紫禁城 - The Forbidden City

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Square

Tiananmen Gate, the entrance gate of the Forbidden City from the Tiananmen Square in Beijing

Around China for ... ^^

Around China for less than a million rupiahs

“How come? It’s impossible!” yes it is impossible, unless you have your company sent you to China for a business trip, just like what happened to me last week (april 4^th – 11^th 2012) hahaha, envy me come on.. It was my 1^st visit to China, and was a combo coz I went to Beijing, Fuzhou, Guang Zhou, and Shanghai! Yes Shanghai! My dream one! China is mezmerising, I never thought they are this BIG. I knew they’re growing fast, but I never imagined like this BIG. My first impression was in their capital: Beijing, a megapolitant city, beautiful cityscapes built from exotic skycrappers. Very modern and edgy. 

That night was 9 degrees when I arrived in Beijing, quite torturing for a tropical-beach girl like me. I was willing to buy boots, but seconds by seconds, I think I could handle the cold weather only with my ballerine shoes.  Taruli, my work mate in China, picked me up at the airport, what a convenient for me. I was full, thanks to the dinner served during my HK-Beijing flight. It was just the beginning that I was full, the rest days in my China trip were a hunger games.. I feel hungry most of the time! I blame the cold weather, and the delicious food they have. I almost ate anything, except shark fin. Halal or not halal :D

Smile and hospitality are so rare here. I think China never care about the word “service” in its life. It took me half an hour to ask shop-assistant in Beijing to buy a cell sim card, then another 30 minutes to top-up the credit, then next day another 45 minutes in China Mobile outlet to turn on the GPRS, then 20 minutes in Guangzhou’s China Mobile Outlet to re-check my GPRS connection. Pathetic.

If you visit a small restaurant, the waiter will look like they want to dare you for a fight. But don’t worry, that’s the way they are. Speak loud and sometimes spitting everywhere actually are the things I try so hard to “accept” when I was in China. They way they look at me is humiliating. I feel like an alien.. but it’s just the way they are, I don’t really care. 

It felt good to be illiterate. I really enjoy while I don’t understand what people are actually talking about, what a calm life! Hahaha, especially when you’re already get bored with works. Translation is amazing. 

Everything’s made in China. You know industry grow bigger and bigger here. People starts getting more money, and so they can afford lifestyle. Chinese people are consumptive. Creditcards swiped everywhere. You can find international brands easily, and so high-quality local brand. Real ones, or fake ones – oh yes I am talking about fashion. Some looks very chic, some are still typical Chinese – curled hair and tattoed eyebrows. I thought I only saw these typical in Indonesia. 

Beijing – Shanghai – Guangzhou is kinda similar, megapolitant, 1^st tier city. Everyone’s really busy, and sometimes they don’t care each other. Apart from those 3 megacities, Fuzhou is kinda different. I feel it’s more like Semarang – Central Java capital city. Kinda “old”, slow, and I still see teenagers greets the elderly, and smile to each other.  But still, this 2^nd tier city can not be compared to Jakarta. It’s beautiful, clean, big roads, and have metro. Damn.  Indonesia, why are you sleeping?

Some people asked me, why did I travel to China, leisure or business? Yes it was a business trip, a whole week for a qualitative market research. You know why I enjoy my work? Coz it enable me to travel and see people. Listen to what they believe and value. Though in fact I could manage my time to visit Forbidden City, Tianmen Square, and Lama temple in Beijing. Also The Bund, Tianzifang, Yuyuan Garden, and Xintian Di in Shanghai.  I even met my fellow Indonesian traveler, Harry Kawanda, during his around-the-world-adventure in Shanghai.. amazing!

Trip in China is kinda hard if you don’t speak and literate their language. Most of the sign are written in Pinyin letter, and least people speak english. Thanks to Taruli, my work mate, who accompany me each day of my China trip, he does speak mandarin very well. I also install Chinese Phrasebook in my android phone, in case, just in case I am forced to talk to them. In the airports, often the officer talk to me in mandarin, put my face into a blank one. Also hotel front officer gave me a prank-call speaking in mandarin, in a long sentences, and I just answer “I don’t understand”. Sometimes I got smiley face, or a slight anger reaction from them.. hihihi..

