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Overrated

From the whole trip, I was very much looking forward to Neuschwanstein a.k.a the Disney castle in Füssen ~ two hours by car from München. While we were still on the way, we could see it located on top + surrounded by the mountains, it was magical, making you can’t wait to be there. Parked, slowly walking up, we still have one mission: sell my parents ticket. Anja told I can try sell it on the ticket office, for sure there will be line, ha! didn’t think of it before, good idea.

Once we reached I found a three South Asian, they said my time is too late ~ 1,5 hours later, they want to go now. Well… don’t you do your research? It was recommended to arrive two hours before the ticket time as you still need to walk up there. Good Luck, didn’t see them on my time or anywhere close to the castle. Understand they want to buy three together instead of one from the counter and two from me but there is no need to hush me out as if I’m a disgusted person. Then we saw another 3 people, the guy looks like a German ~ Dom’s turn, only two of them will go to the castle, passt! my tickets were sold! We went up to the hill, took us about 35-40 minutes.

Arrived on the Foto Platform ~ the must have photo of Neuschwanstein! There was a line obviously yet it’s still manageable.

Satisfied, we countinued our way up. We need to be at the gate 15 minutes before the time at our ticket, were allowed to walk on the Hof, taking pictures with mountain background.

The clock strike at 12:55, we got inside, take audio tour. Photos are not allowed, such a dissappointment because you can’t be there as long as you want. The lady guide you “please continue” or “please listen” etc. On top of it, it was only 30 Minutes Audio Tour! Ok there was the bedroom, Arbeitszimmer, Hall, kitchen something or just waiting room another hall then the audio said “this is the final section” I mouthed WTF? 23,50€ entrance for only 30 minutes. Boah! so angry! Before exiting, there was a “movie area” explaining Neuschwanstein’s construction ~ about 15 Minutes. Right next to it we can go out see the view from balcony. That was it people! felt robbed!

QQ was there too, he said many people including him came to do Picknick as the area is huge, peaceful, good view etc. We could also took photo from Marienbrücke to get a view of Neuschwanstein side’s ~ hätte hätte Fahradkette, it’s closed! Perhaps only opened for summer. If we will go there again just for photo? I don’t think so.

The castle is really just more beautiful from outside.

There are many other castles in Germany which has better interior als Neuschwanstein.

Cherry on top, parking for 6 hours cost 12 Euro; one more Euro for each our until max 16 Euro, I do not want to pay any €. Let’s head to Austria, Axel recommended me a place called Highline179 it’s a Brücke too. What I didn’t realize is, he went on summer while we are now still in Winter. The sun goes down at 18:30, when we just arrived it was starting to get darker but still OK until when we reached the bridge, I can’t see nothing!

All of the sudden, my legs went weak!! On one hand I held Dom’s, on the other I’m holding that piece of metal with my whole life. Dom wanted to walk far away, I was the opposite, I’m quiet happy where I was. In the end we made few steps more from the middle. He wanted me to take picture of him with mountain background while my whole body as stiff as a board, couldn’t make any movement, he need to literally turn my body. The whole time we were walking I chanted “Axel du stirbst”

Boah! I’m so relief the moment we reach down to the parking lot, mind you there is no fence, no other people, nothing! if you fall down… auf niewiedersehen 🙁

What a day hey, let’s go home. We need to drive for another 2 hours and some minutes to Parking Station to return back our car. Thank you to the facility guy who reminded us no matter what our car dealer said, we must return the key to the safe box ~ not leave it inside the car. Thank you also to our AirBnB landlord Martin to not only pick us up at Hbf ~ there was Strike but also to let us buy food at McD.

All in all, Neuschwanstein is totally Overrated! Highline179 I think it’s a cool place, please just arrive during daylight 🙂

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It’s Not in Vain

Relax wasn’t at my card that evening, saw Stadt Dortmund has another campaign to write a sentence: DO, wo…. Given myself some thought of what Dortmund meant for me then I followed the instructions. Few seconds later, my IG was suspended. What?! Was I scammed? Immediately asked Dominik if he could see my page ~ he couldn’t. Damn! shit shit shit, what did and shall I do now?

