Another Victoria's Secrets

Like any other places, Indonesia--especially in Java--also have tales that are inherited in form of stories for Wayang show. Wayang is Indonesian puppet, with different form in many places, but the Javanese use dried leather to create 2D puppets and play them behind a white sheet. I found this book of Bharatayudha, the great war in Mahabharata tale. Tho some say this tale came originally from India, I strongly believe this one is truly inherited from the richness of Nuswantara, the ancient Indonesia.

I have heard/read the characters or main story since I was a kid, but only now that I understand more about the relationship between each other and the details about the war. So the battle was about the struggle to get the throne between the 100 brothers of Kurawa versus the rightful owner, Puntadewa (Yudhistira) of the Five Pandhawas. The war lasted for 18 days and many had died during it.


My most favorite character is still Dewi Drupadi, wife of Yudhistira. But in this book I get to know more about Abimanyu--son of Arjuna--and also Gatotkaca (the famous one because he could fly), son of Bima (who is also famous because he was the mightiest of Pandhawas and had several magical weapons, one of them is Kuku Pancanaka or widely known as Kuku Bima).

Basically the tale tells us to (1) be good in life, as the bad will never win in the end. But it also tells us to (2) never give up until you reach your goal, to (3) fight for the right things and the value we hold on to, to (4) see life as the task we have to fulfill with certain role but after it's done we have to go back to Kahyangan (the Heaven). And to remember, that (5) the prayer (or curse) from the right person is heard by the gods (God), so be wisely when we think, say and do for they can all be true!

People keep reminding me that I have so many close friends. I am fully aware of and thankful of that. But among the thousands of them, some stay in my heart a little closer, and one of them is Joey Jovan. He happened to be in Bali and called me just after midnight last night and he asked for a meeting because all of his friends were going to club and he didn't feel like it (he never does).

So I got him picked me up and we had long conversation at Chat Cafe in Jl. Kunti until 5 am., just like in old times when I stayed in Jakarta. Joey had always pick me up after dinner (or supper) time and brought me back home after sunrise. Like always, I had a very delightful time with him, talking about all things, from latest news around our friends to business to spirituality--I can talk about everything with this guy.

Joey reminded me last night to believe in what I am doing. It's the key to make things happen. He also supports me on my projects and my writing. Sometimes it needs two or more people to say the same thing to me that my brain can actually work the way I want it to, so I take Joey's advice as one of the trigger I need to go forward. He also reminded me about some other things, to be on my track despite what people say. Like Alex Samosir, I always strongly believe that Joey is also my soul mate.

I just simply happy because Joey's visit really made my day (night, actually) because it had been almost two years since we last had this kind of conversation and I've missed him. It was on his last night that he got the chance to meet me and I am so glad he did call. Friends are so important to me because I learn so many things thru their eyes and experiences. And to have a friend like Joey is such a blessing to me. Thank you, God!

I found this book in Gramedia two days ago and finished reading it in just couple of hours. The book had enlightened me in some points and confirmed some of what I've heard/studied about before. This book explained about reincarnation from different angles and religions. There are also explanations about indigo kids.

I remember on my discussions with Rian--one of my close friend back then when he was in the USA--he tried to tell me that reincarnation was true, but I said I didn't believe in it, because my religion (in fact we both hold on to the same religion) don't teach it. Life after death is either heaven or hell and at the time I thought there were no salvation outside of Jesus and that Catholic was the truest religion.

But like any other people, time changed me. My eyes and ears are all open for new knowledge and my brain is processing the data more wisely to know which one is true and could be trusted. I have seen and listen more and therefore to know more. There are still people who don't believe in reincarnation but for me, I believe in it fully.

Religious people, especially on the religions that are not teaching about reincarnation, would say that it is impossible or that it's just a myth, etc. Well, to understand more is to know less. Empty your cup to receive the water otherwise it will be spoiled and the new thing could never enter your mind.

Lately I just understand that every information/knowledge that we get (and in bigger case can be every religion in the world) are true. It is just a matter of time for us to accept the concept(s), depends on the development of one's mind due to the complexities of the world, the mightiness of God and the limited brain of human's to process all. Just because we don't see or believe it, doesn't mean that the aliens are not exist, right?

So, here's my advice, remember:

1. Never say never to a new theory, even if it's completely a contrary to what you already know.
2. Don't judge before knowing something better. 
3. There are reasons behind everything that you don't know (yet). 
4. Don't think that you are the smartest in the world. 
5. The more you know, the more you should feel like you don't know about the thing.

