...LiFe iS BeauTifuL...

Someone is Watching

2011-06-26T05:02:00.000-07:00

The Warrior of the Light never forgets the old saying:

The good little goat doesn't bleat.

Injustices happen. Everyone finds themselves in situations they do not deserve, usually when they are unable to defend themselves. Defeat often knocks at the Warrior's door.

At such times, he remains silent. He does not waste energy on words, because they can do nothing. He knows it is best to use his strength to resist and have patience, knowing that Someone is watching, Someone who saw the unnecessary suffering and who will not accept it.

That Someone gives him what he most needs: time.

Sooner or later, everything will once more work in his favor.

A Warrior of the Light is wise; he does not talk about his defeats.

"Warrior of The Light" by Paulo Coelho

Relaxing on a Pristine Beach of Angel Island

2011-06-21T07:27:00.000-07:00

Angel Island, or “Pulau Bidadari” (pulau means island, bidadari means angel) as the locals called it, is easy to reach from Labuan Bajo, Flores, Indonesia. With a slow boat, the journey takes only about 30 minutes. You can rent a whole boat for yourself and ask the Captain to take you here.

What’s in there on “Angel Island”?

Well… for those who love to laze around on a white sandy beach and crystal clear water, then this is the right place for you. You can spend the whole day here, sunbathing and enjoying your favorite books on a pristine beach with no one around. Sounds good, eh? With such a beautiful scenery all around and the blue water in front of you, I’m sure you’ll be tempted to plunge yourself into the water. Don’t forget to bring your snorkel gear, because you can also see some coral reefs and colorful fish around while you’re swimming!

enjoy the beauty of Angel Island

Angel Island is also one of the places for divers to learn scuba-dive. The reef is pretty shallow, perfect for beginners. I went there so many times, for fun. I've dived there once, too, but didn’t go deeper than 16 meters. It was a pretty shallow dive due to some divers were still beginners. And because of that, I still had 120 bars in my tank at the end of the dive! :D

Apart from diving, you can actually use kayak to come to this island. Contact the dive operator in Labuan Bajo and rent the kayak from there for a day. It’s also a nice way to spend your day!

There’s a nice accommodation on Angel Island, but you need to book in advance, especially during peak season. The resort is owned by Reefseekers Dive Center. You will not see the bungalows from the beach, because it’s well hidden. From the gate, you still need to walk in a beautiful garden, until you’re able to see the bungalow. When I was there, I felt like I was in a hidden Garden of Eden. The resort is surrounded by trees, making you feel like you’re lost in a beautiful forest. Very nice.

The room is spacious and the bathroom is a sweetheart. It’s an open style bathroom and it gives you a feeling as if you’re taking a shower in a forest. The bedroom has a king size bed made of wood and it’s facing big windows with garden view. It’s such a peaceful place. Perfect for couples who want to have a quiet holiday, far away from a hustle of bustle of the city. You wouldn’t hear a car honking or whatsoever. You will only hear birds chipping and a sound of waves from the sea. Simply beautiful.

The rate is around Rp 1,000,000/night and you need to stay minimum of 2 nights here. The resort will provide transfers from Labuan Bajo to Angel Island. So, no need to worry!

Have fun enjoying the peaceful of the Angel Island and its!

"Warrior of The Light" - Believers

2011-06-20T10:36:00.000-07:00

The Warrior of the Light is a believer.

Because he believes in miracles, miracles begin to happen.
Because he is sure that his thoughts can change his life, his life begins to change.
Because he is certain that he will find love, love appears.

Now and then, he is disappointed. Sometimes, he gets hurt.

Then he hears people say: "He's so ingenuous!"

But the Warrior knows that it is worth it. For every defeat, he has two victories in his favor.

All believers know this.

"Warrior of The Light: A Manual", by Paulo Coelho

Enjoying "Caci" Dance in Melo Village, Flores

2011-06-19T07:39:00.000-07:00

What is “Caci”?

“Caci” is a traditional dance from West Manggarai. It’s a whip fight between two rivals, in which the fighters will dance following the rhythm of some traditional acoustic instruments (drums). A group of people will sing something that is a bit difficult to follow, because for those who are not familiar with the local language, the lyrics will sound like someone’s hum.

In Kampung Melo (kampung means village in Indonesian language), you can enjoy this “Caci” performance whenever you want. There is a cultural group called “Compang To’e” who organizes a “Caci” performance for tourists. With Rp 1,000,000 tourists will have the opportunity to be involved in a traditional ceremony, where they will be served a cup of local wine called “Sopi”, before watching the “Caci” dance. The cup of the local wine is special, too. It’s made of coconut shells. Very exotic!

The “Caci” performance will take around 2 hours, in which, the dancers will take turns to whip. At first, I got a goose bump seeing those guys whipping each other. But after a while, I got used to it. They all seemed strong enough and able to bear the pain. Hmm… I wonder what it because of from the local wine that they had before they performed? It reminded me of a special drink made by the medicine man in the “Asterix & Obelix” comic books, if you’re familiar with the story .

Anyway, another reason to go to Kampung Melo, apart from witnessing the traditional “Caci” dance performance is to enjoy the beauty of the nature. From “Panorama”, where the “Compang To’e” cultural group is located, you can see Komodo National Park from the mountains’ view. It’s such a spectacular view, because you don’t only see the sea, but also the mountains and the islands. Try to spend your sunset here. You’ll be hypnotized with the scenery.

Pak Yoseph Ugis, the founder of “Compang To’e” cultural group, built the traditional house on the hill, that’s now called “Panorama”, with the vision of making this place a place to rest for tourists who are traveling to and/or from Komodo National Park. Tourists can stop by having a cup of local coffee or tea before continuing their journey. For me, it’s such a perfect place to daydream.. and to realize that life is full of beautiful things. And at night, I see hundreds of stars in the sky from here. Very pretty. Kampung Melo has successfully became my favorite getaway spot in West Flores.

How to get here?

Pretty easy. Kampung Melo is located around 30 minutes by car/motorbike. You can rent a car or ask any tour agent to take you to “Panorama”/”Compang To’e” cultural group in Kampung Melo. They will know the place. If you want to witness the “Caci” performance, ask your tour agent to make a booking arrangement for it.

You can also go by public transportation. There are busses going from Labuan Bajo to Ruteng everyday. You can hop on these busses and ask the driver to stop at Kampung Melo where the “Caci” dance performance is located.

Have fun in Kampung Melo, guys! :)

Tasting the local night life in Labuan Bajo

2011-06-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

Labuan Bajo, the gate to Komodo National Park

I will write some posts about Labuan Bajo and Komodo National Park, places that have a special spot in my heart...

As some of you might know, I spent about a year of my life living in Labuan Bajo, Flores, working as a communications consultant for an environmental project. It has never crossed my mind before to work in Flores, Eastern part of Indonesia. Yet, am glad that I had that experience :). And that's where the initiative of "Taman Bacaan Pelangi" (Rainbow Reading Gardens) started.

During my time there, I befriended with the locals, who, some of them I considered as my good friends now. Despite the limited infrastructure, my love to this place has grown bigger and bigger. Until now. I miss everything about this place. The people, the gorgeous scenery, the blue water, the jokes, the simplicity of life.

Labuan Bajo now has grown so fast compared to last year. It's unbelievable that in one year there are many new restaurants and some new hotels, too! This place would be the next "Gili Islands" or "Bali" soon... is it a good thing or a bad thing? Well, it depends on how you see it..

Anyway, if you happen to make your way to Labuan Bajo, you might be wondering: where to go on Saturday night? Is there a place to hangout?

The answer is YES. “Paradise Bar” is probably the only happening place in town on Saturday night. If you want to experience the local night scene, you have to come here. Live music will entertain the guests with songs that you will probably know. They don’t really play Indonesian songs, only occassionally. Around 10pm, this bar will be crowded with locals and tourists all together. Beers and “sopi” (a local wine) will be served and people will start dancing on the small dance floor, right in front of the stage.

When I first came here, I said to myself, “What is this place?”. It’s so different with the clubs that I’m used to go in Jakarta and Singapore. It looks very modest and simple. Wooden chair, simple bar, and an open space balcony with some tables, makes this bar a down-to-earth place to hangout at. No need to wear fancy clothes. No need to dress up. Everyone is dressing very modest here. You can even wear shorts and flips flops. Noone would care .

Paradise Bar isn’t located by the beach. It’s located on the hill! It’s probably the best place to see the sunset. The view is overlooking the sea with some islands around it. Such a breathtaking view. I love it.

Paradise Bar is actually a restaurant during the day and weekdays. They serve good seafood, Indonesian style. Try the “Squid Hot Plate” and “Grilled fish (tuna or whatever they have)”. It’s very tasty. The restaurant becomes a bar only on Saturday night. I think, almost all young people come here on Saturday night. It’s always packed with people. After the live music presented by a local band, the bar also offers dance music by the DJ. The songs selection is not up to date, so don’t expect dancing with the latest dance songs. But, just enjoy it. You’ll be surprised what your ears will hear. It might bring you to good old memories .

Every Saturday night, Paradise Bar opens until 3am. The music is pumping out loud, you can ever hear it from far away, because of the open-space style they have here. After 7 months of my stay here, I started to enjoy going to Paradise Bar and mingling with the locals. Despite their macho-look, they’re so sweet and nice! Have you ever heard “A wolf with a heart of a sheep”? This phrase suits best with the locals here . They will dance happily on the dance floor, jumping around, enjoying themselves following the beat of the music. It’s fun. They will also smile at you when they dance. Indonesians are known as friendly people. Probably one of the friendliest people on the planet. Even a “killer”-looking guy would smile at you kindly in this bar. Sweet.

So, when you’re in Labuan Bajo, don’t miss out the experience of Paradise Bar, either for the sunset or for a taste of a local night life!

Visiting an Underwater Temple

2011-06-08T07:23:00.000-07:00

Does underwater temple really exist? Hmm.. kind of!

If you got a chance to scuba-dive in Bali, apart from other famous dive places such as Tulamben, Nusa Penida, Menjangan, etc... you should also make your way to Pemuteran. It takes about 3 hours from Denpasar to get there. Pretty far, but worth it.

When my friend Nicky who owns Bali Marine Sports dive center showed me a picture of the underwater temple a few weeks ago, I got so excited and promised myself to go there. Two weeks later, I came to Bali again, special to dive in the underwater temple :D. Nicky warned me that it's an eery dive site. Usually, local dive masters wouldn't go there if there are only 1-2 divers. Too creepy, he said.

Really? I couldn't believe him, 'coz I thought, what's so creepy about an underwater temple? The temple isn't even a drowned temple. People made it. So, it wouldn't be so creepy, would it?

From "Taman Selini" beach, we got into a traditional boat (not a dive boat) and drove for about 10 minutes to the dive site. There were 5 of us, including Rafi, the dive master. Before we jumped into the water, Rafi told us the story of this so called underwater temple. Back in 2005, there was a reconstructed temple in Pemuteran and the locals threw away stones and statues from that temple to the sea. Then, the local dive center(s) decided to re-arrange those statues, underwater!

This underwater temple "project" was funded by AUSAID and it's located in 15-30 meters below the surface in the area of 2,500 meter square.

Soon, we jumped in and started making bubbles out of our regulators. The visibility was poor. Hmmm.. that's probably why people get an eery feeling when they dive here!

Going down to around 30 meters, we arrived at the "temple". Whoa!! It felt like visiting a Roman Forum, but in "Balinese" style! The temple was ruined, but we still could see the Balinese style gate and statues.

What interest me most was to see Buddha, Ganesha and other Hindu's Gods/Goddess statues underwater, covered by living corals and sea fans. It's super weird! And right there, I have to admit, it was kinda scary to see "faceless" Buddha statues with some green living thing covering his body... eerrrr... somehow it reminded me of the "Pirates of the Carribean" movie! :D

Despite that it's not a real temple, it's still worth to visit. I mean, where else can you see Buddha & Goddess statues underwater? ;)

There were not so many fish here, but I saw a scorpion fish and two cute pipe fish walking around enjoying the exotic Balinese sands happily!

Good job for whoever helped to construct this "Temple Point/Temple Garden". It's definitely an interesting dive site!

World Oceans Day: Mola-Mola Video ;)

2011-06-08T01:07:00.000-07:00

Today is the World Oceans Day.

To celebrate it, I'm going to share the video of "mola-mola" (it's also known as "Sun Fish" or "Moon Fish") that I took a few weeks ago, on May 21st, 2011.

Mola-Mola is a weird-looking fish that live as deep as 300 meters underwater. This fish usually can be seen in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali, Indonesia around July until September.

During this period, they will come up to around 40 meters to get their "spa" services at the "cleaning station".

I was very surprised when my dive master in Bali sent me a message in April saying that he saw 7 mola-mola that day! Wow! I couldn't wait for long to fly to Bali to see them. What surprised me was that they come very early this year (also last year)! Weird!

Could it be one of the effects of the global warming?

Enjoy the video and let's save our ocean! Happy World Oceans Day! :)

Listen To Your Feelings

2011-06-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Here's my card of the day:

"Listen To Your Feelings"

There is the head with all its thoughts, ideas, logic and calculations

Then there is intuition, the gut feeling that gives you a sense of what is

Throw out the head and follow that gut feeling

Even if the mind is telling you otherwise

Logic is very often wrong

Wow. How come my "Now Cards" always tells me the same subject? What is it trying to say?

It is so true that sometimes I make decisions purely based on logic. I think that's the tendency of people who live in the modern world these days. Don't you think?

We are "forced" to use our logic, because there are so many bad people with bad intentions out there. We become too cautious. And a lot of time forget our inner voice...

"Logic is very often wrong". Wow. What a powerful phrase! It's been a long time since I heard this phrase.

I guess now it's time to remind myself to be more sensitive and follow my intuition more..

The next question is... if logic is very often wrong, can intuition be wrong?

Now Cards - Be In The Heart

2011-05-30T17:32:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had dinner at "Biku" restaurant in Bali, a lovely restaurant with good Indonesian food at a 150 years old house. It has a nice ambience and it's kinda have a "new age-ish" touch. There is a small book store in the corner that sells books, postcards and some souvenirs for a good cause. I took my time to have a look at their collections.

My eyes fell on a green box in a wooden shelf. What's that? The text on the green box says: "Now Cards: Guidance for the New Age". Hmm... It's interesting, I thought. I took that green box and read the explanation at the back. Basically, it says that the "NOW CARDS" consist of 64 cards that offer clear and practical guidelines to be used for everyone to appreciate the "NOW". The main principles of these cards are that only CONSCIOUSNESS exists, it is complete unto itself and is present only in the here and now.

I kept on reading...

It also says that each card has been specially created to facilitate a healing process. By following the suggested advice, each card can bring us to a space of clarity and relaxation. Within this, problems can be solved or, even watch them disappear. It is recommended to choose one or two cards and read the guidance within the card each day, and follow the advice for at least one day for maximum benefit.

Wow!!! It sounds indeed interesting.

I've been opening the "NOW CARDS" almost every day since last week. What's my card for the day? It's a good one, I thought I'd share it with you...

"Be In The Heart"

Turn away from all the thinking and planning and focus on what you are feeling in this moment.

Take the time to sense what is within. Even place your hand over your heart while giving yourself this moment to shift your focus from the mind to the heart.

If you need to act, act from this heart space.

Being in the heart helps to stop the mind.

Being in the heart brings fullness of being where problems and judgments do not exist.

If there is a question of whether to follow your logic or feelings, choose feelings.

This card suggest loving yourself and others.

Having Fun with Whale Sharks in Java Island

2011-05-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

January 22nd, 2001 (Probolinggo, East Java, Indonesia)

Tourists who go to Mount Bromo, East Java, Indonesia, do not know what they missed out. Not far from the gorgeous mountain, there is a beach where whale sharks always come to visit every year! Yes, whale sharks. Not only one. But a bunch of them.

The beach is called "Bentar Beach", located in a small town, Probolinggo. Apparently, the whale sharks sighting is common for the local people. It has become a local tourist's attraction. But, funnily, not many people outside Probolinggo know about it. Not even for Indonesians. Let alone for foreigners.

When I went there last year in February, I only saw one whale shark. That wasn't because there was only one of them there. No. It was because we gave up finding them due to the murky water. We couldn't really snorkeling. We could only swim with the polka dots shark ;D. But, even then, how cool is that???

The boat captain told me that in January, he saw 26 of them... on the surface, cruisin' around! Whoa!! And I promised myself to make my way there again... next year!

So, this year, of course, I went to Probolinggo again, in January. Let's try my luck!

And, guess what.... me and my colleague saw more than 20 whale sharks!!! Wooohooo!!!

Forget snorkeling. You wouldn't even see the whale shark with your snorkel here as the water is too murky. Just swim with them and enjoy the fun!

We got so excited to be surrounded by whale sharks. They're everywhere! Really! Every where you look, you'll see whale sharks. So damn cool!

And, of course, I felt so lucky to be able to swim with the whale sharks. It's probably one of the dreams of every scuba-diver or snorkeler on this planet!

So, for those of you who want to swim with whale sharks, come to "Bentar Beach" in Probolinggo. Usually, the whale sharks can be seen during December to end of February. Sometimes they come again in April, occasionally. It's very easy to get there. You can go to Malang or Surabaya, then take a car for 2 hours to Probolinggo. When you're in this town, just ask around where the "Bentar Beach" is. Easy, eh? ;)

Can you scuba-dive here? Unfortunately not. The water is very murky due to there are full of planktons. But hey, that's why the whale sharks love it here! They eat and eat. Open their wide mouth and swim around like there's no one around!

The only thing that bothered me was when I saw a tourist boat, full of local tourists, came to approach one of the whale sharks. One guy jumped into the water and swam to the direction of the shark. When he was close, he touched the shark!!! It made me so pissed off to see it! The shark got shocked and he swam away :'((

I found that there was still a little awareness among the locals that we should not touch the whale sharks. The government should do something about it, if they want to promote the local tourism. Having a bunch of whale sharks visiting the place every year is definitely an attraction for local & foreign tourists. We don't see whale sharks easily, anywhere on this planet. So, yeah, it is something special. And to be able to maintain that the sharks keep on coming to this place, we really should do something. Raise awareness, develop a campaign, such as "Let the Whale Sharks swim peacefully" or something like that.

It would be such a shame if in the next years the whale sharks stop visiting "Bentar Beach". We should make them feel at home by not disturbing them. Let them swim and eat in peace. Don't touch them. If they feel disturbed or threatened, of course they won't come to visit us again! And when it happens, it's OUR LOST!

I hope someone from the local government reads this post and do something about it.

5 Months of Absence

2011-05-28T22:10:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

Apologize for being out of touch. I haven't uploaded this blog for 5 months! I know. My bad.

I remember on New Year's eve, I was thinking of this blog and made a new year resolution: updating my blog regularly, at least once a week!

And yet, it never happens. On the contrary, I didn't update it for 5 months. Crazy.

It's amazing to see that time passes by so quickly. I was so swamped at my new job in a probably the biggest foundation in Indonesia, until I didn't even realize that I haven't visited my own blog in a long time!

A lot of things happened in the past 5 months. Good things. Bad things. Happy days. Sad days.

But, that's life. Sometimes it's not easy to deal with the sad days, but I just have to believe that the good days will come. And the storm will pass. I just have to move on and look forward for the sunny days ahead ;) On the beach? ;) Why not!! :D

I didn't travel as much as I did last year. Which is a pity. But, it's ok. Sometimes in life, there are times when we have more free time for ourself. But, there are also other times when we find it difficult to even breath! That's where we got so occupied with work and other stuff, and we couldn't even find time for ourself. As much as I want to say, that's not a good thing, I feel that I'm in that period of time at this moment :(.

Anyway, I have to keep reminding myself that "Life has to be balanced". I don't want to end up being old and ignorant of people who care for me. I still remember when I was diving in Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, I got so excited taking pictures of pigmy seahorses and I forgot to check my dive computer. It was 22 meters depth and I've been diving for 50 minutes. My dive computer was beeping, but I thought, "Oh ok, a few minutes of taking more pictures of the pigmy seahorses won't hurt. I'll do the decompression stop".

But, apparently, I totally forgot to check my dive computer again and when I realized it, I looked at the numbers at the dive comp, it showed "Deco stop 46 minutes". Holy moly!

I grabbed my gauge and checked how many oxygen left, it showed "80 bars".

I started calculating. Should be enough if I stayed in 5 meters or so. But, how about my dive master? Would he have enough air?

To cut the story short, I thought I was gonna die that time. Really. It was almost 6pm and it was getting darker and darker and we didn't bring any torch as we were not planning to do a night dive. The current also got stronger. There was a white tip shark swimming around, I couldn't even enjoy the show. I was constantly looking at my gauge and dive computer.

In the moment of death, I thought of my Mom and my brothers. Only them. Suddenly, I see my Mom's face and couldn't stop thinking of her, how much she's worried, sad when she heard the news if something bad happened to me, how my brothers will feel and comfort each other, etc. I also see the sweet memories that we had in the past, when I was a kid, teenager and all the snap shots of scenes. Just like watching a movie. In the blue, I felt so sad that I thought I was going to leave them... And I wanted to say how much I loved them...

Did I think of my job? NO.

Did I think of my career? NO.

Did I think of my boss? NO.

Did I think of my assignments? NO.

At one point, my dive master ran out of air. He grabbed my octopus and we started sucking the oxygen from my tank. I breathed very slowly, trying to save as much air as I could. In the end, my dive computer showed "Deco Stop - Zero", and my tank was also Zero! Whoa!! In total, we dived for 120 minutes or so! The longest dive I've ever had, probably in my entire life..

We emerged to the sea, and it was already dark. Our boat wasn't there. Shit. I thought we were going to stay in the middle of the sea until someone found us the next day. I got worried. OMG. What the hell am I doing?

We waited and waited, luckily, we heard a boat coming. Apparently, it was the owner of the dive resort! He found us! Yeayyy! What a relief!

So, having saved from the "moment of death", I realized that none of those things matter. The most important thing that matters is the people I love.

Getting swamped at work almost every day, I have to keep on reminding myself of not sacrificing the people I love the most. I know it's hard to balance the time, but at least I have to be there for them. And spend time with them, and most importantly, make the time for them.

This post is a reminder for myself. In 5 months of my absence in this blog, perhaps I also haven't spent enough time for the loved ones. Also time for myself.

And now, I will try to fix it... Will try to spare more time for myself and for the loved ones... :)

Andy by spending more time for myself, it also means, not letting myself neglecting my blog anymore! Ha!

Meet and Greet with Yellow Rhinopias in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi!

2010-12-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

Lembeh Strait, located in Sulawesi, Indonesia is known as a critters heaven for scuba-divers around the globe. Divers can find different species of fish, unusual ones, that can't be found else where. It's definitely the place for those who love macro stuff and underwater photography!

I spent about a week diving in Sulawesi back in October 2009, which included a three days of diving in Lembeh Strait. And during those dives, I found many weird fish that I haven't seen before! It was such an amazing experience...

In one of those 'weird' fish that I encountered, there's one fish that I think was special. It's called rhinopias. What makes it special for me is not only the fact that it's rare, but also the look of the fish, the beautiful and transparent fins, the face, and also the extra-ordinary 'walking-style' it has!

