Travel

My third time visiting Jakarta, Indonesia. And I must say, I enjoyed myself here more this round! 🙂

17th April 2010: Touch Down

Even though there were 6 wedding invitation cards sent to Malaysian marketers, only Elle and I answered… and yep, we were the only ones from Malaysia showing up for Semmy‘s wedding. 🙂

Danny Baskara and Agung were there at the airport to pick us up and we settled in their office apartment, Apartmen Semanggi (Central Jakarta). Elle insisted on taking over Danny’s room since it’s more comfortable, so I wind up with Agung’s room… which meant sleeping on the floor LOL

To spend the first night in Jakarta, we ate at Jimbaran and also met up with other Indonesian Internet Marketers like Dee Ferdinand, Padro and Ferry.

Late into the night, we watched the movie “The Book of Eli” at the Grand Indonesia cinema.

The show is set in the a post-apocalyptic future. A massive war took place 30 years ago that rendered the entire world into ruins, and everyone was back to the stone age. Natural resources are depleted and water becomes a premium.

The hero, Eli (Denzel Washington) travels to west and carries a book, The King James’ version of The Bible, and protects it with his life. Very thought-provoking show, you must watch if you haven’t!

18th April 2010: Grand Indonesia

Hung around in Grand Indonesia in the day time, since the wedding function was only at night. 🙂

While we were at Grand Indonesia, I did my last-minute shopping – got myself a Polo Explorer cologne and a tie to go with. Basically to replace my stolen cologne from my last travel back in January.

It didn’t cross my mind at that time… but I actually bargained at the departmental store – and it worked! Got 50% off for the tie, and saved a 100,000 rupiah on the cologne. The only exchange is that the sales person keeps the cash and it doesn’t reach the cashier’s registry. Hmm… corruption at its best in Indonesia. Hehehehe! ;-P

Semmy & Imelda’s Wedding

This is what we came for. The function was at Klub Kelapa Gading, about 45 minutes away from Central Jakarta. It’s actually closer than it sounds but because traffic here is massive – 10 times worse than that of KL’s – it will appear that it’s so near yet so far. :-\

See that shine? Yeah, that’s the handsome me. 😉 *eleh, perasan*

So yes, Semmy’s big day! Was also my first time seeing Semmy’s wife Imelda even though I’ve known Semmy since 2006. Semmy sure picked the right and gorgeous girl! I’m envious ;-P But hey, congratulations my man! You earn it! 😀

Me and Elle. My first time seeing her wearing a dress, LOL probably coz every time I see her we’re always wearing casual (we’re just staying one block away from each other) she was veeeery gorgeous that night too! For the record, she helped me pick the cologne and the tie! Thanks! 😀

Me and the Indonesian crew – Danny, Ferry, Agung.

L-R: Elle, Ferry, Agung (doing the “Semmy Smile”), Danny

L-R: Imelda, Semmy, Elle, me, Danny

L-R: Elle, me, Dee, Jodie

The new couple threw some gifts from up the stage, and Danny caught one of them! I got mine from the reception – so here we are posing with our souvenirs. 😛

A videographer placed the mic in front of me and apparently we supposed to give a testimonial on either of the couple, haha! So… just talk good stuff about Semmy! 😀

CONGRATULATIONS SEMMY & IMELDA! SEMOGA BAHAGIA DAN ABADI! 🙂

P.S. Oh hey, on our way out of the place we saw these 😉

Secret Orange Roshan has been discovered!

And to drink some wine to end the merry night!

19th April: The Kopi Luwak Episode

So the story goes like this, that these animals “The Luwak” from Sumatra. They eat these red, ripe coffee cherry, shit them out… and then people like me drink them. Hence Kopi Luwak.

Okay I know the details sound gross; I was disturbed too when the coffee was made by the waitress in front of me. My Indonesian buddies insist though.

Hmm… this is like deja vu. Very much like when the Ambuyat was made in front of me when I was in Brunei.

I gotta hand it. Even though I’m not a coffee lover, it tasted good! 🙂 I think the Kopi Luwak would have sold more if they didn’t make up such a gross story. But then from a marketer’s standpoint, perhaps it wouldn’t have been half as successful without an interesting story like that.