You will never know if everything you were taught in school is a lie and the truth is something else that most people refuse to believe... Interesting, isn't it?

I went back to Bandung for the last time two weeks ago to help Mom with the packing. I stayed for a week there with Aunt Agnes and we packed the stuff for the moving out on Friday, Jan 25th, last week. During the stay I met only some of my best friends: Alex, Irma and Esther. I didn't meet the others due to my tight schedule, but I felt so contented with the meetings.

People were asking me if I felt sad for leaving but I didn't feel it at all. Perhaps because I had never liked living in the city since the beginning on 1992 when we moved in from Jakarta. I despised everything about staying in Bandung, and felt extremely glad when I had a chance to go to work back in Jakarta and now in Bali.


But I am thankful to God for all the experiences I got during my almost 20 years life in Bandung. It had taught me a lot of the bitterness of life, tough neighborhood and tensions from my surrounding, and showed me the true friends who love me the way I am, tho I was different among the uniformed kind of life in the city. I am thankful because if not from Bandung I wouldn't be who I am now.

Surely there are ends for everything and I am really glad that my time in Bandung had finally over, that even my mother isn't living there anymore so I shouldn't visit. I know I sound so bitter about the city that brings too many bad memories to me, although I am loving the scenery and the city itself. It's the people there that I don't like because they didn't let me be who I truly am.

But now I am in Bali, healthy and happy. So I just thank God for everything I have and all that I am now. Farewell, Bandung!

An old friend called me few nights ago out of his desperation. He was currently trapped inside a big problem, and before that one wasn't solved yet, another came. Now, at the bottom of his life, I found a huge urge to contact him and in time came to his rescue.

In life we often feel stuck and don't know where else to go, don't know what to do. Like my friend here sometimes we're too far away from God that we're lost and don't know how to come back. Trust me, God is always there waiting.

When you are stuck in the middle of big trouble, there are steps that you can take:

1. Fix your relationship with God. Being far from Him makes us fall into the temptation of secular world and keep us away from His blessings. Give some of your time to pray, to give thanks and to 'listen' to Him. By allowing some of your time with God everyday, your conscience will be sharp enough to warn you every time you are about to cross the line.
2. Fix your relationship with parents. It was written in the 10 Commandments that we should respect our parents, no matter how annoying they are. So if you have ever snap at them, acting impudent toward them, let alone holding a grudge to them, ask forgiveness immediately. The broken bridge between child and parent is crucial, for they are the one(s) who delivered us to the world. No matter how suck you think they are, they are your parent(s). Your blessing and fortune could be blocked if you Show some respect!
3. Ask, and you will receive. If you never ask God to help solving your problem, how would He help? We should make an effort to solve the problem but always ask God to help so whatever way you are going to do will always work in God's way. Therefore you are avoided from making mistake or sin.
4. Be blessed in every single moment of your life. It is the most important feeling you should have, because by feeling blessed, we can appreciate what we have, even if it's just a small thing we usually forget to thank God, because everything that we own in life came from Him. Just say your grace everyday and feel the blessings!
5. Share your smile. No one deserve to see your pout or to hear your angry snap. There aren't any loss for you and it's contagious anyway. How wonderful this life is if everyone is exchanging smile everywhere?

My friend updated me with his progress, tho the problems aren't all being solved but things are getting better for him, especially for the first two points above. I hope these small tips could enlighten your day also.. God bless!

Last Saturday, Dayu and I rode on bike to Sanur beach and we had fun having our body meet the seawater. It's a refreshing thing after a week full of working or being in the 'town'. After the beach we went to Danau Tamblingan road to see what's on, and found this small warung and had lunch there. We had our dessert at Cafe Batu Jimbar and spent another two hours there.

We then drove to the South and stopped by at McDonalds to see what we could eat while waiting for Wahyu. Wahyu is my neighbor back in Awiligar, Bandung, who is also my schoolmate. He's been in Bali for three months now but we just managed to meet up just a week before in Dunkin' Donut, Teuku Umar. I asked Dayu to join us so they already met before.


Wahyu came at 5 p.m. with Ayu, a girl from his office, and the four of us drove our way to GWK, Jimbaran. It was my second time there and I personally don't really like it. But they are having a kecak performance we could watch daily for free every 6 p.m. (but the entrance fee is Rp 30,000 per person at the main gate so it's not really that free.)

To my disappointment, the kecak was not as great as I hoped for. The show began at 6 p.m. when the sky was still so bright and the background was merely a cream limestone without any dramatic relief like what we could find in the temple (I watched the Ramayana ballet in Prambanan Temple, Yogyakarta, years ago and it was so spectacular!) and they didn't play with any fire. Some of the kecak dancers seemed distracted with their own minds or by the spectators.