Check out the video of yellow rhinopias that I recorded in one of the dives in Lembeh Strait:

So, what type of fish is it?

Rhinopias is actually a type of scorpion fish. It utilizes camouflage to blend in with their surroundings. This species of fish are rare, but according to Wikipedia, they sometime appear in the aquarium trade and being sold at high prices. So sad! :(

I personally don't support aquarium trade. Let these rare fish live happily in their original habitat and produce more babies to support their existence on this planet!

Komodo Dragons' Lunch Time!

2010-12-19T03:53:00.000-08:00

Komodo dragons can be found on Komodo Island, Rinca Island and Gili Motang, Indonesia. Tourists who want to see these 'last dinosaurs on the planet' in their original habitat, can make their way to Komodo Island and Rinca Island - both located in Komodo National Park.

I've been to Loh Liang, the tourist concession area on Komodo Island, many times. That's because I was once hired as a consultant to work there. And in some of my visits to the site, I was lucky enough to witness the komodo dragons eating their prey, alive! One day I saw them eating a goat in less than 10 minutes! The other day I saw them fighting over a female dragon, standing on their feet and hitting one another with their hands and huge tails. Wow!! A pretty intense scene to watch.

This time, I'm going to share with you a scene of komodo dragons enjoying their catch of the day: a Timor deer!

FYI, no one is allowed to feed the dragons. This scene happened when I was chatting at the lobby of the entrance and suddenly the rangers called me, "Mbak Nila... quick... quick! A dragon just caught a deer!"

We rushed to the spot and saw a bunch of adult komodo dragons already circling the poor deer. The deer was laying on the ground, dying. Soon, the dragons started to bite and eat it alive.

Here's the scene. I have to put a disclaimer and warn each of you that it's not a pleasant scene to watch, if you're a kind of person who feels weak by seeing blood. And please, don't watch it with your kids. They might get a nightmare after watching this video!

Interestingly, komodo dragons don't fight over food. They will eat together, just like what you've seen in the above video. They only fight over women. Sounds familiar, eh? :P

Komodo dragons don't have to eat everyday. They only need to eat once a month. No wonder they still survive until now! And, the female komodo dragons are even more amazing. They can survive with fasting for 9 months! It happens when female komodo dragons wait for their eggs to hatch. That's why, the size of female komodo dragons are smaller than the male ones.

When do the dragons hunt for their prey?

Usually, they hunt for their prey around 3pm-5pm. So, guys, if you happen to be there around this hour, watch out! ;)

Blue Whales in Komodo National Park!

2010-11-02T01:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I decided to go diving in the morning and found that the dive schedules were: diving in the North of Komodo Island! Yeayyyy!!!

The Northern part of Komodo Island is my favorite dive place. Some of the gorgeous dive sites in this side are Castle Rock, Crystal Rock and The Quadrant. Each dive site has its own uniqueness. Castle Rock is always full of schools of fish, from groupers, jack fish, etc. Diving here is always mind blowing. This site has never let me down :). Try it yourself, then you'll see what I'm talking about ;).

Crystal Rock always amazed me with its gorgeous corals. Every time I dive here, I feel like being in a big colorful garden. The beauty of its corals has made this site a beautiful underwater garden. Full of color with different types of species living in it. Sometimes I smile (can you smile when you're underwater? of course!) and take a deep breath, when I think that all of these beauty is actually belong to my country, Indonesia. It makes me proud of being Indonesian. It always reminds me how rich my country is, in terms of natural resources. Yet, what have we done to preserve and protect it?

The first dive was in The Quadrant. Despite the beauty of the corals, I could see the difference with the dive I had around 6 months ago. I spotted dead corals now and it made my heart bleed :(. During the dive, I couldn't stop wondering... what would it be like in 2 years from now? Or even 5 years from now? :(

I LOVE Komodo National Park and I don't want to see it destroyed. And this would only happen if all of us, especially Indonesians, do something together to protect and conserve it. Some people say, that's how things work with nature. Especially when human beings already interfere with the nature. How sad is that??? I believe when all of us do something to protect our natural resources, it would make a big difference on this planet. And the effort has to start from ourselves... today.

Anyway, back to the dive at the Quadrant. As soon as we went up to the surface, the boat crew screamed, "Come up to the boat, quickly!! We saw 2 big whales swimming around!" WOW!!!

Divers are always crazy of big fish. Maybe some of you couldn't understand why we get so excited by seeing sharks, while we're taught since we're kids that sharks are dangerous. I think, our communities made us watch scary movies or movies that have made sharks as the bad "guys". In reality, not all sharks are aggressive and attack humans every time they see us. Reef sharks are pretty "tamed". Never once they attack me when they see me :D. Hehehe.. And actually, they're 'afraid' of scuba-divers and would swim away as soon as they see the bubbles from our regulators. Some reef sharks are 'ignorant', in the sense of: they don't care of our presence. They will just swim right in front of us, next to us, or above us. As long as we don't disturb them, they won't care :). Nice creature, right? ;)

So, if scuba-divers got excited 'only' by seeing sharks, could you imagine how excited we were when we saw whales??? It's like a dream of every single diver on earth to see whales. Be it sperm whale, orca, and... blue whales!

And, apparently, it was my lucky day. I saw 2 pair of BLUE WHALES swimming and jumping around about 50 meters from our boat! WOOOHOOOOO!!!!!

OH MY GOD! All of us on the boat were so excited. We tried to come near them, but they're much faster than us. We tried to follow them, but I guess they didn't want to be near us. The blue whales always swam away... sometimes they disappeared and then popped out again in a totally different direction and far out from our boat. Smart whales they were!!!

At one point, one of them swam right below our boat! All of us were all well-prepared with our snorkel gear and fins, ready to jump in anytime to snorkel with the whales. And when we saw the blue whale swam below our boat, some of us jumped into the water right away. A German guy said, "It's soooo big! And it went down so fast!". I didn't manage to jump as I was too late. But, I was lucky enough to capture some pictures of them :)

What is blue whale? Blue whale is actually a marine mamal. It's the biggest living creature on this planet. The size can be as big as 33 meters in length and 180 metric tons or more in weight!
As for its speed, blue whales can reach speeds of 50 kilometers/hour. No wonder we couldn't keep up with them!

In the past 40 years, blue whales were hunted almost to extinction by whalers until protected by the international community in 1966. A 2002 report estimated there were 5,000 - 12,000 blue whales worldwide. The IUCN Red List has put blue whales in its "endangered" list.
Apart from hunting, blue whales face threats from orcas. Although the orcas are usually unable to kill the blue whales rightaway, but the whales will suffer from the massive wounds and probably died afterwards.

A scientist mentioned that usually blue whales sightings will be followed by orcas sightings. At first, I didn't understand why? But the above info has explained it well. And guess what, the day after we saw the blue whales, a group of divers saw an orca in Komodo National Park! My friend even swam with it!!! Wow! Too bad I didn't go out diving on that day.... arrrggghhh!!!

Another threat that blue whale might be facing is the global warming. Considering the blue whales migration are based on ocean temperature, changes in this circulation, which moves warm and cold water around the world, would be likely to have an impact in their migration. And the change in ocean temperature would also effect the blue whales' food supply.

We had no idea where the blue whales and the orca were heading to. But, I was so happy to know that blue whales and orcas passed through Indonesia. I just wished that no one would disturb/hunt/kill them during their journey elsewhere. Let us all respect other living creatures on this planet. Be it blue whales, orcas, sharks, manta rays and the beautiful corals who live below the water...

Frogfish Taking a Walk :D

2010-10-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

During my dive trip in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia, exactly a year ago, I spotted several frogfish. A type of fish that looks like a frog, just like its name ;).

Frogfish is actually a type of anglerfish. In Autralia, they are known as anglerfish, while 'frogfish' refers to a different type of fish (I don't know what kind of fish Australians referring to when they're talking about frogfish!).

This time, I'm going to share with you a scene where I found a yellow frogfish taking a walk... :D So cute!!!

As you can see, it takes time a while to walk from one point to another. Frogfish do not move very much, in general. They prefer to lie on the sea floor. They eat crustaceans, other fish and even each other (yup, they're cannibals!). When catching its prey, they will open their jaws and pull the prey into the mouth along with water. Once I saw a tiny frogfish opened its mouth... and I was quite surprised to see that actually the jaw could stretch pretty long! Wow!

And not only that, this unique fish can also expand their stomachs to swallow its prey up to twice their size!

I've seen during my dives in some places: Phi Phi Island (Thailand), Similan Islands (Thailand), Raja Ampat, Papua (Indonesia) and Komodo National Park (Indonesia), but the place where I encountered frogfish the most was in Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi (Indonesia)!

I really love Lembeh Strait for the muck dive and all the weird underwater species living there!

If you're a scuba-diver and wish to witness the critters yourself, you should definitely make your way to Lembeh Strait, Sulawesi, Indonesia! I highly recommend it! :)

This blog is Featured in Chic Magazine Indonesia :D

2010-10-11T20:42:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, my colleague said, "Hey Nila... do you know that your blog is being reviewed in the latest edition of Chic magazine?"

I said, "Oh really? I didn't know that".

She said, "Yes, I've read it. You should check it out!"

So, I ran to a bookstore during lunch hour and found the magazine there. I flipped through the pages and found this:

Apparently, the magazine wrote a piece about this blog at their "Blog Review" page! It is a very nice review and the article discusses not only the content of this blog, but also it says that this blog inspires other people :).

Wow!!!

Thanks to Chic magazine, a lifestyle magazine for teenagers and young adults, for such a nice review! ^-^ You've just made my day!

Black Manta Rays in Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia

2010-09-30T10:05:00.000-07:00

I LOVE MANTA RAYS!!!

I can never get enough of them! They always make me happy every time I see them (of course, who wouldn't?!!). They're so elegant, calm and beautiful!

Very little facts known about manta rays. What I know, it is the largest species of the rays. The size can be up to 7 meters across! I think I've seen mantas of 4-5 meters. Yes, they're big! They can weigh about 2,300 kilograms!

What do they eat? Mantas eat plankton. So, they won't bite you ;) hehehe...

I've seen manta rays quite often in their cleaning stations. Cleaning stations? Yes, it's a place where small fish swim in the manta's gills and over its skin to feed. These small fish serves as a beautician, cleaning parasites living on mantas' skins as well as cleaning dead tissue.

Mantas are often curious of divers. And that's why I love them, because they can get so close to me! So damn close until I could even touch them! But of course, I didn't! NEVER EVER TOUCH MANTA RAYS or any living things you see underwater! Have some respect of their habitat, please!

In the dives I did in Raja Ampat, Papua, I encountered several manta rays. And on one dive, there were 2 black mantas swimming around in pair. So cool! Check out the video that I recorded for you:

As you can see, someone tried to touch the black manta!!! I got sooooo pissed off with my friend who attempted to touch the manta. As soon as we went up to the surface, I yelled at him. "Why did you touch the mantas???!!! It's so uncool!!! You should have not done it!"

It really pisses me off to see scuba-divers that have no respect whatsoever to the animals and living inhabitants underwater. Divers should know that if we touch manta rays, for example, it would hurt them. Touching mantas will remove some of the mucus coating that protects them from infection.

So, divers, please... have some respects to the fish and everything we see underwater! We go to their habitat, so we should respect and leave them alone. Don't take anything, don't touch anything.... all we can do is enjoying their beauty and helping the nature to preserve it.

Taman Bacaan Pelangi on The Jakarta Globe newspaper

2010-09-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

The Jakarta Globe, the second biggest English daily newspaper in Indonesia in terms of circulation, contacted me a few days ago and asked for a one-on-one interview for their "My Jakarta" page.

Zack Peterson, the journalist, spent about an hour to interview me and we talked about many things, including the Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens) project in Flores, Nusa Tenggara Timur, Indonesia.

The article is published today. If you want to read the full article, please click here or click http://bit.ly/9HLDc0

Thank you, The Jakarta Globe! :)

Palau, Micronesia: a Sharks' Haven

2010-08-23T03:54:00.000-07:00

Palau, Micronesia is one of the places on my wish list that I've always wanted to visit . Not only because of the beauty of the islands and pristine water, but mainly because of its fame among scuba-divers around the globe!

I remember two years ago I bought a book titled "Passport to diving the world: Limited Edition" by Australasia Scuba Diver and saw some photos of grey reef sharks that were taken in Palau, Micronesia. I flipped through the pages and marked some pages with my yellow sticky-notes. Those pages with the sticky-notes would be my next scuba-diving holidays targets :D .. and Palau was one of them! :)

And here I am... in Palau, Micronesia! Yeahhh!!! I spent a week in this beautiful place and spared a few days for scuba-diving. Among some of the famous dive sites of Palau that I went: Turtle Cove, German Channel, Sias Tunnel, Blue Holes, Blue Corner.... Ulong Channel was my favorite. I had such a great diving experience in this dive site!

Do you want to know why? Watch the video I recorded in Ulong Channel today:

See? Lots and lots of grey reef sharks!

Visibility was around 20 meters, water temperature was warm - 30 degrees Celcius. We went down to 21.4 meters below the surface and marveled around. At one spot, we hooked on a big rock and watched the 'show'. Here's some quotes on my log book:

"So many sharks!!! Wow!!! I LOVE this dive site! :)
Lots and lots of grey reef sharks, white tip and black tip sharks. Probably around 30 sharks or so. They're just cruisin' around...
We put our reef hook and enjoyed the show. That was really cool! The sharks were EVERYWHERE. It's like watchin' a TV show. Reminded me of the dive at Castle Rock, Komodo National Park, Indonesia. But this one was better since there were lots of big grey reef sharks!

I couldn't even decide where to look. I looked to the left, but suddenly there was a shark swimming right above me :D. It was such a really cool dive. Loved it! So many small fish, too. At one point, they looked like a big cloud and so tiny compared to the sharks who swam in between them! So damn cool!!!"

I loved grey reef sharks. Their size is bigger than black tip and/or white tip sharks. They look fatter :p. But sadly, the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) has assessed grey reef sharks as Near Threatened. Why?

Sharks have a slow reproduction cycle. A shark will need 12-15 years to be ready to mate!
And with this slow cycle, sharks have to face a lot of threats. The biggest threat is being hunt by humans and used for various products, such as shark fins soup! Bummer!!!

By the way, do you know that Indonesia is the main supplier for sharks fins for the world's demand, such as Hongkong, Singapore and China? How humiliating! And it is also known that Indonesia catch the most sharks compared to other countries in the world. In 2004, Indonesia caught 122,000 sharks! OMG!

What can we do to protect them?

If we're not sitting on the fancy chair in the authority and don't have the power to change the policy of this nation, perhaps we can start by telling everyone to stop consuming SHARKS FIN SOUP and other sharks dishes!!!

Anyway, back to my amazing dive in Palau, Micronesia... swimming with plenty of grey reef sharks, I only wish that none of them got caught and ended up in a soup bowl at a fancy restaurant... *sigh*

Swimming with Stingless Jellyfish in Palau

2010-08-21T08:53:00.000-07:00

Stingless jellyfish?

Yep. This animal does exist! And there are only two places in the world known as its habitat: Palau, Micronesia and Kakaban Island, Indonesia :)

The scientific name of the stingless jellyfish is Ornate Cassiopeia. They live in a close environment, thus, they do not have any threats from vertebrates. That's why they don't need to stings to protect themselves :).

On my trip in Palau, Micronesia, I spent a good half of day swimming with these cute stingless jellyfish at Stingless Jellyfish Lake, located at the Fifth Island, part of the Rock Islands. To reach the lake, we had to go by boat and walked in a forest on a dirt and rocky path. The path could be slippery, so be careful! But, what we experienced after walking up and down the dirt path was something that I would remember for the rest of my life...

I recorded some videos of the stingless jellyfish. This one is for you :)

Once you're there, you wouldn't want to leave the place. It's so magical! Swimming in a green lake, surrounded by beautiful nature in the middle of nowhere... it was soooo peaceful! And... having to witness the stingless jellyfish lake that only live in two places in the world was indeed something special and memorable... :)

It was amazing to see thousands of jellyfish swimming all around me. Yet, they're not harmful! Ohhh... sooo cute!!! I loved it especially when I did 'free-dives' -- in which, I took a deep breath, hold my breath, and dove a few meters down. Suddenly, I felt like I was in a dream world. So surreal. Everything was green, with jellyfish dancing all around me.... It was indeed like in a fantasy world and I was there 'free-diving' happily like a five year old girl...

However, when I was observing the jellyfish, I spotted one or two of them heavily injured. One of them didn't even have a full body! And the other only had half body left! Ouch. I wonder why?

Then, I noticed that tourists are allowed to use fins when swimming in this lake. I don't think it's a good idea, since these jellyfish are very fragile. If we snorkel and use fins, it would be hard to control our fins as there were thousands of jellyfish all around. It would be impossible not to swipe them with our fins!

So, I think, putting a sign: "Please Do Not Touch The Jellyfish" is not enough. The authority should also consider banning tourists from using fins in order to protect the stingless jellyfish.
I could imagine if the number of tourists going to this lake were increased, how many stingless jellyfish got kicked from the snorkelers' fins per day?

Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens) Now Have a Website!

2010-08-01T21:16:00.000-07:00

Dear readers,

For those of you who want to know more about Taman Bacaan Pelangi (Rainbow Reading Gardens), small libraries that I set up in remote areas of Flores, Indonesia, please click here or visit our website at:

http://tamanbacaanpelangi.com/

We thanked our friends at Dag Dig Dug who have donated the website for us and also Andy Harvey for designing the website!

Thank you sooooo much!!! GBU yaaa!

And oh... you can also connect us on social media. Please join us at Facebook by clicking here or our facebook group here. And, don't forget to follow us on twitter @pelangibooks

See you there, guys! :)

Yangon, the city of Shwedagon Paya

2010-07-27T17:59:00.000-07:00

Yangon, the city of Shwedagon Paya, as Lonely Planet called it.

It is so true. Visitors who come to Yangon would not miss the chance to visit one of the world’s most impressive Buddhist temples: Shwedagon Paya (Paya means Pagoda). It was actually my first reason why I decided to go to Myanmar. One day, I flipped through my friend’s photo album on the Internet and found a gorgeous picture of Shwedagon Paya. I was so impressed with its beauty and could not stop thinking about it ever since…

Shwedagon Paya’s dome is considered as the most sacred Buddhist site in Myanmar. It is made of gold and rises 322 feet above its base. Legend says that the stupa is 2,500 years old, but archeologists believe that it is built in between the 6th and 10th century. It is still old, anyway… and the fact that it is very well preserved and so beautiful really impressed me.

The locals believe that when one walks inside the Shwedagon Paya complex, one should walk clock wise. Otherwise, it will bring a bad luck. At first, I forgot this “rule” and I walked the other direction. People stared at me with a strange look and I was wondering why. Then, I realized that I've made a mistake! Ouch! Of course I didn’t want to get any bad luck! Soon after, I was circling the stupa in the “right” direction, hoping that the good spirit “forgot” that walked in the wrong direction before :p. Hehehe..

One would need a couple of hours to marvel this stunning temple. Shwedagon Paya is not only big in terms of size, but also very elegant and pretty. The stupa itself is decorated with all kinds of jewels and gems. What a beauty! Around the main stupa, there are many Buddha statues and halls for praying. It is hard to not fall in love with the place. I even visited this place twice during my trip in Myanmar!

What also makes this pagoda beautiful is the fact that the locals still come from miles away to pray here. This pagoda attracts not only tourists, but also the locals. They come here to pray, some of them come here to meditate. The whole complex is always busy, yet it is so clean and spotless! Unlike many other temples where the floors are dusty, Shwedagon Paya probably has the cleanest floor, considering the huge size of the whole complex. Again, this small thing impressed me. I must admit that whoever manages the temple, really pay attention to the details :)

Like it or not, foreign visitors who wish to marvel the beauty of the Shwedagon Paya has to pay USD 5,- for entrance fee and another USD 5,- if one brings a professional camera (SLR). It is free of charge for the locals. And, thanks to my Asian look, I managed to get in free since the staff thought that I was Burmese! Yeah!!! If the money goes for the temple’s maintenance, I would not mind paying – of course, but according to my guide book, all the tourists’ entrance fees in the whole country will go straight to the military generals’ or government officials’ pockets. And, as a responsible traveler, of course I did not want to support such system! So, I was so happy that I managed to fool the government officials during my visit to Shwedagon Paya… twice! Ha!

If one does not want to pay entrance fee but still wish to visit beautiful Buddhist temple in Yangon, he/she can visit Sule Paya. The temple is located in the heart of the city, thus, after visiting the temple, one can start exploring the surrounding areas by foot. When I was in Sule Paya together with a German girl whom I accidentally met, two Buddhist monks approached me and said something in Burmese, which I didn’t understand at all. They were surprised when I told them that I was from Indonesia :). They have never met an Indonesian before... One of them asked me, “Do you want to be our friends?” Oooww… how sweet!

Apparently, they confessed that they’ve followed me since they saw me walking down the street. I was surprised. “Why did you follow me?”, I asked. They said, “Because we want to practice our English and you seemed like a friendly person. We thought you’re a tour guide of this German girl”. Hahaha!

So, I ended up spending the rest of the afternoon (of my first day in Yangon!) chatting with a German girl and two young Buddhist monks! We sat on a damp wooden chair, under a tree in a beautiful garden not far from Sule Paya. Win Win, a 175 cm tall with 2 silver teeth shining every time he smiled, spoke with broken English. Sondra, 28 years old, very skinny and tiny, spoke better English than his pal. We chatted about everything… from family, culture, monk’s life, rituals, and hobbies.

“Why did you decide to be a Buddhist monk?”, I asked Sondra

“Because of my Mom”, he said. He explained to me that one day, his Mom said, “If you want to make me happy, you should become a Buddhist monk. Monks life is good for you. A normal human life is not good for you. It is a hard life because you have to worry about money all the time, work very hard to live. You won’t be happy”.

Little Sondra wanted to make his mother happy, so he followed his mom’s advice by devoting his life for Buddha and live in a Buddhist monastery ever since.

“If your Mom didn’t ask you to become a monk, what would you actually want to be?”, I asked.

He was silent and smiled, “I don’t know. There’s no way that my Mom wouldn’t want me to be a monk. That’s all she’s ever wanted”.

Wow. This conversation made me think of how big his love to his mother is. He’s made his life decision based on his mother’s request. He didn’t even have his own will. Or maybe I should put it this way: his mother’s will has become his will?

