Pre-Engagement War

Mungkin banyak couple menjelang engagement day lagi romantis-romantisnya. Unluckily, gw sama honeydut ga gitu tuh. Engagement day  tinggal dua minggu lagi. Tapi doi adaaaaa aja bikin ulah, nyari gara-gara. Nambahin ujian puasa gue aja. Ada aja yang diributin, dah kaya anak kecil. Puncaknya tuh happened last night. Si honeydut marah besar gara-gara gw pulang acara buka bersama nebeng sama temen kantor laki-laki. Tega banget sih dia masa gue suruh pulang sendiri di tengah Petamburan antah berantah.

Sebenernya sih gw ga begitu takut pulang malem sendirian, dah biasa dari jaman kuliah. But, pemberitaan akhir-akhir ini soal mahasiswi Binus yang dibunuh sama supir mikrolet M24 yang lewatin Binus bikin gw sedikit merinding disko.

Gw dah nyoba jelasin kondisinya supaya dia ngerti, tapi tetep aja emang dasar stubborn. Mmm.. semoga keadaan cepat membaik. amin.. amin.. ya iya lah harus membaik, kalo gak, mau dikemanain tuh cincin yang udah dipesen.

Runaway Holiday: Singa Raksasa di dalam Hotel

Maret 2011. Untuk pertama kalinya aku mengunjungi Singapura, negara kecil yang memiliki segudang tempat wisata menarik. Perjalanan ini merupakan liburan ke luar negeri pertamaku sekaligus perjalanan pertamaku menggunakan pesawat! hehehe..Aku mengelilingi Singapura bersama dua rekan kerja lelaki selama 3 hari 2 malam. Kami tiba malam hari di Changi Airport sekitar pukul 10 dan langsung menuju Geylang, Aljunied untuk mencari motel murah yang cocok untuk kantong backpacker seperti kami.
Pagi-pagi sekali kami memulai liburan ini. Dengan menggunakan MRT (monorel bawah tanah) kami mengunjungi beberapa tempat dalam 1 hari, seperti Chinatown, Marina Bay, Marina Barrage, Esplanade, dan tentu saja landmark yang menjadi icon Singapura, yaitu Merlion Park.
Semua orang pasti sudah tau Merlion Park itu adalah taman di mana terdapat patung singa raksasa berwarna putih (Merlion) yang memancurkan air dari mulutnya dan dikelilingi sebuah danau yang indah dan beberapa gedung-gedung tinggi berarsitektur modern.Tapi saat sampai di Merlion Park, kami tidak melihat Merlion raksasa yang sangat terkenal itu. Kami sangat kecewa karena hanya mendapati patung Merlion yang berukuran kecil dengan air mancur yang kecil pula. Untuk mengobati kekecewaan, kami berfoto juga di Merlion mini itu. Ya sudah lah daripada gak foto kenang-kenangan sama sekali.
Di belakang Merlion mini itu ada sebuah bangunan non permanen yang berdiri di atas danau. Bangunan kecil berwarna merah itu namanya "The Merlion Hotel". Apa sih ini? Kami ingin tahu. Ternyata itu adalah sebuah proyek hotel buatan seorang desainer Jepang. Mmm.. hotel apa ya ini? koq kecil banget, sepertinya cuma satu kamar saja. Kami dengar-dengar dari turis-turis lain bahwa hotel ini tidak disewakan secara umum. kami tambah ingin tahu lebih banyak lagi saat melihat barisan turis mengantri masuk ke hotel itu. Ya! Kami boleh masuk ke hotel itu untuk melihat apa yang ada di dalamnya.
Sekitar setengah jam kami mengantri di bawah teriknya matahari Singapura. Ketika sampai diujung antrean, kami boleh memakai payung yang disediakan panitia. uh.. thanks God! Kulitku sudah merah-merah dan sepertinya sudah tercetak "garis" kulit yang terbakar di leher dan di lengan. Coba tadi sunblokku tidak kutinggal di kamar hotel. Lotion saja kayaknya gak cukup untuk menangkis sinar UV langsung. Ketika aku "menyumpah-nyumpah" kepanasan, dua teman lelakiku sibuk ngomongin dua wanita asia di antrean belakang. Dari bahasanya, mereka orang Jepang. Salah satunya memang cantik sekali. Seorang temanku yang akan segera pindah ke Jepang untuk kuliah tertantang untuk mengajak bicara dua wanita Jepang itu. Huu.. dasar.. cewek cantik aja cepet deh.. Tapi terserah deh namanya juga dia lagi usaha mencari gebetan.
Akhirnya tiba juga giliran kami untuk masuk ke The Merlion Hotel. Kami harus melepas sepatu sebelum menaiki tangga menuju pintu masuk hotel. And you know what???? Tangga dari baja itu panasnya minta ampun sampai kami harus naik sambil berlari!! Salah seorang turis dari rombongan giliranku protes kepada panitia kenapa tangga tersebut tidak dialasi karpet atau kain atau apa lah yang bisa mengurangi panas langsung ke telapak kaki kami. Again, sebelum masuk ke pintu utama hotel kami harus menunggu untuk mendengar sedikit introduction dari panitia. Well, udah gak sabar nih...!
Jreng.. Jreng...! Dan pintu utama hotel dibuka! Wow!!!! Ada singa putih raksasa di belakang tempat tidur!! Jadi ini Merlion aslinya yang tidak kami temukan tadi. Merlion ini sedang tidak "muntah", alias tidak memancurkan air karena sekelilingnya tertutup papan berkarpet merah dan terbatasi dinding dengan wallpaper penunggang kuda. "Hotel mengapung" ini memang hanya memiliki satu kamar yang menghadap langsung ke danau dan Marina Bay. Bener-bener mantap! Kamar mandinya pun langsung menghadap ke laut. Enaknya kalau bisa menginap di sini. Mandi di sini sambil melihat kapal amfibi melintas di danau... Tapi apa bisa tidur ya kalau ditungguin singa segede gini? hihihi...
Kami cuma punya waktu 15 menit untuk melihat-lihat isi hotel mini itu. Sebelum keluar, foto-foto dulu... hehehe.. Sebentar berada di hotel ini cukup berkesan, dan tentunya penuh perjuangan. The Merlion Hotel hanya dipamerkan hingga bulan Mei 2011. Aku dan dua temanku tiga orang yang cukup beruntung bisa menikmati pengalaman yang sangat jarang terjadi di Singapura ini. Liburan ini sepertinya menjadi liburan terakhir kami bersama-sama. Aku dan temanku yang pertama sudah pisah tempat kerja, dan temanku yang satu lagi sudah ada di Jepang sekarang untuk kuliah.

