Another Victoria's Secrets

Last Monday, just a day after my trip to Amed, I woke up quite early (8 a.m.) and went to Sanur to meet my cousin Goldi who was staying with her father and big family in Taman Agung Hotel. I met Oom Gavin and his brothers and sister and father and niece Ruby Jane. We then had a swim at the pool and at 1 p.m. Goldi and I went to this Warung Coconut Tree for lunch.


Goldi had to go back to Jakarta by 2 p.m. and I waited for Pak Tyo till 3.15 at the hotel. Pak Tyo came with black Avanza and we went to Tegallalang area, Gianyar. Tante Elvira, Mom's schoolmate, was luckily at home so I met her and her husband Pietro. I introduced them to Pak Tyo and Pak Rahmat, the property brokers for the selling of Villa Nirmala.



Then Pak Tyo, Pak Rahmat and I had early dinner at Bebek Tepi Sawah, Ubud. It was a really nice place, tho I prefer the food at Bebek Bengil. Pak Tyo dropped me back at Sanur then I took my bike to Mal Galeria, looking for printer's cartridges. I wandered about Informa and found a very cheap side table for only Rp 70,000. I bought two of the white ones, along with purple and white photo frames for only Rp 20,000-Rp 26,000 each.



Frans and his friend Gondi came by the mall before it was closed at 10 p.m. He bought some stuff for his new place and he brought all of my goods with his rental car while I drove home by bike. He then dropped my goods and I (with Ana's help) put all the pieces together right away, creating myself new spaces for printer and bedside table.


I also took another time to stick the extension cable on the wall so my floor is now free from cords. I was terribly tired that day and had to hibernate all day the next day but I love how neat things are in my room now. Thank God!

It was kind of late for me to post this, but it's better than nothing at all. Slamet told me about this event and I went to only one screening on May 4 in Alliance Française Denpasar. It was two Saturday nights ago, I went to Renon area by bike and by myself. The screening was at 7 p.m. so I still had time to go to the watch store and asked them to bring my 18-years-old pink Casio Baby-G back alive.


As I arrived at the AF course place I found that there were only few other people sat around the white screen at the open-space backyard. They already prepared cushions on picnic cloth and chairs for capacity of 20-30 people. Only around 10 attended. It was okay--better view for me to watch the Balls movie.


So the movie was about a mid-age Arab man named Aziz who was waiting for his first grandchild but apparently the son and daughter-in-law going to adopt instead. The drama contains a little comedy that only appear on the last part of the movie. It took me awhile to adapt with Swedish life and joke. The set was at a simple suburb with on hillside. Very light and simple, but nice to see how life is going on the other part of the world.

My friends and I had/found this rules we made when traveling, especially when travel with friends. Perhaps you'd find these helpful:

1. Have a joint cash, put in a separate wallet/envelope where everyone contribute the same agreed amount. We had each Rp 250,000.- for starter, which we used to pay for car rent, gasoline, snacks and hotel fare. You can always add more for the group expense but pay separately for the things you consume differently like meals or cigarette. This makes all fair on the expenditure.
2. Make sure you have CDs/USB connecting cable to iPod/iPhone for music. The radio frequency would fade as you go further to the east so better be ready with some music to accompany your trip. Or else you can sing-along together like what we did but it took a lot of energy.
3. It's gonna be 2-3 hours drive from Sanur to Tulamben/Amed. Be prepared for the long way, it will be mix of countryside two-lanes road across rice fields, forests and hills. It will be curvy and up-and-down, but the natural scenery around really worth it.
4. Amed has only one five-meters road along the shore so make sure your vehicle is small enough to park/make a U-turn. We rented a Karimun Estillo and last January I came with an Avanza. Don't bring such minibus or double cabin kinds.
5. You can also go to Amed by public transportation. There are angkot from Padang Bai to Amlapura and Amlapura to Amed, but we didn't go for it so we don't know the details. It would cost much much cheaper, tho.
6. Our hotel rate in Rumahku Homestay (at right side of the road, only few meters after Uyah Hotel) was Rp 150,000 per night for 2 persons + 1 free extra bed with aircon, four-poster bed + mosquito net and open-air shower. Plus a banana pancake + coffee/tea for two persons for breakfast. It was really worth it!
7. Most accommodation in Amed are ranged at this price especially the homestays. You can also find beachfront homestays at just Rp 100,000-Rp 200,000. But there are also expensive villas with better facilities. Make your research before coming or you can drive the whole way to the end of the road (about 8-10 km far) before making any decision on where to stay.
8. Always go out at night and find a spot where there are lack of light and see up. The sky above would be full with stars and you won't regret the walk. It was a very cool experience (especially to urban people) and if you are lucky enough, you could see a falling star. Make the wish!
9. The price for snorkeling equipments are: Rp 15,000 for the goggles; Rp 30,000 for goggles+fins; Rp 50,000 for goggle+fins+safety jacket. These are the prices from Mr. Made at the Kawi Karma.
10. The price for snorkeling with jukung boat is another rate. They offered us for Rp 200,000 for the three of us but I guess it's a little too overpriced so we need to bargain. We didn't go for it. 
11. Amed has splendid view for sunrise by the beach (for it is facing north/east), the magnificent Mount Agung at the west side, some range of hill/mountain and beach/cliff around, and Lombok island at distant. Sometimes you can see Mount Rinjani when the sky is clear and you can always go to the beautiful Gili islands by speedboat.
12. Better to stay for at least two nights in Amed, try both snorkeling and scuba diving, and go further to the shipwreck at Tulamben. Many underwater spots and many PADI licensed parlors, some have package with the room for stay (hotels or homestays). Make your researches and have fun at the easternmost part of Bali!