The monks took us sightseeing and said goodbye just before the sunset. Yangon city could be as dark as an underwater tunnel at night, especially when the government decided to turn off the power in the whole city… Shops and food vendors closed at 7pm, I didn’t even know where to go for drinks in the evening. Local bars were full of men. Seriously. There was no a single woman in the bars. I wasn’t sure whether it was because of the World Cup or women didn’t go out at night.
And walking in the darkness, Sondra’s voice echoed in my ears, “I want to live as a Buddhist monk for the rest of my life…”

…

I felt very safe strolling down the streets of Yangon by myself. People were so nice and never disturbed me. There were a lot of Indians, who have sharp and scary looks but appeared to be very friendly and sweet, selling some snacks in the food vendors on the streets. You would not have to worry of feeling starving here. There were plenty of snacks to nibble in every corner of the city! Spring rolls, samosa, fried vegetables (tempura-like, but without the soya sauce, we call it “gorengan” in Indonesia) were some of the locals’ favorite snacks. Someone had warned me that the Burmese food was oily. But being an Indonesian, I was so used to oily food. In fact, I loved it! :D

One day, I visited Chaukhtatgyi Paya, a home to one of Myanmar’s most beautiful reclining Buddhas. The huge reclining Buddha smiled peacefully. Despite the impressive size of the Buddha, not many people visited this temple, surprisingly. The complex was not packed, there were only a few people sitting down in front of the humongous Buddha statue, praying and meditating… Some women fell asleep in front of the Buddha statue. Perhaps they were taking a break in between their meditation.. :)

The compound was very peaceful and quiet. There were a number of monasteries, housed for around 300 monks. I got a privilege to visit some of the monasteries in the area of Chaukhtagyi Paya and chatted with the monks there. Even though most of them didn’t speak English, the kept on talking to me in Burmese language, hoping that I would understand them, somehow.

I met a young monk who spoke very good English, better than any monks I met during my trip in Myanmar. He’s 30 years old and lived in one of the monasteries attached to Chaukhtagyi Paya. In his “room”, located on the second floor, he kept all his English books. I was surprised to see his books collection! He has a glass-bookshelf full of thick books on “How to Learn English”. Wow! He explained that he learned English by himself, from the books and also from a series of English-language CDs. He was so determined to master English language, so that he could study abroad. He wanted to study in Thailand, if he could. Then, after getting his degree, he wanted to return to Myanmar to teach English to others. As a monk, or not, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t think I asked him this question. I was too impressed with his English and his books collection!

According to him, the government didn’t like it when monks spent time chatting with tourists. Perhaps the government worried if monks/locals shared stories on how bad they treated its people. I heard many tourists were followed by a spy. But during my stay there, I didn’t feel that anyone followed me. Apart from the two Buddhist monks I met in Sule Paya! :D Perhaps even the spy thought that I was Burmese. Hihihi…

If you’re into shopping or want to buy some souvenirs, the perfect place to go is Bogyoke Aung San Market. This market has everything you need for souvenirs, from long-yi (Myanmar’s traditional sarong), scarf, bags, t-shirts, etc. The building is also clean and cool. I thought it has an AC to cool off the whole building, but apparently it hasn’t! Apart from the shops, it is actually a perfect place to escape from the Yangon’s heat.

Like in many other countries, Myanmar also has a Chinatown. A Chinese Buddhist temple stood elegantly by the street, with the rooftop decorated by dragons’ statues. It is also worth to visit this temple if you have enough time in Yangon. When I was there, some elderly Chinese locals gathered together in two different roundtables, right after the huge red entrance door. They all spoke in Burmese language :)

For those who love spending holidays in big cities, Yangon might not be the right place to go. Even though Yangon is considered as a big city in Myanmar, it is far from the image of big cities with skyscrapers, modern buildings, fancy restaurants, cinemas, and all those modernization thingy. Yangon is a very down-to-earth city, with old and cramped apartment buildings, food vendors scattered in each side of the main streets, and abandoned old colonial houses all around. The city is not pretty, but the streets are surprisingly clean. And don’t forget, the people are nice. Even when you’re in a shopping mood in the market, they won’t push you to buy their stuff. They will leave you alone, as if they don’t even care whether you will buy something from them or not! :D And oh, when we bargain for the price, they will only smile at you if your bid is too low and won’t even try harder to make you buy their stuff. Funny!

Getting around the city, one can hop on a “smurf” car (small pick-up car in blue), rickshaw, crap taxi (yes, the taxis are all crap and falling apart), and/or public bus (always packed and the drivers imposes crazy driving style!). I tried everything and my favorite was taking the rickshaw! Even though I felt bad for the rickshaw driver at times :(.

So many stories, so many impressions, so many temples. I’ll try to share a bit of my experiences with you in my other posts about Myanmar… the land of monks and gorgeous Buddhist temples…

24 Days in Myanmar, the land of the unknown...

2010-07-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

(Myanmar trip, June-July 2010)

Myanmar, a country where freedom of expressions is non-existent, the fear of the people over the government’s regime dominates the air of their breath, a place that is untouched by any means of modernization -- be it in the form of iphone, blackberry, Starbucks, Mc Donald’s, skyscrapers, etc, and yet… a place where sincere, genuine and warm smile of the locals can be found in every corner…

I spent 24 days there.. going from one place to another, spending time chatting with the locals, marveling the beauty of some of the world’s most beautiful Buddhist temples, making friends and hanging out with Buddhist monks, being invited to sleep in Buddhist monasteries and wake up very early in the morning, sipping uncountable cups of hot green tea served in every tea house, people’s house and monastery, witnessing traditional festivals that have been around for years, and.. the most important was.. spending time with myself, trying to listen to my heart with lots of distractions from my crowded mind…

In those 24 days, I spent a week in Yangon and Kyaikto Mountain, a week in Mandalay and ancient cities around (Sagaing, Amarapura, Inwa, Pyin U Lwin), five days in Inle Lake and five days in Bagan. It was nice and perfect. Of course it would have been nicer to spend more time in Myanmar, but the tourist visa only allows visitors to stay 28 days maximum in the country and I had to fly to Indonesia to open 3 more “Taman Bacaan Pelangi” (Rainbow Reading Gardens) in three remote villages in Flores… So, even though there were still many places to explore, I had to say goodbye to the lovely people there. But, I would like to use the the idea of “haven’t explored the beaches in Myanmar” as an excuse to return this interesting place…

I learned many things about life during this trip. I learned about patience, flexibility, the art of giving, happiness, and also trusting my inner feelings. It is amazing that I learn more things about life in such a short travel journey than a-two-months of living in a big city and sitting in front of my laptop in the office. I am also always fascinated by the fact that so many things happen when I go on holidays compare to the same amount of time I spent in the office. I think when we work full time, time passes by just like that *snapping my fingers*. We wake up early in the morning and before we realize it, it’s already bed time. We do not have enough time for ourselves to contemplate, to listen to our inner self, to listen to our heart that it is unnecessary to buy those material things that we do not actually need, only to buy a “temporary happiness” to substitute our dissatisfaction, etc etc… We are too busy to even sit still, do nothing and think, “Where am I in this life? In what stage I am now?”

This is why I love traveling so much. And traveling alone enables me to explore more of not only the places, the people, the culture, but also… myself.

And with regard to my trip in Myanmar, I also learned that the dictatorship of the government regime, the cruelness, the meanness and the inhuman treatments practiced by the military officials to its people do not make the people of Myanmar lose their sense of humanity, their sense of loving every living being on earth, and their sincerity and purity… Every people I met during my trip there has been so kind, greeted me with their innocent smile and treated me with their warmest heart. Despite the ill treatment they received from the people who hold the power, the people of Myanmar continue to live their simple life with a big heart, continue to be friendly to everyone who crosses their life paths, while keeping their hope that one day everything would change. They’re looking forward to the day when they could breath the air of freedom. And I wish that their flame of hope will always glow… even though sometimes it is only a dim… but at least it is still there… Again, this trip taught me a lesson on how to keep my hopes alive… no matter what the circumstances are…

Just like one of Bon Jovi’s songs… “Keep the faith!”. My heart goes for the sweet Burmese people out there… keep the faith, keep the spirit, and keep your hope alive!

Always The Real Thing: Coca-Cola Supports the Rainbow Reading Gardens!

2010-04-30T04:56:00.000-07:00

Coca-Cola is now running a campaign, titled "Happiness Goes Around". This campaign relates to the "Expedition 206", in which three bloggers (Tono, Kelly and Tony) will travel to 206 countries in the world in 365 days! The good news is... they will also visit Indonesia on May 4th, 2010!

Coca-Cola wants their visit to Indonesia to be meaningful and help spread happiness to others.

And, for Indonesia, the campaign "Happiness Goes Around" will be dedicated to our Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi)! Yayyy!! How does it work? Coca-Cola asks everyone to share their happiness others by:

1) Submitting your happy faces pictures (you can submit more than one picture) through Facebook on their facebook wall here
2) Or submit the pictures through twitter and add hashtag #jktx206 or through Tumblr at
http://jktx206.tumblr.com/submit

For 206 pictures that Coca-Cola received, they will donate 100 books for Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) in Flores. Yiippeeeee!!!

So, let's contribute to this campaign and help us bring more books for children in Flores!
Deadline for submission is Monday, May 3rd, 2010.

As "Buka Semangat Baru" wrote on their facebook page: by contributing to this campaign and share your happy faces, your happiness will also be happiness of the kids in Flores! Your smile will be theirs soon! Yayyy!!!

Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) thanked Coca-Cola and everyone who has participated and will participate on this campaign for the support and good will to help our little brothers and sisters who live in remote areas in Flores, Indonesia. Big thanks and let's spread our happiness around!

Rainbow Reading Gardens is on TV!

2010-04-26T03:15:00.000-07:00

The Autralia Network (or known as the ABC News) runs a story on Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) and the news airs today ;).

Kerri Ritchie, the journalist who works for the media, interviewed me on April 23rd, 2010 at Pasar Festival. We decided to meet there at a book fair, a perfect set for running a news about books and education.

I also gave her some video footage and photos that I took of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Flores, Indonesia. Apparently, she used some of them! Omigod... the kids would be so happy if they saw their happy faces on TV! I also got a lot of responses from my friends around the globe, such as in Singapore, Australia, also Indonesia, who happened to be in front of TV and watched the Australia Network channel when the story was on. They said they felt touched to see the kids' faces and thought that this Rainbow Reading Gardens project was a great idea.

Curious to see the news? Click here or check out the news at http://australianetworknews.com/stories/201004/2882687.htm :)

Rainbow Reading Gardens Now Open in Rinca Village and Papagarang Village, Flores (Part 2)

2010-04-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

- The Opening of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Papagarang Village (Papagarang Island - Komodo National Park) -

We continued our journey from Rinca Island to Papagarang Island, both located in Komodo National Park, Indonesia. It took us around 45 minutes to 1 hour on a slow boat. It was an enjoyable journey because the wind breeze made the temperature cooler a bit and the beautiful scenery of the National Park all around have successfully spoiled our eyes :).

Papagarang Island looked very dry compared to Rinca Island. The village itself (Papagarang Village) has a big problem in getting fresh water. The people have to buy water from Labuan Bajo every day. Even for taking a shower, they usually just dip themselves in the sea! Some of them rinse themselves with fresh water afterwards, but most of them don't. Life is a bit tough when you don't have access to clean water, isn't it?

Same as the location in Komodo Village and Rinca Village, Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi)'s location in Papagarang Village is also located under a local's traditional wooden house. Bapak Is has voluntarily giving a space under his house for Rainbow Reading Garden. Bapak Is is a member of a community group called "Pencinta Lingkungan Hidup" (PLH), in which, the group has agreed to manage the reading garden considering that I don't live on the island myself. Again, this reading garden has to be sustainable, thus, we have to engage with the local communities in managing the books and the system.

As soon as we stepped our feet in the village, the kids came to us with curiosity, especially seeing us carrying big and heavy boxes.

"Apa itu isinya?" ("What's in there?"), asked a young boy, bravely.
I replied, "Buku cerita" ("Story books")
He screamed happilly, "Hurraaaayyy!!!", then ran right away announcing the good news to his friends.

Soon after, we're already surrounded by many many kids! They followed us all the way to the location of the reading garden :). Soooo nice!!! Most of them walked barefooted, made me wonder whether they felt the heat on their small feet or not. Or maybe they got so used to it, so they didn't feel it anymore.

We also invited the school's headmaster to join the fun. He gave a speech which basically told the kids to take a good care of the books. And my "speech" was more of telling them the good news that now they have a small library where they can read good story children books and hope that they would enjoy the books :). Also a short message on the excitement of reading and how important it is.

After telling them the good news, now the fun part. Giving out prizes to whoever brave enough to perform songs, poems, dances, etc. And oh my God, you wouldn't believe how excited they were!!! All of them were so enthusiastic wanting to sing and deliver poems! Brave kids, they are!
The girls were a bit shy, but some of them really enjoyed singing and performing in public. Perhaps they would be a bunch of rock stars in the future! ;)

It was very nice to be among such brave and energetic kids. They also got excited over small presents that they got after performing. I wished I had presents for everyone! Ah well... maybe next time!

The kids couldn't wait to read the books and when we left, they kept asking, "Can we read the books now? Can we? Please.. please.." Oh.. such a sweetheart!

Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) would like to thank everyone for all the supports and contribution given to this good cause. Without you, Rainbow Reading Gardens would not grow this fast. We now have six reading gardens in six different villages in West Flores, Indonesia! Three of them are located in the mountains area and the other three are located in the sea (islands of Komodo National Park). Thank you, lovely people!!!

Let's greet the kids in Flores with good story books and make them smile and smart!

Rainbow Reading Gardens Now Open in Rinca Village and Papagarang Village, Flores (Part 1)

2010-04-12T22:22:00.000-07:00

- The Opening of Rainbow Reading Gardens in Rinca Village (Rinca Island - Komodo National Park) -

After opening 4 reading gardens in 4 different villages (Roe, Melo, Nampar Macing and Komodo) in West Manggarai, West Flores, we decided to open more reading gardens in other remote areas of West Flores, Indonesia.

This time, we decided to open reading gardens in Rinca Village (on Rinca Island) and Papagarang Village (on Papagarang Island). Both of these villages are located in Komodo National Park.

So, now, all the kids who live in the villages in Komodo National Park (Komodo Village, Rinca Village and Papagarang Village) can enjoy reading good children story books at Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi). Yipppeeee!!!

Today, me, Katherine Demopolous - my friend who works as a journalist in Jakarta, Junaidi - my best friend in Flores, William, Wawan - an English teacher who volunteering in another area of Flores, and a group of band members (Hendry, Berto, Oday) went on a small boat to go to Rinca and Papagarang Islands. We're on a mission: opening 2 reading gardens on these islands!
We filled the boat with big boxes of books for kids who live on these islands. We're all so excited!

Our first destination was to Rinca Village on Rinca Island. Do you know that you can see the famous komodo dragons on Rinca Island? There's a tourism concession area called "Loh Buaya", in which, tourists can go for trekking to see the komodo dragons, accompanied by a ranger/naturalist guide. Rinca Village itself is located not far from the tourism concession area and as you may guess, sometimes, the komodo dragons also go to this village for a walk.

When we got to the village, we're greeted by the kids and without knowing, we're already surrounded by tens of them! Some of them said hello, some of them said, "Halo turis!" (hello, tourist!), "Halo Miss!", etc. I replied, "Halooo juga... tapi saya bukan turis" (hello to you, too... but I'm not a tourist) :D

We walked to the location of the reading garden. For your info, the locals live in traditional houses made of wood. We call it as "rumah panggung" (stage house), with the below part of the house is used for "bale-bale" (wooden bench) to relax during the hot and steamy day, or for a little snooze. Rainbow Reading Gardens (Taman Bacaan Pelangi) uses this space to put a bookshelf and books in, also for the kids to read the books. We asked a community group called "Kelompok Pencinta Lingkungan Hidup" (KPLH) to manage the reading garden, because it has to be sustainable and the local communities should be involved in managing the books.

The Rainbow Reading Gardens in Rinca Village is located at Bapak Mohamad's house. He lives in a strategic location, right at the heart of the village and far away from the bushes where the komodo dragons often be seen. So, the kids will be save from the risk of getting visitors in the form of giant lizzard while they're enjoying themselves reading books!
Pak Baco, the leader of KPLH, has prepared a beautiful bookshelf in blue color. It looks so cute and neat! As soon as we got into the location, we opened the boxes and put the books into the shelf right away. Done!
The kids who have been waiting unpatiently got even more excited after seeing the books displayed. They tried to grab the books, but was told to be patient and listened to the briefing first. I smiled when seeing the excitement and feeling their happiness :).

We invited the school's principal to the opening. We told him about our objective in opening the reading garden outside school area, trying to make him understand that the children can learn not only in the school, but also outside. And that having a small library outside school area can provide the kids with an alternative place to learn and a more comfortable place to read the books. Hopefully, by providing a comfortable place and good story books, the kids' interest in reading would grow. The school's principal nodded. I only had one wish: hope he understood the whole point, because I found it a bit difficult to introduce a new concept to areas who are still very conservative in terms of education system.

Anyway, it was so great to tell the kids about this good news. They were all looking at the bookshelf with shining eyes. I was so thrilled.

After telling them the good news about "Taman Bacaan Pelangi", we took a group photo together. Then, in the crowd, my friend whispered to me, "Nila... someone wants to talk to you, but he's a bit shy".

Apparently, this guy was a school principal in a small village next to Rinca. It's called Kerora Village.
With shy, he said, "Ibu Nila... I'm just wondering, could you also please open a reading garden in my village?"
Aawwww... how cute!
I asked him, "Sure. Would love to, if that's possible. How many students you have in your school?"
He replied, "Only 45 kids, we only have 1st-3rd grade, then jump to 6th grade".

Wow! How come? Where are the kids at the age of 4th-5th grade? A generation gap or what? Only Heaven knows.

I told him that I'll try to arrange something for his village. The types of the books would be different, considering the kids are mostly on the 1st - 3rd grade. At the same time, I felt flattered and happy, because apparently, people started to think the importance of having libraries and providing reading books in their village. Good!

The sun was getting high and it was time to go. We said goodbye to everyone and they greeted our hands one by one. So cute! We walked back to the jetty to continue our trip to the other island. Half way, we noticed, it sounded so quiet. Where are the kids? Then we realized that the kids couldn't be bothered to walk us back to the jetty because they're all already busy flipping through the books! :D

Our boat left Rinca Island when the sun was shining right above us. It was mid day and burning hot. We felt like jumping to the clear water, but had to remind ourselves that we're still on a mission: go to Papagarang Island to open Rainbow Reading Gardens for the kids there!

check out our story in Papagarang Village in the next post :)

Launch Event of Rainbow Reading Gardens for Kids in Flores

2010-03-26T06:43:00.000-07:00

Saturday, 13 March 2010

It was a beautiful morning in Melo Village, Flores, Indonesia. Kids had gathered in a nice garden overlooking the hills and the view of Komodo National Park, some guests had arrived on time and mingled with each other, the morning breeze comforted everyone and whispered them to enjoy the happy moment. It was a special day. What's going on?

It was the day when the Rainbow Reading Gardens ("Taman Bacaan Pelangi") was officially launched!

I've been writing about the Rainbow Reading Gardens in my previous posts. So, please read them first to get a better idea of this project. Click here.

I must say, the launch event of the Rainbow Reading Gardens ("Taman Bacaan Pelangi") held in "Panorama", Compang To'e cultural group's center, was a big success! A number of guests, starting from the local governments, head of villages, school headmasters and teachers, local communities and NGOs, and also.. students from the villages.. attended the event.

Students from SDK Roe performed some traditional dances, such as "Tek Tek Alu". They also performed poetries and made my tears dropped at some point :P. Not only that, students from SDK Melo also performed traditional dances and some songs. Omigod.. .they're sooo cute!!! I didn't expect they would perform such things! I felt so touched.

The best was a "Caci" dance performance by SDK Roe. "Caci" is a whip fight between two rivals. Usually, it's performed by a group of adults. So, it was very interesting to see a "Caci" performance carried by kids!!! And they're so good, too! Everyone loved their performance!!!

The Deputy Head of the Parliament said that he supported the presence of "Taman Bacaan Pelangi" in West Manggarai District, Flores. He hoped that "Taman Bacaan Pelangi" could also open in more villages in West Manggarai district, Flores, so that there would be more kids have the access to good books!

Wow. Thank you for such a good support. Everyone who came to the event also expressed their supports to "Taman Bacaan Pelangi". I felt so happy and excited!!!

At the end of the event, we saw another "Caci" performance, but this time was performed by "Compang To'e" cultural group.

Since that day, the "Rainbow Reading Gardens" was officially running in four villages in West Flores, which were at Roe Village, Melo Village, Komodo Village and Nampar Macing Village.

We thanked everyone who has been supporting "Taman Bacaan Pelangi", for all the donations and moral supports given, too. These reading gardens wouldn't establish without your supports. Personally, I thanked everyone from the deepest of my heart.

March 14th

2010-03-23T02:09:00.000-07:00

March 14th.

This date has a special meaning for me. This date reminds me of two of my loved ones who were no longer with me, but still close to my heart.

March 14th, 2010.

17 years ago, my Dad passed away. I was almost 17 years old by then. Wish I could be with him longer. Wish he could see me growing up. Wish I could make him happy and take him around the world. Wish we could spend more time to chat about life

March 14th, 2010 is Morgan’s 40th birthday. He could have been 40 if he’s still around today. Wish I could celebrate his birthday together and see him smiling happily. But I’m sure he’s smiling happily… from up there, above the sky… above all the stars and clouds… As he told me once in my dream, he said he really loved it there, in his new place. I could see his face shining vibrantly. “He’s happy”, I said to myself. He said that he loved the surf there. And I’m sure it must be nice to surf in heaven. Surfing the sky… in between the clouds...

March 14th, 2010. I picked up some flowers from the neighborhood where I stayed in Labuan Bajo, Flores, as there’s no florist around. It was actually much nicer this way. I never picked up flowers for someone or any occasion myself as usually there were always some florist shops around. Anyway, it felt really nice to be able to pick some flowers in the garden. Especially when we knew that those flowers were for our loved ones :)

After having enough colorful flowers in my bag, I walked down to the beach to scatter them. It was sunset. The sky was pretty. And there I was… praying for my Dad and sending a birthday prayer for Morgan. I prayed for them a peaceful life in heaven. I prayed to God that He would take care of them and let them have a good time in his Kingdom. I prayed for their happiness in heaven… and said that I missed them so much.

March 14th, 2010. I was having brunch at my terrace overlooking the sea when there were two white butterflies flying circling my body. It reminded me of what my Mom said when we cremated my Dad. There was a white butterfly flying around her when she was praying at the crematorium. The white butterfly flying & circling her body until it laid on her hand. When she finished her prayer, the butterfly flew away…

It also reminded me of what happened on...

March 14th, 2007. Me and Mom went to the sea in the North of Jakarta to scatter some flowers for Dad & Morgan. I cried a lot. We sent our prayers for them. After that, our boat started to sail back to the shore and that's when I saw 2 butterflies flying… at the back of our boat… And those two butterflies followed us until we reached the shore.. as if they guided us til we arrived safely to the land… (read the full story here)

A few weeks later, I was in Sydney, Australia, sailing with Morgan's good friends. The sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly. At one point, I looked up to the sky and there I saw... a butterfly flying around the sail, in the middle of the sea! Wow. Was it a coincidence?

March 14th, 2010. Would these white butterflies be my Dad’s and Morgan’s spirits wanting to drop by & say hi to me? Maybe.

March 14th, 2010. I felt mellow and I thought of them a lot. I missed them dearly. And I wished them a peaceful life in heaven…

This was how the sky looked like on March 14th, 2010.

