..just because..

It's been 3 weeks since the video of Ariel, Luna & Cut Tary are broadcasted in the Internet. Being honest, I watched the videos, all version of them, and the reason I watched, it's just for my curiosity. This may sound subjective as I like him (and still do apart of this incident), but I don't see he's doing something wrong here besides he is sick for taping all the sex he did with the women, and I do think he needs some kind of therapy. Yet other than that, there's nothing wrong.

I might sound crazy as I don't walk in the same path as most people do. Those who think he needs to be in jail, who march and demonstrate against him, who react completely exaggerating, who wants to kick him outta Indonesia, who condemn him as if he's the lowest creature God ever mad and act as if they are God and never committed any sin. Not to mention that I disagree what the media did to him. Media who desperately wants a piece of his story and broken the ethic code, and in the name of "press freedom", they have the right to violate his privacy.

Truth, I'm quite sick with those people & the media. I'm not defending him, but was he really doing something wrong ? I'm pretty sure that on the first place he taped his sexual activity with those women, he never want it to be broadcasted. Second thing, what is wrong with having pre-marital sex ? We are not a country ruled by religion, and religion itself is a people's choice. Why we are so busy judging & condemning him ? If they claim as the religious people, they should know that the only one who has the prerogative to judge is GOD, nobody else has it. On the other hand, doesn't it show that they are being so hypocrite ? For example, this lawyer who cheated on his wife, married someone else (illegaly by country but legally by his religion), is the first person in the front line to sue him & his girlfriend. So much for never committed adultery, rite ?

It really doesn't make sense to me at all, why this is now becoming a big news. Is it just because his tapes with two different women are exposed? Is it just because they are jealous he screwed those women that were in their dreams every night ? Is it just because his doing it better than them ? 

One thing I know for sure, it's just because he's an Indonesian, then it becomes a big deal. If he's not residing in Indonesia - the hypocrite country ever, where majority people love juicy gossip, stick their nose to others, sweating over small stuffs and try their best to hide big problem, busy catching the person who upload the video rather than than solving the Century, Markus or Gayus case - I'm sure he could breathe easily and enjoying his day with no worries at all.

..just because..

..8-days trip to Indochina..

YEYYYY !!!! The day I've been waiting for months is finally here, the Indochina trip with Ge & Ati.

Leaving from Jakarta on 24th May to Ho Chi Minh, and we had to spend 1 nite here as there's no night bus to Siam Reap (unlike Pantura buses that operates mostly at night).

Our original plan was sleeping at the airport (yes, you read it right, SLEEPING AT AIRPORT), yet after Ge met this Mas Eko, and suggested us to go to downtown as the buses are gonna depart from there in the morning, then we changed our mind.

On the following day, we took the bus at 6:15 AM and for more than 12 hours, we spent our times only on the bus. Well, it stopped every 2 hours, but still, considering my flat butt, it's quite killing me :)) Arriving in Siam Reap at 8 PM, getting to our hotel, negotiation the tuk-tuk price for Angkor then off to bed.

On 26th, woke up at 4 AM to catch the sunrise. Leaving at 4:40 with tuk-tuk & got to Angkor Wat 30 mins later. We must pay $20 to enter the temple's complex.

Unfortunately, there ain't no sunrise like we expected, as the sky just turn so bright at 6:30 AM. So we decided to take a tour around the Angkor Wat, had a little b'fast afterward and continued the trip til 2PM. We met Yuji, Ken and the Carribean people again today. It was really nice meeting them, friendly people. Later in the evening, we went to Old Market for some souvenir shopping and had dinner at Angkor Mondial as we wanted to see the Apsara Dances where we met friendly-with-marketing soul-Ted & his anonymous Spanish friend (we didn't catch his name). We finished the day at 10ish and went back to the hotel.
 

The next day, we started it in the descent time, 9 AM. Still temple hopping, but this time it's quite a long ride, almost take 1,5 hours by tuk-tuk to reach it. After the 2nd temple, we decided to go back to hotel as the rain poured heavily. Around 5PM, we took a walk around the city, hung out near the river, watching Cambodians passing by & ended in Raja Angkor for the dinner. We decided not to go to the Night Market since we had a morning bus to go back to Phnom Penh.

My impression of this city, it is a nice small city, and regardless the heat (almost 34 degrees), I like it here, and I like the trip..

Before going back to Ho Chi Minh, we stopped at Phnom Penh and stayed there for 2 nights.

  

We took the 6:30 bus again so we could be in Phnom Penh when the sun still shines. Got to the city around 1 and Yannak, the smiley tuk tuk driver whom I met the other day when our bus to Siam Reap transit in Phnom Penh was there. He took us to the hotel, which is by the Tonle Sap river. We asked him to go back to the hotel at 4PM as we wanted to see Russian Market. We checked in, rested for a while, had lunch, showered and headed to the market. 5 mins inside the market, I felt like I was in sauna and lost 15 lbs, as it was sooooo hot, I even could feel the sweat came out from my scalp.

Back to the hotel, watched American Idol rerun (yes, we couldn't leave without it), then we went out for dinner. Turned out our hotel is 2 mins-walking distance to the night market, so we went there to see some stuff. And man, it was hilarious seeing those SIM phone cards seller. 

