VivoCity - The gateway to Sentosa Island

VivoCity is the gateway to Sentosa Island, where you can enjoy the universal studios or watch Song of the Sea or go to Fort Siloso or play at beach and various attractions there.

sentosa island from Vivocity

From VivoCity you can take the Sentosa Express monorail which is on level 3, next to the Food Republic food court. (known as Sentosa Station).

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Surfing at Sunway Lagoon - Malaysia

Sunway Lagoon is an amusement park in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. It features rides in both the water park and the adjacent dry park. The park is home to the world's largest wave pool, measuring impressive 139,800 square feet (13,000 square meters). It has 5 different theme parks in 1 amazing destination.

photo credit: http://www.sunwaylagoon.com/map_static.asp

Sunway Lagoon open daily from 10am to 6pm. With more than 80 rides and attractions, and within 20 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, Sunway Lagoon is the park you will have to visit when you are in town.

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Why the Hong Kong tram is called DingDing ?

Hong Kong Tramways is a tram system and one of the earliest forms of public transport in Hong Kong. The trams have been used for over a century. The well-preserved tram lines still serve as a crucial means of transport in Hong Kong, but also a major tourist attraction and one of the most environmentally friendly ways of travelling in Hong Kong. The tram system is powered by electricity and has a maximum speed of 50 km/hours. The maximum capacity of each tramcar is 115 people.

ding ding tram

The tramway runs on Hong Kong Island between Shau Kei Wan and Kennedy Town, with a branch circulating Happy Valley. Tram stops are densely located in an average interval of 250 metres (820 ft). Most of them are located in the middle of the road, connected by pedestrian crossings or footbridges.

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Grand Circle Tour with Disneyland Rail Road Hong Kong

Disneyland railroad is one of the many attractions that everybody can enjoy. The Railroad is the first attraction that you see when entering the park. It is also the most popular attractions in the park and tends to be busiest in the mornings. You can use it as transportation to other areas of the park or simply for the experience of the "Grand Circle Tour", from the Main-street to Adventure-Land, Grizzly Gulch, Toy Story land and Fantasy-Land. The railroad station is situated at the entrance of Disneyland and at Fantasy-Land station.

disneyland railroad

The train consists of 5 carriages, with a passenger capacity of 50 people each. The seats are arranged in 3 rows of bench-seating facing inward to the park for quick disembark/embark at the depots and for easier viewing of the park panorama.

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How does the Hong Kong Peak Tram climb?

The Peak Tramway (Chinese: 山頂纜車) is a funicular railway in Hong Kong, which carries both tourists and residents to the upper levels of Hong Kong Island. Running from Central district to Victoria Peak via the Mid-Levels, it provides the most direct route and offers good views over the harbour and skyscrapers of Hong Kong.

The lower terminus station - Garden Road

A funicular railway, also known as an inclined plane or cliff railway, is a cable railway in which a cable attached to a pair of tram-like vehicles on rails moves them up and down a steep slope; the ascending and descending vehicles counterbalance each other.

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Seeing iron meteorite in Bandung Geology Museum Indonesia

Geological Museum was established on May 16, 1928. The museum has been renovated with a grant from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Located at 57 th Diponegoro street, Bandung, West Java, and close to the provincial government building of West Java know as “the Gedung Sate”.

T-Rex fossil

Geology Museum has an area of about 2000 m2 divided into several exhibition halls on the first floor and second floor. It stored geological materials, such as fossils, rocks, minerals and meteorite.  All of them were collected during fieldwork in Indonesia since 1850.

Ground Floor

Orientation chamber contains geographical map of Indonesia in the form of relief widescreen on geology activities, booths providing information services, and booths that provide education and research.

The West Wing chamber, known as Indonesia Geology chamber which presents information about the hypothesis of the earth in the solar system, mock-up model of the movement of the plates active earth's crust, and various fossils and human history according to Darwinian evolution.
This chamber also showcased various types of rocks (igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic), minerals, and crystallographic arrangement in the form of panels and original props. This chamber also showcase Indonesia's geological research activities including the types of equipment / supplies field, mapping and research facilities as well as the results of the activities


Second Floor

The center chamber and the east side one on the second floor is used for geologist at human life demonstration.

fossil

Middle chamber contains mockups world's largest gold mine, which is located in the Middle Mountains of Irian Jaya. Gransberg open pit which has reserves of about 1.186 billion tons, with a content of 1.02% copper, 1.19 grams gold / tonne and silver 3 grams / tonne. Some examples of original rock Irian Jaya (Papua) are arranged in a glass mockups. Miniature tower of oil and gas drilling are also exhibited here.

mammoth fossil

Hippo Fossil

iron meteorite

iron meteorite at Geological Museum

Reference: http://id.wikipedia.org/wiki/Museum_Geologi_Bandung

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A serenading gondoliers at The Venetian Hotel Macao

The Venetian Macao is a hotel and casino resort in Macau owned by the Las Vegas Sands corporation. The Venetian is a 40-story, $2.4 billion anchor for the 7 hotels on the Cotai Strip in Macau. The 10,500,000-square-foot (980,000 m2) Venetian Macao is modeled on its sister casino resort – The Venetian in Las Vegas – and is the largest single structure hotel building in Asia, The sixth-largest building in the world by area and the largest casino in the world.

the venetian

The Casino
The casino measures 550,000 sq ft (51,000 m2). It has 4 themed gaming areas namely Golden Fish, Imperial House, Red Dragon and Phoenix. The casino consists of over 3400 slot machines and 800 gambling tables.

