Hello guys! Its been awhile and my holidays have ended!
It was a super busy holiday!! Filled with travel school work and shoots!
This school holiday, i travelled to INDONESIA! With nuffies and churpies!
Organised and accommodated by The Ministry of Tourism, Indonesia
When Sarah (my talent manager) first told me about this trip i was super excited and nervous at the same time! After all ill be travelling with fellow bloggers i dont know personally or even met before!
anyways i said yes cause no harm i guess! life is short! do what you can while you can!
Im also super thankful for this opportunity!
So lets begin!
DAY 1 14/06/16
At about 9am(??) i arrived at the airport and was greeted by Veronika (she took care of us for the whole trip and she was very nice!!!)
So we checked in and walked around the airport as usual as we waited for the opening ceremony!
This is GARUDA'S FIRST TRIP TO MEDAN!
Which means we were the lucky few to experience a flight to Medan, Indonesia by by Garuda Indonesia!
Garuda Airlines was awarded a
five-star rating by Skytrax, making it the seventh airline to earn this
prestigious award. After winning the title "World's Best Regional
Airline" in 2012, Garuda Indonesia was named “World’s Best Economy Class”
in 2013 and ‘World's Best Airline Cabin Crew’ for 3 consecutive years by
Skytrax in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Garuda Indonesia officially became the 20th
member of the SkyTeam alliance in March 2014.
Super excited! We were welcomed with food (!!!) a flash mob and friendly stewardess!
Opening ceremony! The stewardesses were in super vibrant and pretty uniforms!
In flight selfie taken with my samsung galaxy S7 Edge 4G+!
After about an hour's flight we arrived in Indonesia, Kualanamu International Airport!
Decked in @KIKIKELISTORE!
We then settled for a simple meal in the airport! Super hungry and tired food was all i needed!!
Bc i decided not to sleep the night before our flight due to my fear of not waking up and missing my flight ahaha. my body clock was and is still upside down :(
Upon our arrival we took a 3-4 hour bus ride to our hotel, NIAGARA HOTEL PARAPAT where we were surrounded by LAKE TOBA! The biggest lakes around! its bigger than Singapore itself can you imagine....
Like we saw the lake for a good 3 days no matter where we went. and this photo does NO JUSTICE!!!
It was really scenic and pretty and blue and calming and picturesque!
We had dinner at the hotel's restaurant then we all went to bed! It was a tiring day of travelling!!!
DAY 2 15/04/16
Woke up the next morning to the sound of birds chirping and into music coming from somewhere among the mountains! I spent sometimes out in the balcony just enjoying the view! I mean where in Singapore do we NOT have buildings and cars and all that urban buzz!!!
It was also super windy and cooling!
Went down for breakfast at about 7/8am or 9... in the morning! i can't remember anymore haha.
The food in Indo is pretty similar to Singaporean food! So no worries if you're going to Indo!
We then took a short bus ride to Danau Toba where we took a ferry to SAMOSIR ISLAND!
Day 2's outfit also from @KIKIKELISTORE!
At this point of time i was really damn happy about the weather!!! No sun no rain but super cooling and windy!
We reached Samosir Island in about 20 mins? And the ferry ride was super entertaining too! There were like village boys singing for us! Really a different environment and a get away from the busy urban life! People there seemed pretty content with their simple life! Made me appreciate the smaller things i have back in Singapore! We then proceeded to visit the King's Tomb which was in Samosir island!
We also wore this sash thingy as a sign of respect! After which we caught a puppet show and had lunch!
Goodbye Samosir Island! See you soon! We then hopped back onto the ferry!
Picture with Mong, Bree and Charlene!
We left Samosir and got onto the bus! Places like these ill never know about if not for this trip!!! They're like little gems!
On the way to our next hotel we stopped by somewhere for tea where us girls just snapped pictures non stop!!!
BUT we had a bit of goreng pisang and ginger tea! Perfect for the weather!
Photos from Mong's camera!
After a long bus ride we finally reached our destination! A GORG RESORT!
With a waterfall in there too!
Taman Simalem Resort - Tonging Lake Toba!
The exterior was super pretty! And the inside was spacious and very ' resort-ish ' too! Like i was in the middle of a rainforest! Super cooling and windy! Thankful for the weather in Indo!!!
After settling down we were off for dinner at a restaurant within the resort! And had a mini bonfire! Although it was ruined by the drizzle... it was beautiful while it lasted esp when it got pretty cold at night!
Photo taken in low light by my Samsaung Galaxy S7 Edge 4G+!
Its rlly super good tho! Low light photos are so clear on the S7!
Had a shower (while it was being interrupted by a moth and also some long legged creature) then i went to bed! We were warned about insects bc we were in the middle of nature! So insects were bound to come into our rooms! Oh well! Not too bad! Some of us bought lemongrass oil to prevent certain insects! Recommended by our guides!
DAY 3 16/04/16
Woke up to very fresh air on day 3! Good weather as usual!
Outfit from @KIKIKELISTORE
We had breakfast in the resort and i had rice and noodles!
So much carbs!!! Idk why tho! I only eat rice in the morning when I'm overseas or at breakfast service in hotels ?! I would NEVER have rice first thing in the morning back in Singapore.
We then took a bus to a nearby market/farm-ish place!
This place is called Berastagi Tanah Karo, Sumatra Utara!
LOOK AT THIS BUNCH OF BUNNIES!!!!