Overall, it was a great time I spent in China. I should go back one day to visit Hangzhou – which mentioned by Marcopolo as the most splendid city, or to the Great Wall.. ;)

Underwater Hockey!

Speaking of underwater hockey, the sports I’ve been doing regularly these past 6 months, will always contains of joy and excitement. Basically I do love watersports, especially swimming. My late dad was a swimming athlete, he trained me since I was a kid, though I always refused to join a swimming club, but I really enjoy being in the water.  Later on, swimming was the only sport I do, appart from basic basketball or bicycling –these two sports had been abandoned since I went to college. I moved to Jakarta for work, one day I went to an island trip and meet Nino. Nino is the guy who’s responsible because he dragged me into freediving and this weird sport: underwater hockey. 

this is how you would look like

So what is underwater hockey? Don’t worry, I am used to explain it very often, in Indonesia hockey itself is not a popular sport, moreover underwater hockey. Underwater hockey is literally hockey played underwater. We use puck (the ball) and stick to moves the puck, just like land or ice hockey, and we play underwater, or let’s say at the bottom of the pool. 

The player will have to wear swimsuit, gloves to protect the playing hand, polo cap to protect the ears, mask, snorkel to help them breathe, and fins to help swimming faster. Simple? Yes it is. Then after you are ready with your gear, time to hit the pool. The game is played by 2 teams (usually black versus white), black team will wear black polo cap and black stick, likewise the white team. Each team consist of up to 10 players, 6 player and up to 4 substitutes. The six player will divided as forward (left – center – right) and backward (left – center – right). The objective of this game is just like land hockey, dribble the puck into a goal. It’s easy!

*wait actually it is not that easy! Because we have to hold our breath underwater! The game is in the bottom of the pool, you have to go down! No scuba and oxygen tank like divers do, because those apparatus will complicated your life, well I mean you wont be able to move agily with those stuff, so forget it. 

Holding breath, but also swimming fast, you wonder where the fun is? I love it when I duck dive until I touch the bottom of the pool.. when I rush into the puck..blocking an attack, passing to my team mates, going up for a little oxygen, then go down again.. and little bubbles burst in front of your mask... Adrenaline is calling J. Ok I know, it seems not that easy, but it’s also no that hard. Even me, a lazy girl who don’t do much sport can do this. The excitement is …ME GUSTA! Also, women are still rarities creature in our club. Only 5-10 active member now, we still approaching our dream to have Indonesian 1^st female underwater hockey team. 

So you might questioning again, if we have no women team, then whom I play underwater hockey with? Again it’s easy question, I play with the rest of the member, who are….MALE! yay, another me gusta? No! they are stronger and faster.. it took me like forever competing with them until I can finally posses a puck. I’m still passing frustrating practice days, low days, when I thought I will not make it through the game. But, remember, it is a teamwork sports. Your contribution is worth, no matter how small it is, no matter is someone recognize it or not.

At the 1^st time, I remember, I felt soooo lazy to go down, I didn’t want to get hit by my opponent because I know I was less fast, less powerful than them. My team mate said to me “Don’t be lazy, don’t be useless, just go down and head off opponent. You will simply block their way, and they will lose momentum, your team mates will back you up to chase the puck”. Then I did, and I saw the other can approach the opponent easier, because I made our opponent slower down their speed. I really did nothing, I just head them off. Really. But I knew I contribute, and my team mates back me up, oh really touching wasn’t it? *.*

Off course I don’t want to be a statue in the bottom. I (try to) work hard, sometimes take extra practice in the weekend to gain better performance and skill.. watching coaching videos, I am still fighting until now (conditions apply, LOL), but I know I slightly get better, but still not good enough *hahahaha poor you little girl! I am not ambitious to be a professional athletes, no. I just do it for fun, but I wanna play it the right way. 
 