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Learn Indonesian history from National Museum

The National Museum of Indonesia (Indonesian: Museum Nasional), is an archaeological historical, ethnological, and geographical museum located in Medan Merdeka Barat street, Central Jakarta, right on the west side of Merdeka Square. Popularly known as Elephant Building (Indonesian: Gedung Gajah) after the elephant statue in its forecourt. Its broad collections cover all of Indonesia's territory and almost all of its history. The museum has endeavoured to preserve Indonesia's heritage for two centuries.

credit photo: http://www.museumnasional.or.id/

The museum has a collection of 61,600 prehistoric and anthropological artifacts, and 5000 archaeological artifacts from all over Indonesia and Asia. The museum collections are among the richest, the most complete, and the best of its kind in Indonesia and one of the finest in Southeast Asia.

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A pottery making at Rumah Tanah Baru

Rumah Tanah Baru  (Newland House) is a ceramics gallery belong to F. Widayanto, a famous ceramics maestro in Indonesia, It located on 1st Curug Agung street, Tanah Baru, Beji, Depok, West Java - Indonesia. This area is a suburb of Jakarta. However, If you do not have enough time to go here, you can also visit the gallery at 11th Setiabudi II street, Jakarta.

the main house

It is one of the places often visited by locals especially during school holidays and also foreign tourists.  Rumah Tanah Baru offers a pottery making package, where you can experience the making of your very own ceramic design, having a fun day with clay for you and your children.

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Cruising the Singapore River

This is a great way to get away from the heat of the city and enjoy the relative cool air of the river as you sail along the historic Singapore River. Whenever you travel along with kids, It is a joyful riding for children to explore the river by boat. This boat will bring us to explore the malls, attractions and museums along the river banks during the day and revisit the river in the night for a different feel.

The boat goes slowly enough to enjoy the many sights of the city of Singapore. A feature modern-and silent- electric boat is powered by batteries and therefore had no smelly exhaust . There is a live commentary on board that we can learn about the colonial times of Singapore and also present-day Singapore. The information provided is light, easily digestible and interesting, but don't expect to get a deep dive into the history of the river.

River Cruise

The boat itself will cruise on every 25 minutes. It take the 60 minute round-trip cruise, you can hop-on and off River Cruise and explore the various sections along the river as it doubles as a transportation system that allows you to back track and revisit some of the favorite sites and malls.

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APAKAH ANDA SUDAH DEWASA?

Yang lebih mencerminkan kedewasaan seseorang adalah sikap. Jadi sikap kita mewarnai cara berpikir dan tindakan kita dalam menghadapi hidup ini. Kedewasaan dapat diukur dengan berapa matangnya sikap kita ini dalam menghadapi hidup.

Sudah tentu kedewasaan sangat dipengaruhi oleh :

• Pengalaman hidup, jadi orang yang mau belajar dari hidup ini, dari apa yang dialaminya akan lebih mudah dewasa.
• Tempaan hidup, kesusahan, penderitaan. Hal ini akan sangat mempercepat atau mematangkan seseorang menjadi lebih dewasa. Kedewasaan bertunas dari jiwa yang telah mengalami tempaan.

Orang yang dewasa ialah orang yang menghadapi tantangan hidup dan tidak lari dan menghindarinya.

Orang yang dewasa adalah orang yang tidak cepat menyalahkan orang lain termasuk Tuhan atas kemalangan yang dideritanya. Kemalangan atau penderitaan menjadi ukuran yang sangat baik untuk menilai kedewasaan kita. Kalau kita semuanya cukup, tidak ada masalah, kita hidup dalam kemakmuran, sukar untuk mengukur kedewasaan kita.

Orang yang dewasa adalah orang yang tabah dan sabar karena tahu bahwa Tuhan mengatur segalanya untuk kebaikan.

Orang yang dewasa ialah orang yang mampu membebaskan diri dari kepahitan hidup ini. Dengan kata lain orang yang dewasa tidak menyimpan dendam dan tidak mengingat-ingat kekurangan orang. Kalau orang terus memelihara kepahitan hidup dia tidak mungkin dewasa, karena kepahitan itu akan mewarnai sikapnya dalam mengambil tindakan atau dalam mengeluarkan reaksi sehingga sikapnya itu akan sangat mengotori apa yang dia lakukan.

Orang yang dewasa adalah orang yang tidak menempatkan diri di posisi Tuhan. Dia tidak menganggap dirinya tahu segala hal dan sadar bahwa dia tidak mempunyai hak untuk berbuat semaunya. Jadi orang yang dewasa orang yang tahu batasnya, tahu dirinya. Orang yang juga mengerti batas antara benar dan tidak benar, kehendak Tuhan dan dosa, sehingga dia tidak memasuki daerah yang berdosa yang Tuhan larang.

Orang yang dewasa ialah orang yang melihat fakta apa adanya. Orang yang dewasa adalah orang yang memikul tanggung jawab atas tindakannya.

Catatan dari Teman, semoga bermanfaat …..

