Recently I downloaded the NLB Appl to my mobile phone. NLB stands for National Library Board in Singapore. I stopped buying books long time ago, even though from time to time, books still creeps into my domain ( I swear I dunno how they got there!). So instead of buying books, I usually borrow them from the library. Singapore has an awesome library system. And when I download the app, although I don't want to admit it, it was to reserve books to read.
NLB offers a service where you can reserve books for a price of SGD1.55 and have it delivered to your nearest or most convenient library near you. For popular books, it may take weeks before it;s your turn. I know, cause that's what happened when I tried to read Twilight and compete with all the crazy teenagers during that time to read the full set.
At the back of my mind, I do have a few book on my to-read list. Due to work and classes, I haven't had much time to read recently. But after I gracefully flunk my 3rd year Japanese (I still haven't gotten my official results, but I'm pretty sure I flunk), I decided to start reading again. On average, I can read 2 to 3 books a week. And when I downloaded the app, I merely wanted to see if the books I wanted to read was available in the library. Low and behold! Three books found! I booked all three books on a Thursday night. There goes SGD 4.65. I think it's like the first time I spend money on a mobile app!
I got an sms on Saturday morning notifying me that one of the book was ready. I decided to pick up the book on Saturday evening. To my amazement, all 3 books were available! I was so happy! I finished one book on that day itself! Lol. As my husband wanted to read one of the book, and he is a slow reader, I also renewed all three books! So now I get to keep them for 6 weeks! Isn't that awesome? Actually I've already finished 2 and half way into the 3rd one....
I truly love NLB. It is one thing that the Singapore Government got right!
A last minutes trip which I had like one week to prepare for. It was also the first time I was travelling alone to a city I've never been to, and to a branch which I don't know anyone there. The fact that there was a riot/protest there a few weeks before that didn't help my jitters. But I was a Malaysian, and Indonesia was practically considered my neighbour. Plus, I spoke fluent Malay (sadly better than I speak Mandarin....)
I stayed at Grand Sahid in Central Jakarta. I was supposed to stay in InterContinental, but it was fully booked and I couldn't afford the more pricier rooms. So for some reason, I got booked into a junior suite in Grand Sahid instead. It was ridiculously big for me. I had a whole living room to myself. It was so darn cosy that I spend most of my time there. Wifi was free, plus fruits daily. But I never did finish the fruits they gave me, so I only got one plate through out my 3 night stay. The banana was my own, in case I got hungry or something....
Jakarta wasn't rough, but still I was travelling alone, so I didn't want to take any chances. I highly recommend getting around by taxi. Download "My Blue Bird" apps for taxi booking. It was my first time booking a taxi via apps, and it was a breeze! No booking charges. Just state from where to where, and when, plus paid by method. I could even book in advance (which I did but later cancelled as I couldn't find a wifi spot).
Anyway, I made my way to Grand Indonesia on my first day there, and spend from 11am to 4pm wondering around there. I had Bakme for lunch there, something I've always wanted to try, and it was delicious. Grand Indonesia was huge! About 2 buildings of 8 storey each. There was a Indonesia Menari 2016 event there, and I spend almost an hour watching it. It was super awesome. I uploaded some youtube videos of it, so I'll also share them here at the end of this post.
As I didn't want to spend money on room service, I decided to buy back some food. I wanted to try their KFC, but I found this Korean Fried Chicken Shop that was newly open and was offering one-for-one. I wanted to just get 2 packs, but due to language problem, I ended up with 3 packs of chicken. But OMG, it was freaking good!
I also spend sometime at their supermarket and got myself some kid staff. They have so many Hello Kitty tissue papers that I can't help getting a few for myself. And as I have a huge TV in my room (2 TVs actually), I decided to get some snacks to entertain myself. I truly love being on my own, and travelling alone makes me realise how much I love it. It was just so peaceful.
But anyway, all good things must come to an end. I had to work the next two days. It was rather stressful and I went back each night exhausted and fell asleep instantly, sometimes in the middle of chatting with my colleagues in Singapore whom I was trying to support as much as I could.
Interesting thing about the place I work, it was almost like a small Japan. The building I was working at was occupied by mainly Japanese company. The basement was full of Japanese restaurant. But I refused to eat anything but Indonesian food! And OMG, Indonesian sambal is creamier and nicer than Penang Sambal! I am so in love with the food there! It felt so much like home. Anyway, above it a Nissin company at the basement of InterContinental. That's me standing next to a giant cup of Nissan. I'm not really a fan of this brand, although I do love their Singapore Laksa flavoured cup noodles which my roomie Bella introduced me to.
The long and the short of it, it was an enjoyable trip. I left on Wednesday morning (more than 1 hour to get to the airport). With not much time to shop at the airport, and right back to work upon landing. My job is hectic. I love travelling. But I also love my life! Not sure how long I'll work here, but it had been an awesome year where I get to travel to many places for free. Because of that, I don't feel so desperate to take my own leave to travel. Even so, I've been back to Penang 3 times, Japan 2 times, India 3 times......
Anyway, enjoy some of the awesome dance of Indonesia Menari 2016!
It's kinda like zumba. And it's so sensual! I wanna learn to dance like that. It looks fun, cute, and sexy!
So I'm now struggling with my year 3 of my Japanese Language lesson. The fact that my brother helped me made a full payment of the yearly fees means I can't quit until at the end of the year else I can't get my money back. It cost around SGD800 a year. Anyway I did managed to come this far. The above is my year 2 certificate after I pass my exams. Here is the score. Not really outstanding, but always better than what I score for my mandarin language in school eh?