Simply beautiful :)

Meeting Orang Utan Crab in Komodo National Park

2010-03-07T01:39:00.000-08:00

Almost everyone who is into scuba-diving addict wants to go to Komodo National Park to witness the beauty of the underwater world. Komodo National Park has a reputation as one of the most beautiful dive places in the world. With 1,000 species of fish, 385 species of reef building corals, a home to sharks, manta rays, turtles, and many more! I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to entertain myself every weekend to enjoy this underwater beauty.

Today, I went to the middle part of Komodo National Park with Dive Komodo and a group of divers. First dive, we went to Wainilu, nearby Rinca Island. The water temperature was a bit cold today (well, at least, cold for my standard!). It was 25 degrees Celcius. Brrrrr!!! Wainilu is a dive spot, special for muck dive. I saw a tiny pipe fish, zebra crab, many shrimps, tiny yellow boxfish (so cute!), a lot of razor fish, cuttle fish, several nudibranchs with different colors & species, a weird-looking scorpion fish and many more. We went down to 16.6 meters, the total dive time was 53 minutes. Enough to make me feel cold under my 3 mm wetsuit.

After doing surface interval, we went to another dive site, called Penga Kecil. The water temperature was 26 degrees, slightly “better” than the first dive. We went down to 22.1 meters and saw some turtles, many nudibranchs, orang utan crab looking pretty on bubble corals (my fave!), some white tip reef sharks – including one shark hiding under a table coral as if it was playing hide and seek with its other fellow sharks, some giant trevallys and really BIG jack fish! Wow. I almost shocked when I was looking around quietly and suddenly the giant jack fish, around 1 meter, swam in front of me! Wow. What was that???! Hahhaha… After 55 minutes, we decided to go up and warm ourselves under the sun. Brrr… even 26 degrees Celcius still too cold for me! :p

Third dive was in Karang Makassar. This site is famous for its manta rays. Yayyyy!!! The water temperature was 26 degrees, visibility wasn’t great, around 10 – 15 meters. We went down and swam around, suddenly we saw 1 manta ray from far. We swam closer and there he was, hovering at the cleaning station, surrounded by small fish whose happily cleaning his body. After enjoying the amazing creature, we continued our dive and stopped again as soon as we saw another manta ray hovering above some corals. So cool! In total, we saw 5 to 6 manta rays on this dive. Everyone’s happy ☺. Obviously, divers couldn’t get enough of manta rays, could they? At the end of the dive, we bumped into a school of bumphead parrotfish! OMigod… they’re around 50 of them and all in big size! Soooo nice!!! We also saw a napoleon wrasse swimming in between a school of oriental sweetlips. The napoleon wrasse looked like “a guardian angel” for the sweetlips. Hehehe..

What a nice day. All dives that I did in Komodo National Park never failed. There was always something new, something exciting. Every dive was always different and beautiful. That’s why I fell in love with this place…

Finding a Whale Shark in Probolinggo!

2010-02-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

So happy that finally I encountered a whale shark in my life!!! Yeahhhh!!!

I made my way to Bentar Beach, Probolinggo, East Java only to try my luck to see whale sharks. I wasn't lucky on my first day. It was raining hard and no boats going out to the sea. Me and Andy went back to the hotel with blue face :(.

The next day, we marched again to the Bentar Beach. The sun was shining brightly and I thought, "Today would be my lucky day!". And yes!! We saw 1 baby whale shark! Woohooo... The whale shark was even playing around nearby our boat! I even swam next to it! Oh.. how lucky I was! ^-^ Thank Universe for being so kind to me... ;)

Here's the video of the whale shark that I took from the boat. Enjoy! :)

After having fun swimming with the whale shark, we didn't continue our mission in finding another whale sharks. Why? We thought that the water was too murky. We couldn't even see the whale shark underwater even though it was right in front of us! Satisfied with seeing only one whale shark, we told the Captain to drive the boat back to the shore.

Good bye, whale shark! Hope to see you again next year... with your friends, too!!! ;)

Celebrating New Year 2010 in Barcelona, Spain

2010-01-01T01:51:00.000-08:00

Happy new year 2010, everyone!!!

I'm in Barcelona, Spain at the moment, welcoming 2010 surrounded by the Spaniards and the winter cold. Brrrr... With a little plan, I ended up celebrating New Years Eve in Plaza Catalunya, together with thousands of people who gathered there with a plastic glass of wine in one hand and a bag of 12 grapes on the other. That's how Spanish celebrate New Years. When the clock bells 12 times, counting down the new year, they eat the grapes one by one and drink the wine, while making wishes for the year ahead :)

It was pretty messy in Plaza Catalunya last night. So many people tried to get in to the center of the square, but there were some police lines, in which police checked everyone's bag and made sure that people only carry 1 cup of alcohol, not a whole bottle. However, I don't think it worked that well since I saw many people walking around with a bottle of wine in their hands and they seemed already drunk by midnight! :D

I think it might be the busiest night for the police officers in Barcelona, since so many people were hammered. They walked around happily with group of friends (sometimes running around, too!), singing some Spanish songs or just humming loudly (like in football matches). Restaurants and bars were full, yet, people were still queueing!
Las Ramblas, the most famous street in Barcelona, was jammed with thousands of people. You could barely walk. Wow. I felt like I was in a busy club! :P People were dressing up from head to toe, some of them with some party accessories, such as blinking sunglasses (yes, it was midnight), party hats, trumphets, etc. Chaotic, but fun.

At one point, me and Andy decided to walk back to Plaza Catalunya and choose to walk in a small street adjacent to Las Ramblas since it was impossible to walk in that busy street! It was getting colder and the wind got stronger. Brrrr...

At the end of the night, we ended up drinking a big glass of Sangria in Las Ramblas (yes, we made it!). It was the BIGGEST Sangria glass I've ever seen, easily filled with 1 littre of Sangria. The bar, which is part of Husa Oriente Hotel in La Ramblas, claimed that it's the best Sangria (in town? in the country? they didn't mention it). I'm not sure if it's true :p, but it was tasty :).

That was my new years experience in Barcelona. No big party in a club, but it was as busy and as cramped as being in a big club :p. No big fireworks as it's not a part of Spanish tradition.

I wish you a wonderful year ahead, full with new adventures, excitements and sweet surprises!

And I thanked God for all the blessings in 2009, for being so kind to me to give the time and opportunities to travel to beautiful places in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, made it back to Kuala Lumpur at one point, too, Singapore (of course - let's not count that since I lived there), Indonesia, England and Spain. Plus, diving in some of the world's best dive places: Komodo (Indonesia), Raja Ampat (Indonesia), Bunaken and Lembeh Strait in Sulawesi (Indonesia), encountering Mola-Mola in Bali (Indonesia), dive all over places in Thailand (including Similan Islands), etc etc. So many adventures, so many new experiences and so many beautiful things, all happened in 1 year! Wow. He's so generous, isn't He?

And I wish that He'll pour his blessings to my family, friends and loved ones. Also for the less fortunate people in this world... and hope the angels will guide us, whispers their wisdom words whenever we need them, and protect us in every single step we make each day, throughout 2010. Have a wonderful one, everyone!

With love,
Nila

Rainbow Reading Gardens Greets Kids in Roe Village, Flores

2009-12-08T19:43:00.000-08:00

Rainbow Reading Gardens finally opened in Roe Village, West Flores, Indonesia last Saturday, 5 December 2009! Woohooooo!!!

The rain didn't stop the kids to make their way heading to the pink house, where the Rainbow Reading Gardens is located. They walked with their umbrellas on their hands, rushing to the location, didn't want to be late as they were informed that the Reading Garden would start at 2pm. None of them was late. I was very impressed.

Rainbow Reading Gardens in Roe Village has 220 children books, consisting of comics, science comics, disney encyclopedia for children, Indonesian folktales, themed books for children - series about predators, etc, story books for children - Cinderella, Snow White, Barbie series, etc. Some of the collections are my long time favorite, such as: Tintin, Donald Duck, Uncle Scrooch. Also Doraemon, Monika and Friends and many many more! Seeing all these books, the kids "attacked" the bookshelf in less than a minute after I finished unpacking those books from my suitcase! :D

Since it was raining outside, we couldn't sit in the garden or under the trees at the corner of the yard. The kids gathered at a terrace of the pink house, sat on the floor, with books on their hands. Interestingly, they all read the books with a loud voice. So, forget about being in a library where everyone reads quietly. If you join us in Rainbow Reading Garden here, you'll be surrounded by kids reading each sentence from each book loud and sound! It felt like I was surrounded by a group of bees... hehehe... interesting!

Every kid had to report which book they want to read and report again when they finish. They have to return it to the bookshelf. Two girls helped me writing down the names and the books.
When it's all done, these girls started to read the books they have chosen: books about Princesses! I learned that most of the girls here love this type of book. Name it: Cinderella, Princess & the Frog Prince, etc. So girlie! ^-^

Some of the boys looked very serious reading Tintin. Another boy also was in full concentration reading... Winnie The Pooh!! Very very cute!!!

Time went fast. Suddenly it was 4pm. The owner of the pink house, who is also a teacher, asked me, "Mbak, it's already 4pm. Shall we end the reading session?". I looked around and saw that the kids were still enjoying the books. I said, "Hmm.. Let's give them 30 more minutes, Bu until 4.30pm". Out of the blue, there was a voice, "No.. no... make it at 5pm!", a boy screaming loudly. And some of his friends said, "Yes... at 5pm, pleaseee...". Another one said, "Don't close, please. We still want to be here". Ahhh...

We called it for the day at 4.30pm. Kids had to return the books to the shelf and they organized the books by themselves. Very neat! After that, I made a little chatting session with them.

"So, kids... are you happy with the books that we have here?", I asked.
"YEAAAHHHH... veryyyy happy!!!", they all screamed loudly.
"Ok... so.. now, tell me.. what was your favorite book of the day?", I asked again.
"A book about Crocodile!", one boy shouted.
"Why do you like that book?", I asked.
"I like it because now I know that apparently a crocodile can eat one whole deer at a time!", he said.
Everyone laughed.
"I love the book, titled 'In the darkness of a cold night'", said a girl
"Oh.. why do you love that book?", I asked
"Because the girl in the book.... ", then she started to tell me the story and everyone was listening... :) :) :)
In the end she said, "So, the girl finally made a confession to her Mom about everything that she did. She was being honest to her Mom".
The girl sitting next to her said, "Yes. I also love that book, the story is beautiful", agreeing her friend.

I asked again, "Who read Tintin?"
"Me.. me.. me!!", some boys replied
"Which Tintin did you read?", I asked
"Tintin in America!", a boy replied
"Ok... what's the name of Tintin's dog?", I asked
"Miloooooooooo", one boy screamed out loud
"Good answer!"

It showed that these kids really paid attention to the story of the books they just read :). And I personally enjoyed this little session, too as I could see their happiness reflected on their face. Everyone was smiling. And that kind of feeling is... priceless!

15 kids enjoyed the books in Rainbow Reading Gardens that afternoon. They are from 4th and 5th grade (10 - 11 years old). Next week, the teacher would inform students from 1st and 3rd grade, too. So, hopefully, there will be more kids coming to Rainbow Reading Garden next Saturday ;)

Thank you very much to everyone who has been very supportive to make this Rainbow Reading Garden happened. For all the donations (funds and books) from my friends as well as my... blog readers! As well as for the help in spreading the information about this project. Rainbow Reading Gardens wouldn't exist without all your help and supports. Thank you for your all your kindness and light-hearts.

Also thanks to: Gramedia - for the 25%-30% discount of the books that we purchased; Adit - for the discount plus the free Donald Duck comics; Kinantikomik.com for the discount; Pluz Bookshop for the help in getting those affordable Donald Duck comics; Lion Air - for the 50% discount of our excess baggage from Jakarta to Denpasar; Transnusa Airlines - for the 50% discount of our excess baggage from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo; Andrew Harvey - for helping me out in the field, bringing the books from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo, counting the books and going from one village to another!

Hopefully, what we do here will bring happiness for the kids in some of the remote villages in West Flores, Indonesia yah, guys!

Oyeah, currently we have 924 books in total. We are planning to open in Melo and Nampar Mancing villages in January and February next year! Yeah! Fingers crossed!

Let's greet these kids in the villages through books :)

The Secret of Happiness

2009-11-17T21:50:00.000-08:00

It's rainy season in Labuan Bajo, West Flores, Indonesia.

In such a small town like this, what can you do when the rain starts to pour down heavily? One can't escape to a shopping mall, killing time by checking out products that are shown nicely in the glass windows, tempting the customers to buy by putting some manequins with ideal body postures so that any clothes will look good on those "human-sized-Barbie-dolls" but will be too big or too small if you put them on your own body because they stich some pins behind those manequins' bodies, or.. if one is tired of walking around in the freezing shopping mall, one can simply sit in one of the coffee shops sipping a cup of coffee which would cost him/her a fortune, just because it's branded.

There's no such thing in this small town. One can decide to stay at home or chill in a local restaurant. For me, I prefer to stay at home, reading a book in my bedroom, while listening some Bossanova music with the sound of the rain as the backsound. What a lovely afternoon.

And in that afternoon, I find some very nice words from the book that I'm reading read, titled "Have a Little Faith" by Mitch Albom. In one of the chapters, it discusses, "What is the secret of happiness?

And the answer is...

"Be satisfied"
"Be grateful"
"For what you have. For the love you receive. And for what God has given you".

I smile deeply and think how true it is.

Perfect Locations for the Rainbow Reading Gardens

2009-11-13T03:01:00.001-08:00

Last weekend, I decided to visit Nampar Mancing (Pusut), Roe and Melo villages in West Flores, Indonesia, to search for locations for the Rainbow Reading Gardens.

It took me 2 hours from Labuan Bajo to Nampar Mancing village by motorbike. The ride was smooth and it felt very nice to breath real fresh air from the mountains. When me and Andy reached the village, the road path got worsen. There were a lot of holes on the asphalt. Not a pleasant ride, but I've experienced worse. So, it was ok. Surprisingly, the students of SDK Pusut (Pusut Elementary School) had been waiting for us! We were greeted by a teacher, then suddenly the students were all standing in line, facing to each other, and making a little space like an alley for me and Andy to walk in between. Wow! I felt so special! This is even better than the red carpet in Oscar ;)

We watched the students playing football and volleyball games. They're good. It was amazing to see them running around chasing the ball barefooted in a steamy day! I couldn't imagine having to run barefooted on a school's yard. Please bear in mind that the soccer field is far from a proper soccer field. It's basically an empty land, covered with small rocks and some grass here and there. Ouch. It must've been painful for them. Or maybe they're used to it.

I shared the idea of setting up a Reading Garden in the village. The Headmaster and teachers loved the idea. They would support it all the way. I asked their permission to use the school yard for reading areas. They didn't mind :). The school has a big yard with lots of trees, perfect for the concept of this Reading Garden :). I left the school with a big smile on my face. One list, checked.

Then, we went to the second village: Roe Village. If you read my previous post about the pink house, then you would know what I'm talking about. The pink house has a nice yard, in which it would be the perfect location for the Reading Garden! And.. guess what... the owner of the pink house loved the idea and said, "Of course you can use this yard for the Reading Garden. Being a teacher myself, it's been my dreams to have one, too. I have discussed this idea with several NGOs here, but none of them bought the idea. So, I'm so happy to hear about your plan!". I couldn't help not to smile. So nice of him. His wife is a teacher, too. Both of them were ex Head Master of SDK Roe (Roe Elementary School).

We didn't stay long in Roe Village. We made our way down to Melo Village. This is the location for the Reading Village in Melo:

Beautiful, isn't it?

The owner is the head of a local arts community in the village. I love his family. They always treat me as if I'm one of their family members. So lovely.
I've met the school headmaster, too. At first, he wanted the Reading Garden to be located in the school. But, after explaining to him that it's actually better to have it outside school to give a different scene and experience for the kids, he agreed. Plus, "Panorama", as this place is called, is such a beautiful place, with 2 wooden traditional houses with big windows overlooking stunning views of mountains and sea and green gardens plus a long bench on the side of the garden, perfect for kids to sit down and read books. Kids can also sit on the grass with traditional mattresses, reading books comfortably. I could even imagine it clearly in my mind, already :).

Let's hope that everything will go smooth with the plans! Let's make these kids travel the world through books that they will read in these Reading Gardens!

Any idea, supports and prayers are welcome, guys! :) Am so excited!

Reading Garden for Kids in West Flores

2009-11-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

Ok, here's the summary of my previous post (the one that I wrote in Indonesian):

After my visit to three villages, which are Nampar Mancing (Pusut), Roe and Melo villages and see how simple their lifestyle is, it crosses my mind to do something for the kids. Living in such a remote area with limited facilities (the schools are in a poor condition), not even an electricity in Melo village - for example, you can imagine how difficult it is to have an access for books.

Thus, I come up with an idea to build a Mobile Reading Garden for the kids who live in the villages above. The objective is simple. To help stimulate kids' reading interests. How? First, through comic books and/or illustration books. Why? Because books that have many images/illustrations will be more attractive to kids, rather than text books. I remember when I was a kid, I started to grow my interest in reading through Donald Duck comics, which were delivered to my house every Tuesday.

This Mobile Reading Garden will be open every Saturday afternoon. Kids are not allowed to borrow the books overnight. They can only read them in the Reading Garden. Why? These kids usually have to walk through rice paddy from their house to the school. So, the chance of the books will get torn is big. Therefore, it would be better to keep all the books in the Reading Garden and have some afternoon reading moments together :).

Hopefully, with the presence of this Mobile Reading Garden, the kids would start falling in love with books. And oh, every 3-4 months, we will rotate the books from one village to another. For example, the books in Melo Village will be transfered to Roe Village, and so on and so forth.

If you want to support this project, you're most welcome! Please drop me email at nilatanzil@yahoo.com and I'll be happy to provide you with more detailed information!

Thank you, guys! :)

Hugs!
Nila

Taman Bacaan Keliling untuk Anak-Anak di Flores

2009-10-28T22:58:00.000-07:00

My first Indonesian post. Will translate it in English soon :)

Dear friends,

Sebelumnya saya ingin sharing ke teman-teman tentang pengalaman saya mengunjungi beberapa desa di Flores Barat, antara lain desa Melo, desa Roe, desa Pusut dan desa Komodo. Desa-desa ini sangat sederhana dan gedung sekolah pun fasilitasnya sangat minim dengan kondisi yang memprihatinkan. Jangankan akses mendapatkan buku-buku bacaan, di desa Melo misalnya, listrik pun belum dapat dinikmati oleh penduduk.

Nah melihat betapa sederhananya kehidupan anak-anak di desa-desa di Flores Barat, timbul keinginan saya untuk membuat “Taman Bacaan Keliling”. Tujuannya adalah untuk membangkitkan minat baca anak-anak di desa. Caranya? Pertama adalah melalui buku-buku komik, karena dengan buku-buku bergambar inilah mereka akan mulai tertarik untuk mulai membaca (berdasarkan pengalaman pribadi saya, waktu kecil saya mulai tertarik membaca karena berlangganan majalah Donal Bebek yang datang setiap Selasa).

Rencananya, “Taman Bacaan Keliling” ini akan hadir pada hari dan jam tertentu, misalnya di desa Melo setiap Sabtu dari jam 10am-12pm, lalu berpindah ke desa Roe dari jam 2pm-4pm, dan seterusnya. Ini adalah jadwal tetap, sehingga anak-anak yang tinggal di desa yang bersangkutan akan menunggu-nunggu kedatangan “Taman Bacaan Keliling” ini pada hari dan jam yang sama setiap minggunya.

Buku-buku yang ada tidak boleh dibawa pulang, jadi hanya boleh dibaca di tempat, mengingat kalau dibawa pulang maka resiko hilang dan kotor lebih besar, karena biasanya mereka harus berjalan kaki dari rumah masing-masing dan melewati sawah yang becek atau berjalan menyusuri pantai.

Untuk Desa Komodo, karena lokasinya yang lumayan jauh dan berbeda arah dengan desa-desa yang saya sebutkan di atas, maka konsepnya akan berbeda. Rencananya di Desa Komodo, jika buku-buku yang tersedia ada banyak, maka bisa kita buat “Taman Baca Komodo” dimana anak-anak di desa Komodo dapat membaca di tempat yang sudah disediakan.

Mudah-mudahan dengan adanya “Taman Bacaan” ini, anak-anak di desa-desa tersebut dapat mulai jatuh hati pada buku dan minat membaca pun akan mulai tumbuh.

Untuk itu, jika teman-teman ingin membantu menyumbangkan buku-buku bacaan untuk anak-anak SD-SMP (terutama buku-buku komik seperti Donal Bebek, Tintin, Asterix Obelix, majalah Bobo, dsbnya), saya akan sangat berterima kasih sekali. Semakin banyak buku yang disumbangkan, semakin banyak anak-anak desa yang dapat menikmati buku-buku tersebut.

Nah, untuk teman-teman yang mau menyumbangkan buku, dapat dikirimkan ke alamat:

Jl. Taman Rawapening I No. 23, Bendungan Hilir, Jakarta Pusat.

Atau jika teman-teman tidak ada waktu, bisa kirim email ke nilatanzil@yahoo.com, supaya nanti saya atur kurir untuk mengambil buku-buku bacaan tsb.

Buku-buku yang terkumpul akan dikirim ke alamat saya di Labuan Bajo, Flores.

Teman-teman dapat juga menyumbang dalam bentuk dana.
Dana ini akan langsung saya belikan buku-buku komik bekas. Kebetulan saya sudah dapat contact penjual buku komik bekas dengan harga Rp 5.000/buku pada saat Pameran Buku di Istora Senayan Jakarta beberapa minggu yang lalu. Ketika saya menyatakan keinginan untuk membeli buku-buku tsb dan menjelaskan tujuan saya, si pemilik lalu mengatakan, “Oh boleh.. boleh.. kalo gitu nanti saya ikut sumbang beberapa buku juga deh!” Wah, baik hati sekali! :)

Untuk teman-teman yang ingin berpartisipasi dan menyumbang dalam bentuk dana, dapat kirim email ke nilatanzil@yahoo.com, supaya nanti saya kasih info lengkapnya.

Bantuan dalam bentuk apapun (buku, dana, jasa pengiriman Jakarta-Labuan Bajo, Flores) akan sangat berarti bagi adik-adik kita di Flores Barat.

Terima kasih banyak sudah membaca pesan yang panjang ini :). Mudah-mudahan ide sederhana ini dapat terlaksana dengan baik dan dapat membantu menambah warna dalam kehidupan adik-adik kita yang tinggal di pelosok daerah-daerah di Flores Barat.

love,
Nila Tanzil

Tim Forderer's Journal: Doing Good Deeds While Traveling

2009-09-24T21:03:00.000-07:00

Tim Forderer's Journal: Doing Good Deeds While Traveling

Doing Good Deeds While Travelling

2009-09-15T22:20:00.000-07:00

In the past two and half months, I've been living in West Flores, Indonesia. If you remember my videos, titled "Flying with Manta Rays (Part I and Part II)", shot in Komodo Island, that's where I've been spending my days now. Not on Komodo Island itself, but in a small town called Labuan Bajo (it has an airport, so no worries, I still could travel around, if I wanted to!) :D

Staying in such a small city, which there's only one main road that goes around the whole city, is a new thing for me. After living in big cities -- Jakarta, Amsterdam and Singapore -- now I'm experiencing a lifestyle of a small town. There's no shopping mall, cinema, theatre, spa, bar, let a lone a night club. Suddenly my lifestyle changes in a blink eye. Usually, in Jakarta or Singapore, I meet up with my friends in a restaurant/cafe/bar that's located in a high rise building and/or spend hours in a shopping mall with full air-conditioned. But this time, I spend hours chilling in a simple local restaurant that ice cream is considered as a luxury thing. A big change, that is.

