After Singapore

I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more

Category: outside singapore

Hà Nội Trip

For this year DNArtworks trip, we visited Hanoi. We came back to Vietnam, after our earlier DNArtworks Trip to Ho Chi Minh City in 2023. From Bandung, we took a Cititrans ride at 6.40. Inside Jakarta, we arrived just in time for toll road contraflow arrangement. In addition to the three lanes heading city center, the toll operator provided extra lane for us who wants to go straight to the airport, borrowing one lane from opposite direction. The contraflow arrangement ended at 8.30, just 15 minutes after we passed it.

Bandung team

We arrived at the airport around 10.00, and took a break at Mallaca Toast cafe. Black coffee and two half-boiled eggs satisfied my hunger for Singapore reminiscence. At 11.00, most of other team members arrived and we had lunch together at Solaria. At 12.00 noon, we proceeded with check-in.

Check-in, security and immigration clearance in the Indonesia side was a smooth ride, especially because we were now mostly experienced (it was our 4th trip abroad). The airplane took off on time, and we embarked on a boring 4 hour journey. I brought a domino game and it helped to kill 20 minutes of our time. I also ordered a beer-and-snack meal package. I finished the beer, and put the snack inside my backpack for oleh-oleh (gift) back home. A few minutes before scheduled landing time, the pilot announced that we might be delayed. I decided to just eat the snack, because we might have a late dinner that day.

Playing domino in the flight.

After landed, we queued at the immigration. It was a very long queue, and I was glad that I have consumed the snack earlier. A 30 minutes journey to the hotel, and we arrived around 21.00. We checked in, dropped our baggage, then went out for dinner. I had a pho with Dan. The original price was VND 55.000, but with VND 80.000 you get extra chicken meat like photo below.

Full protein meal

After dinner, Dan went for another walk, while I headed back to the hotel to take a rest. A fruit juice seller was there just beside the hotel and I could not resist to buy one. It was a nice banana juice, and she also provided two simple chairs to sit and enjoy the juice.

We stayed at 22 Residence hotel. Buildings here including the hotel are interesting. They have a very narrow facade, but when you enter, it goes far to the back. In each room they have a set of disposable respirator, for use in case of fire. They also provide bathroom scale, in case you want to see if you gain or lose weight after wandering around.

The hotel photographed from sideways.

Respirator.

Early in the morning I woke up then took a stroll around the hotel. We were tasked to take interesting photos, different for each person. I was assigned to take photos of “lines”, so I took photos of roads, traffic lights and trees. There was a closed shop with flags of Vietnam and communism symbol, the latter is illegal in Indonesia. We then had a quick breakfast at the hotel. Similar to our previous trip to Ho Chi Minh city, breakfast here in Vietnam were generally provided healthier options (fresh vegetables, fruits, etc) even in budget hotels.

While I was inside the hotel, I posted some pictures to my Instagram channel with the hotel wifi. My telco plan includes 1GB roaming package and I did not want to purchase additional quota for the whole journey, so I saved data usage as much as I could.

Around 7.00, we walked a few hundreds meters to board our bus that would take us to Ha Long Bay. We had to walk because around that area buses can only stop at designated places. The journey was supposed to take 2-3 hours, but we stopped at a rest area for 30-60 minutes. The tour leader told us that his captain need some time to register our tickets to local government. The rest shop was actually some kind of large gift shop. When we arrived, we were welcomed with an explanation of how silk was made. Then, we entered a room where another lady explain the benefit of various products they sold there, infomercial style. I bought some snacks for myself and to give someone back home.

Infomercial style selling

We took another 1,5 hour journey to the Tuan Chau Marina. En route, my childhood friend Au commented on one of my photo. He said that he really like a food named Bun Cha when in Vietnam. I googled it, and it turned out to be a Hanoi specialty. I looked forward to try it.

Upon arriving, where we boarded the Cozy Bay Premium Cruise boat. They provided seats for us at the first floor. I was already hungry but had to wait for the guide to explain the rules of visiting the islands around Ha Long Bay. One notable rule was forbidden to bring plastic bottles. This rule came out because of too many plastics were thrown out to the sea few years back.

The boats that take visitors to the islands.

The food was ready for us to eat.

We had pretty good lunch, then stopped by the first island. At the first island, we explored a cave. The rocks formed many random shapes, and local people used their imagination to say that certain rocks resembles familiar objects, like the Merlion, Buddha, etc. It was roughly 2.000 steps up and down to finish the course and since the road is narrow, once you enter, you cannot go back. Inside the cave, there was a mini photo studio. Taking a photo is free, and you will get a free keychain as well if you took a photo. However, they do sell more premium version photo of you, larger and enclosed in acrylic.

A rock that resembles…

A rock that resembles…

At the second island, we had options of speedboat, kayaking, or bamboo boat. Speedboat costs VND 400.000, while kayaking and bamboo boat is already included in the initial tour price. Some of us chose kayaking but most of the others chose convenience with bamboo boat, since a guy is rowing and navigating the boat for us. He had done an excellent service so we gave him a good tip.

Some of the team members kayaking.

In the third and last island, the Ti Top island, we had choices of trekking or swimming at the beach. I initially wanted to trek, but later decided to just stay around and enjoy the beach. It was hot and humid outside, and when our cruise came back to pick us up, I went in quickly and cooled down.

Statue of Mr. Ti Top, in front of a cliff.

Rocks on our way home.

I guessed that the journey back to Hanoi to be faster, because we did not have to stop for another ticket purchase. I was wrong. The traffic was terrible. We arrived at Hanoi around 20.30. I was already tired and hungry, and looked for a quick meal near the hotel. I remembered about Bun Cha and googled the nearest Bun Cha from the hotel. I found a restaurant called “Bun Cha Dac Kim”, which turned to be a Michelin selected restaurant.

