Is Technology Enough?

I’m writing this to remind myself that I still need to stay on ground and not always be gadget minded and connect internet in every hour when I’m idle. Just put my blackberry or android down and start to take a book for reading it or set schedule to meet friends in weekend.

This is the era of internet and the world seems without border because one person from one country can connect to other country which is far away just by chat through the messenger…so easy; just using the internet connection, mobile phone, or tablet, or notebook and voila! we can have a chat with sleepy eyes with family at America let say. Why sleepy eyes? Because if at Jakarta is 11pm then at America is 11am, so welcome to the real world, gals hahaha No matter how advanced your gadget is, the time of the world is still the same and we can’t change that right? Hehehe…

Recently my friends at Jogjakarta were having a reunion which unfortunately I could not attend due to high season holiday here at Jakarta. They are my junior high school friends and the reunion was the second one that held at Jogjakarta after the first on December last year. When I talked through blackberry messenger to one of my friend, the chat was ended up with statement: “so, the blackberry messenger and blackberry group is not an everything for us to have relationship for our reunion; but we also need to have face to face meeting like this because there’s nothing that can replace the benefit of face to face relationship.” Isn’t something? Sesuatu banget khaaaaan hahaha…

Work, deadlines of reports, family, anything can be a reason for us not to set a time and even excuse for not have time to meet our beloved families and friends. But there should be a time if we make for it. God gives each one of us the same time in 1 day: 24 hours. Even Albert Einstein got it the same right? Hehehe… Easy for me to talk while I’m still need to learn about my personal time management especially for wake up early for exercise, cook for breakfast, prepare everything for go to work, and sleep early to have a good rest for tomorrow wake up early again for another routines. I can’t lie that sometimes after work and arrive at my boarding house, when I lying down at my bed I am so fun with myself and my android to check news at Kompas.com or Detik.com to get information about some updated news. Wait…fun? Not really because sometimes when my eyes are already tired, I just keep reading and not turning off the gadget…pyyyuuufffhhh…hehehe…

Okay, back to the reunion. One of my friends put a status in her blackberry like this: “It’s been 17 years never met!” Whoohooowww…yes it is true! Hahahaha… After we graduated from junior high school, we went to different senior high school or luckily if it’s the same; then went to university, work to other cities, or even out of the country. So I thankful for Facebook that helps me to find my friends again even from the elementary school even not so many as friends from high school and university hehehe… The sudden reunion during Lebaran holiday looked more informal than the first one and I’m just so glad to see the pictures of friends who did the gathering that day even though I could not attend it. I don’t deny that blackberry messenger and blackberry group is helping us a lot in making us who are far to each other into close (and even make the close ones into far: this is a joke but a fact too). But in my humble opinion, the bbm and bb group is not enough and actually the conversation can’t beat the fun and joyful conversation that we can have when we meet face to face. This is why I put a title for this note: “is technology enough?” For me, the answer is definitely no and what about you guys? Feel free to give your opinion yaaa ^__^

Sekedar berbagi …

Semoga berkenan  …

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Sebuah kisah nyata yang cukup bagus untuk contoh kita semua (pernah ditayangkan di MetroTV).

Semoga kita dapat mengambil pelajaran.

MAMPUKAH MENCINTAI ISTRI KITA TANPA SYARAT ???

Ini kisah nyata, beliau adalah Bp. Eko Pratomo Suyatno, Direktur Fortis

Asset Management yg sangat terkenal di kalangan Pasar Modal dan Investment,

beliau juga sangat sukses dlm memajukan industri Reksadana di Indonesia.

Apa yg diutarakan beliau adalah Sangat Benar adanya.

Silahkan dibaca dan dihayati.

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Sebuah perenungan, Buat para suami, di baca ya..... atau istri & calon istri

juga boleh...

Dilihat dari usia beliau yang sudah tidak muda lagi, usia yg sudah senja

bahkan sudah mendekati malam, Pak Suyatno 58 tahun kesehariannya diisi

dengan merawat istrinya yang sakit. Isterinya juga sudah tua.Mereka menikah

sudah lebih 32 tahun. Dan dikarunia 4 orang anak.

Disinilah awal cobaan menimpanya, setelah sang isteri melahirkan anak keempat

tiba2 kakinya lumpuh dan tidak bisa digerakkan. Itu terjadi selama 2 tahun.

