Sydney Tower, Sydney Australia

28 September 2020Leave a comment

Hi Guys, How are you today? I hope you guys all in good condition, healthy and happy. For anyone who feels sad and sick, please be strong, hang in there, and it sure will be passed. So in this post, I will tel you my experience visit Sydney Tower in Sydney Australia.

Sydney Tower is located in the Westfield Shopping Centre, at the corner of Pitt Street and Market Street in the heart of Sydney’s CBD. Go up to Level 5, you will find food court there and just follow the signs that will bring you to the entrance. If You want to go there, you can use train and stop at St James station, find Exit B Elizabeth Street and you can head west to Market Street around 3 minutes walk you can arrive at Westfield Sydney. You can check another transport option here.

Opening Time

Please check the website to get update opening hours, especially because of covid-19 outbreak, maybe they can suddenly close or change the operational hours.

We can see Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House

There are some photos that I took when I was at Sydney Tower, You can Discover 360-degree views of the beautiful Sydney from indoor Observation Deck that located 250 meters above the city streets. You can find a lot of Sydney landmark from above, the city side and the ocean side.

There are a mailbox up there, the highest working mailbox in southern hemisphere, I really regret I didn’t sent any post card from this mailbox. I think it will be special if I can sent a post card from here to my sisters and my friends or even to myself and got the post card after I back to Indonesia. Hmmm, but regret is always come late. Hehehehe

If you want to visit Sydey Tower, and go to their observation deck to see sydney from above, we need to buy the ticket first. You can buy the ticket online from their website, and because of this covid-19 pandemic, they only sell the ticket online. You can check here . They also sell combo ticket, than we can choose from Sydney Tower, Madame Tussauds, Wild Life, and Sea Life, we can buy combo ticket for single attraction, 2 attractions, 3 or 4 attractions. Of course it will be cheaper if we bought combo ticket. For me, I bought combo for 2 attraction, Sydney Tower + Sea Life. I don’t really interest with Madame Tussauds, I have visited Thailand Madame Tussauds and I choose Taronga Zoo then Wild Life, so that’s why I bought combo ticket for 2 attractions.

For me it is exciting to see Sydney from above, and for first timer like me ang my father I think the experience is worth. But If I go back to Sydney again, I think Sydney Tower will never become one of my itinerary anymore, I think it is enough to visit it once. But If I must go there again, my first thing to do is buy the post card and sent it from their mailbox, and I think it will be great if we visit it during sunset and maybe try their rotating restaurant. Hehehe

By Lil Sis

Elysian Gangchon Ski Resort, South Korea

24 May 2020Leave a comment

Hi Guys, How are you today? I hope you guys all in good condition, healthy and happy. For anyone who feels sad and sick, please be strong, hang in there, and it sure will be passed. Anyway, in this post I will tel you about my experience when I and my friends went to Ski Resort in South Korea. Elysian Ski resort is the nearest ski resort from Seoul, and we can reach it with Train. So If you plan to go to South Korea in Winter, I think Elysian Ski Resort is must visited place to enjoy the real winter with snow.

Elysian Ski Resort is located just an hour away from Seoul and the only ski resort in Korea that can be reached by subway. From Seoul you can take the subway (Gyeongchun Line) or ITX-Cheongchun Train and Stop to Baegyangri Station. Baeyangri Station is 2 stop away from Gapyeong Station (if we want to go to Nami we will stop at this station). At Baeyangri Station , there is sguttle bus to go to the ski resorst, it’s free.

Waiting for our train, so freezing cold at that time

When I went to Elysian and arrived at Baeyangri, I experienced my first snow, so beautiful and feel magical. As someone who live in Indonesia, winter and snow is so special for me, i can not forget it. FYI, I visited this resort at 16 January. We rode the bus, the bus park around exit station, so after arrived at the station just walk outside anf you can find the bus park there.

We didn’t play ski here, but if you guys want to play ski here you can check their website here and check how to and how much to play ski here. We play sledding slope here, yes childish game right, but believe me it’s so fun and me want to play it again and again. You can check the price here .

First time can hold snow like this, like shaved ice

If you don’t want to play ski and also don’t want to sledding then you can just play snow. There is area that full of snow, even there is no snow falling they have snow making machine to make it, so at that area that is so much snow and feel free to playing and rolling in the snow. This area is separated from ski area and sledding area, so don’t be afraid someone will hit you while skiing or sledding, you are safe to play snow here.

I am so happy that day, too many first experience of my life here. First snow, first sledding, first snowman, first making snow angel, and many more. As people who lived in country that don’t have winter, this experience is so unforgettable experience for me, despite how cold that day, i still enjoy it very much.

By. Lil Sis

St Mary’s Cathedral & Hyde Park, Sydney, Australia

1 May 2020Leave a comment

Hi Guys, How are you today? Quarantine mode? When I write this post, I already stay at home for 1.5 months and keep counting. I hope you guys all in good condition, healthy and happy. For anyone who feels sad and sick, please be strong, hang in there, and it sure will be passed. So in this post, I will tel you my experience visit St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney, Australia.

St Mary’s Cathedral stands on the site of the first Catholic Chapel in Australia. Constructed in local sandstone, the Gothic Revival style of its architecture is reminiscent of the great medieval cathedrals of Europe. The Cathedral is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of Immaculate Mother of God, Help of Christians.