I ordered a Bun Cha meal package, consisting of soup, rice noodle, fresh vegetables and spring rolls. As some items took time to prepare, they served the noodle and vegetables first. I was so hungry I ate most of vegetables by hand. The server laughed at me, and when the complete meal was ready, the vegetables were already half consumed.

To my surprise, as I was eating the complete meal, the servant refilled my vegetables!

She also refilled the rice noodle, but I could not finish it.

The next morning, I walked south to Cổng chính công viên Thống Nhất. It’s a park, very similar to Bandung’s Taman Tegallega. I walked there as they have free pull up bars. Just like the Taman Tegallega, most of the visitors were senior citizens. Most of the auties were doing taichi, while others doing zumba. What astonished me was that some uncles were doing pull ups, and they looked relatively fit.

I came back to the hotel by GrabBike. I liked the fact that the helmets were pretty clean. One another interesting thing was Grab driver jackets were actually sold as souvenirs by local shops.

Picture of me wearing Grab helmet.

On this third day, I realized that the way Vietnamese people driving was interesting. They honk frequently, like the Jakartans do. They also drive recklesly, just like Jakartans. However, they don’t seem to get mad at each other. It was like the part of their brain that controls logic and emotion are separated and work independently.

Around 9.00 we walked towards the Tran Phu Street, where we sat and drank beers, next to a railway. When we sit, trains passed and visitors can see it at a very close distance. The train ran slowly to avoid people getting hit, but the danger was still there especially after the locomotive passed, because the train driver could no longer see you.

The train railway.

We then continued our journey to the Hanoi Cathedral. The Cathedral looked like it had not been repainted for a long time. I was not sure that this was because of lack of fund or intended to preserve the original look. For sure, it looked creepy.

The old Cathedral on a cloudy day. This is an actual photo, not converted to black and white.

We sat down and took a break at the southern side of Hoan Kiem Lake. Di rebriefed us about the task given earlier (taking photos). Then, after about half an hour, we split up. Some went for lunch, but I was not hungry. I walked alone towards Trang Tien to look for souvenirs. Nothing looked very interesting there, and I continued my walk to Cafe Giang. It was famous for its egg coffee, which I ordered one. When the server served me the coffee, I asked her to take a photo of me and the coffee. She said “later”, and as an Indonesian I know that “later” simply means “no”. So I took the photo myself, just the coffee.

A glass of egg coffee.

I then walked towards the hotel, while looking for souvenirs en route. I found this fancy shop called Culcat. It sells various products made by local artist. I brought some items for my relatives. I also went to GS25 minimart to bought some other items to bring back home. I then had a banh mhi for lunch, and headed back to hotel to pack things up.

I had early dinner that evening, A banh mi and another banana juice. Then, I spent the rest of the day in the hotel, finishing up this blog post.

Juice Shop

The next morning, I woke up at 3.30. I cooked an instant ramen, took a shower, then joined the group for transfer to airport. The traffic was smooth, as it was very early in the morning. The queues at the airport was not as smooth. We arrived at the airport around 5.40, 3 hours before take off. We started the first long queue for check in. Then, we queued for immigration. Finally, we queued for security check. We finished all the queues and arrived at boarding lounge around 7.40, just 10 minutes before the scheduled boarding time. We headed to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (SHIA), named after the first president of Indonesia and his vice president. Probably due to technical limitations, only “Soekarno” was shown on the screen.

Mr. Hatta may not be too happy about this.

The flight itself was delayed 10 minutes. It was another 4 hours boring flight. In Jakarta, the immigration was relatively smoother, as they had around 10 automated gates (plus 5-10 manual gates). For some people, the automated only caused trouble for them. One uncle was seen giving middle finger to the machine after spending probably 5 minutes trying to get over it. He was lucky that the immigration officer did not see the gesture.

August 2, 2026
Bali Wedding Trip

My cousin got married this May, and they held their wedding in Bali. The reception was held at a villa next on top of a cliff, so the view was breathtaking. On this occasion, me and my wife Y attended the wedding, even when that meant traveling so far away from Bandung. Fortunately Y had a healthy mom, so her mom could take care of the kids while we were gone.

The journey started Friday morning, just after my class in the morning. I took a Grab Bike Plus to Bandung train station and Y came later. We took a Whoosh high-speed train and the waiting room at Bandung station has recently been nicely renovated.

The trip to Jakarta was too smooth. Everything was on schedule, and we arrived at Halim Whoosh station at exactly 10.23. We took a Blue Bird cab to Halim Airport for a price of Rp40.000. The funny thing is, that there was also a shuttle bus service for the same fee of Rp40.000 per person. Therefore if you are traveling with someone else, it’s always cheaper to just take a cab for the transfer.

We arrived very early at the airport, at around 11.45. The flight was scheduled to depart at 15.50 so we had to wait about 3 hours. The airline no longer entertained check-in at the counter. We had to either check in at a machine, or download an app to do that. The staff at the counter urged me to download the app, so I could register and enter his referral code.

There were plenty of restaurants outside, and we chose Solaria for our lunch. After checking in, we entered boarding area. While there were not many meal options inside, the boarding area was pretty clean and comfortable. Most of the shops sell coffee, books or gifts. Some other shops were seen recently closed.

We took a rest and waited at the common area, refilled our bottles, then took some drinks at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, whose had this promotion of 50% off by paying with paylater feature of a certain bank. 30 minutes before take off, we boarded the plane.

Batik Air was supposed to be a full service airline, but in this flight the inflight entertainment systems were turned off. I assume that this is due to rising fuel cost due to American-Iran war, despite the fact that the seats were mostly occupied.

