3 Reasons Not To Go To Pulau Tidung

I was in Pulau Tidung recently and what a disappointment it was. 

Pulau Tidung is part of the Thousand Island (Kepulauan Seribu) archipelago that is located in the Bay of Jakarta in the Java Sea. 

When we were researching for the trip, many websites mentioned that the island boasts of clear, blue waters that is perfect for diving, snorkelling and fishing. We were enticed by the lovely photos of the island.

But when we saw the island with our own eyes, what a disappointment it was. 

Moral of the story: Don't trust all the travel photos online - they can be deceiving, especially with the emergence of Photoshop and dishonest people.

Here are 3 reasons why you should not go to Pulau Tidung.

1) Garbage everywhere

The island is literally covered in garbage.

The water is clear and lovely, but the huge amount of garbage on the shore (especially during low tide) makes it a horrible place to be. Thankfully there was no horrible garbage smell. 

From my observation, the reasons for the poor sanitary condition is because the island does not have enough rubbish bins and a proper waste management system, e.g. an incinerator.

I found it difficult to throw rubbish because there were no bins around. Whenever I had something to dispose, I had to hold onto it until I come across a bin, which is extremely rare on the island. Heck, there wasn't even a rubbish bin in our homestay room.

With the lack of rubbish bins and a proper waste management system, the islanders take the easy way out and dump garbage everywhere, even between the houses. Look at this picture: 

Garbage dump site between the houses.

I noticed that the local authorities had put up signages around the island encouraging the locals to maintain cleanliness and to inculcate a habit of recycling. But unfortunately the island is still dirty.


2) Poor lodging facilities

Despite being an island boasting of clear, blue waters, Pulau Tidung does not have any resort or even budget hotel.

Most, if not all of the lodging on the island are homestays with rooms like this:

Our basic room. Thankfully it had an air condition unit because the room had the potential of becoming a sauna, especially in the daytime. Note that they didn't provide blankets, simply because there's no need for it. It was so damn hot, even at night.

I didn't take photos of the bathroom because it was a shame. The bathroom had a squat toilet with no flush. There was also no sink and no shower head. 

Water (from a tap on the wall) was collected into a big basin. So we had to squat whenever we brushed our teeth and bathed. 

3) Rickety bicycles

We were given 2 rickety bicycles to ride around the island.

The bicycles had almost deflated tyres with no shock absorbers. 

The island had narrow and uneven roads like this:

The crowd was huge during the weekend that we went to Pulau Tidung. 

Put all these together: Rickety bicycle with no shock absorber on narrow, uneven roads and having to cycle amongst the huge number of cyclists, most of whom were also suffering like us, was indeed challenging.

My butt and thighs were aching at the end of the first day. It had been a long time since I subjected my butt to so much torture.

So better think twice if you're planning to make a trip to Pulau Tidung.

Despite encountering all the 'hardships' (as how Angie describes it) on the island, we had one of the most delicious seafood dinner on our last night there.

So at least we had one pleasant experience on Pulau Tidung :-)

The simple but delicious ikan bakar and squid.

Magnum Cafe at Grand Indonesia Mall

During my recent trip to Jakarta, I had the privilege of having a chocolate fix at the Magnum Cafe at Grand Indonesia mall.

Let me share with you my experience at Magnum Cafe Jakarta.

 Entrance to the cafe.

Red carpet welcome for guests.

This is where the goodies are prepared.

The weekend crowd. 

Since the place was crowded, we walked towards the back where there was an open air dining area ...

I presume this space is for smokers.

... with a marvellous view of the city and its skyscrappers:

After picking a spot where we could admire the views, it was time to order. 

When Angie told me about Magnum Cafe, I was wondering what sort of ice cream desserts would they have. Would it be chocolate and nothing but chocolate? Would they sell fusion stuff? Any savoury food perhaps? My questions was about to be answered here:

This menu holds the key to all chocolate goodness.

This is what we ordered:

Mont St Aubert (IDR 39,000) and Truffle Royale (IDR 39,000)

Mont St Aubert was flat, if you know what I mean. Truffle Royale had more kick.

Antwerp Petite (IDR 45,000)

The combination of chocolate on the belgian wafer was good. 

To give a savoury taste to our chocolate drinks and the Antwerp Petite, we ordered a pizza:

Au Poulet (IDR 55,000). 