If you are in Jakarta, and curious about it, simply come to Krida Loka (Senayan) Swimming Pool every Monday and Thursday evening. We start practicing at 7 pm. Jakarta Underwater Hockey is a fun club, fun people, err no, they are family, they are so nice with newbies so don’t worry J you can ask for twice-free-trial before you really decide to join the club or not. Got more question? Post to me, or do the social media magic in Facebook or Twitter.. see you at the bottom of the pool!

i only got . . .

photo by me, model: Yarmmani Ajie

The 2012 Laneway Festival: Sg

Yes I went to Laneway Music Festival this 2012. Again. I flew alone from Jakarta. I was hoping a calm solo escape in Singapore, but the fact that I couldn’t take my 6am flight, and rescheduled to 9 am had a small panic attack in result. At 12 am, I was still at the airport, nervous while queuing the immigration, then rushing to the MRT platform.

Funny thing, when you are alone, you will attract somebody, a asian guy from Perth poked me asking about the MRT station. So sorry that I didn’t ask his name. or did I? I just can’t remember.  Then, we were in the same MRT, and had a short talk about travelling. Thanks to my sandals & backpack that made me really look like a traveler. He was just came back from Turkey, and recommend me to go there. Guess now I regret a bit, coz he was telling me that he plans to enroll pilot academy in US this year, I miss a chance to get free ticket! (LOL)

Slightly almost 1 I arrived at Dhoby Gaut Station, reaching Singapore Plaza, then met my lovely friend: @isleeptillnoon Felicia.. she was already nervous waiting for me.. sorry Feli.. thank got I got meal during my flight, so I was ready to take a cab and go to Fort Canning Park! No time for even a single relax breath :hammer:

Ok then I was introduced to Rais, Feli’s friend, another solo-tripper from Indonesia.. ah it was so nice to be solo.. we are free to meet anybody else. While Feli still accompanied Ditto, me and Rais decided to queueing the entrance gate, it was quite looong queue! You know, it was taking me the whole Cults show to be finally got inside the venue! FTW! I was coming to Laneway for Cults! well I just could humming with Rais, sucks. Next year I’ll have this anticipated!

The sun was shinning so bright.. blue sky & white clouds above.. so happy with that summer feeling festival. Mineral water are the most wanted items, don’t forget wearing our sunshades, beer just got us higher! Yuck looks cool, brought the uk indie pop feeling..

The sun was too hot, I decided to grab some water and beers.. it was Chairlift on the stage, yes they have cozy sounds, just perfect for us while laying down on the grass. Then my 1^st experience saw and listening to Austra’s performance. Man, they are pretty and dance like crazy. Their beats are indeniably danceable.. very earcatching.. well at least for me. Other outstanding performance also come from GIRLS, these guys were taking charge of a tribute to Whitney Houston who passed away that day. All Fort Canning park was singing together and got teary eyes, so sad yet sweet.

The Drums performed right after GIRLS. The sun was still shining so bright, and I was busy queueing for water and beers. I have ever watched the Drums couple months ago. It was in a small club, very intense, so it was like a strange feeling watching them far away my sight on a huge stage.  Then next I was just lazy sitting watched Anna Calvi, Laura Marling, and Twin Shadows.. excited for Feist, amazed by The Horror, until finally we were at the end of the festival: M83.

It was eyegasm, eargasm, I couldn’t even remember was I drunk or sleepy, or what, I knew I was sober. I almost cry, but sadly it wasn’t raining, a bit anti-climax but M83 on stage was awesome, magic. I got nothing left to say, they are marvellous.

At the beginning, I was a bit less enthusiast for Laneway, regarding there would be many Indonesian coming to this. The fact, yes it was, but the atmosphere of music festival – that wasn’t happen in Jakarta, I don’t know just create a different feeling. Cheering beer, talking with strangers while queueing, sharing tricks to smuggled tequila to the venue, a wink to bartender for an extra shot of vodka. Bule definetely showed us to have fun. When the show is over, we were with a drunk lady who shout calling her friends, it was fun! See you next year!