Menginjak tahun ke tiga, seluruh tubuhnya menjadi lemah bahkan terasa tidak

bertulang, lidahnyapun sudah tidak bisa digerakkan lagi.

Setiap hari pak suyatno memandikan, membersihkan kotoran, menyuapi, dan

mengangkat istrinya keatas tempat tidur. Sebelum berangkat kerja, dia

letakkan istrinya didepan TV supaya istrinya tidak merasa kesepian. Walau

istrinya tidak dapat bicara tapi dia selalu melihat istrinya tersenyum.

Untunglah tempat usaha pak suyatno tidak begitu jauh dari rumahnya sehingga

siang hari dia pulang untuk menyuapi istrinya makan siang. Sorenya dia

pulang memandikan istrinya, mengganti pakaian dan selepas maghrib dia

temani istrinya nonton televisi sambil menceritakan apa2 saja yg dia alami

seharian tadi.

Walaupun istrinya hanya bisa memandang dan tidak bisa menanggapi, Pak

Suyatno sudah cukup senang, bahkan dia selalu menggoda istrinya setiap

berangkat tidur.

Rutinitas ini dilakukan Pak Suyatno lebih kurang 25 tahun, dengan sabar dia

merawat istrinya bahkan sambil membesarkan ke 4 buah hati mereka, sekarang

anak2 mereka sudah dewasa, tinggal si bungsu yg masih kuliah.

Pada suatu hari...ke empat anak Suyatno berkumpul dirumah orang tua mereka

sambil menjenguk ibunya. Karena setelah anak mereka menikah, sudah tinggal

dengan keluarga masing2 dan Pak Suyatno memutuskan ibu mereka  dia yg

merawat, yang dia inginkan hanya satu,  semua anaknya berhasil.

Dengan kalimat yg cukup hati2 anak yg sulung berkata "Pak kami ingin

sekali merawat ibu, semenjak kami kecil melihat bapak merawat ibu, tidak

ada sedikitpun keluhan keluar dari bibir bapak....... bahkan bapak tidak

ijinkan kami menjaga ibu".

Dengan air mata berlinang anak itu melanjutkan kata2 "sudah yg keempat

kalinya kami mengijinkan bapak menikah lagi, kami rasa ibupun akan

mengijinkannya, kapan bapak menikmati masa tua bapak, dengan berkorban

seperti ini kami sudah tidak tega melihat bapak. Kami janji kami akan

merawat ibu sebaik-baik secara bergantian".

Pak Suyatno menjawab hal yg sama sekali tidak diduga anak2nya."Anak2ku

........... Jikalau perkawinan & hidup didunia ini hanya untuk nafsu,

mungkin bapak akan menikah..... tapi ketahuilah dengan keadaan ibu kalian

disampingku itu sudah lebih dari cukup,dia telah melahirkan kalian..

Sejenak kerongkongannya tersekat,... kalian yg selalu kurindukan hadir

didunia ini dengan penuh cinta yg tidak satupun dapat dihargai dengan

apapun.

Coba kalian tanya ibumu apakah dia menginginkan keadaannya seperti ini??

Kalian menginginkan bapak bahagia, apakah bathin bapak bisa bahagia

meninggalkan ibumu dengan keadaanya yang sekarang, kalian menginginkan bapak

yg masih diberi Tuhan kesehatan dirawat oleh orang lain? Bagaimana dengan

ibumu yg masih sakit.."

Sejenak meledaklah tangis anak2 pak suyatno. Merekapun melihat butiran2

kecil jatuh dipelupuk mata ibu Suyatno...dengan pilu ditatapnya mata suami

yg sangat dicintainya itu..

Sampailah akhirnya Pak Suyatno diundang oleh salah satu stasiun TV swasta

untuk menjadi nara sumber dan merekapun mengajukan pertanyaan kepada

Suyatno, kenapa mampu bertahan selama 25 tahun merawat Istrinya yg sudah

tidak bisa apa2.. Disaat itulah meledak tangis beliau dengan tamu yg hadir

di studio, kebanyakan kaum perempuanpun tidak sanggup menahan haru.

