Rad Sujanto in Singapore

Not Chingay, Marina Bay is the option

2009-01-31T04:52:00.000-08:00

... is the only option left. Cashmere just reminded me of Chingay event held in Singapore. It is a big street parade and seems to be very famous in Singapore. When I first time saw the name of the event I thought it had something with, you know... Chin-gay (CHINese-GAY??) Please, no offensive intention here =) Well afer I looked up on google about it it turned out to be just a name, I guess, (I didn't really explore the history of it) and obviously not anything like what I thought or even close
Here's a short introduction of the event:

There are innumerable religious festivals of purely regional interest in Malaysia . But in 1880, one celebration in Penang to “welcome the Spring” during the New Year season, went round George Town . This procession captured the fascination of a European missionary and was vividly recorded. Penang became famous at the turn of the century with this “Giant Flags Procession”.

In many primitive societies, a procession is one of the most basic expressions of communal unity. In the history of Chinese tradition, deafening drums, cymbals and gongs, dance and street gaiety have always been part of the way the common people celebrate any big occasions which included Lunar New Years, religious commemoration and festivities.

There is no historical record of how the word “Chingay” originated. But records show that as early as the 19 th century, Chingay appeared in South East Asia, beginning in Penang . The word was coined from its phonetic Hokkien equivalent, which means “the art of costume and masquerade”. It alluded to a Chinese styled decorated miniature stage or float borne on the shoulders of performers. This miniature stage depicts an important historical scene. It was probably the beginning of the manual float. During New Year processions in old China , such floats were carried through the streets on men's shoulders while dancers, jugglers and magicians entertained the crowds. Huge animals, both real and mythical took part in the processions, which were essentially religious in nature and aimed at honouring deities at the beginning of each new year.

more...

Anyway, so I won't go to the event which is gonna end TONIGHT!... well since yesterday =P. It's just that when Cashmere reminded me through a comment she left it was already 8pm! So I don't see any point to go now as I haven't got myself prepared and also due to travel time.

Another reason I'm not going is also the fee. It costs $30. It's not entirely the cost but how much it's worth which is not much! $30 is for a seat. A seat?? You want me to pay $30 to watch a street parade while sitting??!! I would go and pay if I could walk along with them and enjoy the fun. lol

It does look like a big big event with lots of great dance performances from different countries, regions, cultures, etc, but I can't just imagine myself watching them while seated. What if I got an uncomfortable one?

Since I'm not going I thought I needed somewhere else to go to maybe not tonight but tomorrow. I then remembered this big event at Marina Bay regarding Chinese New Year's celebration. I looked it up on the internet and found the info about it. I got the schedules and I think I'm gonna go tomorrow. And I think it's free =)

Here's the whole schedule of the Chinese New Year at Marina Bay:

Schedule of nightly performances, 8-10pm
24, 25 Jan - Hubei Art College & Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe
26 Jan - Performances by new Singapore citizens
27 Jan - Beijing opera - 'Journey to the West'
28 Jan - Performances by youth groups
29 Jan - Best Singapore Youth Festival groups
30,31 Jan - Local and foreign artistes:
Taiwanese celebrity 'Wa Wa' Jin Zhi Juan
Singapore Project Superstars winners Kelvin Tan, Kelly Poon
1 Feb - Wa Wa, Hubei Art College & Nanjing Acrobatic Troupe

The only chance I can see the celebration is tomorrow then. Let's see because I have some work I need to prepare for Monday first before I can freely go out the night before.

Hey, Cashmere, did you go to Marina Bay to watch the celebration? What was it like? Was it worth it? Wanna go there again? =D

Outram Park, Jurong Point and an angpow!!

2009-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

It won't be a long post, I'll just share a couple of pictures of Chinese New Year's decorations and share a little story of me having received an angpow from a friend! Unexpected angpow! =D

Outram Park

Jurong Point Mall

So, I'm just currently helping a friend of mine with a few of his too. We met this morning and chatted a bit and suddenly he handed a red envelope and I wasn't so stupid to know that it was an angpow. I was quite surprised because I never expected he would give me an angpow as we're not even related or even have a family relation. I was confused but I couldn't refuse as I thought it would be rude (excuse!! what?)

Well, thanks, Charles, Sebastian, Jessie and Flora!

Left Singapore already

2008-11-29T20:55:00.000-08:00

I left Singapore last week on Wednesday for Bali. I didn't have time to blog it here as it was a bit chaotic at the moment. I was kind of in a rush to leave. It's been quite a while since I blogged my last post here. The reason is because I lived in Singapore for a quite long time (4 months) so It didn't make me feel like I lived there as if I went for a holiday. The first 1-2 months I did feel that way, but after a couple of months I didn't feel like having to visit every single tourist place in Singapore anymore, even though I've been to almost every single of them.