I was 100% sure it was because I send the confirmation stating I participate on Dortmund Motto to my IG that somehow considered as “collecting sensible information”. Regardless, I don’t need to know the “Why” all I want to know was the “How” to unblock it. Read the instructions, need to submit Selfie with white background etc I had to search for my old photos then only the agony left… waiting…

Within one day I got it back, yes! What a relief, had I not… I’m gonna do Instagramfree life. One week later, I got another Email informing my sentence was one of the first 30 chosen! Whoaaaa, at least all the shocked are not in vain 😀

Since it’s still a running campaign, mine would only be projected for three days, next batch are coming. Unfortunately I couldn’t witness it because I wasn’t in Dortmund but at least one of my reason could 🙂

#Proud Dortmunderin!

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Revenge

We registered to a free public viewing EM qualification Luxembourg vs Germany by Check24. There were many freebies: 1*Trikot + 2*Beers + 1*Bratwurst + Fansartikel (like a scarf or hat). It’s written Geschenke auswählen, perhaps only one of those?

The Stadion opened since 18:15, we arrived one hour later. Went through the security checked where I was dammned because I had pepper spray on my pocket, rrrghhh I think they will take it away. They did, she asked me to emptied my pocket, hold it, asked what’s that? Protection against big dog, oh! it’s verboten. Then she asked me to open my bag, there I had my 150ml mini bottle, same question, answered water. I had to throw it ~ not the water, the bottle. Oh noo! This Baby Flasche has been with me since 2023 🙁 I think she was already in a bad mood because of my pepper spray.

What was an originally Kostenlose event resulted of me needed to buy new pepper spray + Baby Flasche. Once we officially inside the stadion, I realized turns out we could get all those perks. Hell yeah, won’t stopped after the Bratwurst. I’m not a fans on collecting some Werbung stuff but that has fade, for the stuff they took away ~ I need to make it breakeven. Don’t care how long the queue to get those stuff, I’m getting all of it!

The game started at 20:45, until that time we got our Bratwurst + Trikot + Rubbellos to get the Fansartikel (mine scarf and hat while Dom got only scarf) + 2*Free drinks. Check24 had two screens, in the middle there was a stage with entertainment like DJ, Singer, Dancers etc, there were round about 15.000 people on the spot, not bad hey!

When we took a selfie, the guy sitting next to us were funny, he was posing as if Dom took picture of him, he proceed to take Dom’s phone and then make a selfie of himself ~ after that he made a picture of us, for me that was the highlight of the evening 😀

First half of the game was rather boring, passiert ja nix. Told Dom we could just go…? during break time we let other people to leave first whilst the singer came back to stage, sang völlig losgeslöst von der erde, followed by Kiss Cam. Well, once it’s done, the second half started, let’s continue watching. We saw two goals were made, OK safe, 10 Minutes before the game ends, we collected the last 2*Free drinks from my coupoun then proceed to walk home.

At the end they were throwing away the Fansartikel, I picked up the hat from the floor, can give it to Finny 🙂 I couldn’t get him the size L Trikot but at least I got him something haha.

Very big advertisement by Check24 for sure, well there are always pros and cons to a free event. Stadion rule: only bring your G-E-L-D.

Now that I downloaded the App, I will come to their next event to get my revenge 😉 #use it to the max! Sometimes when it’s free, it wasn’t really free, you paid it in another way. Thank you Baby Flasche, I hope I gave you an experience of your 2,5 years old lifetime #Breaking heart.

On the way back, because of our costumes, people were wondering what was happening? was there a play? More or less, it was a qualification. We have watched the beginning of it, let’s see how far Deutschland can go 🙂

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When and What?

It was just a normal Saturday, I’ve done my Yoga class, at the end of the course my Yoga teacher Anke said “there is a Demonstration against one politic partei in front of Reinoldikirche at 11:00 AM and BVB Spiel at 15:30” I thought she was just reminding us about traffic possibility or crowd to avoid. Little did I knew she asked me if I also joining the Demo. Hä? What?

