Lil’ Adventure [non-makeup]

Hi all! I’m so excited to be back to the blogging world again! Sorry for missing for couple weeks, I had quite a trip with my bff, Liz, who came all the way from Canada! Pretty much we were in Jakarta, Bandung, Singapore and Hong Kong. We were just so excited to be reunited! hahaaha..Let me just mention at this moment when Liz touched down in Jakarta, she had been traveling around Europe on a backpack. She’s the real DORA!

Anyways, in Jakarta, we obviously hit most of the malls, and a few of the tourist attraction area here. Below is a picture of Jakarta Kota Tua (i.e. Old Town). We also went to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah (Beautiful Indonesia Miniature Park).

Jakarta Tourist Attraction

Next we went to Bandung. We visited the 2 craters there – Kawah Putih (White Crater) and Kawah Ratu (Queen’s Crater). I have more pictures, but my mom and my sis are in it, and I prefer not to put those up. So, below is a picture of our Yorkie in Kawah Putih.

If you are a tourist and want to go to the White Crater from Jakarta, please be aware that it is a long drive from Jakarta (around 3-4 hours to actually reach the crater itself). If you are thinking “is it worth the long drive”, I’d say YES! This crater is gorgeous! See the photo below? No photoshop! The lake is filled with blue and yellow water due to the Sulphur content. It’s amazing!

Indonesian Crater

Next in Bandung, from the Queen’s Crater we went towards the Hot Spring! We were quite skeptical about the Hot Spring ever since we’ve tried Onsen in Japan. We were like “naah, it’s probably not even that hot”, “it’s probably small”…Nooooo nonono! Boy, were we wrong or what! This hot spring was HUGE! It’s amazing!

You can choose to go to the swimming pool, or to actually go further in and enjoy the hot spring in nature. There’re several hot springs where you can just dip your feet in, or you can go with your clothes on and take a dip in this huge “lake”. There’re also several waterfalls.

The water temperature ranged from 30 deg. Celcius to 40 deg. Celcius. The one in the photo below is one of the warmest they have there. I believe this one is 40 deg. This hot spring place is called Ciater Hot Spring. There’s a hotel right in front of it, but we didn’t stay there.

Bandung Pemandian Air Panas

Next after Bandung, we went back to Jakarta and then prepared ourselves to fly to Singapore! Obviously, we went to Marina Bay Hotel and the mall to meet up with some of our friends there. We also went to Gardens by the Bay, which is located right across from the hotel. If you do go to Singapore, I strongly recommend going to Gardens by the Bay. Amazing place, and it’s free! You get to see all these amazing “Tree structures” and it’s just a great big garden.

I’d also like to give a shout out to Royal Plaza on Scott Hotel in Singapore. If you’re looking for a place to stay, I’d definitely recommend this hotel. The service, the staff and the room were one of the best that I’ve seen so far. Their customer service is TOP-NOTCH!

Marina Bay Singapore

Now, in Gardens by the Bay there are 2 domes which you have to pay to get in – $28 for both domes, or $14 each per person. We went to both domes – Flower Dome and Cloud Dome. Inside the Flower Dome, there’s a lot of flowers, cactus, Baobab trees etc. It’s all fun and very pretty. If you love beautiful roses and orchids, you’ll love being there!

My favorite, however, is the Cloud Dome which is shown below. Inside the Cloud Dome there’s a 7-floor high man-made waterfall! Amazing, much? The idea of the Cloud Dome is to replicate Cloud Forests all around the world. You can take the elevator to go all the way up and slowly work your way down. Simply a must-go!

Singapore Gardens by the Bay

Next we went to Sentosa and of course, it’s not complete without going inside the Merlion! Below is a picture of us inside the Merlion’s mouth! There’s a photographer there who’s willing to help take a picture for you with your camera (and with his camera so you can buy the photo in the gift store).

Merlion

Below is a picture of the Merlion we were in the picture above! We also managed to go all the way up to the Head of the Merlion, but there were a lot of people there.

Singapore Merlion

Next up was Hong Kong! We went to several of the tourist areas there, and obviously there were loads of pictures, but due to the presence of other people in there, I chose not to share the pictures on the blog to respect their privacy.

So, we went to The Peak, but to get there we had to pass some of the cool places. If you see my Instagram feed, you’ll see some cool photos of buildings and such. Below is a picture of us in front of what was left of a train station (if I’m not wrong).

Hong Kong Old Train Station

Below is a view from The Peak at 9pm. Amazing, eh? In Hong Kong, we also managed to go hiking, went to see the Big Buddha, took the crystal cable car, went to Cheung Chau Island etc. You’ll find all those photos on my Instagram!

Hong Kong the Peak

We were supposed to go to Macau, however, there were typhoon/cyclone warning and Liz had to leave. I went to Macau with N the week after since I stayed in HK longer. Macau was great! I went for a day-trip and managed to hit all the tourist spot. There’s a local day tour when we reached the Macau Ferry Terminal, so that was the best way to do Macau in a day.

Below is a picture of Macau’s St. Paul’s ruin. Lots of people there! It’s one of the famous tourist spot in Macau. We also get to see the casinos (obviously), the temple of the Sea Goddess and several other locations.Macau Ruins of St. Paul

Now, if you do have the chance to be in Macau, I’d suggest you buy a ticket to a show called House of Dancing Waters in the City of Dreams. We bought our tickets in advance, but you can buy the ticket when you get there. This show is FANTASTIC! It’s like Cirque du Soleil’s “O”, but a smaller scale.

Words cannot describe how great this show is, just go and watch it, will ya!

The House of Dancing Water

With that, I ended my trip and so is this post! Will see you on the next post! 😀

Disclaimer: I am not paid or endorsed to promote any of the attractions above. This is purely out of my own travel experience and out of my own pocket.