The sun was just set when we landed. We walked a few hundred meters to the bus stop, where we would take a Trans Metro Dewata bus that brought us to Kuta area. Another local tourists were seen waiting the same bus as well, but looked unsure. Scalpers saw this as an opportunity and tried to make conversation and offered their own transport services. We helped them take the right bus to Kuta, i.e. the same bus with us.

We alighted at Raya Kuta 3 bus stop, then walked about 450m towards Warung Nasi Ibu Andika. It was an old-time local restaurant, but when we had our dinner it was so-so and we were the only persons having meal there.

After meal, we took another 750m walk to the hotel, stopping by an Indomaret to buy bottled waters and vitamins. We enjoyed a good rest at the hotel and planned for the next day.

Early morning at 5.00am, I woke up, fully refreshed. I made a coffee, munched the bread from the flight the day before, then getting ready to run. It was 5.30 and my mobile says that the sun rises at 5.54, so I headed out. Just before leaving the hotel, I noticed that my mobile showed me sunrise information for Bandung, not Bali. I refreshed the app, and it showed me sunrise at 6.30. I headed back to my room and waited until 6.00.

When I got out for the second time, the timing was perfect. Light just came out and upon walking to the beach, I was greeted by this famous gate. The ugly cables reminded me that I am still in Indonesia.

Welcome to Bali, … Indonesia.

I intended to run 5km on the sand, but there was something different this time. The beach line towards south has now been fortified with large stones, likely to prevent erosion (or abrasion, not sure; I have left geography lessons too long). In front of the stones there were sands dry enough to walk at.

I ran towards south on the pathway, but when heading back north I tried to run in front of the stones. It was simply wet sands at first, but it was getting deeper and the waves gradually swept in. I stumbled once because I could not see the rocks but fortunately was not hurt and my electronics were safe. Looking back at the running map overlaid on top, I was actually running on the water! Overall it was a fun run. Running on dry sands gave specific challenge that you run slower.

After running, I went back to the hotel, waiting for Y to wake up. Then we walked together along the Kuta beach. A bible verse was seen posted on electric poles, alongside with announcement of a lost dog.

We had pictures on the beach, then took a brunch at an Indomaret nearby. We then took another Blue Bird cab to The Keranjang, an oleh-oleh store. En route, we had a chat with the driver, informally asking his recommendation on a good store. He did not actually recommend The Keranjang, and recommended either Krisna or Agung instead. We did not really buy it and kept going to The Keranjang. It turned out to be a good decision. The business emphasized on experience for their guests. Upon entering the building we were greeted with visualization of Balinese philosophies and selfie spots, before getting into shopping. The souvenirs were also generally in good quality. We left the area with some t-shirts and snacks.

We then had our lunch at Rasa Dewata, just across the street. It was a nice dining experience in a cool air-conditioned building, amidst the heat from the sun. We then took a bus back to the hotel, and got ready for the reception at Villa Latitude.

Around 15.30, we called a Grab car service to drive us to Latitude. It was a lady driver but pretty rude to other users of the roads. Fortunately she was nice to us and she knew shortcuts, avoiding us from delays due to heavy traffic. We did get a wrong turn once, but finally arrived at Latitude. The location was very remote from the main road but had a very breathtaking views.

Some guests were already there and many family members that we know were there too, so we chatted with them. There was this bathtub, filled with water bottles and beers covered in ice, and guests can ask the waiter to provide one for them. I asked one Heineken and drank straight from the bottle while chatting with Y. Apparently not many people did the same and I got featured in the couple’s same day edit video. Also in this party I met @omateler77, founder of Es Teler 77 and currently an Instagram persona. We took a wefie.

The party itself started at 18.30. We were already sitting in our round tables when the enthusiastic MC asked us to get up and welcome the couple into the dining area. They were seated on a special table on the side, where they can see all the guests.

The food was abundant, and our table was closest to nasi campur stall. It was also the most interesting stall, as they showed this roasted pork in its whole form. After people started dining, the pork was seen skinned as the meat was taken away.

Pictures of the pork (click to open)

The party was filled with games, quizzes, testimonies, photo sessions, and closed with a surprise for a lady whose birthday was at the same day.

The party was filled with events and without realizing it was 22.00 already. One Hiace vehicle that drove a family back to Nusa Dua still had empty seats so I joined them. I planned to took a cab from Nusa Dua, where higher chance of cabs available, but in the end the driver just drove us back to our hotel in Kuta.

We arrived at the hotel around 23.30 and I slept not long after. The next day, we took another Grab car ride, but this time heading to Gunung Harta office. For our journey home, we took this sleeper bus that would bring us to Bandung for a price of less than half of the flight ticket, and a journey time of almost 24 hours.

The bus is scheduled to depart at 8.00, but 7.45 they have already called my number, asking where I was. I arrived less than 5 minutes later, and the bus departed soon after I was inside.

The sleeper compartment was small, but at least when the seat was reclined I could extend my legs fully (I am 179 cm tall). Each seat had its own entertainment system, and it was working! (unlike the Batik Air flight) There were games like Angry Birds and a ripoff of Fruit Ninja. There were movies and e-books as well, and surprisingly there was also a programming e-book installed there: Microsoft Windows Foundation Class documentation in Chinese.

The next 4-5 hours was road trip with occasional stops and refueling, followed by ferry trip to cross the Bali Strait. The crossing itself probably took about 1 hour, but with 2 extra hours of waiting. The downside of taking a land/sea trip is that the schedule is not as predictable as air trip, and only God and the driver/sailor knows how long a wait will be.

The ferry trip itself was not as convenient as the sleeper bus. Unlike the bus that has several seat classes, there was no class separation in the ferry; economy, premium, sleeper passengers all in one place. That also means sharing spaces with people who smoke outside the smoking area and don’t flush after using the toilet.