Disitulah Pak Suyatno bercerita."Jika manusia didunia ini mengagungkan

sebuah cinta dalam perkawinannya, tetapi tidak mau memberi (memberi waktu,

tenaga, pikiran, perhatian) itu adalah kesia-siaan. Saya memilih istri saya

menjadi pendamping hidup saya, dan sewaktu dia sehat diapun dengan sabar

merawat saya, mencintai saya dengan hati dan bathinnya bukan dengan

mata,dan dia memberi saya 4 orang anak yg lucu2..Sekarang dia sakit karena

berkorban untuk cinta kita bersama... dan itu merupakan ujian bagi saya,

apakah saya dapat memegang komitmen untuk mencintainya apa adanya.

“Sehatpun belum tentu saya mencari penggantinya apalagi dia sakit,,,"

Sekian.

Cerita ini saya dapat dari milis Reader Digest Indonesia.

Valentine’s day…what a day :))

If a friend asked me what do you on Valentine’s day that fell on Tuesday February 14^th 2012? My answer is this: took sick leave! Hahaha…

No, I’m not kidding, friend…this year’s Valentine’s day is just so special for me :D Actually as a single woman, I have easy agenda for celebrating the Valentine’s day but it’s not so important yet *wink But because since Sunday I have been experiencing unwell body condition and it was getting worst by Monday morning that caused me to take sick leave on that day and also on Tuesday. But God has His own way to cheer my day up during my sick leave by using a little girl to make me laugh and as the old proverb says, the cheerful heart is a good medicine for the body; it is true, my dear ^_^

On Monday morning near mid day I went out for buying snacks, lunch, and medicine at the drug store near office and as I walked down the narrow alley, there’s a little girl around 4 years old that I know as the child of the owner of one of food stalls around that area. She was chatting with an adult man (an employee) who teasing her often and they look familiar to each other. When I passed in front of them, suddenly I heard the kid saying, “Why are you always looking at me? (ngapain liat-liat) Better you look at that beautiful woman (mendingan liatin tuh cewek cantik itu tuh)” while her eyes are appointing to me. Hahaha… I don’t know how come this little girl said that kind of saying while I that time was putting a pink mask over my face. All I did behind the mask was laughing all the way to the drugstore and until now when I remember this event, I just give a big grin :D

I can’t thank enough to my God Jesus Christ for giving me such a sweet moment like that ^_^ I’m amazed how God can make that little girl to pay attention to me while she couldn’t see my full face and finally that cheerful moment really gives me a teary moment also because of His sweet attention can be seen unexpectedly; a sweet surprise, Lord! BIG THANKS!!! You really made my day and BIG HUG for You my Valentine!!! ^___^

Tante berharap ini hanya mimpi, Yul…

Kata-kata itu keluar dari seorang mama yang hatinya pedih tidak bisa melihat anak laki-lakinya terbaring sakit di ruang ICU di sebuah rumah sakit di Jakarta. Di sebelah sang mama adalah seorang laki-laki yang menutup matanya sambil sesekali menghapus keringat dingin di wajahnya; dialah papa dari anak laki-laki tersebut.

Tidak pernah menyangka bahwa musibah ini akan menimpa keluarga dari teman kuliahku. Sepertinya baru kemarin aku mendapatkan kabar bahwa dia ada di Jakarta dan bisa menemukan Facebook-nya, segera kami saling menjadi teman di Facebook.

Waktu seakan terbang melintasi hari, minggu, bulan, dan tahun sampai usia kami masing-masing telah bertambah, foto pernikahan, dan foto bayi-bayi lucu dari teman-teman mewarnai halaman Facebook, dan sampai suatu siang ada sms masuk…Yul, masih ingat dengan teman kita? Dia meninggal, Yul…

Cepat-cepat aku buka halaman Facebook-nya dan segera mata ini melihat begitu banyak ucapan duka cita yang mewarnai halaman itu… Berusaha supaya mata ini tetap fokus mencari informasi kenapa dia begitu cepat pergi sambil menahan air mata supaya tidak membanjiri meja kerjaku, sampailah pada foto seorang anak kecil yang terbaring kaku di meja ruang jenazah.

Begitu banyak komentar duka dan simpati dari para sahabat dan kolega di bawah foto itu dan mataku terpaku pada informasi bahwa kebakaran pada subuh pagi hari Senin itu yang telah membuat temanku dirawat di rumah sakit sampai akhirnya dia meninggal. Dia, adiknya, anak angkatnya, mereka bertiga sekarang sudah ada di surga sedangkan anak laki-laki di awal tulisan ini adalah suaminya.