I'm hoping to go back there again by next year. What I'm planning now on this blog is that I will keep it updated with any thing special from Singapore. Like, celebrations or big news from Singapore. So, the rest of my daily story in Singapore next time will be blogged in my main blog. I think that is reasonable.

Well, then, see you another time, Lion city (country)!

Nothing interesting to do lately

2008-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:00

That's the reason why I haven't really updated this Singapore blog. I have not been doing really different or new things the past few weeks, except from being ill, so I'm not really sure what to blog here. I've been eating at the same place (kopitiam, uni canteen, food court), I've been sleeping in the same room, I've been having a shower in the same showeroom (come on, I take a bath in the bathroom so.. see the logic? ;p).

Oh, Singapore.. Singapore.. Singapore.. Merlion in Esplanade? Been there done that.. Sentosa Island? Been there done that too.. Jurong Bird Park? Same, been there done that.. Chinese Garden? Been there done that.. Oh, no, I've just been mentioning places I've been to! Silly..

Orchard Road? Not a very interesting place anymore.. there's a cool book/music store though. Been there once looking for a DVD for my brother which was not realeased yet. Hmm, where else to go to? What else to do? I've roughly been in Singapore for 4 months so I guess I am almost at the point where being in Singapore is no longer being as a tourist but almost as a resident even though I am not (yet).

Despite what I've said I am not saying this is boring me to live here. You know when you get so excited to be in a new (famous) place but after few times you kind of find the place no longer so interesting but not so boring either.

Anyway, enjoy!
Gee, I don't even know what I want you to enjoy.. lol

Yay! I canceled my this-morning-flight

2008-11-09T05:11:00.000-08:00

This morning I was supposed to have a flight back to my hometown in Indonesia, but it was canceled. I am going to hang in Singapore for another 3 weeks. This is for not a holiday reason but a longer chance for me to look for a job. As the economy situation has been pretty difficult plus my lack of required qualifications it won't be a piece of cake for me to get a good job anywhere esp in Singapore. I hope that motivates me every time to get to what it takes to be able to get a job here. My ass is not hot enough so I'm gonna kick it off more! lol

So.. I was fully ready with my packed bags yesterday (not)ready to leave in the next early morning. '(Not)' was used to give you an idea that I might have packed my bags and have them ready but I didn't personally want to leave yet. Ok.. personally there's a lil' bit of story behind that which happens to anyone (in love).

Anyway, one condition to do now for me to stay longer here is to extend my visa (a.k.a visa run) so I went to Johor Bahru (JB) Malaysia for so. It was smoother this time than the last time I passed through the immigration. This time they didn't call me in to their office due to no-problems. I had lunch with my cousin while spending time in JB to not make a 'too-quick-suspicious' visit to the immigration. I don't know if that really matters actually whether staying for 1 hour or 1 week would make difference for them to let us through. So, we only spent about 2 hours and came back to Singapore and they didn't hold me this time but just let me go with no questions. I felt glad.

Enjoy!

Leaving in 2 days

2008-11-07T01:28:00.000-08:00

Leaving again in 2 days, sadly.. hate it so bad. It will be a morninf flight from Singapore and I will have to wait for 7 hours in Jakarta's airport -so hatefully boring!

Deepavali, the Festival of Lights

2008-10-26T09:18:00.000-07:00

Few days ago I went to Little India (obviously the India's version of Chinatown) in Singapore for a small dinner while walking my feet on the ground rather than just sitting at the computer blogging. Once I got there I saw colorful decorations hanging crossing the roads saying "Happy Deepavali" (or more commonly in English called Diwali). The hangings were not like only 3 or 5 but endless. As long as my eyes could see I didn't see the end of these beautiful and colorful hangings. I tried and knew that my phone camera which happened to be in my pocket at the time was never good enough to capture anything even with flash or small lights in darkness. As you can see obviously on the night view to the left.

I thought I didn't want to miss these pretty decorations in my blog so the next day or two I went back to the same place to buy some things and not to forget to take better pictures of the gigantic hangings during the day with better lights. Although I prefer night lights which are more alive in captured pictures.

So, Deepavali, or also well known as The Festival of Lights, is, according to my Hindu friend, almost 6 months after the Day of Silence or in Bali it is called Nyepi (still unsure what it is in English) in Hindu's tradition where during Deepavali people go with colors and lights while during Nyepi they go very silent with nothing at all including musics or noise but the silence. So, roughly it can be said that Deepavali is pretty much the opposite of Nyepi.

Anyway, most of Indians are Hindu so that's why Little India was related to Deepavali celebration, which is gonna be celebrated tomorrow in Singapore!

The sandals

2008-10-17T21:05:00.000-07:00

Here are the sandals that I talked about in the previous post. I bought them a week ago. Enjoy them! LOL

I like them. Do you?!

