Visa On Arrival Shenzhen (Dari Hongkong)

HALOOO SEMUAAA..!

Ok, jadi ini blog pertama gw pake Bahasa Indonesia dan kali ini gw mau sharing pengalaman gw bikin visa untuk masuk ke Shenzhen dari Hongkong! 

Jadi, berbeda dengan Hongkong, Macau dan negara-negara yang tergabung dalam ASEAN, untuk masuk ke China (People's Republic of China (PRC)), pemegang paspor Indonesia diharuskan untuk memiliki visa. Nah, Shenzhen ini juga salah satu bagian dari PRC!

Nah, untuk mendapatkan visa ini - seperti visa lainnya - kita bisa apply dari kedutaan besar PRC di negara tempat kita tinggal, misal: Indonesia - Jakarta. Dan bisa pilih mau prosesnya agak lama, atau bayar lebih! info lebih lengkapnya bisa cek disini: http://www.visaforchina.org/. 

Jadi kalau kita bikin visa di Indonesia - apply sendiri, tanpa lewat tour agent - untuk regular applications, single entry, total biayanya Rp540.000,-. Nah, kalau saya bikin di Singapore, visa yang sama, harganya S$85! Ini belum ngitung trnasport ke sana untuk drop berkas dan ambil visa, harus cuti, nguber kerjaan, dll. 

Berita baiknya adalah untuk pemegang paspor Indonesia, kita bisa juga apply visa-on-arrival kalau kita masuk ke Shenzhen dari Hongkong! Prosesnya jauh lebih cepat dan jauh lebih murah! Dengan catatan: Visa ini cuma berlaku selama 5 hari untuk di Shenzhen [tidak bisa ke kota lain]. Dari hasil baca sharing2 di internet si katanya ada yang ditolak juga, tapi waktu saudara saya telpon tanya ke bordernya, kayanya si paspor Indonesia bisa ya.. Puji Tuhan, saya si waktu itu dapet visanya.

Jadi untuk apply visa ini, kita harus 'nyebrang' lewat Lo Wu Border. Border ini cuma bisa dijangkau lewat MTR [Lo Wu Station]. Begitu sampe di Lo Wu, ikutin aja petunjuk arah Exit - Shenzhen. jalan terus sampai keluar imigrasi Hongkong.

Keluar MTR di Lo Wu Station dan ikuti arah ini

Ikutin terus lagi jalan nya, cari tulisan "Port Visa" dan naik eskalator ke atas!

TADAAA! disanalah kantor visa nya. Buka dari jam 07.00 sampai 23.30! Ok ternyata disini ga boleh foto2 gaes.. jadi yah ga bisa di share gimana bentuknya, tapi kalo pas ke sono, pasti keliatan kok! pintu kaca dan banyak loket sama tempat duduk! Nah di depan pintu kaca ini akan ada meja dan formulir [kaya meja bank yang tempat isi form itu]. Jadi urutan untuk apply nya begini:

1. Isi Formulir

2. Masuk ke ruangan, ambil nomer urut di mesin deket pintu

3. Tunggu giliran, pas dipanggil, kasih papor sama formulir yang kita isi tadi ke petugas di loket

4. Biasanya disuruh duduk lagi buat tunggu prosesnya.

5. Pas dipanggil, ke loket tempat bayar, bayar RMB168! [cuma Rp300.000an gaes!]

6. TADAA!! Udah ada visa nempel di paspor! lanjut ke imigrasi shenzhen!

Total prosesnya ga sampe setengah jam! Ga perlu repot bolak balik kedutaan dan hampir 1/3 harga bikin di Singapore! Oh my... Tapi inget, bayarnya harus CASH dan harus pake RMB [atau Yuan, mata uang China]. Setelah keluar imigrasi Shenzhen, ini sudah langsung di metro station! semacam MRT nya shenzhen, jadi kemana2 gampang!

Stasiun Metro Luohu - Shenzhen

Tadinya sih jujur gw agak ragu untuk visa-on-arrival, takut kalo ditolak gimana dong? Kalo sendiri si gapapa, lah gw perginya sama bonyok. Mereka ga mau ambil resiko dan udah apply di indo! Tapi kalo buat kalian yang travel sama temen ato sendiri, apalagi kalau jadwalnya flexible. Menurut gw sih ini solusi banget. Kalo dapet, lanjut! Ga dapet [which is very unlikely, i think], yaudah main lg di Hongkong.

