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Let’s Go to the City Today!

Murray Bus safely delivered us to Sydney! While Mamacita still at to work, we explored a bit of Sydney on our own. Following Sissy’s recommendation for a yummy Indonesian lunch at Medan Ciak ~ haha all Indonesian Food we had at her’s was clearly not enough for me, we headed to Darling Harbour to catch sunset. Soon, it was time to meet Mamacita, took train from Barangaroo Area. My Wombat still not a Stadt Wombat yet, every time he spotted water, he wanted to jump right in 😉 #Thinking about Wilderness

As the evening grew chillier, that didn’t stop us from grabbing Messina gelato together.

I opted for Bubble Tea while the other tree chose Robert Brownies Jr. All their flavours were so creative!

The following morning, we tackled the quintessential Sydney highlights: Harbour Bridge and Opera House 🙂 Were blessed with beautifully warm weather, a welcome contrast to the cold front just 24 hours earlier.

Wombat macht Wombat Sachen #Easy boy! Just as he contemplated tasting the harbour water: quick turn around, smile for the camera,

and off we strolled toward the Opera House 🙂

After lunch, we popped into Uniqlo to stock up on warmer layers. We had arrived in complete “spring mode,” forgetting that Australia was just finishing their winter. Shopping sorted, it was time for an unmissable catch-up with my primary school classmate ~ who else other than Alvin!

Wombat loved Kangaroo Burger Schwager’s made, so he was eager to try another kangaroo dish aka Steak unless it’s not a Steak, it’s a Loin 🙂

24 Hours later we will visit Blue Mountain with Mamacita! There, my Wombat can finally get a glimpse taste of Australian wilderness 🙂 Let’s see how it goes!

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Well… It Isn’t

Continuation from my Crazy (Rich) Asians post, the answer to “it is turn for relaxing trip, isn’t it?” -> Well… it isn’t! Went to Singapore Airlines check-in counter because I couldn’t do Online check-in. Thought it was because I need to show them my Australian Visa. At first, he also couldn’t find the caused, I showed him the screenshot mentioned: ETA… Then it clicked him, the next minutes was a slap into reality for Dom.

  • Him: Have you applied for ETA?
  • Me: What is that? Do I need to do that? I have a visa
  • Him: No, it’s actually for him (pointed to Dom)
  • Me: But he’s a German citizen, he doesn’t need any Visa
  • Him: It’s not a Visa, more like Singapore Arrival Card only for Australia, UK, Canada – some other countries he mentioned but my mind was elsewhere + you have to pay: 20 AUD
  • Me: No, he didn’t and we don’t know how to do it.
  • Him: Let me help you, without being Granted, you can’t fly to Australia, it can take 2-3 days but sometimes it takes also 10 minutes.

The guy was soooo helpful, he showed us one by one how to do it without asking us to step away. Dom got confirmation that his application is received, its written he will get a reply within 72 hours, damn! I think he went pale. Fortunately, he came from a First World Country, he got Granted only few minutes after that Email.

No no no, it’s not done. Dom’s phone scanned his bottom passport number where it has more letter than his top right corner. The guy was confused, made a phone call, convinced the people on the other line that even though Dom repeat the process, it would still be the same result. Finally, he accepted it so we could get our boarding passes #Fiuh!

Australia is famous for the Wilderness, well…. it definitely started before we even enter the country 😉

We boarded our flight to leave Singapore, I spotted a familiar face…. “Hi, were you also in the flight from Frankfurt to Singapore?” she recognized me instantly too! The same stewardress! Even though she was assigned to a different cabin section this time, she asked where we were sitting and came over to find us.

We almost got upgraded – thank you for your intention 🙂 She spoiled us with snacks and amenities straight out of Business Class! To top off the coincidence, we discovered her birthday is just one day after mine ~ though quite a few years apart #Alt. We officially closed the Singapore chapter of our holiday with getting new friend: Coral, hope to see you next time ~ definitely text us whenever you have a layover longer than 24 hours in Frankfurt!

What’s even funnier is that before this trip even began, we also made two new Indonesian friends: Nensy and Max, at Dortmund Hbf! #Full circle.

13 Hours later….

Landed at Sydney Airport, timing was perfect! Seamlessly hopped onto Murrays coach heading to Canberra. Two hours into the drive…. Announcement: “Folks, I need to pull over, seems we have engine problem.” Followed by: “Folks, we have oil leaking to the ground, there is nothing I can do other than park here and wait for another coach to pick us up.” We ended up waiting in the Gas Station for about one hour… hunger was seriously starting to kick in!