How to get here

You can check here, in their official website, and choose which one you prefer. But in this posting I will tell you how I got there. I commuted with train and got of at St James station and find Exit Macquarie Street. After you exit from station you will find Hyde Park. Just walked across the park and you will find Hugh Gothic Church, that is St Mary’s Cathedral.

Hyde Park

Okay before I tell you about St Mary, I will tell you about Hyde Park First. Hyde Park is huge park that located in the central business district of Sydney. What I like from Sydney is despite it’s so Metropolitan City with mostly skyscrapers building, but there is a lot of park in Sydney City Centre, and every park I went is so huge, beautiful, full of trees and a lot of place to us to sit down and relax while reading a book, picnic, or meet with friends.

I visited Australia when Jacaranda season, and Hyde Park have 1 Jacaranda Tree, standing alone there with purple flower in the middle of green forest, If you visit Hyde Park and find blooming Jacaranda, it is a must photo spot i think, I don’t know why they only plant 1 , it will be more beautiful if there are several Jacaranda there, when they blooming together I think it will be so purple and beautiful. From Hyde park we also can see Sydney Tower, Sydney Tower is Sydney’s tallest structure and from above we can see whole Sydney city.

Hyde Park from Sydney Tower, we can see purple jacaranda

St Mary’s Cathedral

So, my first impression of St Mary is “Am I in Australia or Europe right now?” It’s so huge Church and the architecture remind me of Europe, mostly cathedral in Europe is in Gothic style and St Mary uses that style too.

This Church is still operating as place of worship so there is mass and another religion activity inside. So as visitor, we need to pay attention with that. Please remember to treat the place with respect whilst you are here. Mobile phones should not be used whilst you are in the Cathedral. Gentlemen’s hats should be removed and no food or beverages are to be taken in or consumed on the Cathedral grounds. You should always talk in hushed tones so as to not disturb parishioners and worshipers.

When I entered this church, inside is so beautiful, the detail of this building is so glamorous but solemn, the lighting and every detail of the interior is so elegant. They also use Stained glass, and for me that’s beautiful. They also have pipe organ, i can not imagined how beautiful the mass with choir that accompanied with that organ.

They allow photos to be taken inside the Cathedral however not during liturgical celebrations and Masses and please do not use flash. For clothes, it is a church of course it need to be modestly, no short skirts, shorts or bare feet and please cover your shoulders. Hats should be removed before entering the Cathedral.

There is no entrance fee to the Cathedral. It is FREE and it open to public, no matter what the religion. St Mary’s Cathedral is open every day of the week from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm. But maybe in Christmas or another event, it will be change and due the Covid-19 The cathedral is closed until further notice. So before you go there better you check it in their official website or their instagram first.

Hyde Park and St Mary’s Cathedral is one of must visit place if you travel to Sydney. It’s FREE but you can get a lot of new experience there. It is easy to reach, because they both located in the central of Sydney City, and the access is easy , you can ride train or bus to go there. So, do not forget to visit it when you go to Sydney.

By Lil Sis

Day Trip to Wollongong, NSW, Australia

1 May 2020Leave a comment

Hi Guys, How are you today? I hope you guys all in good condition, healthy and happy. For anyone that feels sick today or sad, I hope reading my blog can raise your mood. OK, Here we go, In this post, I will tell you about my experience traveling to Wollongong , New South Wales, Australia. The main attraction that we want to visit is Nan Tien Temple. I went to Australia with my Dad, and Big Sis and I definitely 100% sure that my dad will love to see this temple with chinese architecture.

Luckily, that day my brother in law, Big Sis’s husband is free, so he drove us there, and that’s great because we can stop to another attraction before going to Nan Tien Temple. FYI, this trip is consisted of 4 people (Me, My Dad, Big Sis, and Her Husband) and this trip took place in Oct 2018 (sorry for very late post) before Covid-19.

Stanwell Tops

So, Our Fisrt stop is Stanwell Tops. Stanwell Tops is known for its beautiful coastal, escarpment and cliff views. The hills that rise sharply from the coast to the escarpment with strong air currents make Stanwell Tops a prime spot for hang gliding and paragliding as well as the perfect spot to take a photo and admire the views of the ocean, the escarpment and the Sea Cliff Bridge. The view so amazing up there but so windy. When I went there, the weather is so good, the sun shines bright but because it’s still autumn, the wind is still cold, but I like this kind of weather.

Sea CLiff Bridge

Second Stop is Sea Cliff Bridge, it’s not far from Stanwell Tops. It’s only another 10 minutes drive down the hill before you arrive at the bridge. There is parking along the side of the road both before and after. From the photo below, you can see some pillar that rise from the sea and support the road, this sea cliff bridge make we can enjoy so breathtaking view while drive, you also can park your car in the side way and walk this bridge to enjoy the view, don’t forget to take a lot of photo.

