After Singapore

I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more

Category: places

Krung Thep Trip for The 40’s

In 2025 me and my high school friends were in our 40 years of existence on earth, and we planned for a trip together to Bangkok. I was very keen to join, but not without challenges. First, most of us booked for 3 night stay in Bangkok. I wished I could join the full experience, but I had to teach onsite class in Bandung on the first day. Then, wife of one of our friend was detected pregnant, so he had to stay home. Lastly, another friend had plumbing issues at home and a mother to be taken care of. That left only 6 of us who joined the trip.
Luckily the material for the class on that day was not so much, so I could end the class early and ran to the train station. I took a Whoosh high speed train trip to Halim, while monitoring the traffic in Jakarta. And, my work. I was still disappointed that I could not take a leave that day and had to work while traveling, replying to WhatsApp messages and e-mails.
Me taking the feeder train, with its signature green seat.
About the traffic, taking a shuttle bus from Halim to airport was easier, but with the risk of stuck in traffic. I ended up taking the city trains with 2 transits, just like fellow Jakartans. I stayed overnight at a budget hotel near the airport, to take a short rest before taking the flight to Bangkok next morning. This hotel had an interesting room, where the wash basin was installed outside the bathroom, probably due to space limitation.
View inside the hotel room.
I intended to wake up at 3 AM and take the free shuttle to airport at 4 AM, but the reception suggested me to be ready at the airport 3 hours before take off, so I moved the plan earlier by an hour. The hotel provided bread and coffee for breakfast, enough to prevent masuk angin (common cold), before the actual breakfast that I have pre-ordered for inflight meal. At the airport, check-in was much smoother than I (and the reception) thought. So there I waited 2,5 hours before boarding, alternating between laying on the couch, watching downloaded movie and charging my phone.
Situation at the apron in the morning.
The plane took off on time. On board the flight, I had this chicken lasagna with spinach. It looked significantly uglier than the one shown in the menu book, but hey, it’s a healthy meal. It has to be ugly. In this meal, they also gave not 1, not 2, but 3 paper napkins! I did not really need it but keep them in my pocket in case I needed it later.
Chicken lasagna and spinach.
To my surprise, they also sold beers on board. I know premium airlines serve beers or wine, but before this flight, I’ve never seen a budget airline sells alcoholic beverages before (probably to prevent misbehavior from the passengers). The flight attendant told me that the beer they have is not chilled, and she asked me if I want a cup of ice instead. I said yes, and she served me both. Here I also learned that if you pour the beer into the cup inflight, it foams easily (in my case, it overflowed and spilled onto the table), probably because of the air pressure. Fortunately, I have the, you guessed it, 3 paper napkins that I kept!
The plane landed on time as well. The Thailand immigration had this interesting LCD screen, where after the officer scan your password, it greets you and give some instructions (like putting your fingers on the scanner) in localized language (Bahasa Indonesia in my case). After immigration was cleared, I ran to the train station. I ran because most of the walkway to the station was air-conditioned and I wanted to make the most of my time in Bangkok, in the city. What I noticed is that in many places, they have this kind of altar, showing and respecting the Thailand queen.
I took the Red Line train to city, continued with car ride with a ride-hailing service to ICONSIAM, a large shopping mall inside the city, next to a river. There I met my friends, who have been in Bangkok from the day before. We had lunch at SOOKSIAM (large) food court and took a group photo, with pictures of our friends who could not come. I ordered Pad Thai for lunch. It was supposed to be a just regular meal, but it tasted wonderful, probably because I finally had the meal in its home country. J bought roasted pork for sharing.
We also went to a supermarket inside ICONSIAM, where I bought some snacks to bring home to Indonesia. Local supermarkets have always been my choice when buying stuffs overseas to bring home. Items sold at souvenir shops are usually purchasable online or even within my hometown, while local biscuits, instant coffee, etc, can only be found in local shops abroad. We then split up. Some of us were looking for running shoes, while others were looking for suitcases. I just walked around the mall, then joined E for a foot massage, across the street. While crossing the street, I noticed a large rainbow LGBTQ+ symbol printed along the crossing bridge. What is considered controversial in many countries, here in Bangkok they seem to live in peace. I also noticed some café selling cannabis, as it is (at the time of this post writing) legal here.
LGBTQ+ Pride.
Foot massage. Lovely lady.
We then gathered around in the shopping mall, and took a ride back to hotel. I finally could drop my suitcase, that I have been carrying from the airport. We then took a group photo, as a memory that we have lived up to 40. We also talked about life, and I was happy to hear that my friends, who have been in Bangkok from the previous day, brought their laptops and worked as well on the first day. So I guess, it’s a common problem for us, breadwinners in our 40’s. The hotel also somehow decorated our room with birthday decoration and gave us cakes.
Group photo in the hotel room.
