the story of my life

Here I am! :D

Been away for almost a week. Literally stranded in many ways. I even loose some weight! (yeah well, the latter was you know... you should go check the truth for yourself :p)

I like traveling and enjoy the art of getting lost. It's just that, now, I realized, I worship the life I had. I could bitch all day about the traffic, and then God said: enjoy the show, girl! And God just took all the streets and the proper vehicle. Mate, that is something not to look forward to on any trip!

Let me tell you a story of the traveling pants. I took off from Cengkareng at 01.30 AM (yes, AM! grrr...) on Monday and arrived at Domine Eduardo Osok airport at 09.00 AM local time. Woohoo! The DEO airport is more like... how to describe it... a barn. I wouldn't be surprised if the plane could not land because there are boar in the runway. Or, the pilot might just say "Let's just hit the boar, and held a feast!". Mehh.

That's not it. Who says Papua is bloody hot?! Hng... when I landed at DEO it was raining. The locals said they haven't seen sunlight for two days. A good sign? Might be, if I was planning to stay in bed for the next 4 days. NOT.

The thing is, I have to catch a boat at the local dock to go to the place I have to be. Every single day, there are 2 boats, the slow boat and speed boat to head off to the island. At exactly 2 PM local time, the boat would leave the boat. So, bye-bye to all of you on late arrival. You could all come back tomorrow. :p

I took the speed one, and spend around 2 hours at the sea. The locals said, it's the southern wind season, so the tide's high and it's cloudy all day. Great...

I arrived at Waisai port around 4 PM local time. so, it's around 15 hours of trip just to be in Waisai! At the time, I can't even feel my legs. Fortunately, I got a great motel to stay. So I spend the rest of the day sleeping. :D

I spend 3 days on the island, exploring it. Kabupaten Raja Ampat is... 8 years old. The main street was around 10 KM, and that was it :|. The road were soils and gravels covered in creeper plants. Tried to ask the driver, were there any wild life in the bushes. The driver replied: snakes. Okay, windows up! Fasten seatbelt! I did saw an eagle flew on one of my trip.

I'll tell you about the trips on the island on another post (if I ever remember). Again, to come back to Jakarta I have to spend around 15 more hours. My butt... ouch.

The thing is, my life is an entire chaos. After I landed in Jekarrrrdaaaahhhh... I have to head to Bandung immediately. Not that I complain, but I really do miss my bed. But then, my cousin's wedding was a pay off. He finally got married! :D The cousin who picked me up in the beginning of my Bandung part of life!

So here I am, awake after spending like 4 hours of straight sleep. *yawn*

And tomorrow's monday. Another office hour! yay! *taking pillow to the office tomorrow*

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TiQi Bo

Backpacker borju

disclaimer: this post is similar to what Ayu has posted before in her blog. Well, this is my side of story. Enjoy!

I have been willing to write this trip down since last month, but I guess I'm a pro procrastinator :p

I was in Bali last month, for a(n almost) mission impossible event held by Roro Jonggrang. I was there as one of his genies, trying to fix things up before he came at dawn :p. Enough with Roro Jonggrang, as he will not be reading my blog, and that's not the point of my entry.

Dewi asked me whether I would like to join her to go to Lombok for a day, before we head back to our homes. I said yes, without knowing who is going to be in the trip. I wanted to go back to Lombok. The last time I went there was in 2006, if I'm not mistaken. Along with my architecture friends. So, yeah, definitely, I would love to see Lombok again.

Dewi offered snorkeling and visiting sasak village as our activity there. I said no to sasak village trip, because the village was artificial *well, it's cool though... you should check it someday* and I declined snorkeling for the sake of my skin color :p nah, I always loved the sea... I'm afraid if I swam, I would never got out of that giant bathtub... and besides, I'm trying to keep this trip from my mum, and it won't work if I got sunburn!

Dewi is a supermom! she arranged things and go down to the details! Well, if she leave the things to me, we will never have the trip :p. And at that time, I found out that Ayu and Pilas were going as well. *OK, I need a pause here... and then, I pressed rewind...* Ayu and Pilas were going as well... Mehh, all the sudden I felt that this trip is going to be mad, in a good way.

