Kuala Lumpur Trip

The time has come.. Kuala Lumpur trip recap! Wohoo!

But first of all, please take away my last KL trip plan post from your mind. In short story, I didn't go around that much (super lazy me, P & M). Just strolling Bukit Bintang-Imbi-Hang Tuah area. So say goodbye to Yut Kee Kopitiam, Marafuku Japanese Udon, and that delicious looking Nasi Lemak at Village Park Restaurant (T_T). I managed to reach IKEA though. LOT 10 is located in Bukit Bintang, so of course I spared my time to visit that place. Despite of that fact, I still have a freakin' good time that weekend =)

One more, please don't expect this post to be a travel guide to Kuala Lumpur. The main reason I took this trip was to watch CNBLUE Blue Moon concert. So I didn't have any plan to visit Kuala Lumpur main tourist attractions or going for a wander adventure at the first place.

Now it's time for me to share the details.

Pretty pink cabin luggage and a blue-pink travel tag with happiness written on it. Perfect match!

DAY 1 : CGK-LCCT-Hotel Sentral Pudu

After almost one hour delay and 2 hours flight, I arrived at LCC Terminal Kuala Lumpur around 4pm. I took Star Shuttle Bus to go to Pudu Raya area and paid MYR 8 for almost 2 hours journey (caught on bad traffic). Unlike KLIA, LCCT doesn't yet have railway connection to reach central city. If you want to go to KL Sentral by train you have to take shuttle bus to KLIA first. (more info about LCCT bus service)

The traffic on Pudu Raya was so bad that evening so my friends and I decided to take a walk to find our hotel. After 20 mins of walking, silly thing happened when we realized that we went to the opposite direction. Poor us :( We dragged ourselves to the start point and continue looking for Hotel Sentral Pudu. In the end we still need to catch a taxi because there's a road construction nearby. No meter taxi, I hate that.

Arrived at Hotel Sentral Pudu around 7.30pm, had a quick a bath because we sweat so much after that long 1 hour walk, we went outside to grab some food for dinner. We only need 5 mins walk to reach Berjaya Time Square and we found... Nando's!

Dinner with a view (if you know what I mean ;p)

P happy face with our big supper

We had a splendid time with that chicken, yummy yummy yumm! We paid MYR 53 for that big full platter of chicken and four side dishes.

DAY 2: Bukit Bintang-Blue Moon KL

We strolled around Bukit Bintang area that afternoon. We took the train from Imbi and got off at Bukit Bintang Station, just 1 station away. Our first destination was a cute coffee shop at Fahrenheit 88, called Coffee Stain by Joseph. Since the building is located behind Lot 10, so we chose Lot 10 exit from the station and accidentally bumped into H&M store on our way out. I couldn't miss that store of course, so we went in and got myself the colorful earring set. The one from my previous H&M post. Soooo happy!

So we arrived at Coffee Stain by Joseph which's located in a quiet corner inside Parkayama (Japanese fashion area) at Fahrenheit 88. I read on a blog that when she visited this coffee shop she ordered a cup of latte with special made spongebob art latte on top and the barista fulfilled her wish! But sadly, I guessed that skillful barista wasn't on duty during my visit :(

We love the coffee and fell for the comfy ambience!

M & me. Busy with our phones.

Yang & Yin!

After that we're just dealing with girl's shopping ritual and grabbed our lunch on Pavillion Shopping Mall. M & I accompanied P to taste the famous Ippudo Ramen. The ramen looked soooo damn good, a big temptation, seriously. But I promised myself to not eating pork again (God please help me T.T) so I just shared a mini bowl of Tori Ishiyaki (chicken in hot stone) with M. We filled our tummy with Mix Shawarma from Tarbush Express on Food Republic later. Just for your info, one big bowl of Shiro Ramen at Ippudo will cost you MYR 26 and MYR 3 for a glass of Hot/Iced Green Tea.

We went back to our hotel on 4pm because M & I had to prepare ourselves then catch the "Blue Moon"on Stadium Negara that night. We had a really good time of course :) I'll share all the juicy, crazy, unexpected trip for my "Blue Moon" season once I ended the journey this October in Jakarta. Suddenly I remember it'll probably my last time to watch that epic "Blue Moon" and I feel a little grief deep down my heart :(

One happy fangirl!

Accidentally found us! Haha it feels funny!
Yup that's me, the one who's sticking her eyes onto the binocular in order to get a clearer view of the drummer ;)

DAY 3: IKEA-Bukit Bintang

IKEA! No matter what, if it's rainy or sunny, I had to go. We took a long ride from Imbi Station to reach Kelana Jaya Station (transferred from monorail to LRT at Masjid Jamek station) then hop on to free shuttle bus to IPC Shopping Center. I almost found everything that I looked for: the lamp, the colorful mirror, city drawing decorations, the colorful straws, the pink lips pillow.. but due to my tight budget, I only paid for the pretty pink lamp, city wall decorations, and one blue mirror.