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The famous shopping district "Causeway Bay" of Hong Kong

Causeway Bay (Traditional Chinese: 銅鑼灣) is a heavily built-up area of Hong Kong, located on the Hong Kong Island, and covering parts of Wan Chai and Eastern districts. The Chinese name is also romanized as Tung Lo Wan as in Tung Lo Wan Road (銅鑼灣道). The rent in the shopping areas of Causeway Bay is ranked as the highest in the world followed by New York's Fifth Avenue, which is only slightly less expensive. The rent of Causeway Bay is near a double of the third place's Tokyo's Ginza.

causeway bay at night

Causeway Bay borders the Eastern District. These areas include Tsing Fung Street, Causeway Bay market, the Victoria Park, the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club, Jardine's Noonday Gun and the Police Officers Club. West of these sites, are Queen's College and the Hong Kong Central Library which belong to the Wan Chai District.

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Bring your Kid to The Aquaria KLCC, Kuala Lumpur

The Aquaria KLCC is an underwater park located beneath Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre within Kuala Lumpur City Centre. It is a must see for most kids when visiting Kuala Lumpur and can be easily combined with your visit to the KLCC Twin Towers.

the Living Ocean

Featuring 60,000 square feet (5,600 m2) in two levels with a 90-metre (300 ft) underwater tunnel, Aquaria KLCC houses over 250 different species and over 20,000 land and aquatic animals from Malaysia and around the world. Interactive information kiosks on fish and turtle conservation. It includes a themed retail area of about 5,000 square feet (460 m2).

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A beautiful white crater at Ciwidey in Bandung - Indonesia

At Ciwidey, you can see a beautiful white crater or called Kawah Putih by locals, it is located at the outskirt of Bandung, west Java, Indonesia. It is around 46 km or approx. two to three hour ride (depend on traffic) from Bandung. You are required to pay an entrance ticket fee of IDR 15,000 per person and an additional IDR 5,000 for motorcycles. From the parking lot, you'll go on a short walk up and down the stairway path to the crater whereby you can enjoy the beautiful scenery and many varieties of trees along the


Photo credit: http://www.pbase.com/archiaston/kwah_putih&page=2

Along the path to the crater there would be many locals selling you small pouches of sulfur that they claimed can be a remedy for your skin problem. There are also locals selling your maskers as the sulfur odor around the crater is quite strong, so if you are not too keen with the strong odor, you might want to bring along a shawls or masker.

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The Cowboy style at The Ranch, Lembang - Bandung Indonesia

De Ranch (or The Ranch) is a tourist spot in the mountainous area at Jalan Maribaya, Lembang, Bandung, West Java. It is also close to Juanda Forest Park. The cool mountain air and green grass really makes this area a much visited spot by tourists. De Ranch itself offers a cowboy style recreation spot that inspired from America. There are many activities you can do with your children here.



The most popular among visitors is pony ride. You will be dressed up like a cowboy complete with hat, leather vest, gaiters and shoes, the hop on a pony and trot around the ranch. With a wooden house serves as the local cowboys station, horses in stables make you and the kids enjoy cowboy time. After touring around on horseback, many children are reluctant to stop. 

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9 tips for renting an apartment at Hong Kong

There are various kind of options for places to stay in Hong Kong, ranging from luxury hotels, star hotels, hostels, backpackers / guest house to an apartment. Location of the places was also influential in choosing the places. The accommodation is spread almost all over Hong Kong, but the majority located in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. The Limited land available has caused property prices to be very expensive. Buildings in here mostly comprises a slim tall buildings with small size and efficient.

Daily rent apartment option is workable alternative if our budget is limited, especially if we are traveling with a family. However, not so many apartements can be rented due to their regulation. Some of the apartment owner offer their places at web sites, ask for the rate they offer, review the pros and cons of previous tenants if any. Do it before we decided to rent.

Some points based on our experiences on choosing to rent apartment instead of staying at hotel when travelled along with kids:

• Kids are more comfortable and feel at home. Usually a rented apartment has a living room furnished with a sofa and televison sets. They can play as well as at home.
• We can save costs because we can cook ourselves. Find an apartment that has a kitchen set as they usually come with cooking utensils. Shop at the supermarket for cooking needs.

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An after midnight Shopping at Mustafa Center, Singapore

Mustafa Centre is one of Singaporean's 24-hour shopping malls which is located on Syed Alwi Road in Little India. Located at a walking distance from Farrer Park on the North East Line, Mustafa Centre is a retail hub which caters mainly to the budget market.

The department store at Mustafa Centre consists of two shopping centres: one retailing jewellery and household appliances, and has a supermarket in it; and the other selling books, CDs and DVDs, watches, electronic goods, footwear and clothing.  The business concept of offering other services such as Foreign Exchange, VISA Processing, Travels Booking, Gold Mart,  GST refund counter and all kinds of shopping item available under one roof.

photo credit: http://www.yoursingapore.com/content/traveller/en/browse/shopping/shopping-malls/mustafa-centre.html

The place is huge and you need a couple of hours to cover all the departments, It is not the most sophisticated and classy place to shop in Singapore but it surely sells almost everything at a reasonable price and also open 24hours, thus making Mustafa a popular shopping place for tourists.

You can get almost anything from over 300,000 items displayed on four levels covering an area of 400,000 Sq.ft within the six story building along Syed Alwi Road. It has a wide variety of goods from souvenirs, food, spice to electronics. Just selecting carefully and patiently cause sometimes if you're lucky you will find the same things with lower price or better quality, like t shirt (Singapore-is-a-fine-country T-shirt), souvenir, etc. But remember, most of those items can be purchased from other places in Singapore, like Chinatown or Bugis Street market, even at Orchard Road with better quality and price.

