Weekend @ Jakarta

It was a last minute decision of mine to go to Jakarta in Indonesia to attend a wedding of a friend. Last minute because I decided during my lunch break at Passionz - a resto which sells wines but has this sideline of serving lunches, and the wedding was going to happen on weekend. Kay got me a ticket round-trip to Jakarta for around 150SGD via TigerAirways.

I did not have a decent pair of shoes so after the office hours, I went to Anchor Point to buy two pairs at Pedro and also purchased 4 polo shirts are G2000. They were actually factory outlet shops so there you can get some huge discounts up to 70% if I am not mistaken. Shopping in Singapore is crazy if you know where to buy....

When I reached home, I had to stay a bit late to iron my stuff to bring and pack them up. I slept around 2A.M and my flight schedule was at 11AM, 5th of June. I had to set an alarm at 8AM. I actually woke up very early, before my alarm did its job because of the lawn mowers - simply put they were waking up the whole village. Anyway, I went to the sala, and watched some Filipino news and as usual, it was about the Philippine elections dominating the scene. My housemate told me that my alarm was already calling so I jumped off the couch and got my towel. I was in a bit of a hurry because I don't want to be left behind from my flight. I went out from our flat at around 8:45 and was walking to the MRT. Taxis will prove expensive and I thought I still had time to commute through Singapore's very effective public transport. Kay was actually checking on me already and informed her where I was. When I arrived at the airport, it was already 10 and I had to wait for the bus. Kay was calling me through my mobile but I was not able to answer it so I called her up. She was asking where I was and told her that I was on a free shuttle going to the budget terminal. When I arrived at the airport, the TigerAirways' counter was closed so it was like she closed it when I arrived. When she tried to get my ticket and opened the booking system, she said it was already closed so I was advised to transfer to another counter. I went there and I explained to the lady that I was told to transfer in this counter. I was talking a bit shaky because I might just miss my flight. The girl who seemed to be irritated took my printed e-ticket and told me that next time I should come early. Well, it was my fault actually so I did not say anything. I was just so thankful she let me in. When I was done, we then went inside the checking for immigration and boarding. My friends actually checked some stuff at Duty Free and Miri who will be playing host was eating breakfast. After everyone got ready, we went to our boarding area and there was a long queue. The flight was a short 1 hour and 30 minutes - no need to worry or anything. We boarded and since I was late, I was on the front area and my friends were at the back near the tail end. I don't exactly know the terms of the plane's passenger seating sections so forgive me about that :)) .... Anyway, the crew distributed some peanuts as a snack. Then some immigration card. The crew asked me if I was Singaporean and told him not. So he gave me a card which was in Bahasa Indonesia. When he came back as he was finished distributing the cards up to the passengers located at the tail-end of the plane, I called him up and asked him something that's English. He asked me where I come from and I showed him my passport. He then said sorry and gave me the English translation of the immigration card. Since I did not have the pen in me, I went at the back to borrow a pen from Ronny. I went to my seat and forgot to wear my seatbelt. I then filled up the info which was asked of me from the form and then the co-pilot announced of the turbulence ahead. So I fastened my seatbelt quickly and there the plane just had a slight free fall. Imagine that you are on a ferris wheel and on descend. It did not happen ones, but twice and the kids behind me screamed and most of the passengers just said "wooooooooohhh" word. Well as for me, my skin shivered including my gut, and my heart was pounding. I felt my stomach separated from my body and my thoughts were shooting off as well, calling for Jesus and saying shit. I was also thinking of my way back to Singapore if it's going to be the same. I just imagined that the angels of God were flying with us thought he plane's wings. Anyway, after some turbulence, everything normalized but I was still shaking a bit from the inside. Was very thankful when we landed safe and sound. Indonesian airport looked so big and simple and has a unique Indonesian design. It was an airport with a taste.

When we had our passports checked, the immigration guy was curious about my doing business in their country so he asked me questions. I just explained to him what we will be doing and good thing he believed me. When we got out of the airport, we had to change some SGD to the local curry which is the Indonesian Rupiah. Miri's dad was actually waiting for us. After some few minutes his dad was there and we greeted each other and then shook hands. Miri's family car was big enough to suit our luggages and bags and ofcourse including us. We were a bit hungry and tired so, we went to thing Indonesian resto to fill our stomach. I had fun with the food which was totally different with what we ate back to my home country. I have tried authentic Indonesian food in Bali and the one in Jakarta was different as well.

