Another Victoria's Secrets

There are lots to celebrate this month here. Last Friday was Indonesia's Independence Day, and the last two days (19th and 20th) was Eid Mubarak. I didn't come to any flag ceremony and didn't celebrate the last holy day so it was fully a holiday for me. But for you who celebrate Idul Fitri, I am saying this to you all: Minal aidin wal faizin!

This chapel is located in Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA. What makes it special is the miraculous stairway which connects the ground floor to the top floor. When it was built in the 19th century, the nuns found that there was no stairs to go up.

So they were praying to St. Joseph for nine days and on the last day someone knocked at the door and said that he was a carpenter and could help them to solve the problem. So the man was working and finished all the constructions and details by himself--using none of nail nor glue on his construction. The anonymous carpenter was gone right after he was done without waiting for his payment.


There are three mysteries that remains unknown for the last 130 years until today:
1. The identity of the carpenter is unknown, but people believe that he was St. Joseph himself, who was a carpenter, sent by Jesus Christ to attend the nuns' problem.

2. The spiral stairs has no central support, which confuses all architects, engineers and scientist because it can balances itself and is strong for more than a century even without any support, without a single nail nor glue.


3. The material used is not to be found anywhere in the region, makes it weird on where did the woods came from.

Plus, the stairs has 33 steps, which is the age when Jesus died on the cross. What a miracle!

We are having this routine every Friday and Saturday night for about two months now at Tulip restaurant. It is the free cocktail for ladies from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. while DJ Rob Soundz playing his music. So last Saturday we went to the bar and having such fun time with all girls and guys, and ended up at Hu'u Bar. Here are some of the pictures.

I got my mother came to Bali last Friday and had the whole Sunday spent with her. I am very happy with her two weeks' stay here but I am not used to express my feelings by affectionate stuff. I show it by taking care of her and sharing with her the things, places and people that matters to me.

Yesterday we rent a car from 10 a.m. and had brunch at Jl. Teuku Umar. We had to take a package at Jl. Gatot Subroto so we spent about an hour to find the street and the place before heading to Ubud. We had lunch at Warung Babi Guling Bu Oka which we both have never tried before. We went around the Ubud Market and had coffee break at Kajane Mua.

After that we went to Mom's friend's place at Villa Nirmala. Tante Elvira and her husband and 16 years old daughter, Desiree, were at home so we stayed for some chit-chat till the sun was set. We went back to Ubud area and had dinner at the old Naughty Nuri's. There we met this British guy, Tom, whom we drove to his hotel at Amandari and stayed for some tea till 10 p.m.

It was a really pleasing day I spent with Mom, and we still have a week together, tho I have to work on weekdays till Thursday. I really cherish this moment but cannot express my excitement explicitly for I am not really good at expressing my own feeling. But for sure, my happiness rate is 5 out of 5! :))

Mine are love, time and popularity. LOL.

Have I told you how kind and generous my boss is? Or how fun he is? If I haven't, then this is the right time to tell you. So he just got back from Europe for about a week and this French DJ duo was playing at Potato Head last night and he brought me and my colleague, Dewi, to join the crowd.



We gathered at Tulip for dinner and met with boss' girlfriend and friends and then headed to the Beach Club just before 11 p.m. It was quite a crowd queue and we got in in half an hour, just before Justice got on stage. We got this seat with view to all of the stage and crowd and we had fun till late.


I really had fun last night, but I didn't stay till 4 a.m. like the others. I went home at around 1.30 a.m. after Justice finished playing. I really love my life in Bali here. I love my job, my boss, his friends, my new friends, and all in between. I feel so alive here, and won't exchange anything of this to the life in Jakarta or Bandung. I really am at the best stage of my life!

Last night was Jana's last night in Bali. She is now heading to Bromo and later to Yogya and gonna spend another week in Thailand before going back to Munich, Germany. So we gathered at Sea Circus at 8.30 p.m. for the small farewell celebration. I came a bit late because I went to buy her a dream catcher as souvenir and when I arrive, there were already Jana, Rina, Tim and Katharina enjoying the seafood platter and white wine.


We then moved to Rumours and I spent only half hour there before going home. I was really sad that Jana is actually leaving, because I feel a great friendship from her. We discussed about this last night, about how our lives will go on in different paths and how later we could meet in other part of the world in several or more years from now and what would we tell to each other about it... We will never know how life guide us to meet people, and that's why we need to cherish every single moment we have. Have a great journey, Jana... until we meet again!

Last Saturday morning I was picked up by Rina and Jana by a Karimun car and off we went to Bangli area, to be precised to Lake Batur. We arrived first at Penelokan area at around 12 p.m. and had lunch at some Warung Tarumas. It served both grilled and fried fish, with several spicy options like onion or tomato or nyat-nyat (saffron), and it was really good to be compared to the satisfaction from the buffet restaurants with view along the road.


We then drove to Aga village at the opposite side of Kintamani, about 20 minutes driving by car. We need to cross the lake to get to the legendary Trunyan cemetery (-8° 14' 8.83", +115° 25' 27.25"), an area around this Taru Menyan tree which spreads a special aroma that neutralize the smell from dead bodies that are laid near the tree.


There are maximum 11 bodies to be put there, and whenever new body comes, one should be removed from the line. It is eleven because it is the Balinese' "lucky" number as it is 3 and 7 for Christians. On removing, the skull are kept below the tree while the bones are thrown to the ground. And only the bodies of people who were married with complete body can be put below the tree, while the ones who weren't married or have defects are buried at the cemetery at the border of the village.



When one dies, the body is kept at the house until there is a "good day" to deliver the body to the cemetery. One person will be driving the boat on which the body is laid and the others will go on the other boats. But no female is allowed to deliver the body and follow the ceremony. They can come after the ceremony, but not while it's held because once a woman got mad because of attending the ceremony. They are forbidden ever since.


As any other Balinese, a dead person deserve a Ngaben ceremony. But only when it had collected until 30 dead bodies, together with the ones in the cemetery, then the Ngaben will be held. But in Trunyan, the bodies aren't burnt. Only the wooden doll will be burn as a symbol, while the bodies are kept laying on the ground.




So we finished our tour and headed back to the world, and went home via Gianyar district. We stopped at Gunung Kawi near Tirta Gangga and Tirta Empul, had another tour to the ancient rock temples from centuries ago. I love the Gunung Kawi, which is a bit like Goa Gajah, only this one's Hindu temples, not Buddhism. We were done around sunset time and reached Seminyak at around 8 p.m.





I spent the rest of the night at Jana's place with Tim also, had muesli with milk and fruits and white wine for late dinner and watched the movie Project X. I had so much fun that day, with all the new places I've been and the friendship I have especially with Jana. I really love traveling and adventuring and spend times with best friends and I was glad I have new best friends here in Bali :)