Ordos City 鄂爾多斯 | Inner Mongolia 內蒙, China

Mongolia is one of my bucket list to explore as it has a great scenery and unique culture. And now I have chance to visit Inner Mongolia. I believe not all of you know what is the different between Mongolia and Inner Mongolia, so do I, hehehe, or I'm the only one? :(

Mongolia is a country that already independent from China and Inner Mongolia is an autonomous region of China. Both have same ethnic group and language. So, when you come to Inner Mongolia, the visa you need to prepare is China visa. 

Let's begin the adventure to explore Inner Mongolia 內蒙! 

Flight to Inner Mongolia is quiet rare, and this time we got charter flight to come here. From Jakarta to Batam takes 1.5 hours and continue to Hohhot Baita International Airport (HET) around 6.5 hours. Quiet long long long journey but it's worth it. 

Weather here is quiet dry and large temperature different between morning and night especially after raining the temperature become cooler. So the important things to prepare is hand & body cream, lip balm, and jacket. Also need to drink enough water to keep you healthy during your journey. 

You still can use Mandarin to communicate but also they have Mongolia Language besides. Beside Mongolian live here, also there are Chinese people that mutate to Inner Mongolia. The city is quiet clean and weather is very nice. Sunshine with cool wind is the best. 

Better to rent car with you for group trip since I don't think public transportation here can be useful for tourist and also you will move from one to another city. 

First stop we visit Genghis Khan Square in Ordos 鄂爾多斯, around 40 minutes from the airport. Genghis Khan 成吉思汗 is the founder and the first Great Khan of Mongolia Empire. His original name is Temujin 鐵木真, he is the oldest son from his Dad second wife. His Dad died when he was 9, his enemy tribe give him poison in the banquet when he come. In Mongolia tradition when people welcome you with banquet you need to eat/drink it as a form of respect and so his Dad died when drink it.

His Dad leave a message to Genghis Khan to revenge to his enemy and when Genghis Khan grow up he do what his Dad told him. Famous by his kindness and care of his people and he is the one that unite Mongolia from many tribe into one unity.

He change the rule in Mongolia : don't kill children and elder & respect to your leader. What is children? When the height same as train wheels.

Currently people more familiar with Kubilai Khan which is Gengis Khan grandson, for detail you can watch the Genghis Khan movie, personally I like the movie. It told a lot.

Until now there is no one know how Genghis Khan died and no one found his body. People guess there are 3 possibility :

1. Struck by lightning : Mongolian very respect to God of thunder 
2. Died while fighting and people hide his body in order to keep the concentrate of his army 
3. Died after have night with Xi Xia 西夏 mistress. Every time Genghis Khan won the war, the city whose lost need to prepare a beautiful mistress to have night with him. Once upon a time Genghis Khan win the war with Xi Xia 西夏 and Xi Xia King 西夏皇帝 offer him the most beautiful mistress and the next day, Genghis Khan died. Our guide said : Think what can happened in 1 night till people died :)

As mention in the 3rd point he has many mistress to service him every time he won, until now based on the study, the most descent in the world is Genghis Khan descent. Maybe we also Genghis Khan descent :)

The square is quiet big and you can found huge Genghis Khan statue there also you can take a picture with Mongolian traditional clothing by local stand there. As I remember RMB 10 per people per photos.

Face without morning shower, direct from airport :)

RMB 20 for this one, he will directly print out for you under that blue umbrella :)

So here is Ordos, famous as ghost city. Wait, don't judge it. Before, Ordos is a prosper city, there are source of coal and they sell it so their have enough income and have world class construction but after that they face big problem, pollution. So they stop to dig the coal and there is no other jobs so people come back to big city and leave Ordos. Until now, there is only few apartment is lived. Living expenses in Ordos is quiet same with Beijing, therefore so many people choose to leave it.

Mongolia Language, Mandarin, and English

Bus station I think, but I didn't see any bus coming

Wind is very windy and it doesn't hot anymore, but UV is exist

蒙 for Mongolia

Our first lunch in Mongolia

Common things you'll found on Mongolian dishes : sheep meat, everything carbo food such as pancake, mantou 饅頭, other cake. 

Here is from Ordos and we continue to other territory!

