I was so happy that I can spend NYE with Julia regardless corona regulations that Germany had. After our Silvester-lauf, we had a very faul afternoon of doing nothing because we definitely deserved ausruhen 🙂 Then around hmmm late afternoon Tina came and Julia prepared some new years decorations and our Raclette! No one sleeping hungry tonight! I repeat: no one!
Oh, i’m not in the picture! excuse moi! we need to re-do 😉 we tried with my phone but meh, then Tina has a new Samsung phone, the camera is wider, take it from her side then move to Julia’s, selfie, non-selfie, Moritz was a bit tired already but in the end we got das Foto that we satisfied, so, dinner officially started!
Still few hours before midnight, what did we do? we played game ofcourse! this house has every games but not on NYE haha so ironic! Julia’s sister borrowed one of the board game but we never lose sight, so we do our own DIY board game 😉
After our DIY board game, Julia introduced me to the NYE tradition, das Bleigiessen! We have to melt the metal and put it into the water then the chemical reaction of who knows what will shape that melted metal into a figure. We need to see that figure from an uncommon angle to find out what is it. On the back of the package it is written the meaning of any figure that might come out, this will be the “future” for ourselves.
I was so shocked when my figure came out, I was directly said it was Corona haha! but there is no Corona or virus behind the package of the Bleigiessen so in the end we chose it’s a nest 🙂 thanks God it has a nice meaning, haeusliches Glueck! Game-played, future-predicted, what’s missing? Alcohol!
With alcohol being getrunken, it is the signed that countdown is just around the corner! We were all very excited for the famous countdown from Berlin Brandenburg Gate!
And our countdown from 20 seconds then suddenly dropped to 13 then really countdown 🙂
Arrghh 2021, already a disappointment right after the clock strikes twelve haha not ready for this >.< however, no need to worry, Julia has another back up confetti, we put a big hope it will works.
And yes it does! With this, it is rightful to say that we welcome 2021 with open arms, big Umarmung for 2021 🙂
Me and Tina sleep over in Julia’s apartment and by the first January we had a very nice breakfast.
Life is good 🙂
Happy new year everyone! Sending you all virtual hugs 😉
My sister sent me a birthday present from faaaaarrrrr away (read: Australia) to Germany, mind you that my bday is on September but due to Covid, the numbers of plane reduced a lot so she told me that the package might arrived up to 3 weeks. It’s not a big deal anyway, I’m not a believer of “only open my presents on my birthday date” so I am up if anyone wants to give me something prior, on or after my birthday 😉
Package sent via Australian Post and after 3 weeks it arrived Germany, yeay! however… it’s not that simple, I have been waiting and checking it every day but it shows no movement, still in custom, no one calls me and I can’t call them because its from AU post and who knows which courier that will take care my package and sent it to me… waiting… waiting…and it got sent back to Australia haha!
However, my sister is a fighter, she tried once again directly from the store in Korea and let them sent it to Germany using DHL. Now we both have confidence in it and just like we thought, DHL handled it very fast, they already called me 3 times and with my broken German I tried to say some sentences. I’ve been told that I need to fulfill the custom code etc so I asked my sister about “what is exactly in this package? how much is it? they need an invoice” and it’s close to Christmas so for sure they also have holiday, they want to finish it before and we want to receive the presents too! me and my sister both “works” as fast as we can by asking the sellers “do you provide the invoice on the package?” and guess what? the invoice is there but inside the package which DHL guy won’t just opened it.
Also okay, few more days then, my sister kept asking “can you call again?” no! no way! it’s giving me enough headache to reply them in German, I can’t volunteer myself to call them and ask mwahaha. Nevertheless, Christmas passed, they should back to work again before Silvester holiday, I asked Julia to help me call them and good thing is they have all info ready and just wait for the custom which is out of DHL control. I was already skeptical if I can receive it in year 2020, worst case scenario I’ll receive it by new years but you can’t be really patient when you know the stuff is just right in front of your eyes!
On 30th of December! I got an SMS that DHL will deliver the package, the time limit is until end of the day but I told my sister to wrote company address instead of my home address because for sure someone will be at the office and can help me to take it other than at home and the last working day at the office is on 30th! So I sent email to our facility management guy and told them if any package came from Korea for me, please call me! and he did! wohoooooo, informed my sister directly, prepared myself to go to office, picked it up, done! Indeed, a little bit of faith is just what we need 🙂
Theeennn….. we have our video call 🙂 about how and what to do with the new skin care!! #luph luph <3
Very happy! unboxing and showing it one by one 🙂
our happy face
but im happier 🙂
My sister is soooo nice! she got everything covered! I got all complete product from Korea, she knew I don’t have any skin care with me and she felt ärgern by it, so directly she sent it out. Another good thing is my cream face etc was almost used up so yeay! got new supplies 🙂 the problem now is…. where to put it? haha she got a strict condition to not put it near the window and not inside the bathroom, she said I need to put it in a basket next to my bed, yes sister! I follow your advise.