Wilderness… please let us come home! By the time we finally rolled into Canberra, I was in need for Food asap! Luckily, my sister completely understood the assignment ~ she had foodsssss ready #Plural, such as: Pempek, Kangkung, Ayam Kalasan, Semur, Nasi Goreng, Potato Wedges, Kangaroo Burger, Chips, the list goes on. At her place, we ate relentlessly. We literally had dinner twice: first with the kids at 17:00, then a second dinner for the adults at 20:00 once they were fast asleep #Family Life.

What kind of family activities we’ve done in Canberra?

Had a short hike up a hill where my niece ride her balance bike to see some kangaroos. This was a vital mission because we desperately needed to fix Dom’s first impression of kangaroos ~ the very first one he ever saw was a poor thing resting in peace on the side of the road! Haha. Good news: We were able to mend it! Saw 5 kangaroos!

Checked out Mount Ainslie, Questacon, Old Parliament House where he found Wombat #Hello Relatives! Last but not least: Floriade ~ flower festival from mid of September – mid of October. Way smaller than Keukenhof Amsterdam however it doesn’t mean unattractive, it still are! They have Riesenrad, Carousel, Shows, it’s enough lah. Dom said “I need to have picture where it’s written Floriade, otherwise people would expect it to be on Westfallenpark” 😀

Did we only saw Kangaroos so far? nooo…. at Floriade we also saw Bats! Some Wilderness for my Wombat to mentally preparing him before Alice Spring / Uluru 😉

Thank you Sissy & Schwager for all the foods, I’m convinced I gained at least 5 kg just from staying at your place. See you again in about a week in Adelaide, in the meantime we will continue our visit to Stadt + Wilderness #We will survive! Hey yay!

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Crazy (Rich) Asians

I thought we would be visiting Hitman: Agent 47 movie set when we first talked about Singapore… in reality…. we actually ended up more on exploring the Crazy Rich Asians filming locations 😀 #How could I forget this movie!

We both took 18 working days off ~ by far our longest holiday yet.

Suitcase were filled to the absolut max, limit to 25 kg ~ mine was 24,9 kg and Dom was almost 24 kg.

We flew with Singapore Airlines, planned a 3 days layover in Singapore to meet my parents #Crazy Asians. What did we do and more importantly did my boyfriend pass the test? haha

Arrival Day 1

Landed around 16:30 ish, my Boyfriend has been completely obsessed with Wombat ever since he knew we would fly to Australia. He always aims for Wilderness everytime he sees greens, there where he felt home 😉 including right before immigration hall in Changi Airport. After I reminded him that we were in a city and he needed to behave, he agreed to hop on a bus to Yotel Orchard Singapore. #Good job, Wombat!

If you find yourself on Orchard Road, ION Orchard Mall is by far the best mall ~ eventhough we have to go through a very complicated underpass to reach it. After spending some time at Uniqlo, we headed down to their basement for dinner. This “Yamien” is the best! Loved it!

Went straight back to Yotel where we planned our next day activity, hmmm… Since I had a dermatologist appointment at 11:00, we ambitiously decided to wake up at 7:00 AM to visit Fort Canning Park. We were so confident we’d make it…

24 Hours later….

What time did we wake up? 10:10 AM! haha Forget it, I rushed to get myself ready for my appointment while Dom enjoyed his alone time. My parents scheduled to be arriving around 13:30 ish. Before I could fetch them, we met up with my Church Friend Irving and his wife Grace. I literally asked him for his dermatologist & hair salons recommendations then followed his advice blindly.

Thank you Irving for your treat at TCC, sorry for hin und her discussion where to meet 😉

Irving met my parents just for few seconds as he needs to head back to work. From that exact moment on, Dom’s ultimate test officially began 😉

While we were on the bus to Bugis Junction, my mom immediately asked me if we were serious and planning to get married. OMG—it’s like she has nothing else on her mind except sending me off to the altar! As if she wasn’t satisfied with our initial answers, she pressed again with, “When?” #Crazy Asians.

When we finally arrived at Bugis Junction, it started pouring rain, so we were stuck inside. Eventually, we made our way back to ION Orchard because I had reserved a dinner spot at Jumbo Seafood. Afterward, we checked out the Observation Deck.

We wrapped up the evening with watching the Garden Rhapsody light show at Gardens by the Bay and Spectra at Marina Bay Sands. It was so cool! Before reaching Spectra, we walked right through the MBS Mall—wow, talk about fancy!

