my latest trip - Singapore

continue from my latest trip,

It was at about 5 pm Harbour Front’s time, :)

yep I cross the border to Singapore.

It was my first trip to this country by ferry.

It kind of pissed me of a bit, when the immigration officer spend so many times just to stamp the passport. The immigration officer at Changi Airport were quick!

I saw many of them were being interviewed, probably an illegal imigrant?

We stayed at Mandarin Hotel at Orchard Road, I stayed there about 8 years ago.

Not long after that, each of us doing sperate ways...

I planned to visit my friends from college Gita who has moved to Pungol from Simei.

I headed to Somerset MRT.

Now that I wasn't familiar with MRT Vendor Machine, it took minutes for me figuring out buying the ticket.

Luckly, a singporean man help me buying a single trip ticket. I had to change the vehicle in Dhouby Gout Station, I remember it was a small, less people, quite MRT station now it is HUGE!

Arriving at Pungol (the last stop for North East LIne), I proceed to higher level getting on LRT to Meridian.

Yeah, it is my first trip using LRT - it's monorail look a like.

But when I put my card to open the gate at Meridian Station, it didn’t work.

I was panic, the old man on news papper stand didn’t help me either.

The machine gate said my card was under credit.

Then I remember, the man at somerset press Pungol on the vendor machine instead of Meridien.

take a glimpse at the Meridien Station, I found another vendor machine and put another cents on that.

*fiuh* now I can get out.

I spend like 2 hours in GIta's new house, my daughter like Fathir so much, she even declare to everybody that Fathir is her Singaporean boy friend.

(alas, she's only 4!).

We asked for Mas Roni (Gita's husband) permission for mommy time out

We hit Mustafa Centre in Little India the place where I bought many chocoholates for my colleagues back in Jakarta.

Of course I won’t miss buying After Eight Chocolate Mint for my self, taste heavenly and bought a Punjabi Dress for my daughter.

At 10.30 pm we were heading to Farrer Park MRT Station, and said good bye. Thank you gita for accompany me. See you on June, Insya Allah.

I woke up a bit late, and meet my colleague at breakfast lounge.

Again, we were heading seperate way, realizing my cashflow wasn't fully recovered yet from my last trip to Kuala LUmpur I didn’t want to spend anything here.

I decided heading Bugis Street to spend the day after I did window shopping at Paragon. I took many pictures, how I like this clean country – tourist friendly - east meet west buildings - even I'm broke...:P

I wish Jakarta would be like this....*dreaming*

An hour later, the sky was dark I get in OG, it wasn’t Great Singapore Sale yet, but I saw a-Red- Polo Beverly Hills - 4 wheels- cabin allowed by IATA- luggage- for 50% off!

My insanity back, I purchased that RED luggage and drag it over back to Orchard Road (the size was acceptable for cabin and MRT). Putting my previous small luggage inside, checked out and heading back to Harbour front.

Back in Batam, we had lunch in Padang Restaurant, heading to Nagoya for sightseeing. There were lots of Bag (claimed branded) & perfume shops, but I doubt those are genuine. I only bought - imported from Malaysia- chocholates, candy and drink. Hard to find some of those in Jakarta.

Unfortunately, the access to Cengkareng Airport. *sigh* was closed due to flood. This is embarassing, considering that Jakarta is the Gate To Indonesia. So, our flight was cancelled for 2 hours. Anyway at 11.00 pm arrived back in my house. J

What at trip! 3 different islands in 3 days!

my latest trip

1 foker 50,

2 malam,

3 pulau,

4 peserta,

5 pelabuhan,

431 gambar,

lots of my first - “something”

(yeah, termasuk pertama ke batam….suer)

Dan disanalah saya rabu pagi kemarin…

Menjelang magrib di hari selasa, kami sampai di Pulau Batam (ya, ini kunjungan pertama saya ke pulau ini, hahahah). Langit merah menyambut sangat indah, this is going to be a wonderful trip. Langsung menuju wilayah batu Besar untuk makan seafood enak di restoran Rejeki.