Major tips kalo ke china: DOWNLOAD OFFLINE TRANSLATION DI GOOGLE TRANSLATE sebelom masuk China. Kenapa? 1. Google di blok di china, imagine life w/o google guys! 2. Gw buta huruf cina! I literally said "thank you for speaking English" sama salah satu karyawan di salah satu resto di mall. jadi inget, download ini! Apps ini bisa live translate dari kamera! *mindblown*

Ok, ini sedikit sharing gw tentang visa-on-arrival di Shenzhen! Ohya, gw bikin post ini pake Bahasa Indonesia karena ini berkaitan dengan paspor Indonesia, dan yah yang punya paspor Indonesia kan orang2 Indo lah ya.. semoga bermanfaat!

Ohya, aku jaaauhhh lebih aktif di Instagram daripada blog ini, jadi untuk update yang lebih cepet atau kalau ada yang mau nanya2, monggo contact saya di @anthony.ali

GOD Bless~~

Brother Bird - Bali Lane

Hi there,
you might be wondering what's with the Kinfolk and 20?
Literally nothing. just a random shot I thought I'll make use for cover #LOL

Well, today I'll be sharing about this dessert I had yesteday!

Yeap.... Fresh!

After quite a number of planning-canceling rounds, I finally had the chance to try this infamous Brother Bird's soft-serve -- with their rice donut -- yesterday. Thanks to my cafe-hopping buddy who came to visit this merlion city!

First, let's see what we ordered:

Chocolate Bowl -- S$13.00
Petit donuts glazed with generous amount of chocolate sauce,
sprinkled with coconut crunch, and [dried] raspberries, we had it served with Taro soft-serve.

Liusa Bowl -- S$14.00
Liusa [Salted-egg yolk sauce] donuts sprinkled with salted cornflakes and dried strawberries,
we had it served with Cookie Butter soft-serve.

Freshly arrived -- Both of 'em.

Beautiful, aren't they?

Now before we talk much about these beautiful desserts, i need to inform you that Brother Bird is temporarily sharing the same place with Stateland Cafe [32 Bali Lane] -- 2 stores beside their previous location [30 Bali Lane] and -- as they're trying to find a new nest for themself.

Now let's head back to those bowls.

As mentioned above, we ordered Chocolate Bowl and Liusa Bowl, both comes with a choice of softserve [There are 2 soft serve flavours available -- Taro and Cookie Butter -- you can choose either one or better yet, mix 'em! :)] served on top of their infamous signature rice donuts.

Soft-serve wise, personally I like their Taro flavour better as it's rich and milky [in a good way] and you know taro and rich milk-y taste goes veeeeeerrrryyyyy well together. The other one -- Cookie Butter -- was okay.. but i guess there's a reason why everybody is talking about the Taro.

Rice donut was certainly not your everyday donuts as it's the chewy kind -- to me [and my friend] it tasted a bit like sweet potato balls [Bola Ubi] we have back in Indonesia. The only difference between the two was that the ones in chocolate bowl was full-thick-chewy kind while the one in liusa bowl was like a thin skin with oozing salted-egg yolk sauce inside. Both was okay, but if i am to choose, I'll go with liusa!

Not pretty, but anyway.. this was the chocolate rice donut. THICK.

That oozing liusa...

Yeap -- I know what you're thinking. #EverythingAlsoSaltedEgg here in Singapore.

Last but not least, I think it's advisable to share a bowl for at min. 2 pax -- Price, calorie, and portion-wise.

We ended up leaving some donuts unfinished.

Brother Bird
Instagram - @BrotherBirdBali
30 Bali Lane, Singapore [As mentioned above, they're temporarily sharing the same store with Stateland Cafe at 32 Bali Lane]

Do check out my Instagram @anthony.ali for more updated reviews and eatery! [as i'm waaaayyy more active there] :D THANKSS...

Salted-egg-yolk-over-charcoal-waffle battle.

A lil background,

I mentioned couple times in my instagram, and A LOT of times with whoever asking me for waffle-advise that i really recommend the Charcoal Gourmet Waffle -- with salted egg yolk sauce and earl grey lavender ice cream -- from Fat Cat Ice Cream Bar. It's just amazingly pleasing in the mouth. [not to mention it's picturisque].

THE Gourmet Charcoal Waffle -- Earl-Grey Lavender ice cream

I was kinda fixed. charcoal waffle = Fat Cat.