If you have limited time for shopping around but wanted to buy some souvenirs before leaving for airport, Mustafa might be your best choice.  You can go there even after midnight, do your shopping and if you do not have enough space in your luggage, you can always buy extra luggage in Mustafa too, but make sure you refund your GST if you can. There are lots of Indian restaurant around Mustafa so don’t worry about getting hungry.

Getting Here
Take MRT of the North East Line (purple) - Punggol to Harbour Front and alight at Farrer Park station, do not alight at Little India station. Services operate from about 5:30 am and usually end before 1 a.m. daily with intervals of approximately three to eight minutes. For after midnight shopping, use the taxi services.

Some tips for shopping at Mustafa

• If you don’t mind the crowds, come by on a Saturday or Sunday evening, but if you want to do your shopping leisurely then go after midnight. 
• Before you buy the perishable products, please check the packaging and the expiry date. 
• Don’t rush, takes your time to look through every shelf through out the mall, some items might not be displayed at the same area, be sure to browse first unless you already know what you want to buy. 
• Don't feel bad about pushing your way through the crowd 
• Watch out your valuables. Beware of pickpocket 
• Ask your shopping bags to be locked with cable ties before entering the store. Sometimes the security guards may request for your personal bag (non-handbags) to be cable-tied as well. 
• There's a storage counter if you are carrying big bags. It's better to put it at their temporary storage because the passage ways are narrow, you won't want to knock things down. 

reference: http://www.mustafa.com.sg/aboutus.html

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Indonesia: Jakarta - Sea World

Sea World Indonesia or also known as Sea World Ancol is a marine aquarium located in North Jakarta, Indonesia, one of Taman Impian Jaya Ancol recreation parks. It has one Main tank, one shark tank, and several other tanks, and also the white crocodile exhibit. The Main tank of the Sea World Ancol is the biggest aquarium in the Southeast Asia.

 

SeaWorld Indonesia introduces the visitors many living organisms that live in the wild. A wide ranging collection we can see here: freshwater biota (22,000 fishes of 126 types and 28 reptiles of 5 types) and the marine biota (5180 fishes of 26 species, 79 invertebrates of 13 species, 30 reptiles of 5 types) and 1 mammal.

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What is inside the Monas? - Jakarta - Indonesia

The National Monument (Indonesian: Monumen Nasional (Monas)) is a 433 ft (132 metre) tower in the centre of Merdeka Square, Central Jakarta, symbolizing the fight for Indonesia. Construction began in 1961 under the direction of President Sukarno. Monas was opened to the public in 1975. It is topped by a flame covered with gold foil. The monument and the museum are open daily from 08.00 - 15.00 Western Indonesia Time (UTC+7) throughout the week except for the last Monday of each month when the monument is closed.



Monument design
The towering monument encapsulates the philosophy of Lingga and Yoni. Lingga resembles an alu rice pestle and Yoni resembles a lesung rice mortar, two important traditional Indonesian tools. Lingga and Yoni also symbolize eternal life with the lingga phallic symbol, representing masculinity, positive elements, and daytime and the Yoni the female organs symbol, representing femininity, negative elements, and night. The monument consists of a 117.7m obelisk on a 45m square platform at a height of 17m, the goblet yard. The obelisk itself is clad with Italian marble.

The northern pond measuring 25×25 m was designed to cool water for the air conditioning system of Monas as well as to enhance the beauty of the surrounding area. To the north, there is a statue of Indonesia national hero Prince Diponegoro by Italian sculptor Cobertaldo.

The National History MuseumThe Indonesian National History Museum has a display of dioramas in the large marble-lined hall below Monas. There are a total of 51 dioramas around the walls and in the centre of the hall. The dioramas first show scenes from Indonesian history beginning from the earliest days of colonialism and the Srivijaya and Majapahit eras followed events from the period of European colonialization and uprisings against Dutch East Indies rule.

The dioramas continue well into the 20th century showing the Japanese occupation, the proclamation of Indonesian independence in 1945, the struggle for independence of Indonesian revolution, and on to events during the New Order era of Suharto's regime.

The entrance to Monas is located around 100 meters away to the northern side of the monument. Visitors enter by steps down to a tunnel which leads back towards the base of the Monas. There is a ticket office (Rp 2,500 for adults, mid 2012) at the end of the tunnel. Tickets allow access to the National History Museum display of dioramas as well as several other parts of the area. Tickets for access to the observation desk cost another Rp 7,500 for adults (mid 2012) and may be purchased at a second booth after passing through the hall showing the diorama display.

It is best to go early, preferably arriving before 08.00am, and proceed directly to the lift to the observation tower. The lift has a capacity of perhaps 160 people per hour so long queues build up quickly. The other parts of the monument, including the dioramas in the hall below the Monas, can be viewed later.

For Jakarta residents, Monas means an affordable recreation. they are not going to inside Monas, but just play at park. Families can bring their children to play there. Jakarta has very few open places for people. We can see there many sellers toys and snacks for kids there, especially at weekend and holiday.



In celebration of New Year's Eve here, everyone went to Monas to see the fireworks and musical performances. It was greeted with great fanfare, the roar of trumpets and fireworks glide never seems to stop in an instant, always filled the sky.