By the time we head to the airport, we became fugitives... We planned this as a runaway trip, but the timing wasn't right. Seems that little tiny weeny Ngurah Rai airport was full of persons from our office. We have to watch our backs in case we ran into somebody *which we did, thanks to the 'coast clear' moment and the 'corner seats in a coffeeshop' moment :p*

Pilas talked me down about my 'kecipakkecipuk' wish when we were in the airplane. Whoa, that 20 mins of flight sure is the most hilarious flight I ever had. Pilas' good at giving 'the look'. Soon enough, at the same time when I was laughing, I agreed to do snorkeling.

We spent our night at a hotel, in Senggigi beach. The hotel was fine, but 4 person sleeping in 2 single beds? trust me, you better sleep on the floor or push the other three out from the bed! :p Hey, look at the bright part... travelling with these girls, we're far from the word 'rempong'. I mean, seriously, we didn't complain at all about the hotel's condition, the breakfast, the cidomo, the people staring at us... We even bring our own stuffs! But well, we were picky about transportation though. We chose pak Zakirin (081933155282) as our taxi driver and our tour guide. He's totally recommended! And he drives bluebird! another recommended thing in Lombok!

We went off to the three Gilis in a rented boat. We got Edi as our underwater tour guide. The first Gili was Gili Trawangan. The island was not as loud as Kuta, but it's not a place of sanctuary either... =) There are too many people though. And I don't like to be starred at, so let's just skip Gili Trawangan. Ow, there were a turtle conservation in the island. An old guy was the caretaker and it was an independent thingy. Drop by, and donate, for the sake of turtles! =)

Uhm, we only stop by to take some narcissistic shots on Gili Meno. But you could also go snorkeling there. And Edi told us that there's a bird park in the island. The tickets for the bird park is 40K IDR, so we skipped it =D

It was in Gili Air we had our lunch. Fresh fish and rubbertaste squid. It was great though. The texture of fresh captured fish was sooooo deliciosoooo!!!! *drooling* And off we went to go snorkeling again. The underwater view was great, and there I go, being a fish! I didn't want to get out of the sea! =D.

Too bad, the corals in the Gilis were broken by human footsteps. Just make sure you put on your life vest if you can't swim well. That was the moral of this snorkeling trip. And yeah, age does matter so much in swimming, trust me... :p Ow, thanks Pilas to talk me down and the swimsuit I borrowed! =p

I'll be back someday... =)

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TiQi Bo

Uhm, because of the sunburn, I became darker than I use to be. My mum found out about this escape, and I told her everything. I'm guilty as charged! =p

Mummy suggested me to change my hobby, but well. let's see about that...

Just don't exhale!

*been really busy, so I did not have the time to update my blog ASAP *kecuali ada yang mo beliin gw beri2 *kedip2**, this thing occured about a month ago... *

I strolled off to see night life in Jakarta last week. I went with Tommy, Magda, Kur2, and Lucy (a friend of Kur). We agreed to meet in EX. No, I was the one who ask them to meet in EX, since I was totally blind of Jakarta. *wanna know the map of Jakarta in my head? It only consists my boarding house, terminal blok M, and my office, how nice...*
Why did I chose EX? To make Heni envy of the three of us (Me, Magda, and Tommy)... hahaha, No, that's not the (main) reason. It's because EX is eye catchy. So if I got pass it while I was in the transjak, I could realize it. Huehehehe... Thanks to Christine, I knew the bus stop I have to drop off in. It's bunderan HI, and then just around 5-8 mins. Not so far...
Got into EX, then I suddenly realize... what's wrong with everybody else? They all look like chinese, here. Not that I'm racists or something, but I do feel unsecure in such condition, hehe. *I started to think, that I should probably change the meeting point to some pasar tradisional, so I could fit in, hehe*. Anyway, I finally met Magda, Kur, and Lucy in EX.
Magda also said to me: 'Lu nyadar ga sih, Bo? Semuanya ceng2, dong...'
Bo: 'Da, lu nyadar dikit juga, dong...'
Magda: 'What?'
Bo: 'You're also a chinese! Kur is a chinese, eventhough he's dark!'
Magda: 'I'm not!'
Bo: 'Stop that denial, Da... just stop... have you ever look yourself in the mirror? come on...'
Magda: 'I'm not, Bo...'