Tadi malam aku bertemu dengan papa mama dari suaminya yang setia menunggu kabar baik dari dokter tentang kemajuan anak laki-lakinya itu. Aku belum pernah ketemu dengan suami temanku ini (apalagi orang tuanya), tapi aku merasakan dorongan yang kuat dari dalam hati untuk pergi ke rumah sakit dan ingin berbicara dengan sepasang suami istri yang tabah ini.

Satu setengah jam yang aku habiskan berbincang dengan sang mama sepertinya berlari begitu cepat. Ada duka di hati dan air mata yang hampir menetes dari mata sang bunda, tapi harapan yang meluap dari hatinya membuat air mata itu berubah menjadi senyum yang cantik. Sang papa dipanggil oleh dokter jaga untuk membeli obat dan untuk beberapa saat waktu memihak kepadaku dan sang mama untuk bercakap dari hati ke hati.

Sang mama mencurahkan kegalauan hati, kerisauan di pikiran, tapi juga ada harapan serta doa yang lebih besar daripada semua galau dan risau itu. Kedua telinga dan hatiku menjadi saksi bagaimana hidup ini hanya se-hela-an nafas saja dan dalam sekejap ada duka yang menyelinap masuk tanpa permisi.

Tante kadang masih heran, Yul, kenapa ini bisa terjadi…padahal malam sebelum kejadian itu, Tante masih terima telepon dari anak Tante yang mengundang Tante dan Om untuk datang ke Jakarta. Ternyata kami memang datang ke Jakarta…tapi Tante bersyukur banyak orang yang memberi bantuan serta dukungan doa untuk kami dan Tante percaya mukjizat itu masih ada.

Yes, Tante, harapan itu masih ada dan kita tidak boleh menyerah. Tuhan, rancangan-Mu adalah rancangan damai sejahtera dan membawa kebaikan untuk keluarga ini, bless them with a big faith and abundant grace, Lord, kerajaan-Mu datanglah, kehendak-Mu jadilah…amen.

Tulisan ini untuk mengenang temanku yang bahkan belum sempat menikmati ulang tahunnya yang ke 32 di akhir Januari 2012 ini.

Selamat jalan, sahabat, you have finished your journey.

From Monday to Saturday at Thailand (part 3-end)

Here we are at the last part of my story when I had wonderful days at Thailand and I’m sorry for the long distance between the second part and this third part ^__^

Basically I have poured out most of all the stories at those 2 parts so in this part I would like to tell the story about my way back from Thailand to Jakarta, started from the office, hotel, Suvarnabhumi airport, Soekarno Hatta airport, and finally my boarding house. Looks quite long eh? For me it is because totally it took about 12 hours started from the hour when I woke up on Saturday morning, left the hotel to go to Suvarnabhumi airport, arrived at Jakarta, waited for taxi, and arrived at boarding house finally.

So that Friday night, I safely reached the hotel with Ms Eda and was preparing my things to check out on early Saturday morning. When I went down to reception to inform about early check out and also was going to pay the hotel’s cost, they directly offered me to prepare American breakfast (ABF) that morning so I could bring it together with me along to airport. Good service from Richmond hotel and I do recommend this hotel for business trip to you who are going to visit near Nonthaburi area. I was quite surprised when they offered me the breakfast package although I realized that I still had 1 left of breakfast coupon with me :D And at MBK I’ve already bought some small bread also for in case I didn’t receive the breakfast from hotel and I can eat that bread for breakfast at airport.

Thank God I had a good short sleep that night and I woke up around 3.30am to prepare myself and my things to check out and go to airport. Because I brought some Thaicom t-shirts with me from K. Nong, so my luggage became quite heavy of those additional stuffs. And that time I realized how I was so naïve not asking the hotel whether they have already provided towels, slippers, and clothes hanger for the guest. Because I did bring my own towels (1 big and 1 small), sandal, and clothes hangers too that at the end those things were mostly useless because I was using the hotel’s stuffs. Oh my gossshhh!! When I remembered this, I could laugh out loud over myself!! Hahaha…. Why?? Because I realized that I never stay at that kind of hotel before during my adult time, so I don’t know if hotel with 3 or 4 stars level is providing some usual stuff for their guests’s convenient, so they don’t have to bring their own stuff. I did traveling with my parents when I was a kid and my mom was the one who packing up my necessary things. So this trip to Thailand was a new thing for me especially related to staying at the hotel ^__^ And next time if I’m going to stay at that kind of hotel again, I don’t need to carry my own stuff too many then *big grin*

So after finishing the check out, paid the hotel bill, I looked for a taxi and bingo! There was 1 taxi in front of the hotel and the driver was quite familiar with Indonesia because of Bali when he asked me which country that I came from. Around 5.30am I left the hotel and because it’s still early morning, there was no traffic jam at all (of course! ^__^) so the driver could run his car in high speed. That morning when I arrived at the airport (departure area), there were already busy morning for the airport officers. People from many countries had already been occupying the departure area with their luggages to catch up the planes.