To make it worse, they filled one part between the scenes for some interactive session. They brought one dancer at a time who each asked two of the audiences to dance with them on the stage. This, for me, is a waste of time because I, as I think most of the spectator would agree, came to see the performance, not to dance on the stage. If I was a tourist, I would definitely go before it ends because not just the dance was awful but also because it made no sense to waste more than 10 minutes dancing around. It feels like a disgrace to the original kecak dance.

Kecak dance was never originally made by a Balinese nor it was a ritual for something. It was once made by a foreigner who thought the 'cak' chants sounded so beautiful to be made a performance. They added the dance from Ramayana epic later to complete the dance, but what had been done for years is the kecak dance performed by 50 men who make circle and to be 'in trance' with fire here and there to make it more dramatic and mystical.


Anyway it was still a pleasant day to me, because I've experienced at least another Balinese culture that day. It was okay for introduction of kecak, but I will definitely come to the one in Uluwatu Temple someday. The view from up there with the temple as background must be splendid. Who wanna come with me?

At first when I decided to move to Bali, I had never thought this would really be my new life. Beach life, independent life, and my own life. But ever since I've moved here, I can see how God is involved in every small details in my life. He is watching over me and guiding me, thru others around and also thru the voice inside my heart.

Now that it's almost a year now I am here, I've experienced many new things and all are truly interesting. I may not be able to share all of it here, but in short I will describe it as a wonderful process, as always. I'd been learning about a lot of stuff thru especially Paulo Coelho's books and others, and now it is time for me to experience it firsthand.

Life is full of surprises. Like a box of chocolate, Forrest Gump would say. And it is full of changes, I would add. It seems like my life is being updated every few months, especially if it's based on my jobs which always change within a year. Not that I'm such a bored person, but it's just about the time I that have to move on. The thing is, I learn quickly about things that I move on quickly as well.

He also prepares me a companion to get thru this all. At first there was Ana who was a great roommate to me, then Cia for daytime and lunch fellow. He gave me Dewi as co-worker at work and now He sent Dayu for my more spiritual journey. He has His own timing, not mine. He has His own reason, beyond all. I know it's all great for me; sometimes I would know it later but I know He is good and He knows me better. I just have to believe and follow Him. Thank God!

I think I am between the Designer, Consultant and CMO. Then this directed me to Funders and Founders, all the images by Anna Vital. This is inspiring and motivating. Now that I just quit my job, it's such a perfect time to start my own thing. Why not?

Last night I went to Beachwalk with Dayu to watch this national movie, Habibie & Ainun. The movie is based on the book written by Mr. BJ. Habibie himself after the death of his dearly loved wife. The movie/book tells mostly about their love story and their journey thru the Indonesian politic world and his post presidency life. A lot of passion showed here, his dedication to the country and family, the pure spirit to make a change and to build the nation, and his everlasting love.

What I love about this movie:

1. Reza Rahadian's very natural acting and perfectly copies Mr. Habibie's way of talking and walking. I think he is the main point that made this movie is so interesting to watch, beside of the true story itself. Highest praise to Reza!
2. Despite my subjective dislike to the player of the late Mrs. Ainun's role, she played it pretty good, all the emotions was necessarily there and helped the audience to feel the scene. Brava!
3. The properties and sets of old Bandung, old Jakarta, the workshop in Germany, the real 1995-1998 news from the television--this is an international class of movie, as if we are watching a Hollywood's box office,
4. The ending when Rudy visited Ainun's old house in Bandung and when Ainun was 'there' just made the whole movie wrapped up sweetly and raised some goosebumps.
5. Although the movie don't put any of Mr. Habibie's romantic poems to the late Mrs. Ainun, the closing song/soundtrack completes all. Both sweet and sad!

The blunders are:

1. The wedding ring Rudy wore at the Germany hospital--it's supposed to happen before his wedding!
2. The sponsor (some chocolate snack) showed at least two times. It's okay to put it in the last part of the movie, but NOT before the year 2000 I suppose...
3. The consistency of the scenes where President Soeharto was played by Tio Pakusadewo and when President Soeharto was in the television news as himself.. I think it needed someone more chubby and older than Tio to play his part.
4. The scene when Rudy's photo was placed on the wall along with the Garuda Pancasila and President Soeharto's portrait. Reza looked too young to be placed next to the President's photo. 
5. While Ainun looked older and older in time, Reza still looked too young and sturdy until the end. His way of walking and acting are perfect, but the make up team failed to complete this.