Rasanya belum puas merebahkan badan di kasur , namum jam 5 pagi harus sudah berangkat dari hotel Planet Holiday, Nagoya menuju Hang Nadim

Dengan pesawat chateran foker 50 milik Riau Airlines berangkat jam 6 pagi bercampur dengan 45 lelaki yang bekerja di ladang minyak lepas pantai, pengalaman pertama naik pesawat dimana penumpangnya lelaki semua…ah, berasa cantik.

(2 pramugari ngga dihitung penumpang kan….???)

Perjalan menuju Matak awalnya tenang dengan cuaca cerah, namun setengah jam sebelum mendarat bukan main turbulence-nya.

Waktu baru menunjukkan sekitar setengah 8, tetapi cuaca di luar, kiri kanan pesawat awan gelap disertai kilat dan hujan. Seperti di film saja.

Spontan saya membangunkan Dana yang tertidur pulas.

“Dana, bangun loe…kok bisa2xnya siy loe tidur pesawat kaya’ gini”

(note, saya termasuk orang yang paling tidak bisa tidur di pesawat)

*Dana yang bangun dan pasang muka masa bodoh*

“Mau gimana lagi, ky….gedor2x jendela pesawat?”

Ah ya betul…tak ada yang bisa dilakukan kecuali berdoa

*dan pegangan kursi pesawat, suerrr ngeri banget*

Sebelum pukul 9 sampailah saya di PUlau Ini, base camp tempat ratusan crew dan field engineer sebelum pulang atau diberangkatkan dari/ke platform-platform yang ada di lepas pantai berjam-jam dari pulau ini.

Menyaksikan keributan “crew exchange”, pertukaran shifting antara group yang 1 dengan group lain, wajah-wajah lelah yang (mungkin) suntuk mingguan berada di lepas pantai dan sudah rindu keluarga dan wajah-wajah malas2xan yang masih menunggu mingguan lagi untuk berkumpul dengan keluarga. (mengingatkan saya pada rutinitas kehidupan ayahnya Double Ke. 2 tahun lalu bahkan bertugas di Belida Field,Natuna. ya tentu saja, ke Matak 2 minggu sekali adalah rutinitas beliau). Menyaksikan chopper silih berganti terbang dan mendarat yang datang dari platform untuk mengantarkan/menjemput pekerja lepas pantai tersebut.

Sampai kami ke sebuah jetty untuk naik kapal penumpangkapal pun berjalan dan kemudian mendarat lagi untuk pergi ke “base camp”.

Tak lama di pulau kecil ini, rasanya belum puas melihat beningnya air laut dengan udara yang sejuk. INgin rasanya berenang, bahkan merendam kaki pun tak sempat, waktu terlalu lama dihabiskan di kapal tadi. Ah, Kapan bisa kembali ke pulau ini lagi dan menyebrang ke pulau Tarempa dan pulau2x lain. Maskapai komoersial memang tidak setiap hari singgah di pulau ini.

Perjalanan kembali ke batam tertunda siang itu, cuaca yang buruk tidak mengijinkan pesawat untuk terbang.

Sempat berbincang dengan seorang wanita istri dari prajutir Angkatan Laut yang menunggu pesawat charteran dari COnocoPhillips.

Pesawat komersil yang mendarat di pulau ini tidak banyak, mungkin seminggu 2 kali dari Tanjung Pinang, sehingga apabila pesawat chateran milik perusahaan Amerika itu kosong boleh diisi oleh penumpang non-karyawan.

Kita berpendapat sama, sayang pulau seindah ini kurang terawat…padahal kurang kaya apa wilayahnya, jalan ke mess PT XYZ bukan main buruknya. Minyak dan ikan nya berlimpah, pura-pura tak tahu kah mereka? *sigh*

Saya merasa beruntung, pernah menginjakkan kaki di gerbang utara republik ini.

Sekilas info Kabupaten Natuna, dikutip dari majalah Kilau Natuna yang saya ambil (ijin dulu kok sama pramugarinya) di Riau Airlines.