Well, with additional weight on my luggage, I had a difficulty to bring it along the way to the check in counter. While my notebook is quite heavy too, my hands were full and I had to use all my strength when I was going to put my luggage to the scale. I didn’t dare to look at the number shown and wished for my luggage is still under the limit that allowed for economy class…and thank God it did :D hahaha….

Okay, luggage done and suddenly I remembered that I still carried 1 bottle of water in my bag and I needed to empty it because of the airplane regulation. So I was going to the toilet and from there I went to the exchange counter to exchange my last Thai Baht into USD (this one I also almost forgot *grinning*). After that, next step was the immigration section and the queue was quite long with people from various countries standing along the queue. To kill the time, I was playing person’s guessing with myself. That man is the businessman from Japanese or China or Korea. That man is the tourist from one of the country at Europe, while there were also a group of tourists from China or Japan (I forgot) who had a mistake in filling the form which is to be submitted along to the immigration officer (I forgot the name because I didn’t use this form). I saw that the queue was in orderly arranged and the officers there were quite tough (you can see from their faces). I wonder if every officer at airport (especially the immigration officer) has to be tough because their responsibility we believe is quite hard too.

After finishing the immigration process, I kept following the flow of other people with opening my eyes as big as I could *when I felt still sleepy zzzz….* to see the direction from any signs at the airport. And taaarraaaa…here I was in the process to check the carry in luggage. I had a funny accident also in this area; still I can’t avoid having a big grin when I remembered this memory. We need to put down our each bag (if we carried more than 1 bag) into a plastic box to be scanned on the conveyor belt; one bag one box. If you carried notebook, you need to put it in a different box too besides the notebook case. And the jacket too, we need to open and put it in another box. If we can get through the security door without the alarm that rings and also our stuff is all okay, then we’ll be fine. Sometimes if the alarm rings, the officer will check our body using the scanner (you know that thing right) to find out the cause. I didn’t realize that the hotel put 1 glass of water inside my breakfast box and that what caused me to stay for a while standing in front of the office while he’s checking my stuff. I was scared to death that time if there’s something dangerous or restricted thing they found between my stuff. Indeed!! The water was dangerous and they took it away (be confiscated). What a relieved!!! Ffiiiiuuuhhhh…*removing the sweat* That time the officer looked at me when he found the water and I just put a sweet smile in my face, pretending that I didn’t know that the water is forbidden and I didn’t know too that thing is in the box. Hahahaha… what an experience that is so excited!!!

After successfully passed the test *smirk* I walked through a quite long area that full with stores and restaurants where we can stop to buy gifts or having the breakfast. And also the duty free counter for taking care the tax of the gifts that we bought (for tourist especially). This area is heading to the boarding area for different planes and I just like the ambiance right there you know ^__^ I saw branded perfumes, cosmetics, bags, belts, watches, pashmina, cute dolls, delicious snacks, and wines too at those stores. Hmmm…get ready to be tempted, guys!! And watch out for your wallet hahaha….

So, here I was, near the boarding gate D4 where I waited for my plane to get ready. Generally, I can say that I like Suvarnabhumi airport; the transparent white ceiling, the huge and roomy areas, the modern looking…the total ambiance felt so clean and neat ^__^ I hope for a better improvement of Soekarno Hatta airport too frankly speaking and I believe it because the best is yet ahead :D

Not long after the passengers at gate D3 were all in to the plane, they opened the D4 gate and no delay. While waiting for that, I ate my breakfast and I found out that I was totally hungry and that time was around 7am which is usually on that time I have my breakfast day to day *ups, you know my little secret then :D

And surprisingly, there were 2 men sitting next to me and they are Indonesians! So far flying to Thailand and here we go, the same nationality :p And when the clock was closing to 8.30am, more passengers were coming and there were more Indonesians at the same flight with me. Well, welcome aboard to you all ^__^ The airport provides 2 LCD screen TV for us to watch something like National Geography or Animal Planet during the waiting time to enter the plane, which is my favourite show. These are some pictures that I took when I was waiting for the gate to open and waiting for enter the plane. 

