years with all the snow!). Well, I did manage to get sinusitis as the result >_<

Moving on to another topic:
There's a pretty funny conversation between me and a French immigration staff at the luggage screening point in Paris Orly airport, on my way to Lourdes:

Him (while checking my hand luggage): Are you Chinese?
Me: No
Him: Nihonjin?
Me: No :D Keep guessing ~~!
Him: Korean?
Me: No
Him: Taiwanese?
Me: No

- pause for a while -

Him: Je t'aime?
Me: ...... HAA!? O_O (silently in my heart: you think I don't know what that means, huh?)
He grinned, looking satisfied that I seemed to not know the meaning.
Him: American?
Me: No, I'm not American
Finally he gave up...
Him: What nation are you from?
Me: I'm Indonesian
(Many people had said that I look very North Asian, so no wonder he guessed China / Japan / Korea / Taiwan)

Actually, when he said "je t'aime", I had wanted to reply with "je ne t'aime pas", but I totally couldn't remember it! >_< I was caught off guard and couldn't think of a good answer, for I didn't see it coming. I mean, who could've predicted that a French immigration staff would've said "je t'aime" to test my French ability? O_O
Too bad I didn't say it, because I really wanted to see the look on his face if I had replied with "je ne t'aime pas"! xD

Paris makes me want to learn French again! My 1-year of French lesson in high school has totally disappeared... leaving me with only a few words and sentences that I could still remember.

Yes, I love travelling to the point that I live & work to travel :P
But nowadays I can't travel without internet access, honestly. That means, I have to stay in a hotel that provides broadband internet access (be it free or not) in the room. I'm paralyzed without internet. Why?
Because I do a lot of research there, especially when travelling.

For instance, when I went to Hong Kong last month, since it's been more than 12 years of my last Hong Kong trip, I don't remember anything about it except for The Peak.
So I have to research on the net as to where to stay, in which area, what tourist spots are present around the hotel area, where the shopping centers are, where to go for sightseeing, where the closest Catholic churches (preferably with English mass) are, which restaurants are recommended, how to go there (if the city has train or subway system, I usually prefer that rather than bus), save/print the train/subway map, etc.
The research can be much simplified if I can ask someone (either a relative or a friend) who lives in that city. Good thing I have a cousin in Hong Kong, so she helped with the hotel booking (she's the one who chose the hotel, because it's close to the place we had to go, and also because there's a very big mall right next to the hotel. So she thought it would've been much easier for us to shop & eat). I really like her choice. If I'm not too lazy, I'll post the Hong Kong trip's story next time ^^

I usually do research a few weeks or even months beforehand. Just to be sure that I'm well informed & prepared. If I haven't been to the place, I like to prepare way beforehand, so that I won't be clueless when I arrive at the place. I usually create an itinerary of where to go on which date & save it in my laptop, so that I can easily access it anytime.

My Japan trip last January was created purely out of my research, because I hadn't been to Japan previously, I don't know anyone there (well, I actually do have a friend, but I forgot to contact her :P), and my mom - who had been to Japan 10 times before - didn't know the tourist spots because she always went there on a business trip! Good thing I have a pretty vast knowledge of Tokyo, so at least I know where to go and what to do. Oh, that reminds me, part 3 of my Christmas vacation (which is the Japan trip) hasn't been written yet. Oops :P

The research is not only done beforehand, but also when I'm actually there (in Hong Kong or Tokyo, for instance).  Sometimes we have a sudden plan of going to a certain tourist spot & we'd like to know more about it, thus I research. In Hong Kong last month, we suddenly wanted to visit Macau for a day trip. So, in addition to asking the concierge about the ferry details, I researched: checked the Macau map, searched for public transportation, decided which places (casinos & tourist spots) to go, etc.

Two of the primary sites I read for my travelling needs are Wikipedia and Wikitravel.
Although I don't have travelling plans in mind, I love to browse through those sites and other travel sites, such as Lonely Planet, Frommers, Travel + Leisure, Concierge, Time Out, etc. I also read travel books a lot.
On the main page of Wikitravel, you'll see "Destination of the Month". I'm currently browsing on the Previous Destinations of the month and stumbled upon so many beautiful places I want to visit / revisit, such as:

• New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
• Geneva, Switzerland
• Cape Town, South Africa
• Budapest, Hungary
• Hanover, Germany
• Bergen, Norway