They also brand it “the most expensive coffee in the world”, which I have a hard time agreeing to. Again even though I don’t appreciate coffee, I’ve already known of coffee and coffee beans that are more expensive just back in Malaysia, let alone other parts of the world.

Agung doing the “Semmy smile” again. 🙂 Wanna know how the “Semmy smile” came about? During the wedding, Semmy was anxious so when he smiled, it was funny. At least we think so 😉 And since then, the term “Semmy smile” was introduced! 😀 *eeEEEeeeee*

Danny and Brokencode. Did you know that Kopi Luwak is also the same place Agung met up with the other marketers in Indonesia? 😉

Sliding Down From 7th to 3rd Floor

Still at FX. We decided to go try the slide out. 🙂

Did you know that Danny and Brokencode were very scared to try this out? ;-P HAHA! But in the end they did – and we’re proud of them!

*well actually there’s nothing scary of it, don’t let the installation intimidate you* the slide lasts less than 10 seconds.

Can’t believe Vince Tan actually chickened out when he was here months ago. HAHA. Wuss.

Agung’s turn.

Now Danny. He fainted by the time he reached the bottom of the slide. LOL

Again don’t let the installation of the slide intimidate you! 😉

Karaoke!!!

They sang mostly Indonesian songs. But by virtue of knowing Bahasa Malaysia, I could follow along 😛

Die Settlers Von Catan!

I brought the board game here too! So Elle and I taught Ferry, Agung and Danny how to play the game… and we played one long round since it was our last night in Indonesia. 🙂

LOL it started out friendly and later, yep a lot of “true colors”, cut throat-ing and “blackhatting” as Danny and Agung pointed out, started to happen! And yeaaaa… I won! Wah weeee…! 😀

LOL Agung demands a rematch… we shall see when they come to Malaysia this early May! 😉

20th April: Go Home!

I enjoyed myself more in Jakarta this time around! Before this, I admit I was looking forward to coming back home even before I left for Jakarta! LOL because there’s little places of interest in Jakarta (or so I thought) and I couldn’t help but make an unfair comparison to Bali.

But I was wrong. I really enjoyed myself more this time around – and I know I have to be back again… Padro’s and Dee’s are next on the wedding calendar!

18th January 2010. Woke up late for a change. Had lunch at the Japanese restaurant. 🙂

Then we went to Yappy for a while to see Yanti, she was going to leave for Japan today! Incidentally, Orange and Adi were going to leave for Malaysia too. 😛

MissM, Red Parade (Amni) and I went to the Royal Regalia. Too bad we cannot take any photos inside the premise but I tell you, the museum rocks! I really liked the Bruneian uniforms, especially those of the black soldiers. Very stylish 🙂

Bought some souvenirs for my family and friends back while I was here.

Then off to the airport to see Yanti off first, then Orange and Adi.

Later that night, there was an SRDC preview. I had to check it out and see how the Bruneians did theirs, so I could borrow elements of improvement for ourselves back in Malaysia. 🙂

Met with UpperCrust too – was in touch with her on Twitter until I met her in person! Too bad she wasn’t feeling well (hope it’s because of not me! :-P) Nah, mere coincidence. 🙂

Met Meiji too… and funny thing about Muizz…

Encountered Muizz 5 times today!

1. At the Japanese restaurant (he so happened to be there)

2. At Yappy (he was also seeing Yanti off)

3. At the airport (followed us!)

4. At the SRDC preview (taking photographs as the cameraman)

5. Followed us to McDonald’s and MissM’s house for Smart Money game later!

No wonder his ORI nick is “watchme”! 🙂

Speaking of McDonald’s you might be wondering why I took this pic. It’s special really. Because this is the one and only McD’s in Brunei! 🙂

We were at MissM’s house playing Smart Money until the wee hours of the morning, 4AM!

Was funny. There was one part of the game I had NO CASH AT HAND and I drew an Expense Card: it was a dinner annivessary with my loved one and it cost $15. Clifford had to loan me to pay that off, HAHAHAHA! I called him “Uncle Clifford” ever since 😉

Though I finished the games with the least cash at hand, but hey I got out of the Rut… YAY YAY! 😉

19th January.

Aww… time really flies when you’re having too much fun. Heart felt heavy and wished I’d stay at least one more day.