Morning
Evening
Weekly or monthly
Full box!
I am so glad that I am the little sister of her 🙂 If our position is switch, I am the bigger sister and my little sister doesn’t have proper skin care…. sucks for you! hahaha 😉
She told me to stop using my cream or whatever things I used and try her skin care. Yuhuuuu that what I’ll do, I got the supplies anyway!
I’ve been a tourist for my time in Munich and let’s have a feeling of a German family life to wrap up my holiday. And how to get a feeling of a German family life? By visiting Thorben’s family! His sister- Katharina has two kids, a daughter (Baby A) and a son (Baby J). What Baby J does is only smiling and drooling haha he’s having a blast! Baby A is shy and took her time to understand everything but she is vveeerryyyy sweet! These two emojis really presents their current situation that Baby A is a very lovely kid and Baby J is… doing his best at his age 😉
thanks flat icon!
for the funny icons 🙂
Rina picked me up in train station, we went straight to her home to prepare a picnic after we pick Baby A from kindergarten. Baby J was so calm the whole time, he didn’t cry just sitting on his car seat and perhaps wonder who is this Asian lady??? you can see his head is tilt to my direction instead of to camera haha
Rina said that it is a park fits for family that we can feed animals there, in my opinion it is more than a park! There are many animals that you can see named a few deer, pig, rooster, rabbit, they also have a playground in the middle with all things like swings, slides etc.
This place is amazing to spend some family time, not only for kids, I like it too! Well… I’m Thorben’s (adopted) kid….maybe that’s how I like it but Rina also likes it so it is confirmed that the park fits for everyone haha 😉
Baby A was tired after some time and she cried huhuhu but
Rina calmed her down by opening our picnic so she fed herself and she was ready
again! Haha love her!
It is very hard to take picture with her- maybe too many people want to take her picture because she’s just so cute! we had to tricked her by getting ready first and called her name then click! With baby J we didn’t have difficulties at all, he is the center of attention because he kept drooling and putting everything into his mouth oh boy, I hope he has a strong immune to any bacteria 😀
But after some time she’s more willing to be in the picture, yais!
We finished all the food for the animals, then Rina dropped me off to Thorben’s parents house but by the time we arrived, baby A was sleeping in the car and Rina left the door open and brought baby J and me to her parents home, I was so worried because in Asia you don’t left kid at the car sleeping with door open, it’s an invitation for kidnapping! But yeah realistically, the car wasn’t park that far haha and I always forget that this is Germany! Still need to get used to that 😉
I had nice Swebian dinner made by Thorben’s
mother-Edeltraut. The way they prepared dinner is the same way as Thorben and
Marina does in Shanghai, they put the napkins, I think this is very typical
German. Thorben’s father-Heino is very funny he said “this is just to protect
the table” haha
And what did we do after dinner? Again, just like Thorben and Marina would do, we played game!!! No wonder why Thorben always have many game boards in his apartment, it runs in the family! I was leading at first, Heino called it beginners luck but in the end Edeltraut caught me up 🙁
And again, Edeltraut and Heino come up with the idea of doing free walking tour in Stuttgart, they are very active and always plan for sth to do on the weekend, like their son. We went there on time but we didn’t see any sign of the guy that could be a tourguide, the area that we supposed to gather together is quiet nice, here are few snaps.
After we waited for 10 mins, finally we decided to quit, it is so weird but it didn’t stop us! so what did we do? We went to tourist information center to see what can we do about it and there is a hop on-hop off bus coming up soon, unfortunately the moment we sat on the bus, the rain started to pour in and it was a crazy rain….do you want to see what can we see from the bus? Hahaha!
I think it took us 100 minutes to be on the bus so it was
more like a knowledge about Stuttgart, definitely I want to go to a pig museum!
Haha followed by Mercedez museum but the pig is the most important one 😉
I heard about Swebian dish from the audio tour on the bus
and good thing is Edeltraut found a Swebian restaurant for us to eat there and
I ordered complete mix of Swebian food.