Pesawat komersial ada dari tanjung pinang namun ke Ranai, dengan jadwal 3 x seminggu. Menurut laporan disitu, harga tiket tanjung pinang- ranai dilayani oleh Merpati dipatok Rp 500 ribu saja dan terbang 3x semimggu. Sepertinya landasan terbang Ranai lebih panjang daripada Matak, karena pesawat Merpati pesawat jet.

Jika ada yang berminat ke kabupatan Natuna, di majalah tersebut ada rekomendasi travel, penginapan dan restoran, call me if you need it.

-------------------------

Lalu, perjalan pulang kembali ke Batam siang itu. Mengingat pengalaman turbulence yang bikin saya sakit perut, saya sempat panik ketika pesawat Foker 50 itu hanya baling-baling sebelah kanan yang berputar.

"Pesawat ini yang jalan baling-baling kanan dulu kok, ky...santai aja" *fiuh*

Kebaikan hati Pak Bambang dari pihak client, diantarkanlah saya ke Jembatan Barelang. Jembatan yang menghubungi pulau batam ke Pulau Tonton...dan disambung dengan jembatan lain sampai pulau Galang total . Kabarnya butuh 1,5 jam untuk sampai di pulau terakhir. Kami tak sempat, sudah lapar.

Perut telah keroncongan, meluncur kembali ke arah nagoya untuk mencicipi Sup Ikan Yon Kee yang terkenal itu. Slurp.
Jam 3 kami tiba di Batam Centre...yep....saya bertemu Gita di rumah barunya malam itu.
di pulau sebrang...tak banyak cerita....
Foto-foto lain ada di multiply.

disney on ice

yep, disney on ice is coming to Jakarta, and there we were this afternoon.
I already bought 4 tickets for my family, but unfortunately my hubby isn't in town.
Not that confident babysitting my two precious but not that willing if the nanny come along (well, errr...the ticket a bit costly for me ...)
so I asked my sister and her son to join us. Kevin caught cold and cough , he need a rest.
(sorry dear...bunda will make up to this sometime) *wink*

The play start at 3.30 pm, we were a bit late. And of course camera and video recorder were probihitted. So I took the pictures using my mobile phone, not that good of course.
There were 4 acts from Disney Picture which were Lion King, 101 Dalmation, Little Mermaid, Peter Pan and Lilo & Stich.
These two pictures are from Peter Pan.
The right one was when Wendy and her brother are flying bcak from Neverland to London.

The show was great, but then I wonder...
If there is a folk tale like Sangkuriang, Timun Mas or Malinkudang on Ice, will it be great??
What do you think my Indonesian Fellow???

PS : the ticket vendor said there will be Barney Show on June, sure I'll take my son this time.
And mommies...let save a penny a day for Barney.

dasar ibu2x...

tadinya,cuma mau beli es krim setelah panas-panasan makan siang.
Kemudian...
melihat harga susu yang kevin harus minum (anjuran dokter gizi,karena dia underweight),
6000 rupiah lebih murah...
gue beli itu deh...
padahal di rumah masih ada 1 yang belum dibuka...
dasar ibu2x...

mbah jingkrak

this week, to celebrate the birthday of my future direct supervisor, we had lunch in this --- not so fancy but a bit above average-restaurant MBah JIngkrak.
A traditional Javanesee food. I like its brown rice, not so hard, just like the regular white rice. I'm thinking switching from regular rice to the brown one, it's healthier anyway...
more pics is here.

postingan terlambat

sebenarnya mau posting Kezia ulang tahun keempat tahun ini, ultahnya kemaren.
tapi pesan dari blogger.com, blog saya blog spam. Jadi harus verifikasi ulang plus nunggu review dari blogger machine.
Halah..
ya sudahlah...saya posting di rumah satunya dan di blognya Kezia.
happy birthday MY daughter...:)

three of us + the tag

on this entry, I made a comment my passion to travel alone...
then, reading carefully, about those American couples who bring their 5 babies...
I changed my mind...
I like to hit some places (outta town, of course)...with just the three of us!
do you thing Bandung will be a good start?
(the daddy is here every now and then, can't really depend on him. :P)

anyway, bunda vera kasih tugas :