Photo Credit: KOMPAS IMAGES/DHONI SETIAWAN

reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Monument_(Indonesia)

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Toples Kerupuk

Manakala hidupmu tampak susah untuk dijalani ...
manakala 24 jam sehari terasa masih kurang ...
ingatlah akan toples kerupuk dan 2 cangkir kopi hangat.

* * * *

Seorang Guru berdiri di depan kelas dan terdapat beberapa benda di atas mejanya. Saat kelas dimulai, tanpa berkata apa apa, dia mengambil sebuah toples kerupuk besar. Toples itu kosong dan dia mulai menaruh satu persatu bola golf ke dalamnya hingga penuh. Setelah itu dia berkata kepada murid muridnya: "apakah toples sudah penuh?" 

Murid murid dengan bingung menyetujui bahwa toples itu sudah penuh.

 

Kemudian dia mengambil satu kantong plastik berisi batu kerikil kecil berwarna warni dan menuangkannya ke dalam toples tersebut. Pertama tama batu kerikil masih tetap di atas tumpukan bola golf, namun dia mengguncang toples dengan ringan. Batu kerikil tersebut kemudian masuk ke dalam, mengisi tempat yang kosong di antara bola-bola golf.

Kemudian dia bertanya pada para muridnya, apakah toples itu sudah penuh?.

Mereka terdiam dan setuju bahwa toples itu sudah penuh.

Selanjutnya guru tersebut mengambil satu kantong pasir dan menebarkan ke dalam toples ... Tentu saja pasir itu menutup segala sesuatunya. Beliau sekali lagi bertanya: "apakah toples sudah penuh?" .... Para murid dengan suara bulat berkata, "Betul"

...Beliau kemudian mengambil 2 cangkir kopi dari mejanya dan menuangkan kopi tersebut  ke dalam toples, dan secara efektif mengisi ruangan kosong di antara pasir. Para murid tertawa.

...."Sekarang," kata beliau ketika suara tawa mereda, "Saya ingin kalian memahami bahwa toples ini mewakili kehidupanmu."

"Bola-bola golf adalah hal-hal yang penting - Tuhan, keluarga, anak-anak, kesehatan, dan para sahabat"

"Jika segala sesuatu hilang dan hanya tinggal mereka, maka hidupmu masih tetap penuh."

"Batu kerikil warna warni adalah segala hal lain, seperti pekerjaanmu, rumah dan mobil."

sedangkan "Pasir adalah hal-hal yang lainnya -- hal-hal yang sepele."

"Jika kalian pertama kali memasukkan pasir ke dalam toples," lanjut beliau, "Maka tidak akan tersisa ruangan untuk batu kerikil ataupun untuk bola-bola golf.. Hal yang sama akan terjadi dalam hidupmu."

"Jika kalian menghabiskan energi untuk hal-hal yang sepele, kalian tidak akan mempunyai ruang untuk hal-hal yang penting buat kalian."

"Jadi ...""Beri perhatian untuk hal-hal yang utama untuk kebahagiaanmu."

"Bermainlah dengan anak-anakmu."

"Luangkan waktu untuk menjaga kesehatan."

"Ajak pasanganmu untuk makan malam di luar"

"Akan selalu ada waktu untuk membersihkan rumah dan memperbaiki perabotan."

"Berikan perhatian terlebih dahulu kepada bola-bola golf  -- Hal-hal yang benar-benar penting. Atur prioritasmu. Baru yang terakhir, urus pasir-nya."

Salah satu murid mengangkat tangan dan bertanya, "Kopi mewakili apa?"

Beliau tersenyum"Saya senang kamu bertanya."

"Itu untuk menunjukkan kepada kalian, sekalipun hidupmu tampak sudah begitu penuh, tetap selalu tersedia tempat untuk 2 cangkir kopi bersama sahabat..."

 

Cerita dari seorang sahabat. Semoga bermanfaat

 

Salam....

 

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Kids will love playing at KIDZANIA Jakarta - Indonesia

KIDZANIA is an indoor facility, located in 6th floor of Pacific Place Shopping Mall, CBD Complex, Jakarta. It is an educational indoor theme park for children between 2 to 16 years old and their parents. Kids play adult roles. He/she learns how to be a doctor, a pilot, a construction worker, a private detective, an archeologist, and an F1 driver. There are more than 100 role play activities that children can choose from, with a variety of scenarios and technologies to make the situation as real as possible.

kidzania jakarta

Kidzania has a replica of the most representative buildings in a city such as Hospital, Supermarket, Beauty Salon, Theatre, Industrial sites, and many more. KIDZANIA is divided into three main areas: Airport, the entrance area where children board the plane to KIDZANIA; City Central, filled with abundant commercial activities; and Suburbs, an area where all of the factories are located.



In order to allow Kids to take the initiative and do what they want to do, Adults may not enter establishment or participate in activities. However, Adults are encouraged to form part of the audience at the Theater and TV Station, and Kidzania welcome adults to watch their Kid's accomplishments from the viewing areas at each pavilion.


Urbano's House is a special play area available for Kids 6 years old and younger. Adults may enter this area with their Kids. Diaper changing stations and a nursing room are also available.

In KIDZANIA, kids use kidzania official currency KIDZOS. Here, kids learn to appreciate the value of money, by performing over 100 professions and occupations and earn a salary. Their salaries earned, can then be used to buy goods and services available in KIDZANIA 



Economic
Kid will receive a 50 kidzos check when entering Kidzania. Once inside, he/she must go to the bank, cash the check and use the money to buy goods and services such as: rent car, get a hair-do at the beauty salon, or shop at KidZania Department Store, for instance. If kid wants to save Kidzos and manage the credit balance, he/she can open a savings account at the bank.

