Another Victoria's Secrets

My brother made a surprise for us all: he decided to have a holiday vacation to Bali and bought Mom a return ticket also to come with him!
It's a very rare thing that he could initiate an idea to even plan a holiday, for he loves so much to be indoor with his gadgets and games. And the fact that he also bought Mom tickets is another surprise he never did before.

Day 1:

So they arrived in Bali by end of July with afternoon flight. They went straight to the hotel, Nyima Inn at Jl. Bidadari, which was nearby my kost. We arranged Ben to use Hizkia's motorbike that he rented till 5th and we rode to Seminyak Beach to watch the sun till it was set. We walked along the shore line till Legian Beach, and we had dinner at Nasi Ayam Kedewatan Bu Mangku at Jl. Kayu Jati. We went back to hotel and I slept over there.

Day 2:
We went to my kost the next morning before going to Beachwalk for lunch. We had Domino's Pizza and met Tante Sisca, Mom's friend, there. We had coffee at Dirt Java till almost sunset and Ben had his childhood friend, Aryasa, came by with his cousin. We could still caught at least a little sight of sunset at Kuta Beach before dinner time.


We had dinner at Dog Dragon Grill at Jl. Benesari, where they served Giant Mashed: two long Italian sausages of pork with mashed potato and other side dishes by our choice. Two portion to fill our three big stomach was more than enough for the whole night!
Too bad I caught a flu that day so I took a lot of medicines and fell asleep soon as I reached kost. It was a hibernation to prepare my body for the next days' holiday programs.

Day 3:
I met my mom and brother nearby my kost, and we had lunch at Nasi Babi Guling Pak Malen. We then went separated: Ben went to Discovery Mall to meet a friend, while Mom and I went to Pasar Badung to shop some cloths for Pélopé Shop. We got a lot, and went back to store them at my kost before back to the hotel.

We had dinner that night with Pak Nur, a Balinese family friend, at Restoran Ketupat, Jl. Dewi Sri. We also ordered my new friend, Adit's Ouiche? quiche and he came delivering the package for us. After dinner I went straight to kost to sleep off and woke up earlier the next morning.

Day 4: 



We were ready for Ubud and departed at 11a.m. by rental car. We checked in at the In Da Lodge hostel, then walked around the Ubud Market, Hanoman Street, Dewi Sita Street and Gootama Street. We also visited Tante Elvira, Mom's schoolmate, at Villa Nirmala, Tegallalang. We chatted there, also with Tante Elvira's daughter Desiree and Mom's friend's brother, Mas Wawan.


We stayed at Tegallalang until dinner time and went to Tutmak at Jl. Dewi Sita to eat. We then went to our 'suite' room at the hostel which was located at second storey of an old Balinese house. It was big and because there was only the three of us (while the room could occupy 4-6 people), also rather spooky. We slept on one bed that night, to keep us warm and far from nightmare (if any of this actually makes sense).


Day 5:

We checked out from the hotel and went to Museum Rudana to see some paintings and the green landscape there. We then had lunch at Nasi Babi Guling Bu Oka, which is very famous, and continued our journey to the east. We stopped by at Karang Asem Beach and finally, to Candidasa. Too bad we didn't go to the White Sand Beach, but we were already tired so we decided to go back west.


We went to Sukawati village and Mom found a beautiful painting of an old woman weaving a cloth and we met the painter himself, I Dewa Suparta. From Sukawati we went to Sanur and checked in at Jambu Inn near the beach at Jl. Hang Tuah. We had dinner at Café Batu Jimbar and stayed out till almost midnight. We were glad the room was smaller and modern, therefore not spooky like the night before.

Day 6:



We decided to go west so after a day on beach and thru Denpasar city, we arrived at Tanah Lot at 4 p.m. It was cloudy since morning (too bad there wasn't sunrise to watch that morning) and were quite disappointed to find that the site wasn't as beautiful as it was years ago (well, of course) when there weren't too many people on the spot. We hardly found an empty spot there!

We didn't stay too long at Tanah Lot and went to Echo beach instead. We should've made it for sunset, but the sky was covered completely with thick cloud. But Mom and Ben liked the beach so we stayed there for dinner at Dian Café. An hour later, my sister Clemy who came to Bali two nights before with Fabian, caught up with us.


That night we stayed at Nyima Inn again and went to the south the next day. First stop was Nusa Dua, the east past of South Bali, then we stopped at Puja Mandala when we passed Kampial. Not much that we could do at Puja Mandala, but it's such a great place where five different holy building of five religions in Indonesia are built in one complex: mosque, Catholic church, viharra, Christian church and temple.


We finally arrived at Suluban village, at the west part of South Bali, where we climbed down random steps of the surfer's village built on the cliff rock. Shops and small restaurants were on our right or left side, built by the contour of the cliff. The view was magnificent. We could see the whole horizon of the sea, probably 135 degree outspread before our eyes.