As E is a Marriott hotel chain member, we were entitled to have a few beers and snacks for free at the rooftop bar. We enjoyed the sunset together and took another group photo. The weather was terrific, less hot and humid compared to Singapore, and the air was less polluted than Jakarta and Bandung.
Another group photo, on the rooftop.
At night, we had dinner at Somboon Seafood. It was a Chinese food restaurant with local touch. One of their specialties was the Fried Curry Crab Meat, which was fabolous. In most of the crab menu here in Bangkok have the shells already removed, making it very easy to consume.
After dinner, we walked through the Patpong Night Market, as well as the red light district. Along the way, many adult bars were offering us their services, from normal ladies to gay bars. I noticed that in the gay bars, the gigolos were dressed to look like Korean guys.
The red light district, where one of the sales offered us to get in his bar.
We also had a drink in bar with sexy ladies inside.
Around 9.00 PM, We stepped into one of the bar. This bar exhibits Muay Thai fights starting from 10.30 PM regularly, but before that, it showed girls in bikini dancing around poles. A sign was posted on the wall to remind that guests are not allowed to touch the girls. An auntie (older lady) with normal clothes accompanied us to our seat and sat with us. A few moments later, one of the bikini girl approached us and tried to start small talk with me. Not until 5 minutes later she ran out of questions and asked me straight: “Would you like to buy me a drink?”. I said sorry no, and she just left us. I felt a bit awkward there, so I avoided eye contact with any specific girl there, jumping from one girl to another. I also felt that when I started looking into their eyes, they tried to look at me as well and start a nonverbal conversation. I only knew later that it’s common for them to try to lure the guests into buying them drinks, which in turn giving them commission. That also explains why the ladies who danced in front of us was not very excited, because we didn’t really care about making conversations with them. Around 9.45, we left the bar and went back to the hotel.
Back in the hotel, I was too tired that night and I slept not long after shower.
In the morning, we had light breakfast in the hotel, then took another ride to Big C Supercenter. Inside there was a large department store, comparable to Giant or Carrefour chain in other parts of Southeast Asia. I brought some another snacks to bring home. What’s interesting was that there’s a pedestrian bridge that connect that building, Central World and Platinum Fashion Mall. We walked up to Platinum.
A view from the pedestrian bridge.
I took a short tour in Platinum, then walked back with Jerry to Big C, to sit in ChaTraMue Brand cafe. In Indonesia, you may have seen ChaTraMue from their Thai Tea leaves product. In this café, they sell various derivatives of their tea. I tried the Thai tea ice cream, which tasted really nice.
Thai Tea Ice Cream.
After everyone was happy shopping, we had our lunch at Thong Smith, inside Central World. They served delicious Thai boat noodles. The food was delicious, but it was served in a normal bowl, instead of boat-shaped bowl like what we saw the day before at SOOKSIAM. However, after a bit of googling, it turned out that historically the word “boat” refers to the watercraft that traversed Bangkok’s canals and sold the noodle, not the bowl.
Lunch at Thong Smith.
The pedestrian bridge turned out to be connecting more than just those three buildings. It also spans to other destinations as well. We walked to Siam Paragon, and had Omelette Crab from Here-Hai, a Michelin star certified food chain, as well as Pad Thai from Thipsamai, another award winning food chain. Some of my friend said that the Pad Thai was the best so far, but I favored the Pad Thai I had in SOOKSIAM more, probably because it was my first local food in Bangkok.
Situation at the Siam Paragon Food Court.
After that, some of us took another ride at the hotel while the rest walked around. In hotel, we took a break, and did our own businesses. J went for a Saturday mass, some others played billiard and some went for another Thai massage. I used the hotel fitness center for a treadmill run. The fitness center was small but the equipments were relatively well maintained.
In the evening, we walked to Northeast restaurant for dinner, as suggested by the billiard lady. It didn’t disappoint us. The food was nice, and it was roughly half price of the Somboon. My friends noticed that half of the customers were South Koreans. Even as if you look below in the photo, the TV were showing Korean pop music videos.
Dinner at Northeast.
After dinner, we walked back to the hotel, took another break, then walked again to Vertigo rooftop bar. This was my first time dining on a high-rise building rooftop bar and the view was stunning. We were afraid at first because the reservation e-mail said that they reserve the right to put a minimum charge of ~2.000 THB (1 million IDR) per person. Fortunately that didn’t happen, probably because it was not so crowded above.
View from the Vertigo rooftop bar.
After the expensive view, we walked back to the hotel, but stopped by 7-Eleven to buy some snacks. Forget the red-light district, sexy ladies and expensive alcoholic beverages. We jokingly considered this action as the biggest sin of our trip: to consume junk food late at night.
Closing the night with worst sin for 40s uncles.
The next morning was our last day for most of us in Bangkok. We took the last group photo, before I, J and E traveled to Don Mueang Airport. I and J flew home, E took another bus to Pattaya, while the rest were either taking later flights or go home the next day. We planned for another trip in our 45’s, probably to Hongkong or Kuala Lumpur.
Last full group photo in Bangkok.
Still taking the last chance in the plane to take photo.
By the way, Krung Thep (Maha Nakhon) is the official name for Bangkok inside Thailand.