New Office, New Table, New People

05:56 I woke up this morning with sleepy eyes and messy hair, rushed to the kitchen to drink one or two glasses of water. I do this ritual every morning to "encourage" my metabolism, so I can do my routine excretion activity at the rest room"effortlessly". I spent about half an hour in the 2x3m room to have the excretion (and also a quick bath).

Having a little makeup and followed by a half portion of breakfast, I jumped onto Dad's bike taking me to the large intersection people usually wait for buses. In a  moment after I got off the bike, I saw my bus! Oh thanks God! Well, I usually need to wait for about half an hour to get the bus. A little entertainmet was given by the driver by playing some upbeat musics from Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, and some others. Good job, driver!

08:40 I arrived at Binus University at Jl. Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, after a long hectic fuckin traffic jam on the toll road. Anyway, I didn't come to that place to have a lecture, but to work, and to get paid. Yup, I now work for Library and Research Department of Binus University as a Publication Editor.

Today is the second day I come to this elite campus. I dont know how many floors they have, maybe eight. I knew that because I've had an interview at a room on seventh floor, and it seemed there was still a floor above it.

But I know a little about the library, the area where my office is located. It is a very large room with some rooms inside it such as Students lounge, Warehouse, and Editorial's Room. I work in Editorial's Room with 10 or maybe 12 other staff, and there are still several people which are the superior staff in other two small rooms inside.

