4C: Cosmetics, Cats, Cars and...

Friday, November 6, 2009

Traveling Tips From A Traveling-Hater

Oh, I hate traveling. I really hate it. Partly because I have insomnia :(

Anyway, you do sometimes have to travel. Either it's bussiness, or simply because someone pay for your trip :D

Here's what I bring when I'm traveling:

SMALL CROSS-BODY BAG
Mine is Elizabeth (made in Indonesia). This is where I keep my ticket/passport, important medication (paracetamol and Diatabs, hehehe), lipbalm, pocket tissue, wallet, cell phone, ballpoint, hand sanitizer (in mini size) and small folding hair comb.

MEDIUM SIZE BACKPACK.
Traveling isn't time for cute backpacks, so I bring my green Delsey. It's where I put anything that can't be stored in my luggage or something I want to use later in flight. I put my sweater coat (I'm a hot person. I mean, I can't stand the cold), personal medication (won't put them in baggage), a hat (something to keep my head warm during flight), cell phone charger and 1 pair of clean underwear.

I always afraid that the luggage would lost somewhere, or something bad happen such as bad weather and stranded in airport for hours with low battery and dirty underwear :D

WHEELED-LUGGAGE
Always travel with wheels! Carrying regular travel bags would be exhausting.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Un-ecofriendly and Un-pretty Trip

@ HK Airport, ready to go home!

Although I try to do the 3R (well, at least the REDUCE part), traveling isn’t time to be eco-friendly. I used shampoo and conditioner in sachet; I even used paper underwear; and sure no pads! I just use the disposables.

And if disposable bra were available, I'd wear them...

I even left my broken luggage; my tiny bucket (and got another one, very cute pink bucket); my body brush (hey, the handle is broke, just like the luggage); my body lotion; my Listerin. It was a WASTE-TRIP.

(I’m very Indonesian about the toilet. I can’t use dry-toilet so I brought along my bucket when traveling)

And the un-pretty part was my makeup. If you see I’m not too photogenic in pictures as I used to, that’s because I didn’t bring much makeup there. No MAC Fluidline, it was just Maybelline eyeliner (something easy to take off at night), no concealer (it would be too messy to bring loose powder), no mascara, not even lipstick. I just brought a sheer lipcolor by Revlon. And no touched up during the day because I was too lazy to pack my makeup in the backpack.

That was my face. How about my looks?

While I love dressing up, I never Travel In Style. I wore moccasin, jeans, small cross-body bag (and the zipper was broken during the trip) and a backpack to bring my sweater-coat. I hated that because it wasn’t cold at all.

If I knew that it would be hot…if I knew that the girls were dazzling….ugh….

Hong Kong Trip: the Agenda

Waiting for the MTR

I had change to go to HK, 22-26 Oct 2009…sponsored by my aunt. We stayed in Regal Riverview in Sha Tin area (well, at least the name of nearest MTR station is Sha Tin).

Here’s the agenda:

22 Oct: arrived in HK in afternoon, just went around the hotel.

23 Oct: went to Macau. We ride double decker to the ferry port and it was fun! We ride Turbojet to go to Macau and the journey wasn’t fun, that’s because of the wave.

24 Oct: HK Island City Tour, alone, because my aunt (and her pathologist friends) went to seminar. I visited Victoria Peak (HK’s premier attraction, providing magnificent harbor and city views from over 500 m above the sea level); Aberdeen (home to hundreds of fisher folks who are iving on the fishing junks. I didn’t ride the sampan because it was pretty expensive, HK$ 50, and I hate small boats); Pass by Repulse Bay (stop by a local renowed jewelry factory. Of course I wasn’t interested in jewelry…also they were sooooo expensive!); and Stanley Market (Stanley Market has a reputation of offering some great buys at low prices, such as overruns of designer cloting, leather and silk clothing, porcelain, traditional Chinese souvenirs. I bought some cute floding shopping bags there)

25 Oct: My aunt went to seminar so I was still alone. I went to Ladies Market in Mongkok, riding on MTR by myself and it was fun. Fun because it was safe (no copet, no dicolek), and I wasn’t in a hurry. I bought folding shopping bags (again! Partly because my aunt and her friends were amazed by their cuteness and thought they should buy it for souvenirs, and 2 luggages. What?! Two?? Well, here’s some explanation: the handle of my Polo luggage was broke, so keeping it was stupid because I was afraid it would be totally broken when I went home and put it the baggage. So I needed to buy a new one. And I was ‘confused’ with the size: the small or the big one? And after 2 hours in Ladies Market, I decided to buy 2 sizes because I couldn’t get them outta my head :D. Then at night we went to Central area.

26 Oct: Just bought cute bucket (I left my old one and found PINK bucket I couldn’t resist, so I HAD to buy it) and waited for the shuttle bus to airport. We were arrived in Jakarta at 19.30.

So, there was my trip to HK. I was in ‘wrong-costume’ situation because the weather forecast said it would be 22-25 C so I packed something to keep my warm, and turned out the weather was just like Jakarta.

We ride mass-transportation A LOT, something we didn’t experience when we’re in Jakarta. And it was fun. We walked A LOT because the station was far away from our hotel and we didn’t know how to reach it with bus.

Overall, here’s something I can remember about HK:

Love, love, love the public transportation. It’s safe. It’s fast.

You’ll see lots and lots of apartment building.

Probably because they live in small apartments, they don’t spend much time in home. Shopping malls are always full of people, especially those that are located in MTR stations. And it wasn’t Christmas!

You’ll see old people still riding on MTR. Something I found pretty amazing.
Because their government has regulation about the ban of plastic bag, you’ll see people carrying cute shopping bags, trolley, or luggage! No kidding about this. You can see lots of people dragging their luggage everywhere. In MTR. Even in malls. That’s probably because they have to walk a lot and carrying bags are tiring. And because I bought 2 luggage from Ladies Market, I had to dragged it when I walked to hotel.

The girls are trendy and love makeup. Once I saw girls in shopping mall wearing fake lashes. You’ll see legs everywhere. They love shorts. Probably I would wear the same if I lived there.