After the lunch we had, we decided to go to the mall and shop. I think Jakarta is a nice city, not that crowded as Manila and much cleaner than Bangkok. Also, we Filipinos looked a bit Indonesian so we blended in a bit. I got two game cds and one nice jacket with a fur. Bud did not have much to buy as well as Kay. Patty bought an Indonesian dress which she planned to wear on Sunday's affair. After roaming around the mall, we met Yudi, Ron's friend from the university as well as Miri's at BIT. After the mini shopping, we went to starbucks to have some coffee, but I had a green latte. All our drinks was on upsize because, Yudi paid it with his credit card - no, the drinks were not free hundred percent coz we paid Yudi :D. By the way, Miri was not with us during the shopping thing coz they had to somewhere else with her parents. After having some break, we went to Miri's house. It was an hour long drive. When we reached home, it was a nice place to stay and the people were very accommodating especially Miri's parents. They invited us for a mini break actually. I had to change clothes because later we will be going out for dinner. After some few minutes of putting our stuff, we prepared for dinner. We went to the city proper and had dinner by the seaside. It was a huge place to dine. There was music and lots of people enjoying their food and the little rascals were everywhere. Miri's dad ordered a lot of food and since we had to wait, we went to a boat ride. It was a fun experience I supposed because I haven't had a boat ride before a dinner to be prepared. After the short, 20 minute ride I guess, we went back to our table and the food were ready. We tasted some nice Indonesian style of preparing seafood. It was really fattening and we enjoyed it. After dinner, we went out for a walk and some exploring of the area. After some cam whoring, we went back to Miri's home. Everyone was a bit tired and bloated I think ....

We woke up and prepared for Fitri's wedding. The girls went to the salon and the boys just worked their turf. I had breakfast together with Miri's dad and Ronny we had a small talk but their are times that they talk in Indonesian so I just pretended I was not listening. But they would translate it into English so that was very considerate of them. When the girls were finished with their salon, and had their breakfast, everyone was ready especially the boys. All the girls were in a western style dress except for patty who wore an Indonesian native dress and a hairstyle of a Javanese. We went to Fitris wedding once once everyone was ready and we arrived their at around 12 or early 1PM. Muslim wedding is totally different and it was fun appreciating cultures. Fitri and her beloved half wore clothes which were in gold and adorned with gold. There were plentiful of food to try. I had fun with the desserts as usual, I loved the mini sweets and some tarts. After the wedding reception, we went to this chic mall. It was a mall with a theme and it housed some of the very famous designer brands. We had coffee with some newly met Indonesian friends and had some bit of chit-chats. After that, we decided to go back to Miri's place. When we arrived, and as for me, I went to bed without changing .... I think Kay told me that they had some cam whoring. When I woke up, it was again eating time and some fun talk of cultures. It was about food, language but yeah mostly food.... All I can say is that Miri's family was amazing, my impression on them was they were really nice and wonderful people. I was so thankful of the experience I had in Jakarta together with my friends who are also my officemates at Gemalto. After that simple dinner, we prepared a bit for our flight back to Singapore. It was another long ride and good thing there was a smooth traffic. We came to the airport just on time and as usual we were like children just laughing and seemingly carefree of the world.

Well thanks to Miri and her family for being so wonderful and made our stay in Jakarta truly amazing :D

To the next adventures, bring it on!!!

The thought of it gave me chills

The Philippine elections last May 10 has steamed off. My vote went to Gilbert Teodoro whom I believe, is the most capable and qualified. I was having doubts because of his association with Gloria whom I voted as well, but prior to this final decision of mine, I was really thinking of voting for Noynoy Aquino, just for the mere fact that he was full of idealism and spirit, and I for one felt his sincerity. I was almost convinced but when I researched on information about all of the presidentiables, I found Gibo to be the best man.

After the voting process, I was so jittery and really waited for all the news about the results. The leading candidate is Noynoy followed by Estrada.... What ??? It's a huge WTF!!!! The thought of it all Estrada who garnered some 8 million votes as of latest tally gives me chills.

Everything happened for a reason indeed. God still loved my country and so grateful for this for not letting Estrada win it all. And for those who voted for Estrada, good luck to them.... I may understand that they pity the person of what happened who they loved for whatever reason but not to the point of reappointing him. For goodness sake this is not one of his movies - this is REALITY.

Anyway, Gibo is ranked fourth but I still believed in his idea of change and all the logical and clear platform of government. I think I can give Noynoy a chance and support him and make all his best effort to deliver his platform of which the majority of the voters believed.

Grrrrr .... It still gave me chills....

Pablo D. Ayo Sr., Amazing Man of Science

I was so amazed upon reading the story of Mr. Pablo D. Ayo Sr. He is a Filipino scientist and devoted his life towards the betterment of humanity, I must say. He was born to a poor family in Sorsogon. Worse, Pablo's parents died when he was young. That made him decide to work harder and send himself to school. At an early age he has this keen interest in Science and Technology which can be called an obsession, I supposed. He infact went to manila and worked part time while studying at Arellano University taking up Bachelor of Science majoring Physics. He joined this engineering competition, where his entry was flying miniature planes, and won. With this, he landed to Princeton University for further study. He had consultancy job at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He had some patents under his name. Very interesting inventions are the mini hydro plant, the phonograph, photon-run car and tidal generator amongst others.