June 9, 2025
The Sidji Hotel 10th Anniversary and About Batik

Early 2025, I received an invitation to attend the 10th anniversary of The Sidji Hotel Pekalongan. For gentlemen, dress code for the party was Batik Pekalongan (for ladies:batik encim). Not just a batik, but specifically the Pekalongan batik. One may think that all batik are the same, but they are not! I know this because I visited Museum Batik Pekalongan once. I was taught that batik Pekalongan has certain characteristics that make it different compared to other batik. However, I completely forgot on what are the differences. Therefore, I did some research on that. My sources were from the internet and not everything on the internet is true, hence take the explanation here with a grain of salt.
Research on Batik
From its color, Pekalongan batik uses bright colors, whereas other batik usually comes in safer colors like brown or dark blue.
From what’s drawn on it, Pekalongan batik uses pictures of animals and plants instead of simple patterns. Just like shown in the following picture.
Birds and flowers pattern, as shown in walls of The Sidji Hotel.
Then there is the Jlamprang pattern, which has the philosophy of connecting the two worlds: the gods and the humans. This pattern is used frequently by the officials to represent the town, as it can be seen in the walls of a newly renovated market and the toll gate of this town.
Jlamprang Pattern, as it is shown on the walls of newly renovated Banjarsari Market.
The Liong motive, that shows Chinese dragons are also commonly used.
The Liong Pattern, as shown in the wall of The Sidji Hotel aisles.
There are many more variants of Pekalongan batik, such as the Buketan, as popularized by a Dutch Eliza van Zuylen; or Hokokai, which named after Japan-formed association that influenced the pattern.
I looked for a batik that matches the above descriptions in Bandung, and my choice fell to a batik shirt that’s symmetrical, containing dominantly light blue and brown color, and the parang (coral) pattern. May or may not be the Pekalongan batik style, but it looks nice.
Me wearing the Batik that I chose.
Pekalongan Trip
Then, came the day for driving to Bandung. In the morning, I spent some time at the local SAMSAT, to pay my 5-yearly vehicle tax. It was very crowded because the government just had this campaign of annulling the penalty for not paying the tax from earlier years. I spent half an hour just to queue for photocopying the documents, then decided just to resume on later days as I needed to get ready for the trip. Of course, as a person who always pay the tax on time, I got very upset about this.
The parking in SAMSAT was so full I had to park next to a rice field.
I filled up my gas tank and took a break at home, while waiting the kids to finish their school. At around 13.00, we departed from home. It was raining cats and dogs en route, and we stopped for lunch midway. We arrived at the hotel somewhere around 17.30
Most of the invited guests were already there, and many of us brought snacks. I ate many of them. Y wanted to give proper nutrition to the kids so we ordered meals from Nostalgia restaurant. The kids didn’t really like the food so I finished them. Around 8 PM, the kids started swimming but I was too tired to accompany them. Y kindly took care of them while I went back to my room to sleep.
In the morning, F took us for a walk around the town. Many interesting spots when we walked.
A sign that says “forbidden to litter” and “someone was mind-controlled by ghost yesterday”.
A temple that is located side-by-side with a church.
Stopped by a Nasi Gudeg hawker along the way.
After walking, we did the aerobic dance led by local instructor. Then, proper breakfast at the hotel. In the afternoon, Y and her mom wandered the town for oleh-oleh (gifts) while I sat by the pool while the kids were swimming. We then took a rest in the hotel room.
Around 17.00, the celebration event started. Everyone were in their batik, and we took pictures at various places in the hotel.