Then the weather was perfect again! Right after we finished our lunch, the sun came out, oh no! where were you before?? It was a bright blue sky and Heino said “we should do the bus tour again” haha Heino wanted to show me Schloss Solitude but the road to go there was closed so he just stopped by a nice church for us to see and this was such a good idea! I don’t see a Schloss but I see something that also nice 🙂
They also had some practice, pretty nice hey!
Then we drove back to Rina’s home and had dinner there and play again with both babies! and when did we go back home? When baby A starts to cry again huaaaa or maybe she cried because I joined her game like who is this Asian lady that suddenly interrupted my game with my father and my grandpa? Haha! Maybe she’s scared of me, oh noooo!
And what did I do at Edeltraut and Heino’s home? We played
the same game again! And who won this time?
Unbelievable, the record always hold by Edeltraut!
The next day is the day that I should go back to Dortmund, they prepared breakfast and send me to Stuttgart main station.
This is such a relaxing way to close my holiday thank you Familie Hoepke for hosting me! But since there are many things to do in Stuttgart…. I have to come back 😉 so Familie Hoepke, be ready 😀
Remember last time in Shanghai Marina and me did a food walking tour by ourselves? basically Marina chose the restaurant and the food that she likes from her previous walking tour and re-do it with me. Well, since we both separated now she is still in Shanghai and I am in Germany, I did my own walking tour however its not a food walking tour just the classic city sightseeing walking tour. Huaaa I’m miss my other M!
After 2.5 hours of walking with them I feel like Im the “expert” of Munich already, why it is with quote? Because I forgot some of the part already haha
We all gathered up in Marienplatz with our guide from Sandeman tour named Jake. He explained that at 11am (this I remember for sure) 1pm and 5 or 6pm depends if its winter or summer (this I’m not so sure but around that time, good enough for Indonesian already 😉 ) the puppets in Marienplatz will play us some attraction and dance. And why is that time? Because it shows when they start to have lunch, finish lunch and back to work and off from work (yes it makes sense and should be like that)
Since we met at 10:45 so I got to witness the play at 11am, first play is the top one, it is about Austria vs Germany. They started with meeting with each other, then the fight begins, a knight with their horses appear, costume red and white means Austria while blue and white means Germany-specifically Munich color. You know who will win right? it’s should be pretty obvious 😉
Here is some bits of how the music sounds like
Following the show with the knight, it’s the show with puppet dancing. And why are they dancing? because long time ago there was a plague in Munich and people are afraid to go back to work, to go outside as they don’t know what caused it, they thought God was angry with them and ask for His forgiveness and what did Munich government do to make their people brave enough to come out again? They invented the dance, so people could see from their home that outside is safe, they can come back to work, go to market, even dance in open area. Jake said even until now (well, now is Corona maybe if Corona hasn’t happened on the first place) they still or will dance in the New Town Hall area, not every year but every 7 years.
Then on the corner of this Neues Rathaus there is a “statue” of the dragon, on the upper left from the dragon are the people who are afraid, have no idea what or how to do with the plague and on the right are the people who dance in order to make Munich people able to do the previous activities.
Okay, another fact about this Neues Rathaus is all statue in front of it was a man and one man that has a bit of a stage and sitting on a horse, why is he got something special like this? because he was the one that kind of make a big contribution of making this Rathaus and people pay the commission to him. On top of the Rathaus is a Catholic monk, I would like to say priest but Jake use the word of monk, so I followed him 😉 and it is not an adult monk, in fact is a little cute baby monk. In front of the Neues Rathaus there is a statue of virgin Mary on the top, being protected by four little knight, I wanted to say cupid but they are cupid with protective gear, this little knight is standing above something dragon, snakes or idk what other animals is that to protect the virgin Mary or city of Munich from every danger possibility.
Jake said if I paid attention I could see more monks inside and he was right, monks in the ceiling, on top of the building, on the logo etc.
There are the facts and history that I remember about Neues Rathaus, when you have sth called New Town Hall then there must be an Old Town Hall right? where and how does the Old Town Hall looks like?
This white building on the left is the Altes Rathaus, very weird isn’t it? It doesn’t look old at all and why is that? because Munich was destroyed by bomb during the World War so they have to re-built the old town hall but it’s only 70 years old building, the real one had it not been destroyed by the bombed would have been a 700 years old building.
Jake also told me that Munich has sth to do with Grimm books, I don’t quiet remember the details but he said the real fairy tale story is not fairy tale at all, it’s rather scary and for adults. I think the frog in the building was represents Prince Frog or whatever tale or maybe it’s not a tale at all, maybe it represents the disease or sth, I completely forgot about this, sorry! but it definitely means something otherwise I won’t see frogs in this corner and on the door.