At about 15.00 local time, we continued our road trip, and about an hour later we arrived at our first meal stop. Our first meal stop was at a restaurant called Sumber Harta. It’s a play on words, considering that the bus brand name is Gunung Harta that means “Mountain of Wealth” and the restaurant Sumber Harta means “The Source of Wealth”. The meal was a simple buffet of rice, egg, tempe, fried chicken and vegetable soup. The second meal stop was at around 23.00 at Rumah Makan RBT, Solo-Ngawi Toll Road KM519. The food here was more varied and delicious compared to the first stop, and it helped giving us energy to withstand the coldness of air-conditioned compartment.

We finally arrived in Bandung around 7.00 in the morning, and that concluded our trip this time.

June 1, 2026
Yogyakarta Solo Trip

To my surprise, not everyone likes to travel. In a department I also work at, the quality assurance agency, I found at least two persons who are not into traveling, even when it is a company-paid business trip. Long story short, I volunteered to go for this particular trip of 2-day auditor training in Universitas Sanata Dharma (USD), Yogyakarta.

I am not in the highest rank in the organization, but high enough to be entitled for executive class in train trips. Therefore, for the departing trip, I chose Argo Wilis train. Lucky me, they just recently replaced the compartments for this line in December 2025 with the New Generation compartments. I like the fact they have screens to inform the next destinations and where we are now.

I arrived in Yogyakarta as scheduled, around 13.25. I took a TransYogya bus towards the south, to meet a friend in Institut Seni Indonesia (ISI) Yogyakarta. Surprisingly the fare for the bus was very cheap, Rp2.700 for a trip (for cashless payment – with cash it’s Rp3.500). ISI itself is not too close to a bus stop, so I took another motorcycle ride to ISI. While waiting my friend H to come, I decided to wait inside a gallery. It showcased paintings and statues made by ISI students.

Not so long after, H arrived. He drove me to a cafe in a northern area near UGM (Universitas Gadjah Mada), a favorite destination for UGM lecturers. We had tea and snacks on that cafe and talked a lot. H is a guitar expert and was one of the judges on the FLS2N event, where I built the scoring system.

He then drove me to UNY Hotel, where I would stay for the next three days. It is a decent hotel, but the location is very strategic for me. It was just 5 minutes walking east bound to USD, located inside UNY (Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta), and 5 minutes west bound to UGM. Both UGM and UNY have fairly good outdoor exercise facilities that are open for public. In UNY Hotel, I stayed at room 519, next to a wifi router. However, the internet was not working so I had to share internet from my smartphone.

That evening, I decided to run around the campus, especially because I had sit for 6 hours in the train. After running for 3,5km, it suddenly started raining cats and dogs. I regretted my decision to run but still feeling lucky that I was near a place to stay while waiting the rain to ease.

After a few minutes, it eased but did not completely stop, so I decided to have an early dinner in a restaurant nearby.

The next day, I spent most of my day attending the training at USD. I found USD‘s logo interesting, because the font they use for the logo resembles the font I frequently used in my various designs when I was in high school, i.e. the Copperplate Gothic.

Copperplate Gothic, is it?

In the evening, I went straight back to the hotel because the local weather agency predicted that it is going to rain soon. Just before I entered my room, I realized that I had a chance to fix the internet, simply by restarting the wi-fi router. I did try unplugged and re-plugged the power and it worked! Hence I had internet for the next couple of days, along with other guests on that floor.

In the morning of the third day, I ran. I ran around the area of UNY and UGM. I ran too early in the morning that some of the gates were still closed and I had to jump over. By the way, UGM has this nice “Wisdom Park” that allows people to jog or do various sports in the nature (pictures below were taken a day before).

I underwent the training during the day, and in the evening I took another bus to a gudeg restaurant on the northwest side of UGM (also to self-indulge for me being able to pass the auditor test). I spent the rest of the day writing work report and this blog post.

The next morning, the last day, I finished some other works in the hotel room, then checked out and headed to the city. I took another TransYogya bus to Malioboro 3 bus stop, near the Vredeburg Castle. I really like riding the TransYogya buses. It is a simple bus system just like in Bandung’s Trans Metro, but better. At almost every bus stop, there will be officer standing by to process fare payments. However, they do extra miles by ensuring passengers are taking the right bus for their destination, not missing a bus, and step carefully while boarding or alighting the bus. All of those without asking for extra money (pungli). Each bus also has one officer aside from the driver, processing fare payments for passenger boarding from unattended stops as well as ensuring passengers are not missing their stops.

Inside the bus. Note: This image has been digitally altered by Google Gemini to sharpen it, as my hand was shaky when taking the picture.

The Vredeburg Fortress is a nice destination to visit at Malioboro street. This had to be some fortress used during the war era, and now turned into a museum. What I liked about it is that it is very clean and well maintained. The entry ticket is quite affordable (Rp20.000 per person) and the souvenirs are generally more expensive.

The Entrance to Vredeburg

Cannon in V

Not Han Solo Trapped in Carbonite

Javanese Father Dio

Perfect place to lament on your misery

I then walked again along the Malioboro street towards the station. I also like the fact that the streets were generally clean. There was a little disturbance of some street vendors being too nice to you (with the hope that you will buy their products). Along the way, there were many old shops and cultural buildings like Djoen Lama coffee shop and Kampoeng Ketandan gate. I wanted to try Djoen Lama but it was full.

I then walked again and tried the Lumpia and Malio Gelato. Lumpia was okay, but not as good as ones in Semarang. The Gelato, opens at 10 AM, was really nice. I recommend the popcorn flavor (though I didn’t tried most of other flavors).

I then walked again and checked in at the station for my train trip back to Bandung. It was pretty crowded and I wanted to finish this blog post, so I rented the executive lounge. I grabbed some snacks for lunch in the train later, typed some paragraphs, then headed out because the train had come.