The event started with a surprise visit from a loyal guest from abroad M, which successfully made the master of ceremony (Sidji staff) cry a little. M, who planned to stay in Sidji for only two weeks in October 2024, extended her stay for up to four months, thanks to the warm welcome and friendship with the Sidji staffs. Then, remarks from the management, followed by video presentation of the hotel history and testimonies from various guests. There were also a moment to remember one contributor to Sidji who passed away during COVID-19, as well as appreciation to loyal staffs, including who joined Sidji from when the hotel building was still under construction.
Distinguished Sidji Staffs posing with the management.
What admired me is that, during the celebration, Sidji staffs were prompt to serve the guests, even though that it’s their birthday. What a true professionalism! Later that night, when the guests were fully fed, they had their own celebrations by singing Laskar Pelangi song, having pictures at the photo booth, and dancing to the dangdut music.
I then went back to my room to rest, as the next day I and my son D had to wake up early for Palm Sunday mass. D was feeling unwell, probably too tired of the fun he had that day.
Palm Sunday
The next day, I has a simple breakfast in the morning, and drove to nearby St. Peter Church. I was actually too lazy to go, but it was compulsory for my son D to attend the holy week masses, as he was taking the first communion class. The mass was supposed to start 7.00, but it was preceded with a parade from Pius school nearby, hence delayed for half an hour. Palm Sunday is actually a remembrance of Jesus riding a donkey and paraded through the street of Jerusalem. We waited at the church yard, before the parade arrived.
After the mass, there were remarks from vice mayor of Pekalongan, urging the resident to start separating their trashes into three groups: organic, recyclable, and non-recyclable (or something along that line). This was due to the trash crisis, where the government were having difficulties in processing the existing trashes. D looked for the priest for his signature (as a proof that he attended the mass).
When we came back to the hotel, breakfast was almost closed, but we managed to get one. Around 11.00, we cleared our room, checked out, said goodbye, and drove back to Bandung for another 3,5 hours.
Family Picture Taken on The Last Day Before Going Home

April 15, 2025
Jatiluhur Valley & Resort

One sign of getting old is to prefer staying at home rather than going out. This fact seemed to apply to me, in which this Christmas I found more happiness at home. However, I was obliged to take my family out (because it was school holiday!), and one night stay out of town sounded nice too. Long story short, we decided to go to Jatiluhur Valley & Resort (JVR), a hotel located next to the Jatiluhur Reservoir. So here we go.
We drove to Purwakarta about 8.30am in the morning. It was a short journey from Bandung thanks to the toll road. Exited at KM 64, we drove to the Purwakarta town first and had brunch at Hutan Jati Cafe & Gelato. It had a very interesting concept: a small forest inside the city. Purwakarta is rather hot and humid, so even under the greeneries it was still hot. Fortunately they also provided indoor airconditioned area. It also became a perfect ambience when it started raining outside.
We waited for the rain to eae then drove to JVR. I tried to take a shortcut as suggested by Google Maps, and had to drove through a very narrow road.
The road that led to JVR ascended and descended, and surrounded by greeneries, so it feels out of town. We arrived around 12 noon, and it was not the time yet for check in. The kids spent about an hour playing in the indoor playground, making friends with another guest who were checking out. After they got bored, we drove to Istora. It’s part of the JVR but closer to the reservoir and had better view.
It was hot outside so a few minutes before two we drove back to JVR main building for check in. After checked in we realized that the lobby was on 3rd floor, and to get to our room we had to take the elevator down to the 2nd floor. We rented two rooms, with connecting door. We complained that one of the room smelled cigarette (despite warning of Rp1.000.000 fine for smoking), and the housekeeping helped us by spraying some air freshener. Y wanted to spend alone time in the room but the kids were bored, so I took them to play in the outdoor playground area.
Around 4.30pm, we drove out to find a restaurant for early dinner. I craved for meal at traditional restaurant and we chose RM (Rumah Makan / Restaurant) Teh Titin, just a stone throw away from another restaurant RM Teh Pipin. The nostalgia of having meal in a traditional restaurant served well, but the experience there were not so nice. Just after the grilled fish were served, several flies came around and bugged us. The mango juice were a bit rotten, and the asam manis (sweet and sour) squid was too spicy.
We headed back to hotel to rest. The hotel held a nobar (nonton bareng / watch movie together) event at 7pm, but we were too tired and watched the classic Shaolin Soccer movie in the room instead. I slept early that night, to wake up early at 4.15 AM in the morning and prepared for morning run.
I ran to JVR Istora area, but my main purpose was to catch the sunrise. The sunrise sun was not very visible because the west side of the Istora was largely covered by trees. But still, the view was beautiful there.
I came back to my room afterwards, waiting for the others to be ready for breakfast at 8 AM. Breakfast was at the pool side, and the kids requested to swim. However, we deemed that the pool was not clean enough for swimming so we skipped.
After breakfast, we walked down the hill for about 1 km to see axis deers, in a small preservation area. Along the way we picked up some leaves to feed them. However, the security guard forbid us to feed the deers with such leaves, as he deemed it to “hot”. In Chinese culture, aculturated to Indonesia, food are categorized as “cold” and “hot”. Hot foods are known to cause “inner heat” (panas dalam) that may cause illnesses like sore throat.
We then walked back up the hill to the hotel. Surprisingly it was easier to climb up the road than to walk down. We then took a shower and checked out from the hotel.
On our way home, just before entering the toll road, we had lunch at RM Ciganea. With about the same price to RM Teh Titin, we had better experience here. It was the first time our family tasted Sate Maranggi, beef satay that grilled with basic sweet and savory spices. Y, who didn’t really like beef, seemed to like it. We brought some more to give the kids’ grandma at home.