Ofc we have to visit the church! we visited the Gothic St. Peter’s church and what is the fact about this church? This is a real church that survived the bombing! how do I know? first is from the bricks (mostly bricks building were real from back then) and second there is one cannonball stuck on the church until now! so when the enemy whoever was it tried to fire this church with cannonball, one of them reach it but somehow stuck into the cement of the building, here is the 600 something years old cannonball 😉
For sure we have to come back to the devil footstep at Frauenkirche. Jake told me half truth and the other half is…just to make it more fun. When King of Munich build Frauenkirche he put a big budget for it, however he miscalculated it, when the construction of the church only 50% they already used 80% of the budget, the King panicked and he thought of how to get more money to finish this church? He asked the Pope in Vatican if he is able to give his contribution unfortunately he was busy with building Sistine Chapel so there was no money left for Munich then what did he do? He asked all 11 architect to have a meeting inside the church and re-planned all the budget. It was dark at night and they forgot to close the window, suddenly there was a bigggg wind came in and blow down all the candles, it was only for 10-15 seconds but was very spooky, then one architect light on the candle in the middle and he and the other 10 were afraid because there was one additional person with them joined the meeting and that person was Lucifer! He said “I could helped you to give all the money that you want but you will have to build it according to my request which is no windows allowed” All the architect were agreed with his conditions then he disappeared. It only took them additional 20 years to finished it, ofc Lucifer visited it to see his church, he was very happy that he did not see any windows and why is that? because the architects tricked him, they built a very large 2 towers so it blocked any lights that come in but after the tower you can see the windows so Lucifer was angry and he stomped his foot so hard that it marked the floor and storm off. Let’s bring back how Lucifer stomp’s looks like.
You are clear which half is truth and lies right? haha but it’s still a cool story anyway 😉 Then we will have to move to a real truth story in Odeonplatz, I forget which year was it but Adolf Hitler marched to Munich with his soldier to take over Munich from the King and stopped by in Odeonplatz, there was a history where in here chaos happened where Nazi soldier and real Munich soldier fire each other due to misunderstanding, however Hitler fell down and he managed to escaped to other city.
But people there recognize him and called the police, he was caught and put into a prison for 5 years or so and liberated after that. In the prison Hitler wrote his book “Mein Kampf” it didn’t sell really well but he was famous all around the world for every wrong reason.
Next to Odeonplatz is the Munich Residenz, the museum that contained history of Munich King and Queen and their palace that ofc was bombed and re-built as close as possible. How do I know it was a new building? From the circle window, some parts are real window and some parts are just painted window. Munich Residenz is so big so the walking tour didn’t get in there, Jake just showed us where is the entrance.
We closed the tour in the Viktualienmarkt where I can eat and buy stuff 🙂
Despite the weather who ironically raining and gloomy, I was happy to joined this walking tour as you can see now I know the history of Munich more or less 😉 not only the history btw but also some good place like this, check this out!
I am very open to repeat this tour again, perhaps I will bring Marina to re-do this M&M tour just like she brought me to re-do the food tour 🙂
I *heart* M stands for I love Munich or Marlyn? or maybe Munich loves Marlyn and Marina 😉
You can visualize a ninja right? how they all looks like? here I am! mask and hat on, ready to conquer Munich! haha #evil laugh
wearing mask in some public places are mandatory in Munich, wearing hat? it’s helps because the weather went cold again, do you want to know where did the Ninja’s go? Let’s trace her!
First and foremost, the Ninja cannot perform alone so she will reveal who are the helpers later on 🙂
What is the famous place in Munich? It’s Marienplatz! it is like the one in Belgium but much bigger! Who cares about the weather when you have a bigger elephant in front of you which is a very beautiful building! Def the ninja needs to mark this place!
This magnificent building is called Neues Rathaus which is new town hall, and how about the old town hall? just next to it, the white building! haha
Obviously I need to try the pork knuckle but only half! I won’t be able to finish one pork knuckle, even for half is a bit hard because they are fatty but yeah at least I tried it 😉
After I refill, I’m ready to appears at different places again from Stachus, National Theatre, Odeonplatz and a hotel where Michael Jackson at that time often stayed yeehaawwww
Don’t forget that the ninja also needed to come to church and she’s looking for the Fraunkirche, it’s really hard to miss because the twin tower of the church is very obvious from everyway 🙂
She finished it in Viktualienmarket but she camouflage in market of food so no trace of her here 😉
Overall she likes Munich and was fascinated by the beauty of this city, thumbs up!