The morning was getting bright as the clock ticking and more people have come to boarding gate D4 with me waiting for the plane to be ready. And finally we got on the plane, I sat with Indonesian people again like when I left Jakarta *actually I wished for a foreign person so I can chat with him or her* and the plane was not so full like the reverse route that I had earlier. Because I was still sleepy, so I tried to sleep a while and when I woke up I had a nice surprise which is the breakfast that makes me curious of its taste; is it going to be as delicious as the lunch that I had from Jakarta to Thailand? Indeed!! I’m sorry I forgot the food that I ate during both flights, but I can sure you the food is fit into our stomach (Asian or European people) and halal too for Moslem. One thing that I like is the butter salted they give to passengers; it’s not too salty and just perfect for the bread ^__^ Yes, they gave bread too besides of the main menu for the beginning and for drinks they also have wines, juice, tea, and water. Well, I’d love to take another flights with Thai Airways next time to another destinations and find out more about their food besides enjoying the good looking of their crews *smirk*

We had a safe flight, landed smoothly, and the heavy rain welcomed me that day at Soekarno Hatta airport. I wonder why it was quite long to wait for the luggage to come out. One of foreign man was a bit upset when talked to his friend in the phone about this waiting time related to his friend had been waiting to pick him up. After collecting my luggage, it took about almost 1 hour for me to wait for the taxi and how weird the weather was; the rain was only around airport area and there was no rain when the taxi entered the toll gate. But it started to rain again when I almost arrived at the boarding house. Thankfully no traffic jam too along the way from the airport :D Next time if I don’t carry too large luggage, I would prefer to take Damri bus from airport because it’s cheaper, faster, and convenient too.

Yay!! This is the end of my story guys :D and I hope next time I’ll get a chance to write another story from another place ^__^ Have a wonderful day!

From Monday to Saturday at Thailand (part 2)

Fiuuuuhhhh…finally first day at head office had been successfully finished with meeting so many new but old people right there.

Wait, old? New? What do you mean, Yulia; are they all older than you but new employees? Heheheee…let me explain and don’t misunderstood okay :D New in this term means that for me they are new people who I met for the first time at head office after so many months talking to them through emails and phones only. But for K. Nong that I met in the Monday morning, she was new employee at head office also K. Prateep at IGS department, and K. Kai at Finance department (the people I know); while the other people are old means they are seniors at there and you can see how senior they are from their title (department manager, vice president, and so on). People come and go in our life; such as the person who has come to my office before now already gone before I have a chance to meet him at head office. Quite surprise when found out about this when I was asking about this person to K. Toni at there.

Okay, the training will start in a moment and that Tuesday morning I had to choose my breakfast carefully because I don’t want my stomach to sound with “strange noises” during the training time *big grin* Started on Tuesday and will end on Thursday, all of us will have a SAP training. Who is all of us? We are the staffs from representative office of Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, and China; so total are 6 persons because from India there are 2 persons who came for the training. I’m so thankful that I could meet them at head office and get along with them for a while during the challenging SAP training. Here they are the beautiful Asian Girls who attended the SAP training with me ^__^ Good memory to be remembered for sure and so glad to know you all, girls :D Can you guess which one that already married and she’s currently pregnant with baby no 2? And she asked me to go to Pattaya next year to have the holiday together :D ups, have to save a lot money started from now then hahahaaaa….

We got favor from the Finance Manager K. Chumphon and VP Finance K. Pannee who treated us for lunch on Tuesday and Thursday (many thanks ka :D). No wonder if Ain (from Malaysia) said in her facebook that her diet program was messy because during her stays at Thailand, she just kept eating and eating and eating hehehee…and me toooo!!! Oh my gosh!!! As I said before, I could not resist the temptation of Thai food although most of them are more spicy than Indonesian food. On Monday evening, K. Euam and K. Prateep treated me for dinner at Central Plaza mall which located at other area (different Central Plaza near the Richmond hotel where I stayed). We ate something like a food of raw fish that served with spices, strong seasoning, and guess what…with grapefruit!!! The taste is sour but also fresh and delicious too :D Never seen any kind of food like that before and I’d like to find out more about using grapefruit for the food. When the food reached your mouth, you will feel a kind of strong feeling that a mixing of sour and spicy. Whoooaaaa…want to eat that again!!! Hahaha…LOL