December 24, 2024
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
OCBC NISP Park

Park Surroundings

There is a small park, at the end of Jalan Cipaganti and Jalan Dr. Setiabudi. Not sure what the park name is, but an OCBC-NISP logo was carved at one stone in the park, giving a hint that the park was funded by the bank. Hence the name of this post, to appreciate its contribution to city of Bandung. Note that I am not endorsed whatsoever by that bank.

It is a small park, but looks like well-maintained. The area has a shape of a triangle, as it is located in between of Jalan Cipaganti that splits into two directions of Jalan Dr. Setiabudi. The park consists of two levels and connected by a staircase, following the elevation contour of that area. Some stools were provided for visitors to sit and enjoy the surroundings.

I went there in the morning around 7 AM, and it was very refreshing, as there were not many vehicles passing by. However, I wouldn’t recommend to go there in the afternoon or evening, especially during weekend or holidays. Both Jalan Cipaganti and Jalan Dr. Setiabudi are usually super crowded during that time, serving tourists who want to go to Lembang on the northern side.

There were not many visitors in that morning, only me and a lady who went there only to cross the street. There were, however, some homeless people sleeping in the park. And that sparked a wild thought in my mind, that those people are actually closer to nature (and perhaps happier) than me, who sleeps in concrete walls.

The OCBC Carved Stone

There are some amenities around the park. McDonald’s and Morning Glory cafe should provide good meals, and there is also Supermarket Setiabudi that sells groceries. Does buying takeaways from that shops and consume them at the park sound like a good idea? I should try next time (not during Ramadan, for sure).

As usual, this park is accessible using local angkots, mostly those heading to Ledeng/Lembang or Ciumbuleuit.

June 30, 2015
Bandung Electronic Center

The old building (top) and the new one (bottom)

While waiting for my wife doing her pilates at Limijati Hospital, I went to a well-known electronics shopping mall in Purnawarman road, Bandung, the Istana BEC (Bandung Electronic Center). It was on Saturday, so the traffic was awful. On one occasion before, it took 45 minutes to drive from hospital to BEC, while on that day I decided to walk and spent only 15 minutes.

While BEC had been there for a few years, it was recently renovated to extend the building with a newer one. From the outside, the difference was very contrast, as the new building were filled with more lavish lifestyle outlets. The old building still housed electronic shops selling smartphones and computer stuffs.

Those are not Samsung Offical Shops

On the inside, the abundant electronic shops in the old building attracted more people. The new building was less crowded, with many electronic shops yet to open. Instead, some famous outlets like Kiliney Kopitiam and Excelso were open for business. Especially in the old building, don’t get fooled if you see more than one shop of a certain brand, as they are actually a local shop, borrowing the brand logo to make it look nicer.

