33B33/28 - go to a casino and gambling

Yes, I have to admit that I never been in Casino before.. well I did twice, but that just for passing through.

So this time I went to Casino in Sentosa Island, Singapore and played $20 on jackpot machine.  This is still gambling, right?  Because I don't know how to play Poker or Black Jack or any other cards game.
Did I win?  Of course NOT but I did a sneaky shoot inside. Those hands in the picture wasn't mine, those are my aunt's. She got crazy over this machine, she made us came back to this casino twice more.

Obviously I really don't have mental of a gambler.  

Owl City

This post is not about that famous music group who singing Thousand Fireflies (which I personally love too). I've been seeing lots of owl since two years ago, began to realize it when flipping over Shop till You Drop magazines. There were owl everywhere; in fabric printing, accessories, decoration and of course the movie: The Owls of Ga'Hoole; suddenly you are surrounding by thousands huge round eyes (in a cute way)..

When I went to Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan, the boat lady-driver mentioned about the Owl. She said by the time we reach Te Hua Village we would find lots of sculpture of owls in Souvenir shops. This is because Owl is sacred animal to Thao Aboriginal people. She mentioned that the tribe believe rubbing the head of an owl sculpture will grant them with baby boy, and rubbing the tummy part for baby girl.  From the official website I found that there is a legend about the Owls.

According to Thao's legend, the owl is the incarnation of a Thao's girl, who was pregnant without being married. All Thao people, including her parents, could not forgive her. In a stormy night, she escaped into the mountain. After several days, a Thao's hunter found her dead body under a tree and an owl staying on the top of the tree. They believed the owl was her incarnation. Afterwards, an owl would fly over the house where a pregnant woman is living. The owl seems to tell Thao people that they have to take good care of the pregnant women. Never make the same mistake again.

I bought an owl pendant myself and it already become one of my favourite..  

33B33/25 - pin another country

I got a chance to join a very special tour to Taiwan last week. Took 5 hours flight from Jakarta to Taoyuan International Airport (CKS). And because this was suppose to be a Pilgrim tour, all served food were vegetarian food started in the plane - not very nice tho, steamed cabbage roll with mushroom and fake meat inside, vermicelli, and some cold salad. Most of the people politely made a small bite and pushed the tray aside while chatting or continue their sleep. 

After the long hour of waiting in the airport and sitting on the bus we finally get in to our hotel room - which was awesome! 3 beds for 2 people, and eat yummy dinner in a paper box.

Mysterious Fruit

I was walking around Sunday Market in KK with Marie last week, I looked around and see typical Market similar in Jakarta. I thought there wouldn't be anything different. But my eyes suddenly caught a very funny looking fruit. The skin kind a cross between Durian with Rambutan and look like thousand toothpicks sticking out.

Marie's mom bought one for me, but because it hasn't ripe on my last day I decided to bring it home to Jakarta. And as I thought everyone have their eyebrow rised. We waited for another couple of days before we tried to open it. Our kitchen smell like burned rubber, and believe me.. it wasn't nice.

Marie told me the fruit name but with my memory as small as golden fish I soon forget about it. I keep telling everybody that it is a Mysterious Fruit. Luckily, Google came in handy. It called Buah Tarap or Marang.

Once it is opened, we can see all the milky white small fruits somehow look similar like Nangka and Cempedak. We love the taste....... and for the skin, I thought it could be a great shoe scrusher!
The seeds were already sent to my parent's house at Puncak last night, hopefully by end of this year we can see our own Mysterious Fruit Trees!

KK trip

Sometime back in July I chatted with Marie and found out that she was planning to fly back for Holiday to KK then continue with small trip to Melaka and Singapore. After a short chat I decided to make a short trip to her hometown, KK. So.. end of July I packed my brother's backpack and left Mr Chai behind just for four days.