We ended up at Bukit Bintang area (again) that evening and finally got some time to try Kim Lian Kee's Hokkien Mie at Lot 10 food market. Honestly, it tasted bitter but I've been curious about it for so long, in the end I almost finished the whole plate. Maybe I was just so hungry ^^. I paid MYR 10.05 for a plate of Hokkien Mee.

We closed our last night with a can of Makgeolli. To be forever young! Cheers!

DAY 4: LCCT-CGK

I was quite surprised knowing that the staff at our hotel, and the taxi driver too, didn't know THERE IS a bus that can take us from Pudu Sentral to LCC Terminal. The taxi driver even insisted to take us to KL Sentral because he was so sure The Star Shuttle Bus that we've mentioned didn't exist at Pudu Sentral. But yeah, there is mister.

By the way, a little review about Hotel Sentral Pudu. The have clean spacious room, nice and helpful staffs, also wide variety food for breakfast. It was a pleasant stay.

Just a little advice for you, sometimes you don't have to follow local people's suggestion about some things. Browse more on the internet, there are more than enough tourists who can help to you to make your journey easier. But it doesn't mean you can be an arrogant tourist and closed your ears for their words. The point is you can be a smarter tourist if you want to dig a little deeper :)

I don't have any travel plan this month, but something big have been waiting at the end of next month. FALL TRIP TO JAPAN! \m/
See you when I see you happy people!

KL (?)

In two weeks, I'll be going to watch another Blue Moon Concert in KL. It'll be my 3rd time and I still can't get enough of those blue lights, guitar-bass-drum sounds, a little scream here and there, and let myself loose into fangirling world for 120 mins non-stop ;)

The big question is... What should I do for the rest of my trip in KL? I'll be going on 23rd of Aug, catch up with Blue Moon on 24th, and flying back home on 26th.

The last time I went to KL on 2010, I visited Putra Jaya, KLCC, and Bukit Bintang shopping area. I won't be able to slip a journey to another city (e.g. Johor for Lego Land T.T) and neither have any plan to stroll around many shopping malls, so some things that already came up in my mind is IKEA and find places to eat, eat, and, eat.

After dug into some foodie and travel blogs, these are my plan so far.

1. IKEA

Well, it's like an unwritten obligation to visit this Swedish furnishing store.

It's located in Damansara. I should take the train (LRT) to Kelana Jaya then catch a bus or free shuttle bus to reach IKEA.

I keep my eyes on these sweet little things.

Ikea Malaysia

2. Yut Kee Kopitiam

I heard it's the oldest kopitiam in Kuala Lumpur, located in Dang Wangi. Better not to be missed. 

Famous for its Roti Babi. Ugh, tough choice.

suanie

g4gary

3. Marafuku Japanese Udon

Never say no for Japanese food. Especially if the review said it's good!

It's gonna be a long trip to Petaling Jaya, but I think it'll be worth to try.

ladyironchef

4. Lot 10 

Somebody said it's a food paradise in Bukit Bintang. 

Hakka noodles, hokkien mee, come come to mommy :)

iamthewitch

5. Nasi Lemak @Village Park Restaurant

Nasi Lemak. What can I say? It's a must in Malaysia.

Another trip to Damansara Jaya,  I hope I can make it.

ladyironchef

Still got no clue for coffee trip or dessert journey. Let me dig another hole for a while :) 

Travel to South Korea: Seoul Story Pt. 1

Annyeonghaseo! Putri-imnida.. kekeke ;)

Just got back from Seoul few days ago and I miss that city already >.<

Now, let me tell the story about my 10 days journey strolling around Seoul with a quick visit to Jeonju and Busan. But this post is just the first part.

After a long flight with Air Asia from CGK - KL - INC, me and my brother landed safely at Incheon on 9 AM (local time). It took 6.5 hours from KL to Seoul. The sky was cloudy and the wind was chilly. When I checked Seoul weather forecast, the black cloud plus rain sign were continuously showed up for 3 days straight and fall was almost over so the air's getting colder. Aigoo..

Annyeong Incheon!

We took the Airport Express or AREX to take us from Incheon to Seoul Station. The commuter AREX just cost us 4000 KRW, it's kind of a best deal for a semi-budget traveler like us :) About 1 hours later, we arrived at Seoul Station and buy the T-Money card from convenience store then fill the card with 10.000 KRW balance. Using T-Money is the easier way to travel around Seoul. You can use it for SMRT, ITX, AREX, bus, taxi, or simple shop at several convenience stores. After that, we took the subway (or SMRT) to go to Myeongdong Station. But then I realized, it's a bad decision. Most of Seoul subway stations are unfriendly with a person who travel with a big heavy luggage because stairs are everywhere... There are some escalators to take you upstairs, but at some cases you just have to climb the stairs.