I’ve never been participate in any Demonstration regarding anything, let alone Politic in a country where I’m not a citizen of. Well, I’m going to the city center anyway, read: to DM which is located around Reinoldikirche. “How about if we meet in the city center?” I’m thinking…… komm, give it a try, how does it looks or feels like.

Once we were there, she was satisfied that quiet people do showed up with their childrens, dogs, having some banners although the info was relativ kurzfristig. We followed a car a.k.a voice quelle where one lady keep screaming all the time, chill out gurl, all the people gathered there sind schon einig, there is no need for shouting.

The demonstration continues, while we biegen ab to DM for me and to Bank for her. She was so happy I participated otherwise she would walk alone, we also took some merch home 😉

What a turns out of an event O.O, can’t say if I really one step smarter in politic, was there just as a begleiterin for her.

Happy voting Germans, use your voice correctly!

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Yeah, Its Not Happening Bro – Part 2

My mom has a wide broad collections of fridge magnet for every places she or anyone in the family visited, it’s an absolute souvenir. I do not want to start with the same item / keychain or whatnot because once I did, I need to keep it durch #Couldn’t resist. What kind of Mitbringsel I opted for? mal earrings mal books.

In our family the one who always loves reading is Sissy, almost all books at our house belongs to her, I on the other hand only read Comics Doraemon or Detective Conan, even that’s very little. However, around 14 years ago, can’t simply remember where I bought it, perhaps Singapore ~ got myself two very interesting books consist of short “story” / “activity” although I’d never wrote it down on the book #Don’t want to mess it up haha anyone got the same point of view?

Anyway, out of nowhere I want to sort out my life by getting reading as my new hobby. I knew right away I wanted to start with those two books collections. Number 5: Where will you be five years from today? & Number 7: How many days in a week can be extraordinary? Organically I thought there will be 1-7. Then I realized on the bottom corner there is the website live-inspired.com

What?!?! it has been there all along yet I literally acknowledged it more than a decade later?! pffff if that takes me that long, don’t bother to think where will I be five years from today mwahaha #Hope not, jokes aside 😉

Unfortunately the customs + delivery cost to ship from USA to Germany is more expensive than the books itself. Amazon it is, a used version. Ordered Number 1: How many people does it take to make a diffference? & Number 2: How will you create something beautiful together?

Number 2 arrived, well it’s a book for appreaciating your partner #Don’t have any, can’t say much about it.

By chance, this book shattered me #Tragic. I thought my collection completed, nope! there is a number 10: What’s on your top 10 list?

Dude come on! Cant complete my stash now hey?

Back to their website, didn’t sell it anymore, feasibly they stopped printing it. The used edition from Amazon year 2013 cost 24 Euro! Aiyoyoooo monopolize at its finest. Nevertheless, I should buy it, otherwise FOMO will kick in!

Someday you’ll see my all-inclusive compendiums #Just not happening now bro 🙂

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Preparado Preparado

Right after we back to civilized road of Bali, we stayed in my fav district of all time: Ubud ~ trust me, it has an “asik” vibe #Top

Our hotel called Menzel Ubud owned by a German: Andreas Menzel who got married to a Balinese hahaha Irina is such a good news info. Nope this is not the reason why we choose it, rather Iri got a discount from Booking & free 30 min massage from Menzel #Sold!

The second must watch dance in Bali called Barong Dance. Barong (masked figure) represents good guy who fights against bad guy Rangda, spoiler alerts: no one wins. Shows a symbolic of an eternal fight between the good and the bad.

Once the performance finished, outside this building, there are many sellers like bracelet, Balinese stuff etc. I don’t really want to buy any of it until a very old grandpa approached me saying “please help me, no-one has bought from me so far, you can pay according to what you want” I took small smiley blue bracelet for 5K. Please preparar some small money like 5K – 10K just in case if you want to help them.