Kidzos are not for sale with real money, if kids spend all their kidzos or if they want to earn more, they must get a job and work to provide a product or service such as firefighter, dentist, hairdresser, or construction worker, or choose among many different professions.  

At every pavilions or activity kids may spend or earn kidzos. For example: at the Fire Station they can earn money, while at the KidZania Department Store they can spend them. However, there are lots of establishments where they can do both of things, at the Hospital, for instance, he/she can be a doctor and earn money or be a patient and pay to get medical attention.



On weekends or school holidays, Kidzania always filled with children. They should be queuing up to play on every pavilions or activity . Here we teach children to learn to be patient and disciplined.


reference: http://www.kidzania.co.id/ver2/

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A crate adventure of Madagascar - Universal Studio Singapore

A crate adventure of Madagascar based on  a famous scene from the first movie Madagascar. After entering the queue, we are confronted with television screens featuring a national television reporter informing guests that Central Park Zoo favourites Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman have gone missing whilst being shipped to Kenya. They are told the ship carrying the animals went missing near the shores of The Cape of Good Hope. Guests board rafts which have signs on the back of them reading "BEWARE OF FOOSA!". 

At the ride, we will see crates each containing Alex, Marty, Gloria and Melman. The raft makes a turn allowing the guests to see a silhouette of the Captain on board, by then the penguins have escaped plotting their plan. Rico knocks out the captain and he becomes unconscious. Skipper gives instructions as the penguins later take over the ship. The alarm goes off and the raft makes a quick turn to a scene where a stack of crates are about to topple over the guests. The animals' crates can be seen thrown off the ship, making their way to Madagascar. The raft later enters Madagascar where everyone is shocked that they are lost, except for Marty who is seen slurping salt water. The raft makes another turn where guests find the penguins. Skipper then asks Kowalski where they are
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A real shoppers' paradise mall at Orchard Road Singapore

Orchard Road is flanked by pedestrian malls where you can find numerous up level shops, restaurants, coffee chains, cafés, nightclubs and hotels. Most of the big international brands are located on the best stretch of Orchard Road. There are excellent restaurants to be found as well.  All of these are in one walking distance from each other.  A real shoppers' paradise mall for a shop till you drop . 

It is a must see to all visitors who come to Singapore. It is always busy, always full of people, always full of live.This place is well maintained of cleanness, lights are on everywhere, makes a nice scenery at night. Especially during Christmas time, the street would be decorated with colorful lightings so you can feel the festive atmosphere. When all the lights were up in the night, it was a quite amazing sight, worth to take a picture or two to be sent home.

ION Orchard

The street is neat and it is quite fun just to walk aimlessly around or you can sit back at one of the cafes along the street with an Earl Grey tea or a nice iced coffee. You can also enjoy an ice cream with crackers with only 1 dollar at there.

walls ice cream stall at orchard road

Orchard Road is a 2.2 kilometer-long street that is the retail and entertainment hub of Singapore. It is a major tourist attraction, in addition to being the most popular shopping enclave in the city-state. Often, the surrounding area is known simply as Orchard, simply because the MRT station that serves the vicinity is named Orchard.

The street starts at the junction with Orange Grove Road which is the location of the Orchard Hotel. It then stretches southeast across the Scotts Road/Paterson Hill junction, Orchard MRT Station, Bideford Road, Somerset MRT Station, Central Expressway, Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station, and ends at the junction with Handy Road (just before Prinsep Street), where it becomes Bras Basah Road. It has an extensive underground infrastructure, including underground pedestrian walkways between the malls running underneath the street and other streets in the vicinity. The numbers begin at Handy Road and end at Orange Grove Road.

busy orchard road at night

Orchard Road got its name from the nutmeg, pepper and fruit orchards or the plantations that the road led to in the mid-1800s. Commercial development began in the twentieth century and took off in the 1970s. History said that at 1840s, graveyards began to appear along this road. By 1846, the Chinese had a large graveyard around what is now the Meritus Mandarin Hotel and Ngee Ann City, while the Sumatrans from Bencoolen had their burial ground where the current Grand Central Hotel stands. Later a Jewish cemetery was established; it was located where Dhoby Ghaut MRT Station is now and was demolished in 1984.

Parade of shopping centers

• DFS Galleria — This duty-free shopping mall is on Scotts Road, and mainly sells luxury item such as Bottega Veneta, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Gucci, Hermès, Loewe and Bvlgari.
• ION Orchard —houses six double-storey flagship stores of close to 9,000 square feet (840 m2) each, including Prada, Giorgio Armani, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Cartier and Patek Philippe.
• Ngee Ann City —the largest shopping mall in the Orchard Road shopping belt. It houses branded boutiques such as Vacheron Constantin, Louis Vuitton, Hermès, Burberry, Loewe and Chanel as well as Japanese department store, Takashimaya, Books Kinokuniya.
• Wisma Atria — There is a 900 seat food court on the 4th floor which is run by the BreadTalk Group. The mall is directly connected to Orchard station..
• Plaza Singapura — Located next to the Istana, currently houses a Golden Village cineplex, Carrefour and other shops.
• Lucky Plaza — A shopping mall that somehow became the main focal point for domestic Filipino workers to meet their friends during their off days. The place is known to be very crowded on Sundays with many shops selling products from the Philippines.
• Far East Plaza — Popular with students due to its cheap fashion items as well as inexpensive food, the plaza is also known for its cheap food outlets.
• Mandarin Gallery — Located inside Meritus Mandarin Singapore housing international high-end brands like Y-3, Bape and Hugo Boss.
• Orchard Towers — a mall consisting of twin blocks with small shops and night clubs as well as a reputation for promiscuous activity after-hours.
• The Paragon — a high-end shopping mall selling branded items such as Gucci (whose flagship store operates here), as well as Miu Miu, Prada, Coach, and Burberry with a Metro department store and a Marks & Spencer store as well. The place has a Toys 'R' Us and a number of restaurants.

