Friday, 24 May 2013
Flew to Jakarta over the (long) weekend to attend my dear cousin's wedding! Really, she is one of the kind. She never even told me that she has boyfriend =.= Imagine how shocked I was when she told me that they have been dating for 3 years and getting married in 3 months time. I was like !@@#$ for a second, :D :D :D for another second, and then quickly go to airline website to book a ticket from SG - JKRT.
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| My flight! Can't remember the last time I take a full fledged airlines ^^; |
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| Brunch while watching "Taxi! Taxi!" - Suddenly it feels so luxurious! |
Flight was smooth and I reached Soekarno-Hatta airport at exactly 10:15am. The last time I was there was 9 years ago, when I took a single day trip to attend an interview for NTU. Time flies. Mum and Dad were waiting for me at the airport (they took similar timing flight from Medan) and then all of us went to the hotel - Aston Pluit.
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| Room @ Aston - looking posh but I'm not used to the flooring. Making lots of noise! |
After a quick freshen up, we went for a light dinner at Leko (thanks Winson for the suggestion). It supposedly located within few kms from hotel, but it took 2 naps for me to reach the place. It was almost 2pm when we reached.
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| Leko - Iga Penyet :D |
I think we went a bit late, we managed to find seat easily (lucky), but a lot of the dishes were already finished!! (too bad). Thankfully, the signature Iga Penyet was still available. The waiter asked if I want to go for the spicy or medium. I said 'spicy pls!' without second thought. Yeah. I forgot that it's the Indonesian's spicy we're talking about here, not the Singaporean's spicy. I ended up drinking gallon of water. But I did love the chilli. It's really special :D
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| The Signature Iga Penyet with Spicy Sauce - I think it's around Rp 34,000++ |
After lunch, mum and aunts went to visit their friends, while I follow dad and uncle to one of the newest mall in Jakarta - Central Park. It's huge. And full of branded stuff. There is almost no difference with Singapore's mall. Of course, here they have a large Carrefour instead of Fair Price :p
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| The shops @ Central Park. Can hardly see any local brand. |
After shopping, we went back to hotel to shower, and then get ready for dinner. My dad was having a craving for ramen, so we went to one of the ramen house in Jakarta. It seems to be quite famous, and I get my first queuing experience in Jakarta. We queued for 5 mins and my parents are already complaining =.=' wait until they queue for Tim Ho Wan here. Nothing really fancy about the noodle. I personally feel that the ones in Singapore are better :p
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| Hakata Ikkousha - the owner is a very attentive Japanese (maybe they all are) |
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| Ikkousha - Ramen Babi Special - Rp 45,000++ |
We reached back to hotel at around 10pm. Everyone was exhausted. I prepared the gifts for Phing and went to sleep afterwards.
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| Limited Edition Veuve Clicquot Champagne + something. hehe. |
Saturday, 25 May 2013
Celebrating Vesak day with a buffet breakfast at the hotel. The food selection was decent, but they were nothing really caught my eyes. Everything was either too sweet or salty (can't believe i'm saying this!) I ended up making my own sandwich and called it a meal.
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| Fancy looking breakfast, but nothing to my liking :s |
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| Tried their Soto which turn out to be really oily and salty x.x |
After breakfast, I decided to take a tour to Suite Room to see how the bride was doing (she woke up at 4am in the morning). She was really beautiful, and I can't help but take a picture with her :D in my tshirt ^^;
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| Beauty and... her cousin! lol |
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| Decoration at the Suite Room! My Champagne was there!! |
It took me 5 mins to realize that I'm really under dress. I rushed back to my room to change and then went back to watch the ceremony.
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| The beauty in veil. |
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| Parents opening up the veil as the groom arrived :D |
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| Little cutie Sky! Phing's Brother's daughter :D |
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| Tea Ceremony - the super cheerful bride ^^; laughed whenever she received golds |
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| My grown-up cousin! He was 2 the last time I was there. A real prince charming. |
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| A quick snap on everyone during the morning's tea ceremony ^^ |
We have sometime after the ceremony, so we decided to go to Kelapa Gading to look and see. Such a huge stretch of malls! After a real quick sightseeing, we went back to the area to attend the ceremony at temple, and grabbing some Bakmi in between :p
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| I can see Bakmi in almost every single stall in Jakarta! |
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| Nyums! Bakmi ala Jakarta + Hokkien. Love the springiness of the noodle and fish ball. |
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| The temple! It was super crowded when we reached since it's vaesak. |
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| A Buddhist ceremony :) First time after many years that I heard the chanting of Namaskara Gatta, Vandana, Trisarana again. |
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| A pic with the bride and groom :D |
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We don't really have a lot of time for the day. The ceremony finished at around 4pm, and we have to go back hotel to prepare for the evening's dinner. Fuuih. If we're already so packed, what about the bride?
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| Mum and me before going to Royal Jade Restaurant |
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| There are 4 weddings at the same time in the restaurant! Must be a super auspicious day! |
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| Love the banner! |
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| ... and more! They have like 180 pre-wed pics! O.O I wonder what kind of photo packages they have |
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| My first time in Jakarta's style wedding :D Quite impressed with the setting |
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| Me breaking through the bride's hiding place before the event started :p |
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| The marching in of the king and queen of the day :D |
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| Bump to so many childhood friends! Haven't seen them for.. 12 years? |
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| So apparently here the guest will go up and shake hand with the brides before the dinner starts |
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| Dinner time! Buffet style :D |
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| Apart from the buffet spread, there are lots of different stalls to try. Ice cream was quite a favourite :D |
I was eating and chatting and walking around so much, I didn't really realized when it comes to an end. It's considered a short one compared with the ones in Medan's and Singapore's. They finished at around 9pm, compared with the usual 11pm, which I think was really efficient!
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| A happy big family :) |
Sunday, 26 May 2013
Nothing much on Sunday. I had a good night sleep and couldn't really drag myself up for breakfast. Mum and dad went and got me 5 big buns O.O Which I finished anyway before the flight.
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| Our luggages! |
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| Departure's Hall - How come it's so different from how I remember it 9 years ago? It was all wood plank... |
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| Starbucks Coffee where I tried to steal WIFI unsuccessfully v_v |
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| Fancy lunch during the flight. And I dozed off for the rest of the time. |
I reached back Singapore at around 2pm, and that's all for a short trip to Jakarta :) Next time I want to go there again for a proper sightseeing!
Happy Wedded life, dear cousin!
ED