On my return trip, I took the Malabar‘s economy class, since it was a public holiday and I did not have to work on train. It was not as good as Argo Wilis‘ executive, but as long as you don’t have to work on the train, it should be fine (because there won’t be much space for your laptop when you are seated). On the bright side, you are forced to see outside the window, where the view is stunning on most of the journey.

The train reached Bandung on time around 18.01, and my wife was already there to pick me up.

January 16, 2026
Coffee, Bento, Running and Wedding

You may have known from my previous post Visiting The Dead that I have a relatively big extended family. This time one of them got married in Kelapa Gading area, Jakarta. I was happy because it’s also served as an excuse to leave the kids with their Popo (grandmother) and have me and my wife Y travel to Jakarta without the menaces.

I still had zoom meeting with some friends in the morning, but shortly after drove to Jakarta. It was a smooth journey to Jakarta, but horrible in the Kelapa Gading area. Traffic jams delayed our trip, but we finally made to our first stop: Kedai Kopi Oke. It’s a kopitiam (coffee shop) owned by my uncle. This shop served coffee from various parts of Indonesia, but the most interesting part was that the coffee was served using a huge mokapot. Mokapot is a tool originated from Italy, normally used to make espresso. A single espresso is roughly 30ml, roughly 1/6 cup. This huge mokapot serves 2 cups, hence 12 espressos! That’s way more caffeine than deleting a production database!

A cup of cofee and a huge mokapot

We had a nice long chat, then had to say goodbye to my uncle. He gave me two angpaos (red envelope containing money) for our kids at home. It is customary for us parents of Chinese descendants, to give angpaos to the kids as symbol of good luck.

We went to the hotel and took a break. I surveyed the swimming pool, but it was drizzling outside. We preferred to stay in the room, and watched Men in Black at the cable tv provided.

At night, we went out for dinner. We walked to a nearby food court called Sagoro. It had a nice view of a river, but there were not many interesting food stalls opened. We also walked carefully, as the floor were slippery due to the rain that fell before.

We walked toward the other side and found a nice Japanese restaurant called Hanaguni. It looked upscale but the security convinced us to just look inside first without obligation to have a meal there. We went inside, took a seat, and provided with the menu. We were surprised that a bento costed around Rp200.000,-, whereas in Hokben (famous Japanese food chain in Indonesia) a bento costs roughly Rp50.000,-.

Me and Y having the dinner sets

It turned out that they had another menu, simple rice packages and pastas that have on-going promotion: buy 2 get 3 for roughly Rp100.000,-. Still more than our usual budget, but at least we got 3 portions for the same price. We came back to hotel with full stomach and called it a day.

Early morning the next day, while Y was still sleeping, I headed out for morning run. With two kids at home, it’s difficult to reserve time for morning exercise, so this was a good chance. I targeted 5 km run, but was tired enough near LRT station that I was tempted to take the LRT instead for my way back. So I took the trip, followed by motorcycle taxi (ojek online) for the last mile.

Picture of LRT coming in to the station on time.

We then prepared ourself for the main event: the wedding. It was held in Angke Restaurant, within the Mall of Indonesia complex. It was on Sunday morning so it was very crowded on the entrance. I was busy meeting people I forgot to take some pictures, as well as being in the picture.

Family picture, without me. Photo by my cousin-in-law Rina.

After an hour or two there, I drove back to Bandung, as I had to work the next day.

January 18, 2024
Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh, Yes

When the high-speed train started operating, many Indonesians were excited to try. That includes me and my parents. Therefore, I asked my parents in Jakarta to come and visit us in Bandung.

On Saturday morning, my family drove me to Tegalluar station, located at the eastern side of Bandung. We took the toll road, passed the newly built residential area “Summarecon”, and nearby the relatively famous Al-Jabbar mosque and Gelora Bandung Lautan Api stadium. I took the train to Halim station, where I would meet my parents and helped them checked in into the train. My son D was envy of me but we managed to calm him down. The Tegalluar station was relatively remote and not fully built. There were no cafés or shops opened yet. Parking space was limited, but there were many blue bird taxis waiting there, ready to drive you to the city.

Check in was smooth, and the train was on time. Despite the euphoria, taking the train itself in my opinion is nothing special. It’s just like taking MRT/LRT trip, only further. The 350km/h maximum speed can only be confirmed by looking at the running text display. If you look outside the window, there is actually not much difference compared to running 100km/h. What’s interesting yet disturbing, is that every announcement made, it ends with their slogan “Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh,… Yes!”.

At exactly 10.30 AM, I arrived in Stasiun Halim. I was hungry so I ordered two pieces of lunpias (definition) and an americano. Shortly after, my parents were also arrived at the station, and we checked in and traveled to Bandung.

We stopped at the Padalarang Station, then took a feeder train that went to the city. Transfer from high-speed train to the feeder was not so smooth, with 500 passengers (rough estimation) had to pass through 3 gates within only a few minutes.

In Bandung station, my wife Y was just in time to pick us up. We then had lunch at the Lotek Mahmud restaurant, a hidden culinary gem in Bandung. After lunch, my mom (kids’ Oma) did some shopping at a cosmetic store nearby “Toko Mahmud”, also a hidden gem. We then went to the hotel, checked in, and took some rest.

Around 4 PM, Opa was eager to walk out to find some coffee. We then walked around the hotel and had a light meal and coffee at Circle K. My daughter P was feeling unwell, probably because she was playing in the bathtub too long, and got masuk angin (cold). I went out with Oma and my dad (Opa) to have chicken rice dinner together outside at Olly Hai, inside Haji Mesri alley. The main road was very crowded, so walking was not very fun. However, it’s faster to walk than to drive because it’s a one way road, and, well, very crowded. I ta pao-ed (take away) 3 portions of food for people at the hotel.