You'd think I would score better seeing my working environment is a great place for me to improve my language skill! But sadly not. My grammar sucks, and so does my vocal. A colleague help me mark and update my essay before the exam, so I just memorised it and write it down during the exams :)
So now, coming to almost the end of Year 3, what have I been up to? Not much, just folding origami in class. And from time to snacking is also a favourite pastime.
So yeah, the journey continues. Exam is coming in another 2 month's time. Not sure if I can pass it, but sure as hell going to give it my best shot! Here's a photo of me studying hard at last year's exam in some posh cafe. Somehow every photo looks nicer with Japanese wordings in it. Lol. After this year, I would have completed 50 chapters of my text book. Am wondering whether I should continue on next year where it is mostly conversation and presentation style of lessons. I still can't understand the language smoothly, but it is enough for me to read simple comics, watch youtube, survived in Japan with my broken Japanese and read cooking instructions when I want to buy weird food back. I'm pretty happy about it. Just wondering how to become smooth in it.....
This post entry is on all the weird things I eat in my January 2016 trip to Taipei. My normal routine when I'm there is usually to wake up super early 5am, 6am or 7am and go visit the convenient store to see what amazing things I can find. After that I will go back to the hotel for breakfast before headed to work. In the evening, after work, I will also head to convenient store, night market, supermarket or whatever that is still open to explore. So here are all the things I tried in my last trip there.
Let's start with this weird Taipei set dinner I got from Taipei 101 foodcourt at the basement. I walked there after coming down from Elephant Mountain and just walking aimlessly till I hit Taipei 101. To be frank, everything was expensive to me at the food court except for this. It looked really nice on the photo too, so I ordered it, costing maybe SGD6? Consist of fried rice, oyster omelet with like no oyster in it, and some fishball soup. It was filling, but taste wise, just ok.
Above are some of the snacks I got from their convenient store: Cup noodles (SGD1 each) are always a favourite to try. They also always have cute Doraemon buns available (SGD1 or so). It's just normal buns, but the packaging are so cute! I also tried the famous Milk Tea that Singaporeans are crazy about there for the first time. It cost maybe SGD2? It was really nice and smooth. In Singapore they are selling at around SGD2.90 and was recently recalled from all 7-11 stores. And one of my favourite thing which I only managed to try once are those delicious canelle from Sogo basswood foodcourt. Each one cost around SGD2.50, and they have it in classic and chocolate and omg, super nice! I went back the next day but it was sold out. Gonna make it a point to visit that place every time I am there.
On my last working day, me and my colleague tried a Japanese steamboat restaurant just at the back of our office. It was a long tough week, so we were kinda rewarding ourselves with a good meal. It cost around maybe SGD30? But the food was so fresh! Super delicious! Especially on a cold rainy day. The only complaint I had was at the end of it when I threw what I thought was flower petals into the soup but it was finely shredded ginger instead. After which, I just couldn't drink the soup any more.
The hotel that I stay in give us a complimentary welcome drink which I somehow always claim it during my checkout while waiting for my taxi. So I would head to the bar which overlooks the pool. I would usually select the Taiwan Beer, and they serve it with a side of nuts. My Taiwan colleague gave me a set of limited postcard, so I decided to write them to my parents and aunt and myself. Mine never reached :(
Lastly, Taiwan is famous for the beef noodles, but this was one of the best I had there. It was actually at the airport, and I wanted to clear some time and money, so I decided to order this beef noodle at the food place just next to the Sanrio Hello Kitty store. It was delicious! I would definitely go there again on my next trip!
And to end this post, a special mention of Haba Cafe, a small cozy coffee shop found in an alley opposite our office. Maybe it was the rain, or the company, or the ambiance, or even the design of the cup, but when we were there relaxing with a cup of coffee on a cold day and cracking dumb jokes, I swear it was the coffee that was helping us destress. This is another must-go-again place for me. The owner already added me as friends even though we've never talked. They have a wide selection of flavoured coffee for you to try. So do drop by if you are in Taipei. It cost around SGD3 per cup.
Every girl in Singapore is going crazy about Hello Kitty Orchid Garden Cafe that has opened in Changi Airport Terminal 3 (more about that in a separate post), but my friend here wanted to go Pokemon Cafe, a pop-up cafe in Bugis Junction instead. It wasn't a planned trip. We were just meeting up to watch "Me before You", and after that we just drop by Pokemon Cafe to see if there was a crowd. Unfortunately there was, so we went elsewhere instead. But just around 9pm, I suggested we take a look again, and voila, here we are!
Look how exited she looks! Snapping away at the deco, at the food. It's always fun to see people so excited over things they love.
We already had dinner, so this was just a light snack. I ordered the coffee, and she ordered some blue looking drink which she gets to keep the bottle. The red Pokemon mug was also a gift you can take home with you
My friend also ordered the pancake, which looks kinda sad and flat, lol. And I ordered a weird tasting dessert as shown below. It was kinda hard to eat for me cause it was filled with cream and lots of artificial mango or passion fruit flavouring. But it looks kinda awesome though.
My Hello Kitty charm went along as well and I couldn't resist snapping photo of it. In all, I think we spend about SGD60. It was more for the experience than for the food. I think Hello Kitty Cafe serves better quality food with better settings and deco. Plus, there was only like 6 meal item or so you could order from the menu, and maybe as many drink selection to go with it. It wasn't extensive as it was just a pop-up store. But still, it was fun going there and actually having experienced it.