Wollongong Head Lighthouse

Our Third Stop is Wollongong Head Lighthouse. This lighthouse also known as Flagstaff Hill Lighthouse or Flagstaff Point Light, is an active lighthouse. In this area you can see 2 lighthouse, the modern one and the historical one. This Flagstaff hill Lighthouse is the historical one , this lighthouse was first lit o 23 July 1937 and has been inactive since 1974. But In 2000 to 2002, a complete restoration returned the lighthouse and its lighting equipment to its original configuration, and the light was relit in connection with an international lighthouse conference in Sydney. That’s why now Wollongong is the only point on the eastern coast of Australia which has two lighthouses.

Nan Tien Temple

Ok, here we Go, our Last stop and the main reason we went to Wollongong Nan Tien Temple. Nan Tien temple is the largest Buddhist Temple in the Southern Hemisphere. It was founded by and constructed under the auspices of the Mahayana Buddhist organization known as Fo Guang Shan, and completed in 1995. In the entrance there is a restaurant that provide vegetarian food, we having lunch there, and the food is good. But if you enter the temple you can find cafetaria that sells vegetarian food with cheaper price and buffet style. In this Nan Tien complex, you can find pagoda, and a lot off cute little monk statue. We got so blue sky here and the natural light is so good for taking photo. We went here in the end of autumn so you can see the trees is already back to green, but if you go here in the middle of autumn you will get yellow and green leaves instead. That will be so beautiful. There is a lotus pond in Nan Tien temple area, Its quite beautiful, if you arrive early you can see the lotus blooming, but we arrived too late so, the lotus back to bud mode

The best way to travel to Nan Tien temple is by car, it will be faster than another option. But if you don’t have a car or can not rent a car, the best way to travel to NanTien Temple from Sydney is by Train. We can rode a train from Sydney to Unanderra Station (2 hours), and continue to walk 24 min (approx 2.1 km).

FYI, all of the tourist attraction that I mention above is free, but far from Sydney, so transportation fee might be expensive, but if you want to change the city mode to more nature mood , you can choose this day trip to Wollongong , enjoy the view and calmness in Nan Tien temple. So, that is our story, hope you enjoy it.

By Lil Sis

[Malaysia] Review First World Hotel , Genting Highlad

13 March 2020Leave a comment

Hi guys, if you read my previous blog here and here, you know that I went to Genting Highland and stay at The World’s Largest Hotel , Yeayyyyy !!! Yes, I stay at First World Hotel, that located in Resort World Genting. There is a lot of Hotel in Resort World Genting, but if you want the cheapest one you can choose this hotel. First World Hotel is a three-star hotel, it has 7,351 rooms, it has set the Guinness World Records for the largest hotel in the world (by number of rooms).

The Colorful Building is The First World Hotel

PRICE

I booked the room via agoda and I paid 288K IDR. But I did some research, if you book via their official website in advance like 6-8 months before, you can get cheaper offers, like 50 MYR or around 150K IDR. You can check the price in another booking hotel apps, like Traveloka, booking.com or etc. I choose agoda because at that time, it offered the best price. This price is for 1 Deluxe room (twin bed) and no breakfast

ROOM

So in Deluxe Room, We got no view. There is window, but when you open, you can see another window, so better closed your window and shut the curtain tightly so other can see your room. There is no AC only fan in the ceiling. Genting is cold guys, so we don’t need AC, fan is enough for circulation. if you think it is too hot then open your window a little, the cold air will enter you room, don’t worry there is no mosquito in high land.

We Got 2 towels, because this room is for 2. We can not ask for extra bed because there is no remain space in this room, this room is enough for 2 adult only, maybe plus 1 kids (below 10 years) is still OK. They provide soap and shampoo, and I am happy they provide hair dryer too. The shower has hot water and it is nice because Genting is cold.

They don’t give us mineral water inside the room, But in the hallway they provide water dispenser that have cold and hot water, so just bring your bottle or glass or cup to the dispenser and got your water. The room is not soundproof, so I can hear voices from the hallway. Not really disturb me, because they using carpet so the footsteps mostly can’t be heard and mostly behave well , they don’t speak or laugh hard at the hallway. And they don’t have WIFI in the room, SAD.

Check In and Check Out Process

Check-In Kiosk
Check-Out Kiosk

For me, this hotel is really cool in this area, check in and check out. Because we can do it by ourselves. Fun Fact, First World Hotel is the first hotel in Southeast Asia to launch E-Kiosk or Express Check-in and Check-out kiosks. There is so many Self Check-In Machine in the lobby. They have receptionist too, but this hotel has 7K rooms , if the receptionist need to handle 7K check in and check out everyday then they need a lot of people I think. You can watch this video to find out how to use the E-kiosk. Check out also really easy. Because they also have Self Check Out machine. We just need to input our card to the machine, and it’s done. Oh yeah, FYI since Sept 2017, tourist need to pay 10 MYR per room per night as tourism tax. So when we check in we need to pay this tax, even when we using E-Kiosk we can pay it via this machine , using cash or card.

Receptionist. The decoration is old school for me, kinda feels like i am in North Korea #CLOYeffect

Location

The Location is great. This hotel connects to shopping mall, SkyAvenue which also houses the Awana Skyway station that links to the Genting Highlands Premium Outlets. So, even with no breakfast book we still can have plenty choices to having breakfast. There are some restaurant in the hotel, or you can go to the mall , they food court open early, so you can easily find anything there to eat.

Conclusion

This Hotel is quite good, but you can not expect more than you pay. It is a good budget hotel in my opinion. But, if you want the comfortable one with view , breakfast, more facility, I think you need find another hotel.

