Lunch at Union, Jakarta

Hello!

Had a short work trip to Jakarta so I asked to meet up with my friend Stella!

Stella is an Indonesian beauty blogger that I met back in... 2012 when we were both sent to Seoul by Etude House Korea! She found out I was one of the bloggers going on the trip as well so she contacted me & suggested that we extend our trip together. Which we did!

Surprisingly none of the other bloggers extended their trips, so at the end of the 2-3 days of Etude House events, we checked out & switched to another hotel together. And the 2 of us went to sightsee for a few more days! If you're bored you can take a look at my post on Everland (theme park) & Dongdaemun + Hongdae (shopping).

Anyhow, it was my first time to Jakarta (I think & if I can't recall any it means I was too young anyway). In all honesty... everybody I asked said there isn't much to see in Jakarta hahaha T_T The things friends did mention worth doing were namely... massages & hair treatments! Both of which I wasn't yearning to do. So I guess it was down to the usual eating + shopping (Singaporean hobbies)!

Naturally I asked Stella to bring me to a cafe where we can take nice pictures!

That's the good thing of hanging out with bloggers; they know what makes a good picture haha.

And you don't have to feel embarrassed about selfies...

The sad truth about my all-time favourite food (pasta) - it is generally unphotogenic

Have you ever seen an appealing picture of Bolognese? I haven't.

That was my Mushroom Truffle pasta which was good!

Overall the food at Union is pretty good. Thumbs up!

Fresh OJ & my Ice Lychee Tea.

I love fruit teas actually & lychee is possibly my favourite.

Long Time No Selfie

YOU KNOW I HAD NO IDEA THIS WAS A CRONUT.

I've heard about Cronuts for the longest time because they're apparently the latest craze in the States with people queuing hours for it. For those who don't know what a Cronut is, it's basically a combination of a Croissant & a Donut. Hence the Cro-Nut.

However I had never seen a picture of one, nor any in real life before.

The menu called it a "Flaky Donut" & we even asked the waiter to explain what that was.

Not once did he mention it was a Cronut. I guess he doesn't know either.

I had no idea till someone commented on my Instagram picture of it!

Anyhow, this particular dessert was good! As for the Cronut itself... it's just a round croissant no?

What matters more is how it's paired e.g. with caramel & ice cream as above, or other toppings.

Good lighting calls for more pictures.

I haven't mentioned this online yet, but the silver Chanel necklace was a birthday present from Wendy, Yutaki, Qiuting & Shuyin! I love it! Couldn't have picked a better design!

Oh yeah & by the way here is finally Stella hahahaha:

 

Her hair is so pretty right now!

Aside from the gorgeous silvery-blonde colour, the way it's layered & curls frames the face so nicely.

Can't do this without cutting my hair by a lot though so... not ready for that yet haha.

This is why I don't smile with teeth anymore! >:(

Till next time Stella!

I also got a firsthand experience of the infamously crazy Jakarta jams :O

Even the hotel concierge warned to avoid heading out/back during the evenings! The shopping mall is less than 10 minutes' drive from my hotel but we took over an hour to get back! All because of ONE uturn that Stella had to make to avoid getting "fined" by the police for changing lanes (IKR wtf). We left the mall around 5.15pm & when I finally got back it had turned dark lol.

Basically we were in the middle lane but needed to take the left lane. However some children on the road warned that the police was catching people further ahead for changing lanes! Insane! In no context is changing lanes (safely) a driving offence, except of course when the police want some money for their "kopi" or whatever else. So... we had to uturn to get back on the correct lane & that took almost an hour! :O

Stella mentioned that every day it can take up to 3 hours for her to get home because of the jams. And that because of the incertitude of traffic situations, no one is really expected to be on time & it's not uncommon to arrive after events have already ended, or for events to start an hour late to cater to this.

Madness. If I lived in Jakarta I might just take the train :O 

I can't imagine being stuck in a car for 2-3 hours, barely inching along!

So basically... don't go anywhere during peak hours haha. 

Either stay out or stay in till it's (somewhat) over!

Other than that... well the malls look somewhat like Singapore's.

Lots of high-end boutiques & mid-range brands.

Cafes are worth a visit though! The food is good & much cheaper compared to Singapore.

Ok tata!

The Girl That Is Not Me

Found this in my drafts, dated 5 August 2011.

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I shall begin an extremely long and pointless post on The Girl That Is Not Me, who is actually me but just a much better version of me such that she is clearly no longer me because if that were me then uh... I wouldn't be the me that is me now. Let me explain.

I don't know if the rest of you are like me, but basically I can spend a huge amount of time dreaming/daydreaming.

The Girl That Is Not Me

In my daydreaming, The Girl That Is Not Me is actually me, but with the perfect body and the perfect face. She is also extremely rich and extremely clever.

The Girl That Is Not Me usually has a double degree in whatever the 2 hardest degrees Harvard has to offer (of which I have no clue) (I could never decide if I wanted her to be an intellectual, or a brainiac - a neuro, bio, whatever-o scientist). She usually is also pursuing a Masters/Doctorate in both or a degree in something else completely unrelated like Medicine, just because she can.

And she has done all this but she's never above the age of 22.

She also is extremely fit and knows martial arts. Hahahaha.

I don't actually know how she looks like. The Girl That Is Not Me never had a face, nor a name. I just know she is awesome in every aspect. In my daydreams I know she is clearly not me/I am clearly not her. Giving her my name is just... yuck. And giving her another name is just too problematic. What would be the perfect name for The Girl That Is Not Me?
So basically in my daydreams I just float around in her psyche and bask in her awesome-ness.

Dreaming/Daydreaming

Now what do I mean by dreaming/daydreaming (to be used together)? Sometimes I begin daydreaming (usually at night in my bed) and here it is clearly a construct made entirely with my brain. But often I fall asleep and my dream picks up from my daydream, just that it obviously puts some retarded twist to it.

Which is how The Girl That Is Not Me ended up as an ex-CIA agent with a young son running away from the CIA who want to kill her because she knows too much.

This part is CLEARLY a dream, because so far I have never imagined myself as a secret agent. A witch (at Hogwarts), a cheerleader, a teacher... yes. A secret agent? No, never.

And also my lucid brain is not retarded enough imagine myself with a child. I sometimes daydream of The Girl That Is Not Me saving children (based on whatever book I had just read) but the daydream kind of ends there because I am only 21 years old and the maternal instinct is not exactly kicking in yet.

Back to my story.

Now you enter the point where it's a dream/daydream. You're still floating in and out of sleep, but your brain directs some parts of how the story unfolds.
The lucid half of my brain decides that my child looks like it should be a 2 year old, so that's established, while the non-lucid half goes on an imagination rampage.

The Girl That Is Not Me Falls In Love

The non-lucid half of my brain, decides that I run away with my child and hop on the train, getting off 2 stops later at a small town where I fall in love with a handsome guy.... that lives in a caravan. WITH HIS GRANDMA.

At this point I'm more awake, so the lucid half of my brain wrestles control over the story.

My lucid brain knows the Grandma is highly problematic because HELLO?! I AM RUNNING AWAY FROM THE CIA LEH. GRANDMA CAN RUN ANOT.

The lucid part of my brain also finds it a bit disturbing that the brilliant, wealthy Harvard valedictorian Girl That Is Not Me should fall for a bum, who is very cute but has no job and lives with his grandma -_-
Like all characters in my daydreams, I have no idea how this guy looks like. I just know for a fact that he's cute.

But never mind, I decide that this is all very new and interesting compared to my usual daydreams, and anyway The Girl That Is Not Me has enough money for everyone to live in absolute luxury.

So I decide that the Grandma should be "gotten rid of" from my daydream by leaving her at her friend's place. After all, it's not safe for her. The Girl That Is Not Me can take on a lot of CIA agents, but there's a limit.
Grandma also conveniently dies peacefully in her sleep a few days later so that we don't need to worry about going back to get her.

I considered "getting rid of" my son (hahahaha) but was resigned to the fact that it was too intrinsic to my daydream; fault of my non-lucid brain.

The Plot Turns Deadly

And here I fell asleep again, so my stupid asleep-brain took over and turned the CIA agents into zombie-vampire-creatures and gave me the ability to fly (Woohoo! Awesome feeling even if it's just a dream!).

In my dream I set a whole building of CIA agents on fire (no pity since they're vampires).

Then I woke up again and continued the daydream all the way up to the point where I was supposed to break into the CIA Technology database to wipe out records of me. But the execution of this proved far too taxing on my brain to imagine the technicalities of.

The End

Congratulations! You just wasted 5 minutes of your life reading this.

Lavande

If you used to read my very old blogposts from when I was a young(er), avidly shaving teenager (oh god that word) before ever having really met boys & dating... you might remember that one of my life goals (in all semi-seriousness) was... to be hairless from the neck down.

I despised body hair. I still do, but as it goes... once you get into stable relationship you stop caring whether your legs are shaved. Ironically or not.

I did however, start waxing. Brazilian to be exact, meaning ALL OFF.

At likely the most painful area you could wax at (I suppose).

It actually started out as a simple I-will-try-it-at-least-once-before-I-turn-21 thing with my friend Sherry & once we had begun, it made more sense to continue (it gets less painful).

Long story short, I have been waxing for 2 - 3 years now & a few waxing therapists (I have never quite figured out what to refer to them as) began recommending that I switch to IPL.

Hence I began IPL sessions at Lavande!

Citylink Mall

1 Raffles Link #B1-09A S(039393)

Tel:  6238 8529

Details for the current promotional deal at the bottom :)

Lavande is conveniently located at Citylink Mall (which is linked to Cityhall MRT), so it's really accessible for those working in the town area. Plus lots of food & shops to see before/after!

I stuck to only Brazilian IPL; since many of you enquire about how I "keep such white armpits", I must be doing ok there hahaha (and the answer is that I do nothing other than shave). And since it was my first time trying out IPL, I decided against the legs as it's a pretty large area.

So on to my 1st session!

The IPL machine, which has various settings depending on the hair area, hair type & so on.

Oh yeah you wear these old-school glasses to protect your eyes from the UV rays I guess haha.

For OBVIOUS reasons I can't show any before/afters so here are some pictures from the pamphlets!

LOLOL when I saw these I was like "WAH!" & then sent it to male friends I felt needed IPL.

#TheVampireGotTheGirlNotTheWerewolf

#SmartMenKeepTheirBodyHairInCheck

2nd session!

(I've only had 2 thus far & my 2nd wasn't that long ago)

Was given this white skirt to wear #IPLOOTD

This is why I need Invisalign.

Lolol artistic or not?

I must have looked real stupid squatting outside the shop taking pictures above a fake lavender bush but I'm kind of long past the stage of caring when people see me take selfies.

#ActualOOTD

By the way Lavande also provides eyelash extensions, which is done at their outlet right next door!

Really convenient to get a few treatments done all at the same time!

I haven't tried their eyelash extensions (don't have any interest in extensions anytime soon) but I know they use a special technique developed in Korea!

If you're curious, you can take a look at the Dreamlash Korea Facebook HERE.

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Anyhow, here's to answer some quick FAQs again:

#1 DOES IT HURT?!

- Very minimally. It feels like a needle prick with each laser zap.

It is for one, definitely less painful than waxing.

#2 How long does it take?

- Really quick. The whole process took 10-15 minutes at most, which also includes some trimming & post-care & so on. Again, even faster than waxing.

#3 So what happens next?

- It takes about 3 weeks for the hair to start dropping. This is actually a mildly entertaining process.

It's not gross or anything as the hair is really short.

For actual thematics regarding IPL, IPL process & so on... please see Google.

I've had my second session already & the effect is definitely less drastic as compared to after the first, but that's also because there was much less hair to drop after the first treatment. Since starting IPL I haven't really had to shave/trim/wax as the growth is really minimal & by then, it's time for your next session! (recommended to be about every 4-6 weeks) Before your session you shouldn't trim TOO much anyway as the therapist needs to see the hair type & growth areas & so on.

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I really quite like the IPL process so far & would definitely be considering it for other areas eventually. I used to wax my legs as well, so I'll consider IPL for a more long-term solution.

Promotion:

Brazilian IPL trial at S$138 (usual S$480) & get a FREE underarm IPL session as well.

Simply quote my name to qualify :)

Lavande

Citylink Mall

1 Raffles Link #B1-09A S(039393)

Tel:  6238 8529