I finally saw Marie's curly hair after around three hours flight with AirAsia - my very first time flying with AirAsia! Love their Asian fried rice and milk tea. We ta pao some satai and chicken wings for dinner from Tanjung Aru and exchange gifts before we sleep.

Note: thanks Rua for the peppermint peckers! Innocents and bastards now could be separated by this white candy...

Second day was kinda all-over-and-about- KK tour. Started with visiting the Tourism Centre, Marie and I took the map and start following the road to Jesselton Hotel, found weird mysterious fruit in Sunday Market, climbed up to see Atkinson Clock Tower, Passed the Australia Place, Sniffing the smell of Central Market and face to face with stuffed dead Frog in Pasar Filipino!
Then Tracy came to picked us up with her PeroDua Myvi car and we officially on wheel! Weeeeeeeeeee...

We drove to Tanjung Aru again and this time spent longer time enough for having ABC ice and Rojak. Having a great time in Heritage Village - jumping in one of the traditional house, visited Sabah Museum, made a quick around at Wisma Tun Mustapha, Had yummy lunch at Hongkong Recipe, Spent some time at Nexus Resort finally had little rest at Tracy's.
At that night I was busy ticking Have-to-see list.

The next day was filled with a long trip to Mount Kinabalu with a quick stop at Jambatan Tamparuli and the local handicraft shop. Too bad the weather was foggy so we fail to see the Mount Kinabalu peak. but still had fun doing the Squirrel path where we took picture with replica of Giant Raflesia and saw a real squirrel.
Visit to Kundasang War Memorial and Gardens gave me a deep feeling remembering not only Australian and British in Borneo but all the people around Asia who died during the Japanese attack in WW2.
We had all Seafood dinner with Tracy that night. She showed us around KK in night time and somehow managed to walk in to Shangrila hotel.

And finally my last day.. As promised Marie took me for some Laksa for Breakfast. That day was a bit like religious trip. We went to two Buddhist temples. In Puh Toh Tze Temple with huge tall Kwan Yin Statue at the main entrance, Marie showed me her grandma's small tomb. And at the second temple is a pagoda for Che Sui Khor Moral Uplifting Society. We climbed up to 7th floor (by stairs - yes! not elevator) to make a sincere pray and wish.
Because of the heavy rain unfortunately we had to cancel the trip to St Michael's Church in Penampang.

With the mysterious fruit in my backpack, Marie and her parents dropped me off at the Airport with wishes that someday they will give me a return visit somewhere in Indonesia.

*I like how blogger give us bigger pictures option like this... I can see the photos clearly now!

Nearly There....

I left Adelaide on the 20th Feb and was in Singapore for 5 days, mainly just walking around the city – can I say Orchard road as a city?
So glad I saw Mr Chai waiting for me at the Airport gate with his new hair cut. A little bit like highschool-style I may say. Oh, and I've got a special request not to post any of his picture in this blog.
The second day we met friends from uni, the famous PawPaw and the lovely Meryani – 7 years seems just like yesterday. She hasn’t changed much, but absolutely look pretty with her makeup and cute voice. It’s too cute – I couldn’t take my eyes off of her when she speaks.

Pawpaw walked us around from Ion Orchard and walked to Chijmes. It was like a walk-marathon – Shopping walk, China town walk and A little bit of Colonial District Walk.


I love love love the Chijmes area and The Raffles. sorry I'm not a big fan of shopping in Singapore. The courtyard with small fountain in centre and all the old details, it was so perfect IF the weather is a bit cooler – say uhmmm 26-28° Mediterranean weather!
Here is photo of my feet after 3 days walking nonstop. Notice all the inflated fingers! Never in years I have this kind of feet. They look like bear-foot.

I miss Adelaide already...

We survived the terror of Adelaide Gaol!

Sometime it's fun to slide in some education into your weekend. Marie and I went to visit the famous Adelaide Gaol on Sunday morning after a bit doubt whether guided tours are still happening in today's 37degree heat.