paragon mall at orchard road

• The Centrepoint — The mall has Robinsons and Marks and Spencer as its anchor tenants.
• The Heeren Shops — This mall targets young, working age shoppers. It is currently home to one of two T.G.I. Friday's on the island.
• Forum The Shopping Mall — it sells mainly branded children's clothes and accessories with a Toys "R" Us on the third floor. It also has a number of branded boutiques such as Emporio Armani and Dolce and Gabbana.
• Shaw House and Centre — Shaw House is home to the Isetan department store, and on the fifth and sixth floors the one of the largest cinema halls in Singapore, Lido 8 Cineplex, resides. This mall is also home to a number of shops such as Fendi, Loewe and Celine.
• Tang Plaza — where the homegrown department store, Tangs, is located.

tangs at orchard road

• Hilton Singapore — Located inside the hotel itself, the Hilton Shopping Gallery houses branded boutiques such as Louis Vuitton, Cartier, Bulgari, Lanvin, Donna Karan, Balenciaga and Dolce & Gabbana. It also includes Club21, a high-end Singapore based company that sell luxury items such as Mulberry, Comme des Garçons and Dries van Noten.
• Palais Renaissance — houses upmarket branded boutiques such brand like Donna Karen and Valentino.
• Liat Towers — International names such as Audemars Piguet, Massimo Dutti, Hermès and Zara are housed in the building.
• 313@Somerset — somerset is directly linked to the Somerset MRT station and features a concentration of mid-range retail and dining outlets. Retail options are made of a mix of local and global fashion labels including Zara, Uniqlo, New Look, Esprit and a Forever 21 flagship store that spans four floors. There are also a food court, "Food Republic" situated on the 5th Floor.
• Wheelock Place —has a large Marks and Spencer outlet

Wheelock Place at orchard road

Getting here
There are three major MRT stations in the Orchard Road vicinity: Orchard, Somerset and Dhoby Ghaut. These stations are important hubs for commuters, locals, students and tourists who travel to the Orchard Road shopping and business district. Since the opening of the ION Orchard, the entrance of the Orchard entrance has been moved underground below the upcoming mall.



reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_Road

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Lets go to the Singapore zoo

Singapore Zoo, from the beginning, followed the modern trend of displaying animals in naturalistic, 'open' exhibits with hidden barriers, moats, and glass between the animals and visitors. Animals are kept in spacious, landscaped enclosures separated from the visitors by either dry or wet moats. The moats are concealed with vegetation or dropped below the line of vision. Dangerous animals that can climb well are housed in landscaped glass-fronted enclosures.

 

The Singapore Zoo (Chinese: 新加坡动物园; pinyin: Xīnjiāpō Dòngwùyuán; Malay: 'Taman Haiwan Singapura'; Tamil: சிங்கப்பூர் விலங்குக் காட்சிச்சாலை), formerly known as the Singapore Zoological Gardens and commonly known locally as the Mandai Zoo, occupies 28 hectares (69 acres) on the margins of Upper Seletar Reservoir within Singapore's heavily forested central catchment area.

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Macau: visiting The Ruins of st Paul's

The Ruins of St. Paul's (Portuguese: Ruínas de São Paulo, Chinese: 大三巴牌坊; pinyin: Dàsānbā Páifāng) refers to the ruins of a 16th century complex in Macau including of what was originally St. Paul's College and the Cathedral of St. Paul also known as "Mater Dei", a 17th century Portuguese cathedral dedicated to Saint Paul the Apostle. Today, the ruins are one of Macau's most famous landmarks. In 2005, they were officially enlisted as part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Historic Centre of Macau.



The ruins is the famous icon of Macau. Entering the ruins and walk further in, you can find a free of charge underground crypt that you can go in. There are 2 levels, you can view it from upstairs, or up close at the bottom. They limit entrance when it is crowded. Right behind the ruins, you'll notice a steel stairway that allows tourists to climb up. People say if you throw coins through the top window, it will bring you luck.

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Watching a gorgeus sunset at Umang Island - Ujung Kulon

Umang Island is a resort on a private island with an area of ​​5 hectares and 183 km from the city of Jakarta. The island is located at the west tip of Java island and close to mounth Rakata (son of mt Krakatoa). I was in Pulau Umang for the outbound event in December 2010.



Actually the trip to Umang just take 3 to 4 hours, however some of the roads there were so bad that the travel time took up to 6 hours. From Jakarta via Merak toll road, exit at the East Serang gate, heading toward Pandeglang, after that we headed to the town of Labuan. For a guide, you should take a GPS device or GPS-equipped smartphones. From this point, we begin the journey that will be very tiring, winding road and yet not boring.