During my stay here, I've met so many interesting people. Different professions from different countries. From local fishermen, scuba-divers, backpackers, journalists, businessmen, lawyers, bankers to a famous French actor! Spending time with people with different characters is one of the things that entertain me every single day. I've learned a lot from people's experiences and always amused by the way their live their life.

However, there's one person that makes me ponder by what he does. He's a private yacht captain. Tim Forderer is his name. He's been sailing all over the world for more than 10 years, going from one beautiful place to another. Many people envy him, of course. But what makes me envy him the most iswhat he does whenever he visits a place. He's not only enjoying the beauty of the place, but also doing a good deed for the locals. What does he do?

Ok, here's the explanation. One day, he asked me to join him going to a local school in Labuan Bajo. He needed a translator as he was going to give a presentation for the students. I nodded. To cut the story short, he shared his life story in front of around 150 students and managed to make everyone enthusiastic. What's so special about this presentation?

He told the students to Do What You Love. By doing what we love, we would be more likely to succeed and "rich". Not necessarily rich in material, but most importantly rich at heart :). He asked the students to think: "What do you enjoy doing most? What do you love to do in your spare time? What are the things that you're really good at?". The answers might lead us to the ideal profession in the future. Basically he wanted to encourage these high school students to do what they love to do and inspire them to make it comes true.

He said, "When I was a kid, I always loved sailing. My Dad taught me how to sail. When I was 8 years old, I won a competition as the best junior sailor in all over United States". Students got excited. "Also, when I was in college, I won the competition again as the best sailor in the States". "Whoaaaa...", I heard them mumbling with amusement...

"In my spare time, I always go on the boat and sail. That's all I did when I was young. But.. suddenly.. all my dreams of sailing fell apart". What happened?

"I was 18 years old by then and my girlfriend got pregnant". Sometimes we have to make a decision, in which, is contrary to what we'd love to do. "I had to drop all my dreams of sailing the world, took the first job I could get and be a responsible father for my kid. Years gone by, I ended up working as a sales person in the same company for 13 years!"

"Then my Dad passed away. I loved him dearly". Apparently, the death of his father, made him realized that life is too short to be wasted by doing something that he didn't really enjoy. He realized that he always wanted to sail the world. So, after discussing it with his Mom and family and got support from them, he decided to pursue his sailing career and be a full time sailor! Until now.. he's been sailing to cool places, such as Galapagos, Maldives French Polynesia, etc etc... and he's enjoying every minute of it...

In the past two months, he decided to start giving something for the society. How? By giving presentation on Do What You Love and encourage the youth to reach their dreams, also by visiting schools in remote areas and giving some donations -- books, pens, medicine, etc. I accompanied him going to 2 schools in 2 different villages nearby Labuan Bajo, Flores. And I'm glad I did. I was so overwhelmed to see the facial expressions of the teachers whenreceiving the donations. They didn't expect the visit or the gifts! And the kids? Ohhh.. they're sooooo lovely! They greeted us as if we're big time celebrities! :D

The first school was SDK Roe at Roe Village. When we got there, the teachers were having a meeting with teachers from some other schools. We only talked a bit with the school headmaster, before being invited to have a cup of coffee and taro cake (it's a traditional cake from West Manggarai, Flores) in a cute corner with wooden bench and a stone table under a tree. So cute! What a lovely coffee break! At the far end of the yard, there's a cute pink house, very clean and neat. It's a house of the school headmaster. I wonder whether pink is her favorite color! Once I had a dream to have a pink house, but I dropped it down coz I thought it would be too tacky. Hihihi... but the house in front of me was definitely cute, it looked like a Barbie house with a lot of green plants in the terrace :). She definitely lives in her dream house, I thought. And I wonder whether her husband complaint at the first place, for the idea of living in a pink house! :)

We continued our trip to SDK Pusut at Pusut Village. We parked the car nearby the school. There were some students playing around in the school yard. As soon as we stepped our feet on the big open space school yard, hundreds of kids running toward our direction! Wowwww... "What's going on here?", I thought. Soon after, we were surrounded by hundreds of kids who were starring at us as if we're aliens coming from planet Mars. Some of them starred at us without blinking, some of them smiled, some of them were brave enough to greet us and said, "Hello...". We greeted back, "Hello... apakabar?" (apakabar = how are you). It was such an overwhelming feeling to be surrounded by hundreds of kids. I loved it.

The school was having a meeting with students' parents in a meeting hall. There was an Indonesian Catholic priest, who has been living in Australia for 8 years, sharing his experiences to the locals on his views of living in Australia - the good and sad stories, lessons learned, etc. Everyone, including students on the 6th grade, listened to him carefully. Sometimes they nodded, too. Captain Tim and I joined the session for a while, before taking a walk to the rice field. Surprisingly, when we returned from the rice field, a bunch of teachers had already gathered in a house and they invited us to have lunch together! Wow... so nice of them! They welcomed us and expressed how happy they were to have us there. So sweet, isn't it?

I felt like I was invited to a small feast. A table full of different local dishes looked very tempting to me. They also gave us a glass of local wine. "Drinking local wine in such a hot day? Maybe not", I thought. Apparently, serving local wine to guests is part of their culture. It's a symbol of respect. I tried a sip, but unfortunately didn't like the taste. It tasted a bit sour, pretty strong, with a bit of coconut flavour.

We had a good time chatting with the school headmaster and teachers there. I asked what was needed for the school. Computer and sports uniform for the school's sports team were on the top priority list. When we exchanged numbers, I asked the teachers, "Do you have email address?". They smiled and said, "That's the thing, Mbak Nila (mbak means sister). We have no computer here, let alone having internet access". I felt so stupid after asking that question. Shoot!!! Silly girl.

The visits to these schools made me ponder... We could help others who are in need anytime and anywhere. Even when we're travelling. We could spend a few hours of our trip to visit remote places and plant some good deeds. A small thing for us could mean the world for someone who needs it. Let's make the world a better place to live in...

I was so glad to witness that good people still exist. Thanks for sharing your wonderful experience with me, Captain Tim. And thank you for your efforts in making this world a better place for us to live in... :)

Mola-Mola Moments

2009-08-11T00:47:00.000-07:00

It's a video that I took while diving in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali on July 25th, 26th and August 1st, 2009.
We saw 8 mola-mola (some people call it "sun fish", some call it "moon fish") in total. So lucky!!!

What is mola-mola?
Mola-mola, some people call it "Sun Fish", some people call it "Moon Fish". It's a type of fish who lives in around 300 meters depth underwater (of course!). It has a weird shape, like a disc. Big, yet thin. It has two fins on the top and bottom, instead of on each side of his body!
The mouth is very small compared to its body size. And it makes this fish look very cute! :D

In July to October, people have a chance to greet this special fish in Crystal Bay, Nusa Penida, Bali. It swims up to a shallower place to get his body clean. Spa time! ;) If we are lucky, we can see it in 10-12 meters depth, sometimes even shallower. Sometimes we have to search for them in 40 meters depth and swim against the strong current.

This fish loves to be in the cold water. That's why we could see it during July-October, because the water in Nusa Penida gets colder, around 20 degrees Celcius. Sometimes it could go even lower: 17 degrees! Brrrrrrr!!! Definitely cold for a tropical girl like me... hehehe.. :p

I considered myself very lucky when diving in Nusa Penida on July 25th, 26th and August 1st, 2009. Why?
This was actually my third attempt of mola-mola searching. Last year, I dove in the same site, hoping to see mola-mola, but was unlucky. Check my story here.
But this year, woowwwwww... it was like a mola-mola festive!!! I saw 8 of them in total!!! My heart beats faster when seeing this fish! If only I could jump around underwater, I would! :D

The first mola-mola sighting, we saw it at around 40 meters depth. The second one was also at 40 meters depth. He was there alone, didn't even move. We were waiting, hoping that he would come toward us, but then he didn't. So, Nicky, my dive master, decided to come closer. We swam to him, it was amazing!!! The mola-mola looked at us and swam around us, making a round trip! Sooooo nice!!!!!!! And that's when my camera went error!!! Aaarrrgggghhhh!!! We were at 46.6 meters and my camera housing could only go up to 40 meters. Beyond that, it couldn't handle the water pressure and it made all the buttons pressing the camera and made it to an error mode right away! Damnnnnn!!!
It was still amazing, though. There was no other diver around us (me, Andy - my buddy, Nicky - the dive master). It felt like having a private moment with the famous sun fish!

The next day (Sunday, 26th), we did our first dive in Manta Point and saw 3 manta rays swimming around at the cleaning station for more than half hour! Wooohoooo!!! So damn cool! The water was freezing, tho. It was 21 degrees, but it felt colder.. brrrrrrr!!! It definitely woke me up! Hahahhaa...

The second dive, we went to Crystal Bay again and saw 2 mola-mola. Wooohooooo! Just when I descended, I heard a group of diver making some noise. Hmm.. there must be mola-mola around, but I didn't see anything. Then, suddenly, I saw a big mola-mola in the blue! Whoaaa!!
The second mola-mola, we saw it in 35 meters... this time, I had an up close and personal moment with him. I was so close, I could even kiss him! Hihihi... I swam next to him, under him, and moved to his other side. That's when I realized how thin this fish was!!! Aahhhhh.... soooooooo wonderful!!! And this time, my camera worked! Yeaahhhhh!!! If you watch the video above, it was when I recorded the mola-mola in a siluette with the sun above. Nice color, isn't it? ;)

The weekend after, I was still in Bali and I dove again in Bali. Couldn't get enough of it!
This time, we did 3 dives in Crystal Bay. hihihi... and... we saw 4 mola-mola again in total!!! Yeaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!

The first dive, we saw 3 mola-mola. As soon as I saw the first one, I gave my camera to Nicky and gave him a sign to take picture of me with my new lover! Hahaha...
After having a photo shoot, we swam again and saw another mola-mola... ehm.. two of them!!! (don't be jealous, please). Omigod! It was unbelievable.. being with them, watching them surrounded by long banner fish and some other small fish, swimming and playing around with each other... whoaaa!! Life is good!!!
There was no other divers around us, too! Another private mola-mola show! Wow, so lucky!!!

On the last dive, we saw 1 mola-mola in 40 meters depth. This time, I was so close to him, too and I could even see his eye checkin' me out! Hahaha... sooo cute!!! This was the one in the last part of my video. Take a good look at his eye, he was staring at me, wasn't he? :D LOL

That was my Mola-Mola moments. Had a big smile for more than a week and my mind was full of the image of this cute fish every time! What an amazing experience and perfect weekends getaway! :) *big smile*

My Li'l Niece is a Magician!

2009-07-09T22:08:00.000-07:00

I'm so proud of my little niece, Jessica Olivia, 8 years old. Recently, she's been performing on TV as... a junior magician!!! How cute is that?! ;)

Her live performances were aired on TPI (Televisi Pendidikan Indonesia), one of TV stations in Indonesia, on a show called Super Kidz every Sunday at 1-3pm starting from June 28th til July 12th, 2009. For this TV show, she's known as Princess Jessica ;).

I recorded this video last Sunday (July 5th), when watching her live performance at the TPI's studio. Thought it would be nice to share it with you, so that you also can enjoy her magic tricks! ;)

Wanna see her live performance on TV?
Turn on your TV and switch it to TPI channel on Sunday, 12 July at 13.00-15.00.
She'll definitely amuse you... as she does to me!
(and pssttt... I often ask her the secrets of the tricks... but.. she never opens her mouth to reveals them!) hahaha.. so cute!!!

Nonton yaaaah, teman-teman... :)

Citizen of The World

2009-06-20T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've finally made up my mind
After living in Singapore for over 1 year plus half year of traveling around South East Asia, I've decided to ship all my stuff back to Jakarta, my lovely city in Indonesia

I felt a bit sorry for all my stuff, because they've been laying around in the storage room for almost half year... didn't know where to go as I've always traveled around and couldn't made up my mind on where to stay next...

But this time, I've made a decision
Will tell you later when everything is fixed ;)

I spent two days packing all my stuff in Singapore, preparing them to be shipped back to Indonesia
Honetly, I didn't expect that I would have so much stuff after living in the "lah Land for almost one and a half year! Whoaaa!!!

Anyway... on my "last night" here... I thought I would feel sad... but HELL NO!!!
It's weird.
If you know me better, then you would think that I'm easily touched with a melancholy situation
I thought I would be
But.. surprisingly, I didn't drop any single drop of tears...
Whoa.. that's something!
Of course I would miss my friends in Singapore, but.... I know that I have MORE of good friends in Jakarta! Yayyyy!!!
And I think, as I grow older and more matured (I hope)... I think this is just a phase of life that I have to go through... another city goes, another city comes... c'est la vie... ;)
And I'm so looking forward for what life has to offer for me!
Omigod... I'm so excited!

....

:) Good bye Singapore... somehow I feel that I'm still a part of you... at least until my residence permit is expired! ;D
But... above all, I've had a wonderful year here... it's definitely an easy place to live for expatriates in South East Asia! Seriously :)

A Memorable Birthday in Luang Prabang

2009-06-17T02:49:00.000-07:00

(Laos trip: April 21st - May 2nd, 2009)

Note from my travel journal on April 29th :)

This year, I decided to spend my birthday far from the usual birthday routines: party, dinner, wine and cocktails, disco lights, etc etc. This time, I spent my birthday in Luang Prabang, Laos. A city that I've never been, a country that I've never visited before...

For my birthday, I've made a plan to visit Pak Ou Cave and Kuang Si, the biggest waterfall in Luang Prabang. Let's get wet, baby!!! :)

How to go to Pak Ou Cave?

Well, there are a lot of travel agents arranging a half day tour to this cave. One can go to the "Falang Place", which is Sisavangvong Road and pick one of the agents there. I bought the half day tour ticket (70,000 Kip) from Lao Discovery Tour. Actually it doesn't matter which agent you choose, because you'll end up on the same boat together with people who bought theirs from the other tour agents anyway! :D

It takes about 1.5 hour by slow boat to get to the cave. The boat strolls down the Mekong River, slowly... and the machine is roaring loudly. Thank God I brought my ipod!
The water of the Mekong River isn't clean. It looks like a chocolate milk, yet it doesn't smell, unlike the Ciliwung River in Jakarta :p. And the scenery is just beautiful.

At first, we stop at a small village where they made "Lao Lao", Lao rice wine which contains 15 % of alcohol and 50% of alcohol. I try both and almost choke when sipping the 50% of alcohol one! It is so damn strong! I wonder who could drink such thing?

There are some small shops selling hand-woven scarfs. It's one of the activities that generates income for the locals here.

We continue our trip by boat and finally we reach the famous Pak Ou Cave. In front of the cave lays a beautiful lime stone cliff. Very pretty.

Pak Ou Cave or Tham Thing or Thousands Buddha Cave itself is located inside a cliff at the bank of Mekong River. Interesting, isn't it? ;) There are aprroximately 4,000 Buddha statues in this cave, as the locals say. The statues are scattered everywhere, in different sizes and types. It's hard to take pictures without a tripod (and yes, stupidly, I forget to bring my tripod!).

The cave looks amazing. Actually, there are two caves in this area. The lower cave is bigger, but easier to reach. The other cave is located on the top of the hill, so it's a bit tiring to go up. You have to climb up some stairs, but don't worry... it's doable :). On the way up, there are some little girls selling small birds in the cages. These small girls are extremely cute, it's very hard to say NO to them. Yet, I managed to say, "No, thanks", because somehow I think, after I release the birds, they might return to the owner and she/he will sell them again! :p

The sun is steaming hot, we're all sweating like pigs! However, when we reach the cave at the top of the hill, suddenly the air gets cooler. There's a big gate at the mouth of the cave, once we get in, we can feel the air is a bit damp. Walking further in, the light becomes lesser and lesser until it's pitched dark. Hmm.. scary. I can't see anything. There are some Buddha statues in the cave, but it's too dark to see, so I decide to walk back to the main entrance.

The locals still use these caves to pray. At one corner, there are some flowers and incense sticks at the feet of a big Buddha statue. It must be nice to pray here, in the cave, overlooking the Mekong River with a clear blue sky above, far from the civilization. So peaceful and quiet.. what a magical place to contemplate... (would be perfect without tourists around.. and that includes me, as I'm a tourist, too!) :D Lol.

The next destination is Kuang Si Waterfall. Since it's too hot outside, I tell Jeff, my friend whose also traveling here, to go to the waterfall later in the afternoon. I'll be cranky when the temperature is too hot and I don't want to be cranky on my birthday. Hehehe.. I just want to relax and enjoy the day, even though the temperature is 36-37 degrees Celcius outside! And.. no breeze whatsoever. Ouch!

When the sun gets friendlier, we rent a tuk-tuk to go to the Kuang Si Waterfall. We bargain the price and manage to agree at 130,000 Kip/return. It takes us 1 hour to get there from the "Falang Place". The tuk-tuk for waterfall is different from the "normal" tuk-tuk. This one is actually a mini bus, like a Honda Carry. We realize later the day that there's no way for the "normal" tuk-tuk with two seaters only to go to the waterfall, since it's a looooong way and the roads are ups and downs.

On the way to the waterfall, I ask the tuk-tuk driver to stop at Hmong Village first. Hmong Village is famous for its hand-woven scarfs and other handicrafts. It's a small village, whereas the old ladies still wear traditional costume. Very nice. Some young girls also wear traditional costume with a colorful hat, however, I think these girls do it only to attract tourists. During my travel in Laos, I've never been "attacked" by the locals whose trying to sell things, but this time, I experience it! The girls and the mothers are very persistent in selling their stuff until at one point they become too pushy. They're very materialistic, too. I take some pictures of the girls and they react, "You take photo of me, you buy my stuff". Omigod. There's nothing free on this planet, even in such a small village in Laos!

A cute girl whose dressed up in traditional costume even gets a bit hostile to me. She forces me to buy her stuff. I would buy, if the stuff is good. But, she sells old souvenirs, you can tell from the condition. In the end, I agreed to buy a small wallet. Unfortunately she doesnt have a change and I don't have small bills. She forces me to buy a bracelet for a change. When I say, "I don't want the bracelet". She frowns. I give her some money in the end as a token, because I take some pictures of her. Knowing that I don't buy anything, her mother yells at her. Damn, she's scary. Actually, I feel bad for her, but I don't like the way they force me to buy their stuff. That's not nice. People in the night market are so much nicer! They never force you to buy anything from them!

I love the kids in the village. Omigod, they're so cute! They're running around barefooted. One boy is wearing an underwear only, showing his thin body and a colorful necklace hanging on his neck! Hahaha... so cute! Another boy, around 5 years old, playing with baby ducks happily :D. A bunch of girls get so excited by me taking pictures of them. These girls aren't the ones that sells souvenirs. They're very cute and even waving at me when I have to leave. Oh... they're such lovely angels!

We then continue our journey, passing by the mountains, the air is getting cooler and fresher. Finally, we reach the area of Kuang Si waterfall. There are two paths to get to the waterfall: the trekking path and the asphalt. We're not sure which one to choose, but the guard at the main entrance pointing at the asphalt path, so there we go. The path is very clean. It's surrounded by huge trees, it feels like in a forest. So nice!

We go straight following the path until we get into a square. We continue walking and there we find a bridge on top of a blue lagoon!!! Whoaaaaaa!!! SOOOOO PRETTY!!!
And when I look on the left side, there is the... WATERFALL!!! Wowwww... The waterfall is so high and stunning. Am glad we make it here! Am I in paradise?

We walk up as we want to see the top of the waterfall. Some people say that we can swim at the top. Ok, if you're not ready for a non-stop steep climbing in the middle of a forest, I would suggest you to stay at the bottom of the waterfall. But, if you really want to go up, don't forget to bring two bottles of mineral water with you. You'll need it. Trust me.
Plus, be careful if it rains, coz it'll get slippery.
There's a small lake at the top. We're not sure how to go to the top of the waterfall. Didn't realize that we actually already at the top! Hahaha...

Some "Falang" (read: foreigners) swim at the bottom of the waterfall, even though there's a sign saying: "Do Not Swimming Area". (I'm sure they mean: Don't Swim Here). I'm actually well prepared with bikinis, but then I decided not to swim. I believe, the sign wouldn't be there with no meaning, right? :) I'd rather play safe, especially when traveling! :)

After the adventurous journey to the top of the waterfall, we head back to the city center. I pay a visit to the small school that Wang Tho showed me a few days ago, chat with the teachers and Phou Vid, a novice from the temple of Wat Sop (wat means temple). Surprisingly, Phou Vid remembers me! He says, "We met yesterday. You took pictures of me". Wow, good memory, young boy! :)

Phou Vid speaks very good English compared to the other novices and monks. And it seems he enjoys chatting with strangers, too! He's so young and nice. Say, the English teacher, says that Phouvid was his student, but now he's taking Spanish and Japanese language classes. Wow! Good for him! And please note that he's only 16 years old!
He becomes my good friend in Luang Prabang. I ends up chatting with him almost everyday during a week of my stay there :).

Today, I try a special dish for dinner from Luang Prabang, in which can't be found elsewhere in Laos. It's called Khai Phan. It's seaweed from the Mekong River. When you eat it, don't think of the river, coz then you'll lose your appetite :p. Hehehe... But I really like Khai Phan. It's spicy! And.. they serve it with chili paste, too... When I taste the chili paste... errr... I thought, "There's something unusual in this paste". A taste that isn't familiar to me. As a vegetarian, I have to be very careful with what I eat and order. I ask the waiter and find out that the chili paste is actually made of a.... BUFFALO SKIN!!! YUCK YUCK YUCK!!!!!!

And this dish is under the Vegetarian List in their menu!!! Damn!

I guess I just get a birthday surprise from the restaurant. BINGO! :D Hahaha...

What a lovely birthday I have :). I feel so lucky and blessed. Thank you, God for all the adventures and nice places that I've been all these years. I hope to see more of Your artworks :) and appreciate more of every dust I step along the way...

Luang Prabang, April 29th, 2009.

On Love

2009-06-16T09:32:00.000-07:00

I just arrived back from having my favorite Sangria drinks at the Screening Room in Club Street, then enjoyed Swiss fondue at La Fondue in Dempsey Hill, Singapore. It's a lovely night, catching up with nice people :) and had good conversation until my taxi arrived.

A lot of taxi drivers in Singapore are very talkative. Some of them are nice, but a lot of them are annoying. They just can't stop talking... and please bear in mind, they don't speak English. They speak Singlish (Singaporean-English, it's a specific accent that Singaporeans have whenever they speak English). Even after almost a year and a half living in Singapore, I still have some difficulties to understand these taxi drivers. They speak so fast, my goodness. And they speak in such accent, in which, for foreigners, you really have to listen carefully or ask them twice or three times until you understand what they're saying.