[MALAYSIA] TRAVELING TO GENTING HIGHLAND (2)

8 March 20201 Comment

So, I will continue my story about traveling to Genting last year , you can read the part one here. Long Story Short, My mom and I traveling to Malaysia around September 2019. After we arrived at Malaysia, we directly went to Genting, you can read my story how I go to Genting from KLIA2 in this post. So, in that post I already told you we safely arrived at the Genting Highland and went to our hotel, The First World hotel. My mom and I definitely tired after adventure that start too early (we had early flight), so we took a rest at our room before continue our trip.

Before I start, i want to tell you that Genting is Cold. Genting Highlands has a spring-like climate, with yearly temperatures no higher than 25 °C (77 °F) and rarely falling below 14 °C (57 °F) yearly. The lowest temperature of Genting Highlands is 8.4 °C (47.1 °F). Actualy For me, who has so many fat that can protect me from cold, Genting Highland si just so so, I can bear it, wearing short pant and t-shirt. But for my mom, she needs jacket too survive.

So, back to story, After took a rest , we went to Sky Avenue Mall, our hotel is connected to this mall so it’s convenient for us to go there. In this mall ther is Sky Casino, you can double your money here , there is Skytropolis – Indoor theme park, so if you with you kids, you can left them at Skytropolis and you can go to Casino. There are plenty to shop, eat and play at Sky Avenue. In Sky Avenue we also can watch Sky Symphony, Sky Symphony is a free-to-public performance showcasing an extraordinary orchestra of audio, visual and motion graphics programming. You can check here for the schedule.

I went to the casino with my mom, just to show my mom how is casino looks like. The casino is so huge, there is 2 floor and so many people play. There is no empty table, everyone play and mostly is tourist from china i think. FYI, Malaysia is muslim country, so there is only one casino is Malaysia and it is located in Genting Highland. In this casino, Malaysia Citizen is prohibited to enter and play. As I know, it is one of their way to attract tourist. I once went to Casino in MBS Singapore, when we enter the casino, we need to show our passport, and there is drink station inside that even we don’t play we can get free flow drink. So I expect the same thing in Genting Casino, but they don’t check our passport and there is also no free flow drink station. I think, they will check our passport if we buy the chips, you can enter anytime to just see how inside.

So, after strolling around the sky avenue, dinner time is coming and I am hungry. There is so many restaurant inside, after doing some research, I choose this place, Motorino Pizza. They made Freshly baked pizza in wood fire. But I am not really like the pizza, the pizza have smoked flavour which is I like, but for the whole things I prefer my childhood pizza (Pizza Hut from Indonesia). I also order the roasted chicken wing, sizzled it with lemon and dang it delicious. After finish our dinner, My Mom and I went back to our room, and prepare to sleep and rest for the better tomorrow.

The morning come, the first things is to do is of course shower and find something to eat. I book a room without breakfast, so I need to find by my self, but there is a lot of restaurant here, so don’t worry. After that we check out the hotel and ready to start our adventure again. The first place I want to visit is Chin Swee Cave Temple. If You go to Genting Highland, you must go to Chin Swee Temple, The view is extraordinary, you can get the feel standing above the clouds.

So, I will ride the cable car to go to Chin Swee Temple. This Cable car/Gondola route is Sky Avenue Station (Sky Avenue Mall) – Chin Swee Station – Awana Station (Bus Terminal). We will rode a bus from Awana Station to Kuala Lumpur but we will stop at Chin Swee Temple to enjoy the view first. We brought our luggage and went down. Luckily there is locker (paid locker) in Chin Swee station , so I can store our luggage before explore the temple. I went down quite early, at 8 am in the morning, outside it still so foggy and cold. But after we going down, the foggy is slowly disappear.

From Chinwee Station, we must going down, but they provide escalator, so no need to worry guys. Remember to keep your cable car ticket as you can use the same ticket to continue your journey either to the peak or to the Awana Station if you had stopped at the temple on your way down. I suggest you to go early because there is no one in the morning. So you can take a photo better here, no one will photobomb your photo.

Limm Goh Tong is Resort World Genting and Chin Swee temple Founder. After Build The Resort World Genting, He led a donation drive and contributed a 28-acre land for the construction of the temple. His companies, Resorts World Berhad and Genting Berhad, also made a cash donation of RM8.1 million towards the building fund. The late Tan Sri Lim was elected chairman of the society and his son, Tan Sri Lim Kok Thay, was appointed its deputy chairman. With the same tenacity that he demonstrated to build Genting Highlands Resort, the late Tan Sri Lim took on the roles of the planner, architect, designer, contractor and supervisor in the construction of the temple. The steep and rocky terrain made the construction process arduous and dangerous, and it was impossible to utilise modern machinery for fundamental work, such as piling. Manual labour was deployed and 18 years were spent to complete the construction. The Chin Swee Caves Temple was officially open on 29 March 1994.