Umang island itself is a resort and filled with the cottages, there is no local houses there, the cottage is located in the middle of the island, surrounded by white sand and some beach with coral reefs and mangroves. The hotel lobby, front desk and restaurant are also shaped similar to the opera house in Australia, but in the smaller version. In front of the lobby there is a swimming pool and a pier to and from the main island.



Umang island is not a crowded and bustling island, a perfect place for people who wants to flee from the daily routine, we can enjoy the beach with white sand and breath the fresh air of ocean. We can also take pictures with the beautiful small white clouds on the horizon. Sunset here is very beautiful. Don't go yet after the sunset, enjoy the blue hour which is a good time to take pictures. use a tripod for low light.




Oar Island
Another activity is the snorkling and swimming at the beach on the island oar, a nearby island which is only a 5 minute boat ride. besides there are banana boat and jet ski that can be rented.



Walking on beach araound Oar Island is fun too. We can find many unique corrals shape and umang umang (hermit crabs).



please review on other travelers on web before you plan to here.

+Google

reference: http://www.pulau-umang.com/



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Indonesia: Bogor - Puncak

Puncak (English: Peak) is the popular name for the area surrounding the peak of Mt.Gede-Pangrango, located in the Bogor-Cianjur-Sukabumi regencies, in the province of West Java, Indonesia.

puncak scenery 

This area is a popular holiday area for the residents of Jakarta, the capital city, and its satellite cities. It has fresh air and mountain scenery. The area is about two to three hours drive from Jakarta on the Jagorawi toll road, if there is no traffic jam, but severe traffic jams occur from Friday afternoon until Sunday afternoon all through the year.

fog at puncak

There is also a traveling car from Soekarno-Hatta airport to Bandung that, depending on the route it takes, may pass through Puncak on its way to Bandung. Before getting on, ask the driver if the car will pass Puncak. Some cars may take another toll road namely Cipularang which is a shorter road to Bandung, but this highway does not pass through Puncak.

Actually, the area is the plantation of tea. but over time, people began to come to travel to this area to find fresh mountain air. All the way to the area found many hotels, villas, guesthouses and other tourist attractions. Accommodation prices there seem to be on the high side, and finding cheap (Rp.100,000 or less) room can be difficult. It's a popular option among locals, however, to rent a villa in Puncak - if you have a group of friends, this could end up not so expensive per person.

Since some attractions require a long time to be enjoyed, make plans to visit the places so that we can predict whether we will stay or go straight back to Jakarta or continue the trip to Bandung.

Taman Bunga Nusantara (Indonesian Flower Garden), Jl Cipanas. Public park, with flower gardens from around the world, maze, giant clock and a tower. It has been created over 23 hectares with flora from around the world that will grow well in tropical Puncak. There is also a leisure park called Alam Imajinasi for the whole family, but especially children, to enjoy that exists over 7 hectares adjoining the gardens.

taman bunga nusantara

Taman Safari Indonesia, Jl. Raya Puncak No.601, Cisarua, Zoo, with car safari trail that allows cars and tourist buses to see and/or feed elephants, zebras, goats, hippos and more, hiking trails, petting zoo. Buy carrots from the many vendors by the side of the road leading up to the zoo before your get there to feed to the animals. Inside the zoo there are more animals to see, shows to view such as the 'Wild-Wild West' the Lion show and the Sea-Lion Show. Ride the elephants and ponies. Rides and restaurants/food outlets. The cheapest souvenir shop you will ever find with good quality souvenirs. It is one of the biggest zoo in Indonesia. It also has accommodation in the form of caravans, traditional house or lodge.

taman safari indonesia

Wisata Agro Gunung Mas Tea Plantation, (On the main road on the way up to Puncak.). See how tea is processed - get to the plantation early to see the factory actually in operation. Sit in the cafe and enjoy a cup of tea before walking or driving around the tracks to view the tea growing with the mountains as a backdrop.

Kebun Raya Cibodas (Cibodas Botanical Garden and National Park), Lush and landscaped historical park adjacent to a national forest. This place has plenty of wonderful hiking trails, some leading to waterfalls and a few to hotsprings. One of the longest path lead to the top of Mt. Gede caldera with its widespanning desert. Today, many middle east visitors come to see Cibodas.

Sunshine Bay Waterpark (Taman Wisata Matahari), Jl. Raya Puncak KM. 77, There are water-play attractions: water slides, water giant bucket, water toys (aquabrella, aquacup, aquaslides, aquagate, aquaballs), wave pool, outbound area + rafting, foodcourt, souvenir shop, gazebo, guest house & vestibule. The view of amazing Puncak while having fun at this waterpark can be a terrific and unforgettable experience.

Paragliding
For those who love sports paragliding, at the top, there is a hidden spot for this activity and also air-hang gliding. place on the Mount Paragliding, near Masjid At-ta'awun. Paragliding is a sport that uses a parachute and is usually carried out in the hills of the mountain as a runway. sport is somewhat similar to that used parasailing boat. The difference is only using foot paragliding.

paragliding at puncak

There is alternative route to the Puncak to avoid traffic jams. Exit to Sentul at Jagorawi highway and follow the signpost directions to Rainbow Hill. This road will be out in the Mount Geulis, Gadog. The scenery along the road is very nice.

rainbow hill

reference: http://wikitravel.org/en/Puncak

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