Well I highly recommend this movie to all of Indonesian. I think Mr. Habibie would be very proud and consoled now to see how people start to know the truth behind his sorrow for years and for his loss of his dear wife. Now every Indonesian would feel his passion, dedication, adoration, love and pain. I truly respect him now more than ever. I wish I will find myself a husband who loves me that much...

PS. Read more about the story here.

Actually I haven't come up with anything for the list. But since this is a tradition, here are mine:

1. Get married. Any handsome decent broadminded man with brilliant ideas or clever mind and very much a gentleman, you may get in line. LOL. I'm just kidding.. This target was set by my mother couple of years ago and I think why not try this year.. I'm not getting younger anyway *starts to sound so desperate now so we better move on to number 2*
2. Get a new job. Since I just quit the last one, I need a new one to carry on with my life. Preferably as a writer. But since I've been doing property business for the past 8 months, I can help you find some land or villa in Bali.
3. Get my creative mind producing something. I'm not gonna spoil anything for this one. Just wait. 
4. Sport more. Like jogging, yoga or some walk on the beach..
5. Sleep and wake up earlier. Avoid night life. Organize time more effectively and be more a day-person than night-person.
6. To have some new beach trip at least once a month. All over Bali, then Lombok and Flores. Next country: Thailand.
7. Finish reading all of my unread books which are already so many on my book rack now.
8. Learn something higher and new all the time.
9. Charity.
10. Accept the way the life is and stop rebelling. Believe that God has prepared the best one for me instead of stubbornly pushing my own silly thoughts about changing the system. Surrender to God's plan, but do it with my own way :D *rebel like a boss*

I think this is the first holiday trip I had since the trip to Danau Batur with Rina and Jana last July, or maybe I forgot if there was any other. But I think this was the most fun trip I've ever had since I stay in Bali. So we finished our stay in The Studio Accommodation last Sunday, so I suggested to my mother and sister to leave South Bali and travel east instead.



So there we went, all the way thru Ida Bagus Mantra Bypass Road past the Klungkung area (we stopped to eat the tuna satay in front of Goa Lawah Temple), thru Padang Bai and Candidasa, to Amlapura and arrived in Amed after 3 hours driving from Seminyak. When we got there it was already 5-5.30 p.m. and was cloudy. We checked some beach front hotels and decided to stay in the first one we liked, the Hotel Uyah (means "Salt Lodge" in Balinese language).

We had a swim at the pool and stayed at the hotel on the first night because we were tired from the long road trip and there wasn't much to do in there. We woke up early the next day to see the sunrise, but unfortunately it was cloudy. At least we could still enjoy the Mount Rinjani of Lombok Island from afar and also Mount Agung behind our cottage room.

The most famous thing about Amed is the diving/snorkeling spot, so we traveled about 11kms from the hotel to the end of the only road there and turned around when we reached the village. On the way back we found the Japanese shipwreck spot and stopped there. We rented the goggles and fins there, then had fun snorkeling around what was left of the ship which had been there since 1945.


Not too deep under we could see hundreds kinds of coral and fish, each kind has groups or schools of it. This was my second time snorkeling after my mostly panicked one in Gili Trawangan 4 years ago. I think I did well this time, and found myself breathing more calmly so I could enjoy the view more than before.



I found the view was extremely calm down there, a placid life extreme to the one we have up here. The corals that seemed like either types of pine tree or cactus dancing to the current of the wave, schools of both beautiful and ugly fishes with so many colors swimming in random direction--the smaller the fish the bigger the group. All live in harmony and such peacefulness we don't possess in our hectic world. It was such a calming thing to watch the underwater life.



We finished snorkeling at 1.30 p.m. and extremely starving so we headed back to the hotel area. It was raining at the northern part, so we were lucky it wasn't raining during our snorkeling. We stopped at Amed Kedai to have grilled barramundi fish for lunch. When we reached the hotel, the three of us were collapsed for 2 hours sleep.

We had dinner and waited for midnight at the hotel room. There was a poolside party held by some staff and guests but I didn't join them. Mom and Clemy went there for a moment but we ended up gathering in the room planning not to really celebrate the old & new. But 10 minutes before midnight the fireworks started again and this time were very loud so we went out of the room and spectating.

The continuous fireworks lasted for at least one hour. The black sky was splashed with colorful dots that each time began with loud explosion and ended with sparkles before disappearing to the silent, dark sky once again. When the ones from our hotel yard ended, the ones from other part along the beach started and it happened until around 1 a.m.