On my table, I only have some journals on it to read. This room is so "public", no separating boards on the table, no privacy at all. Having no computer yet, I only do Facebook, Twitter, and a little browsing on women's stuff. Thanks to my netbook, you give a little help for me killing the time, hopefully until 5pm later on. Yes, hopefully, because my BB is almost running out battery and damn I didn't bring the charger!

Jakarta's Chinatown: A Piece of Priceless Heritage

Chinatowns do exist in almost all cities worldwide. Marked with temples, distinctive building architectures and traditional markets as community centers, Chinatowns donate more unique colors to a nation’s culture diversity. In addition, Chinatowns are such a valuable point of interest that well appeal tourists to have a visit.  In Jakarta, Chinese settlements are mostly found in West Jakarta, such as in Petak Sembilan, Glodok, and Pekojan. Let’s see what special things they have.

Petak Sembilan

Busy narrow street at Petak Sembilan

Walking down the busy narrow streets at Petak Sembilan Area is something appealing. Why walking? Because the width of the street does not allow you to drive comfortably. On the right and the left of the street, clusters of stalls serve you a sightseeing experience. Those stalls sell various goods such as vegetables, fruits, fireworks, and even cheongsam (Chinese dress for woman) and changsan (Chinese suit for men) for babies and kids. Meanwhile, above the street hanging Chinese lanterns tied on ropes crossing two building roofs.

Petak Sembilan is one of crowded areas in West Jakarta where Chinese folks (Chinese descents and immigrants) live, socialize and do business, mostly in trading. Out of its traditional market, Petak Sembilan is more acknowledged with old Chinese temples that are regularly visited on Chinese New Year and Cap Goh Meh by hundreds chinese people living in Jakarta.  

Jin De Yuan Temple
Courtesy of Mahendra (Flickr)

The most renowned temple in Petak Sembilan is Jin De Yuan. From more than a hundred temples in Jakarta, it is one of the oldests. Since the name is quite difficult to pronunce, people commonly call Jin De Yuan temple as Petak Sembilan temple.

Glodok Pancoran

Fruit stall

Book store

Sweets stall

Decoration stuff stall

Street paintings

When you go to this commercial area, your wondering eyes will keep leading you strolling the roadside market displaying many varieties of commodities, from snacks to potteries; from fireworks to electronics; from books to illegal DVDs. You are also able to have a painting of you from the street painters, of course with a relatively economical price.


However, most people come to this market for Chinese traditional food. There we can find a lot of stalls selling grilled duck, cakwe, bakpao, siomay, kwetiau, bubur kembang tahu and Oolong tea (a kind of tea served cold).


These stalls are commonly old. The lanterns and the decorating stuffs displayed, show off a solid Chinese flavor of sellers. Some stores display the year they were first opened on the identity board hung above the stall entrance.

Kampung Pekojan

Kampung Pekojan is one of the Jakarta’s Chinese immigrants settlements located in Tambora, West Jakarta. There, Chinese flavor is easly noticed from the architecture of the folk’s old houses, a point of interest where usually tourists look for. Visiting Kampung Pekojan is not perfect without tasting any kind of Chinese food sold in the eateries around. In addition, visitors are also able to enjoy the old-time athmosphere of Port of Jakarta at Kampung Pekojan.

Harmony in diversity might be a proper motto of Kampung Pekojan. Why? Because the Chinese folk live peacefully among other races like Malayan and Arab who settled at this area earlier. Never happens any conflict againts races and religions. Everybody respects and is tolerant with each other.

A Day Off: A Nap and TV shows

I was awaken at very dawn today with a still-running notebook and a "nearly-died" handheld on the bed. Nothing to do, I tried to play the notebook keyboard, writing about a bad luck happened in the previous evening. The writing couldn't be finished till the sun rose. In a second I was really really sleepy that I could open my eyes. At that time I said to myself "Take a day off!" I thought every single "parts" of me agreed.

Spending about an hour by lying on bed (I knew I wouldn't have a real sleep on mornings, though), I move my body a little closer to the unfurnished window. There I was, enjoying the heavenly cool morning breeze through the window. Suddenly, I was oxygenized! I felt a bit fresh!

"I couldn't come to office today. I got a fever that I was shivering. I think I need a rest for a day. Thanks."
That was the message I sent to my manager, asking for permission to take a day off.