Currently, the Philippines had the highest power cost in Asia second to Japan. The great deal about it is that, it's making my country less competitive when it comes to foreign direct investors (FDI). Another thing is that, the southern part of the Philippines which is the Mindao group is currently having some power shortages which is due to El Nino - drying up some hydro-electric power plants. People, government, academe, private sectors are coming up solutions like putting up coal-powered power plants, geothermal plants, solar and wind power plants and others wanting to have nuclear power plants. To my thought, why not the tidal generator developed by Mr. Pablo Ayo Sr.? The tidal generator is fitting to the country for it is surrounded by huge bodies of water, no fallout from a nuke plant, reliable as the sea will always be there. This can be very useful in other countries nearing the sea like Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Japan and many others. So maybe these countries will have joint projects to harnessing the technology. The reliance to oil will be lesser and the air pollution or smog caused by oil and petroleum usage will be lessened in the cities, thus lowering green house. Waaaaahhh! Leaders with strong political power, where are you?

Thanks to Mr. Pablo D. Ayo Sr., and we were given some great alternatives. I think, he deserves some accolades for his contributions to society in general. I wish I could be like him in someway, able to give back to society fro the betterment of all.

To read a more complete write-up about this amazing man of science, you may visit this link : http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view/20100224-255167/At-85-inventor-keeps-creative-mind-active

Vacation in Bali, Indonesia

The second leg of our Indonesian getaway was in Bali. This was after the Jogja trip also in Indonesia.

Bali is an Indonesian island located at the westernmost of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east. Its capital is Denpasar.

There were lots of activities we did and all of them were really fun and exciting. We went to monkey forest, eat babi guling which is really like lechon from the Philippines, we had sea adventures like diving, para-sailing, banana boat ride and many more, we also had some chill out moments in two clubs, and ofcourse some shopping. We also went to Dreamland beach, but it was more of a surfing beach than "beach" itself.... I should say the beaches in the Philipines like Boracay, Sumilon, Virgin Island in Bantayan, Panglao, Coron Palawan etc. are much more captivating.

Anyway, I availed to most of the water activities as they were really affordable compared to that of Cebu or Phuket.

I personally would want to visit Bali because the place is very inexpensive and the people are a lot friendlier than that of Thailand.

Vacation : From Phuket to Bangkok

MJ and I were not done yet with our vacation as we were heading to Bangkok through a very long bus ride which had started from Phuket town. Imagine, it was a 14- hour bus ride.

When we arrived in Bangkok, we did not actually know where it was specifically. All we know is that, it was in a bus station beside a mall. All we knew, was that we need to commute going to Khaosan. Well asked around and then we were directed to this group of motor bike drivers. We asked the driver how much was the fare before we went there and he pointed it was 35Bahts which was written on their board. Then we rode the motorbike and we went with our helmets on. The driver then stopped at this expressway and he negotiated that he was going to collect for 250 Bahts each. We were so surprised at what he did but then we replied that it's just close, actually we did not know if was really close, and before MJ and I discuss things, her driver swiftly started the engine and left us and the motorbike which I was in followed suit. It was actually just a 7 - 10 minute ride so it was relatively near. When the motorbike dropped us at Khaosan, he was insisting that we give 250 Bahts which was really too much. Not unless we did not know that they were playing at us because we were tourists but the point is we knew and besides we did not agree on their proposal. He said that he would want to call the police and I said yes call the police and let's settle it with them. But the other guy would want us back to his motorbike and bring us back to the terminal which we did not agree. There was this guy who looked different and he was like eating on something and said that we can agree to pay 2oo Bahts. Even if we knew they were just milking us, we agreed to prevent any further argument. I nearly uttered swear words in front of the drivers. Anyway, we were very tired and we did not have any reservation. We walked around and there the drizzle came. We first checked the nearest hotel on our site but it was a bit expensive. We walked around and looked for another one and so we found Star Dome hotel . It was not as nice or grand as Baumanburi, the one we had in Phuket but it was just well within our tight budget. We got the place for 400Bahts per night. Since we were very tired already and pissed off, we decided to forget that bad incident and slept our way for tomorrow's activity....