Ipang, my Indonesian friend who happened to live & work in Phnom Penh for 2 years, came 10 mins later and took us to FCC, a nice resto with a nice view and a nice-big portion of food. It was great meeting your friend who lives in other country. We took off at 11, walking back to the hotel.

On the next day, Yannak picked us at 8:30 for city tour. First stop was Royal Palace, because it's close in the afternoon. Ironically, the king doesn't live at the palace, he is in France. After the Palace, we went straight to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center a.k.a Killing Field. It was OK until we went inside the memorial monument, seeing 17 storeys of skulls from different age, especially with the background music they played, nobody will escape from having their goosebumps. An incident in this place, when Ati lost her cellphone. It happened so fast, only 5 mins. (whoever stole her cell, may it be used in a proper way, and Ati, may you get your new cell now).

From Killing Field, we went to S-21 Prison. Honestly, I felt the horror in this place, rather than in the field. Perhaps because this is the prison, where people are waiting desperately to come out alive, yet on the contrary, they are sentenced to death.

After the prison, we went to Wat Thom Temple. We just sat in the yard, watching people passed by, monkeys playing in the park, eating our Lotus and see the Monks spending their afternoon. It was a nice afternoon for us, then we headed back to the hotel.

Later at nite, we went out for a dinner at Warung Bali, which is owned by 2 Sundanese guys :). The food were all tasty, and we just in silent when the dinner was served. Everybody was busy with their own food. After dinner, as this is our last night in Phnom Penh, Ipang took us to Pon Toon, a club by the river. What we planned for an hour of staying there, we ended up leaving around midnite :) We felt like we were in Bali, seriously..

Regardless we had to leave quite early in the morning, but shaking our body and got sweat before off to bed was a great thing to do in ending the trip.. 

 

This is the final stop of my 8 days trip with Ge & Ati exploring Indochina.

Arriving at 3PM by bus, we went straight to the hotel to cool off a bit. The hotel was nice, and we in fact, chose the much better hotel for our last night. It's so close to Ben Tanh and other objects.

Around 5PM, we all went out. Ge went to the church for Sunday's service while me & Ati went to market for lil shopping. Then we went to the Cathedral, hung out with Ipang a bit (yes, it's the same Ipang in Phnom Penh. He picked up his friend who "likes" to get lost) then off to see the Vietnamese water puppet show. Although we didn't know any single word they said, but we found it funny from the way these puppets move.

Later at night, we went out for dinner and the 1st time ever in my life, I was rejected by a taxi and advised to take a walk since the place we wanted to go to was in a walking-distance (crap!).

My energy was used up and had no spare at all to get into the night activity, so after dinner, we walked back to the hotel.

In the following day, which is our last day, we went to Renaissance Palace & Ben Tanh (again!). We actually wanted to go to Ho Chi Minh Museum, but unfortunately, they were closed on Monday (bummer!). No, we didn't go to Cu Chi Tunnel because it's quite far from the city and besides, Ati & Ge wouldn't wanna try entering the tunnel, so why waste the time. Since the weather is getting hotter, we decided to go to the airport earlier.

I like this city so much. I in fact like it here much more than Jakarta.. There are many parks that we could just sit with no street seller could go inside and annoy us to buy-whatever-they-are-selling, no wastes, follow the rules (regardless thousand bikes on the street, but they are truly obedience), and we could walk at night in the street feeling so safe. Those are things that you would never find in Jakarta.

I found this communist city is much more capitalist than the democratic country I visited 5 days ago. 

 

Sadly that we have to end the trip, but we need to go back to the J-Town and continue our routine life. For sure, it's a memorable trip with my travel buddies, so many great things we've shared along the trip and I definitely wanna experience it again, either going back to the same place or find another spot to go to.

..8-days trip to Indochina..

..berkunjung ke pulau laskar pelangi..

Setelah tahun ke-4, akhirnya kantor ini bisa juga outing keluar pulau Jawa. Mengingat betapa bosannya dengan hiruk pikuk Bali, akhirnya diputuskan untuk pergi ke pulau para laskar pelangi berasal, Belitong.

Jumat (7/5), sudah standby di airport dari jam 5:30 karena pesawat harus take off jam 6:20. Ternyata oh ternyata, pesawat Sriwijaya ini ditunda sampai 7:45.

Anyway, jam 7:45 pun tiba, kita berangkat dan seperti yang sudah diperkirakan, kehebohan terjadi sejak dari pesawat, mengingat kita semua duduk berdekatan.

Mulai dari pak bos yang salting duduk di sebelah PA baru, sampai suasana ramai ketika cowok2x ini membeli kacamata.

Sampai di Belitong, langsung disapa oleh teriknya matahari (sementara saat itu baru jam 9), dan setelah semua tas keluar dibawa masing-masing pemiliknya, kita menuju ke hotel yang ada di tengah kota.