We picked Viki Warung, one of the top, because the others were full of people. We had lunch there and after few hours, we headed back to the north. We stopped at Balangan beach for another 2 hours until sunset. After that we went to Muaya Beach at Jimbaran for seafood dinner on the sand. And just like the old times, a trio of bass, guitar and percussion players were playing Mom's favorite La Bamba, Lisoi and Alusio (the last two are Bataknese folk songs).


We went back to the inn but my sister and I were busy arranging stuff and put all my belongings back to my room. I had a chance to meet Ana for a brief to greet her Happy Ied Ul-Fitr (that was coming the next day but she was leaving for Jakarta). After all were packed, I went back to the inn and stayed the last night with my family.

Day 8:

I went with Mom to check the floor lamp she wanted at Kerobokan area, but the shop was closed so we checked another shops around until Tante Siska told us she was at the inn already. We went back to meet her, finished the administration with rental car and checked out from the inn; headed to Warung Litut at Jl. Mertasari for lunch.


Tante Siska left us there, let us have our lunch among the rice fields, and one of my new friends, Nathalie came by to join. At 1 p.m. Fabian and Clemy borrowed a friend's car to take us all to airport. We dropped Mom and Bent at the new Domestic Departure terminal and back to Kerobokan area. I went for another sleeping session while my sister and Fabian were wandering around Seminyak.

I went for dinner with Adit, Willy and Lili at Thai Corner, Jl. Petitenget that night, haven't met the guys for almost a week now (that already felt so weird because we met everyday when Hizkia was here). My sister was staying over that night while Fabian at his old office's dorm. It felt quite funny to sleep with my sister again after more than a year now. How I missed her!

Day 9:


Fabian and Clemy left to wander around at 9 a.m. but I continued my sleep. They invited me to join them for lunch at Mantra, Jl. Petitenget, with their ex-boss Nobuyuki Narabayashi from Desain9 and his assistant, Mba Mila and her daughter, Kimmy. We then had coffee at The Bistrot, Jl. Oberoi before went back home.


After packing and stuff, we had early dinner at Warung Jepang, Jl. Merta Agung, then they left by taxi. I wished I could spend more time with them, but I know life must go on. So I went to Eatwell and met my friends Putu Adit and Prissa. After a cup of hot chocolate I went back home to create more bracelets for Pélopé. It had been such a great holiday with my family and I know I'm blessed to have them in my life. Thank God!

 
P.S. For more pictures you can check my facebook album and instagram.

So my new friends have this literature community called Malam Puisi (Poem Night) that already run for 5 months now, and I attended the last one last Saturday at Kopi Kultur, at the back of Little Tree. We ended up playing Werewolf and eating super late supper there, the 15 of us, having the place as if our own. This is really a new thing for me, actively joining a community like this, but also the one I could really enjoy. I really am blessed with this new friends. Thank God!

I've been busy preparing my craft brand Pélopé lately and quite glad that I've finished the blog and facebook page now, also available at twitter and instagram. Check them out and get the first customers' discount promo now!

It had been weeks since my cousins Angel and Lauren went back to Jakarta, but life in Bali still feels differently than before. First, I have Hizkia around. Then, I had my friend Marinno who came with his friend Sonny who were thinking of expanding their business to Bali. From Marinno we were introduced to Willy, another Bandung person who already moved to Bali for 3 months now.

Then from Willy, the network expands. He brought his friend Aditya Tirto to our group and the next day we met up again, only this time it's us who joined his circle, introduced to Daniel, Dita and another girl. We played pool at The Deck, Jl. Petitenget, and chilled till 2 a.m. and continued hanging out at Sunny 16 at Fontana Hotel, Jl. Dewi Sri. There we were introduced to Aditya Nugraha, Elwa and Nat.

Since that night on, it's like having a new close friends all of a sudden. I fit in them easily and naturally and it feels really good to have friends like them. They hang out at Kopi Kultur at Little Tree, Sunset Road, a lot so I think it's gonna be my new hang out place, too. They have quite a big community here in Bali and have a Poem Night once a month. Kind of cool, right?


Last Tuesday I was invited to Kérastase Initialiste product launching at Rob Peetoom Hairspa in the morning and Rob Peetoom Magazine launching party at night. I came with Zora, my neighbor, and met a lot of people from my 'previous' life; international clubbers of Seminyak, Bali. It was fun to meet them all, but for me, my new group of friends are more fun to hang out with.

The next day was Dewi's last day in Bali. She was leaving for London and Holland for--maybe--ever, so we all gathered at her house, along with her mom and big brother, Wisnu, and her best friends Killa and Muty. I helped her mom packed the stuff while she was in the salon, and at 4 p.m. she left to the airport, and so her new life started. I feel so happy for her, that she could make her dream come true all by her own effort. She is one of the tough women I know.
One good friend goes, many new ones come. Such a blessing!