The ventilation was not that great. It was already 10 AM when we woke up. We need to get going for the schedule walk-tour around Khaosan's neighboring temples and castles. After the bathing time, we went down for our brunch. After branch we headed to our first temple, Wat Chansongkram. After that we went to park where one could take a glimpse of the Rama VII Bridge. We continued to walk to Wat Sangwei, Amataro and Phraya. We also bought bottles of water just to replace the loss of water due to excessive sweating as we were under the extreme heat of Bangkok streets. We were actually going to the old palaces of the Thai Royals. At about 20 minutes of walking, we saw the king's statue riding a horse. Then on the other end was the Royal Throne Hall. The building did not resemble anything Thai as it was more of a Renaissance architecture. After taking some pictures of the place we proceeded to the Rama V Rd. where all the other palaces of the Thai monarch were erected. We took pictures and then we went to the ticketing office but prior to that, there were some we-were-lost moments. The entrance was only 100Bahts and it was a value for money. In fact, the tour inside the royal palace was a bit of knowing Thai history. It was fun but sometimes, I don't understand the words coming from the guide as their English accent was different. But we tried to just appreciate the collections adorning the palace with all the finest fit for royalty - just feasting our eyes for all its worth. I somewhat imagined being one of the royalty, like how it was to be really one of them. Anyway, after the tour, we had a chance to take pictures.

After the palace tour, we got so tired so we decided to have a tuk-tuk ride going to Khaosan for 100 Bahts. We arrived hungry so we decided to eat - we did not have our lunch so that was it. We went back to our hotel after that super late lunch. MJ decided to go down to use the internet and I decided to stay in the room. But the room was really hot and the aircondition together with the not-so-mighty ceiling fan could not make the room conducive for a good nap, I decided to go down and look for MJ, but I could not find her. I then decided to just walk around and found myself in a grocery store. I bought some soaps and two boxes of Thai Gaba rice - I just thought of trying it out as it advertised itself as a healthy substitute of some sort of the regular rice. I went back to Star Dome hotel and found MJ using the internet with her eyes glued on facebook. I also used the net since I did not want to wait and do nothing. After 10 minutes of checking my mails, and now MJ was waiting for me, we decided to back upstairs and prepare for a night out.

We went to my Thai officemate's spa. I had a foot massage while MJ had a full body massage. It was relaxing in fact. After that, we went to a bar and had a bottle of San Miguel beer light then finished it off with a cocktail which has vodka on it. After that simple drink, we decided to call it a night and we headed back to our hotel . So we won't be charged much by the taxi driver, we just got inside the taxi without talking a word and when the driver would push the meter then asked us, we just say Khaosan and then stop from talking or anything until we arrived to our destination.

The next day was a Saturday and we planned to visit the Grand Palace and the surrounding temples. We actually took our breakfast at McDonalds. MJ had a chicken meal and I had a vegetable salad and pie. After that simple meal, we walked and looked for the Grand Palace. Since it was a holiday, the Palace was close. So we just took some photos outside. We visited few temples and took some pictures. Then we decided to go back to our place. By the way, we also tried some street food ala Thai style and it tasted good. After some few go-and-see, we went back to our hotel. We then went around Khaosan, and see some things to buy. I bough two shirts and one painting. MJ bought some shirts as well. After that, we went back to our hotel again and did some bits of packing for the Sunday, which my flight was scheduled at 12:35 in the afternoon. Knowing the Bangkok traffic, we had to be prepared. After that simple packing and stuff, we went out to booze. We tried Chang beer and it was a bit strong as a downer. After finishing a plate of fried Thai noodles, and two glasses of beer, we decided to call it a night.

Sunday came and we woke up around 7AM. We decided to just have our breakfast at the airport. For the last time we took some photo and bid goodbye-and-see-next-time hug. MJ's flight was schedule late in the evening so she called her friend in Bangkok and she had a tour while I was on the boarding area.

My Thailand get-away was really nice except for that one incident but, I'm definitely coming back in the near future to go see Krabi and next time to shop around Bangkok, Thailand.

UFO Catcher Tips

I'm not over yet with UFO Catchers. In fact, the link which my friend told me about was there on youtube and so the most logical thing for me to do was see the video myself. She is a Japanese lady who I think lives and breathes with UFO Catchers.

To those who are very much eager to learn UFO Catcher strategies, this is a better watch :



This UFO Catcher is designed from Japan so it might be totally different with the ones designed in America. Actually, I so happened to see the machines in the US where in it is doomed to fail for a certain number of tries like 10 tries. Doomed to fail here would mean that the catcher grip is so loose that it would be impossible for the player to pick the toys. But then, after that specific number of tries, by the eleventh count the grip becomes tight and with the right skill, one can abduct those adorable toys.

The one at East Coast Park was of a Japanese design. That was the reason we got so many toys. It so happened that we were able to discover some few tricks of our own which actually is close to what the video from above has shown. We actually tried the UFO Catcher at Plaza Singapura and they were a bit rigged. You can't make a full control of the UFO Catcher as there were like an inch or two long stoppers at every edge of the levers - too bad.

My friend will be actually checking the UFO Catchers in IMM or in Centerpoint, malls in Jurong East and Boonlay respectively. We are also planning to check-out the machines in Vivo City. I might have another post regarding these machines if we can give them a good try, probably this weekend :)