One day, i saw this post in Instagram saying that Twenty Grammes also have charcoal waffle, and it ALSO comes with salted egg yolk, and it's better than the other one -- which later i found in comment section it's refering to Fat Cat. 

And there i was, at Twenty Grammes, trying their charcoal waffle.

[I remember vividly it was Deepavali public holiday, and i spent the whole day feeling unwell due to severe flu. Thanks to my beloved sista for dragging me there, and turns out it did make me feels a lot better. XD]

The iconic 'pourshot'
Must-take, ya?! XD

Since the sauce sengek just now, rotate a bit and take some more lah..!

the un-glam side. XD

In my [humble] opinion -- personally i think Fat Cat will still be in the first place. Not only that the waffle texture itself was just to my liking [crispy outside - moist inside] their earl grey lavender ice cream was just.... [insert bigfatloveemoji here] i tried some 3 other flavours, earl grey lavender still the BEST. [period].

As for Twenty Grammes, if you like your waffle to be more pancake-ish kind, you'll love theirs [apparently a lot of people loves theirs -- or maybe i was just the lucky customer who got my waffle not so crispy that day]. Salted egg yolk sauce was more to the rough-er side compared to it's competitor. lastly -- again, it's based on my liking -- they don't serve lavender ice cream. 

Price [charcoal waffle, 1 scoop ice cream, salted egg yolk sauce]:

- Fat Cat: S$11.50 [could be different depending on the choice of ice cream]

- Twenty Grammes: S$12.00

Twenty Grammes -- Environment:

I put the menu extra large uh! can see better, right? :D 

Fat Cat Ice Cream Bar:
http://fatcat.sg
Instagram: @fatcatsg
Blk 416 Bedok North Avenue 2 #01-25, 460416
More Details: http://fatcat.sg/contact/

Twenty Grammes Cafe:
http://www.twentygrammes.comInstagram: @twentygrammes
753 North Bridge Road (S) 198721
Telp: 6717 1733
Email: info@twentygrammes.com
Operating Hours:Sunday - Thursday 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Friday  - Saturday 12:00pm - 01:00am

네네 치킨 NENE Chicken at Bedok Mall.

HOLAAAA...!

In today's post I will talk about this korean chicken fast food chain restaurant: NENE Chiken. Yup it's like "yes..yes.. chiken". After passing by their outlet couple times at bedok mall, I finally decided to give it a try. 

After hearing their explanation to the customer in front of me, I learnt that - if you're buying a set - after you choose your set [basically the part of chicken and the portion], you get to choose your sauce, starter, sides, and drinks. <3<3

The initial plan was to try thier boneless chicken set, turns out they ran out of it, so...sure! i'll try the one with bones. [did I mention it's cheaper? Yasss.. Score!!] XD.  I choose Set Meal [2 pcs - $7.90], Freaking Hot sauce [cause there's a lil 대박 written there], Corn Salad as starters, Buffalo Sticks as sides, and Orange Juice. I did asked the cashier for recommendation, he said their fav sauces was Swicy and Freaking Hot. *smirk*

Buzzz...buzz.. and there's my food, ready to pick. 

How hot can a Freaking Hot sauce - in singapore - be, right? Or that's what I thought. As a spicy eater + Indonesian [dunno if it helps :p] i'm quite confident with my 'heat' resistance. After I took the tray, took out my cam, and was busy taking pics of my food. Then "why don't take an in-hand pics?" so i lifted the chicken with my [gloved] hand. once i put it back, and wanting to take my glove off to keep my cam before i officially start eating. that's when i lick the sauce as i'm taking off my glove. kinda anticipating just how hard it will kick me, when suddenly it went BBBAAAMMM! Turns out they're not kidding nor bluffing when they decide the name. BURNING HOT. So hot i need to scrape down the sauce, and still finish the whole cup of orange juice and salad on my first piece.

If you're wondering if it was a good meal.. it was. the chicken was quite nice in a sense that it's not dried up and even with the sauce covering you can still taste the crunchy - fried chicken - skin. The salad was nice as well...I mean it was corn and sliced crabsticks mixed with mayo.. so unless you're very unlucky, then it'll be bad. The other thing i need to mention is the Buffalo Sticks. it was aweeesssoooomeeee.... not sure if they have it here in singapore, but i think it tasted quite similar to A&W's Curly fries back in Indonesia. Like some seasoned fries which actually seasoned before they fry it [i think]? 

So overall, i liked it. Most probably will come back. To all of you spice-lover out there. You might wanna try this, and tell me what you think. 