Day 3

I had a hair appointment to finally chop off my long hair at a salon in the Takashimaya Mall. The place was amazing—so luxurious compared to the salons back home in Dortmund! haha. We had lunch at Beauty in the Pot with my cousins Ko Adhi and my other church friend from Bandung Melissa!

Chilled out a bit before we tried to visit Hitman: Agent 47 movie scene at Singapore Botanic Gardens. However, we came unprepared aka without booking, the line was crazy. Let’s do it some other time ~ don’t want to miss our dinner rsvp at CÉ LA VI, do we? Hello 57th floor! We were literally on top of MBS! Amazing view + weather for my parents 37th Wedding Anniversary 🙂

Day 4

We crammed in a lot in our last day: Chinatown, Maxwell Food Center, Merlion, Takashimaya to eat the famous Ice Cream Bread form Uncle Chieng. Final stop: Jewel Changi Airport to see the waterfall from varieties of floor hihihi

Unfortunately Changi Airport doesn’t have a free shower cabin! Aaaaghhh…. #Frustrated. We had to go to some massage parlor, pay to use their shower for 10 Minutes. Later we knew there was a Lounge which allowed us for 30 Minutes shower with the same fee 🙁

First leg of our trip is done, the “Crazy Asian parents” formality is over. My mom kept the classic #Crazy Asians energy going—Dom told me further down into the trip that she asked him about marriage 3 to 5 times a day. I am so proud of how well he handled it, if it were me, I definitely would have lost my patience! seems I really did one thing right <3

Up next -> turn for relaxing trip, isn’t it ?

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Art Attack

Dienstag den 11.08 here about my conversation with Weilando

  • Marlyn, do you know was für einen Tag morgen ist?
  • Thomas Tag
  • Ja aber was noch?
  • Was könnte noch sein?
  • Sonnenfinsternis Tag
  • Hääää? Was genau ist das, habe noch nicht gehört

He has an idea to off work together, pick Dominik up, drove to Herten to see it. For that, I will for sure skip my sport! Ain’t gonna missing it, while talking he told me that we need to have a Sonnenfinsternisbrille… Owh, my smart ass thought I could just look directly to the sky… Amazon Prime won’t work as we were too late to realized it. Weißt du was? I do Feierabend now, spent 1,5 hours in the city center going one Optik + Pharmacy to the other, results: NIL. We were so unprepared, he was sure he can make it by himself. I’ve told him unless we can find the glasses, we won’t go, it can cause permanent blindness, not so worthy for it.

He is however a very DIY person, a very Handyman, he sent me reel at 20:00 from a genuine source about how to make a Camera Obscura, okay! our plan back on! Took Doms Panzer Tape + Aluminium Foil, built it in the office with many versions and sizes. Weilando asked: do you know Art Attack? Stimmt!!! Me and my sister always watched it but never done any.

Plan stays on, we picked up Dominik then meet up with Axel and Tanja at parking lot. We arrived the premise, so do a thousands other people carrying their made out cartons. We had to got some snacks from vending machine then march up the stairs. Choose a field to stand on, testing ur camera obscura… it worked!!!

To our luck, perhaps this lady took a pity on us because we need to bend up and down to adjust the light so she gave us 4 of her Brille!!! she said she bought it too much! WOW! Thank you Lady! Without you I might have a Kreislauf Problem haha

Thank you also to Weilando! Not only I wouldn’t know what to do without you, I would also miss this natural phenomenon 😀

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Gaming With The Gamers

About one week later after our Schwarzwald short trip, Stephan visited us 🙂 #Well, not really haha he bought a concert ticket in Köln to which Dom also followed him. What should we do with a gamers? Let’s visit Minecraft Experience in Oberhausen hey. They played it, I didn’t. I only knew about Minecraft computer game, also I had an ice cream 😉

It was an interactive playground where you each got cube as our tools to cut trees, open boxes, kill spiders etc, the ground also plays a role, we can step on fruits, or any other items to collect it as medicines or whatnot.

Selbstverständlich we managed to save the villagers 🙂

However, we still need to save a villager from starting a war = hungry Marlyn! Because this Minecraft is in the middle of der Pampa, we still need to drive to Oberhausen City, search for park place, go to the mall, search for the restaurants. I had my eye fixed on Spare Ribs! Three Sixty! it was delicious! Pass auf if they asked you for sauce, it’s not for free!

This village also saved 🙂

Happy Marlyn, Happy Life!