Ana and I had been planning for last weekend's vacation about two weeks before. I was sick for a couple days before the D-Day but thank God I could manage myself to go on Saturday morning. The rental car came at 8 a.m. and after quick breakfast we (also with Risty, Ana's cousin) headed to Kuta to Frans' place.



We then dropped Risty at Kak Nissa's place in Sanur before going east. We shopped for some snack supplies and off we went to Ida Mantra bypass passing Klungkung to Karangasem regency. We stopped at Candidasa and took some picture by the sea. Frans was driving along the way, passing Amlapura to our destination; Tulamben.

We stopped some hundred meters outside Amlapura, at a warung that sells gulai & sate kambing, and we had late lunch there. The sate tasted a little too spicy for me and Ana, and the portion was too small. The gulai was okay, tho. After being recharged, we continued our journey. The rental car's timing belt was dry and it made sound every five minutes along the way so I couldn't sleep--I needed to direct the way also (my travel buddies were both Sagitarians who needs a Pisces' lead. LOL).


We arrived at Tulamben and checked for hotels first but we the price didn't meet our budget. Besides, it's quite a long walk to the beach from the car park so we decided to go to Amed. This time I was driving.


After another half hour drive, we found a nice room for three for only Rp 150,000.- include the AC and breakfast for two. The shower was open to the sky and the four-poster bed has mosquito net. Just how I like it to be. And, as the sun was going down, I was collapsed for almost two hours on the bed, woke up at 7 p.m. when Ana and Frans had been ready for dinner.

We arrived at Cafe Senang, at Jukung Dive building, and had dinner there. I had Ikan Kelapa, made of barracuda fish with ginger/lemongrass/coconut sauce, served with white rice. It was good, actually. I was still sleepy and when we finished at 9.30 p.m., I was already craving for bed again but my friends still wanted to explore so we went along the way to the east by car.


We stopped at some spots, took picture (but very limited due to lack of light) and enjoyed the stargazing. The sky was full of white sparkles, as much as it was on Nyepi night, with the stardust at one part near the Crux. It was such a magical night, to experience the dark sky like that. Plus, Ana and I saw a shooting star! How blessed we were that night!


The next morning we woke up at 6 a.m. but I was too lazy to get off the bed till it was nearly 7 a.m. and caught the sun when it was already up. We had banana pancake for breakfast but when Frans woke up, I went back to sleep till 10.30 a.m. The check out was 11 a.m., said the room cleaner, so we hurried and packed up our stuff and went to the east part for snorkeling.


We arrived at Kawi Karma, the Japanese shipwreck dive spot, and had lunch there. I had cheese omelette before snorkeling and ate another portion of chicken curry after that. I spent only half hour at sea because the view wasn't so pleasing due to the sunlight--the underwater became foggy at 2-3 p.m. We should go in the morning to catch best view.


After second lunch we left Amed at around 5 p.m. I drove the whole way to Sanur, with Ana who sat beside me at the passenger seat singing all our childhood songs, from The Sound of Music, Beatles, some nursery rhymes and Disney soundtracks. Yes, we are that old but also so young at heart. LOL. Frans caught his nap at the back seat and exchanged driving with me from Sanur to Kerobokan.