Arrived at Myeongdong Station, with a little help from a nice local boy, we got the right direction to go to Residence EO (a very great hostel with affordable price), just 5 minutes walk from Myeongdong Station exit 3 or 4. The owner, Mr. Lee, gave us an early check in. I will tell the story about this hostel on another post. After a quick shower and freshen up, me and my brother were going to Myeongdong shopping area to grab our lunch.

Three layers clothes

We found a local restaurant at a narrow alley with a friendly price for our pocket. I ordered dumpling ramyeon and my brother chose to fill his stomach with kimchi soup. I just have to pay 3500 KRW for a bowl of dumpling ramyeon. The one thing that I love the most from Korean restaurants is they always serve free mineral water for their customers! So it's okay if you just want to order your meal without an additional drink.

Full loaded, we took the subway to Yeouinaru Station. About 20 minutes later, we arrived and ready to walk around Yeouido area.

Yellow and red leaves everywhere! I love autumn! :) On Yeouido, we visited MBC building, Riverside Park, Yeouido Park, and KBS building.

 YongSeo Couple first meeting was inside this building!

Me versus the wind. And I lose.

A long bicycle and jogging track on Yeouido Park. I noticed this track was appeared on Innocent Man eps 19 ;) 

Lots of cafes across KBS building

Sadly, we didn't manage to find the SBS building and KBS exhibition hall. Because we couldn't get in to KBS or MBC, so we just looked up the building from the street.

Myeongdong was the most visited place for me and my brother, because we basically live in that area. This place is heaven for a shopaholic. You can find almost everything here. Clothes, shoes, cosmetics, accessories, etc. I chose to spend my won on a local brand like SPAO. This brand has 4 floors building with SM merchandise store, EverySing, on top. Super Junior and fX are the models for SPAO fall/winter collections, so I saw their faces on every corners inside this store. Lucky for me, EverySing also sell several albums from other entertainment company, so I bought CNBLUE's First Step and Ear Fun album and got some SNSD's official merchandise for my friends. I was looking for SeoHyun's poster or merchandise but I couldn't find the one that I like. 

 The second rainy day at Myeongdong

Aside from shopping at SPAO, Korean local cosmetics brand like The Face Shop also robbed me :p I couldn't stand not buying the colorful nail polish or blusher and lotion with the cutest package! The price still affordable though. These cosmetics stores are available on every alley at shopping district in South Korea (esp. Myeongdong). What brand do you want to visit? Etude, Nature Republic, Missha, Clio, Skin Food, Innisfree, Tony Moly, Holika Holika? I guess each of those brands has more than 3 stores around Myeongdong.

On our second day, me and my brother also had our lunch at Myeongdong. We visited a galbi chicken restaurant and ordered their Yoogane's marinated chicken galbi with 8000 KRW/portion. With a pan and stove on our table, the restaurant staff cooked the dish in front of our eyes. So Korean! :)

Later that day, we're going to Dongdaemun to see the famous market. But it turned out that this market is very huge and in the end we just made an express visit at the retail/wholesale market section for clothes and fabrics. We ended up walking around and took some pictures across Heunginjimun.

We changed our direction and decided to go to Namdaemun Market. It's the kind of market that we're looking for to buy some Korean souvenirs.

The other night, we spend our time at Apgujeong and Cheongdam area. It's the upstate area on Seoul. Fancy cars and branded stores are lined up along the street. I really love the decoration of these trees, white bulbs and balloons :) 

The weather was freaking cold that night. It's around 5-6 degress I guess. I found a mini waffle store and decide to warm myself up with goguma (sweet potato) waffle. Jinja mashissoyo!

Delicious Sweet Potato Waffle for around 2000 KRW

Everytime me and my brother walked from our hostel to Myeongdong or Myeongdong Station, we always passed this chicken restaurant called TwoTwo Chicken. The smell of its chicken was something you can't ignore easily. We finally had the chicken for our meal on our last day at Myeongdong. After Bon Chon, 4 Fingers, or other Korean chicken restaurant in Jakarta, does anyone want to bring TwoTwo Chicken here? Pretty please ;)

 One portion for two! Half fried chicken and half sweet & spicy chicken for 16000 KRW

The famous bakery in town!

Another Goguma piece :) A soft cake.

Lots of people always filled up this cafe, but I haven't tasted their bread or coffee.

Getting around Seoul is quite easy, thanks to SMRT! I barely got lost even when I travelled alone without my brother. There's a neighborhood map and exit directions on every station. I can reach all the places that I want to visit just by walking from the station, so I haven't tried to ride the intercity bus. As I told earlier, using T-Money card is beneficial and practical. The cost of using SMRT is around 1050 - 1350 KRW per ride (include transfer station) depend on the distance. 

I guess this is the end for the first part. Coming soon: Seoul Story Pt. 2! :D