My cousins Angelika and Loren had already back to their home in Jakarta. That left me here with Hizkia and his girlfriend Saphira, who came the day Angel and Loren went home. We spent these last days together and also with my kost neighbors: Ana, Risty, Baim and Zora. But what most fun was that I got a new ride.


I found this folding bicycle at Rodalink store at Jl. Teuku Umar and fell in love with this Polygon Urbano 3.0 since the first sight. It has some plus points than the other folding bikes I saw before: it's pretty easy to fold and unfold (see the video below), pretty light for me to carry up and down the stairs by myself (my room is at second floor and I park it in my room) and looks pretty nice with me on it, tho not as lovely as a Brompton*. And the color is silver, which I much prefer.


I tried riding on it in the store and I apparently needed some time to adapt with biking again since maybe almost two decades (I almost never touched any bicycle since living in Bandung) so I brought it to Sanur and had some fun pedaling by the shore. Sanur is really a great place for cycling while in my area (Kerobokan) is pretty much crowded and the roads are very much uncomfortable because there are no sidewalks (the roads end straight to gutters at each side) and other vehicles are mostly speeding up in here.


Anyway, I am legally entering the commuter world now, in disguise on trying to burn more calories everyday rather than sitting sweetly on the scooter to get me anywhere. I really need to work out and I hope this new ride would help me get fitter. Thankfully I live in Bali, where pollution and traffic are less hectic than in Jakarta or Bandung--oh, I'm contributing on polluting less now by biking. Thank God for this bike, I'm superlovin' it!


*) Brompton is agreed to be the best folding bike in the world.

I still have my cousins staying at my place now, and tonight Lauren, the middle sibling, came to join us. Last Thursday, Hizkia, Angel and I went to Ubud by a rental car and we visited some galleries and museum. We first stopped by Tony Raka Art Gallery, then spent another hour at Neka Museum. We visited Gaya gallery and had a very delicious gelato ice cream there.

Om Aries Santiko caught up with us and we had some chat at Cinta Grill to talk about painters in Ubud that Hizkia wants to meet. After that we had some walk around Monkey Forest street to window shopping till 9 p.m. We went back to Denpasar and had late nasi liwet and nasi gudeg dinner at Jl. Imam Bonjol.


My cousins and I spent all Friday noon at room and plan things and watched the sunset together with Baim and Zora at Petitenget beach. Later that night we (me, my cousins and Ana) chilled at Seminyak beach at La Plancha area and had urgent supper after midnight at Circle K Petitenget. It was a really tiring day but very fun indeed.


Today we (with Ana and Zora) went to Seminyak Square and met Dewi there. We then moved to Beachwalk and spent time till 5 p.m. at the mall. We then went to Legian beach and watched sunset there. We met my old beach boy friend, Nyoman, who offered us seats. Baim caught up with us and later we had dinner together at Gong Corner.

But before dinner, Hizkia, Angel and I went to airport by two bikes to fetch Lauren first. Now the siblings are complete and I am so happy to have them here in my tiny room tho it's gonna be so packed. Family is such a blessing to me. Anyway, I wish you all a great summer holiday, too!

More great pics to check on  instagram 
and facebook album.

I went back to Jakarta again last Monday because I had a flu since Thursday before and it didn't get better. I decided that spending time resting with a mother at home would be much better than bed resting alone at my place with no nutrition from the food I had to buy myself. So I flew back to Jakarta and met my family, which was a great getaway for me.

I had my brother stayed over at home also on Monday night and went together on Tuesday morning for his driving license thing and spent the next days with cousins and aunts and grandma came over to see Mom's new home. It was really great to meet family and spend time with them, because after all the friends and acquaintances, family are the ones who love you the way you are.

On Thursday Mom and I went to Thamrin to pick up my sister at her office by 6p.m., then we drove to east to my brother's kost place (that was kind of hard to find because none of us were familiar with the area) to surprise him at his birthday. He didn't have any plan or party to celebrate himself turning 28, so we made one for him. Gladly he liked it so much.




We had dinner together at Gading Walk in Kelapa Gading which was the closest entertaining area from his place, then had some tea at Kopitiam. It was not much, but this was one of the rare moments of our family to gather with complete members. We cherish the moment more than ever now that we all live by ourselves.


I came back to Bali last Saturday with my cousins Angelika and Hizkia along with their father, Om Hari, by Citilink and we all had a fun day at Uluwatu yesterday. It was another great time I had this week, for it had been almost a decade now that we could have an adventure in nature on Uluwatu cliffs, like the days I always had with Dad on holidays. Family really matters to me, although it never is perfect, but at least I have one. Thank God.

More great pics to check on  instagram
and facebook album.

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