Saturday Yay!

O' Hello..

I'm feeling very productive today, and I'm happy for it! I spent my morning strolling down the memory lane, visiting University of Indonesia, Campus Depok, in which I spent full 5 years to finish my bachelor degree. There are so many changes, in a good way, a small street that used to packed with small illegal traders now clean and tidy, the campus yellow busses that were mostly wrecked and never came on time now replaced with new units that are bigger in size and better in schedule, and the highlight is the new library, not only it's now has a futuristic yet sophisticated new building, but also plenty green spaces overlooking the lake! The place is perfect for repose whilst reading a good book or chit-chatting on the thesis. Whoops, speaking of the thesis, the library has impressive and organized system supported by current Macbook technology so it's easier for you to find books, thesis or any reading materials. This surely going to be my sanctuary place for the next couple of months, hiding spot for my thesis-making.

The Library of University of Indonesia

at noon, me and friends routed to Pantai Indah Kapuk in north of Jakarta for culinary trip. First stop was Ipot Suki, a Japanese diner best known for it's fresh, delicious and affordable suki. Here, I like it that we can have vary options for the soup and create our personal dipping for the suki, but apart from that, it just good and not too special. 

Next stop was that super hip Taiwanese dessert diner, Hong Tang. The place's quite small, the queue was long, but looking from the bright side, the dessert are all tasty! They have more than a hundred of selections and my favorites are their mango pudding (No.105) and grass jelly with matcha ice cream (No. 28). 

At night, we routed back to the south and tried Tokyo Skipjack, small diner served steak in Bulungan, south Jakarta. I'm not a huge meat lover, but their steak is very good and perfectly cooked. 

Overall, it was one awesome day; reminisced the good old school days, broke the routines by going far north trying new meals and to top that all, spent a day with my closest friends. 

I hope you had as awesome or even better than what I had, have a great Saturday night happy peoples..

Clean and Crisp Washington DC

I was in an awe when first time stepping my feet in DC, this city is spotless and organized. 

We've made a very packed yet efficient 3 days trip, were mostly about monuments and museums hopping with Georgetown and Friendship Heights as a highlight. DC has numerous of fascinating monuments and museums, above them all my favorite are Martin Luther King Memorial, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum. Oh, the best part of museums in DC is, most of them are free! wooohooo..!

Another interesting part of the city is the old town Georgetown. The streets are picturesque full with small trendy cafes and boutiques with a bit of European feels. Try Cafe Leopold for delicious desserts and Bayou for New Orleans inspired cuisine.

For you spenders, do visit the Friendship Heights neighborhood in northwest DC. This hood is full with swankiest upscale boutiques and warehouses! TJ Maxx, Nordstorm Rack, Loehmann's, The Designer Shoe Warehouse and Neiman Marcus to name a few. It is literally a shopping mecca! The selections aren't as good as in NYC but the discounts are way higher. Here I found Coach shoes for USD 38, 7 for All Mankind's white denim for USD 42 and J Brand stripe denim for USD 30.

Union Station, Washington DC

Martin Luther King Memorial, Washington DC

Korean War Memorial, DC

Georgetown, Washington DC

Georgetown, Washington DC

Georgetown, Washington DC

Georgetown, Washington DC

Georgetown, Washington DC

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, Washington DC

Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum

Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum

Buffalo Cheese and Chilli Fries, from the foodcourt of National Museum of American Indian-DC

Buffalo and Cheese Burger, from the foodcourt of National Museum of American Indian-DC

Bison Steak, from the foodcourt of National Museum of American Indian-DC

Ben's Chilli Bowl, Barrack Obama's favorite eatary in DC

Greetings from NYC: All Time Favorites

New York is big and vibrant. If you're a first timer like us, this city might a bit of overwhealming. Everything looks nice and flashy, and we're tourists tend to want to explore them all. But there will always time and money as a limit. My advise is to spend at least a week or two so you're able to enjoy and explore the city. Focus on what aspects attract you most, because NYC has lots to offer. 

Me and my friends are having quite similar interests. It's underlined at; Fashion, Food, Festivity, Art and Architecture. So our visit are mainly about these aspects. If our likings resemblance yours then here are my recommendation of what to do and where to visit in NYC.

Brodway

This is actually the first thing that come across my mind when I relate to NYC. Broadway is the biggest theaterical performance with more than 100 shows every day. My favorite are Lion King, The Book of Mormon and Mathilda. If you want some different experience, you can try an off Broadway show, my recommendations are Sleep No More and Fuerza Bruta. If you're up to more classical selections you can check the Metropolitan Opera. The American Ballet Theatre is usually performing their shows here. The ticket for these shows are ranged from USD 80 to USD 200, depend on the seat chosen.

Broadway, NYC

Broadway, NYC

the mask, used by all audiences in Sleep No More, NYC

The Metropolitan Opera

Swan Lake by American Ballet Theatre at Metropolitan Opera, NYC

Museums

NYC offering so many great museums, above them all I fancy The Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET), Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Guggenheim. The tickets cost around USD 22-25 per museum, but if you use the NYC Explorer Pass and choose 3, 5, 7 or 10 attractions, you can save an extra 15%. 

View of NYC captured from MET's rooftop

Punk: from Chaos to Couture, MET-NYC

Punk: from Chaos to Couture, MET-NYC

MoMa, NYC

Artwork by Robert Morris, MoMA-NYC

What is Painting? by John Baldessari, MoMA-NYC

MoMA, NYC

Shopping Spree

Saks Fifth Avenue, Barneys, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale's, Jeffrey, Opening Ceremony, Macy's and Urban Outfitters were all teasing us with summer sale up to 50% off. Went a bit outside of the city, there we found Woodbury Common Premium Outlet with reduction up to 80%, no joke! My best findings are Tods sandals for USD 110, Stuart Weitzman shoes for USD 135, and Calvin Klein jeans for USD 40. Another outlet that is worth the visit is Gabay's New York in East Village. With a little effort (-and luck) you can find a pair of Louboutin or Jimmy Choo below USD 100.

Woodbury, NYC

my 50% off new Tods :), I bought the green one btw

Central Park

The park is huge and pretty, perfect for chilling and relaxing. We went here for a picnic, spent almost a day, doing nothing than gossiping and giggling. My favorite spots are: The Lake, Bow Bridge, Conservatory Garden, Alice in Wonderland, Strawberry Field, Boathouse and The Tavern on the Green.

Central Park, NYC

Picnic at Central Park 'sponsored' by Zabars

picnic with my gurls

Tourist Attractions

It's not complete for us tourists if not visiting touristy attractions. Using our NYC Explorer Pass we took a full circle sightseeing cruise and went high above on 80th floor's Top of the Rock Observation Deck.

City view from Top of the Rock

the ladies and Lady Liberty

Another things to do in New York are enjoying their gastronomic feast. I wrote down some of my faves on the previous post, please check it out. A place that is recommend by many friends but been missed is Red Rooster in Harlem. So sad we didn't get a table though had try to book it a week before.