1. Panggilan spesial apa untuk pasangan anda ? (soalnya kata 'sayang' saat ini sudah agak menurun mutu dan kualitasnya) ?
2. Bagaimana cara anda merawat dan menjaga cinta pada pasangan ?
3. Kapan terakhir jatuh cinta (lagi) ?

jawabnya apa ya...???
1. abang
2. gimana ya....??? *garuk garuk*
3. sama suami sendiri? , tadi waktu telpon2x di YM...dah lama ngga tilpun2x..

ok done, tag kemana ya....????ngga usah deh...

facebook

I guess it's a funny thing for me when I saw my-mom's-high-school-buddies- on facebook....:-D
PS: and still, my mom asked me to write an email to their friends...she still think she doesn't need to learn how to make yahoo account,yet...

Mini Opera (as a browser)

since my Mozilla doesn't work as it suppose to, now I'm using opera as the browser. the good thing is, opera has mini version (well...uhm....I just learned it).

so I just download the mini version to my mobile phone and...voila...!
I'm so satisfied! Sony Ericsson W 550i used netfront (or netscape?...ah, I forgot) as a browser. Using the previous one, the appearance doesn't look good, I hardly read my favorite site. I can't even access pop up- blogger comments if I need to.

As its name, it is a mini version from the regular website --- fit to the screen of your mobile phone. A square is provided, when you'd like to read one particular side, just click the square, then it will zoom that part. And it fast as well.
Oh...I'm SOOOOOOOOOOO Late.......!
Ah, nothing can stop me now!

PS: ok...I know...except those credit proposal. *sigh*

my blueberry night

starring Norah Jones, Jude Law, Natalie Portman.
I watch this movie to end this weekend :)

it reminds me...:

• Jude Law is sooooo cute in any angle,

• ah yah...Natalie Portman too :P

• the highway to Las Vegas, suddenly the memories in 1990-1991 popping up again...we used to spend the long holiday in the highway!

• My favorite quote is :

Leslie :" He taught me after 10 is Jack!"

My Man....muah!

what a title! hehehhehe, I just got tag from elaine ling ,who dying to see me in her hometown.
this is a funny tag, I guess...well next month is our 5th anniversary, a nice way to recharge our love *wink*
what I love most about my man --- the father of my babies...:

1. sure he gave the good gen, look at my babies, aren't they cute....?

2. he doesn't mind I'm overweight...well, ya...probably a bit..kikikik...but as long I'm comfortable he feel ok...(hell.yeah..it is ME, that doesn't feel comfort with my own size) *sigh*

3. he doesn't mind I'm working and doesn't feel irritated when my job requires some traveling and he has to stay home, take care of my babies..

4. oh yeah...he's good with our babies as well.


ok hubby, even you annoyed me sometimes, you refused to buy me a pair of diamond ring for our 5th anniversary, but I love you even more

PS : honey, how about a second honeymoon to paris? --- ok, i knew I dream my life away...

anyway, I like to pass this to mica, vera, and lalaine, bintang, and maya.
ok, if you're Indonesian...sure you may write in bahasa, elaine won't fully understand if I post this in bahasa...hihihihi

ok, I'll write in my language...
akhirnya...setelah ngidam bertahun2x, melihat parkiran pancious Permata Hijauh penuh terus....jadi juga makan di Pancious tapi yang di Pacific Palace. :-D. Janjian dengan dian dan rafnila, teman smaku di kelas 1...

tips from me : it loooookkkk small, but it doesn't! so beware :))

never me!

I've been blogging since January 2005, so it has been over 3 years. My first entries was pictureless, to make it more interesting I started to post some pictures. I remember we have to post via Bloggerbot.com back in those day.
Well, since I'm a blogger...I almost carry my camera every time, took pictures of everything that made some of my clique wondering why do I have to take unimportant pictures. Whatever! they don't have blog, they don't have anything to be shared.