$7 per day

2008-10-14T02:45:00.000-07:00

I try to learn from my 'mistakes'. I realized the last time I was in Singapore before now I spent too much money on buying not-cheap things including foods which I could get somewhere else with much cheaper prices. Now, as my second time in Singapore I am trying to limit myself from buying not really necessary things like things that are not necessary to buy, you know.

Thus, I am trying to limit my daily budget from uncontrolled one to 7$. I've started eating for brunch/lunch at the uni canteen near home here where the food prices are slightly lower than somewhere else like Kopitiam, for example. The problem is there is this thing that I really love to have. A pair of Sing sandals ;p. Yes, I've been seeing these sandals worn by the young in Sing either in the uni or malls. I'll see if I can save some notes and coins to get a fancy pair of them. I think I'll go with the green and white ones. White for the sole and green for the wrapping strings. Not sure how much they cost now. Last time I checked they were like $29, but I was in the mall so if I could go to smaller markets I think I could compare with lower prices as well.

I'll put a picture here of the sandals when (if) I get ones. Wish me luck! lol

I hoped and tried hard, it happened

2008-10-13T02:33:00.000-07:00

2 weeks ago when knowing I had to leave Singapore for coming back to my home town I was kind of sad. Once I got back in my hometown I was like hoping so badly to be able to go back to Singapore soon. I did miss this country quite badly, for some good reasons. I don't have to mention them all again this time as I have in some previous posts and think they were pretty clear.

I hoped and tried hard and here I am back in Singapore. Only this time I'll only stay for a couple of weeks or so. The return tickets have not been booked yet. But I think the max is 3 weeks. I'd really love to spend my first time Halloween night in overseas. I've never really celebrated Halloween so I hope it will be different this year to have it in Singapore. I mean I hope there will be some kind of special celebration no matter how small it is. Well I understand Halloween celebration is more an American culture even according to a friend of mine from England they don't really celebrate Halloween, so down to that fact I don't want to expect so much from this Halloween in Singapore.

This still will be a new experience though. See you!

Sunday morning flight

2008-09-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning I'll be flying back to Indonesia. I'll fly with Valuair and arrive in Jakarta at midday and take another (local) plane to Yogyakarta few hours later. I'm not quite happy to leave Singapore for some reasons that I can't really tell here. It's not just about the country but also something else.

Hope my plan to get back to this country can be done. I don't only hope but also try hard. See you again later, the Lion!

Jurong Bird Park

2008-09-26T03:13:00.000-07:00

Today was a lot of walk for me. I went to a bird park, Jurong Bird Park. When I said walk I didn't mean walk from home to the park. Nooo.. 'cause that'd be crazy and a bit silly as public buses (SMRT) are all around the area. In the park I walked a lot, that's what I meant. The park itself impressed me very much. Since I love animals so I felt like home when I was there. LOL (No, I'm not Tarzan. I don't live with animals) I just love the nature and animals. It was not only the animals but also the park itself making me want to stay longer there. They created the park as close as the real jungle, with the big trees, perfect humidity as if it's in the rain forest, and also the birds' voices surrounding the park. The entrance fee was S$18. That was including watching animal shows and walking around. There are daily 3-4 shows but because I was going there after midday so I could only see 2 of them. I saw parrots and hawks shows.

Let me tell you a lil' bit of the shows, one by one. The parrots show first. We (visitors) were aimed to a some kind of stadium. They began with impressing us with a big colorful parrot (I never remember each name of kinds of parrots) flying over our heads from the back of the stadium towards the stage. And then they started showing some other birds including a big vulture, flamingos!, other types of parrots, a quite big hornbill and.. that is all.

Hornbill flying so close to me

Parrots flying over our heads

They made the show not so boring just by showing different kinds of parrots but also by taking some of the audience to the stage to play with the birds. The coolest part of the show to me was when being flown over by some parrots over my head!!

Then one hour later I moved to the second show. It was a hawks show. They performed like 5-6 hawks let free between the audience. They flew over us. They were quite big and didn't look so gentle. No they were not attacking any of us but it's just their appearance that looked not gentle unlike a cute harmless hamster as a silly comparison. Well you know hawks naturally don't have a cute face and look. Well the show was pretty much the same like the parrots one so nothing really much for me to say here about the hawks show.

Playing with hawks

Apart from the shows, I was also impressed by other things. Most of the birds are kept in the cage, somehow they let some others free and some others within a fence. For example, I went seeing flamingos and pelicans which were let free. They do have their 'home' where they always stay with their own group but they were not kept in a cage. It was amazing to me to meet them so close and see them free. I also saw smaller sized birds. They're mostly from South East Asia. Some of them were beautiful and some other were just the ones I've seen quite a lot either on TV or live.

