New Travel Blog Series: Taiwan

Hi, JavaMilk comes again with latest Travel Blog Series. After My Europe Travel Guide (Indonesian version: Panduan Jalan Hemat ke Eropa), then Hong Kong and Macau Travel Guide, now we are going to explore Taiwan. A country (or a province, China calls it) in which provide hidden treasures for foreign …

Cheapest Room Rate Promo from InterContinental Hotel Group

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Great Asia Sale from InterContinental Hotel Group offers lowest rates on their 4 to 5 stars hotel chain. We can search cheap room on InterContinental Hotels, Holiday Inn Hotels, and also Crowne Hotels in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, and Bandung.

Just book a room during this 5 day period, from …

A Quick Layover in citizenM Hotel Amsterdam

During my previous visit to Europe on July '09, one night was to sleep in Amsterdam. As some people may know that Amsterdam hotels tend to be expensive compared to other European cities like Paris, Rome, etc. Amsterdam hotel rates are as high as London, in short: most of them are expensive.

One hotel that I had wanted to try in Amsterdam was to stay at citizenM Hotel. If you google a bit about this hotel, the impressions would be chick and well designed. So I took my chance to try this hotel.

citizenM is a new chain hotel from Netherland, now available in 2 locations: citizenM Amsterdam Schipol Airport and citizenM Amsterdam City. If you have time for quick stopover during your flight, citizenM Schipol airport can be your option. It is located only 5 minutes walk from airport arrival hall. But if you prefer to stay in the city, citizenM Amsterdam City is the best option.

I chose citizenM Amsterdam City, located on Prinses Irenestraat, it is behind Amsterdam WTC or Zuid complex. We can take Amsterdam metro number 51 from Amsterdam Centraal Station to Zuid station then walk about 7 minutes to the hotel, or for more convenience we can take tram number 5, stop at Prinses Irenestraat, the hotel is 30 meter from tram stop. Tram journey from Centraal station is about 20 minutes.

Although it is not near Centraal Station (which many travelers prefered), but staying in this hotel was a new experience to me personally. With its minimalistic but technology concious design, affordable price (EUR 80 - 120 per night), I can summary in a short: a very nice sleep.

Hotel exterior is basic, all rectangle glasses in facade. Entering main door, I was greeted with lounge atmosphere. No receptionist because check-in process is self service. There are many computer stations in the lobby area, just find empty one then enter my reservation number in the screen. The menu is very user friendly, but you can ask for available friendly staff help if needed. Computer will ask us to take a hotel keycard from basket then tap it to the reader. This will activate the keycard and assign room number. In the end of this 3 minutes check-in process, a print-out paper will be issued. My room number and wifi password (it's free) are printed in the paper. Simple and no need to queue for this check-in!

Lobby area is design showcase for this hotel, we can find IKEA like furniture at every corner. There are iMac computers to use for free Internet access. 24-hour canteen is also available to serve food and beverages (a bit pricey!).

How to Buy Paris Metro Mobilis Card

Paris offers a lot of sighseeings, from the bronze coloured (official color name is brownish gray) Eiffel Tower, to magnificent Notre Dame Catedral, to the only Disneyland in Europe.

For tourists, the best and convenient way to explore Paris is by underground train, called as Metro and complemented by RER suburban train. 16 Metro lines, together with 5 lines of RER cover almost all part of Paris.

You can download Paris Metro and RER map in PDF format. But for latest and official map and fare, you should consult Paris RATP website.

There are some options in paying this Metro RER fare. The common for tourists is to buy carnette (also known as T+ ticket). It is a small card (domino card size) with magnetic strip on the back. Valid for one journey in inner Paris zone 1, costs EUR 1.60 if you buy it single or a pack of 10 carnette for EUR 11.60 (EUR 5.80 for children). For moderate sighseeing in a day, we may only need 4-5 carnettes so a pack of 10 carnettes should be enough if you only have 2 days in Paris.

Travelling to Iceland

As one of European counties, Iceland has ben ranked as one of the most expensive destination for Americans and rest of the world. No wonder usually Iceland is not included in people's itinerary.

But recently as its economy collapse in late 2008, prices in Iceland have been falling up to 50 percent from normal.

(image from www.smh.com.au)
What is Iceland capital city? Prepare your tongue to spell Reykjavik. It is quite big at you need several days to explore it. Car rental which started at USD 200 last year now is less 30%, not to mention lodging and hotels.

Get Ready for Soekarno Hatta Airport Terminal 3

If you drive from Soekarno Hatta Jakarta Airport back to city, just after Terminal 2 - in the left side you'll see a new building ready to operate. That is the brand new Terminal 3 of Soekarno Hatta Airport (a.k.a CGK - Cengkareng Airport).

The building is ready to open this month and solely used by Indonesia AirAsia for domestic flights. Mandala Airlines will also operate from Terminal 3 in near future. This minimalistic and full of glass building is kind of smaller compared to Terminal 1, but adequate for low-cost airlines base. The design is also different from existing terminals, leaving the old and culture-rich style design to modern-look design, just like Sultan Hassanudin Airport in Makassar.

This airport is said to be able to host Airbus A380 (reaaallly?), let's see later.

A Short Walk to Taman Menteng

Last week I got a chance to visit Taman Menteng (Park) located in the very heart of Menteng District. It is a nice, free and interactive park, a place you can breath fresh air in Central Jakarta.

It used to be a football stadium for Persija Football club, got demolished during Sutiyoso Governor era after some struggles and demonstrations. The result? You can see in my photos; a neat and clean park.

A1GP Lippo Village Circuit Design

As I mentioned in previous blog about F1 GP at Singapore roads, Lippo Village (a.k.a Lippo Karawaci) will host A1 Grand Prix on 6-8 February 2009 for Indonesia.

Years ago, all racings as well as A1GPs were hosted at Sentul Circuit on Southern Jakarta. Somehow Lippo Group was interested in hosting this event and surprisingly will be held on Lippo Karawaci city roads every year at least for 5 years ahead. This brings Lippo Village as equal as Monte Carlo, Macau, and Singapore as the hosts of city-street racing.

For Jakarta residents, Lippo Village (Karawaci) at Tangerang seems a bit far, 30 km from Central Jakarta. Driving car to Karawaci will take average 25 minutes of time. Is known as a small city developed by Lippo Group, this area is complete with residences, mall, hospital, schools, and university. The best place to live in my opinion - apart from its distance. Some places are well-known for Jakarta people to come: Siloam Hospital, Universitas Pelita Harapan, Supermal Karawaci, and Benton Junction.

Circuit Design

The most interesting part of this design is that it incorporates many existing parts of the city. Even more, they are building new roads to create a more dramatic racing.