This extension I believe would attract new visitors and serves as a new tourist destination in Bandung. However, at the same time it risks making the already crowded Purnawarman road even more crowded. You can actually help, by taking public transport whenever possible.

June 23, 2015
Singapore-Australia Trip (Part 1)

This Chinese New Year was different than before. I called most of my relatives by phone, instead of visiting them. This is because, me and my wife Yunnie had a flight to catch at 11.40 AM. Yes, we were in another journey. This time we were on a trip to visit my brother’s baptism ceremony in Brisbane, Australia, plus a short transit at Singapore.

Imagine any TV serial theme song playing in…

What I didn’t tell most of my friends was, I had 7+ hours of transit in Singapore. Well, to fly from Bandung to Brisbane we had two choices: through Singapore or Kuala Lumpur. KL didn’t sound very interesting, as the airport is super far from the city, and the budget terminal doesn’t have that much of perks. Aside from better airport, travelling to city is relatively easy: enough time to show Yunnie some of the interesting places in the country I lived before. I also selected one person to visit in the remaining time, and finally decided to visit my former landlord (Auntie) and her daughter (Christine).

When we landed at around 3 PM, the first thing we planned was lunch. With many food stalls, Lau Pa Sat seemed a good option. So we took a train to get there. Unfortunately, upon arrival we found that the place was under renovation, and there were only limited selection of satay stalls open. We then took a bus to go to Esplanade theatre, hoping to find another food there. We finally had our meal at Thai Express. As it was the Chinese New Year (CNY) day, only limited choices of menu were available, and we were charged a whopping price of $50 for two persons.

Marina Bay Sands

After lunch, we took some pictures at the iconic Marina Bay Sands and Merlion statue nearby, and continued our journey to Auntie’s house in Commonwealth. As our schedule was really tight, we took a cab to get there. Luckily the driver was also in a rush, so the trip only took a few minutes. The driver warned us that finding another cab on CNY will be troublesome, which proved right when we were looking for a cab from Auntie’s house.

We spent some time at Auntie’s house for some chat. It’s been a long time since last time I met her. When I was in Singapore for almost four years, I lived in her flat. Age had caught her, but she was still in good condition to accept guests. She could even served us soft drinks, despite her weak legs condition. After a few minutes, we moved again to Christine’s house.

Preparing for Yusheng

It was actually difficult to find a cab from Auntie’s house, hence we were slightly late at Christine’s house. Everyone was waiting for us for the Yusheng ceremony. It is a Singaporeans’ gesture to welcome the new year. A dish, consisting mixed vegetable salad and raw seafood, are thrown up using chopsticks, symbolizing a never ending flow of prosperity. We then had dinner and another good chat, with topics ranging from a recent riot to COE prices. With our body fully reenergized, they drove us to the airport, to catch our next flight to Gold Coast.

It was an overnight flight, a 7+ hour overnight journey. I should have slept at the plane, but it was difficult since I was too excited to get to Australia. Yunnie seemed to enjoy her sleep peacefully, so I spent the night by walking around the aisle every now and then, or waiting the sunrise to come up.

We landed at Gold Coast airport just as scheduled, 8 AM local time. It was very crowded and time consuming at the immigration and custom, as the Australian government are pretty strict on importing food and plants to the country. There was one interesting type of check, where about every 10 persons were asked to stand in line, while the officer brought down a dog to sniff each of the person and the hand carries. It was interesting, especially in the modern age where most labours have been replaced with machines.

My brother Daniel and my parents were already waiting for us at the exit gate. Daniel drove us to see around Gold Coast for few minutes, then headed to Brisbane, where we were about to stay for few days. At Brisbane, Daniel brought us for lunch at a small Indonesian restaurant in Cooper Plains called Sendok Garpu. It could be that I was very hungry, but they served the best Bakwan I had ever had, even better than what I found in Indonesia.

We headed home afterwards, to an apartment where Daniel has stayed for months. We took a quick shower, before leaving again to the church for final practice of Daniel’s baptism the next day. On the way, I and Daniel search a good baptism name for him, as I would be his godfather (yes, you read it right). In the end, we picked Peter Damian, who was declared as Doctor of the Church. We reached the church, and (mostly Daniel) started the practice. It was very exhausting, blaming the long flight and the hot sunny weather in Brisbane.