My Mom is a good model but bad photographer

After taking photo everywhere, we decided to going down, because we still need ride a bus to KL. So, we going up to Chin Swee station (there is escalator, so no need worry ya guys), took our luggage and going down with the cable car. After arrive at Awana Station, I bought the ticket. There is some ticket machine to buy the ticket, yes it self service, but there is some staff to help you if you need. I bough to ticket to KL Sentral, I rode Resort World Bus, The price is only 4.90 RM for around 2 hours trip. The bus is not as bis as Arwana Bus that we rode from KLIA to Awana station, but it is still so good and comfortable, and the price is so much cheaper, I paid 35 RM from KLIA2 to Awana, but only 5RM for this trip. Happy.

So, The terminal is clean, even the toilet is nice despite so many people here, they can keep the the terminal clean and comfortable to us waiting our bus. The bus also come on time in exactly platform as written on the ticket. So, after the bus come, we directly on board and go to KL. Bye Genting.

I will continue our story in Kuala lumpur. Just wait for next post .

By Lil Sis

[MALAYSIA] Traveling to Genting Highland

3 November 20193 November 20192 Comments

Hi Guys, welcome to Sister’s Stories, in this post I, Lil Sis, will tell you about my story traveling to Genting Highland last September 2019. In 2017 I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malacca, and penang, you can check my stories here. As we know the weather in Malaysia is the same with Indonesia, hot and humid. But Genting Highland like its name, it is located on high place, so the temperature is chill and nice for me, yearly temperature no higher than 25 °C .

So, I bought the ticket to Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. FYI, I fly to Malaysia from Jakarta, Indonesia. Usually I always buy ticket from Traveloka or tiket.com but this time I bought my ticket from airasia website, I dont know what the reason But we can not find air asia on traveloka or tiket.com anymore since march 2019. From what i know airasia is annoyed with traveloka because they felt discrimanated by traveloka. Anyway whatever the reason, I just want to tell you guys Air Asia is is a Malaysian low-cost airline, so if you want to go to Malaysia you need to check their website. Usually its so much cheaper than any flight. Anyway I bought air asia flight for 2 people (me and my mom). The ticket include only 7kg cabin baggage.

So, I will fly with Air Asia Flight at 5:00 am, the boarding time is 4:30 am , because my house is super close to airport (Soekarno Hatta Internatioanl Airport), I went to airport at 3:30. Air Asis is located at Terminal 2 Soekarno Hatta International Airport. They have so many self service check in machine. So if you only have cabin baggage, I recommend you to just use this machine. I forgot to record it, I am so sorry. Oh yeah, FYI, this is my mom first time going abroad, so it makes me nervous a little bit because i need to take care my mom. Hahaha. Anyway, we need to input the booking number on the machine, scan our passport, and tadaaaa the boarding pass will come out from the machine. It is so easy to use and you don’t need to queue.

The boarding is on time and we arrived at 08:15 am Malaysia Time. The flight it self is 2 hours, but Jakarta and Malaysia have different time zone, Malaysia is an hour ahead than Jakarta. We landed at KLIA 2. My plan is to ride 9.30 am bus from KLIA2 to Genting highland. We have more than 1 hour to catch the bus. But something unexpected happened, the queue of immigration check is so long, we spend more than an hour there. I don’t know why, the immigration staff works really slow, checking the passport and everything, and sometimes some of them just sit there without serve any people, meanwhile his friend beside him already serves 3 or 4 people. So We missed the 9.30 am bus. You can check the bus schedule and how go to Genting highland from KLIA from this site.

Bus Schedule to Genting Highland from KLIA2 and KLIA

The bus come every 2 hours, so I need to wait until 11.30 , so I want to swith to second option, go to Kuala Lumpur Central and then ride bus from KL Central to Genting, FYI, it is much cheaper that ride bus from airport and the bus come every 30 minutes. But my mom said her foot is sick, her shoes is not comfortable, so I choose to stick at the first option, so she can take a rest. FYI, my mom is not young anymore and she has bad stamina. Waiting in KLIA2 is not a problem, because this airport is so huge, even my mom said this is mall not an airport. You can find everything here, so our waiting is not too boring.

The Bus terminal in KLIA2 is located at Level 1, just follow the direction well. The bus ticketing counter also located on the same level. I bought the ticket, the price is 35 RM so I spent 70 RM for 2 people. I am not sure whether they accept payment with card or not, I pay with cash. And the staff with so bright smile told me to wait 2 hours because my bus just take off like 5 minutes ago. After you got the ticket from the staff check where is the gate, my ticket told me the bus will be wait us at the A9. I suggest you to stand by at least 10 min before the time, because the bus not stay there for a long time. In the ticket they have chair number, so at first we think we must sit according to that, but surprisingly when we step into the bus, the chair number is different, so of course I and another passenger confused. Then the driver told us to sit everywhere we want, just ignore the ticket.

Arwana Bus have spacious seat. It’s really comfortable, and the seat is reclining seat too so we can sleep. The trip from KLIA2 to Genting highland is 1,5 hours, and the bus will use toll road and there is no splendid view during the trip. So in my humble opinion , we better sleep during the trip. We will arrived at Awana Station in 1,5 hours. From the Awana Station we can ride Awana Sky Way to Genting Highland. We arrived at Awana Station at 1 pm , so time to lunch. We go to Genting Highlands Premium Outlets and having lunch at the food court.