I enjoy talking to most people, be it taxi drivers, restaurant waiters, security guards, whoever. And tonight, I had an interesting conversation with my taxi driver. He's Portuguese. He used to serve the army and left in 1971 (I wasn't even born yet!). When he drove me out of the Dempsey area, he told me that he knows the area by heart. Dempsey was used to be his base when he was still in the army and now it's magically transformed into one of the hangout places to chill out in Singapore. There are a lot of restaurants with nice ambiance. I personally love this area for brunch and dinner. Nice place.

The taxi driver said that he also works as a windsurfing coach during the day. Wow! That's so cool! He then gave me some tips on how to learn windsurfing: "Just lean back, use your weigh to pull up the sail". Aha! Good tip, uncle!! (note: in Singapore, people use "Uncle" and "Auntie" to address older people).

He then asked me, "What do you do in Singapore?"
I said, "I used to work here, Uncle... but now I'm taking a break to travel".
"Nice", he said.

He then asked me what my plans are, so I told him a bit of my plans :).
Then he started to talk about his family...

He said, "You're a nice girl. You have to take care of yourself, don't let people use you".
I replied, "What do you mean, Uncle?"
"Yes, don't let people use you. I've been used by other people, even until now".

He then explained that his wife is "using" him. They've been married for 11 years, but for all these years he has to sleep in a different room! What???!!! That's weird.
The wife didn't let him to sleep in her room together. Only if she needed to have sex, in which, it happens only once a month or twice a month at the most. Even when it happens, she always says, "Do it quick... quick.. quick!"
"And she never treats me nicely. She treats me like a maid".

I asked, "Why did you marry her, then?"

He said, "I married her out of a pity. Her husband left him and she was alone with her son and was so wrecked. We were still friends by then. I took care of her for five years, but nothing happened between us. Then, I decided to marry her. She wanted to have a kid, so I took her for a honeymoon, she got pregnant and we have a kid now. I was hoping by having a kid, her attitude towards me would change. But that never happens. Sometimes I feel like I don't want to go home".

"If I knocked on her door, she would yell at me and said: What? You want sex, ha? You want sex, you go to Geylang lah! Stop bothering me!!" (Geylang is a red light district in Singapore, whereas people can have "fun" with prostitutes) .

Omigod. I was shocked. Poor guy.

He said, "We've been married for 11 years, but I've never hugged her for more than 5 minutes. She always rejects me". He went on, "She's using me to raise her own son. She never loves me. She just wants my money, but treats me like shit".

"I wish I found someone who love me", he mumbled.

In the end, he said, "So... if there's someone who love you, don't waste it. Don't waste the love. Don't wait. Just go for it, otherwise you might lose it".

...

Hmm.. tonight's conversation with the taxi driver makes me think that when it comes to love, we shouldn't take it for granted. It's such a special feeling and when it happens, let's embrace it. Sometimes we think that our career is more important, but then... it means nothing if we don't have someone to love and who love us.

Maybe now it's time for the warrior of the light to fight for love.

Love at the first sight with Luang Prabang

2009-06-15T01:43:00.000-07:00

(Laos trip: April 21st - May 2nd, 2009)

Notes from my travel journal :)

Am sitting at the terrace of Mekong Fish Cafe, by the Mekong River. It's raining outside, so I'm taking a break from walking around to chill and soak up the relaxed vibe of the city...

My first impression of Luang Prabang is.... "WHAT A CUTE CITY!"... I love it!
Luang Prabang is very cute with a lot of French colonial houses scattered around every corner of the city, small alleys with bougainvillea flowers in front of the houses, cafes with dim lights and cute outdoor terraces. So lovely! It feels like I'm in one of the European cities. Seriously.

I spend my first day there walking around the city center, in which located nearby the great Mekong River. I find a lot of temples as I walk along (can't remember the names, as I think there is a temple in every 10 meters! hahaha). There are a number of cute cafes, bars and restaurants around the area, too. I forget how many times I say, "I love this place" that afternoon! :D

As I walk around, at one point, I see three young monks chillin' in a temple. They're all wearing bright orange robes wrapping their thin bodies with their bald head shining every time they're exposed to the sun. I ask for a permission to take some photos of them. They nod. One of them asks me, "Sorry... where do you come from?". I reply, "Indonesia". He asks me again, "How long are you going to be here in Luang Prabang?"
Then the conversations start. His name is Wang Tho, 17 years old. He's been living in a temple for 1 year. He's actually a novice, not a monk. To be a Buddhist monk, the age should reach 20 years old first. Aha! I didn't know that! :)
He speaks broken English, but I admire his willingness to learn and his courage to greet people to practice his English. He offers, "Do you want to see my school?"

We walk to the back yard of the temple and there I find a simple school building with 5 class rooms and a "teacher's room". In one of the classes, there is one old computer. Wang Tho says that he studies English at this school in the morning, from 10am to 11.30am. He introduces me to his teacher, named Say, whose English is perfect! Another teacher, Pheng, joins us for a chat. They're so nice and welcome to foreigners... and... they even invite me to join their English class the next morning as a guest teacher! Wow!!!

I notice Laotians are very open, warm, friendly, nice, sincere and genuine. Love 'em! Even the kids aren' shy to greet us and ask with their broken English, "What your name?"

Wang Tho invites me to come to the temple in the morning to witness the rituals of collecting the "alms". It starts at 5.30am at the temple, then at 6am all the monks and novices will walk around the neighborhood to collect alms from the locals. It's a sacred ritual in Luang Prabang and has been around for hundreds years. The locals usually give sticky rice, but I see some people give away biscuits and fruits, too. It's beautiful :).

And that becomes my ritual, too in Luang Prabang. Almost every morning I wake up early and run to the street to witness this sacred moment. Hundreds of monks in orange robes walk down the street barefooted carrying a beautiful sticky rice bowl on their right hand. The locals sit on their knees on the street in front of their houses, giving away sticky rice to hundreds of monks that stand in line. Witnessing this ritual in the morning, reminds me that I should give more to the others and think that no matter what happens, the nature will take care of us anyway :). I learn this from the monks. They eat from the alms, the food given by the people. And they say, everyday, there's always someone delivering food to the temple. How nice is that? :)

After saying goodbye to Wang Tho, I continue walking around and decide to enter a small alley. Passing by some local houses, I'm very surprised that the alley leads me to a beautiful temple at the end! Wooowwww!!! It's Wat Xieng Thong, the oldest and most beautiful temple in Luang Prabang! And.... the jackpot isn't finish yet.... there's a festival going on there! Wooohoo!!!

Some food vendors selling Lao food - gluten and sesame seeds wrapped in a lettuce or guava leaf; fried noodle; and some other snacks. I try one of them and the lady wants to give it to me for free! How nice these people are! I give her 2,000 Kips instead. I know it would cost less, but I appreciate her kindness...

There's a big tent in the hall and a lot of people pray in the tent. I come closer to the tent to see what's going on. Ah! There's a Buddha statue in the middle of the altar, with a lot of red candles and flowers in front of it. People pray for the Buddha and.... bath him! This is a special festival, called "Pin Ma Lai" festival, which means Lao New Year festival. They celebrate it in mid April and have the showering Buddha ritual for 5-6 days. I read about this festival in my guide book. Thought I would miss it, but... hey... how lucky I am, the festival is still going on! :)

At the top of Buddha statue, there's a long dragon like pipe. People climb up the stairs with a silver bowl filled with water, pour the water at the edge of the dragon pipe, then the water will flow to the middle part and drop right at the head of the Buddha! Very interesting!
One of the monks offers me to take parts in showering the Buddha, too. But, I'm wearing my short pants at that time, I don't think it's polite :P. (who knows I would end up at this beautiful temple and an annual festival? I'm not prepared at all in terms of costume wise. If I knew, I would've wearing a long pant or a long skirt to respect the whole rituals!)

After chatting with some monks and novices there, I leave the beautiful temple and continue my sightseeing. I walk down Sakarine Road and arrive at Sisavangvong Road. This street is full of restaurants and bars. As locals call this street "A Falang Place" -- Falang (it's actually Farang, but Laotians cannot pronounce "R") is a term they use for foreigners -- I can see why tourists love to hang out at Sisavangvong Road. The restaurants and bars here are stylish, with nice lightings... in some places, they use candles in the gardens, making the whole street look romantic and pretty :). Some bars have modern interior with minimalist touch, some boutiques are designed in such a way, making them look exotic with Buddha statues here and there. Fancy. Jewelery shops, internet cafes and travel agencies are cramped on this street, too. You can basically find everything here. It's the main street for Falang, indeed! LOL.

After having dinner at this "Falang street", I wander around the night market. It's glowing at night, very pretty! The area of the night market is quite a long way down. Honestly, I don't expect that. Most of the stalls sell same stuff. It's a high competition going on here! :p Quilts, bags, bracelets, silver rings, make up pouches, scarfs, wallets, t-shirts, sandals, you name it. Most of the bags, wallets and scarfs are hand-woven. Very pretty and girlie :).

I call it a day, after my eyes are refreshed with those nice and colorful cute stuff at the night market. My feet are getting tired, almost screaming for help. It's time to sleep and rest. Someone has to wake up early tomorrow to witness the sacred morning alms ritual!
Good night, Luang Prabang. Think am in love with you.

V for Vientiane: Eat, Sleep, Drinks and Dance

2009-05-15T00:47:00.000-07:00

(Laos trip: April 21^st – May 2^nd, 2009)

Spending four days in Vientiane enables me to get a big picture of the city. Laotians sitting on the grass in small parks, chatting or just watching people pass by; tourists wandering around by foot bicycle and sweating like pigs under the steamy sun; backpackers carrying their big backpacks, walking down the streets looking for accommodation; shop owners trying to be busy by counting how much profit they earn for a month using a simple calculator; and… not to mention… kids running around barefooted in the park with their clothes that look like haven’t been washed in ages.

Unlike other big cities in Southeast Asia, Vientiane has such a slow pace. You’ll feel it as soon as you get here. The city will hypnotize you and make you feel relax… free from the hustle and bustle the big cities have to offer.

In the evening, I love to walk around Nam Phu area with an old fountain in the center. Around the fountain, there are some restaurants and cafes located in old French colonial houses. They’re very cute. This square is the most romantic part of the city, I think. Somehow it reminds me of Munster, a small city in Germany that famous for its Christmas markets during the Xmas season.

I walk around this square almost every evening, on my way to look for a place for dinner. Every time I pass this square, there are always young people hanging out at the fountain, laughing and joking around with their fellows. One night, I was taking some photos of the square, some Lao boys came to me and asked me to take picture of them! Hahaha… See how friendly and open they are to strangers?

Food

For meals, you can try some of the restaurants around the fountain at Nam Phu square. It’s very nice to spend the evening here, soaking up the romantic vibe of the square. I try an Indian restaurant, called Rashmi’s, that located in the intersection of Samsenthai street and Pangkham street, a block away from the square. The restaurant offers fusion, a mixed of Indian and Chinese food. My food was just ok. For a place that looks stylish for Lao standard, I expected to get a better food. However, the price is reasonable: 130,000 Kips for 3 different dishes.

If you’re brave enough, try Lao food at local restaurants. You can tell from the numbers of locals having lunch there. If there are a lot of locals sitting at the resto, most likely the food is good. One day, I find a simple restaurant located nearby the market. The resto is quite spacious, but it’s very simple and far from stylish. However, the plastic tables and chairs are filled with locals having their lunch here. And… surprisingly, each table has NOODLE SALAD as their dish!!! Hahaha… A table usually shares a plate of noodle salad for two or three persons or even more. One table shares it with five people! Wow. Apparently the portion is quite generous here.. and most probably, this resto is famous for its noodle salad. Seeing the phenomena going on here, of course I order the same dish. And yes, I have to admit, it’s GOOD!!! Too bad this resto doesn’t have a latin name and I can’t read Lao character, but it’s located at the Eastern part of Th Fa Ngum. You won’t miss it. It’s the biggest local resto, located across the street of the Mekong River. For a plate of noodle salad, it will cost you less than 10,000 Kips. Good value for good quality and… quantity! :D

In the evening, there are plenty of local food vendors at the bank of Mekong River. Each dish will cost you around 20,000 to 25,000 Kips. I order a plate of fried noodle salad one night. Apparently, it’s a dish of what we called “Kweetiaw Goreng” back home! LOL. I prefer the “normal” noodle salad then.

Kop Chai Deu is a restaurant/café/bar that never sleeps. It’s located nearby the fountain at Nam Phu square and always crowded, be it in the morning, lunch time, dinner time or late. This place can be a restaurant, café and bar at the same time. It caught my eyes, because it looks very pretty with a nice outdoor area surrounded with trees and flowers. I spend my first afternoon there and order a Lao salad for lunch. In the menu, it says: mixed vegetable with Lao sauce. When the food arrives, there’s a weird-looking chili paste in a small bowl. I smell it and almost have to puke. Yuck. It’s actually a chili paste mixed with fermented fish!! Oh, gross. Being a vegetarian since I was born, I’m very sensitive with any kind of non-vegetarian dishes. I think this chili paste should be served in the next Fear Factor episode!

Drinks

On another night, I spend my evening there (Kop Chai Deu) again, sipping glasses of Lao style of ‘Sangria’. It comes in a pitcher, full of mixed fruits. It tastes sweeter than Sangria, but after a while, you’ll get used to it. The second floor of Kop Chai Deu has indoor and outdoor areas. I love the outdoor area. It’s a big balcony decorated with Christmas lights. There’s a small bridge that connects the outdoor area with a building next door and it looks very cute with bougenville trees all around. Just like the other nice restaurants in town, Kop Chai Deu is also located in a French colonial house. That night, after drinks, I play pool table with some locals. Tourists vs locals. Omigod… I thought the game would be just for fun, but apparently, the locals don’t want to lose. They really try hard to distract my concentration every time I try to hit the balls. Geez. Probably, they just don’t want to lose face by playing against a girl. After what it seems like a never-ending game, my friend and I win. Yayyyyy!!! It’s fun though.

Apart of the Nam Phu square, another area to chill is along the Mekong River. The street is called Th Fa Ngum. I notice that there are two names written on the street signage. One is written in Lao character (similar to Thai character) and the other one in Latin, but using French language, such as Rue du XXX. Interesting, eh? The French influence is still pretty strong here. This can be seen from their food, too. You can always find French baguette in all restaurants, be it a street vendor or a fancy resto.

One day, after walking around the city, I find a cool place to chill. It’s called “Mekong Deck”, located also in Th Fa Ngum, but further down to the East. This open-air café at the bank of Mekong River is a perfect place to spend the afternoon, drinking cocktails, BeerLao (the best beer I’ve tried by far!) or just cool soft drinks. It seems that it’s a local favorite place to hangout, too judging from the customers. With wooden tables and chairs scattered on wooden floor, this place has a taste and probably one of the most stylish outdoor place in the city. And when you order vodka lemon (costs around 24,000 Kip/glass), the bar will give you a glass of real vodka lemon, with a proper percentage of vodka and the mixer. Well, you know what I mean. Sometimes bars give you mixer with a tiny bit of alcohol in a glass full of ice! In the end, it feels like drinking soft drinks with vodka flavor. Hahaha… but Mekong Deck does a good job when it comes to drinks. And I like that.

For bars, you can just choose one of the bars at Th Fa Ngum. There are plenty of them. BeerLao usually costs 15,000 Kips for the big bottle and cocktail/liquor costs around 24,000-25,000 Kips. Cheap!

Accommodation

There are numerous hotels and guesthouses in Vientiane, from budget guesthouses to top end hotels. Budget guesthouses start from 2 USD/night, where top end hotels can cost around 100 USD and more.

Since I’m not a backpacker and also not a daughter of a conglomerate, but still want to sleep in a comfy room, I choose to stay in a midrange hotel. Vongkhamsone Hotel (address: 17/01 Manthaturath Road) is my choice. It’s a new one and has a comfortable room with Air-Conditioner and hot water. The room and bathroom are spotless. I enjoy staying at this cute hotel for 30 USD/night, including a simple breakfast of French baguette with eggs and cheese plus a cup of coffee/tea.

I met an English girl who’s backpacking in Laos. She told me that she spent almost a day looking for a place to stay in the city. The cheap guesthouses are dirty, she said. She ended up staying in a hotel and paid 20 USD/night, which was already over her budget and still, there were a lot of ants in her room! She had to buy a mosquito spray to kill all the ants, but a few hours later, a group of ants came and decided to be her roommates.

Listening to her story making me more grateful to find such a nice, comfy, cute and bugs free hotel!!! The hotel staff is friendly, too. In the evening, the staff sleeps at the lobby after midnight. So, if you think that you would go out until late, it would be better to bring your room key. Otherwise, you have to wake him up.

If I could suggest, it’s better to find an accommodation at the city center, because you can go to the places of interests by foot or by bike. I find it very convenient. Anyway, the city center isn’t that big, so it’s very easy to get around.

Dance

Being in Vientiane wouldn’t be complete without checking out the city’s party scene. I ask around on the good place to dance and the locals always refer to a club called “Future”. Out of curiosity, one evening, I decide to hop on a tuk-tuk and go to this infamous club. The club looks dark from outside. It has a shabby vibe, I almost change my mind and feel hesitant to enter the club. Stepping in, I’m greeted by a local couple whose the girl looking at me from up to toe. I look around and feel surprise by the numbers of people there. This place is packed and it’s not even weekend yet! 98% of the people are Laotians. They either sit or stand around a circled table, drinking BeerLao or cocktails. They don’t dance. They just move their body a bit, I wouldn’t call it a dance. Probably that’s why this famous club doesn’t have a dance floor. Perhaps Laotians prefer to drink than dance!

The club is dark and full of smoke. It’s not too big and has two bars on the left. The low ceiling makes the place looks even more cramped. The DJ plays old techno tracks and it seems everyone enjoys it. Oddly, there are TVs airing local channels in every corner and at the bar. On one side of a wall, there’s even a big screen projecting the same movie from a local tv station. Why would someone go to a club to watch a movie if they couldn’t hear anything except a loud techno music??? Interesting.

What is more interesting is to see how many trashes under each table. Empty bottles of mineral water and beers are all scattered under tables and no one cleans it! Hmm... I wonder why they don't just hire five guys dedicated only to clean up the mess? At 1am, I decide to return to my hotel. The club is open until 5am... and it looks like the people will stay til the end. Being the only place in the city that opens until morning, no wonder the place is packed, even in the weekdays! I think some of the peeps in the club use ecstasy.. judging from the way they behave and the numbers of mineral bottles trashes under the tables! The night is definitely stil young for them... and they will definitely have a looong day the next day!

Manta Rays in Komodo Island (Part Two)

2009-05-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

ps: Revision - on the video, I wrote the date wrongly. It should be May 5th and 6th, instead of April! :D

I'm uploading the video from Gili Trawangan island and the internet connection is very slow here, can't be bothered to revise the video and upload it again.. :p sorry! but hope you enjoy the video and the flying mantas... ;)

Manta Rays in Komodo Island (part 1)

2009-05-12T20:51:00.000-07:00

(Komodo Island Liveaboard Dive trip: May 2nd - May 8th, 2009)

I just can't wait to upload videos of the live aboard dive trip in Komodo Island! :D
This video is just a teaser ;)... it was taken on our 3rd day of the dive trip around the island.

That morning, we woke up at 7am to do morning dive at Manta Alley. It was a great dive, we saw easily 10 manta rays swimming around...
We told the dive center crew that we didn't mind to dive at Manta Alley again. So, the next day, we did another morning dive at the same site!!! Hahaha... and... on that dive, omigod... manta rays EVERYWHERE... AMAZING!!!

We were at their cleaning station, the current was extremely strong, we had to use the reef hook and just hung in there. Manta rays all around us.. you name it... black manta, white manta... they're "parking" right in front of us, on our left, on our right and.... above us!!! They basically just stayed there for more than 30 minutes, until our group had to ascend... WHOA!!! It was amaziiiingggg...

... (check the video "Flying with Manta Rays (Part Two)", too!) :)

ps: the date written on this video should be: May 5th and 6th. I must've been drunk when creating this video! LOL. Too much nitrogen, for sure! :D

Vientiane by Tuk-Tuk

2009-05-10T03:20:00.000-07:00

(Laos trip: April 21st – May 2nd, 2009)

Tuk-tuk is a type of public transportation in Laos, pretty similar to the one in Thailand and Cambodia. In Laos, there are three different sizes of tuk-tuk. The smallest one only fits 2 persons with the seat at the front. The medium size one can fit up to 4 people, while the big tuk-tuk looks like an open-air minivan and can bring 12 people. The seats in the medium and big size tuk-tuk are located at the back.

It’s easy to get around the city by tuk-tuk. It’s so much faster and practically you don’t have to sweat a single drop. Again, please don’t forget to bargain. Some tuk-tuk drivers are smart enough to mark up the price to double, because they know that tourists have no clue whatsoever on the pricing. It doesn’t hurt to bargain half of the price first to see their reactions. LOL. Usually, they will agree with 50% off or 40% off from the initial price.

As much as I love walking, this time I have to take tuk-tuk to go to these places, because one of them is located further out of the center. I start to ask the price to the tuk-tuk driver. At first, he shows me a price list with some pictures of the temples. The list looks very convincing, it looks like a standard price list for all the tuk-tuks in Vientiane from the Tuk-Tuk Association. But don’t get tricked easily. He asks for 200,000 Kips to go to Xieng Khuan Buddha Park and Pha That Luang. I bargain half price first, he seems doesn’t mind. In the end, we agree for 130,000 Kips. You can actually go there by public bus from Talat Sao bus terminal. The fee is around 5,000 Kips.

Xieng Khuan or known as Buddha Park is located approximately 24 km south of central Vientiane. This park is unique because it combines Buddhist and Hindu sculptures. Buddha statues are scattered everywhere. You can also see statues of Shiva, Vishnu, Arjuna and some other Hindu gods here. It’s better to visit the park early in the morning or sometime in the afternoon, or else you’ll be burnt from the sun. I get there around noon and have to curse myself from the heat. One can get cranky when it’s too hot :p. Hihihi… (yeah, call me a tropical girl, I get cranky when it’s above 35 degrees!) :D lol

I start exploring the park by sitting under a tree. Hahaha!!! I’m not ready to walk under a steaming sun with no breeze!!! Luckily, I see a Buddhist monk walking to a direction of a giant pumpkin shaped concrete monument and entering it. What??? “Can you go in that giant pumpkin?”, I ask myself. It seems we can, otherwise, where is the monk going, because he’s been there for a while and hasn’t even come out of the giant mouth of a lion that serves as a door to enter the monument.

Inside the “pumpkin”, I feel like I’m in a dungeon. It has three levels, which represent hell, earth and heaven. It reminds me of the Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta, which also has the same system to remind humans of hell, earth and heaven. The temperature is so much cooler in the “dungeon”. One can find some Hindu statues in the inner part of this monument. Bring a torch, though, because it’s a bit dark here. I climb up through concrete stairways to the top of the monument. There I can see the whole views of the park. Nice. I can’t imagine how much money the guy who built this park has. He must’ve been filthy rich. Apparently, a yogi-priest –shaman is the one who designed and built it. He asks untrained artists to cast all the statues, yet these statues are pretty. They must’ve been trained somehow or have a natural talent!