Our tour guide was Lyn, a nice old lady although I can't stop thinking that she has a slight similarity to Quasimodo. She walked and showed us around the jail, of course told us some unique stories about the buildings, bricks, body waste (ewwww), famous inmates, officers, hangman, some ghosts here and there.

Interesting fact: the last hanged prisoners was Mah Poo, a chinese man who killed his chinese boss over some argument. Everyone gasped when Marie suddenly said 'Oh, he has same family name with me!'
Another interesting thing also happened when Marie bought a souvenir pin for her hat. She accidentally dropped her $2 coin then when she squatted down she found 2 $2 coins! I think our visit to the Gaol was absolutely about Marie!

Walk-ercise

Yes, I am really enjoying unemployed life in Adelaide. I know today is Saturday but it feel the same like any other day now.

Marie and I decided to have some girly-exercise, not shopping but similar... We walked for 2 hours along River Torrens linear park started from Frome road, stop somewhere in the middle for some Angry Angas and we made a turn back at St Peters crossing Crazy wobbly bridge! exactly like one of those scene in Shrek.. and when you think that is not comical enough, we saw 4 sailors and pirates rowing a tiny boat to UniAde...

Australia Day

Weather was absolutely perfect! This time instead of typical BBQ lunch we went to Victor Harbour to celebrate Australian day. Well, actually not really celebrating, it was more about getting out from the heat at home.
We made some stops on the way. First stop was just a look out where we can see a nice warm golden yellow open field with sea on the back ground. So typical of Australian scenery.
Second stop was a breathtaking water dam. that's probably we were standing quite high above the water dam. I totally forgot the name.
Next was Selwyn's Rocks in Inman Valley. A small glazier rocks which prove that much of South Australian was covered by ice in Permian period. Don't expect a huge impressive rocks here.. it is actually just a small area, but Neil said in winter it was really beautiful. The water level will be a bit higher and all the trees are just lushly green. We had a quick lunch there. Marie's famous tandori chickens and some bread.
After that we reached Victor Harbour. We didn't go to Granite Island as usual but instead we went to the other side of Victor Harbour where we can see from distance a UniAde research boat was floating above the water, I hope they are working...
Neil took us to the end side of the Murray River. He usually come here to take some fishes for his research. It was a nice place, all open, wide quiet river with clear sky. Compare to where I work: small room facing red panel everyday with unpredictable AC above your head. Totally different world. Marie managed to do some yoga here but ended up doing that super hero pose.
On the way back to Adelaide, we passed a bunch of Angus cow. I just knew that these are the famous angry angus from Hungry Jack's. I always thought that Angus is someone's name..
I had a great time and look forward for the Great Ocean Road trip next month!

korea korea korea

Annyong haseyo!!
The (only) other words that I can remember beside ermayeyo and gamsa hamnida. Although the tour was in Mandarin I surely enjoyed the trip to Korea last month.
Interesting bunch of people: Mr. Wang whom I keep trying to make conversation with in English but always fail at second lines, sexy gurl AKA panda eyes and mickey mouse tshirt boy, 18 years old photog and his parents, excited happy face couple from Singapore, lovely Oba-chan with her daughter (nice aunty), and of course the lovely Mr. Chai and his big family.

My big impression of this South Korea tour would be:
- all beautiful flight attendances – I repeat beautiful, I don’t care if those are plastic surgery, botox or BB cream.
- Kimchi – never absent at any meal time
- Roller coaster in Everland – I’ve seen worst but still… it made my knee weak
- Sotong – just because Mr Wang keep repeating that word in the bus
- Toilet breaks – in every stop
- Stainless steel chopstick and bowl
- beautiful flight attendances
- “Made in Japan, no discount”
- not vegetarian friendly
- beautiful flight attendances -- have I said that?

Sydney Trip

Wooohoooo.. another scenic trip. Altough the weather was pretty bad, but we managed to see 3 sisters in Katoomba, blue mountain, jeenolan caves, sea cliff bridge, kiama and get lost somewhere in Wollongong thanks to KFC.