Gunung Pancar & Leuwi Hejo | Sentul, Indonesia

Belakangan ini tanggal merah suka banget jatuhnya di tengah - tengah hari kerja alhasil cuman punya 1 hari libur kejepit, yang bikin galau mau jalan - jalan atau hibernasi di rumah. Kali ini kebetulan kita lagi pengen jalan - jalan tapi yang santai gitu bisa pergi pagi dan pulang gak terlalu sore biar gak cape besoknya harus kerja lagi.

Cari - cari tujuan di sekeliling Jakarta yang model pemandangan alam gitu yang bisa menghirup udara segar, maklum weekday udah hirup debu terus hehe. Kali ini kita pengen ke daerah Sentul yang lagi hits dengan Gunung Pancar.

Gunung Pancar

Jam 6 pagi kita berangkat dari Jakarta menuju Sentul yang kebetulan pagi itu jalanan lancar sekali, kurang lebih 1 jam kita udah sampai di exit tol Sentul Selatan.

Untuk arah jalan silahkan di Google Map aja, nama lokasinya "Taman Wisata Alam Gunung Pancar". Pokoknya keluar dulu exit tol Sentul Selatan terus tinggal ikutin Google Map, nanti lewatin Jungle Land, masjid dan jalanan kecil gitu, pokoknya kalau ikutin Google Map jalanan-nya aman kok guys sampe tujuan :)

Disarankan bawa mobilnya jangan yang ceper, karena medan-nya agak gajluk - gajluk alias jalanan kurang bagus dan naik turun yang terjal. Juga skill nyetirnya harus memadai karena jalannya udah sempit tapi buat 2 arah jadi kalau kebetulan papasan dengan mobil lain, jaraknya itu hanya 2cm kali ya antar mobil. Serem boo. Kalau gak yakin sama skill nyetir sendiri, lebih aman bawa aja driver aja.

Mungkin kalo gue yang nyetir udah teriak - teriak di dalam mobil :)

Berhubung kemarin weekend, entrance fee-nya IDR 15k untuk mobil dan IDR7.5k per orangnya dibayarkan di pintu masuk dan ada karcisnya biar gak ketipu.

Jadi waktu sampai di pintu masuk akan ada petugas yang lihat ke dalam mobil untuk hitung jumlah orang dan langsung dibayarkan.

Yang untuk karcis mobil itu udah termasuk tiket si driver jadi kalau isi mobilnya ada 5 orang, bayarnya 1 karcis mobil dan 4 karcis perorangan.

Setelah itu mulai deh keliatan pohon pinus-nya dan jalanan gunung nanjak gitu, kemarin kita sempet kelewatan sampai jauh sekali ke perkampungan di dalamnya. Jadi tempat wisatanya itu gak jauh dari pintu masuk yang banyak payung dan ada tempat parkirnya. Iya, bener, itu ajah, kalau pemandian air panas-nya naik lagi, beda tempat masuk.

Hutan pinus dan cahaya matahari di pagi hari

Ternyata tempatnya gak terlalu besar juga. Kemarin kita sampai kelewat jauh karena kita pikir masih di atas lagi ternyata dari pintu masuk gak terlalu jauh inilah tempat wisatanya.

Tempat parkirnya seperti di kiri foto, di tengah - tengah pohon pinus gitu, seru kan

Tapi pastinya bagus buat foto dan seger banget udaranya, relax banget deh.

Yang harus diperhatikan itu spot foto disana berbayar kecuali foto di alam bebasnya, nah harga-nya itu mulai dari IDR 15k per-orang per-spot nanti si abang-nya akan fotoin pakai kamera kita, silahkan keluarkan jurus tawar menawar kalian.

Abangnya duduk aja nungguin kita diskusi mau nawar menawar hahah

Perahu yang buat spot foto kayak gini wujud aslinya

Foto aja yang banyaakkk iyaaa yang banyaaakkkk

Masih banyak spot foto lain yang berbayar, tinggal pilih aja sesuai selera tapi menurut gue gak usah banyak - banyak juga keluar uang hanya untuk spot foto karena foto di tengah pohon pinus aja udah bagus. 

Kalau kebelet disini juga ada WC dekat parkiran, IDR 3k per-orang. Jadi siapkan banyak receh ya kalau kesini.

Karena kemarin datangnya pas bulan puasa jadi yang jualan makanan tutup semua tapi sepanjang jalan ada warung - warung gitu yang mestinya ramai kalau hari biasa.