A big reclining Buddha statue is the main attraction of this park. I look so small compare to this statue. Look at the picture! :D LOL. Having so much fun taking pictures and videos of this park until I step on… an elephant’s shit!!! YUCK!!! How come I didn’t see such a HUGE elephant’s poo??? It’s so big, there’s no way you miss it… and… I step on it! Silly silly silly… “What the hell is an elephant doing in this park???”, I curse while trying to clean it on a field of grass. Eeewwwww… it’s so gross! I don’t even have a heart to touch and clean the shoes with my hands… ☹ Hahaha… The rest of the day, I try not to look at my shoes, because it just reminds me of that dark green and giant poo! YUCK!!!

I spend around 2 hours in the Buddha Park. After drinking a bottle of cold mineral water from a vendor at the entrance of the park, I take a short break in a small hut. It’s so much cooler here and I can feel some wind breezes. Finally! I look at my tuk-tuk and see the driver is having a nap on a hammock in the back seat of the tuk-tuk!!! What a creative idea to maximize the function of your belonging! LOL.

Next destination is Pha That Luang. This national monument is a symbol of Buddhis religion and Lao sovereignty. If you happen to be in Vientiane in early November, you might have a chance to witness Bun Pha That Luang, which considered as the largest temple fair in Laos. It begins with a procession from Wat Si Muang to Pha That Luang and ends with a big celebration in the full moon where devotees carrying miniature temples made of banana stems, flowers, candles and other offerings. I see some pictures of the festivals and it looks very interesting. A lot of people scatter around Pha That Luang carrying offerings on top of their heads with the golden striking monument as the background. Nice.

Just when I enter the complex, I see some people resting under a big tree and a Buddhist monk sitting on a chair next to a soft drink vendor. “He can’t be selling those drinks, can he?”, I wonder. Of course he’s not the seller! Apparently the seller is sitting under the big tree, surrounding with some other locals, joking around. They’re so laid-back. They seem don’t care whether people buy their stuff or not. Hihihi…

Feeling so much better after drinking a strawberry soft drink with a lot of ice cubes, I start walking in the heat again. The monument is surrounded with high-walled cloister and tiny windows. In the center, there’s a pointed stupa, which has three levels. The first level is about 68m by 69m. From ground to pinnacle, the whole monument is 45m tall. Everything is in golden-color, so combined with its huge sized, this monument is definitely very eye-catching.

There are some vendors selling souvenirs on the right side of the main entrance. I stroll down the vendors, but nothing attracts me. On the other side, there’s a stall with some monks as the ‘seller’. I walk there to see what they sell. Just when I arrive, a young novice asks, “Where do you come from?” I say, “Indonesia”. Then we chat for a while. Another monk gives me a bracelet made of strings, splashes some holy water on me and pray for me. How nice. I put some money in the donation box (you’re supposed to do this). Out of a curiosity, the young novice asks, “Do you have Indonesian money? I’ve never seen it”. I grab my wallet and show him a 1,000 Rupiah note. After asking how much it’s equivalent to Kip/USD (it’s equivalent to 10 cent USD), he asks whether he can keep it as a souvenir. Of course, I say. He looks so happy.

On the way back to my hotel, I ask the tuk-tuk driver to drop me at Patouxai. I give him some extra money, because he has been waiting for me at two sites mentioned above for several hours. I’m a slow traveler. I always need a few hours to wonder around one site :p.
Patouxai is Vientiane’s most prominent monument. It reminds me of Arc de Triomphe in Paris, but this one has four archways instead of two. It has European touch, so if you take picture in front of this monument, people might think that you’re in France. If you’re there, don’t forget to look up at the ceiling on the ground floor. It’s beautiful. On the second and third floor, there are big halls that are perfect to hold a ballroom dance party. The pillars of the hall are beautifully crafted. The white painted walls give an elegant touch of these “ballroom” areas, even though the places need to be cleaned a bit. The third, fourth and top floors are filled with souvenir shops selling t-shirts, small Buddha statues, silver jewelries, postcards, scarf, etc. I personally think, after some facelift here and there, it would be so much nicer to use the space to store historical artifacts and make this monument a museum, instead of filling it with ugly looking souvenir stalls…. :(

From the top level, one can enjoy the view of the city and observe how few the numbers of cars here. When Laotians say, “The traffic is bad”, they don’t know what the real meaning of traffic jams is. It’s not even close to the one we have in Jakarta! LOL.

I like the small park surrounds the monument. It looks cute. Seriously. Who would guess I’m in Laos if you see this picture below? ;)

It’s almost 4pm and I haven’t eaten anything except a light breakfast. Since the monument is located near the city center, I decide to walk to the place where I almost get a heart attack. Yup, a street where the US Embassy is located. I go there to have lunch together with the guards that almost shoot me with their guns! Hahaha… No, kidding :p. I go there to have a nice lunch at Chateau du Laos, a nice place to have a good meal and cold drinks in a hot steaming day!

Afternoon in Vientiane is the best time to chill out. Most of the historical places close at 4pm, so basically after 4pm all I do is chilling in the cafes by the Mekong River or just walk around the city enjoying the relaxed vibe the city has to offer or observing my surroundings. It’s nice. There’s a small sport hall nearby my hotel and every time I pass by in the evening, there are always some people playing table tennis and laughing happily. I also see the same lady boy walking down the same street every night, sometimes she walks with another lady boy, sometimes she walks alone. She’s skinny and always wear revealing clothes, but you can tell that she’s a boy from her heavy make up on her face :p. I must admit that Thai’s lady boys are so much prettier than Laotian’s lady boys. Hehehe…

I’m glad I make my way to Vientiane… and I have the feeling that I would be in love with this laid-back country…

Exploring Vientiane by Foot

2009-05-09T03:42:00.000-07:00

(Laos trip: April 21st - May 2nd, 2009)

Vientiane, the capital of Laos, according to Lonely Planet means “Sandalwood City”, but according to a Buddhist novice in one of the temples, it means “Candle Light Procession”. I prefer the latter, it sounds more interesting to me J.

The city is located on a bend of Mekong River. When I sit on the bank of Mekong River, sipping a glass of soft drink with ice, I can see Thailand on the other side of the river. It is so close, I even think that people can swim for less than 10 minutes to get to Thailand! :D I wonder if the locals do that… :)

There’s actually a Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge in the 19km Southeast of the city, where people can cross to get to the neighboring country easily. Less hassle than swimming, I guess! Hehehe…

Strolling down the street along the Mekong River, I enjoy checking out the food vendors that are cramped on a small walking path. It seems that these vendors are locals’ favorite place to eat with friends, because there are actually more locals than tourists who sit on plastic chairs or wooden bench. Most vendors offer almost the same menu: noodle salad (Lao’s favorite), fresh and fried spring rolls, fried noodle and barbeque. I guess most foreigners are afraid to get stomachache from eating food from the street, which hygiene isn’t the top priority on the list. This is one of the advantages to be born as Indonesian. I don’t have any problem from eating food from the street vendors in any developing countries without the fear of getting diarrhea the next days! :D

Not all vendors sell beer. Most of them offer soft drinks, ice tea or fresh juice. In bigger vendors, they have a wide selection of food and beverages menu and usually you’ll be sitting on a wooden floor with a small cushion that looks like it hasn’t been washed in five years :p. Hihihi… However, you can choose the fish/lobster/anything you want as they present the seafood and grilled them right in front of the restaurants. Nice, eh? In the evening, these bigger vendors look prettier with some Christmas lights as the decoration and I personally think it’s a smart way to attract customers. I notice that the more lights they have, the more customers there are! Hmm… does “bling bling” (lights) have a strong relation to “cling cling” (money)? It seems so in Vientiane.

On a hot sunny day, I walk around the city to visit some Buddhist temples. It is nearly impossible to visit all the temples in three or four days time as there are too many temples in the city. It is like in Jakarta, where there will be at least one mosque in a residential area. As in Vientiane, in every 1 km, you’ll see at least a temple. On the main street itself, sometimes I walk for five minutes and find another temple! And they’re all beautiful… On this trip, I decided to visit only the famous and old temples. Maybe in the next trip, I’ll visit the ‘regular’ ones… :)

With a map in my hand, I walk to Haw Pha Kaeo, which is known as the “Emerald Buddha Temple” and a house of some of the best Buddhist sculpture in Laos. I’m stunned with the building as it’s so beautiful. Entering the terrace, I’m even more amazed by the beauty of the Buddha statues that can be found in each side of the terrace. All the Buddha statues are human-sized and in different positions. Some of them are sitting and standing with different hand positions. In this temple, I learn all the different meanings of Buddha’s position. For example, if the Buddha statue is standing with hands at his sides, it means calling for rain. If the Buddha’s palms stretched out in front, it means offering protection. If the right palm of Buddha’s facing at you, it means blessing. Interesting, right?

Across the street of Haw Pha Keo is Wat Si Saket. It was built in 1819-1824 and considered as the oldest surviving temple in Vientiane. The temple has an outer area and the inner area. Entering the outer area, you’ll be greeted with a golden-color Buddha statue and a monastery with a Thai-style roof. At the backyard of the outer area, there’s a garden and sanctuary. My eyes caught a bling-bling stupa, which is decorated with pieces of glasses. It’s shining brightly in such a sunny day, I couldn’t even take a picture of it!

It’s almost noon when I visit Wat Si Saket. On 12pm to 1pm, the temple closed as the staff has to take a lunch break. Knowing myself, half an hour is definitely not enough to wonder around the temple, so I have to return after lunch. With the stomach full, I have all the time in the world to enjoy the inner area of this famous temple. Am glad that I don’t have to rush since as soon as I enter the gate, I can’t believe what I see before me. The inner area has four terraces, which are full of Buddha statues in different sizes, and all the walls have triangle holes with two small Buddha statues in each hole! Wow!!! According to the guide-book, there are 7,000 Buddha statues in this temple, even though I didn’t count them myself. It’s impressive, don’t you think?

The main temple itself has gorgeous painted walls and beautiful ceilings. The upper part of the wall also has triangle holes with small Buddha statues in each hole. It’s very pretty. I’m speechless.

It’s also nice to sit on the floor of the main temple in such a hot day, because the temple has high ceiling and big doors on three sides, so it’s very cool and breezy inside. It’s perfect to be there as I’m almost melting from the heat…

Not far from Wat Si Saket is a big black stupa called That Dam. I find this stupa accidentally when trying to find a place to eat. It’s located at the centre of a roundabout with one street monopolized by the US Embassy. And I almost get a heart attack here from taking a picture of the stupa. As soon as I get my camera and ready to press the shutter button, the guards of the US Embassy yelled at me loudly. “What the hell??”, I wonder. Apparently, taking picture is not allowed in that small street as it’s within the US Embassy territory. Ah!!! Apart from almost getting a heart-attack, I’m not too impressed with the stupa, even though the local myth says that the stupa is the house of a seven-headed dragon that came to life during the war in 1828 and protected local citizens.

My next destination is Wat Si Muang. Unlike the temples mentioned above, the locals frequently visit this temple to pray and ask for blessings. It’s considered as the home of the guardian spirit of Vientiane. You can tell by the numbers of shops and stalls nearby selling flowers, candles and some other stuff that are used for praying in the temple. In this temple, you can find a small damaged Buddha statue sitting on a cushion. What’s so special about this statue? Locals believe this stone Buddha statue has the power to grant wishes or answer troubling questions. I'm surprised to see the statue at first, because it doesn't look like a Buddha statue anymore! You can tell by the shape that so many people have been touching and lifting this famous statue :D.

I see some school girls in their uniform try to lift it off the pillow three times after praying or asking a question (quietly). Some girls don’t manage to lift it off the pillow and their friends keep on encouraging them. They speak in Lao, I can’t understand any word. But maybe they say, “You can do it! You can do it!”.

It looks like the statue is pretty heavy, despite its small size. After lifting it off, they shake a bamboo cylinder with some numbered bamboo sticks inside. They shake it until one stick fall off and see the number written on it. After that, they go to a wooden shelf with a lot of boxes and papers in each box. Each box has different numbers and you can bring home the paper with your number on. It supposedly tells you the fortune or the answer of your question(s). If you requested something and it’s granted, then you are supposed to return with offering of bananas, flowers, incense sticks and candles. Out of curiosity, I also try to lift the statue off and I can tell you that it is heavy!!! Luckily, I manage to do it, though. Well, let’s see whether I’ll return there with some fruits and incense sticks one day! ;)

That’s the end of my walking tour of the city. I pass by the Royal Palace that looks like a big mansion in France with a huge garden. It must be nice to live there!

My legs are tired from the walking in the heat and when you’re tired, what is the best thing to do? Get a massage!!! The massage parlors in Vientiane offer Thai, oil, foot (reflexology) and aromatherapy massages. I try the oil massage and pay 40,000 Kips (1 USD = 8,500 Kips) for an hour. It’s definitely a good idea to pamper yourself after a long day…

If you’re not a big fan of wondering around by foot, you can rent a bicycle with only 10,000 Kips/day. It’s a good deal, I
think and you can get to the places so much faster! ;)

In case you can’t ride a bicycle, then the other way to explore the city is by hoping on the tuk-tuk! Don’t forget to bargain for the price beforehand. I take a tuk-tuk to reach some sights that are far from the city center. Read on my journey by tuk-tuk in the “Candle Light Procession” city in my next post!

A Little Note :)

2009-05-09T03:00:00.000-07:00

Apologize for not updating my blog for a while. After my Laos trip, I flew to Kuala Lumpur directly, then from there I took a flight to Denpasar, Bali. Finally, I experienced being in 3 countries in one day! Breakfast in Vientiane (Laos), lunch in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) and dinner in Bali (Indonesia). What a long day!!! :D

The next day (May 3rd), I flew to Sumbawa. Why? Because... ehm... I've booked myself a live aboard scuba-dive trip in Komodo Island for several days (May 3rd - 8th), Indonesia! Wooooohooooooo!!! That's why I didn't update any post in my blog for a while, because there was no internet access in the middle of the sea... ;)

It was such a great dive trip... I dove with black manta rays, white manta rays, black tip sharks, white tip sharks, giant trevally, etc etc. Whoaaaaa!!! Interested to see the video? I'm creating it for you now! ;) Stay tune!

Greetings from Laos!

2009-04-26T22:38:00.000-07:00

(Laos: April 21 - May 2, 2009)

Laos

, the country of smile, as they call it, is one of the countries in Southeast Asia with the population of approximately 5.6 million. In terms of location, it’s wedged between Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Cambodia. Thus, travelers can easily visit any of these countries by crossing the borders.

This trip is my first time in Laos and it’s the 19^th country that I’ve been after Philippines, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Hongkong, Australia, The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland, Denmark, Italy, Greece and of course… Indonesia. Yayyy!!! Hopefully the number doesn’t stop here! This time, I’m planning to spend 2 weeks to explore several cities here.

Arriving at the airport in Vientiane, I had to argue with the immigration staff, because they said that I needed a visa to enter the country. I didn’t apply for one, because I checked in the Internet and it said that Indonesians didn’t need a visa. One of the staffs showed me a piece of paper, saying: “Indonesians do not need a visa if they travel for less than 14 days”. Perfect. I will only be here for 12 days. Strangely, all the immigration staffs insisted that I needed a visa. So, I had no idea which one was right. Well, I filled in the Visa On Arrival anyway… and at the end I got it. The fee for the visa on arrival was USD 30,-. I wonder who puts the wrong information on the Internet? Geez.

Anyway… I was lucky enough to sit next to an Australian guy on the plane, who has some friends in the city. He introduced me to his friends, two nice Aussie ladies who owned a famous “Sticky Finger” restaurant in town. These ladies offered me a lift to my hotel! How nice! I told them, “I don’t have a hotel yet, but I know which hotel I want to stay”. They dropped me at their restaurant and said that their staff could help me explain to the tuk-tuk driver. I showed him the name of the hotel, he then explained to the tuk-tuk driver. The driver seemed understood and knew where to go, but we ended up going around and around. At first, he took me to the wrong hotel, then he stopped for three times to ask people around. I realized that he didn’t know where he was going! And guess what… the next day I found out that actually my hotel was located on the next street parallel to the “Sticky Finger” restaurant! My goodness! You might wonder, why didn’t I read the map? Well, this hotel is pretty new, so it’s not even written on the map yet! :p LOL.

Vientiane is far from the image of a big city. Instead, being the capital of Laos, the city looks like a small town to me. It reminds me of the villages in Indonesia. There’s no skyscrapers, no terrible traffic jams, no pollution, no fancy clubs. The numbers of cars and motorbikes on the street aren’t that many. So much different with Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia… or Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam which is cramped with motorbikes. Vientiane has a relaxed and peaceful vibes. The people who live here also different from the type of people who live in the big city. They’re so laid-back! In the afternoon, they love to hangout in a small park by the Mekong River, sit on the grass at the intersection (yup, an odd place to hangout with your friends!) or chit-chat in front of their houses/shops. One day I walked along the main street and stopped in a small park to rest and soak up the vibe. There were some swings in the park. Most of them were taken by young couples or children. Then I saw there was 1 swing empty… seconds later, there were two guys running toward the swing “racing” to get the seat! Hahaha.. even guys love swing here!!! They ended up sitting on the swing together and laughing happily. Something that I wouldn’t see in my home town. Guys racing for the swing in Jakarta? No way.

I really love Laotians. Being here for a few days now, I noticed how genuine and sincere they are. They’re very polite, always smile and speak softly to you. Nice people. I just wish there are more English speaking Laotians in the country! I wish I could have a chat with everyone here. That would’ve been perfect! Unfortunately, there are only a few of them who are able to speak English. So, most of the time I have to use “sign language” to communicate with them. It’s a challenge, indeed :D.

Laotian women still wear traditional skirt, like a sarong. Almost 90% Laotian women I meet here wear the same “costume”. A traditional skirt with a shirt. Students at school wear uniforms, black and white. The girls wear black traditional skirts with white shirts, while the boys wear black pants and white shirts. Being an Asian girl traveling in SE Asia countries, I always being mistaken as a local. Be it in The Philippines, Malaysia, Vietnam or Cambodia. The locals thought I’m one of them. Also in Laos. Not that I mind.. but I just wish I could understand what they say when they speak to me in their language!

In Laos, a friend said that people always staring at me. After a while, I noticed it, too. I wonder why? Hmm.. Probably Laotians thought that I’m a Laotian, but how come I don’t wear a traditional skirt? :D Just like in Thailand, once I get a chance to talk to them, they always say, “You look same-same Lao”. Am having a crisis identity. LOL.

How to get around the city?

It’s pretty easy. You can get around by foot, rent a bicycle for 10,000 Kip/day (1 USD = 8,500 Kip to date) or by tuk-tuk. If you decided to go around by tuk-tuk, don’t forget to bargain on the price. They usually mark 50-60% up for tourists. So, it’s best to bargain 50% lower, then meet in the middle.

I went around by foot with a map in hand. If your hotel is located nearby the Mekong River, then you can easily go to the famous sights by foot. However, if you have limited time and not a big fan of walking around, renting a bicycle or hoping on a tuk-tuk might be more convenient for you J.

Vientiane itself has a lot of interesting places to see. Am surprised by seeing the numbers of temples they have here… and they keep building new ones! These temples aren’t just small temples. All of them are fairly big and nicely built! I wonder why do they keep building new temples? They have enough temples already! (well, I think).

For places to see, I’ll write a separate post on this blog later, ok?

Is it easy to withdraw money?

Yes. ATM machines and money-changer can be found in almost every city. You can use USD, Thai Baht, Euro or Laos Kip in this country. Does it make your life easier? A bit J. However, it’s advisable to have some Kips in your wallet. It would come handy if you have to buy small things or hop on tuk-tuk.

How to go to other cities within the country?

You can take a bus basically to anywhere you want in Laos. You can choose public bus (no AC, cramped) or bus with AC (very comfortable). Some routes offer minivan with AC. You can also take a flight from Vientiane to Luang Prabang, vice versa. For more adventure, take a slow boat along the Mekong River, but only if you have plenty of time to spend in this country since it may take 2 days or more to travel from one city to another!

I took a bus from Vientiane to Vang Vieng and it was a very comfortable bus trip. With an air-conditioned bus, the 2.5 hours journey went so fast. I slept all the way to Vang Vieng! Only woke up for several times and every time I looked out to the window, my eyes were entertained by the beautiful landscape around! Mountains, rice paddy, trees and limestone cliffs. Whoaa..

How about food? Any good restaurants?

Yes. There are several fancy restaurants in Vientiane (read my post on Vientiane), where other restaurants are pretty basic, yet the food is yummy.

In Vang Vieng, there is no stylish restaurant. However, people here decorate the restaurants as cozy as possible with long pillows and cushions. It’s pretty common to sit on the floor - Japanese style :).

For drinks, try BeerLao. Am not a big fan of beer, but I must admit that this one is tasty! I wrote a status on facebook about BeerLao and got some comments said that they agreed with me. Some of them even said it’s the best beer they’ve had by far! Am I making you curious now? ;)

Being in Laos for a few days now, I enjoy being exposed to the Lao cultures and observe how laid-back the way people live here. Most tourists who come here are either Europeans or Australians. I haven’t seen any Asian tourists here yet. Hmm… **wondering**

Ok, am off to bed now. Have to catch a bus to Luang Prabang early in the morning! Ouch! See you in my next post on Laos! :)

Grab The Chances Before It's Too Late

2009-04-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

On a party at Passion scuba-dive center in Singapore yesterday, a friend whom I just met asked me, "Nila, I think you shouldn't go to the nicest dive sites when you're young, because when you grow old, you wouldn't know where to go diving next".

I smiled and said, "What if I died tomorrow?"

He said, "If you died, then you wouldn't have a chance to regret, right?"

I said, "Hmm.. Not sure about that. Why do I have to wait to go to the places I want to? Ten minutes before I died, I might remember all the places I'd love to scuba-dive and would definitely regret it that I haven't make my way there".

...
...

The next day, I read this amazing words:

life is short
break the rules
forgive quickly
kiss passionately, love truly
laugh constantly
And never stop smiling
no matter how strange life is
Life is not always the party we expected to be...

(my version):

Thus, we should make our life as colorful as we want it to be
... and be grateful for that :)

Getting Tanned in Bintan Island, Indonesia

2009-04-19T10:59:00.000-07:00

(Indonesia: April 13th - 16th, 2009)

You might be wondering... what to do in Bintan Island, Indonesia?
This is the second time I went there. This time, I spent four days... stayed in Angsana Resort, a group of Banyan Tree resort.

Bintan Island can be reached easily from Singapore by ferry. It takes only 1 hour of sitting in a nice, comfortable and full aircon ferry. Easy ;). From Jakarta, you can take a plane to Batam, then continued your trip by ferry to Bintan Island.

Most resorts on the island use USD and Singapore Dollar as their currencies. A few years ago when I went here for the first time, I got a bit offended. "Hey, this is my country, why do they use other countries' currencies instead of Rupiah?"
But this time, I decided not to give it a fuss. Especially considering that most of the tourists who come here are either Europeans, Singaporeans or Japanese. I think I was the only Indonesian guest in the resort. Seriously. I didn't see any single Indonesian guest apart from the hotel staffs. I wonder why?