What we learnt:
- GPS lady needs time to get to know you. or else she will keep giving you "make a U turn" every 10m.
- wine+Tokyo Drift = pyuukkk

I dont have title for this one

I believe this weekend is a really nourished week.

For the first time ever, I actually woke up (not so) early and had jogging at the beach with Sue and Elenoir. Well, at least we pretend to have a jog.. but actually just a long walk with trackpant, running shoes and full of chit chat. And yes, we are planning to do it again next week :D *grint...

Marie's cousin, Carrie, come from HK this Saturday morning and she was in travelling agent planning the whole trip for a month. Adelaide-Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane-Goldcoast-Cambera-Cains. I think they will finalised the whole thing this Monday. I'm just wondering how much all that will cost, maybe 5K or more?

Another proof that I'm a really bad event organizer.. just because I didn't book the restaurant, we ended up having dinner at Dumpling King.. But the food still good tho.
We talked a lot about everything, like everything and they all gave a real enlightment (for me at least)

And of course.. the spa on Sunday at Endota Spa.. hhhhhh.. my b-day gift which I only use in the most needed time after being postponed for 4 months. thanks to Rua+Ahmed.

Long walk with Sue along the Torrens River was another great chit-chat session.

Windy point at this time surely chill. We went there just for a quick look out then heading back to city for a Portugasm.

Camping Camping

Never thought that camping could be so luxurious like this. We went for camping this weekend. came in on Saturday morning and off on Monday morning right on time when SAJC started the first horse racing for Adelaide Cup day this year.

West Beach Caravan Park is not like any camping site I know before back in Indonesia at boys/girl scout age or teenager. I reckon we could have been staying there with nice dress and heels ready for the Cup.

Well, it was a great experience anyway especially with the super duper easy assembling tent. I had so much fun learned how to assemble and de-assemble the tent, it makes me want to buy my own tent and planning to do backyard camping soon.
The Beach and company were great too. Couldn't wait to catch up with the girls again.

Hills trip

Weather on last Sunday was perfect for hills trip, so we canceled the beach trip and hit the road with Marie's small "australian look" (never been washed for half year) red car. First visit was to Mount Lofty then followed to Cleland Wildlife Park. They have everything there, except Platypus. :(
1 thing that I learned, Rua and Ahmed never touched rooroo and koala in intimate session before.
Next visit was to Hahndorf, old small German Village. Didn't have much time there but we managed to picked some strawberries at Beerenberg.
And as always, never hurt for some crazy screaming time in karaoke. We went to Ocean room this time and pretend that Arie sang as bad as we are. Geez.. Arie, you should sing in Rundle mall next time you come to Adelaide. I'm sure you'll afford to buy jacket or jumper after a couple of songs.

Semaphore

45 minutes for sun tanning while busy eating sand and dusting all the sand in my eyes + hair because the wind blew really hard this afternoon.
Couldn't stay any longer because Marie kind of allergic to sun.. hehehehe..

Darwin

Went to Darwin yesterday, just for work stuff. After tried to finish everything within 3.5 hours with sparkling eyes I imagine could do some light shopping.

I heard that there wasn't much thing happen there, and yes.. I saw it. Except the similar weather with Jakarta (minus the pollution), street mural in the "city" and the on going Darwin waterfront site (like I'm looking at the animation we've done before for the Council), other than that not much too see in 1 day. Even Zhou Hai agree with me. With hand gesture he said: Me see Adelaide good. Me see Brisbane good, Me see Darwin no good.

Beach Trip

It was such a perfect weather last Saturday. That was 1 of the other reason why we decided to hit the road with rented car visiting at least 8 beaches that day, including the famous Maslin beach. We had our late lunch at Star of Greece then successfully reached the last beach when the sun touched St Vincent Gulf.