Selesai asik foto, dikasih tau sama tukang foto-nya tentang Leuwi Hejo. Dia recommend banget kesana karena katanya bagus, pas di Google ternyata emang bagus dan gak terlalu jauh sekitar 50 menit dari Gunung Pancar.

Leuwi Hejo

Spontan kita langsung beralih kesana. Yeay!

Tinggal ikutin Google Maps "Curug Leuwi Hejo" aja biar ga nyasar - nyasar, jalanan nya itu - itu aja kok karena uda susah medannya kalo jalannya belok belok cabang cabang lagi nanti ga ada yang mo kesana kali ya hahahaha

Medan jalanan untuk ke Leuwi Hejo lebih menakjubkan ketimbang Gunung Pancar, lebih terjal dan berlika - liku juga lebih sempit. Kemarin ketemu banyak mobil jeep kayak-nya seru. Jadi sekali lagi disarankan untuk bawa mobil yang agak tinggi dan cc cukup ketimbang repot di tengah jalan :)

Benar ini jalanan menuju Leuwi Hejo, dan ini untuk 2 arah ya, boleh dipertimbangkan skill  nyetirnya hehe

Mampir ngopi dulu di warung lokal segerrrr

Ada spot foto juga di deket warung

Entrance fee untuk mobil IDR 15k nanti begitu sampai gerbang akan ada pos dan petugas yang keluar  dan bisa masuk untuk parkir lalu jalan kaki ke dalam. Nah nanti di dalam akan ada pintu masuk yang harus bayar entrance fee IDR 15k per orang-nya.

Banyak banget biji kopi yang dijemur, baik di lapangan parkir, di pinggir jalan dimana - mana sepanjang jalan menuju Leuwi Hejo

Mulai dari gerbang butuh jalan kaki sekitar 40 menit sampai tujuan. Ada juga motor yang masuk tapi karena kita gak bawa motor jadi gak tau apakah itu penduduk sana atau memang pengunjung yang bawa motor. 

Lumayan buat olah raga, segarrrrr dan ngos - ngosan.

Pakailah sepatu yang enak atau sendal jepit karena jalanan-nya batuan dan akan melewati jalan di hilir si air kalau takut basah lebih baik langsung sendal jepit biar langsung nyebur

Sayangnya karena kemarin gak rencana kesini jadi kita gak ada yang pakai sendal jepit jadi gak nyebur deh huhuhu.

Kalau gak bisa mandi kayak mereka, airnya dingin seger

Asri banget ya pemandangannyaaaaaa

Kalau nyali kalian cukup berani lompat - lompat di batu ini akan jadinya kayak foto ini hahaha

Ada beberapa toilet disini, pastinya bayar ya guys, jadi siapin recehan yang banyak kalo beser

Kalau ditanya siapa yang puas sama pemandangan alam disini?

Saya puas :) 

 Tips :

• Pakai sepatu yang nyaman buat jalan karena akan jalan banyak dan jalanan bebatuan 

• Pakai baju yang nyaman, cuaca-nya agak sejuk tapi kalo udah hiking panas booo sampe lepek keringetan dan tas-nya yang aman dan gak berat biar nyaman jalan jauh, barang yang gak perlu tinggal aja di mobil

• Bawa recehan yang banyak karena diperlukan untuk bayar parkir, bayar toilet, bayar tiket masuk 

• Penting banget buat bawa mobil yang cc cukup dan gak ceper juga skill si driver yang memadai untuk jalan sempit dan berlika - liku 

Selamat liburan ! 

How to Learn Mandarin | Eps. Starter Kit

After reading Eps. Know Mandarin Well, I believe you already have some idea about Mandarin and ready to start the journey to be a Mandarin expert. Lets go!

If you are going to start for learning Mandarin, let's have some preparation before start and how to start from the right step.

Basic is the most important. 基礎最重要

Foundation is the most important before anything start, you need to have good and strong enough basic first. The first thing you need to learn in Mandarin is ㄅㄆㄇㄈ or b p m f . Kids with Mandarin as their mother language will start to learn this in kindergarten first, so just imagine know you will re-born as a child with Mandarin as your mother language.

Picture above is the list of ㄅㄆㄇㄈ or b p m f . This is how I learn and memorize it : Learn from the Simplified one how to spell it than if you already know how to spell it you learn Traditional one and learn how to write it. Level of equation between those 2 is 90%. The different is : Simplified have ong while Traditional don't have, and there is Ü which is u with two dots at the top as substitute symbol to spell ㄩ.