Iri looked at the beautiful building next to the Barong shows, I called it the Froggy! whereas she neglects the frog appearance haha turns out it’s a silver manufacture. I got myself a crown earrings! Always like to have some jewelry from place I visited. They also break the Indonesian Museum of Record for the longest dragon statue made out of silver.

The journey to Karangasem district took at least 2 hours, it could be almost 3 hours. I lost track of time, what do we do there? visit Lempuyang Temple and Tirta Gangga.

Unbeknownst to me, what is in the Lempuyang Temple? There are only 2 sides. First: The stairs which has doors at the top, to which you can’t enter. Remember, what happen behind closed door #Sounds sinister ~ is not for tourist, it’s a prayer area.

When we paid for entrance ticket after riding the shuttle bus, they gave me a number which written 410. Hearing what number it was then, knowing ours will not be up in any foreseeable hours, we went up to the stairs.

Second: this Instragammable Gate! As I said, our number is 410, how long do we wait? More than 2 hours, the lady on the shuttle ticket counter at the bottom told the que could take up to 3 hours. Read: we got give or take half hour schneller. Tried to take pictures in between each number, je mehr we wait desto besser we realized about the “reflection” thingy they put on each phone to make it looks mirroring each other.

We are literally thinking about which poses we would do, observing other people poses too. The setting was always like this: a group of max 4 people together, then each of the individual from the group, everyone got 4 poses. They tell “next pose, next pose” that’s why Preparada is important, there is simply no time to think, it won’t feel better anyway as whole bunch of people are waiting behind you.

There were a Russian couple, after they had their couple picture only the girl wants to do her individual pose, we were 100% sure she is a Gymnast, all her poses were perfectly on point! We saw many things during our almost 2,5 hours waiting, a biracial couple ~ white guy & Asian lady ~ who fights, we overheard them quarrelling, the guy said they agreed to not paid or wait for pictures. Well, who knows? just leave dude, don’t be such an Ass blaming her who obviously not Indonesian. Even if she is, I am Indonesian, I have no idea that this temple was just like that nor about the fee. I came for holiday, not for counting every pennies I should prepara to spend for which activities it was budgeted for pffff

I asked the lady who responsible for calling all the numbers, she said there is no time restrictions they will keep doing the photos until all guests are done. Only you won’t get the sunset behind you, when our turns arrived, we had just past it.

I had all personal poses in mind, the guy on our turn is nicer than before, he was newer, probably only 5 numbers before me so he gave me more poses opportunity 🙂

This is the real gate, by the way:

Then we went out, going down to the other side from the gate, Iri like this side more. There is one monk sitting, we didn’t feel to walk pass through him. Thus we just stayed below.

Next is Tirta Gangga sadly it’s all dark, we need to play with our flashlights to act as a lighting options. You can step on the stones, saw the fishes, you could also feed them had you arrive during day time.

Bonus Tipsss & honest review:

  • Private tours with Oyke 950K for 9 hours.
  • Barong dance 150K
  • For Lempuyang Temple itself:
    • Prepare 4 poses ahead your time. There are many guys offering you to do some pictures like on the swing etc. One bule ~ Indonesian word for foreigner ~ did it, he was so satisfied, he said it’s only took 2 minutes with scooter, cost like 100-150K. This guy could be an option while you wait for your turn with the gate.
    • Take the shuttle 45K per person (back & forth), you can’t go 4km up to the temple. Entrance Lempuyang 70K for foreigners; 40 K for local. Bear in mind, it’s all for the pictures on the gate where 2 hours waiting is guaranteed. Bali first timers, better think twice.
    • Like in every temple, dress modestly, take Sarung, can’t enter during your menstruation.
  • If you want to go to Karangasem district, had I know it earlier, I would do the Tirta Gangga first. If you are not a picture person maybe skip this Lempuyang Temple? instead try to can catch sunset in the sunset point. These are literally all the main spots. Or have a better preparar by bring your own “reflection” thingy so you can do DIY on every gate 😀
  • Entrace Tirta Gangga 70K for foreigners; 35K for local.
  • If you stay at Ubud, it’s better to stay in a big road, choose some hotel which located at Jalan Pengosekan. It gives you better walking access. Menzel is a good hotel only it’s located inside small alley, you need to walk pass small rice field.
  • Search for a Barong Dance option in Garuda Wisnu Kencana Park. It is a cultural park with Amphitheater for the dance. You visited one place but able to do many sightseeing, for example statue Wisnu, Garuda and the complete version of Wisnu on the Garuda. https://www.theungasan.com/blog/a-visit-to-garuda-wisnu-kencana-cultural-park/
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Catch You If I Can