Bathing flamingos and pelicans

I found out that some birds with certain kinds have their own certain kinds as well. For example, I thought hornbills had only one kind but today I found out that there's a lot of kinds of hornbills with of course different types of horn size and feather color.

Anyway, there was one bird that really amazed me. It's called .. the world's biggest eagle!!! WOW it was big! I don't know what exactly to say here but woow... I was like "Ahh.. so this is the biggest eagle in the world..". It stood up there on a rock firmly like a big strong guy. LOL

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE

Oh I was feeling lucky finally I could see the "alive version" of bird of paradise. I've been to Papua where the birds originally come from but all I'd seen was the dead version that the local people make as precious souvenirs. Anyway the bird of paradise sounds quite loud. I don't know whether it was because they were freaked out when I was there or that's just their nature sounding so loud. I was pretty satisfied though.

Bird of Paradise

I have one question for you before I continue. Do you know the Harry Potter movies? (Silly, I know that was a stupid question.. who doesn't know Harry Potter). Anyway my point is you know who Hedwig is, eh? Or what Hedwig is, to be exact. OK it's an owl, snow white sort of one. I saw him today in the park! (I assume it's male). It was big! Looked bigger than in the movie. It was not the only one though. The kinds of that owl are kept in so-called World of Darkness -a very dark room. They're all big. Badly no allowance to take any pictures of them.

What else? Oh, penguins! Even though I've been wanting to see penguins in real life I was not that impressed by the ones that the park had. No snow. Just a cold small room with some guys feeding them with fish.

Penguins

Diving penguins

And so on.. other birds and so other birds. Talking birds? checked!; Ostrich? checked!; Kasuari? checked!; Pigeons? oh so checked! even the crowned ones; ducks? so have seen even the mandarin ones!; Fish and iguana? not related but double checked!. They are not so necessary to say in details here I guess. I just hope the pictures I took help this story as close as your imagination when reading line by line. :D

Enjoy!

CLICK HERE FOR MORE AND MORE PICTURES

Cheers to Sing Sling!

2008-09-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Singapore Sling. I had a Sing Sling tonight during dinner at a new regular bar for me and my friends here called Blu Jaz . I like Sing Sling quite a lot because its sweetness and also its color. I don't know it just has a red color and that makes the drink look fancy. And not to forget the additional slice of orange and pineapple on the rim of the glass and a tiny paper-made umbrella too stick to a cherry. As this might be the last time I had Sing Sling before I leave this weekend so I decided to take a picture.

Anyway for the meal I had a Mexican food called Chimichanga. It was great! I think I've started liking Mexican foods.

Chimichanga
(the picture taken from the internet not from my own camera)

Chimichanga wasn't the first time. I had a Mexican food as well in the other night at a different very-comfortable restaurant. It was not Chimichanga but a bit similar. I've forgotten the name of the restaurant and the food. Hope you also had a good dinner :)

Leaving by this weekend... sadly

2008-09-23T23:20:00.000-07:00

I'm leaving Singapore by this weekend back for Indonesia after roughly 2 months here. All I can say I am happy here and sad to leave. It has nothing to do with not wanting to reunion with my family but it is down to the fact that living here, despite how much more expensive some things are, makes me feel safe, more discipline, and more independent. Why safe? This country is so famous for its fines. All about fine here. And they help the people live in a discipline way as they respect the fine for breaking the rule as well. And there are many other things that make me already settled here that I can't describe one by one. Hope to come back here soon with a better condition.. a job that is.

Shakira dance in Blu Jaz

2008-09-20T02:52:00.000-07:00

I went out for dinner last night around Bugis (after playing around the DHL balloon) and stopped by a bar called Blu Jaz. It's located around Arab Street in case you have been there or plan to go there. It was 9.30pm and I was so tired and ready to just go home. Something held me.. some one actually. A dancer.. a belly dancer.. :) Shakira??

Apparently every friday night they always have something to perform on the top (3rd) floor of the bar. For some reason I was suddenly awake! LOL.

During the dance I decided to record it using my friend's phone camera as mine is very poor for capturing anything in darkness. I had fun but was still too tired so decided to get home one hour before the performance finished. The dancer herself was Chinese not Lebonaise-Colombian like Shakira (I guess). Well she just looked Chinese :) Never mind just enjoy the video.

BIG BIG day

2008-09-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

I had a BIG day yesterday. I saw something BIG. It's yellow, round and can fly. It's a balloon, well DHL balloon to be exact. The balloon is BIG BIG. It is for tourists who want to see Singapore from 30meters (or more, I guess. I don't really recall what was written in the banner about the height) up high in the sky. It has its own name actually, if I'm not wrong it's called Uber. But since it's HUGEly sponsored by DHL and it's HUGEly written on the balloon so I just call it DHL balloon. The bad news is.. I couldn't fly in it at the time because it has been repaired as it said in the announcement paper. But the guy working there said that it was only because there had been strong wind lately. Anyway you can see the pictures below.