That night P couldn’t sleep well, so did I and Y. In the early morning, D was already woken up, so I brought him to Opa and Oma‘s room. Opa wanted to walk around, so I left D at Oma‘s room, watching YouTube videos. We walked through some alleys, heading to the GOR Pajajaran (Pajajaran sport center). Despite the fact that it’s a sport center, in the morning it’s a culinary heaven. I and Opa had porridge for breakfast, and I bought steamed kuo tie (dumplings) for the others.

P was still feeling unwell, but we had to have breakfast anyway. My car was all cleaned by the hotel staff, so we drove to a nearby Rijsttafel restaurant for breakfast. After breakfast, I drove everyone back to the hotel. I and Oma continued walking to a nearby Kartika Sari snack shop. It was inside an alley but very packed with tourists.

Finally, I drove Oma and Opa back to the station, for them to take another Whoosh trip back to Jakarta.

November 27, 2023
DNArtworks Trip to Ho Chi Minh City
Aside from teaching, I also partner with my brother in running a business. The DNArtworks provides many solutions from graphic design, videography, social media, as well as websites and applications. As for the latter, I help him on software development side, bringing Informatika Unpar graduates and lead them in making high quality websites and apps. In celebrating the 10th birthday, DNArtworks team went for a 4 days trip to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

The team from Bandung departed at 5AM, taking about 3 hour bus ride to Soekarno-Hatta International Airport terminal 2. We arrived much earlier than expected, so we spent a few hours waiting at a dim sum restaurant.

About an hour later, Jakarta team arrived as well, and we performed flight check-in. One guy from Jakarta, DP, left his passport at home. Luckily his wife helped delivering his passport on time. What a lovely wife.

We cleared Indonesia immigration early, to have an easy lunch before taking the flight. Some of us bought power plug adapters, which turned out not very useful because the plugs in Vietnam are similar to ones in Indonesia. It is understandable, though, because the information on the internet is not very clear. I downloaded a few movies to my laptop for in-flight entertainment. One of which was Grave of The Fireflies (火垂るの墓). It’s a movie from Studio Ghibli, but you can easily find the full recording in YouTube since it’s a very old movie. H told me he didn’t dare to watch it because it would make him cry. I am proud to say that did not cry, but it was indeed a very saddening movie.

The flight from Jakarta city took about 3 hours. When we landed in Ho Chi Minh city at 16.40, it was raining hard. We spent maybe up to two hours in the airports before being transported to the hotel. Some of us bought local sim cards, while others bought Vietnam Dong (the currency) bills. After check in, we walked to Propaganda Bistro. I ordered Bánh mì, a local delicacy made of baguette, vegetables, and meat. Did you notice the diacritic in “a” and “i”? You will see further in this story, that the Vietnam language really loves to use diacritics.

We then walked back to our hotel, but stopped at a nearby minimarket. I brought mineral water and a can of beer. Surprisingly, alcoholic drinks are very cheap here. A can of Heineken costs only VND 20.000 (IDR 16.500 / USD 1).

The next morning, we had an early breakfast at 6.30. I liked the hotel’s breakfast since they provide a lot of fresh vegetables options. We then took a chartered bus to Cu Chi Tunnel historical site (Khu di tích lịch sử Địa đạo Củ Chi), about an hour from the city. Our tour guide explained that most of tourists visiting Ho Chi Minh city would also visit this site. En route to the site, I noticed several interesting facts about Vietnam, compared to Indonesia:
- People drive on the right side, unlike in Indonesia (left side)
- There are a lot of motorcycles on the road. Interestingly, there’s no significant air pollution visually. Not sure why until now.
- The helmets are not of SNI (Standar Nasional Indonesia) standard. Ears are uncovered.
- People love to sit down on a short chair, just outside their stores.
We arrived at Cu Chi Tunnel site around 8.30. The tour guide were very happy about it, because we arrived relatively earlier than outher tourists, so he could explain and give demonstrations to us easily without being disrupted with other tourist groups. I was very impressed with the experience here:
- It was very well organized. For example, our guide explained about how Vietnam soldier used to hide in a small hole, while a local staff was demonstrating it. That same staff was also ready to demonstrate the same thing for other guide of another group when needed.
- The Vietnamese, or at least our guide, were very proud of their history. They were very proud of how they could fight successfully against the United States soldiers using simple but smart techniques. For example, they built underground tunnels and live there to avoid detection. When they cook, the smoke was discharged from several holes instead of only one, also to avoid detection.
- I learned Vietnam history in a single trip. Ho Chi Minh city was formerly called as Saigon. After the fall of Saigon in 1975, it was then named after Mr. Ho Chi Minh, the first president of Vietnam. That’s why the city is called “Ho Chi Minh City” instead of just “Ho Chi Minh”. Saigon, on the other hand, was known for a brand of local beer “Bia Saigon”, when I visited this place.
A few hours later, we took another bus ride to a garment factory. It was not very interesting there, and and some rooms we were not allowed to take pictures, so I could not tell much about the activities there.

Another bus trip, and we arrived at a small harbor next to Mekong River. We took a motorboat to a small island for lunch. Afterwards, we were transported to another small island to see people living in a village (or, kampong, as the Singaporeans call it). Fresh tropical fruits were served and accompanied with local music for entertainment. We also took a golf cart for a tour around the island, as well as taking the traditional sampan (small boat) along the river.

We then headed back to the mainland, where we took another bus trip back to the city. The traffic was bad, so it took a few hours. At around 7 PM, we arrived at a restaurant called Ngon. Upon entering the building, a picture of James Bond movie where the protagonist enters a crowded restaurant in the Middle East setting. Though they serve Vietnam food, the interior is Arabian style, with red paint dominating the walls.

