amanda purba

Extending my stay at COO Hostel after a business trip on friday urged me to try a breakfast spot nearby. Located in Tiong Bahru, a cafe & bakery called Tiong Bahru Bakery catches my eyes when we were wandering around the night before to find some food.

I visited their store in the neighborhood area at Eng Hoon, it's pretty crowded even it's still 8 in the morning. So if you want to visit the store, i suggest you to go at 07.30 or 08.00 a.m, but if you just want to take out then it's fine to visit anytime.

I'm pretty proud of myself about this. Why should i? Because i didn't do any diet nor hired a Personal Trainer.

Back in the days, i used to be an athlete who had a routine. I should maintain my stamina, hence i maintain my daily "intake" properly. Plus, my dad hates junk food so much. He won't let me and my siblings eat more than one kind of junk food every two weeks.

When i started to work, i gained 6 kilos due to diet mess. I eat when i'm bored, when i'm stressed, basically every time (aren't we all?) and i eat all the carbs that i found: noodle, jasmine rice, sweet potato, potato in every way: mashed, fried and all that stuff.

But then i realized, i feel full. All the time. and i hate that feeling.

Not literally full because of eating, but i feel that my body absorbs massive intake, it makes me feel heavy and move slowly, and i became lazy because of it.

Then i came with an idea to do: "Food Combining". Food combining basically is more like differentiate your meals based on the character of each component. But as for me, since i don't really understand about the component in each meal, i'm rephrasing the definition of Food Combining to be more like = i can eat anything with less carbs in it, so i can have a better result for an ideal weight.

First thing first, i know i can't change my lifestyle in a day, so i started with:

1. Drink a glass of water right after i wake up

Girls, this is the secret of having good metabolism (at least for me) and to reduce body fat. Do it every day, before you do anything. If you don't believe me, check this article out : Killer morning habit

and don't forget, drink more in the middle of a day than in the evening because it leads to hormonal balance and help you lose your weight and stay hydrated. Just imagined a vehicle lack of oil, the same thing happens to your body as well if you don't drink enough water for the day.

2. Change my breakfast pack

I used to eat noodle, fried rice or nasi uduk in the morning, then i changed it into "oats and friends". I hate it at first, because i don't really like oats and those stuff. But then i came with the idea that i have to "play" with them.

So i bought two kinds of Muesli (My favorite is Kolln) : Yoghurt Strawberry & Oats and Chocolate Brittle. I used to mix both of it with Chia Seeds and Chocolate Milk served cold.

Got a chance to visit the capital city of Serbia, Belgrade on mid august 2016 gave me a whole new experience to see the other part of the European world. Never thought i'm going to visit this city (even this country), but a phone call from my uncle leads me to a completely different decision. Have you imagined what Serbia looks like?

Just flew to Melbourne for a short holiday a couple days ago, and i fell in love with this city already. Have a different ambiance from Sydney, Melbourne has its own charm to comfort me with their COFFEE! The culture to sit back, relax and drink your coffee seems affect me more than i thought.

To be honest, i think Oz need some effort to impress me at first. Sydney doesn't leave anything memorable, so i don't expect much from Melbourne. I flew here to watch Coldplay only, but then i think it's a good idea to extend for a few days just to see what people said as The Most Livable City in The World.

Then i asked my boss who had lived in this city back then, and she gave me a must-visit list (almost all of them were cafes haha)

I just got 4 days and 3 nights to stroll around. And there's a cafe, probably you've heard about it, called St. Ali, that stole my heart for the first time.

It's a bit hard to find this place unless you can spot the iconic little statue on its door with no sign at all. The white bricks building was confusing yet surprising me, knowing that this is once a garage.

Kawaguchiko is one of the most beautiful lake i ever seen, one of the five lake that lie at the foot of Mount Fuji along with Lake Yamanaka, Lake Saiko, Lake Motosu and Lake Shoji.

We went there by the end of February, and it's still freezing due to windy weather occurred. But it's worth it :)

Mount Fuji view from Kawaguchiko Lake

Starting early from Shibuya, we went to the Kawaguchiko by bus. It took 2.5 hours to get there, longer than if you went from Shinjuku. The ticket cost us JPY 3,500 and we spent another JPY 1,200 to buy 2-days pass for sightseeing bus. Yes, they don't sell one day pass for the sight-seeing bus called Omni Bus.

Focusing on the red line instead of Green line, our first stop was Kawaguchiko Music Forest. Kawaguchiko Music Forest is a museum that has many valuable music boxes that Medieval European royals and aristocrats used to enjoy.




They also had the biggest orgel, which echoed every hour in the main hall.

The admission ticket cost us JPY 1,500. But if you visit it in the afternoon (after 3 p.m), you'll get 50% discount.

Since we went there on winter season, we couldn't see the rose garden at its best. But luckily, i can buy this beautiful and pretty Sakura Wine that taste unpredictably sweet.

Move along, we took another ride with sightseeing bus and see an instagram-able spot near the lake and spent 2 hours more or less taking pictures of one another.

We took a lunch afterwards, too bad i didn't try the famous local dish called Hoto because we were so in hurry to go back to the place located in latest station of the red line bus.

The name of this place is Kawaguchiko Shizen Sekatsu-kan (Natural Living Center).

to be honest, i can sit here all day long doing nothing if it's not because of the windy weather. But staying here until the latest bus came was worth to try. you can see the beauty of Mount Fuji surrounded by the bushes and birds as you can see in my picture below.

i was mesmerized with the magical view that Mount Fuji and Kawaguchiko Lake offered, i think i'll go back here with my family one day to try the famous onsen with this incredible view. Maybe staying here for a day or two won't hurt at all.