I was in Dilemma of where should I renew my Passport? I’ll go back home in May, theoretically I can do it there… unless of course, my current Passport validity is until September, meaning when I fly in May with it, it only have 4 months validity before it expires #Could be problematic. I know the world wide rule is you can’t get in to other countries with a 6 months valid Passport. However I’m not sure if it’s applies for a citizen who wants to go to their home country? obviously I will take Garuda Indonesia flight, how come they don’t let me fly? Consult with office colleague who often travel abroad Sveeennnnn. He said he would risk it haha I’m a slight supporter of his idea! 😀

Other option is to renew it in Indonesian General Consulate in Frankfurt, I feel reluctant because I will have the non-chip version. Exactly when we finally have a 10 year Passport validity (instead of 5) I would have the old version of it, in another words, within 10 years I would have to wait on the Kontrolle, can’t use the automatic gate pfffff….

One day I was so busy calling Garuda Indonesia + KLM Airlines + Customs in Amsterdam. They all are saying different things, it depends on the guy in Kontrolle or if KLM will let you leave Düsseldorf, from the make sense to less sense. Smartly, I consult Maggi, she said: “better no, what about if something really happen? you will be shooting another Terminal movie!” I have no intention being famous that way, decided to go with Maggi’s advice, just do it in Frankfurt. Let’s contact Ashley and Ongky bzw. Ocky again! 将错就错 hihi

Arrived around lunch time to meet with QQ Dite who brought me the printed version of my Lapor Diri which I need to submit together in KJRI. We had a Korean Bibimbap near Hbf. Then he continued his journey while I’m being picked up by Ashley and Ongky.

We went back to their place, inspecting all their new Gegenstände at their home, watch Jimmy Fallon vs Kevin Hart slap’s game etc. At 18:30 we went out for dinner, they brought me to eat Malatang! oh how I miss Shanghai. I really amazed of Indonesian people, every time I go to Frankfurt, they always know the best restaurant! Two ways to see it: is it because Frankfurt is more international so the options are vielfältigkeit than Dortmund as what I see here is either Döner or Würst or I just never go out? #Hmm…

The next day, is my first time in KJRI! She said it’s not so big, more like a Villa instead of an office, I can’t missed it since there is a very big Indonesian Flag. From the outside it looks promising but the inside is very duk dek #Indonesian will understand.

Got myself ready, kämme mich nochmal before entering the photo session. Sat down, I knew it right there and then that the Camera was too high for me, it will only take my eyes. Told the officer, he didn’t believe it, continue with saying “let’s try” until he realized there was nothing to try, he went to back office to take some pillow. I did him a favor here because the lady after me is even smaller hahaha

Fast forward 10 working days, got the Email that my Passport is on the way, been live following the truck, mit Absicht, I don’t go out until I receive it, I don’t have any Bock to go pick it up. Heard no bell, refresh my mail “it has been sent to a Filiale” whattt?!?! ran out of my apartment with the hope of finding the DHL guy or truck or whatsoever, he was still on his truck about to drive when he saw me running towards him. Stoooppppp!!! My run didn’t go to waste, catch him I can 🙂 #Managed

Look at my new non chip Passport, with the issuing office: KJRI Frankfurt #Back to Basic.

I got 10 years to fill this 48 pages books up! Travel, here I come 🙂