On the same day I also made my very first International Student Identity Card (ISIC). It's very nice to be a bit recognized internationally now. Hehe..

Oh also, I saw a very cool display car in one mall near the balloon, Bugis Junction. I think it's a rally car. Loved it!

Chinese Garden

2008-09-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I had a tiring afternoon with a quite long walk and heavy sweat. But wait, that doesn't mean it was a bad afternoon.

In fact it was a nice one. I went to Chinese Garden just few minutes away from where I stay. Well the place is nice and large, that's why I said in the beginning it was tiring and took me a quite lot of sweat. I sweat for my own health though. A lil' bit of long walk while fasting doesn't make me so suffer. Anyway back to the garden. It was a bout 4.30 or 5 when I got there so the sun was just about to set. I didn't think of having such a quite romantic ambiance before I decided to go to there, I was only thinking I needed to get out while it was quite a sunny day. At the first step entering the entrance I was faced by a tall pagoda with as usual the red curvy wavy Chinese roof. I started walking and suddenly noticed that around me there was a lot of Hello Kitty balloons. I thought it was the way the garden is usually like but it's not. They seem to be going to celebrate Hello Kitty anniversary (only a guess though).

Apart from the hundreds of Hello Kitty balloons, there were also some other attractions such as statues of some legendary Chinese heroes and some pagodas spread in different and distant places and sizes.

MORE PICTURES FROM CHINESE GARDEN CLICK HERE (MY GALLERY)

The nature is quite nice too there. I'm speaking about the lake, trees and birds. Well the trees and birds do sound a bit boring to you but when you're in the garden they just, somewhat, seem different. And the lake is nice. I know it's only a lake but again it seems different with the whole silent and peaceful ambiance around it.

MORE PICTURES FROM CHINESE GARDEN CLICK HERE (MY GALLERY)

Anyway the only bad side of the garden, at least when I was there, is that none of the pagodas was open for anyone to walk up to the top. The doors were all locked up.

Oh, another exciting thing about my trip there is that I could get so close to squirrels. Not talking about the ones in the cage like in the zoo but those living free. They seem to be let free so that they can attract the visitors even more. They came really close to me (my hand, actually). Well I was like holding a dead leaf and I guess they thought it was a sliced banana cause the leaf was yellow.

MORE PICTURES FROM CHINESE GARDEN CLICK HERE (MY GALLERY)

I really enjoyed the evening. Even though I sweat a lot as it was really sunny I felt glad. Sometimes I need to have heavy sweat too and that's healthy. Anyway if you like taking pictures, the garden has so many objects to be your objects. :)

From Esplanade to Merlion (surprisingly -personally to me)

2008-09-15T08:03:00.000-07:00

Something surprised me today. I was planning to go around Singapore, so I went to City Hall to go to Peninsula Plaza. I thought the plaza would be as nice as other big malls, in fact it was the worst one I've ever been in. Not to be mean just to be honest. The outside look is fine but when I got inside it was horrible. Most of the floor tiles are .. tileless. Yea, half of the whole floor is not tiled yet. And they only cover it with cheapy rug and carpet with diferent styles and colors which do not help at all and instead they make it even so much worse. Well enough of that poor building..

I decided to go back to City Hall and saw a sign board directing to so-called Esplanade. Well FYI in Singapore they have this City Link. It is a link where they link 4 big buildings (including malls and others) underground. Yea it's very cool, indeed. Anyway on the sign board there was not only Esplanade, there were other 3 places linked. I chose Esplanade as I never tried going there.

I thought it was going to be another mall, no it's not. It's a theater (this time I'm using American English, so no complain for that word) art kind of building where obviously people show their arts. I did take some time looking at some of the arts, paintings and sculptures. When I was getting a bit bored and wanting to go back I saw this sign board saying "To the Roof Terrace" or something like that. I was quite interested to know what it would be looking like. So there I was managing to get to the roof. It was WOW. I won't describe the detail of my feelings at the time cause I think they're not really easy to describe from here so please just enjoy the pictures that I've attached on this post.

On the roof I was surprised! I saw Merlion! I didn't think I were gonna find it there. I got so excited. So after taking few pictures I went back to the basement to go outside the building and directly to the Merlion just across the river near the building. So that's the story how I got all these pictures. Enjoy them!

Oh here's a video that I took (it's on Youtube now! click here for more videos)

PS: Anyway after the excursion at Merlion I went to China Town first before heading back home. (Just thought that would be important to say here ;p)

Multi-racial Festival

2008-09-13T08:28:00.000-07:00

Before today I'd been expecting to join the Moon festival celebrations somewhere in Singapore. I was thinking Clarke Quay and China Town. But.. I kind of forgot. Sadly..