In Awana Station there is some restaurant too, so we have a lot of choice just choose which ever you want to eat. Because I eat at the food court, the taste is so so. My mom choose to eat that have prasmanan style / warteg style, so we will have a rice and choose what side dish we want, there are a lot of veggies and meat on their menu. The taste is good but nothing special. I choose wantan noodle, for me there is nothing special too. But we are hungry, so we eat them well.

Up – My Mom choice, Bottom – Mine Choice

So after we finish eating, we go to Genting Higland Premium Outlet. You can find a lot of branded store here, and the price is so much cheaper, they give discount every day year-round. The conept is good too, it is a outdoor shopping center with good view and nice weather. I want to buy shoes, and I saw the shoe that i really like and discount too, but it’s branded one so even though it’s been discounted , it’s still expensive and with my mom around i can not buy it. Wkwkwkw. I bought Godiva Ice Cream there, Godiva is famous with their chocolate, and their chocolate ice cream is good too. In Jakarta we can find their outlet at Plaza Indonesia, so yes it is expensive. Maybe if my mom know the price , she will scold me. Hehehehe

After, strolling around, buy some oleh oleh too, I decideed to go up to the real The Resort World Genting Highland. We need to buy cable car ticket first. There a 2 type of cable car, the normal one and the one with glass floor. For normal Gondola, one way ticket is 9RM and return ticket is 16 RM, and the ticket valid for 72 hours, so if you buy return but you will return 2 days later you still can use the ticket. At first I think we must use it at the same day, so i only bought one way ticket, but later when I read the ticket carefully, I know I already do stupid thing, I must buy return ticket, it will be cheaper. From Awana Station to SkyAvenue Station only need 10 minutes, in the middle the is Chin Swee Station , we can freely stop here there is beutiful Chin Swee Temple up there. You can check the detail here

We will stay at First World Hotel. It is the world’s largest hotel with convenient access to key locations such as the First World Plaza, SkyAvenue and Skytropolis Indoor Theme Park and the price is so cheap. I will review this hotel in another post. For budget traveler I really recommend this hotel, so cheap. Anyway you get what you pay so don’t expect too much. We rode the Cable car from Awana station to Sky Avenue Station, and the view is so breathtaking. If you brave you must ride the glass floor gondola, I bet it will be thrilling but with this view It is worth. My mom will not enjoy ride the glass floored so I choose the normal one. Hehehehe.

The Colorful building is where we stay in Genting, First World Hotel

From 2013, they said 20th Century Fox Theme Park will be build at Genting Highland, but 2019 the theme Park still not operated yet. I hope it will be finished soon so I have a reason to came back to Genting

Anyway, after so much struggle from 3.00 am, so early in the morning, go to airport, missed the bus, finally We arrived at our Hotel. The First World hotel is connected to Sky Avenue, so we just need to walk to our hotel. Check in and take a rest before continue our trip to explore the Sky Avenue (it is a mall, they have casino inside). I will continue my story in next post, just stay tune.

By Lil Sis

Taronga Zoo

30 August 2019Leave a comment

Well, kali ini Lil Sis akan straight to the point aja. Lil Sis bakalan cerita pengalaman Lil Sis berkunjung ke Taronga Zoo di Sydney Australia. Namanya ke Australia, pasti pengen liat Kanguru sama Koala dong. Jadi Zoo atau kebun binatang tuh pasti kudu wajib dikunjungi, apalagi bagi first timer ya, kalo udah berkali kali mah, mungkin bosen juga kalo ke zoo terus. Hehehehe. Jadi awalnya Lil Sis bimbang nih mau mengunjungi Wild Life Sydney Zoo yang terletak di kota, tepatnya di kawasan Darling Harbour, which is lebih gampang aja dituju, atau mau ke Taronga Zoo yang lebih jauh tapi lebih besar dan lebih beragam binatang binatangnya. Akhirnya berhubung hari itu juga nggak ada rencana ke tempat lain, jadi Lil Sis memutuskan ke Taronga Zoo aja, biar lebih puas juga bisa lihat binatang binatang lebih banyak.

View From Taronga Zoo (Zoo with the best view)

PRICE

So, to make my life easier, I buy the ticket from their website. It’s cheaper than buy it on site. Untuk Dewasa harganya 42,3 AUD dan untuk Anak-Anak(4-15 tahun) harganya 24,3 AUD. Ada diskon 10% jika kita beli melalui website taronga zoo nya, dan diskon 20% kalo beli tiket paket family juga. Kalian bisa cek detailnya di websitenya ya. Jangan lupa juga cek website website promo lain sih, siapa tau bisa dapet harga yang lebih murah lagi. Dan tiketnya ini tuh sudah include Sky Safari Cable Car, kalo kalian ke Taronga Zoo nya naik Ferry, karena habis turun dari Ferry itu, langsung disitu ada Cable Car nya, jadi bisa langsung cus naik cable car buat ke gate taronga zoo nya. Kalo mau jalan atau naik bus sih bisa, cuma lumayan juga kan bisa menikmati pemandangan dari atas. As I say before, Taronga Zoo is the Zoo with the best view. Tiketnya itu juga sudah include semua atraksi yang ada di Zoo ya, jadi kalian bisa nonton pertunjukan apa saja di taronga Zoo.