Sesampai di hotel, ternyata dari 17 kamar yang dipesan, hanya 2 kamar yang baru siap, sementara kita sudah harus memulai berkegiatan. Jadilah semua tas dikumpulkan dalam 1 kamar, trus membawa perbekalan untuk shalat jumat dan pergi ke pantai. Setelah semua beres, kita langsung pergi dari hotel dan menuju tempat makan mie belitong. Mie belitong ini rasanya kayak pempek, karena pake cuka. Walo porsinya dikit, tapi cukup mengganjal perut lah.

 

Habis makan, langsung menuju mesjid karena para pria ini kan harus menunaikan shalat jumat. Selama perjalanan menuju mesjid, hujan turun dengan derasnya. Setelah ngedrop mereka, yang perempuan and non-muslim melipir ke suatu warung untuk bersantai sejenak. Lagi asyik-asyiknya menikmati suasana pantai, tiba-tiba ada petir yang sangat kuenceeeeeenggg menyambar batu sampai menimbulkan asap. Kalau sempat memperhatikan, banyak sekali pohon kelapa gundul di Belitung, dan ini akibat dari sambaran petir yang sangat kencang.

Sekitar jam 1 siang, kita kembali ke mesjid, menjemput para pria untuk langsung menuju makan siang. Beruntung setelah makan siang, langit cerah kembali. Kita lalu menuju pantai tempat bermula kayak, foto-foto bentar dan setelah menurunkan 8 orang yang siap kayak ke Tanjung Tinggi, kita pergi meninggalkan pantai.

Sampai di Tanjung Tinggi, tanpa membuang-buang waktu lagi, gue langsung ngeluarin kamera, jepret sana-sini, naek bebatuan hingga sampai ke tempat yang cukup tinggi dan sejauh gue memandang, gue hanya bisa terdiam kagum, takjub sekali dengan pemandangan yang ada di depan mata gue.

Hampir 3 jam kita bermain-main di pantai Tanjung Tinggi karena di tempat ini kita akan melihat sunset. Well, berhubung tadi siang hujan deras, alhasil momen sunset tidak terlalu bagus didapatkan. Tapi itu tidak mengurangi kenikmatan gue berada di Tanjung Tinggi. Sekitar jam 6, kita kembali menuju hotel, dan bersiap-siap untuk makan malam.

Berhubung besok ada kegiatan mulai pagi hari, jadi habis makan malam, langsung kembali ke hotel dan bermain kartu untuk beberapa saat.

Sabtu, 8 Mei. Kegiatan dimulai dari jam 7 pagi. Habis sarapan, langsung bersiap menuju pantai untuk island hopping. Pulau pertama yang dikunjungi adalah Pulau Pasir, dimana kita ada game mencari bintang laut. Setelah itu, pulau Burung, melanjutkan permainan dengan lomba bakiak, voli duduk dan futsal selain makan siang dan minum kelapa muda. Sekitar jam 1, kita bergerak menuju pulau Lengkuas, tempat terletaknya simbol Belitong, yaitu mercu suar dengan ketinggian setara 18 lantai gedung bertingkat. 

Berhubung gue tidak snorkling, jadi gue puaskan diri berfoto-foto dan menikmati keindahan pulau ini saja. Satu hal yang tidak bisa dicerna pikiran gue, bagaimana caranya bisa begitu banyak batu-batu granit raksasa bertebaran dan terlihat seperti ditumpuk begitu saja oleh sang Pencipta.. It's just beyond me

Hampir 2 jam di Pulau Lengkuas tapi sepertinya masih belum puas, namun apa daya, kita harus pulang karena langit sudah hampir gelap walaupun baru jam 4 sore.

Sampai di hotel sekitar jam 5, ada beberapa anak yang lanjut berenang, tapi gue langsung mandi karena badan sudah lengkeeeeeettttt buangettt !!

Jam 7, kita siap-siap untuk pergi makan malam. Kali ini, makan malamnya di tepi pantai. Habis makan malam, ada acara door prize dan juga limbo dance. Sekitar jam 11, kita kembali ke hotel. But instead of going to bed, gue and beberapa orang melanjutkan permainan kartu UNO. Sekitar jam 2, gue cabut duluan karena sudah mengantuk. Lagipula, it's getting creepy. Well, the hotel is new, tapi sejarah lokasinya itu yang membuat hotel ini jadi spooky. Hiiiii...

Minggu, 9 Mei, hari terakhir di Belitong. Berhubung tinggal menunggu waktu pulang, jadi hari ini dimanfaatkan hanya untuk membeli oleh2x, sementara ada beberapa yang nasrani ibadah ke gereja.

Berhubung pesawat Sriwijaya delay (lagi !!), jadi kita late check out jam 1, trus makan siang di pinggir pantai. Untuk membunuh waktu sebelum ke airport, banyak yang foto2x di pinggir pantai, tapi berhubung gue udah males karena panas, gue maen UNO ajah, heheheee...

Akhirnya, jam 4 sampai juga di airport and take off dari Belitong jam 5 sore untuk kembali menuju Jakarta.

This is a nice island, and for me who ain't a beach person, I love this place so much... It's worth a visit and who knows, someday I'll be back again to this island but this time will travel to the other side.

 

..berkunjung ke pulau laskar pelangi..