The Lost Wanderer

It has been a week here
Selama 2 minggu pertama gw tinggal di apartemen gratisan dari kantor. Untungnya Sialnya gw dapet apartemen nun jauh dari kantor dan flat teman-teman, sendirian disana selama seminggu pertama (my Philippines roommate would come a week later). So I had to figure out everything alone. Ga enaknya, di jalan jadi keliatan bego dan bingung. Tapi efeknya gw jadi cepat menguasai jalanan (sadis!), teknologi yang dipake dan kebiasaan orang-orang.

Hari ini gw solat Idul Adha di Mesjid Al-Falah di Orchard bareng temen-temen sekalian lanjut jalan-jalan disana. Kami bolak-balik ngelewatin underpass buat nyebrang dari satu mal ke mal yang lain, mestinya sih gw sudah hapal jalan hingga tiba-tiba seorang ibu dari Indonesia menguji gw, "Dek dek, kalo mau ke Lucky Plaza dimana ya? Saya terpisah dari rombongan nih." FYI sebelumnya gw udah ngelewatin plaza itu 2 kali, yang pertama bahkan masuk ke dalamnya! "Emm uhh ohh.. *melihat kiri kanan bingung* ..klo ga salah y…

Ga perlu ngantri lama buat masuk wahana, toilet, sholat dan beli makanan. Semua wahana yang pengen dicoba sempet dinaikin. Naik Niagara, Kicir-Kicir, Tornado dan boom boom car 2 kali (Tornado pun jadi terasa ecek-ecek).

Dufan in weekday is so much fun!

Hmm isn't it quite bright here? Hehe a new theme, replacing the old dark one (thx bub for helping me to choose those kawai blogskins).

So what's up with me is I'm back in Jakarta still dreaming of Weh island haha. Well udah seminggu sih disini, sempat mengalami sindrom balas dendam abis travelling: I don't wanna go out from home! Kerjaannya malas-malasan dan pacaran: nonton dvd, marathon Ally McBeal series, dan tak lupa pantengin facebook terus buat ngecek status relationship orang-orang yang sering berubah. Hingga akhir minggu barulah punya niat buat mulai nyiapin kepindahan ke Singapore yang tinggal seminggu lagi. Dimulai dari mencabut membership Fitness First. Huwaaaa I felt kinda mellow feeling when I visited FFPacific Place. Setelah cuti nge-gym 3 bulan (sejak puasa), I'm missing it a lot! The group class, the street dance, the yoga and body balance class, the cardio things, the people, the place... all about FF. Hiks yeah life goes on.

I love my TBI time too. K…

Now I want to share some information about going to Sabang Weh island. First let me correct the common misunderstanding about Sabang. Sabang is actually a city, the capital city of Weh island. I even did not stay any night at Sabang. Yeah, after doing some research, I found out that Gapang and Iboih(read. Iboh, in Aceh language means "is put", dunno what's philosophy in it) are the perfect places for diving and snorkeling. So those were my main destination. "Weh" in Aceh language means "go away", maybe because it is isolated from other Aceh regions.Here is the ferry schedule between Ulee Lheue harbour in Banda Aceh with Balohan harbour in Weh island.
Express ferry (45 minutes)
Price: Economy - 60.000 IDR, Executive (AC) - 70.000 IDR, VIP - 90.000 IDR
Ulee Lheue - Balohan: 10.00 and 16.00 WIB
Balohan - Ulee Lheue: 08.30 and 15.00 WIB
Slow ferry is cheaper (about 15.000 IDR per person) and able to take vehicles in it, but it sails for 2 hours.

In Balohan,…

Enough with the city, let's go to the beach! Well Banda Aceh is surrounded by sea, we could get to some beaches: Lampu'uk, Ujong Batee, Ujong Kareung, Ulee Lheu and Lhoknga. I've only visited Lampu'uk. Lampu'uk word comes from Lampoh that means garden/land and U which means coconut tree. So on the way there we could see many coconut trees. The beach is sooo awesome! And that is the only beach there that has banana boats.
Well, still many beaches to visit in Banda Aceh, so I have reason to be back again rite? Cause now my job here had been finished. Time to go holiday home. Sabang -> Berureuneun -> Lhokseumawe -> Medan -> Jakarta.

Let's enjoy the life!

I've crossed deserts for miles
Swam water for time
Searching places to find
A piece of something to call mine
(I'm coming, I'm coming)
A piece of something to call mine
(I'm coming, coming closer to you)

Ran along many moors
Walked through many doors
The place where I wanna be
Is the place I can ca…

Ira tagged me (long long time ago).