Here I said bye bye to Muizz and MissM…

Thanks for showing me around Brunei and thanks for your generosity too! 🙂 I look forward to see you all again back in Malaysia soon… and hopefully when we come to Brunei again – as a group! :-))

17th January 2010. Yuli & Yassin’s wedding. 🙂 If not for the wedding I wouldn’t have been invited let alone be in Brunei!

Weddings are big thing here. It’s normal to have 600 – 2,000 people attending a wedding… and there are like, 5-6 weddings on the same weekend!

After the wedding, MissM, Natasha, Clifford, and I went to the Serasa Beach. Only 30-45 minutes from the Kiulap Hotel. 🙂

My first time riding the ATV!

Haha, MissM found a rock of shells and insisted on taking it home. Clifford had to help carry it back and load it on his 4×4!

Later that night, a bigger group of people joined us and we went to the Jerudong Park!

Had fun with the bumper cars (9 of us banging each other haha!), threading on water, the pirate ship, and we actually finished the last 4 rides on… the merry-go-round. 🙂

(to be concluded…)

16th January 2010.

After flying back from Jakarta, Indonesia, I spent less than a day in Malaysia before I would fly again to… this time… Brunei!

Many of my friends have never been to Brunei before, even though it’s in the Borneo (and that’s near!)

I wouldn’t have thought of visiting Brunei if not for Motorkross‘ wedding 🙂

It was a short notice but heck, I wanted to make up for my unfulfilled resolution last year, which is to visit 5 countries in a year (not counting Singapore LOL)

Also, a lot of Forex traders in the community are from Brunei, where it all started. So I would expect to meet plenty of familiar faces. 🙂

MissM600 aka Amal Jahairi had been very, very, very kind and nice to me – helped me book a hotel with Internet connection, brought me to some cool places in Brunei, hooked me up with the rest of the friends there. Thanks… “power lah you!” 🙂

I didn’t know what to expect of Brunei at first. Seriously. Many told me that they either don’t know what’s there, and some bluntly said “exactly, because there’s NOTHING there” LOL

Brunei is a rich country, so I was half expecting their airport to be made of gold (my running gag about Brunei, haha!) only to learn how humble their airport and people are as a whole. 🙂

And hey, look who was expecting me at the airport – Clifford Chin (rocco) and Muizz (watchme)!

(Oh don’t forget MissM yea, she’s not in many of the pics because she was the one taking all the pics… but you’ll see more of her soon!) 🙂

First place we went to. Yayasan.

It was funny. There were inscriptions of Jawi on a tablet and I asked MissM to help translate for me. Only to find out she and Muizz are actually ‘bananas’ version of Brunei, HAHAHAHAHA! 😛

Then we went to Kampung Air (literally translated to “Water Village”). Interestingly, this is where Orange Roshan was born in.

Reminds me of Chao Praya in Thailand.

This is the Nahkoda Manis, said to be of folklore origin. I remember watching one of P Ramlee’s shows – it was about a son who forgotten his mom and went off to married a beautiful woman and lived life forgetting his mom. His mom became incredibly upset that she cursed her son, his wife and everyone else on the ship to turn into stone.

Well… this is the one.

More of Kampung Air – it’s practically a floating village with facilities like school, shops, etc.

Back on land, we met up with Orange Roshan and the rest of the gang – and I was treated to their local delicacy called the Ambuyat!

Unlike conventional food, the ambuyat is a starchy dough that is to be dipped into the cacah (a spice) before swallowing, no chewing!

Had 3 ‘reversals’. Haha, only the traders will get it. 😉

Later we went to Dunes cafe. It’s another favorite hangout for the gang, besides Yappy Kopitiam. 🙂

I learned a few new things about them. No wonder they are always ‘on Facebook’ – they bring their iPhones and hook on the net all around the clock! And because it drains more battery, they carry their chargers around too!

Brunei is very, very small – a population of no more than 350,000 people. And since only 20% of the land is urbanized, it’s common to run into familiar faces in a day. And practically almost everyone is connected to each other – distant cousins, uncles, aunties! Oh man, I wonder how they are gonna date! ;-P

With MissM and Tangerine (Wana H Salim). 🙂

YEAAAAAAH

Yanti Ismail thinks she’s ‘hot’ 😛

Orange promoting Nokia?

Muizz selling off iPhones? 🙂

(to be continued…)