As promised earlier, the ninja will reveal who was her helper and there were 2 people! First is my high school friend that I haven’t met for 10 years named Radite and second is my sister that helped me to edit the picture to a right ratio, brightness and remove some bystander out haha! you know my sister already so here is Radite 🙂
I didn’t realize that the human rights in Germany is so high because after leaving 7 years in China it is very normal to not get a holiday within your first year of work, you will get your holiday on your second year and usually it was between 5-20 days per year, 20 is if you are super lucky and 5 is the common days if you are working for a Chinese company. Now I got 30 days of holiday and it is really standard in Germany, the things that come to a realization that human rights does exist is when my team leader told me that I need to put my holidays plan into the system. I asked her “what holiday?” She said my 30 days of holiday but because you came in to the office on 1st of September then you only have 10 days of holiday until 31 Dec 2020. What?!?! Mind blowing enough for me!
I texted my sister if she can come to Germany since she’s holding an Australian passport anyway so no visa needed unfortunately she can’t, not because she cannot get in here rather she cannot go back there. Then I texted Thorben if he knew when will he come back but it is also unsure with Covid if he allows to come back to China again after that. Me, I prefer to travel within Germany, at first my plan was to take every Friday holiday for 1.5 months but Julia said it’s such a bad idea just take the whole week and visit Berlin or Munich. I remember Claudia and Giovanni already went back to Germany since 2019 and I texted where they are? and they are in Munich, perfect! sooooo Munich it is!
I left Dortmund with a very happy feeling because I’ll see my friends again and Dortmund left me with a beautiful double rainbow 🙂
See you next week Dortmund!
I arrived 1 hour early than the boarding time because A. I can’t wait to meet both of them, B. I prefer to come early because I took a bus-train-bus. I sent a picture to Claudia when I already inside the plane and she sent me picture of dinner that she prepared or me! and yes I was hungry!
They picked me up in the airport, Claudia is so pretty as always then we stopped by in the Munich style of “arc de Triomphe” mwahaha just to take a quick pics 😉
We went straight to their home and Claudia continue cooking for our dinner, I had my second portion for dinner because it was so good! and… for the first time in my life I ate cactus! and I like it!
Just like life cannot be all perfect, within the next 24 hours the God’s weather is against us, they gave us 6 degree Celcius and rainy and windy but did it stop us from going to the city center? no way! haha mask on! it’s now mandatory to wear mask on public place especially in the famous tourist spots. Look at Claudia, she is still very fashionable and very WOW in every possible way!
On this kind of weather we did mostly inside the building either churches, shops or cafe.
The weather will never be able to make Munich any less beautiful, I really like this city and thanks God I still have few more days in here so I am not in a hurry 🙂
Bingo bingo bingo! this time I also succeed to make bingo! Yeay! However, while I’m looking back on the pictures for this bingo I kept rolling my eyes “why oh why Marlyn you need to wear that clothes?” but you have to consider that it was taken few years back and I’m sure at that time I thought it was the best clothes ever 😉
This bingo came from Susan: travel!
UK! oh no this is the moment where I rolled my eyes the most but again be in mind I went there when I was 16! Not even a legal age to do anything! haha 😉 and I went there for a homestay program from EF for 2 weeks with the hope that I can speak English after that and guess what? I didn’t speak any! haha I still remember at that time the currency between IDR and Pound-sterling was crazy 😮 (year 2007) and the fee was still crystal clear in my mind: 5000 Pounds! I went abroad before to Singapore but it was by boat 1.5 hours away so I didn’t really feel that I was in another country haha that’s why UK will always be my first country and perhaps that also the reason that it hold a special place in my corazon 🙂
That girl yes obviously that UK girl was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever known, very fashionable and very bubbly that unfortunately taken way too soon, she died on the age 19 (at that pic she was only 12) due to getting hit by a car when she was about to go to her part time job in a supermarket 🙁 Rest in Peace Katy Pancott, I will forever remember you!