When we ate at small restaurant near office, we had a kind of dessert that I really want to try again. If I could get the recipe, I would like to make it by myself hahaha… Unfortunately I forgot to take picture of it but how about the delicious taste? It’s still in my memory *grinning* The desert was a white bread that eaten with a green sauce made from coconut; just perfect and made you want to eat more and more and more :D Hey, wait, for this food I got the picture and we ate this on Thursday night for dinner with K. Euam and K. Mod at an open air ordinary street restaurant near the office. The seafood is steamed and you need to put it into a spicy sauce before eat it. We ate that with Pad Thai or fried rice or just eat like that it’s also delicious. You can find shrimp, snail, scallop, and squid in the basket and it’s more than enough for having a full stomach if you eat all of them without the Pad Thai :D 

So, the second lesson that I got from this trip is that don’t bother about your diet program or, if you still want to keep your weight under control then do some exercises that suit to you (easy to speak but hard to do right hehehe…)

Anyway, did you have a chance to go for shopping and sightseeing, Yulia? If you asked me that, my answer is more to no than to yes eventhough I went to Siam Paragon mall that Wednesday night and also to MBK on Friday night. I had a thought to extend the trip until the weekend but I changed my mind because this trip was more tended as a business trip with objective for training and not a vacation. So next year I should come back to have the real vacation hahaha…

The traffic at Bangkok is quite the same with Jakarta although in some cases can be better at Bangkok because they have the Bangkok Sky Train already to reach some shopping places from one site to other site quite fast. But I went to Siam Paragon by car that night with K. Es, K. Toni (he is the driver and the owner of the car ka, also the initiator for going to Siam Paragon ^_^), K. Salma, Ain, and Lan Anh; and we were stuck in traffic jam for some time. At that mall we had a Mexican food and also had sightseeing for the night market at the opposite of the mall (Lan Anh chose to go back to hotel after dinner because she’s sleepy). That time K. Toni accompanied Ain to shop clothes and shoes while I, K. Es, and K. Salma were walking around to see the other street shops around that area while waiting for both of them.

While at MBK, I had another Pad Thai with Ms Eda (she’s from Phillipine so I call her Ms Eda from her full name Edalin A. Timtiman) and this Pad Thai is quite sweet and not spicy. Different with what I had at the hotel and at the seafood restaurant. MBK is like a shopping mall where you can buy souvenirs (T-Shirts, handycrafts, key chains and so on), cheap clothes, accessories (like belts, hair accessories, and many more), pashmina, bags, Thai snacks, and of course eating Thai foods at the food court. But you know what, there is also a Balinese food at their international food court when we walked around the area before decided to buy. And while at there, I saw some blonde tourists besides of the tourists from other countries too. Wooowww…I was not the only tourist that night I guess :D and I was considering myself not as a tourist actually, but a Thai person because I do look like them (if I don’t open my mouth to speak hahaha…). At there, I saw 2 or 3 European men were waiting for something while they still have their luggages with them. It seemed that they just arrived from airport and directly went to MBK…oh my goodness, what a surprise!!! MBK provides small cards like in the photos below as the guidance for visitors to find the tenants that they want; very helpful as the guidance. 

Because we went to MBK during the after office hours and also on Friday, we were in traffic jam when we took the express way. And when we finished everything, we were in a quite long queue for a taxi with other people (again, I saw tourist from various countries were there). Something funny but a little bit scary experience we had that night. I was thinking to take a taxi by myself to go back to hotel and Ms Eda went back to her place but then Ms Eda wanted to bring me back to hotel first before return to her place. So we got a taxi and suddenly the taxi had a trouble with its engine and stopped in middle of nowhere. Oh my goooosssshhh!!! The driver talked to Ms Eda that he had this accident twice already during that day and he asked us to move to another taxi because surely the error can’t be solved in minutes (thank God Ms Eda can speak and understand Thai for she has been self studying the language during her working period). So we got another taxi, but….unbelievable!!! He was driving like crazy!!! So fast and the speed was increased when we entered the toll/express way. I and Ms Eda were holding our breath when he’s doing some manouvers to overtaking other cars’ lap. Another oh my goossshhh!!! OMG!!! In my heart I was praying that we will be fine and we will arrive safely without any accident; I guess Ms Eda also did the same thing :D Finally we arrived at my hotel and Ms Eda waited until the taxi disappeared and she took another taxi to go to her place. Fffyuuuuhhh…what a relieved!!! Both of us were so grateful that we arrived safely :D Unforgettable memory for sure and has no intention to repeat it hahaha…*LOL* Thank you so much for that night, Ms Eda, really appreciate your time to accompany me and hopefully next time we can visit the weekend market :D

