Summer Palace in Winter

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When I went to Beijing few months ago, I didn’t really know about the tourist destination there. I did some browsing in the internet to find out what’s happening in Beijing and stumble upon Travel China Guide. The website and also my Beijing-living friend suggest to visit Summer Palace, so I put Summer Palace in my itinerary.

Summer Palace listed as UNESCO world heritage sites for being the largest and most well-preserved royal park in China. The park was built in 1750 as a retreat park for the royal families so they could rest and entertained. Then it became the main residence of royal members in the end of the Qing Dynasty.

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Skiing in Beijing

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Badaling Ski Resort

I have visited four seasons countries before, yet I never experienced to ski. The reason are whether it is to cold or no one (means my family) wanted to accompanied me. So when I visited Beijing with my two other friends, we decided to go skiing. It was our first time ski experience!

I have research all over the internet on ski resort near Beijing. The result there were several ski resort names, Huaibei Ski Resort, Nanshan Ski Resort, Jundushan Ski Resort, and Badaling Ski Resort. From all the resort, I still did not understand how to get there. I even asked about which resort is nearest from downtown Beijing in several forums, from backpacker group in Facebook, Trip Advisor, Travel China Guide to Quora. All the answers did not well explained, so our plan to go skiing was quite blurry.

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Crossed It Off From the Bucket List: Great Wall of China (Badaling Section)

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Great Wall Badaling 3

I remember when I was an elementary student, I used to see a poster of seven wonders of the world in my class every day. I also got to see the picture of it on my textbooks. Years later, I visited one of the place in the list, Great Wall of China. I never really want to visit Great Wall of China. Frankly speaking I want to visit Colosseum first, then complete my seven wonders of the worlds list. But unexpectedly I went to Beijing, so I could not missed the Great Wall!

Before I came to Beijing, I did some research about the Great Wall of China. From what I read in the internet, most people suggest to come to Mutianyu section, because it less crowded compare to Badaling section, even tough Mutianyu is farther and quite difficult to reach. But my friend who live in Beijing said that it is better to go to Badaling section, because it is the most preserved section and the view was also better. She also agree to accompanied me, so as I don’t want to get lost, I chose to go to the Badaling section.

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Explore Beijing: Jingshan Park, Forbidden City & Tiananmen Square

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Tiananmen Square

My first impression on Beijing was, “Wow pollution in Beijing are real!” because I could see all the pollution fog even at 5 am in the morning. But then as I explore the city, I had my second impression which I don’t even expected, that Beijing is seriously neat. My expectation of Beijing is that the city is crowded and messy with traffic everywhere, just like Jakarta (well, I have to say this). The reality is, Beijing is unlike Jakarta!

I am impressed with the transportation system which are so integrated. Beijingers mostly use metro and bus as their main transportation. Metro station and bus stop are everywhere in Beijing. It is also connected with most of the main road and building. If you often use this two kinds of transportation when you are in Beijing, then I suggest you to buy Beijing Transportation Smart Card (Yikatong). With the card, you don’t have to buy single ticket everywhere you go on a trip and also it offers 50% fare discount!

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Finding Mosque & Halal Food in Beijing

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Niujie Mosque

When I decided to go to Beijing, I have some concern about the food. From what I read in the internet, they said that it is kind of tricky to find halal food in Beijing. So, to avoid that I opt to brought some food supplies. Since I went there with another 5 people, so each people need to brought different kind of food. I, myself brought instant cream soup and dried anchovies. My friend brought instant sausage, corned beef, and meatball. And of course, all of us brought our favorite instant noodle and sachet beverages. All of the food is supplies was intended for breakfast and dinner, so we still need to find restaurants for lunch.

Since I arrived in Beijing on Friday, so all of the men need to do Friday prayer. I already research about mosque in Beijing and found this famous Mosque in Beijing, Niujie Mosque. It is located in Niujie area. If you take the metro, you have to get out exit C1 at Changchun Jie station, then continue with bus no. 10 for four stops. The mosque was surrounded with some of halal restaurant and supermarket. So, I decided to have a stop at the supermarket first to buy some foods.

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Applying for Chinese Visa in Jakarta

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As I’m going to Beijing this March, so I need to immediately apply for the Chinese visa. As for Indonesian, we need to apply for the visa if you want to visit the mainland China. First thing first, I started to Google to find out about all the requirements. I stumbled upon their official visa application center website. I spent hour carefully read about the visa requirement.

So basically, Chinese visa doesn’t require as many documents as the other visa requirement. You just need this:

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Short Gateway in Malang: Omah Kayu

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When I visited Malang last September, I didn’t only paid a visit to the famous Museum Angkut and Museum Tubuh, but also to Omah Kayu. Omah Kayu is one of Malang’s touristic destination located in Gunung Banyak, Batu, Malang. From Omah Kayu, fellow traveler could see the Batu from above. This location is also used as paragliding spot.

Omah Kayu is a perfect place to have some fresh air. I went there in the morning by car. It’s not really far from the Batu city center, just about 30 mins drive. To help me find the place, I use the Waze application. When I arrived in the morning, there’s not really many people around there. So it’s an advantage if you want to take any pictures without being disturbed by the crowd.

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Short Gateway in Malang: Museum Tubuh and Museum Angkut

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museum-tubuh-bagong-malang

Last September, my cousin was having a wedding reception in Surabaya, East Java. Even though it was out of town, I decided to came because I was so tired at work and needed some time away. I asked for two days off, then flew to Surabaya. The wedding was held at Thursday, so I had 3 days to spare before going back to reality. We decided to go to Batu, Malang.

We (me and my parents) went to Malang on Friday afternoon and arrived around 5 pm. After reached Batu, I immediately open pegipegi on my phone browser, because I haven’t book a room yet. I really like to use pegipegi.com everywhere I went travel, because the hotel price was cheaper compare to others (beside, you could also get a cash reward!). You could find so many hotels in just one two tap. After browsing around pegipegi.com, I chose to stay in Kartika Wijaya Heritage Hotel.

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Review: The Westin Hotel, Jakarta

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bedroom

One weekend, me and my family decided to stay at The Westin Jakarta, because my cousin was getting married there. She opened us a room so we could stay the night before the wedding. I was so eager to spend the night in Westin because it was a brand new hotel. Everything new is always nice, right?

The hotel is built in the Gama Tower. So, all the guest have to take the access from The Gama Tower lobby and take the Westin lift to their sky lobby in 52nd floor. The sky lobby was stunning with big panoramic window, beautiful  classic furniture, and high ceilings. Since, I got the room in 56th floor, I have to take another lift.

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