Then I left my chamber for the living room, watching Inbox. The show took place at Pasar Senen where almost the audiences were traditional vendors, drivers, and others. So maybe that's why they might not be accustomed to hearing the songs from Zigaz and other new-coming musicians although they already did good to entertain them.

I kept tuning in SCTV waiting for a morning FTV I usually watch on weekends. However,I didn't get anything but a boring infotainment hosted by an unskilled presenter (at that episode she was really bad) talking about the split of Duo Anang-Syahrini which was about to launch the new formation with another beautiful young singer. Awww.. what a drama.

Alright, the cool weather got worse that I almost trembled. My temperature got higher, I thought. Then  I moved to mom's room discovering the new soft bed sheet I bought her from Pekalongan. That comfortable atmosphere and the paracetamol given by mom urged me to fall asleep. Moreorless two hours had gone without any day dream. Yuhuu.. taking a nap on a work day was worthless! I did have a rest. \0/

I continued spoiling the afternoon by watching DVD Becoming Jane casted by Anne Hathaway - my favorite. The lesson I got from this movie is that we should not risk our family, career, even wealth, for an uncounted love. In the contrary, we also should not risk our love to somebody that counts. Think wise before coming to a decision.

I ended my evening by watching Bernard Bear on MNC TV hi..hi...hi....

Now time to sleep, back to the reality tomorrow. Good night all. Cup.. cup...

ATM Disasters

It was the second time I carelessly forgot to takeout my ATM card from the machine. One happened previously was at Mal Kelapa Gading when I was about to withdraw some money to treat my sad best friend. After takingout the money as well as the reciept, and putting them into my purse, I directly left the machine and went straight to a food counter. Having a long chat with my friend, I decided to go home since it was already late. Soon I was aware that my ATM card was not where it's supposed to be - in my black clumsy purse. Quickly I check my balance through SMS, and the money was gone. I was pretty shocked though it was only for a hundred thousand rupiah. I went home upset that I couldn't treat my friend properly.

The second shit just happened this evening. I accompanied by a colleague -
Lia - went to ITC Cempaka Mas to buy a modem. Not long after having a look at some offered modems, I decided to buy an American-branded one (though the seller said that it was actually manufactured and distributed from China). Then I also picked an internet starter pack that I would pay via debit since the cash almost ran out. When I opened my purse (still the black clumsy one), I suddenly awore that I haven't taken out the card from the ATM machine I used near office where I withdrew some rupiahs for buying the modem just about half an hour before.

Panic, I called the bank customer service, but all I heard was the answering machine saying "Sorry, all our customer service officers are on the line. Please wait a moment." I kept checking my balance via SMS, and the money was still at the same amount as I saw from the latest reciept I got. In a rush I (still accompanied by Lia) went back to the ATM machine, hoping that nobody hasn't taken away the card together with the money. On the way back, my friend remembered another colleague - Hadi - that might be still at office. In a second I called him up to ask for help. He would go to the ATM machine, and I still hoped that he could reach it more quickly than I did. Just a minute before I reached the ATM machine, Hadi called me telling a bad news. Arriving at the spot, I found nothing but another card of someone left on the top of the machine. A good guy might found it and might put it there for the owner finding it.

What happened to mine? Somebody must have grabbed it, I thought. I rechecked my balance, but the money was still there. I didn't lose a cent. I called the bank customer service once more. He said the card might be sinked into the machine after seconds not being in use. I hoped so. Still, to protect the money, I blocked the card so that it wouldn't be misused. I would go to the bank branch where the ATM machine "meant to sink my card" be to have the card back, as told by the bank customer service officer.

I went home thinking hardly about what had happened. Why twice? Were they all just shit or it was me who were careless? Or maybe it was me who did wrong? It might be. Tracking back to moments just before this second ATM-disaster happened, I remember that I said a little arrogantly (in a kidding way and without any bad purpose, though) that I still had money when others might run out  it this mid month. I realized that I did do it and it was not good at all. I shouldn't speak or behave arrogantly. Astaghfirullah... May Allah forgive me with all His mercy. Amin.