Opening Hour

Taronga Zoo is open daily, except Christmas Day. So kalian bisa arrange kedatengan kalian kapan aja. Opening hour nya October – March = 9:30 to 17:00, kalo April – September = 9:30 to 16:30 Taronga Zoo is open daily.

How To get There

So, Gimana caranya ke sana. Lil Sis bakalan cerita cara Lil Sis ke sana ya. Jadi Lil Sis naik Ferry ke taronga Zoo, dari Circular Quay. Jadi kali bisa naik MRT or Bu pokoknya tujuannya ke Circular Quay, habis itu bisa langsung menuju dermaga dan menunggu Ferry yang tujuannya ke Taronga Zoo. Di Dermaga nya ini juga ada kok yang jualan tiket Taronga Zoo, jadi bisa beli di situ juga. Kapalnya ini akan muncul setiap 30 menit sekali, kalian bisa install TripView Lite di smartphone kalian buat ngecek tuh berapa lama lagi bakalan depart kapalnya, jadi kalo mau jajan dulu atau ke toilet dulu kalian bisa atur waktu lah. nanti aku bakalan bikin pstingan khusus buat bahas TripView Lite ya. Perjalanan dari Circular Quy ke Taronga Zoo itu kurang lebih 12 menit. Sehabis sampe langsung aja menuju ke arah cable car, dan naik deh sampe gate Taronga Zoonya, tunjukin tiketnya terus bisa masuk deh. Untuk cara cara lain ke Taronga Zoo kalian bisa cek di sini ya

Attraction

PENTING!!! Sebelum kalian masuk ke Taronga Zoo nya, ada baiknya kalian ambil dulu maps dan liatin ada atraksi apa aja dan jam berapa, dan choose atraksi apa yang pengen kalian tonton. Aku pengen banget nonton atraksi Elang gitu, tapi kelewatan karena awalnya nggak tau itu jam berapa. Dari maps nya itu juga kalian mau lihat binatang apa gitu lebih gampang, tau harus ke mana. Cuma kalo kalian mau liat semua, kalian tinggal ikutin jalan aja sih, di sepanjang jalan itu ada bulet bulet gitu di aspalnya, jadi follow bulet2 nya itu aja, kalian pasti akan diajak muterin kompleks taronga zoo yang luas abis ini, buat ngeliatin semua binatang binatang yang mereka punya. Aku awalnya nggak ngerti, jadinya sempet kayak tersesat gitu, untung lama lama pinter jadi ngerti akhirnya.

Well, aku bakalan bahas atraksi yang berkesan bagi aku aja ya. Jadi mungkin aku nggak bakalan bahas semua binatang atau acara yang ada di Taronga Zoo ini. Oke pertama aku menemukan Komodo di sana, belum kesampain ke Labuan bajo liat Komodo di Indonesia, malah liat Komodo di Australia. Terus tentu aja habis itu liat koala, tapi sayang banget koalanya lagi tidur, ya kalian pasti tau kan kalo Koala itu tukang tidur, dan aku kurang beruntung jadi nggak dateng pas dia lagi bangun. Hehehe. Aku paling suka di taronga Zoo ini ada Kanguru trail gitu , jadi kita bener bener bisa jalan di kandangnya kanguru, dan deket bangeet sama kanguru nya, Ada keepernya kok, jadi aman asal kalian juga nggak provokasi kangguru nya ya. Terus bisa liat hewan eksotis kayak Gajah dan Jerapah juga, oh ya ada harimau juga loh, harimaunya harimau Sumatera, even kalo mau liat ada pertunjukan kecil gitu, jadi kayak kita mesti naik pesawat dulu ceritanya ke sumatera, terus turun turun sampe di kampung di sumatera, dekorasinya Indonesia banget terus baru deh ketemu sama harimau nya. Idenya nice banget ini ya,, walaupun perjalanan pura pura naik pesawatnya rada gak jelas. hehehehe. Habis itu aku juga paling menikmati waktu nonton pertunjukan Seal. Pinter pinter banget Sealnya. gagal nont pertunjukan burung jadi nonton yang seal aja. Tapi ini ngantrinya panajang banget, 30 menit sebelum mulai ada baiknya kalian udah nunggu di depan TKP sih biar bisa dapet tempat pewe.

EAT

So, what we eat there. Di taronga Zoo ini ada beberapa tempat makan sih, tapi mostly jualnya fish and chip aja, dengan harga yang pastinya lebih mahal karena tempat wisata. Tapi dia nggak melarang pengunjung bawa makan dari luar kok, jadi untuk menghemat kalian bisa banget bawa makanan dari luar. Kayak aku, aku beli subway di wharf(dermaga) dan bawa ke dalam, Pas laper tinggal cari kursi di bawah pohon rindang , terus makan deh. Selain makanan berat macam fish and chip gitu, ada yang jualan cemilan juga sih kayak eskrim gitu. Untuk makanan gampang tapi pilihannya dikit kalo di dalem, jadi better bawa dari luar sih. kalian bisa beli rice box or anything buat dimakan di dalam.