The River at Brisbane

After 1-2 hours of practice, Daniel and I was ready for baptism ceremony the next day, and we all went to New Farm Park, one of the parks in Brisbane. There was a small dock, and from there we took a public ferry that transported us to another part of the city, while enjoying the river surroundings along the river. Interestingly, this ferry is integrated with TransLink public transport ticketing system (similar to EZ-Link in Singapore), therefore some residents are also using this mode to transport them back home, as well as to relieve the stress from work.

The Wheel of Brisbane

We alighted at South Bank, where there was a market selling interesting stuffs. One of them was a real banana, stuffed with various fillings like chocolate, hazelnut, etc… The interesting part was, that the peel was still there, making it look just like a regular banana from outside. We also didn’t miss the iconic attraction of South Bank: the Wheel of Brisbane. It is a giant Ferris wheel that allowed us to see the entire city of Brisbane from up to almost 60 meters above the ground. Daniel took us just in time to see the sunset, from the top of the wheel. That summed up South Bank, and we went back with the same ferry, continued with Daniel driving us home.

As eating out in Australia is expensive, Daniel had got used to cooking at home. For that night, Daniel had just learnt a new recipe: Vietnamese Spring Roll. It was a mix of various fresh vegetables, chicken meat, scrambled eggs, wrapped with a special Vietnamese wrap. Yunnie normally doesn’t like non-mainstream food like this, but thanks to the exhausting flight we had the previous night, she easily grabbed few portions of it. As a person who likes any food, I had even more portions. Yummy!

Peter Damian and his Godfather

The next day, I had the chance to wake up later, as we didn’t have any plans before the baptism ceremony at 10. When I woke up, Daniel already prepared us regular American breakfast set: toast and bacons. We went to church afterwards, and attended the baptism ceremony. The committee held a social lunch afterwards, where people brought their own food to share with others. Daniel himself brought the same bakwans we ordered from Sendok Garpu. Sadly, this also served as a farewell party for Daniel, as he would leave Australia, at the end of this trip.

Also on this occasion, I met Arnold, a long time friend. While we both joined Canicomp (Canisius Computer Club) at high school, we separated afterwards as he continued his study in Jakarta and Brisbane. I myself moved to Bandung and Singapore. It was nice to exchange stories of ourselves after a very long time. It was interesting to note that we didn’t really talk about computers anymore. We talked more about our life, as well as interesting spots in Brisbane. He also recommended several interesting places, one of which Mt. Cootha, where we could see the entire city of Brisbane.

Brothers

After the religious stuffs, we continued the day by visiting the downtown of Brisbane. It was nice to see people spend their time enjoying the scenery and other people passing by. We walked to Southbank -where we took the Brisbane wheel the day earlier-, and back to the downtown. In downtown, we grab some Churros at Daniel’s recommended San Churro cafe. Though expensive, it was very delicious. We closed our downtown trip by visiting a local supermarket, to get another ingredients for our homemade dinner. Yunnie also brought several Indomies, for our supply of homesick relievers. It was a simple dinner, followed by a good night sleep.

To welcome the morning, Daniel brought us to Mt. Cootha even before sunrise. We planned to see a beautiful sunrise from the mountain. It was just a 15 minutes drive from our house, but unfortunately it was cloudy at that time. We didn’t manage to see the sunrise, but at least we could see the entire city, just as Arnold promised. We then went back, had some breakfast, and headed to Sunshine Coast, where Daniel we had barbecue for lunch. We picked a very good spot where we could see the ocean clearly, but it was very very windy. After a few trials of keeping things in place, we gave up and moved to another place where there were less wind. The view was not as good, but at least we could cook. After lunch, we moved to the former place to grab some pictures.

In the evening, we were mostly at home. Most of us took a rest that evening, preparing ourselves for Sydney trip the next day. Meanwhile, Daniel was very busy collecting all his stuffs, as he would leave the house he has lived – for good. There was this bike that he had owned for months, too good to trash it, but too big to carry back home to Indonesia. Being a new man for others, he finally decided to just give it to his friend (Canisians: pun intended).

To be continued…

March 19, 2014
Asia-Afrika and the Museum Konperensi

This trip was unexpected. It was when I serviced my car at Auto 2000 Asia Afrika, the customer service told me that I had to wait few minutes for the car to get a free wash. There were two cars in front of mine in the line, and after 15 minutes they didn’t move. So I decided to walk around Jalan Asia Afrika to see if there is interesting place to visit. My Nokia phone told me that Museum Konperensi is not too far away. Museum Konperensi is a museum inside a building named Gedung Merdeka. However, once inside, it’s difficult to distinguish which one is Konperensi, and which one is Merdeka part.