I read it over and over, write it again and again every day within 1 week, and I have some improvement and become friend with them. The key is practice and practice. 

So this is why you need to memorize that list above. 



For beginner or usually kids whose learn Mandarin as their mother language, this is how the character will look like as picture above. For Traditional Mandarin ㄅㄆㄇㄈ put in right side of the character and for Simplified Mandarin b p m f  will put below the character. 

Now even you still don't know how to read the character you already have one weapons to read, spell with ㄅㄆㄇㄈ or b p m f . So now you realize the importance to memorize that table right?

But, don't forget without tone everything back to zero cause you will getting lost to spell it and people won't understand what are you talking.



So, practice the tone every time you have free time. It is the most difficult part for beginner, especially to those who usually talk in their language without tone like Bahasa, English, etc, or even if you can some dialects that have tone, try to practice the original Mandarin tone. Some people just can't resist to mark off the different tone of those some language he can.

Just remember always when you start to study something, start it with the right way, learn it from the original one and you will know more deeply about it.

Let's try your spelling with number. Why number? Numbering is the basic one, simple and easy to learn. Did you realize each time tourist come to one country they will ask how to say 1, 2, 3. Well, let's start!

Don't be afraid, only 10 numbers  first, it should be okay :)

Try to spell it one by one, it's just a beginning, keep calm and practice more.

How to Learn Mandarin | Eps. Know Mandarin Well

I got a lot of question about this topic, how I learn mandarin, how to speak mandarin fluently and some similar question still about how I can speak mandarin. So, I decide to write it here, dedicate to those who still in struggle of learning mandarin whether you currently have course abroad or still stay in your own country and have mandarin course. Let's start!

First, let me introduce my background. I'm overseas Chinese born in Indonesia and live in Jakarta since I was born for 15 years old. Done my elementary & junior high in a school that has mandarin extracurricular twice a week (*I think, it quiet long time ago, I can't remember :P ). Then after graduate from junior high I go to Taiwan to continue my study.

And the story begin.

As I say before I have Mandarin extracurricular in elementary & junior high, but you only understand the basic one, numbering, basic conversation, and some vocabulary. 9 years and I feel like I will say I can't speak mandarin if people ask. Why? For me the stage when you say you can speak some language is mean it doesn't matter what people are talking about you'll understand, you can answer, and you know how write & read about it.

Before I go to Taiwan, I have intensive course every morning & afternoon, so I come twice to the course center. The mentor is Taiwanese and she can't speak Bahasa so I can learn faster that she will introduce some more difficult vocabulary with simple Mandarin also. How to learn fast is to force yourself and your mind adapt quickly with Mandarin. I have course for around 2 months and go to Taiwan.

You need to know about what you're going to learn. Traditional Mandarin or Simplified Mandarin?
There is 2 kind of Mandarin which separate by the difficulties of the character. Traditional Mandarin or 繁體中文 is the more difficult one due the stroke is more complex but it's the original version of Mandarin character and use in Taiwan currently. While, Simplified Mandarin or 簡體中文 is easier than the first one I mention, it was the simple version character that long time ago China government announce to let their resident easily learn to read & write, currently use in China, Singapore, Malaysia.

Simplified (left) radical is mouth & Traditional (right) radical is ear

Personally I suggest you to learn Traditional Mandarin, cause it's the original one, you can know lot of character meaning by its radical - 部首 while the radical in Simplified Mandarin already change from it's meaning to reduce the character stroke. If you know well Traditional Mandarin character, you can guess the simplified one easily and also learn quickly. I prefer to pain in the first and satisfy after it :)

I do fall in love in Mandarin since the first time I learn it, its such an amazing when every time you learn new character you can learn new things and it's so touching to know, for example :

Make me think about Jesus calms the storms story :)

Besides the character is different, how you will learn to spell it also different. In Traditional Mandarin you will learn how to spell the character by ㄅㄆㄇㄈ& in Simplified Mandarin using b p m f.

How about the pronunciation? Every country that speaks Mandarin have different pronunciation actually, in Taiwan it more light accent, China have kinds of accent in different province mostly "roll tongue" accent or we say 捲舌, also Singapore & Malaysia accent is closer to Hokkian accent.