Taronga ZOO

Jadi itulah sekilas mengenai taronga Zoo yang sempet aku kunjungi. Sayangnya waktu aku ke sana banyak sekali yang lagi dipugar gitu, jadi ada beberapa kandang yang nggak ada binatangnya atau dipindahin ke tempat lain, jadi agak berbeda sama yang ada di Maps deh. Tips aku buat yang mau ke sana, please pake alas kaki/sepatu yang enak dipake buat banyak jalan, karena memang penuh dengan jalan kaki ini zoo nya. Kalo aku bakalan balik lagi atau nggak ke sini, mungkin nggak, ke zoo berkali kali buat apa ya kan. Tapi kalo lagi dateng dan bawa orang yang baru pertama kali ke sydney I will suggest the to go there, karena ngeliatin Koala sama Kanguru dari deket kapan lagi kan. hehehe.

Bye … Lil Sis

Visa Australia pake bantuan Dwidaya Travel

29 August 2019Leave a comment

Hai Guys, Di postingan kali ini Lil Sis mau sharing ketika Lil Sis ngurusin Visa buat pergi ke Australia. Kalo kalian follow instagram aku @sisters8991 , kalian pasti tau kalau Lil Sis tahun Lalu bulan October – November gitu pergi ke Australia bulan liburan dan mengunjungi Big Sis di Sydney. Nah, di postingan kali ini aku bakalan cerita aku ngurusin Visa aku dan Papa ku lewat Dwidaya Travel. Yes, Aku nggak ngurusin sendiri kayak dulu pas ngurusin Visa Korea Selatan (kalian bisa baca di sini pengalamanku urus sendiri Visa Korea), kali ini aku lewt Dwidaya Travel buat urus Visa ku alasannya simple sih aku nggak mau repot bolak balik ke kedutaan. Kalo dulu pas urus Visa Korea ada temennya Miss Pepz, kalo ini aku pergi sama Papa ku, so I must urus semua sendiri. Memang lebih mahal, cuma potensi dapet Visa nya sih kata orang lebih besar dan nggak repot bolak balik buat anter dokumen dan ambil dokumennya. Jadi itu dia alasannya ya Guys. Buat kalian yang mau urus sendiri sebenernya persyaratan nya sama kok, cuma beda 1 dokumen aja, dokumen kayak surat kuasa gitu loh nunjuk dwidaya yang ngurusin. jadi harusnya postingan aku ini juga bisalah membantu temen-temen yang mau urus sendiri visa Australia nya.

Oke pertamanya, karena aku emang udah mutusin buat minta bantuan Dwidaya, so aku pergi ke kantor nya Dwidaya. Kantor dwidya ini bisa dibilang tersebar di mana mana, Di daerah ku sendiri Jakarta Barat, kayaknya hampir ada di semua Mall ternama deh, di Mall Puri Indah, Lippo Mall Puri, Di Taman Anggrek, di Mall Central Park, semua ada kantor cabang dwidaya nya. Kalo kalian mau cek ada dimana lagi kalian bisa langsung cek ke sini. Sebenernya bisa nggak usah pergi sih, dari website dwidaya nya sendiri itu tuh ada informasinya kita perlu persiapan apa isi dokumen apa, kalian bisa ke sini. Tapi berhubung tiap weekend aku pasti pergi ke salah satu mall yang aku sebutin di atas, so apa salahnya mampir sebentar buat langsung tanya ke staff Dwidaya. Aku pilih Dwidaya yang ada di Lippo Mall Puri. lokasinya di lantai LG agak dipojokan gitu deket food court Food Garden. Kalo bingung tanya security nya aja ya.

LG Floor Unit LG-105 B
Jl. Puri Indah Raya Blok U1, Puri Indah
CBD, Jakarta Barat
Phone: 62-21 2911 1218
Fax: 62-21 2911 1217
Email: dwilmpuri@dwidayatravel.com Continue reading →

Chinese Garden of Friendship, Sydney – Australia

13 July 201913 July 2019Leave a comment

Hi Guys, Udah lama banget Lil Sis nggak ngepost apa apa di blog ini. Tiap minggu udah planning mau nulis, tapi selalu gagl eksekusinya. Oktober 2018 lalu itu Lil Sis sebenernya berkunjung ke Sydney Australia, kalo temen temen ada yang follow IG nya Sister Stories pasti pada tau, wkwkwkw. @sister8991 , buruan difollow ya. Makasih.

Well Back to story, jadi lil sis tuh pengen ngepost perjalanan Lil Sis ke Australia dari ngajuin Visa sampe day to day nya di Sydney tuh Lil Sis ngapain. Jadi postingannya pasti bakalan panjang ya. Dan mungkin gara gara itu jadi rasa malesnya timbul. Hehehehe, karena tau nggak bakalan bisa menyelesaikan tulisannya dengan cepat. Jadi akhirnya Lil Sis pun memutuskan buat sharing tempat-tempat yang Lil Sis kunjungi aja, jadi Lil Sis nggak akan cerita detail per hari Lil Sis ngapain.

Nah, tempat pertama yang mau Lil Sis cerita adalah Chinese Garden of friendship. Sesuai namanya ini adalah taman yang bernuance Cina, jadi dekorasinya itu cina banget, bangunannya, terus pohon-pohonnya semuanya bernuansa Cina. Taman ini sendiri dibuka ke publik officially 17 Januari 1988 sebagai bagian dari perayaan pertemanan/hubungan baik antara Cina dan Australia dan Sydney sendiri itu punya Chinese sister city yaitu Guangzhou.