I did go out tonight. I went to Orchard Road to take a look at one shopping mall that my mom and sister recommended to look for some things. Anyway it took me a while to find it though. It's not the building that's so small or anything like that. The building is huge! but the problem is Orchard road is quite huge as well and it was dark and crowded so I was like led by the confusion of where I was at exactly. I'm not saying I was lost although I did go around the same place twice just looking for the shopping mall.

Well then I managed to come home not so late. To go to Orchard road from home takes one hour so in total go and return it's 2 hours. When I got home I just realized we had a dinner party for the Moon festival held by the other housemates with their other friends. I was quite late joining the dinner but I was pretty welcome. I missed the meal. But actually it was quite a good thing I missed the meal because they had pork and I don't eat pork. So instead I just had longan and papaya. To be honest the 'party' was quite boring. It wasn't the people. They seemed pretty nice. It's just that they kept talking in Chinese. I do wish I knew Chinese so I could have been able to join their conversation during the dinner party earlier. But I tried making myself comfortable as much as I could. Well I couldn't help it though so I decided to get out of the group and house and went to a small festival just across the apartment. I thought it was going to be a Moon festival but it wasn't. It was called Multi-racial festival... even though most of the people were all Chinese.

It wasn't so bad though. The most noticable thing about the festival was people burning candles and small fireworks. They also had a stage where they sang and gave away some door prizes. I did take some pictures. Enjoy!

Dinner at Blu Jaz cafe on Arab Street

2008-09-12T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just got home from a small dinner with friends on Arab Street. I was with a friend Victor having a very nice so-called Shish Kebab (lamb one) at one restaurant before another good friend of ours Marcus joined later the night. Since he joined our dinner quite late when me and Victor had already finished the meal we decided to move to another place. It's a cafe, Blu Jaz cafe. It was pretty busy when we were there. The cafe has 3 floors and since it was quite busy we only got bar seats on the top floor. It was fine. We just thought it'd be nice to get a long sofa to sit on (or lay down!) when we were pretty tired. We only had 2 jugs of Tiger and a mexican snack Tacho. And I had an idea to take a couple of pictures of three of us as a souvenir as Victor will be leaving for Dallas, USA, on 26th and me leaving back for Indonesia on 28th. In short, we had a good dinner. Hope we can work out somewhere else to go to together next time before we both leave.

P.S : Oh anyway I've got one more person (Victor) saying that my purple shirt is 'not-bad', well he didn't say it was nice either but said the shirt looked more like a party shirt... while Marcus thought it looked like a beach shirt. I took all the considered-compliments though. Thanks :D

I did the living room...

2008-09-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

Me and one of the housemates today cleaned up the house. It's every weekend thing. So every weekend each of us has a turn to clean up the house but it can be done by a pair as the house is not that small unless you really insist to do all the cleaning all by yourself. Anyway this weekend was ours. I think we did a very nice cleaning job. We decided to do things separately. I did the living and dining rooms while my friend did the kitchen. It might sound a bit unfair to me but his part was not easy at all. He really cleaned up the kitchen. He sprayed and wiped every inch of the kitchen set. I was even wowed.. so not like everyday-him (peace!). He did it quite diligently.

Anyway, I sprayed, wiped, swept and mopped. All cleaned up now! Shiny and like-new! So I did it quite diligently as well :) You can look at the following pictures for the proof.

Some pictures from my third visit in Clarke Quay

2008-09-01T20:02:00.000-07:00

The Moon festival is coming so there's a lot of beautiful decoration at the moment around Singapore including Clarke Quay.

ready for the big "show"???!!
(Brewerkz bar)

voila! ella.. ella!

No don't worry I didn't drink the whole tower, only few glasses. Of course I shared it with friends. I did this before my visa run to Malaysia (previous post). A bit late to post.

Trouble in Immigration

2008-09-01T09:18:00.000-07:00

I know posing near a rubbish bin is not the nicest spot to take pictures but .. hey I wanted to point out the flag above me .. showing that I am in Malaysia

Merling bus stop
(waiting for 950 SMRT to go the border)

Merling bus stop

Johor Bahru, Malaysia

My plan today was to renew my visa in Singapore so I could stay a bit longer at least for another one month. To do so I went to Singapore-Malaysia border somewhere in Kranji-Merling area. I did not forget to bring my passport with me of course. I took a MRT from Boon Lay to Merling and then a SMRT (a bus) from Merling to the border. I was quite nervous somehow as it was my first time ever to cross a border just to renew my visa which is unlikely to do that. Let's talk about that a bit later.