As a lover of thin crust pizza, this certainly agrees with me. The chicken, tomato sauce and melted cheese brings the whole pizza together nicely. I'm glad we ordered this.

Magnum Cafe also sells chocolate goodies like these:

 Good to buy as gifts.

I like the words on this frame:

After visiting Magnum Cafe in Jakarta, I was wondering why no one had opened one in KL. And now after about 2 months since my trip to Jakarta, Magnum Cafe is now in Mid Valley Megamall. Talk about coincidence!

I will certainly go to the Mid Valley outlet, but only after a few months when the the crowd has died down.

First Impressions of Jakarta

I was in Jakarta for a 3-day trip at the beginning of October - all because Angie got transferred there for a year. So lodging was free :-)

Eventhough I've been to other parts of Indonesia before, it was my first time in Jakarta. And whenever I travel to a place for the first time, I try not to have expectations to avoid disappointments.

Here are 3 of my personal observations of the city:

Traffic
One thing that people usually tell me is that the traffic in Jakarta is horrendous. One can get caught in a traffic jam for hours just to travel a short distance.

However this time I didn't get to experience the horrible traffic that Jakarta is famous for, simply because I travelled on a weekend. I heard that traffic is usually notorious on weekdays during peak hours.

Customer service
Customer service standards in Jakarta are relatively higher compared to other countries - even in KL where I live.

In Jakarta we walked into malls and shops and the staff would greet us like they value the business we're potentially giving them. Even if we don't buy anything, they would still smile and thank us as we walk away.

At the Sate Senayan restaurant in South Jakarta, there was a staff on duty in front of the washroom to greet and direct customers to the washroom. That particular staff also ensured that the washroom is consistently clean. I haven't seen such a thing yet in KL.


Malls, malls and more malls
When it comes to malls, Jakarta is in a league of its own. The sheer boldness in the way the city builds its mammoth malls is amazing. I think Jakarta has ample land and enough customer volume to sustain these giant malls.

We went to 3 malls during my stay in Jakarta - Pondok Indah Mall, Anggrek Mall and Grand Indonesia. Amongst the 3, Grand Indonesia lives up to its name as the grandest mall of them all. Can someone please tell me what is the biggest mall in Jakarta?

Review: Tea Spa in South Jakarta

I was in Jakarta early last month to visit Angie who has been transferred there for a year.

On my second day in Jakarta, we hopped into a bajaj and headed for our spa session.

 The bajaj is built for small sized people. We could fit 2 people at the back. But I don't think even one sumo wrestler can fit in there.

After riding around and getting lost, we managed to find Tea Spa on Jalan Gunawarman 9, Kebayoran Baru, Jakarta.

The spa is locsted above a cafe that sells tea (what else!).

As we walked up the stairs we were greeted with this table:

I like this table with the 'Tea Spa' wordings at the top.

While waiting for the lady to prepare our massage materials, I went around snapping pics and took this:

 Interesting words ...

The lady led us to the room where I managed to snap a pic before the massage began:

We chose the 3-hour Perfect Contour Tea Treatment which is one of the spa's signature package. The package consists of a Tea Aromatherapy French Massage (for slimming), Herbal Tea Body Scrub, Herbal Tea Body Mask and Herbal Tea Body Wrap.

My massauer was good with her hands and placed just enough pressure.

After we finished the treatment and I had my super sweet ginger tea, the lady led me to another room for my half leg waxing.

This time the waxing was way below that of the quality I get back in KL.

First of all, they used poor quality wax. After the therapist applied the wax onto my legs and left it to dry, she had a tough time peeling off the sides of the wax to give it a good yank. When she finally could peel the edges, the wax tore away in small parts and she had to scrap away the remnants from my skin.

The end result was that it was not a clean waxing in the sense that there were still hairs on my legs and even tiny bits of wax still stuck to my skin.

Eventhough the massage was good but the waxing was not great at all and I would certainly not recommend you to do at Tea Spa.

After the massage we went looking for the famous Sate Senayan:

When in Indonesia, always look for the word 'gratis' because it means 'free' :-) 

This was dinner:

Clockwise from top left: Sate Senayan, Sup Bontot and Nasi Complete. 

While enjoying dinner I was fascinated with these 3 wooden sculptures at the entrance of the restaurant: