Jakarta, Indonesia

Jakarta, Indonesia,  Southeast Asia

By. Tyara P Hansel

The City
As a capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta sure has a lot of interesting to offer. Whether you’re an
adventurous traveler, party traveler or just looking for a new destination or your next family holiday, you will always find anything you want in the city. Jakarta is divided into five areas; Central Jakarta, West Jakarta, South Jakarta, East Jakarta and North Jakarta. Each area has its own uniqueness. Central Jakarta is popular for its business district, but it has also abundant of historical sites and museums. South Jakarta is possibly the hippest area of the city with numerous shopping centers (Pondok Indah Mall, Plaza Senayan, Senayan City, Lippo Mall Kemang and Lippo Mall Kemang –just to name a few), restaurants, bars and interesting hang out spots.

If you love some outdoor or aquatic activities, North Jakarta is the best place. From Ancol, you can take a boat ride to some beautiful islands of the city. Yes, you read that right. Jakarta has several islands that worth the visit, it’s called Kepulauan Seribu (Thousand Island), with many islands to discover including Tiger Island, Pramuka Island, Pari Island, and Tidung Island. If you’re looking for a nice object to shoot, spend a day at Taman Mini Indonesia Indah –a miniature of the archipelago- in East Jakarta, or if you want to shop for more, take a cab to two humongous malls in West Jakarta: Mall Taman Anggrek and Central Park, I’m pretty sure you won’t leave the mall empty handed.

The Food
If food is your main concern, then you can relax. The city has a wide range of food available for every pocket –from modest street hawkers to an exclusive fine dining restaurant, so you’ll be good. If you don’t have sensitive stomach, you can try some of the low budget streetside food stalls, as they offer local dishes in a very affordable price. Soto Betawi (coconut milk soup with gravy, mixed beef, lungs, liver, tripe and celery, usually served with rice and emping crackers), Kerak Telor (traditional spicy omelette dish made from glutinous rice cooked with egg and served with fried shredded coconut, fried shallots and dried shrimp topping), Nasi Gila (sausage, chicken, meatballs and lamb ladled liberally
over white rice and garnised with a handful of crackers) and Gado Gado (traditional salad consist of vegetables, tofu, potatoes and peanut sauce dressing) are a must-try. Or else, you can just point at any international restaurant in the city –from Chinese, German, Korean, Thai, American, French, Middle Eastern, Indian to Japanese food, Jakarta got it cover. One thing though, never drink the tap water anywhere.

The People
People are mixed, some are nice and friendly, and

Singapore, Republic of Singapore

Singapore, Pearl of Asia

By Siny Sebastian

Enter the realm of the Lion city and you are sure to be enthralled by the beautiful sights that this wonderful and vibrant country is proud to show the world. The enchanted metropolitan island city with its diversified cultures, cuisines and vivacious night life has been able to charm and allure multitudes of modern globetrotter to its shore.
One of the most remarkable features of this island country is that it has been able to constitute 50 % of its area with greenery along with modern sky touching scrapers and subways. In spite of being one of the most densely populated countries, it still has 50 major parks and 4 national reserves within the small area and for this reason it is called the Garden City.
A look back into the history tells how the country got its name from the Malay word “Singapura”. According to the legend, Sang Nila Utama, a Srivijayan prince, landed on the island and, catching sight of a strange creature that he thought was a lion, decided to found a new city and thus “Singapura” or the “Lion City” was born.
Tourism is a major industry in Singapore and therefore we readily accept and seize any new and future oriented trends in leisure and entertainments. As a result of which, tourists consider Singapore as a place which is always full of fresh and new surprises and as a place worthy of repeat visits.
The diversity that the country offers in terms of religion, language, cultures are unparalleled when compared to its size. Tourists are able to communicate easily with the local people since English is one of the main languages along with Chinese, Malay and Tamil. Due to multiculturalism, there is no single set of culturally acceptable behavior.  People are of friendly nature and it is not uncommon to see shopkeepers and customers of multiple races engaging in animated conversations.

Singaporean food cuisine is touted as the potpourri of all cuisines. Food in particular is a steal, since
there is an extensive array of mouth - watering cuisines to satisfy every palate. The legendary hawker centers and coffee houses are open 24/7 and furthermore it is possible to relish these excellent hawker foods for under $5 for a generous serving. It is a paradise for the food lovers since they can try the local favorites like Laksa, roti prata or Chilli Crab or indulge in the international cuisines like Mexican, South East Asian, American, European and Middle Eastern cuisine in this clean city.  International fast food joints such as McDonald’s, KFC can also be seen in most of the shopping malls and is very much visible throughout the region.
Due to the excellent public transport system, it’s very much easy to move around the region. Most of the citizens travel by using bus, train and taxis. Train mode consists of both MRT and LRT. Taxis are also