The very first time I visit France and Netherlands was together with my UK trip. I was very mesmerized by the Eiffel Tower (and still am), I don’t really understand Netherlands at that time I only knew it smells bad but fast forward 10 years later when we went there again in year 2019 (read: when I grown up) I knew what kind of smell that was 😉
Korea was my premier trip with my sister, I think this time when she more or less graduated from Unpar so we were still very young, beginning of 20s haha
New Zealand was the first country where I rode a helicopter and I saw ice! not snow! but ice on the mountain, the snow is already on the road so I didn’t see it fall down from the sky but the snow was thick enough and super super enough to make a South East Asian girl very happy 😉 also the first country that I ever wear the wintery outfits and felt so cool to finally able to wear a leather jacket haha We went there because my sister graduated from ANU and we had a trip to NZ.
USA! I was only tag along actually it was my father that has a program from a bank where he worked to study in US for 2 weeks and I was still a student in Indonesia and on a semester break so yeap I joined the trip 🙂 actually he was supposed to go last year but he went to hospital instead so lucky me he postponed it to the following year haha the jetlag was surreal so while my father went to class, I was still sleeping at the hotel until afternoon 😉
Singapore, many many times! The first ever Universal Studio opened it was soooo hit in Indonesia and the Marina Bay Sands hotel! it’s a must to have a picture there 😉
Cambodia, a beautiful Angkor Wat!
Taiwan, the country that distance wise is very close with China but without a USA visa, I can’t go there as I need to go back home and apply it in Indonesia but lucky me I had that USA visa! so I can go there! and I really like Taiwan! although I didn’t read their characters because its written in an old traditional way but Taiwanese people are so nice and helpful!
Vietnam yaiss! I went there with my 2 little brothers from Donghua University. They are my friends for my whole student year! and I love them both! I called them 弟弟们 because at first I don’t speak Chinese that good and their Chinese name is so hard to pronounce let alone their Vietnamese name so I called them 大弟弟 and 小弟弟 which later on changed to just 弟弟. Thank you so much for picking me up at the airport, be my tour guide and let me stay at your place. Psst, one of them the 弟弟 already become a father! and his son is exactly looks like him! haha
Next is Thailand, I went there with my classmates from Donghua-Nan and Pisen, thanks for Nan family that drive me around and treat me like their own child. Also Pisen that kept quiet while we were all sleeping and you get lost when we want to visit Chocolate Village haha and then on some trips to I met a France born Vietnamese family and it was so funny because we all wearing the same kind of shirts! the elephants while riding the real elephants! and the local guide thought that I was one of their children as well haha well at least I got 3 brothers and 1 sister from that trip 😉 and I met with one of the brother again- Vinh at Paris few years later! and a memory that me and Vinh won’t forget was he got his first tattoo in Thailand and I was there to witness it together with his other brother Khang and Khoa they should made one also but they backed out haha!
Japan! Went there with my sister, my mom supposed to go also but she accompanied my father for doing unplanned surgery in Singapore on 10th Nov 2016! I still remember the day perfectly! We went without enough money so we kept withdrawing from ATM but the food etc was and is so expensive! and in the end because we all on a very tight budget we ate Ichiran ramen 5 days in a row not only because that was the cheapest and worth kind of a meal (I think 1100 JPY sth like that) but it was so good! and we like the concept of on a hmmm what is it’s called? small own table? the one that no need to interact with people around haha
Adhi
We met with our cousin- Adhi that was studying in Japan and me and my sister bought Kansai pass that is basically a transportation card that valid for 3 days (thank God it’s not consecutively) and we want to use it to the fullest so we kept using it and go to a very far place in the end I was dead tired 😮
Then my motherland, Indonesia!
China, my second home! thank you for hosting me for 7 years there! and thank you for having literally everything! the most impressive one was Harbin! thank you for giving me a feeling what -17 degree Celsius feels like! I have no idea how many body warmer sticker that I used and when I want to go out I need to wear 4 layers and inside the restaurant it was +20 degree and I was sweating hot this feeling is very uncomfortable.
Australia, oy oy oy! the home of koala? kangaroo? no it’s the home of my sister 🙂 I like that there are so many Indonesian in Aussie haha and Indonesian restaurants! wohoo the best!
Malaysia!!! my neighbor country that I got the chance to visit on year 2018 with the best crew ever! The crew that made my life in Shanghai more colorful than a rainbow <3 Big credits to Brendan that asked me to join this trip, he asked me on his bday party in Unico (this place doesn’t exist anymore) after midnight and after so many alcohol- his side, not mine 😉 so not sure if he’s aware what he’s asking but long story short I said yes! and heyyy the gang was awesome! I forever owe you a big thanks! haha
Germany and Italy! I went back to Europe after 10 years! It was for a business trip but I stole some weekend so I can visit my friends and have some sightseeing. I’m glad I can visit Benjamin and Beatrice again (also met in Shanghai after about 4 years apart)
Maldives the best resort ever! it will be so hard to beat this one. It is very expensive like very very! but it’s so worthy! Even though its a resort and mostly you always there but trust me you wont feel bored! They always have sth and buggy! so you don’t need to walk around that much just call the buggy and they will send you everywhere 😉
Well… well… these are all wonderful memories that we won’t be able to taste a glimpse of it in year 2020. Perhaps its the time to give Earth what it needs the most : REST! We need to bid a farewell to our dearest friend, Travel.