Yeah.yeah. There goes her denial... My beloved friend, just because you just discover that you were chinese when you enrolled the university, dosn't mean that you're not chinese. Me? I can't say a thing when people said 'Jawa, lu!' *walau jarang, hyahahaha... tampang gw mah, ambigu...*
We waited for Tommy,,, he hadn't show up... Ah, maybe he met his kuku, shu shu, cici, cece, koko, first downstairs... probably... huehehehehe...

Magda: 'Bo, see? I told you, we should dress up when we're going to a mall'
Bo: 'I don't care, Da...'
Magda: 'Look, it's like everyone is dressed up'
Bo: 'So? does it seems like I care?'

Really. I don't get it. Why must I wore the bling2 *ohmyeyesissogoingtobeblindseeingthatclothes*, just so I could fit in? Going to the mall were suppose to sooth yourself, right? Would tht be a problem if I wore sandal teplek, selana pendek, dan kaos oblong? I did that in Bali, hehe. Just got up from my nap, wash my face, yawn... and then I went off to the mall. And no body stared at me... what? That day, I dressed properly, I suppose... wearing my polo dress and flat shoes... nothing is wrong, right?

So, we also went to Djakarta theter, to watch curious case of Benjamin Button *ya ampun, Bret pit ganteng bangeeeeeeettttt.... Anyway, the movie was fantastic*. I sat next to Tommy.

Tommy: 'Gw ngeliat banyak ketidakadilan di hari ini, Bo'
Bo: 'Hah?'
Tommy: 'Moso banyak banget, yang cowonya ga ganteng, tapi cewenya cantik banget...'
Bo: 'He?'
Tommy: 'Gitu juga, cewenya jelek, cowonya ganteng banget'
Bo: 'Huahaha... look at the bright side, Tom... lu ma gw masih punya kesempatan untuk mendapatkan lelaki dan perempuan yang berwajah lebih baik dari wajah kita ini, ya kan?'
Tommy: 'Hmm...'

Huahahahaha, Tommy... Tommy... I really missed this kind of chit chat, you know. it's fairness, in my point of view, by the way. And Tom... If you got a girl that you like, go for her! Elu mah, nungguuuu aja kerjaannya, disamber ma orang laen, tauk... A girl would never wait forever, mate.

The movie ended at around 10.30 pm, then we strolled to hrab something to eat. We ate at jalan Sabang, in a pedestrian... There were smokers all over the place.

Magda: 'Kur, besok aku mau nulis di facebook, 'I wish smokers don't exhale''
Kur: 'He?'
Magda: 'Ya, kalo mereka mau ngisep rokok, isep aja semua asapnya mpe abis, nggak usah disemburin'
Kur: 'Aku udah pernah nyoba'
Bo: 'Trus?'
Kur: 'Rasane sesek banget...'

Kekekeke, so mates... I wish smokers don't exhale. I, myself doesn't have problems with smokers, as long as they smoke by themselves, in their own private room. Hehehehe...

Anyway, the later the night was, the shorter the pants were. Wah, malem2, pake hot pants... Ndak kedinginan, mbaaaaak? Saya sadja sudah pake jaket, huehehehehe...

Tommy: 'Kenapa sih, temen2 gw ga ada yang pake hot pants?'
Magda: 'Lu salah bergaul, lu mah bergaulnya ma kitaa2'

Hehe. Come on, hot pants? then my fat will go everywhere *lemak gw bakal kemana2*, huehehe. Not so great view, you know. Anyway, hot pants are beach clothing, right? Anyway,, Tom, kenapa bukan elu yang pake hot pants? huahahahahahahaha... gw poto deh, gw potooooo...

Then we went to our boarding houses. I got home at 12? or was it 1? I forgot. And no, I wasn't drunk... I just forgot. Tommy called just to make sure I'm safe and sound. Thanks for the attention, Tom. Next time, YOU ride me HOME! WAJIB! Biarin! Biarin! Ini Jakarta, Tom... bukan Bali... Di Bali, lu boleh ninggalin gw pulang sendiri jam 2 pagi... tapi, di jakarta... uhuhuhu... untung lu nelpon, kalo nggak udah gw marahin besoknya, huehehehe...