We picked up Risty at Sanur first before we had dinner at Nasi Uduk Jakarta, Jl. Teuku Umar. When we were back to Kerobokan, Frans asked us to accompany him finding a kost place for him and we knew a room behind our place so there we went, and he moved in that very night. I guess people would think of us as being too spontaneous, but seriously--we are just following our hearts. We are indeed the happiest people alive today. :)

I don't know where or why I got this strong urge to be productive--perhaps because I basically didn't do anything for 1.5 months in Jakarta--that I have so many things on my to-do list now. I am currently producing the purses for my Pélopé brand, and today my printer just came by delivery from Jakarta, so I ran to the supermarket to buy the ink cartridges and both inkjet and 70g photocopy paper to start printing something cool out of it.


The printer actually came with a pallet wood packing, so instead of giving the pallet away to the delivery guy (who asked if I wanted to put them away), I cleaned it up and thinking of make use of it as the stand for my printer. Or perhaps as a bedside table--I haven't decide. I already have white paint, thinner, paint brush and sand paper. Or maybe I will decoupage it since I'm so into decoupaging now. I'll do the carpentry soon when I have spare time.


Yesterday night I went to Gramedia at Mal Galeria with Ana and we bought painting supplies (the last time I've ever touched paints and brushes was year 2007!). I bought Rotring rapido, two types of watercolor (afraid of using the paste form or even the oil paint), black China ink, some sketch paper refill and small paint brushes. Yes, I'm so going to be productive from now on. I hope you'd like it :)

I had been back in Bali for almost 10 days now, filling the days of my first week with friends and met new people. In these 10 days I've met some Balinese people from the kesatria caste, both who lives her life in simplicity and humbly and who lives his life as a proud king and showing all the jewelries wherever he goes. I met some old friends from Bandung and Jakarta also. I love how active and productive my life in Bali is.

Actually I feel a little sick now, having a flu and my head feels so dizzy. Perhaps because I had lack of sleep hours lately, but I feel good inside. Before I went back to Bali, a friend reminded me to 'accept' things. I had difficulties with that regarding to my heart situation now, but eventually I decided to be happy and I am the only person who can make myself feel so.

I've been spending hours talking with Ana almost everyday here and last night, together with Frans Hambali, we discussed about life. The three of us had different stories, especially for Frans who is 13 years older than Ana and I, who had been around the world long enough to make mistakes and learn from it.

After sharing our life stories, we all agree for one thing: at the end of the day what matters the most is our heart. It is how we love, no matter what the condition, situation, status and circumstances. It is how we feel inside toward the people and all things around us. Therefore, love is the only thing that sets us free.

For myself, I know that I still need a lot to learn in life. I know that it is not easy to deal with life problems. But I really want to keep it simple, despite all the 'must-be' or 'must-have' that the society had set for us. I decide to live by heart and based on love only, and to be happy. I wish all of you also have the courage to embrace the happiness in your lives, for we all live only once. God bless you all!

After about three weeks in Jakarta, I'm finally back in Bali. It had been nice to spend time with family, but nothing beats the meaning of Bali to me. I am just so glad to be back in my small room, to ride the streets of the island with my bike, and mostly to be able to go to the beach. Oh how I missed the beach!


On my last night in Jakarta, however, I managed to meet with Frans, who bought me the Manuscript Found in Accra book (by my power of mind few weeks ago). We scheduled the meeting on Gandaria City at 7 p.m. and talked and discussed and shared about many things for three hours.


At around 10 p.m. my other friends came: Rachelle, Bobby and Leo. We then talked more and I found that there was love. I felt the love from them, although we rarely meet. Or maybe it's God's another way to show me love--it had been a while since I meet 'people' for I'd been hanging out only with my family for the last 1.5 months now. It felt so good to meet old friends. I truly felt the love :)

Here we go again, videos of Atlantis Empire by Turangga Seta team (of Greget Nuswantara fb page) #19-27. Sit back and enjoy watching!

I am currently staying at Auntie Agnes' place now in Jakarta, waiting for a chance to go back to Bali. I was discussing about the PoM (Power of Mind) with my aunt, and I had a true story that happened yesterday I wanna share with you all here.

I was mall-walking with my aunt and grandma yesterday when I suddenly thought about Paulo Coelho's last book, Manuscript Found in Accra. I was thinking how wonderful it would be if someone would buy me the book, maybe as a late birthday gift. I was imagining the book on my mind pointlessly, just thinking about 'how nice it would be if...'

Not long after (not even 30 minutes after my daydream), my aunt and grandma decided that we stop by at a Kopitiam and had some drinks there. I was just about sitting there for 5 minutes that my friend Frans suddenly greeted me on Whatsapp and asked me which cover did I prefer. It was exactly the very book that I wanted.