The rules
1. Each blogger must post these rules
2. Each blogger starts with ten random facts/habits about themselves
3. Bloggers that are tagged need to write on their own blog about their ten things and post these rules. At the end of your blog, you need to choose ten people to get tagged and list their names.
4. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’ve been tagged and to read your blog.
I've done 6 before hahaha ga mau rugi. So here are the rest. 7. I have scuba diving certification.
8. I have lived in 4 different cities so far.
9. I have danced with Inul.
10. I cried after finished reading Harry Potter #7 book. Who's not??! Guess which one(s are) is not true! I am not a liar type person, so it must be easy.
Tagged!
Whoever interested with it

Yosh, I've been here in Banda Aceh for 2 weeks. And 2 weeks more till I go back to Jakarta. I got a project job here (it's not related to previous post :D) for 3 weeks to help to build a system for Meuraxa Tsunami Drill. Let's skip about the event (and the system, I'll write them next days), and look around the city!

I went here by plane from Soekarno-Hatta to Sultan Iskandar Muda(transit in Polonia). It's my first experience stopping in SIM actually, cause everytime I went back to Aceh, I'm going to Lhoksukonplane stop airport, the nearest place to my reminiscently hometown Lhokseumawe. Yeah Lhokseumawe FTW! Because of bad weather, my flight to SIM was delayed for 3 hours for sake, luckily my flash is always with me *kisses flash*(no hotspot in Polonia). SIM is a very small building for a Malaysia an international airport.

On the first weekdays I got very busy. My work responsibility is like... can I make it??! So I was starting to walk around the city on Sat…

Hhff, ijinkan saya untuk mengundurkan diri sejenak dari dunia pencarian kerja

Un cocomero tondo tondo
che voleva conquistare il mondo
che voleva che tutti gli altri superare
un bel giorno si mise a…
viaggare!

(Semangka yang bundar
ingin menguasai dunia
dan mengalahkan yang lain
suatu hari yang indah ia pun…
berpetualang!) — lagu anak-anak Italia

I'd never experienced it before. Pernah sih kalau lagi pake ATM suka mengkhayal sendiri... gimana ya kalo tiba-tiba kartu gw ga mau keluar? Gimana ya kalo duitnya ga keluar padahal tabungan gw dah berkurang? Gimana ya kalo tiba-tiba isi tabungan gw bertambah banyak? Kalo yang terakhir sih didiemin aja

On last friday at 16.30 WIB I took 100,000 rupiahs from ATM Mandiri at Plaza Semanggi. Jreng jreng, one of 50,000 came out with... torn! It's totally not my fault!I got panicked. It was at the mal (no bank office). And friday afternoon (all banks had closed). What should I do? Where should I go? Who's responsible for this? How could I prove it? Then I called Call-Mandiri 14000. They said that I could exchange it in any Mandiri office.

So on monday (which is today), I went to Mandiri office at Wisma Tugu Kuningan(the nearest one from my english course place, Menara Kuningan) just before I attend my course. So I didn't go there for that certain purpose.

After they discussing i…

Once, several years ago, Anastasia's parents had had a huge fight about sewing. Her mother was sewing some buttons onto something at the time and had just pricked her finger with the needle, and she had the tip of her finger in her mouth, sucking it, when suddenly she got mad.

"This is the most sexist household in Cambridge," she had announced angrily. "Why is it that the wife gets stuck with the sewing? Myron, you do some of the cooking. Will you tell me one good reason why you don't sew?"

"Because I don't know how," her father had said, chewing on his pipe.

"I'll teach you, then."

"Thank you, but I don't want to know how to sew."

Her mother sat there for a minute, sucking her finger, looking madder and madder. "In that case," she said finally, "thank you, but I don't want to do any laundry anymore. Ever."

"In that case," said her father, "I don't think I want to be an English p…

Saatnya mendongeng.
Dahulu kala saat Kerajaan Deli masih bernama Kerajaan Haru, ada seorang puteri cantik jelita bernama Puteri Hijau, yang saking cantiknya memancarkan cahaya hijau dari tubuhnya. Ia memiliki 2 saudara laki-laki Mambang Yasid dan Mambang Khayali. Suatu hari Raja Aceh datang ingin meminang Puteri Hijau namun ditolak. Karena merasa tersinggung dan marah, Raja Aceh menghimpun pasukan kerajaannya untuk mulai menyerang Kerajaan Haru.

Saat itulah Mambang Khayali berubah jadi sebuah meriam, yang menembak pasukan Aceh tanpa henti. Lama-kelamaan meriam itu menjadi panas hingga akhirnya meledak, pecah dan terlempar. Mambang Khayali pun meninggal. Bagian depan pecahan meriam terlempar ke dataran tinggi Karo di dekat Kabanjahe(tus??! Take me there!), sedangkan bagian belakangnya terlempar ke Labuhan Deli yang lalu dipindahkan ke pekarangan Istana Maimun.
Selanjutnya karena semakin kalah, Mambang Yasid menyarankan adiknya untuk berpura-pura menerima pinangan Raja Aceh, dengan syara…

Saatnya membuka kembali buku sejarah.