God, I missed them soooooo much! Ga mungkin kan, gw numpang bobo di kosan Tommy, kayak kuliah dulu,,, Dulu mah, ngerjain tugas, dan gw tidur dimana aja, hyahahaha... Ah, jadi kangen ngelembur pas deadline...


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TiQi Bo

Kya2 LABO to Benton Junction

Still in the same day as kya2 to Pearl Garden, this time I'll share Kya2 to Benton Junction and Universitas Pelita Harapan.
Because we went there in the afternoon (and spent the rest of the afternoon until it changed into evening), we were exhausted by the time we got to Benton Junction. It is located in Karawaci, suburb of Jakarta. Some exclusive place to hang out. Being in Benton Junction (as well as in UPH) just made me feel like I was not in Indonesia, at least not in Jakarta, hehe.
The buildings, the atmosphere, the crowds, it seems that the architects were trying to bring Singapore or elsewhere in Indonesia.
Benton Junction is a place to hang out, chit chat, and have an afternoon snack. Well, that's what I think anyway. Loads of expats all over the place. Nice place. It must be some big investment to open a kiosk there. The interesting thing is, the architect drag the customer of those tiny kiosks to sit outdoor. There were lot of selection of what kind of chair to sit, whether it's a bench, stool, sofa, or chair itself. This is interesting, because the architect were just taking an advantage from the pedestrian walk and vegetation area, mix them all together with the hang out place, and voila! We've got Benton Junction.


The next stop is UPH, a private university that made me envy those rich people, hehe. Really not in Indonesia. hakhakhak. I thought it was somewhere in this earth, but not in Indonesia. Not that I pay no respect for Indonesia, it just that, the building doesn't have any distinguished characteristic of tropical building (where Indonesia is located, here in tropical, ups... equatorial line). Anyway, I don't really like the building's design, so instead, we took pics of ourselves... Yay!!^^



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Tikki Mahayanti

Kya2 LABO to Pearl Garden

On Friday, March 7 2008, the office I worked in, LABO architecture+design went off to Jakarta. We went sight seeing to some venues.
I didn't like the fact that we still have to head off to Jakarta to see a better perspective of what so called 'progressive' architecture in Indonesia, but I sure like the fact that I could get off from my daily routine, just sitting and staring my PC monitor for some good reason (i suppose)
Like I said, there are some venues we visited, but in this occasion, I'll share 'Pearl Garden'. Pearl Garden is a mix used complex, consisting apartment and office. Located some where in Jakarta, heheh (Yes, my memory is still low, I wonder how I'll ever survive living in Jakarta with so many streets to remember in my empty mind). The architect is Sardjono Sani, who owns PT Bias Tekno. Please keep in your mind, that this is an architectural journey, so don't mind about the narcism, hehe... because like always, architects always wanted to show up in every frame people capture (or it was just me, well be it...)
Pearl Garden, I like the fact that the series of buildings were considered 'low rised' among the skyscrapers located all over the place in Jakarta (reminded me about playing monopoly, when as a kid, I got so greedy and put houses all over the place without minding rules, regulation and stuffs). It has a different atmosphere there. it's like you are really in a suburban place, where the land use were really meant to be residential. Really comfortable, really homy (yeah, I wish I had a home like these kinds... but nope, I don't even have a house...). I also like the fact that it has several swimming pools. Then i imagined, I could swam in different pool every single day, hahah. If I had the time... (and money to buy a unit, of course). But then a friend of mine just destroyed all my imagination when we get to Pasar Baru (later on that day, still in the same journey) when she said, yeah, after swimming in Pearl Garden, you could swim here (right in front of us were brown, smelly, yucky river...thank you so much). Well, all those comfortableness you will earn also came in an amazing price. Minimum starting price were 2,000,000,000 IDR (the zeroes made me dizzy...)

Just enjoy the pics...
the swimming pool... different aura compared to the living units in the background

living units skyline

fountain?

see the background? and see how foggy it is? scary, huh?

connecting bridge

'backside' service pathway...

I love the lamps...

Mila, my work-mate...

hmmm...

modern-vern-modern?

keen on taking shower in outdoor area?^^

Mila and Dian...

Still foggy... green yet foggy

my bosses (Deddy and Nelly). a post wed...

me... being narcist

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Tikki Mahayanti