Well I queued to pass the Malaysia immigration entering desk (or Singapore exit desk). I had my passport ready in my hand. When I got to the desk, the immigration lady found something missing in my passport. Apparently I accidentally left my entering small paper that I got when entering Singapore in my back pack which was in my room. The paper is needed every time you leave a country. So they called a security to bring me to the office. I was really nervous but I tried to stay calm. Well fortunately I only needed to make another same paper claiming that I had entered the country and had left also. So once they made the paper for me, they took it away directly. The problem was solved.

After that, I went out of the Malaysia arrival hall building to go crossing over to the Singapore departure hall building. I did that because I thought I only needed to renew my visa without having had to enter Malaysia. So I crossed over the bridge. I queued again at Singapore immigration entering desk (or Malaysia exit desk). I thought what I did was fine. At the desk I was brought to the office again. The problem this time was because my passport looked suspicious as there was no stamp for having entered Malaysia (which is very strange and unlikely). They got suspicious because I passed the border but not entered Malaysia. So they asked me why I did that. Well I went all honest to the officers that I only wanted to renew my visa due to an English test that I have to attend in a week in Singapore and my visit visa in Singapore was going to run out before the test. They were surprised by what I had done. But then they suggested me to never do that again because that kind of broke the law. They then suggested me to break my fast in Malaysia as it was nearly breakfast time and then go back to Singapore after that. The point was that I had to get a stamp for entering Malaysia a bit further from the border building.

So I had my first breakfast in Malaysia. First day of Ramadhan, first time in Malaysia. It was such an experience and really a big lesson for me. I should be more careful next time when dealing with crossing a border of 2 countries.

I went home safe and glad and here I am writing this post in my room in Singapore. :)

Welcome to my room

2008-08-25T00:55:00.000-07:00

window view to outside

what else could it be?

Photos of me at Clarke Quay

2008-08-19T06:45:00.000-07:00

Brewerkz bar

12 beer samples

Clarke Quay bridge

Clarke Quay bridge

a dock where people get on and off boats

front hall of Central mall

the river of Clarke Quay where boats pass through

one of Clarke Quay famous boats

Clarke Quay bridge

Clarke Quay

2008-08-19T03:22:00.000-07:00

I spent an evening yesterday at Clarke Quay (Quay ~ /ki/). I took a MRT from Aljunied to Outram Park MRT station first and then another MRT from China Town to finally Clarke Quay station. When I got there it wasn't that dark yet but was about to, so it was nice to watch the sun set (although it was a bit cloudy). I had a walk around the famous-for-night-romantic-chinese-boats area (pictures will be added soon). The area is also quite famous for its bars and cafes to spend romantic nights with friends/lovers/family or even alone.

Since it was not yet time for dinner I decided to explore the whole area. It is not that big that only took me 30mins for the whole exploration by walking quite slow. It has a pretty designed decoration. Basically it's only a place where you can eat anything you want. They have ice cream stalls, the biggest bar in Singapore, cafes either right on the river banks or in buildings, music live performances, etc. And as mentionned earlier they do have much variations of foods. Say Indonesian cuisine, Chinese (absolutely!), Western, and everything else. The view is beautiful and even more beautiful during the night when the lights are all on.

Anyway I had dinner at a Kopitiam (food court in Malay language) in the Central mall. I had a korean dish of fried saucy cuttle fish. After dinner, I had another stop at da biggest bar in Singapore called Brewerkz! I drank MUCH! Just wait 'till I upload the pictures and you'll see what I mean by MUCH!

By the way, lots of activites done at the area. Not only people going shopping but also jogging around. Oh, almost forgot, in the corner of Clarke Quay there is a bungee jumpy whose picture I'll upload later.

It was so much fun! Enjoy!

Sentosa Island

2008-08-17T02:10:00.000-07:00

I went to Sentosa island the whole day yesterday. I went there by bus and then bought a package-ticket which included 3 atractions (Merlion, Tiger tower and Butterfly and Insects Kingdom). It was S$30 for the ticket. First attraction that I went to was the butterfly kingdom. To get there we are given two options, on foot or using what-so-called skyride. Skyride is like a cable cart when people in some cold countries use when they need to get to the top of a snow-ski mountain (instead of walking). So I decided to take the skyride by paying S$6. It was so much fun on the cart. It was quite high but short. Once on the top, the butterfly kingdom was not so far from where I got off the cable cart. In the 'big nest' of the butterly I saw lots of mummified butterflies and insects. Well not all dead, some are let free also in a big cage where some big carrots are also inside the cage for tourists to take pictures with. I did take some pics with them which I'll attach here later.

Done with the kingdom, I went to the second attraction Tiger tower. The tower is appearently hugely sponsorred by Singapore Tiger beer so that's how the tower got its name. Speaking of the tower, it is not one that people climb up or one with stairs. To get to the peak of the tower we've got to get on a 'cart' that brings us up slowly to see the entire look of Singapore and Sentosa island.