The next morning, we went to the Saigon Post Office. It still serves its purpose as a postal service, but also host of many souvenir shops. I bought some souvenirs there to bring back home.

We then walked to Tân Định Church, another iconic landmark of Ho Chi Minh City. Unfortunately it was closed when we arrived, so we could only took a picture from the outside. En route, we also stopped by a café that sells egg coffee. It is a coffee that -instead of milk to make foam- uses egg.

Then, it was free time for everyone until dawn. Some of us went back to the post office to buy another souvenirs, some went to a local market to get another souvenirs, while myself had a Bánh mì for lunch then went back to hotel. I chose to take a rest since I still had an open wound on my leg and I’ve got all my souvenirs.

In the evening, we had dinner in cruise ship. We could aboard the ship around 6.30 PM, and buffet dinners were served shortly. Dinner experience itself was not so good. There were not a lot of space for us to sit and the food was so-so.

At around 7.30, the cruise sailed, spending about an hour along the Sai Gon River. The view was very nice and relaxing.

We went back to hotel and take a rest, before heading back to Indonesia the next day. And that wrapped our journey to Ho Chi Minh City.
November 14, 2023
All Boys Trip

I am a proud alumnus of SMA Kanisius, a boys-only high school. Every year the alumni association held a reunion. I rarely participated in such event, but this year somehow I had a chance to do that. The idea was to bring my son D with me, also as a chance to introduce him to such school.

For a train that departed at 6.10 AM, I took a taxi from home at 4.30. My wife and son complained that it was too early, but I’d rather have a peace of mind. The train arrived at Gambir around 9 AM. We took a TransJakarta bus to Monas, continued to Bundaran HI, and took an MRT trip to Blok M Plaza.

There, I met my parents. We spent a few minutes in Taman Literasi Martha C. Tiahahu, a literacy-themed public park. There were a small library as well as children playing area. A (relatively expensive) cafés were also available there.

After playing, we walked to Claypot Popo. I knew this place from previous trip to Jakarta (see Off-The-Grid Wedding), and my dad indeed like it. D didn’t really like the menu, but he (as before) was very interested to see the kitchen.

After lunch, we took another MRT ride to Bundaran HI station, followed by taxi ride to the high school. I met many of my old friends, as well as new friends (as we were in the same batch but never in the same class). D met new friends and played simple soccer game.

I met many friends, too. Most of them were my classmates when I studied in this school. It’s fun to meet them again. Some of them became doctors, some founded successful startups, some enjoying normal life with family.

Around 16.30, D already complained that he wanted to rest. I said goodbye to some of my friends and headed to Sofyan Hotel, where I would stay a night before heading back to Bandung the next day.

We took a rest at the hotel, and headed out again for dinner. D wanted to take a Commuter Line trip, so we took a trip to Jayakarta station, looking out for Pontianak food at Jalan Pangeran Jayakarta. The food was relatively expensive for a road side food stall, but the value for money was quite okay.

After dinner, we took a bajaj ride back to the station, and another Commuter Line ride back to the hotel.

The next day, D woke me up early in the morning. I offered him to swim in the hotel, but the swimming pool was too small and nobody beside him was swimming there (it’s 5.45 in the morning!), so he got bored instantly. We took another Commuter Line trip to Jakarta Kota, for a nice breakfast in Glodok area.

Around 9 AM, my friend Paul arrived. He is also an SMA Kanisius alumnus, but couldn’t make it to the reunion the day before. We took a walk from hotel to a nearby café “Dua Nyonya”. I joked that one Nyonya (madam) is already exhausting. 6 pieces of fritters cost IDR 57.000 but the place was really nice for a chat in the morning. D helped to take a photo of us together.

We checked out, then Paul drove us to the train station. En route, he also showed me several nice places around the Cikini area. A nice tour in the morning.

May 29, 2023
In Search for Kopitiam Aroma

As you may have known from this blog, I spent a fairly amount of time in Singapore, and its culture has a special place in my heart. One of the many things I miss is the Singapore kopi (coffee) and kopitiam (coffee shop).

In Singapore (and Malaysia), kopi is actually not a plain coffee. It is coffee with condensed milk. When I moved back to Indonesia, I tried to satisfy the need for nostalgia with Nescafe instant coffee and local condensed milk. As time goes by, I realized that it was not the same. Then I used real ground coffee, making the taste richer and more original.

However, things changed again when I bought Singapore-brand Cafe 21 instant coffee. I tasted something different that I could not find in a local ground coffee. After posting that finding on Facebook, my Singaporean friend Don opened my mind that such taste actually comes from the margarine that was used to roast the coffee. So I began searching for more, the “nanyang” coffee.

I tried the supposedly real Nanyang ground coffee, which in most cases come in bags, like the tea bags. Ah Huat Kopi O is one example. However, it somehow does not taste and smell the same. It’s just plain bland. The reason is still a mystery for me until now.

In this last occasion, I bought the Toast Box ground coffee “powder”, which does not come in bags. There is a slight nanyang aroma when I made the coffee using V60 coffee filter, but it was still far from perfect. The surprise came when I left the residue for about an hour. Just when I was about to throw the leftover away, I smell that unique aroma of the kopitiam! Therefore, my conclusion so far is: the kopitiam aroma actually comes not from freshly brewed coffee, but from the leftover coffee.

So this “Screw the French Press, we’ve got the socks” poster at most Ya Kun Kaya Toast stalls now makes very sense for me. The socks keep the leftover from the first brew, to the next, and the next, and so on!
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/247698048228657071/
Disclaimer: this conclusion does not come from a scientific study, nor it is peer reviewed.

July 30, 2021
Ping? Pong!