There are a number of resorts in Bintan Island. People come here either to have a chill out weekend or to play golf as they have some nice golf courts here. People who live in Singapore (either expats or Singaporeans themselves) consider Bintan Island as the place to go for a weekend getaway.
In 1 hour, you'll end up on an island with beautiful beach, white powdery sand, friendly people and relaxing vibe. How nice is that???

What to do in Bintan Island?

Well, honestly, there's nothing much to do there apart from rejuvinating yourself :). Hehehe.. For those who love watersports, you can rent a jetski and have some fun in the water for a half hour or more. Snorkeling is another activity to do here. Apart from that, it all depends on yourself. Angsana Resort itself organizes some activities, such as: morning walk (walking around the resort and visiting the fishing village), mountain biking tour, introduction to golf, introduction to windsurfing, basic lesson of Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian Language), etc. Not bad, eh? ;)

If you asked me, what did I do in those four days? I would say... nothing. Apart from swimming on the beach and at the nice pool, chilling, sunbathing, eating, drinking, relaxing, I practically did nothing :D. It's very unusual, indeed, because normally, I tend to do so much stuff on my holidays! LOL. But this time, I took it easy.
The only thing I wanted to do apart from worked on my tanned was the intro to windsurfing. However, on the day itself, it was raining almost the whole afternoon :( *sob... sob...* So, the resort had to cancel the activity. Huhuhu... not fun! Well, this is another thing you might want to consider... a back up plan! What to do if the weather didn't allow you to do outdoor activities?
Going to the spa would be the option... another option is... watching the movies in the room! (hahaha... yeah yeah... not too inspiring, isn't it?) :p

Anyway, I was very impressed with the service of Angsana Resort. Seriously. They're one of the best. The staffs were all friendly, professional, nice and most importantly... genuine. Loved 'em. Sometimes they cracked some jokes, too! Lovely people!!! They even took a picture of the guests when we check-in, so that they could memorize us and address us with our names! That tells something about their service, huh?

Plus, don't be surprised if you ordered something to the room service, then five to ten minutes later, you would receive a phone call from the reception to check whether you already got what you needed! Isn't it nice? Excellent customer service they have here.

And the beach?
It's beautiful. It's a private beach in which you only share it with the resort guests (note: believe me, there are not too many guests here... so, you'll have so much space for yourself! When i was there, most of the time, there were five persons maximum on the beach seriously). Perfect!

And oh... when you have nothing else to do, you can try this "kungfu fighting" with your friends! Check out this picture below. Yep, we're kungfu fighters!!! LOL. I really love this pix. We had so much laughs when taking this cool picture! Don't you love it? :D

Seminyak Beach, Bali

2009-04-18T01:34:00.000-07:00

One of the beaches to spend your sunny afternoon in Bali :) Forget Kuta beach, unless you want the whole afternoon's sunbathing time to be ruined by a tons of people selling scarfs, bracelets, temporary tattoos, etc.

Another beach that you might want to visit is Karma Kandara beach. It's a private beach in front of Karma Kandara resort. To have a relaxing time on this beautiful beach, you have to pay an entrance fee (unfortunately... but hey, there's nothing free in this world! LOL... and it's worth it, since there are not many people know about this beach yet... ehm) ;) *am sharing you a little secret of a hidden paradise in one of the world's famous islands* ;)

Underwater Storm in Nusa Lembongan?

2009-04-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

The short video above was taken in Sakenan, a dive site in Nusa Lembongan, Bali, Indonesia about ten days ago. The current was very strong that day! As soon as we descended, we basically had to crawl from one point to another. Omigod!! I could even feel the strong current 'slapping' on my face from time to time. Wow, that wasn't an easy dive!

The three of us (me, the dive master and an Indonesian friend who works in The Netherlands), had to hold on to big rocks all the time and tried to move from one big rock to another rocks slowly, following the current. There's no point to swim against it because we're just going to waste our energy and air consumption.

If you watched the video, you might notice how strong the current was. Sorry if the video was unstable, because I recorded only using one hand, while the other hand holding hard to a big rock in my left side! That time, I was basically "hiding" behind that big rock, waiting until the current got calmer. But... errmm... it never happened!

Sakenan is actually a nice dive site, despite the exhilarating current rides. Thus, it's recommended for experienced divers. The corals are rich and can be enjoyed in a shallow depth, too. Meaning? It's great for snorkeling!
Honestly, ten minutes being underwater in Sakenan, I thought, "Ok, this is a bit dangerous. Maybe we should ascend soon". But, we survived :). We dove for more than 50 minutes, however, we stayed in a shallow area. I couldn't really pay attention to the small critters, because the three of us had to deal with the strong current. At the end of the dives, we were practically only drifting.. along with the strong current! It felt like flying above miles of beautiful corals. Very nice, indeed. A mixed sensation of adrenalin pumping and enjoyable sightings.

Just before the safety stop, the dive master popped out the sausage, so that our boat would know our location. On the boat, the dive master from Bali Marine Sport asked me, "How was the fly?" "Amazing. Thank you", I replied with a big smile on my face.

A Trip to Menjangan Island, Bali

2009-04-12T10:32:00.000-07:00

Being in Bali this time, I took a trip to the West of Bali... to Menjangan Island. Menjangan itself means "deer". It's been said that during dry season in Menjangan Island, the deers migrate to Bali island by crossing the sea! And yes, I saw some deers when I was there :D, although I didn't witness them swimming on the sea... it must've been cool, though!

I stayed for a night in Adi Assri resort. It's a new resort, quite spacious and pretty. Being there, I felt like being in a garden as there are plenty of trees and plants around the bungalows. The rooms are nice, clean and neat. You'll be welcomed with different types of flowers on your bed! Seriously. Nice, huh? ;) And the bathroom? Just like most of the bathroom types in the villas in Bali, half of it has no roof. So, you basically have the feeling of taking a shower outdoor...
The swimming pool area is nice, too... it's facing the beach with a view of mountains on your back. It has a relaxing ambience, especially in the afternoon. One could enjoy the beautiful sky changes its color during the sunset. But please, don't expect a white sand beach... because the sand here is greyish, almost black. I'm not used to it, so maybe I didn't really appreciate it. Am sure, if I spent more time there, I would appreciate the black sandy beach :)...

When we arrived at the resort, we didn't have that much time to relax as we're going to scuba-dive right away! So, after checking-in, we all went to the harbour where our boat was already waiting for us. There's a small "warung" at the harbour where we can order a lunch box and choose our drinks. I ordered vegetarian fried rice.. and to my surprise, it came in a very nice plastic lunch box! Wow! It was the first time for me, on a dive trip, to have such a well presented lunch box meals! Hahaha...

The first and second dives, we dove at Post 1. Omigod... beautiful corals they have here!!! I've been told by my scuba-diving friends that diving in Menjangan Island is nice... honestly, I didn't expect that it would be THIS NICE!!! The corals are very rich and colorful. You name it... pink, purple, blue, green, orange... all can be seen in one spot (can you imagine?).. from soft corals, hard corals to gorgonian fans. I loved it.

Garden Eel is particularly amazing for (of course) its numbers of garden eels "dancing" without living their home in the sand :). I also saw bumphead, titan trigger fish, cuttle fish, many scorpion fish here. The scorpion fish are colorful and HUGE! And I saw a lion fish swimming elegantly... I wanted to take a close up picture of its face, but was afraid that it would attack me! :p So, I decided to stay away from him... hehehe...
It was such an easy dive. No current. No surge. Good visibility around 20 meters. What else could you ask for? Big pellagic? Hmm.. Menjangan isn't popular for its large fish. It's the place for those who enjoy being surrounded by beautiful and colorful corals all around you.

For the lunch break, we went to Menjangan Island. It was very hot, the sun was strikingly shining! The three of us (me, the dive master and my friend who lives in Bali) sat on a bench under the tree, opening the luxurious lunch box, couldn't wait to taste the food! I got a banana and crackers to accompany my veggie fried rice. It was such an enjoyable break... I wish there was a hammock nearby, I could fall asleep easily afterwards! And with the beautiful view around me? Am sure I'd dream of heaven.. :)

After the second dive, we went back to the resort. It took us an hour from the dive site to the harbor and I took the opportunity to take a little nap on the long-tail boat :).

The afternoon went so fast. I didn't really do that much apart from relaxing on the reclining chair by the pool and deciding to leave after the mosquitos were fat enough from sucking my blood in half hour! :D We then strolled down the street trying to get something to eat, but after a long walk, we could only find 3 restaurants!!! (and these restaurants were all empty and didn't look promising!) Oh dear... We just had to choose one of those... I had a stir-fry morning glory and it tasted so-so. Nothing's special, but not bad at all.

The next day, we did another 2 dives. This time, we dove at Post II. Menjangan Island is famous for its wall dives. And I had to admit, the wall dives were sooo pretty, too!!! Again, I saw many beautiful corals and plenty of giant sea fans! The usual suspect fish were all there, too. You name it, from clown fish to goat fish and from nudibranchs to... seahorses! ;)
Today's dives were easy, too. No strong current, water temperature was 31 degrees Celcius (warm, right? niceeee!!!), visibility was 20 meters. Amazing wall dives.

I personally think, in terms of the corals, Menjangan Island has more beautiful corals than Similan Islands, Thailand. Really. And I'm glad to realize that... oh.. my country is so beautiful! Being there, in the middle of the sea, I looked around and saw beautiful mountains on the left and some other islands on my right, with another mountains at the far right. And I felt how lucky we were, to be blessed with such stunning natures all around Indonesia. Not only on the surface, but also under those clear water in the deep sea!

We headed back to Legian feeling satisfied. What a nice dive trip. And on the way, of course, we stopped in a small street vendor that sold... DURIAN!!! Yayyy!!! It's durian season, so it would be such a waste not to have a durian or two as our snacks! :p Obviously, the 3.5 hours trip back to Legian wasn't that tiring. The mind was happy. The eyes were happy. The heart was happy. And the stomach was happy, too! :D

Underwater Video: Nusa Penida, Indonesia

2009-04-09T02:12:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! :)

I spent 6 days in Bali and just arrived back to Jakarta yesterday. It was such a great trip, as always.. ;) (who doesn't love Bali, anyway?) :D

And... the good news is... I have something for you: a video that I made while I was scuba-diving in Nusa Penida! Yayyyy!!! I thought it would be nice to share things that I saw when I scuba-dive ;)... and who knows any of you might fall in love and curious to try to scuba-dive, too! ;) *wink wink*

Will share the detailed story of my trip with you soon, in the meantime, enjoy the video yaa.. :)

So.. I Didn't Make It to The Final

2009-04-04T04:06:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, I'm writing from Bali, Indonesia :)
Yesterday was the announcement of the shortlisted finalists of The Best Job in The World.. and.. I didn't make it to the final :(. Disappointed? Of course. Sad? Yes.
But... life goes on :). If it's meant to be, then it's meant to be. If it's not meant to be, then it's not meant to be :)

It's been such a great experience being chosen as one of the top 50 shorlisted candidates over 34,000 applicants from all around the world. And I'm thankful for that. I got a lot of new friends and felt touched by the supports of all of you have given to me. I thank you from the bottom of my heart...

Sorry that I didn't make it to the final... :(
All of you have been so great in encouraging and supporting me. Really. I feel sad for disappointing you, too.
Having said that, let's continue the friendship and make the bond among all of us stronger. Am so proud to be Indonesian and to get all the supports from everyone! (not only from Indonesian fellows, but from other nationalities, too... thank you, guys!!!)

I don't know how to express it, but what you did to support me in the past months meant so much to me.

Again, thank you so much for everything, guys...!
Now, am gonna spoil myself in Bali for a couple of days... scuba-diving and relaxing on the beach! Yayyy!!! Will share the stories of my scuba-dive experience here, for sure! (oh I haven't even finished writing posts on my Thailand and Cambodia trips!)
Stay tuneeeee, guys... Let's continue our journey and enjoy every minute of it. LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL!!! Let's make out of it to the fullest ;)

Tasting Jakarta... Eating and Dancing!

2009-04-01T09:09:00.000-07:00

Oh.. I love this part! If you’re in Indonesia, please try to enjoy the local food as much as you can, because you might not get the original taste elsewhere! It’s true. When I lived in The Netherlands, it was pretty easy to get Indonesian food as there were a lot of Indonesian restaurants there… but… the taste was never the same as the original Indonesian food!!! Even in Singapore, which is only 1.5 hours away by flight, the food in Indonesian restaurants there is already adjusted with the local taste. As a result, every time I go home, I always spoil myself with good Indonesian food. Forget about Western/Indian/Chinese/Lebanese/Thai food. I’m in Indonesia. I want to eat the original Indonesian food as much as I could!!!

Anyway… the first day I asked my friend, “What would you like to eat?”. “Fried chicken”, he said. Nope… he was not referring to the junk food one. For delicious fried chicken, I took him to Ayam Goreng Ny. Suharti. This restaurant offers crunchy fried chicken serve with tasty crums and not-so-spicy chili paste. This restaurant has several branches in Jakarta, so you can find them easily. The one that I went was in Jalan Haji Wahid Hasyim, near Menteng area, in the center of Jakarta.

The second evening, we went to Lara Djonggrang restaurant. I always bring my expatriate friends to taste the food here. Why? It’s simply because the restaurant has delicious Indonesian food and very nice ambience, surrounded with Gods & Goddess statues and antique furniture all around. It’s very exotic. You can really feel the touch of Indonesian/Asian culture here. Plus.. I love their food presentation! They're very creative in decorating the dishes! Check out my review about this restaurant here.

Shanghai Blue and Samarra restaurants were my choices, too, for nice dinners in Jakarta. These two restaurants are located side by side and managed bythe same group. Therefore, it doesn’t matter where you sit (either in Samarra or Shanghai Blue), you can always order the menu from the other restaurant.

Shanghai Blue offers live band in the weekend, playing chill out music, bossanova type. The restaurant itself is decorated in old Chinese style, with red lanterns as the lights. I love the appetizer here: asparagus roll with melted cheese. Mmmmm… a must try!!!

The restaurant next door, Samarra is simply pretty and elegant. You will feel like you’re in a palace in the Middle Eastern country once you step in the restaurant. The interior is beautifully decorated. Even the walls are painted in details. You can choose to dine in at the long table or in one of the corridors by the window… I feel like I am in a “1001 Nights” fairy tale every time I have dinner here. Lovely.

And the food? They have a wide range of selection of food from different areas in Indonesia and some Middle Eastern dishes. I’m sure you’ll find a hard time in choosing the menu as everything in the list seems delicious! (and it does!). Try the couscous and the duck dish. For vegetarian, try the "Sambal Goreng Kacang Panjang", it's a stir-fry beans dish cooked with chili paste. Yum!

For lunch, I took my friend to a Padang restaurant. Padang food is very famous in Indonesia for its yummy taste. One of the most famous Padang restaurants in Jakarta is called “Restoran Sederhana”. It’s a franchise, so you can also find it easily in town. Having meals in Padang restaurant, you might be surprised to see how the waiters serve your food. They would bring all the dishes they have in small plates and put them all on your table, even though you didn’t order any of those dishes. Don’t worry, you don’t have to pay for everything. They will only count the dishes that you eat. These waiters are also able to carry all those plates in both hands, one time! How? Don’t ask me. It’s a skill. Yet, don’t try this at home, or else you’ll break all your favorite plates in a day! LOL. Some of the dishes that you might want to try are beef rendang (everyone's favorite), padang style of chicken curry, squid curry and... if you're brave enough... try the cow's brain curry. It tastes like eggs, some people say :). Also, don't miss the spicy casava crackers called "Keripik Pedas". It's my favorite! I ate 3 bags of those crackers that day! LOL.

The last day, we had lunch at “Satay House Senayan”. This restaurant has been around since I was small. It’s specialty is satay. They have beef, lamb and chicken satay. Just choose your favorite or… try them all, if you have big appetite! :D Also try the “Tahu Telur” dish. It’s fried tofu and egg, serves in soya sauce and beansprouts. Tasty… and it’s been my favorite (how come? It’s because I’m a vegetarian, remember?) ;)

Being in Jakarta, you’ve gotta experience the night scene. We had drinks at Face Bar in Menteng area. The bar is perfect to chill out. As for the clubbers, you'll be happy to find out that most of the clubs in Jakarta open until 5am. The most happening club now is Dragonfly. The place is fancy, nicely decorated, good house music, nice crowd. We went there on Friday night and I met some of the country’s celebrities there. (my favorite actor, Nicholas Saputra, was there, too! Haven’t seen him for a long time! Haha.. yeah right… like I know him personally!) LOL

On Saturday night, we went to Kemang area. It’s an excellent place for food and entertainment in South Jakarta. There are plenty of bars and restaurants in the area. But… be ready for the traffic jam in the weekends, because this area is very popular among young people, party lovers and food hunters!

We went for a drink at Shy Bar. It’s a roof top bar located in a transparent building. The bar/lounge offers a live band in the weekends, in which pretty hard to find in the city. It has lively and friendly ambience. You’ll love it. The singer of the band is a hottie, but stay away, girls… he’s taken! He’s actually the husband of Febby Febiola, one of the celebrities in Indonesia. Last month I was here and saw there were many girls standing in front of the stage admiring the singer. A couple of hours later, his gorgeous wife arrived and he threw a smile on her. Some of the girls showed their disappointment and left the stage! Ooppsssieee…

Well, that was my itinerary that I made for my friend last weekend. If you wanted to visit Jakarta, let me know. I can give you a list of interesting places to see and to chill out! ;) It’ll be my pleasure to help you out discovering my city! Enjoy Jakarta, guys!

Tasting Jakarta... Sightseeing!

2009-03-31T04:03:00.000-07:00

The mermaid was pretty occupied for a week as her friend from Shanghai came to visit her in Singapore, then they flew to Jakarta to taste the flavor of the city ;).

Where did I take my friend for such a short visit in my hometown? We only had 3 days to go around the city, definitely not enough to see everything! Anyway, as a good host, I tried my best to show him some of the interesting places in town.

Jakarta is a city that never sleeps. It has a reputation for being a crowded, polluted and a city in which the traffic would make you feel like killing yourself… or… if you wanted to be positive, it is a city in which you’ll have plenty of time reading your favorite books or (thank to the digital age) browsing the Internet via your mobile phone/ blackberry (note: the latter is very popular in Jakarta now… it’s spreading like a virus!) or chatting with your friends over the phone while you’re trapped in traffic jam! :D

I warned my friend for the traffic, but to my surprise, when we landed in Jakarta, there was no traffic in the city! Wow… this is weird. Then I remember that it was actually a public holiday on Thursday, so a lot of people went on vacation as it could be considered as a long weekend. Ah.. no wonder!!!

Every time my friends from overseas come to visit me in Jakarta, I adjust the itinerary according to their interests. Some people are interested in arts, while others don’t. So, I wouldn’t take someone who are not interested in arts, to go to an art exhibition, for example. Not when we have time constraints.

This time, my friend from Shanghai loves photography and party. Aha! ;) To fulfill his interest in photography, I took him to visit the old port area, which is called “Pelabuhan Sunda Kelapa”. This old port remains a bustling hub inter-island trade until today. One could enjoy the beautiful Bugis phinisi schooners, the world’s last wind-powered sailing fleet used for trade, parking at the port with a number of workers lifting up stacks of food, powders, etc in and out the graceful phinisi.

It was such a sunny day, perfect to take some shoots to capture the busy life of the old port. When you’re tired and feel like drinking something fresh, stop by at the nearest “warung” (street stall) and ask for “Teh Botol”. It’s the most famous drink in Indonesia. As I said to my friend, “If Americans love Coke, Indonesians love Teh Botol”. Hehehe… Teh Botol literary means “tea in the bottle”. It’s so fresh and it tastes sweet. I’m addicted to this drink, undoubtedly .

In the afternoon, we strolled down “Jalan Surabaya”, a street where one could find random stuff from your granny time. It’s an open-air antique market located in residential area. I love to check out the shops here as sometimes I could find nice wooden boxes or… a vintage clutch! It’s also a heaven for those who love puppets and anything made of brass.
If you decided to spend your afternoon here, don’t forget to use your bargaining skills ;). Try to bargain half price down and see what the seller says. Usually they will lower their price, then compromise with you . My friend loved a wooden statue, the seller asked for Rp 350,000. I bargained for Rp 150thou. He went down to Rp 300thou. I said, “Nope.. Rp 200thou, that’s it”. He didn’t want to compromise in that price. I told my friend to just hangout nearby the shop and had a chit chat for a short while… not long after, the seller came to us with the statue already wrapped in a plastic bag! He said, “Ok… I give you at Rp 210thou, ok?”
I was sure that he would’ve agreed with Rp200thou, but giving Rp10thou for a “charity” wouldn’t hurt, would it?

A visit to Jakarta wouldn’t be complete without visiting our National Monument. It’s the icon of Jakarta. You could go up to the top of the tower where you could see Jakarta from up above, but the line takes usually 2 hours :p. From there, we took a bajaj (a public transportation, similar to tuk-tuk in Thailand) and headed to the Istiqlal Mosque to take some nice shots of the mosque. Bajaj is the noisiest public transportation, I think. And... you'll be shaking all over when you're in this vehicle. Try it yourself, then you'll know what I mean! :D

When we entered the mosque, there were a bunch of school children hanging around the gate. As soon as they saw my friend, they ran after him and scream, “Mister.. mister!!! How are you, Mister? What’s your name?”. Before I realized, more than 30 kids wanted to shake his hands already surrounded him! Hahaha… so cute! Well, if you’re a foreigner traveling in Indonesia, be ready for this “friendly attack” from kids. You’ll get it everywhere. Trust me.

Right across the mosque is… the Cathedral ;). So, if you’re into photography, you could take some beautiful shots of these two religious places without having to spend hours to commute from one spot to another! All you need to do is just crossing the street! :D

If you have time, visit Taman Mini Indonesia Indah. It’s a miniature park of Indonesia. You’ll encounter some of country’s traditional houses as well as samplings of more than 250 cultures from different provinces. I personally love it here as even for a local, I could learn so many things about the culture of each province. Also, if you’re lucky, you might enjoy traditional dance performances here, too. I still remember once I performed here when I was in school ;).

For museum lovers, apart from visiting the National Museum, you can go to Fatahillah Square and spoil yourself discovering 3 city’s most interesting museums in the area: Jakarta History Museum, Puppet Museum, Fine Arts & Ceramics Museum). Too bad we didn’t have time to visit all these museums! Maybe next time! And oh… Fatahillah Square is also one of the favorite spots for photo shoots in Jakarta. It’s located in the old area of the city, called “Kota”, which simply means “town”. It’s also a china town area and during the Chinese New Year, some streets are decorated with beautiful red lanterns. Pretty.

Check out my next post for an experience of tasting the food and the night life in Jakarta! ;)

Have you seen the Mermaid?

2009-03-30T02:11:00.000-07:00

This is one of the videos of me being the mermaid to promote "The Best Job in The World". I had so much fun that day... a lot of people staring at me curiously, perhaps they thought, "Why is she wearing such a bling bling mermaid costume on such a hot and sunny day?" :D Hahaha... Check out this video, guys! ;)

Have you seen the mermaid lately?