He said that he was window-shopping in a gadget store in Bangkok and he didn't know why he suddenly had the urge to go to a bookstore--which was quite far from the gadget store--and simply walked in and first saw this book and thought of me when he saw it. And he just walked back to the gadget store after purchasing the book. Just like that.

So what happens if we know the power of our minds can do? What if we all believe in the power and use the secret formula (as Rhonda Byrne prefers) to align our frequency with the universe (as Paulo Coelho prefers) to attract things we want just like a magnet (as Michael J. Losier prefers)? Isn't it gonna be a positive and productive world (as Foster Gamble prefers) that we can all overcome the obstacles in life just by believing in our own mind's power?

Believing in God means that you are not relying on yourself (modesty) and that you know that there is something out there who has the power to create, run and protect this world (faith). Believing in other people (in a good way) is also good, at least a positive thing if not to attract good things to come--because we are letting out a good vibe--and is also an act of love. But believing in ourselves (hope) is the hardest of all, at least to me.

I haven't master this skill myself, I still need a lot of practice, to be grateful more. I still lose my faith sometimes and I am easily down on myself. I still listen to other people's negative comment on me and choose to trust them on that. I am still lack of confidence, but I am willing to change.

A mentor (which is also my best friend, lover, a big brother, sometimes a father or even a mother to me) injected a great support on me today. I choose to follow his instruction. I choose to use more of my PoM and all the ingredients that had been told to me that are written in the Bible: faith and hope. If I can put these altogether in everything that I do, I'd reap the harvesting in the way I'd never thought of before.

I really have to start to believe in myself and focus on what I want in life. I hope you can all find your soul's lantern (as Nugie prefers) and reach all the dreams in your lives, even the silliest one. I'm gonna list down all my dreams after this and let's see how the universe will bring it all to come true. I believe in that!

It's been a while since my last post here because I was already back in Bali last week but got an emergency call for the project meeting in Jakarta so I went back to the metropolitan and here I am, kind of occupied with urban stuff here.

My friend Herdi informed me that we entered the top 100 Indonesian blogger in the Big Blog Exchange program out of 1173 participants, but failed to be the top 25. It means that we failed to get the chance of 16 bloggers out of 100 to be picked but still have the slight chance with the 2 wildcards. I am still crossing my fingers on that.

Anyway, I want to say thank you to all of the family and friends who had helped voting that made me sit at the rank 174 worldwide. It's already among the top 15% of the contestants and I feel so blessed that many people support me on this, although I had only about the last 2 weeks to gather voters while the others had 4 more weeks before that. I am proud enough to be on the rank 174.

So, thank you and please still pray for my chance on the 2 wildcards to swap life with another blogger's next June! I'm now working my power of mind on it :)

This beautiful 'Diamond Dust' wall painting in Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, VA, which is made with the fingers of the artist Judith Braun dipped in charcoal in just seven days in front of public. Check these out!









by courtesy of KSTB mailing list.

They say it's published now! Yeay!
Not yet in Indonesia, I guess. But this is definitely on my wish list now. Still a dozen of unread books on my rack now but I'll finish them all. I'll just have to have this one!

I just found this new singer from Youtube who covers the top 40s and make quite nice video clips for each of the songs. She also has her own original songs there. I haven't googled her (maybe later) but here are some of her clips.. Very girly!
(Note: I like her version of The One That Got Away and We Are Young, but I am just so into Just Give Me A Reason right now..)


Apparently there are many already covered this song, so I'm gonna show y'all those I've found. Which one do you like most? (my vote goes first to Alvord & Trevor, then Bernal & Milan, but the violin is quite interesting..)

I found this cartoon from a friend's Facebook timeline and I think this is a really good illustration on how to make our dream come true. First thing is to do what you love doing, then everything else will follow...


I wish all of us will achieve our dreams, although so many obstacles and challenges will no doubt be coming in our ways but doing things we love will keep us going. Good luck to us all!

Last night one of my reader sent me an email and we discussed a little about religion. To quote his words: "I really like your openness to all religions, I think I can see from your writings that you are quite a serious Catholic, but it doesn't hold you back from learning things from other religions. I think that is a very good way to look at things and I wish that many people will follow your example on how to deal with religion (maybe from reading your blog)" so I think I'm going to share a little about religion.

As everybody knows, religions are very crucial for Indonesian. It's almost like an identity, as important as the nationality; more important than the ethnic/race, and is a very sensitive matter. People categorize each other based on the religion, and this leads to fanaticism, hypocrisy, and to the extreme: war. While what's need to be understood first here is the meaning of religion.


I am not a theology scholar nor a priestess, but I wanna share what I know about it. My last year in Bali was full of adventure, both physical and mind-and-soul. The life in the island really opened up my eyes to even a broader view of life and world. During that, I learned about Hinduism, although it had never been my intention, but made me understand more about the secrets of life.