Like today, we have lunch in a traditional restaurant ---- not a fancy one, bit cost above average


We were there to celebrate on my auntie birthday...so there we are, the second and the third --- and the fourth generation of Datuk Ibrahim. :). it was a rare opurtunity for us --- sit in the one big table together, even we lived in the same city

the sky was clear, my cousins asked me to take their pictures. Since all of us was there, I like to make the picture unusual, then I find the hole in this yellow tube at the children playground made a unique frame...I just love it. so does my cousins --- the third generation of the Ibrahims. :P


and the I realized....NO me in that picture. *sigh*

tekadku (hampir) bulat

yes, 5,5 tahun sudah cukup.
time to move on...
bismilah...

*update CV*

here's my story

Like I told you, it was last minutes approval from my boss,
and to make it worse, there's no daily allowances for offshore trip.
I caught cold, cough and fever, up to 38 degree (normally below 37,5),
I didn't get seat by the window ,
aut I could get a good sleep, which I rarely have one when it come to flying. When there was an announcement the flight will be landing in 10 minutes, I wished the airplane fly for another 2 hours
Ugh...I still need a rest.
And yes, it was raining...*sigh*
new for me : we don' t need the Imigration Form in Malaysia anymore *good,I hate filling the form*

Oh the meeting? when it comes to be on a presentation and arguing  to the people who doesn't speak your language ---- argghh, it caused me a great headache.
and it rained and rained again, I didn't take many pictures.

anyway, there will be Formula 1 race in Sepang, so the F1 things is in the air. And I just learned that the actual size of the racing car is BIG.
There were a great sale as well, too bad it's a week before the pay day (usually on 25 every month) :P.
But I get 2 boxes of peppermint tea, never try before and a timer for baking from IKEA .

Back to Jakarta in the morning flight, which mean I have to wake up early. Oh yeah, I have problem with early wake up :-D

and I hate airport when it come to long holiday....

Ah, me-always-complaining!

i'm in KL

actually, last minutes approval from the boss
I got bad cough & cold, my body temperature heating up a bit.
I can't really enjoy the time...*we're staying in the same hotel anyway*

granted

 My wish just granted, too bad I caught cold...
packing dulu ya....

just a- today-story

Mind about indifferent of Indonesian people who so reluctant to queue, I found another "unique" one this evening on the way home.

I took express train from Dukuh Atas Station (in Jakarta Downtown area) to Bintaro (my neighborhood, outskirt of jakarta), it spent around 30 minutes to get home, much better if you rive your own car...up to 1,5 hours during peak hours. Unfortunately, the last two schedules was collided, so the train kinda full.

But when I entered the train, I still one free seat, but when I want to sit down, thAT lady in purple said

“this seat is taken” and pointed out.

I just muttered “how come?”

Hello… this is mass transportation we’re talking about, not your fancy BMW (if she has one)

I feel irritated first, but I thought maybe her friend is pregnant or an elderly so I refuse an arguing.

And turned out….that lady in white is her friend…look young and health.

Well, forget that I have to stand 'cause there were no seat left, it just their manner that made me sick! and when the train stop at another station,there were a family with 3 toddlers, two elderly (the grandparents) and a pregnant lady.

Do you thing these two –look-educated-people- would give their precious seat to them…?

Of course they didn't give a damn care!

Just another two people with no manner and no brain I guess!well, did I say they do look educated!

Why don’t they buy the train themselves…and safe the seats to all their friends…

oh, how I love today!

- My hubby brought a (4 actually) boxes of Anthon Berg Choco Mint Chocolate --- dark    Chocolate with delicious mint feeling, arghhh taste heaven! I love mint!
- Still to emphasize this posting "kalo dah rejeki ngga lari kemaneeee" or literally means if it is   for you it won't go anywhere, I have a watch from C*****, for free! someone just give it to me  (for my 30th b'day? it's late but thanks anyway) :P
- nothing better to end a tired day with a cup of peppermint tea from Dilmah.