This post is just to let you know that I am still alive. I have been occupied with a lot of activities for my startup project with my friend Budi; and other small stuffs (relocation, catechism, etc…). Unfortunately that means lower priority to maintain this blog.

And as wise men say, a picture worth a thousand words. And turned out it takes much lesser effort than writing, too 🙂 So here are 7000 words of decorations in my new house, that are gifts from friends and relatives.

A book called On a Street in Singapore, gift from my badminton friends Abhineet, Albert Quah, Albert Tjipto & his girlfriend, and Heldi

Notebook with messages and greeting cards from my ITB friends in Gemalto, along with other gifts.

A unique wall clock, gift from other ITB friends, who were with me since I moved to Singapore.

Singlish candies from my former landlord Christine, Pineaple cake from Budi, and a nice Paul Allen memoir from my brother Daniel

Swan doll made of unused cement paper from my aunt Meme, along with some decorations I bought myself.

A cross to help me feel safe. A gift from my aunt Veronica more than 5 years ago, but I still keep it until now.

Finally, a celebration to start using my new workshop! With help of my girlfriend and her family. Thanks Budi for taking the picture.

It’s hard not to miss Singapore after that four years, but the gifts helped me to remember the good (and bad) times there. I feel very grateful to have friends and relatives that gave those gifts!

And as you may notice that I’ve changed the blog title. I still hope that I can write frequently again in the future.

January 11, 2012
Malacca Trip

It will take sometime until I can post a nice article, if any. The quality of mobile internet connection is Indonesia is not as good as in Singapore, and I am practically a nomad for a few moment now. I really want to tell some interesting stories about my adaptation to the new life, but let’s see. For the moment, I have a story about my trip to Malacca, just days before I left Singapore for good. Here it is.

—

My landlord gave me a very nice suggestion to spend sometime around Singapore before I left it for good. Therefore, Malacca it was. Malacca is a 4-hour journey from Singapore, depending on the traffic and immigration. As it is a small town and I didn’t have too much time to spend, I only spent a night there along with my friend Handy.

We departed from a bus terminal in Bugis, about 8 AM in the morning; thanks to my Malaccan colleague Jia Hwang who bought the ticket for me. The bus was quite nice, and we were lucky to sit in the back. About 1 hour before we reached our destination, the bus’ air conditioner system seemed had overheated, spilling fresh water every now and then in the middle seat area. On the bright side, it made people laugh of the silliness.

We reached the “Malaka Sentral” terminal about noon, but we had to take a cab to the main tourist area, about 15 minutes journey for MYR 20. We alighted near the end of Jonker Street and quickly queued up for the chicken rice ball restaurant there. It seemed quite famous among tourists, but after all it was just a chicken rice with the rice rolled into few balls.

We continued by walking along the Jonker Street (a.k.a. Jalan Hang Jebat, Chinatown), which was very interesting. Walking along that street felt like going back in time. All buildings were decorated in a Chinese 50’s era style. Being a tourist attraction street, it was quite amazing to see some unpopular buildings like a newspaper office or a mortuary over there.

We then checked in at our hotel, Baba House, located not far from the Jonker Street. Exactly as described in a Lonely Planet book, the lobby decoration was very interesting and classic, but the rooms were quite bland. However, it’s not bad at all for a MYR 145 per night rate.

Outside the Jonker Street, the town was influenced by Portuguese culture. There were classic buildings like churches and fort remains. The well-known Stadyhus is the central of the surrounding buildings: Christ Church, Windmill, etc… We climbed up the hill a bit to see the St. Paul Church. Plenty of tombstones were planted there, remembering the names of several Portuguese lived in the past. Just nearby, there were some Malay Sultanate museums and the Cheng Ho museum.

An uncle selling fried potato at Jonker Street

The sun was almost set when we went back to Jonker Street. Interestingly, that street was closed for vehicles and transformed into a night market, similar to those in Lau Pa Sat. We rested a while in our hotel, and out again, this time to the infamous satay celup restaurant, Capitol Satay, about 15 minutes walking from the Jonker Street. We were a bit late, so we had to queue for more than an hour for a seat. On the same street with the Capitol, there were 2 more satay celup restaurant with almost no visitors. They were selling alternative value propositions, like “Why pay 90 cents in Capitol, while our satay is 60 cents only” or “We have 40 years experience!”.

The queue was paid off when we started to dine there. The menu was simple: you pick several uncooked meats or vegetables in wooden sticks, then you cook it yourself in a bowl of peanut sauce. However, it was somehow very interesting and quite delicious, too. While we were eating, we heard all staffs were talking in Javanese. It turned out that the owner of the stall was from Java and had become a Malaysian resident.

After dinner, we headed to the Maritime Museum, not far from Jonker Street. Unfortunately it only opens during the day, so we only spent the time outside, taking pictures of the massive ship that acts as the museum.

Goodbye!

On the next day, we spent morning time by walking to the Fort Santiago, which is well known for photo taking spot. It is the remains of a fort that was built also by the Portuguese. The place was nice but not exceptional, perhaps because we had seen St. Paul Church the day before.

Before going back to the hotel I stopped by a shop selling cendol. The interesting thing about this chendol is the cup. It was made of thick paper, and equipped with the handle; also made with paper. The patented paper handle was made strong enough to hold a full cup of the drink.

For lunch, my friend Handy had the infamous peranakan laksa, while I chose the safer side by ordering a normal noodle (I had bad experiences with spicy food).

It was then time to go home. We had to go back to Malaka Sentral to take the bus back to Singapore. We would like to try the public bus there, but it was too crowded hence too risky for my weak knee. We then decided to just take another cab anyway. Few minutes before 2 PM, we were already in the bus heading for Singapore; ending our short journey to Malaka.

December 18, 2011