They were so freaking adorable!!! I wish i could take one home with me....
I also rode a horse together with mong! Mong was really scared cause her horse kept jerking!!!
Ive been on many horses and they never fail to excite me!!!
After exploring the market abit we were off to a temple!
Pagoda Taman Lumbini!
Infrastructures like these always amaze me! The details on the walls are super delicate and pretty!
After checking out the temple we moved off to check into our hotel to prepare for dinner that night!
We had a good 3 hours to rest and prepare so i ordered room service!!!
I was missing pasta so much so this was perf!
We were staying at Grand Aston Hotel in Medan! And the hotel was really nice and cosy! And i got a huge bed all to myself!
Heres a pic of me while preparing for dinner haha!
Went down to meet the girls and enjoyed ourselves at dinner with members of the tourism industry!
Okay so i had even more pasta for dinner... super yummy I'm hungry just typing this out D:
After dinner i just chilled in the room and made use of the WIFI!!!!!
WHOOP THE CONNECTION WAS SO GOOD :D
We were scheduled to check out at 2am to catch a flight to NIAS!
So i decided to not sleep! Watched some shows and skyped for abit!
2am came pretty fast!
DAY 4 17/06/16
this is like a 2am toilet selfie... too many selfies so although i didn't sleep i was still like 10 mins late to gather at the lobby lol my life... anyway.. outfit from @KIKIKELISTORE TOO!
We took a bus ride to the airport and after check in and all we were off!
I HAVE NEVER BOARDED A PLANE THIS WAY MY ENTIRE LIFE OMG LOL..
Thank you Garuda Indonesia for this opportunity!!
Heres my mandatory 'about to board the plane' shot lol
We had a 1 hour flight so i caught up on some sleep there! Upon arrival we checked into our resort and went to visit a local village!
This house was built by the king if I'm not wrong.... and its been around for a long long time!
It is also the biggest house in the village!
We were welcomed with The Jumping Stone performance too!
It was super crazy! I swear the stone was maybe twice my height and these boys just jumped over it again and again without fail???
I would have slammed my head through....
After which we walked around the village and found some pretty places to snap some shots!
Leaving the village left me with a lot of thoughts. The way they lived and everything is so different from the way we do back here in Singapore. Would we be able to live without technology??@?@? No instagram nothing? Prob not. I guess we are all pretty blessed in many ways and sometimes we tend to take it all for granted ;(
Oh well moving on, we left for a Lagundri Bay!
A surfers paradise! There were many surfers riding the waves and i wish i could surf one day too! We weren't prepared to surf so we gave it a miss!
Sat around and enjoyed the view with a cup of milo and the girls instead!
(SOMETHING I WISH I COULD DO NOW VC WORKLOAD FROM SCH IS TOOOO MUCH)
I love the water so being here made me feel really at ease and peace with myself. Away from home and being able to appreciate waters of another land. Do you guys ever wonder though, how much water is there in a bed of water??? I always think about nonsense like this in the middle of the night. Like how wide and vast the ocean is??? How deep is deep?? And I believe the ocean is boundless and no matter how deep we as humans go, IT IS STILL VERY VERY DEEP. pretty scary at the same time yet super intriguing??? Is it me or do you guys think about things like that too haha omg.
After a long day of travelling we headed back to the resort to rest and concluded day 4!
I have no more pictures because i was catching up on sleep here and there during car rides haha.
Slept with Bree and Charlene that night! We talked abit here and there then we went to bed!
DAY 5 18/06/16
Back to Medan!
Flew back to medan this morning!
We had breakfast at the airport before heading off! Thanks for your hands bree, super accessorised and perf for a flatlay!!
I was craving noodles quite bit so i decided to go with laksa while bree and char shared noodles and toast! And i forgot to mention! Mong left us 2 days earlier bc she had something to attend to in SG. :( meh.
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After which stopped by Istana Maimoon Kesultanan Deli!!! The palace of the sultan. We didn't really manage to take many pictures cause it wasn't really allowed!! But it was super pretty inside!!
I loved the grand looking marbles steps!!! I spent like a good 10 minutes making charlene take pics for me HAHAH thanks char!!!
Next stop : Tjong A Fie Mansion Medan!
It has like 35-rooms!!!!! AND IT ALLS IN 2 STOREYS OK OMG.
It's interior is super super intricate and pretty! Its like a blast from the past!!!
Really nice to know places like these still exist! We managed to take many nice pictures! Check out my insta for more! @gnitil
We then checked into our hotel, Hotel Santika Premire Dyandra in Medan to shower and get ready for our last night in indonesia :(
One of Mong's fan told us to try out LA MAISON macarons! Pity mong had to leave early tho!!
So the rest of us tried it out for her instead!!
The entrance of la maison!!! We managed to reach almost right before they closed!!
Super lucky!!
'
Bought some macarons for myself to munch on back in the hotel room but they were gone even before we reached the hotel!!! They're super yummy and unique! They have flavours like starbucks and popcorn!!
We then went for a short massage! Perfect way to end our trip and night!
The whole trip was super eye opening and a really different kind of fun! I mean its really different here and the things they have are really different! I felt like it was a really good break from the hustle here in singapore!
Felt super recharged and refreshed after the trip!!
Thank you Garuda Indonesia,
The Ministry of Tourism Indonesia and NuffNang for making this trip happen! It was a adventure filled 5 days!!! I would have never known Medan was so pretty!!