YUCK

GIRLS

Austra

M83

Sebuah catatan kecil di usia ke-26

[Hei ini hari terakhir di bulan Februari!! Harus segera posting!]

aku tua ya? Tua atau nggak tergantung persepsi. Aku tua dibandingkan anak smp, tapi aku jauh lebih muda dari sebagian besar orang-orang di kantor..hahaha *teteeeep

26 tahun sudah aku hidup. Setiap ulang tahunku datang, terasa ada hal yang lebih istimewa. Walaupun sebenarnya, sejak dulu aku bukan orang yang menganggap hari ulang tahun adalah hari yang “lebih” dibanding hari-hari lainnya. Aku nggak pernah punya pesta ulang taun yang heboh. Mungkin terakhir waktu TK, pesta ulang tahun di sekolah, bahkan umur 17 tahun pun, biasa saja.

Ulang tahun adalah momen di mana kita mengingat lagi apa yang sudah kita kerjakan, dan apa yang akan kita kerjakan di masa depan. Hampir mirip seperti tahun baru. Ya ulang tahun aku nggak jauh2 dari tahun baru, nuansanya masih mirip-mirip.

Ulang tahun ini terasa beda, karena aku sudah tidak menerima lagi ucapan dari Paya. Percaya nggak, tapi di tanggal 15 Feb pagi, aku mimpi, masukin mobil ke garasi sama Paya, rasanya kita abis pergi bareng. Kita ngobrol soal bensin mobil dan indikator panel di dasbor. Memang beliau nggak ngucapin selamat ulang taun, tapi beliau jawab bbrp pertanyaanku soal mobil. Ah, Paya………..

Beberapa tahun yang lalu aku pengen bikin kompilasi ucapan ulang tahun dari semua temen-temen, tapi belum sempat. Tahun ini harus. Ucapan ulang tahun itu seperti momen yang membawa semua temen lama maupun temen baru. Ada yang dulu ngucapin, tapi nggak lagi. Ada juga yang dulu belum kenal jadi nggak ngucapin, tapi taun ini ngucapin.

Serunya, dari ucapan ulang taun itu, bisa jadi obrolan pun berlanjut.. “apa kabar, sekarang di mana? Sibuk apa?” atau, dari ucapan itu aku bisa introspeksi tentang diri sendiri, seperti apa sih image kita di mata teman2 “semoga makin gaul” – oh jadi aku dianggepnya gaul.. entah dalam konotasi positif atau sarkastik, ah biarin lah.

Ada lagi, yang istimewa, adalah kado-kado dari temen baik. Kado digital yang imut-imut dari kang Dadang: gambar perempuan nyalain lilin di atas kue dan meniupnya. Aku sendiri hampir ngga inget kapan terakhir meniup lilin ulang taun. Hahaha.

nuhun ya kang @lesmanadadang

Ada lagi kado digital yang nggak kalah imut dari @tamagraph, lelaki muda yang puitis & manis *haiss, dibawakan oleh keponakannya, Zhizhi, yang bulet semuanya, dari mata, pipi, sampai bibir cembetutnya, hihhhh gemes.. untung tulisannya bukan “Tante Titis” tapi “ka Titis”

*pengen peluk Zhizhi!!!

….trus jadi speechless….hahaha Thank God, each birthday reminds me that i have known a lot of people who care about me..

*abis itu kompilasi ucapannya males juga dong, abis banyaaaaak bangeeeet :S

Royksopp's Night Out versi Jakarta

Emang ya rasanya beda kalau kita nonton band yang kita suka langsung di depan mata. Bisa gila! Eh aku ga mabok kan kemaren? Hahaha..

Finally, aku bisa liat Röyksopp, langsung di depan mata, ga perlu susah2 backpacking ke Eropa! Thanks to IsmayaLive, 8 Feb kemaren mereka didatengin ke sini! Inget bbrp tahun yang lalu dikenalin sama temennya Day, Mike. Kita langsung ngobrol nyambung gara-gara awalnya ngomongin Röyksopp. Waktu itu tahun 2008 kalo nggak salah, aku bilang kalo salah satu band yang pengen aku liat live-nya adalah Röyksopp.