After the tower I went to my last attration of the day, it's Merlion. It is appearently a mix of a lion and a mermaid. If you want to know more of the history just get inside so-famous Merlion and they will bring you to a small cinema to watch the history in a not boring way. They'll also take you to the mouth and the top of the top of the Mermaid-Lion.

One more thing to know, don't worry if you don't have your camera with you. They take pictures of the visitors in every attraction there. Of course we have to pay to get the picture, but hey sometimes they don't look so bad!

I went there in the midday and went back home at around 9. So tired but having fun. Pictures will be uploaded here soon. Enjoy!

random pictures..

2008-08-15T04:50:00.000-07:00

Where are the jeans and t-shirts?

2008-08-14T04:31:00.000-07:00

Why's everybody wearing shorts, shirts with Van/Converse shoes while I'm wearing jeans and t-shirts? Oh no, the style's changed!

Yea, welcome to Singapore style. The guys here mostly wear shorts with shirts/t-shirts and Converse shoes. Not to forget the most important part is MP3 player! Oh you just cant imagine that not only youngs have headphones on their ears but also the oldies. It's just like the most common thing that everybody has. It forces me to do the same thing to follow their style. I am 'demanded' to wear shorts and Van shoes with shirts/t-shirts, and of course headphones plugged to my handphone to listen to music. The style here is not that shocking, but just different. Even a friend of mine said that jeans and t-shirt are seen as Indonesia's style. People don't wear them here in Singapore so when I wore them here in my first days I felt strange.

My sandals are also a bit old-fashioned so.. I had to buy new ones. Luckily they were quite cheap for Croco sandals. So I bought them to not look too different than others here. Doesn't mean that I should not have my own style or something like that, but sometimes it is nice to be part of the culture here. To feel a bit more accepted by following the 'rule' is sometimes important. Hehe

Another thing about this country is that you can find 7-Eleven stores anywhere almost every 100 meters, in every corner. There's nothing bad or wrong with that, but it's just that 7-Eleven have manipulated Singapore.

Anyway, just wanted to keep you updated with news from here. See you!

Happy National Day, The Lion!

2008-08-10T18:57:00.000-07:00

There was a big celebration here on 9th of August. It was the National Day of Singapore. I went out in red t-shirt during the whole day as a way to 'participate' the way they color the entire city with red color (Singapore's national flag is of 2 colors, red and white). In the evening I went following the crowd in the MRT (train system) to what's called City Hall. There everyone stood up looking up waiting for something to come up in the dark sky. And moments later there came blashing fireworks. They were huge and heart beating. I did take some videos but haven't had time to transfer them here. I sure will. The fireworks only lasted less than 15 mins. They made everyone wow enough though. To be honest that was my first time seeing such big fireworks in my entire life. Hehe

Anyway the MRT were so busy that evening. It was highly crowded. Badly, at the time I needed to get through the big crowd to get home, I needed the toilet at the same time, so badly. It was difficult to get through the crowd but I had to ignore having stepped on some people's toes just to get to the toilet. I made it though. I didn't wet my pants!

I will attach the video here. You gotta see it. So nice!

Singapore = Jakarta ?

2008-08-07T10:22:00.000-07:00

This is my third day in Singapore. So far so good. Although the place where I stay at the moment is not that great (considering it's Singapore!). To be honest, my pre-expectation about the country was the fact that it is super clean and has no rubbish in the street in any corner. I was a bit disappointed. Once I got out of Harbour Front sea port, I found these cigarettes that people littered on the sidewalks at the taxi stop of the port. Even worse when I got to the area where I stay at the moment, there was this small part of the sidewalk that's got broken and a hole. And again around the area I found some small rubbish littered on the sidewalk. The area where I stay is pretty much surrounded by people from India. Well I'm not saying that they're the cause. But partly they must be since they live in the area. So I said to myself "Oh so this is Singapore? Reminds me of Jakarta". I was dragged too much before arriving here. Dragged by people's nice opinions about the country that is. I found what I didn't expect exisiting in Singapore.

Well I haven't gone around the cosmo area here. So far only in 'the worst part' of Singapore (where I stay) and NTU. Speaking of, NTU is fantastic! I did have walks around. I think I need to take study here. Maybe Linguistics and Multicultural Studies in School of Humanities and Social Sciences? Haha, yea I've made this decision to apply for a scholarship in NTU. I like to upgrade my skills in linguistics. Anyway, the schools' buildings in NTU are far far far different and more modern than the ones I've seen in Indonesia (including UGM, obviously). The area is also much bigger that you need a bus to go from one place to another. There is this school of Arts. I was quite amazed when I found out that they turned the roof of the school building in to an fully artistic field with living grass. Anyone can walk on the field-roof and has a picnic there. How cool is that.

Well I'll update this blog with more stories about my stay here. See ya!