I really hope we can meet soon but if you need to take some time off, I understand. Please be assured that I still want to be with you. Big hugs and I miss you a lot!
Kolbano beach is only 27km away from Oetune but there wasn’t really a sign of “Welcome to Kolbano” or whatever so it was a bit of struggle to find where is the entrance, we indeed need to stop few times to ask where is the beach until we found a big giant rock and there it is. Never I’ve been so happy to find some kids there! Me and my mom each got a kid 😉
Mine was Age, while my mom was Alfa-both of them are 14 yo but they are soooooo small, well this is how 14yo Asian looks like 😉 they went to the beach straight after school to earn some money and we gave them however we like.
Age and Alfa
Age asked me to point my finger, to hold this stone and to make a ssssshhhhhh with my finger. I don’t really understand why should I do that but I trust that this kid knows what he’s doing 😉
Then he put some rocks to make a kind of “house” and stack it all together and I asked what the purpose of it? He told me to stand on the other side and when I looked at him he put the camera right infront of the stones so it looks bigger. He even asked me to jump while throwing some small stones and he got it on one shot!
I am so happy with Age because he is soooo smart and he also doesn’t have a phone so thanks to “My Trip, My Adventure” that taught him to do so! I kept asking “Age, where should I go now? where is the good spot again?” and he kept saying go here, go there, stand in here, blablabla. He knows how to use my phone more than I do!
Actually the spots for taking picture is finished there and he asked me if I already been to the top and can see the view of the blue sea? and I said no, do you want to come with us? haha so we asked both of them to go to the car and drive us there #this is not kidnapping 😉 and because they are so small so they sit in the front seat together #facepalm
Yes both of them share the seat 😉
He changed the filter by himself
They are a bit shy at first and I asked Age what is his fav subjects at school? and he said “theology” he can’t do math so well. I asked if they learn English and good things is they do! wogh! i’m glad, but for sure not so much as what 14 yo learn on Java island but at least they know other language other than Indonesian! haha
The driver asked me where to go? and I said just follow the kids, they know the place. Just keep going up until they said stop haha
I am so happy to meet those kids they are all smart and polite and don’t worry peeps I returned both Age and Alfa to where I found them on the first place. I really hope they got many customers every day so they can get some pocket money! Thanks kiddos 😉 and may God bless you all!
As a result of being “unpredictably” stuck … Marlyn just had her journey to the East! My father was worried that I might get bored if I don’t go anywhere so when he got a business trip schedule, he took me there. I went for sightseeing with Mom while he was on his schedule elsewhere.
HA! Now we got something to do which is making the itinerary! As this journey to the East is far already and not cheap people! so I need to make the most of it 🙂 There are many beaches there but the most most most most visit one are: Kolbano and Oetune Beach (one day because it’s located really far like 3 hours away from the city center) and Tablolong (not too far max 1.5 hours away). Besides the beach, there is a very popular cave called Crystal cave, I’m not a big fan of the cave itself but because we will be there for 3 days so…. why not.
Oetune beach is really cool it’s looks like a desert. The sand was sooooo hot at the end I kind of almost “fainted” due to the heat and there was no tree that could work as a shade.
And don’t think about swimming or snorkeling there because you can’t, even if you can you will not do it, in fact you could get a skin cancer if you stay that long on the beach, the heat was unbearable #sigh
And there was 3 kids that approached us and these are the kids that are looking for money. But how can they do that? They became our photographer and we gave them tips in the end however we like. I was quiet skeptical with them because hmmm how can they take pics? But well we gave our phone… it’s not that they will steal and run away with it anyway.
Turns out the kids really know how to take picture, put a vivid filter, black and white etc and I asked them if they have phone at home and learn it? and they said “No, but there was one TV shows called My Trip, My Adventure while they do the shooting here, they taught us how to do it so we can use this as our way to ask money from people” I was amazed by them because the shooting maybe only last for few days….but they memorize it all!