Waktu itu aku sudah mulai suka musik-musik elektronik, tapi scene seperti itu belum mulai hype di Indonesia – eh apa aku yang ndeso ya.. :D penasaran aja musik-musik begitu livenya gimana. liat di you-tube keren, belum lagi album Röyksopp’s Night Outnya yang memang direkam live rasanya gahar bener..

..daaaan, emang gahaaar, gila aku gilaaa.. loncat2 ga berhenti! Sempet ngerasain crowd di belakang deket mixer, pengen ngerasain sound yang optimal hihihi (biasanya aku selalu merangsek ke depan kalo nge-gig) yang ternyata crowdnya kurang heboh (apa karena ini Indonesia?). Bener aja pas pindah ke depan, ambiencenya jadi makin gilaaa..

Röyskopp didatengin sama IsmayaLive, sekalian sama Bag Raiders, Rory Phillips, dan Erol Alkan. Dua nama terakhir terkenal sbg DJ di UK, banyak remixan & rework mereka yang keren2. Tapi pas kemaren, mereka mainin mixingan lagu mereka sendiri. Bag Raiders was awesome, sayang mereka main duluan, jam 7 teng! Lha aku baru nyampe, pas banget masuk venue pas Turbo Lovenya hiks hiks.

Rory Philips on the deck

Röyksopp main abis Bag Raiders & Rory Philips, mereka buka pelan-pelan pake Alpha Male, trus Happy Up Here, hajar Remind me.. abis itu apa ya.. zzzz lupak.. ooh The Girl & The Robot, trus crowds calm down ke The Alcoholic, satu-satunya lagu dari album Senior yang dimainin..pas ini juga aku pindah ke depan nih.. trus aku lupaaa, ada True to Life, ada juga This Must Be It, ga inget udah mana duluan yang dimainin.. udah gila, mana dilanjut What Else is There & Only This Moment.. trus apa ya.. *parah sekipnya pokoknya tau2 encore: Poor Leno sama apa ya.. errrr tobat lupa!

Royskopp's Crowd

Pokoknya berakhir dengan berkeringat penuh semangat! Yay! Videonya cakep2 nih, Cuma gede banget sizenya karena pake HD, kapan2 diupload lah.. :*

too much..

too many songs we sing
too many laugh we share
too many roads we travel
too many problems you fix
too much doubts you ease
too much joys you give
too much beautiful things
too much love we have
too hard to say goodbye, Paya

we have so little time to say any of the things we mean.
we have so little time for any of it.

R.I.P Paya 8 June 1957 - 15 Dec 2011

R.e.m.a.j.a

Tadi pagi, rekan kerja saya menyodorkan majalah National Geographic Indonesia edisi Oktober 2011. “Tis, coba kamu baca, bagus nih insight tentang remaja”. Di sampulnya memang tertulis headline “Di Balik Gejolak Darah Muda – kami tak segila yang kalian kira”. Wah, terdengar menggoda ya? Jadi sambil menyalakan komputer kantor, saya pun mulai membaca artikel utama itu.

Remaja memang ditakdirkan berbuat nakal, rebellious, mencoba segala sesuatu yang baru karena perkembangan lobus parientalis mereka. Ibaratnya saat remaja, otak mereka memang “setengah jadi” maka dari situlah segala perilaku ajaib,aneh dan kadang terkesan bodoh, itu muncul. Perilaku mereka amatlah peka terhadap reinforcement positif, terutama social reinforcement. Remaja sangat tertarik dengan hal-hal yang berkaitan dengan kawan-kawannya, dan akan melakukan hal-hal yang mengundang decak kagum kawan-kawannya. Sangat menggebu-gebu.