To all Moslem friends, this one is Halal!

Here's some pictures:

The Menu
Not sure why they don't have the corn salad written there but yeah..it's there. New menu - perhaps?

The Set
2 chickens, 1 salad, 1 fries, 1 drink, 1 plastic-disposable-glove.

Buffalo Sticks

Star of the night: THE CHICKEN ITSELF!!

It was ssssooo hot i can't finish it.
It was the first time i didn't finish a fried chicken because it's hot [spicy].

NENE CHICKEN

website | instagram | facebook

The Star Vista // Bedok Mall // *SCAPE // The Seletar Mall // ONE KM

That's it for today! Do check out my instagram for more updates. :)

Bali Shot-Getaway

Hi all..!

I decided to go ahead making this blogpost after randomly open my blog and surprised by the number of pageviews! i was like wuaaaaaaa..! i'm not sure where all this pageviews from [most probably from instagram] but thanks!

Anyway - last week, I went to Bali for the 2nd time in my whole life. Best part is I was there only for about less than 48 hours. So this post will cover some of the things we [yup! i meet some of my colleague-friends there] do to sieze the precious Bali-Experience.

So, we all went to Bali for a good reason: attending one of our colleague's wedding. Thank GOD it was on saturday, so uuu-yeah...we got 1-extra-day to so called explore bali.

The Wedding

It was my first time attending such wedding. It was SSSSSSSOOOOO BEAUTIFUL. [Thanks Frans and Yessie!] A private wedding held at The Asmara Luxury Villa, Nusa Dua - Bali with only 6 tables, super romantic decorations, very good music, and of course - great food. It's like no-strangers kinda feeling? i mean since the groom and bride personally knows all the invitee, i think it'll be more meaningful for both of them. [when all weddings you've attended was so big - some of the invitee not even care of the event itself, you get amazed.]

I was grateful enough I can make it on time for the 2nd session. [eventhough it was dark by then so i didn't get to see the beach and the entire 1st session of the wedding]

so here are some pics!

Dat coaster is their invitation - it was designed by the bride herself. How lovely is that???

tryin' to catch some photos from my seat was a bit... challenging?

With da Bride!

There were LOTs of foods, but silly me - I only took this one.
[and it's my first time trying this thing. pretty good!]

We-fie wif da bride!

You can't leave ugly-face behind, can you?
[ps. love this shot!]

The Holiday

After a good night sleep at The Swissbel hotel rainforrest. Here comes the morning..! And yessss..some of us decided to get ourself a lil bit of more of what bali can offer. Since we only have less than 12 hours. We got ourself a local tour-guide, a car, and a driver to help us ticking our list.

1st: Surviving 'Pia Legong' queue.

If you don't know what it is, you might head up to their web here, but then it's in Indonesian, and if you're indonesian most probably you've heard it cause it's incredibly famous...
Soooo... ok i'll try my best, to make it simple - it's something like a round shaped pastry with generous fillings, comes in 3 filling flavours: Cheese, Chocolate, and Mungbean (green bean). Personally i LOVE their cheese, runner up is the chocolate, and i think the other one is just like the least favourite.

This outlet is rather interesting [some of you might heard of the rumor] cause apparently each person can only buy 2 boxes. [period] you can't even re-queue and buy another 2 boxes. [I actually witnessed a guy who's trying to re-queue, turns out the employee recognised him and not letting him to buy more. how awesome is that?] So if you're planning to buy in bulks, you might wanna consider pre-ordering. It's not the one-day-ahead pre-order. it's more like 1-2 weeks ahead!

How to order? according to the website, there are only 2 ways to do so: 1st is to come to their store [which is a bit impossible if you're a tourist] - 2nd is to order by phone at:+62 8118 77777.

YASSS!!! Survived the queue!
it was quite intimidating to see how many people q-ing. but turns out it's a quick one..!

2nd: Indulge in local delights.

When in Bali - Eat Suckling Pig [Babi Guling in indonesian]. [they say]
We've heard of the famous Babi Guling Ibu Oka, but instead of going there, our local tour guide recommend us to try the less-touristy one [and perhaps more local-choice] called Babi Guling Gianyar "Warung Pande Oka".  

As mentioned on my instagram post, we were there around 12pm something, and they're finishing their 3rd whole-pig by then. o.o

Babi Guling Gianyar "Warung Pande Oka" idr.50K [est. S$5] veggies not included.
you can order the one with the toppings being put together with the rice for a cheaper choice [idr.35K]

Apparently i'm not a big fan of suckling pig. it's not that it wasn't nice, it's just not for me, i guess.