Walking towards the museum, there were interesting places around the street. One is Bandung KM 0, which denotes the “exact coordinate” of Bandung city. This point is useful for standardizing distance between Bandung and another cities, especially in intercity roads. The other is a local newspaper “Pikiran Rakyat” office, which features some boards showing today’s newspaper for free. In case you don’t have Rp 2,900 for a copy, you may just go there to read one.

I reached the museum few minutes before 1 PM. Unfortunately it was closed for lunch from 12 noon to 1 PM. However, after waiting for few minutes, it finally reopened. The entrance is free, but visitors have to fill in the guest book. Without looking at my entry, the receptionist asked me where I came from, thinking that I am a tourist. I innocently answered “Jalan (street) Mohammad Toha”. “Ah, Bandung!”, she confirmed.

There were pictures of Indonesia’s founding fathers like Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, and some dioramas from the independence era. There were also other exhibits from the konferensi theme. One of which was a classic telephone that, of you pick it up will play a translated version of a phone call by a Eastern European lady with Soekarno. The conversation sounded suggestive at first, but turned political then boring along the time.

Another place to see is the conference hall, most likely the room where the Konferensi Asia Afrika meeting was held. At the stage there were flags of the members. There were also a big gong of world peace showing flags of different countries, though I am not sure what it means in this Asia-Afrika context.

After about half an hour visiting the museum, it was time for me to go back to the service center. It was an interesting experience, since I don’t have too many chances to visit this type of places.

Museum Konperensi / Gedung Merdeka is located at Jalan Asia Afrika. Come here by public transport with help of KIRI angkot navigation.

July 26, 2012
Saung Angklung Udjo

Translated to “Mr. Udjo’s angklung haven”, this place hosts daily cultural performances and sell traditional souvenirs. Though I visited the place twice during my undergrad study, I only went to the shop to get my overseas friends a gift. More than 5 years after I knew about the place, my uncle brought me here to see the performances. And it was spectacular, just as he had advertised earlier.

The show is held once daily in the afternoon at 3.30 PM, but it’s better to call in advance to confirm and book the place, as the seats are usually fully occupied. It is ironic yet interesting that half of the capacity is occupied by people from other countries. At that time, there were people from Netherlands, France, and even Sudan. There were also people from other provinces like eastern Java and Medan.

Anyway, about the show. It started with a wayang performance which I admit was quite boring, though the skill of the puppet master is exceptional.

Afterwards, we were surprised by children running around the stage. There could be around 100 children over there. Some of them were playing musical instruments, some just yelling, and others were playing traditional games. But they were all looked happy for sure. Whatever they did seemed like a game for them (note their facebook page has a cover photo that describes exactly what I meant). There was this chubby girl named Diva, who shout the loudest and instantly became sensation throughout the performance. All in all, it was meant to show an illustration of circumcision ceremony for a boy. Yes, we do have a ceremony for circumcision.

The next performance was a traditional mask dance. Again, though not so exciting, this performance showed a carefully trained skill that the performer has. It was then followed by a performance called Arumba, a marriage of traditional angklungs and modern musical instruments, creating a nice music experience. It was played by several teenagers, some of which are the descendants of late Mr. Udjo, the founder of this haven.

Then came out Mr. another Udjo, also the descendant of the late Mr. Udjo. But this guy was so special, he was one of the leaders and grandmasters in this haven. He showcased some of the haven’s achievements, one of which breaking the world record by having thousands of people playing angklung at the same time. In this performance, he also lead his team to perform some pop songs, like Michael Jackson’s “We Are The World” and the more difficult one Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody”.

There were also an interactive performance, where the guests were lent different type of angklungs, identified by Indonesia’s island names. There were total of 8 types, denoting musical notes from do (c), re (d), mi (e), … for one octave. Each type is also represented with a gesture, played by a young boy, who is the son of the aforementioned grandmaster. Then, looking by the boy’s gesture, guests are invited to shake their angklung, and together creating a musical performance.

The event was closed when the children were wandering around the guests seat, and asking them to come down and dance with them. Traditional games like ular naga and others were played together. All in all, it was a very nice experience, to learn something about the cultural richness of the place I live.

Saung Angklung Udjo is located at Jalan Padasuka. There are many ways to get there once you’re in Bandung, however be responsible to the nature, take public transport (http://kiri.travel?finish=saung+angklung)

May 10, 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.

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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