As this is the “dessert” so we can’t really do much but this kid still find a way to make some picture for example he spray some sands in front of the camera to make it looks like….. i don’t know 😉 just a bit artistic… maybe?? haha
These 2 boys also playing with the tree until they knocked it down….don’t know what the purpose… They also looking for mussels from the sands to give it to their mother or neighbor or whoever they want 🙂
We spent about 1 hour there because my feet are burning! haha
Beginning…..
… End!
and we asked the kids “can you go to Kolbano with us and take our pictures?” #it’s not kidnapping hey… but they said “there’s also another kids that will take pictures there” wow, cool! the hunting for second kid started!
Marina gave me the info about free walking tour in Copenhagen and I joined all 3 of them. Please note that I did give them tips 😉 haha thank you for the link Marina!
After joined the first day of the free walking tour in Copenhagen, one of the tour guide Daniel recommended a restaurant called 1001 Hygge and they have the open face sandwiches. The reason why I want to go there is simply because CPH is very expensive! But! If you went to one of the free walking tour you can get a 15% discount on the food so I took picture of the flyer and get ready for the next day breakfast.
I looked on the address and its located not so far from my hostel so there I was, super ready to have the sandwiches, I followed the GPS and stuck into a building like an office building that doesnt look like a restaurant at all…
I had to ask somebody and one person walked by, I just called her and asked. She was patiently put up with me and showed where is this 1001 Hygge located on her map which is different from mine. We always take “Stereo Bar” as our benchmark.
She said… this is the Stereo Bar, so the place is on the other side but somehow you just need to “fly” haha or ask somebody and she said but this place is open at 11AM while at that time we were not even 10AM and I stopped her while she was on her way to do an English test #facepalm
After few minutes figuring the way on the street, she said to me that she wanted to grab a coffee and obviously I wanted to join her and she treated me with a yoghurt! Wohooo Grazie Bella!
# Good Samaritan Numero Uno
Name: Michela Country of origin: Italy
But after she finished her coffee and cookies she need to leave because she got to arrived to her test place earlier, I wish you nailed the test and I wanted to see your creation on your jewelry! #Thumbs UP 😉
Moving on to the day where I suppose to take my flight to Germany, since my flight was at 2PM and I gotta check out at 11AM so I was just wandering around Nyhavn area.
When you’re a solo traveler, having an appropriate picture is you need to rely to other people and since Im such a picture person I always find somebody to take mine 🙂 And I needed to have a pic on this Nyhavn sign
so I looked around and stopped another guy and there he was. I was making a conversation with him and turns out he was on a transfer flight to Portugal from Okinawa and his flight got 6 hours delay. So he was very unprepared for Copenhagen, no gloves, no scarf which is a big no no haha
Since Ive been here for 2 days and our flight is kind of at the same time so I took him around to show the things that is closeby, but since I wont be back to hotel after showing him some place so he helped me to carry my luggage haha Obrigado Eduardo, somehow it rhymes! And we we went to of course Nyhavn picture spot, Round Tower, Stroget shopping mile, Bishop Absalon Statue
We said good bye after we visited Rosenberg Castle, he still have one more hour to be in town while I need to go to Airport.
#Good Samaritan Número Dois
Name: Eduardo Country of origin: Portugal
Then, after Germany I went to Copenhagen again due to my round ticket is SH-CPH. On the last day, my iphone charger was broken! Great! Since I stayed in a hostel so there was other people and I asked if she has Iphone charger but turns out is a no because shes using Xiaomi, but she was very helpful to find out where was the issue was it the cable or the socket and we find out it was my cable issue so I need to find someone that has iphone…
From this issue we started to talk and I found out that shes currently studying in Spain and just went to CPH on the weekend and because our hostel has a 20% off for a magic ice bar then I asked her if she wants to come with me and she said yes! Wohooo
We went to the first floor but it was already after 9PM so we missed the happy hour but she was so smart to decide to come the next day so we can get the happy hour price which is 62.5 dkk and including one drink, great! We got each other IG and went together the next day!
The magic ice bar provided a poncho but we dont want to wear that and we found that we were freezing inside haha
Then we both went to Tivoli at first she didnt want to go in but since we saw how beautiful it is from the entrance and she decided to go in with me 🙂
#Good Samaritan Número Três
Name: Mariana Country of origin: Brazil
Thankyou for all 3 good samaritans that were able to cope out with me 🙂 good luck for all of your study and your work! And since I got contact of the three of you, do let me know if you having a plan to go either to Indonesia or Shanghai and I believe you’ll always be a good Samaritan everywhere!