3rd: SPA

SPA in Bali, sounds perfect, isn't it? yeaahh.. we think so..! So we requested it to our tour guide, and he made a reservation at Bali Orchid Spa, and even get us a special price for the package! a short review: the massage was sssssssooooo good! really.

Orchid Lulur Package - 2Hours for only idr.400K [u.p. US$70]. YAY!!

Unglam explosion before spa.

Ginger tea! [not sure if it's complimentary or included in the package] 

playing OOTD cause it seems artsy. [apparently i fail XD]

4th: Domba Coffee Factory

Oh! so you call yourself a coffee-lover?
Did you know there are male and female coffee bean?
Did you know that drinking 1 to 3 glass of coffee a day is good for your health? [strictly NO SUGAR]
Did you know .... .... ....

The thing is, we learnt a lot in the factory, and it was a really good experience. We even get a free coffee! thanks to mr. tour guide for adding this into our list!

preparing our coffee-testing session

Coffee from male coffee bean, known to have zero acidity. EXTREMELY bitter, in a good way.
[the only not-good part was the price]

Mandatory proof-shot! XD

5th: ICE CREAAAAMMMM

Finaleeeeehhhh it's time for the famous gelato in town: Gusto Gelato. We [or rather I] have heard of it, and we're not missing it! paid our visit to their outlet in Bali, and as expected. it was awesome!

We ordered The Cone - idr.24K [each came with 2 scoops of gelatos of your choice]

You know when you go into a gelato place and they have like A LOT of flavours and even though you can only have 2 scoops on your cone, the best thing is you can try as much as you want!
Guess what we found there? CHOCOLATE CHILI FLAVOUR. know what? I TRIED and IT WAS GOOD! first you can only taste the rich chocolate flavour, and just when you're about to say it's not spicy at all, THEN the chili raise and be like U-UH.. HERE I AM. #lol

After a good session of "can i try this" and "what about that one", we finally made up our minds and choose our 2 scoops.

Happy Troops! 

Cheers!
Strawberry sorbet ✖ Snickers // Chocolate ✖ Mascarpone crunchy chocoChoco-avocado ✖ Stracciatella // Crocante ✖ Mint choco

Mine!  Choco-avocado ✖ Stracciatella

6th: Dinner

Again, as per our tour guide's recommendation, we had our dinner at Warung Sunset for more pork delights. This time, it match me! i was like "this is more like it" Personally i really...really...really recommend the crispy pork belly. Say no more, let the pictures do the talk.

'Iga Bakar Madu' / Honey Pork Ribs
Half Slab - idr.135K++

Crispy Pork Belly
idr.120K++

Crispy Pata [Pork Knuckle]
idr.160K

And that's pretty much the end of our 1-day-bali adventure.... headed back to the airport, and went back to singapore.

oh wait! there's some more

At a random paddy fields to catch the sunset, but ended up taking some unglam frames instead.
cannot even see the sunset! 

Lastly, a we-fie with our friendly tour guide and driver at the airport

Don't forget to check out my instagram @anthony.ali for more update! Thanks.. :D

---

Pia Legong // www.pialegong.com

Jl. By pass Ngurah Rai, Ruko Kuta Megah 15 Kuta-Bali
Phone: +62 8118 77777
Opening Hours : 9am - 3pm

Bali Orchid Spa // baliorchidspa.com

Jl. By Pass Ngurah Rani No 108 Suwung - Kauh - Kuta Bali - Indonesia
Phone: +62 361 8831319, 8473338, 8841999
Mobile: +62 81 337 007778
Fax: +62 361 8473365
email: info@baliorchidspa.com
Opening Hours: 9am - 11pm

Domba Coffee HQ // domba.coffee

Jl. Mertanadi II No. 77 Abian Base, Kuta, Bali 80361, Indonesia
Telp: +62 361 4727268 / +62 361 4727269
Mobile: +62 851 00421164
Fax +62 361 4727267
email: one@dombacoffee.com

Gusto Gelato Caffe // gusto-gelateria.com

Jl. Mertanadi No. 46B, Kuta Utara, Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia

Warung Sunset // warungsunsetbali.com

JL.Sunset Road Boulevard, Kuta - Bali
Phone: +62 361 894 7322
Mobile: +62 81 338 926 821