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Zonk Twist

We had a few days in South of Germany aka Schwarzwald ~ to which I was very excited to visit the famous Titisee. What I can remember is when I was still in Bandung around 15 years ago, my friend Merissa went there. Thought “Wow, if only someday I can go there too”. First try was in 2018 when I visited Benjamin & Beatrice at Reutlingen, however they said Schwarzwald is a bit far, they couldn’t combine it with Hohenzollern Castle in one day. Dankeschoen March

Next try was in 2024, I am very vividly sure about being in Schwarzwald with Tour Group from Indonesia, they brought us SOLELY to Kuckucksuhr Store then ate Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Sadly, any association with Titisee were zero because we only spent time in that store.

Until we arrived, I started seeing some similarities, picked up my memories here and there… still have a doubt, to me… every European places have some resemblances. We managed to get the last 30 Minutes boat tour. Walked on the shore, took picture of some area where next to it written Biergarten, the store… a sudden DejaVu hits me… wait a minute? … Since it was already off from office hour, it was closed. I asked Stephan if Schwarzwald only for Titisee? if there is only one place to buy Kuckucksuhr? He said no, it’s just a region in Germany where the Black Forrest are. Ah well, maybe I went to other part of Schwarzwald.

Next region of Schwarzwald is Freiburg, asked Weilando if he had ever been there. He recommended many things yet only two things strikes me: Schauinsland Bahn + Martinstor. How do I know specifically this Tor? Clue: it has McDonald’s.

First things first, Schauinsland. Aimed to have cable car only for us, unfortunately the luck wasn’t in our hand. The capacity of the cable car is 7, we were 3 then received unwanted additional 4 people, pfff! It took perhaps 10 Minutes, arrive on the top, went to their look out, their Bergwerk Museum, went back down. Will the luck on our side? Still no! the guy instructed them to come in to our cable car. Then we were 5 people pffffff

We can’t skip Weilandos Tor, me for the photo + Dom for his summer drink collection from McDonald’s 🙂 Last stop at Münsterplatz then off dinner at Offenburg.

Still can’t let go of my thoughts, looked at my WA with Mom to see old documents, well hell damn yes we were in Titisee!!! AAAArrgghhh, had I knew it maybe we would opt somewhere else #Zonk. Still glad we managed to go to Freiburg + Offenburg though, in the end I kind of get my Zonk twisted 😉

First Titisee Experience: Not the New Kid on the Block

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How About… No?

My third trip to Phantasialand with my übliches Gang, first in Summer! Me & Sophie travelled together whereas Chantal went from Bielefeld, we met her on the train.

There was already obstacles on the way: delays + stops cancellation.

Instead of less than two hours, our journey took 3,5 hours. What a way to start the morning!

We arrived at 11:20, immediately told the girls: “Mädels I really want to ride the FLY, the queue was always 90 Minutes, definitely won’t get any shorter later”. After just one ride it was already lunch time, at the Chinese restaurant Sophie had a “brilliant” idea to go here again in December. Now that I have my boyfriend, I most probably can’t do it. I can imagine we’ll spend Christmas with my adopted family ~ Claudia & Gang and next days perhaps with his too. We haven’t talk about it yet, but rather than making a false hope, I directly rejected her idea.

We use the waiting time as Verdauungszeit, unfortunately we chose the wrong one: Colorado Adventure. I misscalculated it, somehow I remembered it as a gentle ride #It wasn’t. Not listening to my body, we headed straight to Black Mamba. That was the end for me, Game Over! I couldn’t do any rides anymore as all I have was a feeling to throw up. We decided to watch a show, I was asleep for first 10 minutes then gain some energy to wake up. They went to do Wasserbahn while I’m sitting on the floor hahaha Dominik asked aren’t there any Bank?

Eventually I felt well enough to explore by myself, decided to get into the temple out of curiosity. It’s a room with stories then you enter another room, sit down… Suddenly, the safety bar locked… the damn room moved upside down! it’s a visual trick! which makes me even want to throw up, I had to close my eyes. When I got out, they also finished. Chantal wanted to go back earlier, so we all left.

All things went wrong that day, the Ubahn didn’t arrived, how long does the journey back took? 5,5 hours! Sorry Mädels, I’m very positive there is no more Phantasialand with Öffis. I’m too old for this shit. I’m open for new activities but this. Thank God we went on Summer where the Sun stays until 22:00. Imagine this happening in Winter, I would’ve dropped dead! Perhaps our Gangs name says it all: all good things come in threes, anything beyong that is unnecessary 😉

Redo

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Too Good To (Not) Go

Claudia asked if I wanted to go to Gevelsberg Kirmes, ah ja! I could actually, on the last weekend of June we were still free. I can also bring Dominik, he’s a fans. Although I have been there two times ~ Lebensversicherung, I’ve never saw their Kirmeszug. That way, I chose to come on a Sunday midday, want to see whats the hype is about 🙂 During that week, Germany was hit with a heat wave so sooooo bad even I went sweating for just breathing. Do we really want to go? Should we solely stay inside preserving energy?