Well, that’s all for now, I’ll continue to the part 3 on the next day and thanks for reading it ^___^

From Monday to Saturday at Thailand (part 1)

Thank God I had a good sleep after full enough with the Thai fried rice on the Sunday evening *big grin* and I woke up in the morning with excitement that I’m going to see my colleagues at head office with whom I have been communicating through emails and phones. Finaaalllyyyy….hoorrraaayyyy!!! hahaha…sorry, I’m too excited but this is my dream comes true, seeing the persons face to face and talk directly without boundary of distance :D 

Of course, I started to have the breakfast at the hotel with big curious what kind of foods that they provided and I wonder if there’s any Thai food that I can try because this is Thailand. And as usual, any persons who met me thought I’m Thai (if I don’t open my mouth to speak words). So that morning in the lift when I was going down to restaurant, a young woman greeted me and spoke to me in Thai language. So I was just giving her a big smile while saying,” I’m sorry, I can’t speak Thai.” Hehehe…

The foods for breakfast at the hotel are quite a lot and it’s American buffet breakfast actually; so they are completely served from bread, croissant, soups, salads, fruits, and main menu such as fried rice, white rice, and dishes with vegetables and meats, or fish, and chicken or pork sausages. Whoooaaaa… I was going to jump to see all those foods and wanted to try all of them one by one :D But then I remembered that I must choose the foods wisely because I need keep my weight under control while having enough energy for the whole day activity. And for the next days, a thought about keeping my weight under control already gone because I could not resist the food temptations at Thailand hahahahaaa…

After finishing the breakfast, I took my bag and notebook and went down again to get a taxi. A friendly staff greeted me with “sa-wat-dii krap” and I answered him with “good morning, can I get a taxi?” He asked me again, “Where are you going?” “Thaicom,” I said. Just one word and he understood ^__^ And he helped me to speak to the driver about the direction to Thaicom.

After I arrived at Thaicom, I was looking for Pat but she has not come yet that morning. So I tried another name that is K. Nong, the secretary of VP-SA2 (capital letter “K” means “Khun”, the way we call persons at Thailand) with a hope that she has come. And yes, she has come and she went downstairs to welcome me. She said that I looked different than the photo in web directory and we were just excited finally we can meet each other ^__^

After some chit chat with K. Nong, she brought me to Finance Department area because I don’t have the access card to open the door. And I landed safely at there for that day, met other colleagues with a tour assistancy to other departments from K. Toni, sitting near K. Toni, and working on my pending tasks from Jakarta before having a short question and answer with K. Es.

In the lunch time, I got a favor to taste tom yam goong soup, green curry, fried fish, and other foods that I don’t know the name with K. Es, K. Toni, K. Thanan, and K. Luk. All of us were treated by K. Luk for that lunch (khob khun ka, K. Luk ^__^). And in the evening, I went to the mall near office and hotel to buy simcard and fruits with K. Toni and K. Es (thank youuuu ^_^)

I thought I would not need a Thai simcard during these days because I still can use my Indonesian simcard (pre paid card) after I arrived at the airport to sms my parents and K. Tinnakorn my boss to inform that I landed safely; also sms my friend too. But then when I arrived at the hotel and reached the 16^th floor, I could not use my simcard anymore. A little bit panic that time, oh noooo…the signal was gone and even after keep searching and got some Thai operators, I didn’t know which one that has cooperation with Indonesian operator of my simcard. So I tried to choose other operator and also decided to buy local simcard because I don’t want to loose contact with my parents while I’m at Thailand. The cost for using Indonesian simcard in Thailand is quite expensive and if we stay quite long (more than 3 days), we better buy local simcard to save the cost. This is one of the lesson that I learn from this trip ^__^

Okay, part one is done and continues with part two coming soon :D

note: the yellow orchid photo was taken at near gate D4 when I was going to boarding to go back to Jakarta. Wish could bring it back to Jakarta :D