Pikiran saya pun kembali ke hari Sabtu yang lalu. Sebuah Sabtu sore yang panas di Jakarta, setelah menyelesaikan sesuatu yang alhamdulillah banget, saya mampir ke 7-eleven Senayan untuk minum air mineral dan kopi dingin. Saya terpaksa duduk di luar karena bangku di dalam penuh, selain karena teman saya ingin merokok. Kursi-kursi di teras itu hampir semuanya penuh, beberapa yang tersisa kosong mejanya kotor dan berantakan, duh. Akhirnya saya menemukan tempat duduk di sudut teras itu. Mata saya leluasa memandang ke seluruh sudut teras, isinya semuanya anak muda, saya yakin beberapa dari mereka masih masuk kriteria usia remaja.

Ada 2 meja yang menarik perhatian saya, meja berisi gadis-gadis remaja ibukota. Di meja yang satu gaya busananya sangat menarik, rok mini, blus bunga-bunga, wedges, sunglasses. Di meja yang satu lagi gaya busana standar, jeans, t-shirt dan sepatu flats. Mereka sama-sama berisik, tertawa riuh atau senyum lebar menunjukkan gigi berbehel sambil menyibakkan rambut panjangnya, dengan tangan tidak lepas dari blackberry (Kebayang kan? Tipikal remaja kota banget).

Di meja mereka ada botol hijau heineken. Saya yakin sih diantara mereka ada yang belum 21 tahun, jadi penasaran sebenarnya 7-11 atau circle-K di Indonesia rajin menanyakan identitas atau tidak sih ke remaja-remaja yang membeli minuman beralkohol itu? Waktu saya di luar negri, saya pernah membeli sekaleng bir di circle-K, dan mas kasirnya menanyakan identitas saya sambil cengar-cengir begitu sadar umur saya sudah 25 tahun. Di sana tertulis yang intinya “jangan merasa tersinggung ketika kami menanyakan kartu identitas anda karena berarti anda terlihat seperti 16 tahun atau lebih muda” hahaha. Oh ya kembali ke meja-meja remaja itu, botol heineken itu terlihat sudah tidak dingin, titik-titik embun di botol itu tidak terlihat. Sepertinya mereka sudah lama nongkrong di situ, tapi sayangnya botol bir itu masih terisi setengah. Tak seberapa lama, si empunya botol menegak isinya, hanya sedikit yang masuk ke mulut, raut wajah datar terlihat sedikit susah menelannya, dan ia meraih chitato di sisi meja yang lain. Kasihan, seperti tersiksa.

Sementara meja lain yang lebih atraktif, seorang baru saja kembali dari dalam 7-eleven, membawa sebotol mix max hijau, dan sekaleng coke. Di gelas slurpee dia mulai meramu minuman, mix max dicampur bir, dan satu lagi coke dan bir. Terlihat mata mereka mengerjap setelah mencoba ramuan itu. Sebel ya, kalau remaja memaksakan diri seperti itu.

Kenapa harus memaksakan diri sih? Karena nongkrong di 7-eleven sambil minum bir & merokok itu keren. Sayang ya, ketika kita remaja kita memang berusaha menyamakan diri dengan teman-teman, dengan trend, tapi menjadi sia-sia kalau ternyata kita bukannya berusaha menemukan diri kita. Jangan lah minum kalau tidak bisa menikmati, jangan merokok jika memang bukan ketagihan nikotin. Maksudnya, boleh saja mengikuti trend, supaya bukan menjadi outliar, tapi ada kalanya mesti kembali ke diri sendiri, bagaimana tidak kehilangan jati diri (eh tapi masa remaja kan memang masa mencari jati diri ya?) bagaimana mulai menggali dalam hati kita, apa sih yang memang ingin kita kerjakan. Apa sih aspirasi kita? Mau jadi apa sih kita? Kok kita ya? Saya kan sudah bukan remaja J Remaja memang harus berani memberontak, tapi bagaimana mengekspresikannya itu yang sebaiknya dengan cara yang kreatif. Gimana adek-adek?

(Ending tulisan ini kenapa jadi terkesan membingungkan dan labil ya? Apa saya masih remaja?)

waktu saya remaja, ah senang yaaa :)