The reason why most people (who are raised/learned the Torah-rooted religions/monotheists such as Judaism, Christian/Catholic and Islam) avoid Hinduism is because of the many gods it believe in, like the Greek and Romans. In Indonesia, the first in Pancasila (Indonesia's five basic moral principle), Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa (the One Almighty Deity), makes people agree to only one God (which also makes most Moslems don't agree with Christian/Catholic with its Trinity).

The lack of knowledge of other religions can lead to hatred and destruction, which happened so many times in Indonesia, especially in the places with certain major religions. An old Indonesian proverb says "tak kenal maka tak sayang" which means you cannot love something if you don't know about it yet. So why not try knowing what other religions first before hating it?


I'll try to simplify Hindu here with my own words (more about it here). I hope you can understand it. Hindu is a very old teaching, which became a religion--and in Bali also a culture/tradition. From what I know, this is the first teaching/religion in the world, came originally from Indonesia, long before it arrived in India. It is true that Hindu got its name from a area in India called Indus/Sindu, because before that it didn't have a name. People just know it as Veda religion, taken from its holy scripture Rig Veda. The difference is that Balinese Hindu (which came also from Java island before) focused more to the upakara/ceremonies/rituals or 'to act', while Indian Hindu more to the meditation or 'to reflect'.

Hindu believes in many gods, but actually it's the same God with what other religions believe in. It's just that each god in Hindu (as also the Greek/Romans) represent a face/character of God. Like when God is creating things, He personify Himself as god Brahma, and when He is angry and destructive He became god Shiva, and when He is taking care and healing He became god Vishnu--and many other faces like god Ganesha (knowledge), goddess Sri (fertility/goddess of rice), etc.

To make people understand better (as we have limited knowledge with our little brain), they create a story out of it. The relations of each god and goddess makes a great tale, which makes it easier to remember (especially to pack it as bedtime stories for the next generations) and to recognize the names and the characters (which one is the creator and which one is the destroyer, and so on..) As Elinor in Brave movie said, 'legends are lessons and they ring with truth', tales are told to remind people about the past in order to make a better future (to avoid the same mistakes and be better).


Just like in Christian's Trinity, where Allah/Abba/Father is actually the same but He personify Himself and 'went down to earth' as Jesus/Messiah/Son who died and raised to Heaven but stays in people's heart as Holy Spirit which also known as human's conscience. I do not know other religions as Indonesia claims only six of it (with also Buddhism and Confucianism/Kong Hu Cu).

The rest of believers (non-religion) believe that there's something greater out there, something so powerful that makes the world exist and who has the force to create such life, catastrophe, death, and everything in between. Maybe they got it right all the way: there is this something greater out there, which we don't know and never see and remains mysterious. The religions call this as God, Allah, Yahweh or gods and goddesses, even this is just a part of that Bigger Something. It's that simple when you can see it in the other way.


Back to the topic, we need to understand religion as a 'vehicle' to get us to a higher place. In Bible God said we have to be perfect, therefore, as Heavenly Father is (Matt 5:48), so we living humans are all on our ways to perfections with various vehicles (both of our own choices or the one our parents chose for us). In one point, our knowledge will expand and we will change, step higher, be enlightened. But most of people tend to seclude these people because they are afraid of differences.

What people need to know better is that religion is man-made. Enlightenment, on the other hand, is a gift given from God. Once a person is enlightened, religions shouldn't be a matter. As we can see the first image I put here, all religions basically teach the same thing (karma) with different languages/descriptions. But the point is all are the same. We are praising and afraid of the same Bigger Something. Only the name we call Him is different, the way of teachings is different, but the purpose is one: human's perfection and 'eternal life'.


The eternal life here is another different topic, another different names/descriptions used by each religions. Some call it reincarnation, some call it heaven or hell. But we all believe in afterlife; a life after death. It's just the perspectives and ways of describing it are different in each religions, based on human's knowledge, because death is something that we don't experience while we are alive.

I am not going to discuss about the afterlife now, just to say that I am open to any teachings and religions, because basically all teach about kindness. As long as there's love and peace in it, then it's a right teaching, because Jesus came to the world to renew the structures and to bring love, and therefore, peace on earth.


I hope people won't bother about religion differences anymore, for it is a personal relationship with our Creator, the Bigger Something out there. What's more important is to keep the peace on earth and give love to each another. Let's get to know and understand more about others and learn to love even more, not just tolerating. Therefore, this world will be a peaceful place to stay. Be enlightened!