Do mother language effect for my Mandarin accent? I guess yes but it's depend on how well you learn. For Chinese people that can speak dialect like Cantonese, Chao Zhou, Hokkian, Khe, or something else it's easier to learn but quiet hard to change the accent into Mandarin accent. But if you are a new comer to Mandarin it doesn't matter as long as you practice hard and listen local pronounce oftentimes.

Special case in Mandarin is there is tone for each character, so different tone is different meaning. It was the difficult one when you learn how to speak Mandarin fluently, there are 4 tone and 1 tone is for shorten spell. Between Traditional & Simplified Mandarin, the only different is in the first tone and short tone, while Traditional one don't have any symbol one 1^st tone but Simplified have a flat line, and for short tone Traditional one have a circle upside and Simplified fine don't have.



The common mistake on pronunciation that newbie made is about z & zh, c & ch, there is so much pronounce that have h and no, the different is : for H one you roll your tongue and for no H your tongue meet to inner of your front teeth. (*Can you imagine it hahaha

So, are you ready to learn Mandarin?

Eps. Starter Kit is ready for you.

Brunch Idea for Pescatarian

Basically I'm not a meat lover, but not vegetarian yet. I do love vegetable more but so do I love to eat fish and seafood. Recently I got a new vocabulary that match me much "pescatarian".  What is pescatarian?  Pescatarian (sometimes spelled "pescatarian" with an e) is a word sometimes used to describe those who abstain from eating all meat and animal flesh with the exception of fish. 

If people ask what is the difference I feel when I stop eating red meat? I would say light feel. I feel light and fresh. You can try for 1 month to reduce your red meat consumption and change to vegetable and fruit and you will feel the difference. 

When homed, I love to cook during weekend, especially brunch or breakfast. I do make some journal in instastory named #dapurweekend. 

Here is some idea if you want to cook some pescatarian simply brunch. Suitable for any people. 

1. Stir Fried Spaghetti & Scramble Egg 

Need to prepare : 

- Spaghetti mentah (saya pakai La Fonte)

- Garlic di cincang halus 

- Cabai merah di potong kecil - kecil 

- Kol di cincang sedikit 

- Garam, Minyak

- Telur 

Cara memasak : 

1. Rebus air secukupnya, tambahkan garam. Setelah mendidih masukan spaghetti dan tunggu sampai spaghetti lunak, tiriskan dan siram dengan air dingin. 

2. Panaskan teflon, masukan minyak, garlic, dan sedikit garam, tumis sampai kecoklatan. Masukan kol dan cabai, tumis sebentar, masukan spaghetti, biarkan di pinggir teflon. 

3. Sementara bagian satu teflonnya kasih minyam sedikit, masukan kocokan telur sambil di aduk2 biar jadi scramble egg. 

4. Matang semua, sajikan deh! 

2. Mushroom Ball

Need to prepare : 

- Jamur (gak tau ini namanya jamur apa, dipasar banyak)

- Kol di cincang kecil - kecil 

- Garlic di cincang halus

- Minyak, garam, lada

Cara memasak : 

1. Tumis kol yang sudah dicincang dengan minyak, garam, dan garlic sampai matang, lalu angkat. 

2. Bersihkan bagian tangkai jamur, isi dengan kol yang sudah di tumis, lalu masak di atas teflon yang sudah dikasih minyak sedikit dan air kira - kira 1 sendok nasi dengan api kecil dan ditutup biar jamurnya mateng sampai meresap gitu airnya. 

3. Kalau sudah matang semua angkat dan tiriskan. Taburi lada bubuk di atasnya sesuai selera. 

3. Brunch ala sawah 

Nah kalau yang ini kayaknya gak usah diajarin cara masaknya ya. Ikan cue beli di pasar tinggal pan fried aja di teflon bolak balik pake minyak dikit, daun singkong di rebus pakai sambal terasi ulek, dan telor dadar pakai daun bawang dan cabe. 

Karena aku sendiri sukanya yang gak terlalu asin jadi kalau kalian suka asin mungkin bisa ditambah kadar garam dan bumbu sesuai selera ya. Murah dan mudah bukan brunch seperti ini, bisa dicoba di rumah atau di kost karena bahannya gampang dan cara masaknya yang mudah. Selamat mencoba jadi pescatarian ya!