Pada abad ke-15, Kerajaan Haru yang berlokasi di Sumatera Timur(Bengkalis), is one of the biggest kingdoms, along with the Kingdom of Melaka(Imperium Melayu Riau-Johor) and the Kingdom of Aceh Darussalam. Hubungan yang erat antara Haru dan Melaka(dikarenakan adanya perkawinan antara Raja Haru dan Putri Raja Melaka) menyebabkan Aceh khawatir akan kekuasaannya di Sumatera, apalagi saat itu Portugis mulai mengambil alih pemerintahan Melaka. Aceh terus menerus menyerang Melaka dan Haru. Hingga akhirnyadibawah pimpinan Muhammad Dalik atau Gocah Pahlawan yang bergelar Laksamana Khoja Bintan, Kesultanan Aceh dapat menaklukkan Haru. Sejak itu, Dalik dipercaya Sultan Aceh untuk menjadi wali negara di bekas Kerajaan Haru.

Pada tahun 1630 M, Dalik mendirikan Kerajaan Deli, setelah menikahi Puteri Nang Baluan Beru Subakti dari Batak Karo. For the detail explanation about this marriage, please let me quote from Melayu History:
Gocah Pahlawan menikah dengan adik…

First, I want to go to Sabang. Percaya ga, 15 tahun gw hidup di Aceh tapi belum pernah ke Sabang? Sabang is the most western part of IndonesiaAceh, closed to Banda Aceh but not to Lhokseumawe(North Aceh) as my hometown. So my family never took me there. But then I moved to Banda Aceh to continue my senior hi school, while my parents were still in Lhokseumawe(it's far for 6-7 hours by car). The only chance I could go to Sabang was with my school friends. Di liburan panjang selesai tahun pertama SMU, temen-temen sekelas pun berencana jalan-jalan ke Sabang selama 3 hari. I was so excited, until Dad suddenly told me that he would take me to Singapore for that holiday. So yeah then I chose Singapore.

But now, I can go there by myself. Before going to Aceh last week, I've browsed a lot about Sabang. There are 0 kilometres monument and the beautiful beaches and the perfect quiet places for diving... owhh I'm really craving to go there. But yeah, I think I couldn't do it last h…

Minggu kemarin gw berlebaran di Aceh. Ternyata ritual permainan anak laki-laki disana masih tidak berubah, bermain senjata! Menjelang Idul Fitri, bukan cuma lilin kembang api dan alat-alat pembakaran lainnya yang banyak dijual di pasaran, tapi juga senjata mainan laras panjang. I dont know much about gun types, maybe they're AK47 one. Tipe yang dijual sama bo (beda warna doang), gw ga ngerti deh darimana dapet stok barang-barang ini. Kebiasaan ini cuma ada di Aceh, well at least I don't see it in Jakarta. Di hari-hari lebaran itu, kita akan menjumpai sekumpulan anak laki-laki dengan masing-masing memegang senjatanya dan berkeliling kota naik becak, mencari kumpulan anak laki-laki lain untuk diserang. Dan mereka tembak-tembakan pake anak peluru kecil bulat-bulat yang kalo kena lumayan juga sakit bo! What the hell are they thinking?! I think they still couldn't think. Lucunya, main-main senjata ini cuma ada pas lebaran. Seperti sepupu kecil gw, pas malam lebaran dia mengelua…

So yesterday I watched these 5 old movies. I'd grabbed them from rileks(kinda multimedia portal in itb) since a year ago when still in college, but they're just buried forgetfully in my BenQ.

The Man from Earth
There is this one professor guy named John Oldman who was quitting his job. On the day his moving, some colleagues in university (biologist, psychologist, historian, anthropologist) came to his house to make farewell party. They're very surprised with his movement and wondering why. Until finally John confided them that he's a cro-magnon human who had lived for 14.000 years, always faced new eras without getting old, so he had to move to other place every 10 years. At first his fellas didn't believe it, but every answers and stories he told are perfectly fit. He had ever sailed with Christopher Columbus, met Budhha, and the most strained part is when he admit that he's one of the religious figure in the world.
The setting is so simple, mostly at John's …

Still about pictures. And a new invention.
Ternyata senyum tidak selamanya melengkung ke bawah

Lagi bersihin harddisk laptop (baca. ngubek-ngubek folder Pictures, Music dan Movies ) setelah sekian lama terlantarkan karena kesibukan ngantor *halah*, nemu gambar ini yang selalu bikin gw ngakak jaya...

BEFOREAFTER