It was very beautiful as usual (because I am fond of fireworks ever since I read about it in one of Martine book series when I was a kid) but I found it more enchanting because we were in a remote area when we watched this. The fireworks were happening so close and just above our heads and the fact that we didn't expect this to happen in such a silent place adds another excitement for the surprise.


By the time, one of the staffs came to our cottage yard and sat on the pathway drunk, tried to make conversation by asking me and my sister questions and in no time, his friends came around and suddenly there were 8 boys sitting on the pathway in front of our cottage and one of them brought the guitar and they started singing one Balinese song, some reggae songs made in Gili, some international songs like Aerosmith's I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing and Oasis' Don't Look Back in Anger so we could sing along with them.


Two of the boys, Wayan and Made, were trying to get my attention and kept asking my mom a permission to be her son-in-law. Well, they were drunk and at first it was funny. Thankfully it was all over before it became annoying because they were all dismissed by whom I guess as the supervisor. It was a relieved that they left us finally, but we were quite entertained. We didn't go to the party so the party came to us. Kinda cool, actually, because out of all the guests there, we were the only ones who got the 'show'.

The next morning came not as early as the day before, and it was a new beginning for all of us. We packed our things and departed at 11 a.m., heading back to Candidasa and stopped there for lunch. We found this pretty cool restaurant called The Dining Room. From the architecture itself you can tell how special it is. Wait until you finish order the food.


To our surprise, they didn't just give cold towels to wash hands and necks, but also the welcome drink. We got each a shot of yogurt + milk as starter. This is like the first restaurant to give welcome drink, I guess, because usually hotels give welcome drink and restaurants give welcome bread or nuts. Then after we finished eating, we got another surprise: a closing drink--which I had never found anywhere else I've ever been at. We were offered the shots of hot chai tea with mint leaf in it. Such a sweet closure.


The food itself were good. I ordered Tum De Siap, which I had never heard of before and turned out to be a spiced chicken being wrapped inside banana leaf (or in Indonesian is called as pepes ayam) while Mom ordered fried rice noodle and my sister had the Balinese mixed rice (or nasi campur which had several dishes such as chicken, tempe, fritters, etc beside the white rice). They were all good.


We continued our journey to the south and turned right at the Purnama Beach crossroad. We were heading to Sukawati area but stopped at Celuk instead to see some silver shops. Only two were opened during the new year and I washed the heritage ring I got from my father there. After that we went to Ubud area and found Ubud Permai Bungalow, a low-budget hotel--which to our another surprise happened to be at the second floor of the lines of shops below. It is the second building after the turn from Monkey Forest.


We checked in and went around again for some shopping along the Hanoman street, then had dinner at Pundi-Pundi at Pengosekan street. It was another pleasant meal we had. I ordered the Lotus fried rice and the fried rice was literally wrapped inside a lotus leaf. My meal of the day was 'leaf wrapped'. LOL.


We woke up the next morning earlier than the day before and started our shopping spree moment again at Dewi Sita street where I found a really nice purple handbag made from Thailand or Vietnam (I'm not sure about it). We had lunch at Tutmak, which is another special restaurant we found with a very nice view both to Dewi Sita road and to the soccer field. This restaurant offers mineral water refill for just Rp 1,500 per glass/tumbler. What a nice idea!


We started our journey back to Denpasar at around 2.30 p.m. and arrived quite early despite the traffic jam (we still got an hour before the appointment), so we stopped by at Sanur for some window shopping at Danau Toba street. At 5 p.m. we already arrived at Bendéga Deli at Cok Agung Tresna street for the meeting with a Balinese guy who taught us about a lot of new knowledge about life, some Indonesian history, Balinese culture and Hindu teachings. We hang out there for 4.5 hours just talking with him. It was really nice and interesting.

And finally, we reached Kerobokan at 10 p.m. and we all stayed at my kost. Luckily I had this single size sofabed so we could all sleep well. The next day was shorter for us because we just went to Krisna for souvenir shopping and had lunch near my kost at Warung Jepang. Mom and Clemy went to the airport with the rental car while I went back to my crib and crawled inside my blanket to have a nap in the heavy rain outside.

This was the most interesting and enlightening vacation I've ever had in my life. My regret was not having my brother around due to his work, but I believe God had different plan with him and us. I am just feeling so grateful for having my family around during Christmas and New Year. And also to experience new things, to go to new places, to be amazed with new knowledge and above all, be grateful with all of God's creation in this world. Praise the Lord!

Sorry this came late, because I couldn't find good signal when I was in Amed, but I made this while I was there. I am wishing all a happy beginning of the new year! Welcome, 2013!!