Toughen up! #Eingecremt #Fan. Arrived when the Zug started, finally find Claudia & Gang. Mario directly asked what do I want to drink, my brain wasn’t working, don’t know Mario, get me something. He then followed: can you help beim tragen? Oh yeah! I got a job haha let me come with you. Went few meters away to find our Sascha! #Nordwestler they came with waterpistole + spray #Very prepared

I need to squeeze myself during the Parade or else I don’t see a thing, Alina hold me up then decided to do some squat while me on her shoulder, she is seteronnggggg! Some Zug thow snacks, I caught it. Dom went MIA for a while as this part of Kirmes ~ watching & dancing on the street are not really his thing, his is rather food hunting #Nomnom

I didn’t have our usually mandatory photo infront of the Kirmes Gate with Alina, nevertheless I have her Ersatz 😉

Thank you Alina for the Verpflegung!

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Double-double – Part 5

Dom had a list on what he will do during this hot summer, taking in all Wochenende. On a spontan Sonntag, both of us haven’t done keramas #Greasy, I know, we know 😉 hmm what to do? he said let’s go to Plettenberg there is Aqua Magis. Aha! Let’s use their water! the whole activity was inspired by my old Apartment’s experience where I haven’t got hot water for around two weeks resulted I went to Schwimmbad everytime I want to wash my hair.

There was a 4 hours ticket to which cost 2€ cheaper than day ticket, we liked Therme Erding so much therefore we decided to buy entrance for whole day. Not all Wasserrutschen were on Betrieb, however I don’t think that’s an issue at all. Learning from Therme Erding, I don’t want to go to the one that has a deep dive, don’t want to bang my head against it. What could be a potential of killer joy, let’s do it the last 🙂 #Doms Strategie.

As a warm up, we tried the newest version of Wasserrutschen ever, Surfer Bahn which means we have to stand up. I saw how other people done it including kids! they could really go fast as if they were surfing. When I tried it the first time, I couldn’t bring myself to rutsch, therefore walked the whole Bahn! My second was on the outdoor Surfer Bahn it didn’t make any difference, tried my third: nothing changed, still couldn’t managed to nail it! Dom didn’t even try for his third time.

Then we went on the “normal” Wasserrutschen until the last one! we sat while carrying a backpack haha no I’m not Dora the Explorer. It’s a big round Platte as your Rucksack because the water pressure will push you, on the curve I hit my head then back flipped! It took some of my energy to get me into the correct position again. Kind of lost balance afterwards, killer joy done! Spent my time on Sauna or swimming pool.

I was ready to go but it was only 3,5 hours. Hmm.. felt our money hasn’t reach break even let’s stay a bit longer 😉 Reach our 4 hours quota, yeay! wir haben + gemacht haha. Now we can leave the premise, off to mandi!

Overall, I believe 4 hours here is definitely enough. It’s not a bad, it’s just smaller than Therme Erding. On the way back home though it’s bad, there are many Bauarbeiten meaning road blocks, you have to drive around Lüdenscheid. The journey took us 1 hour there and 2 hours return.

I think it’s safe to say Dom remove all Sauerland Activities from his list 😉

There Erding snaps: When Life Gives You Lemon – Part 2

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Double-double – Part 4

Who was my first guest to host in my new set up apartment? my fav biatch Irina! Welcome to Dortmund 🙂

When she arrived on a Friday, Dortmund had a small Music Festival where we had places to move around #it ain’t that full haha, we saw one singer, to me & Iri she’s good, to Dom is the opposite. Once she asked the Publikum to sing along, the result is obvious: noone sang. As an entertainer… the Germans are very spaß bremsen.

On Saturday we went to Köln, she found a very nice Korean chicken wing restaurant + had a must drink Kölsch #Alcohol time. Last day, we had lunch at Phoenix See, then we sent her back to Flixbus station.

Thank you for visiting me… and Dom too! I’m starting questioning the reality… was she come to get to know my boyfriend or to meet me? haha anyway girl, we had fun having you here.

Thanks for letting me chill and above all for fixing my head shower, you are welcome to chanelling your ADHD here 😉

‘Till we meet again!