global warming

now it’s december but the weather seems like in mid of august at Bornoe Island. It’s bloody hot, so hot that I’ve got 2^nddegree sunburn. You just can’t predict the weather anymore; maybe it’s because of the global warming things, I don’t know, what I know december is supposed to be a rainy season here in Indonesia.

Thank God, at least I brought my sunglasses when I went there cause my friend already warn me about the weather but I never realize that the temp will be so high, around 35C, but the humidity is very high so it makes you sweat every time.

Prayer time quickly become my favorite cause I can washed my face, hands, legs etc and hide under the roof for a while.

And to make it worse when I went back there was an emergency call, so I had to give my private plane seat to someone else. So I had to gone through more than 500 km by almost-not-working-aircon car.

God … Borneo, have you ever seen the rain?

sangatta-bpn
december 15, 2006
joeffry

seeds of corruption

this time I went to Surabaya to visit a port and container related companies, and it makes me sick pal. From company to company their asking the same question, “what is our benefit if we try your products?”. No no no, they’re not asking about company benefit but ‘their’ benefit

what a sick world, not even a single person asked for their company benefit, it’s really gone to fa for me. I’m not a sales guy, the reason I went there is only for better understanding my company position and brand awareness but of course I can’t avoid if they raise a question regarding price. But this time, exactly after they know the price, they will followed with another question similar like, “so, how much will I get if we (our company) buy your products?”

I know, Indonesia is well known as a corrupt country, but this time … speechless …

may they rooted in hell !!!

surabaya
december 7, 2006
joeffry

viva academia

I can't believe it; it’s already 13 years since the first time I stepped into my beloved campus, Pancasila University. Now, eventhough we spread all around the world but somehow we always can manage to hangout at least twice a year.

Many thanks to Yuli who never give up to called us and arrangged this reunion every year.

Solidarity Forever
TETAP SEMANGAT !!!

kotabunga - puncak
december 3, 2006
joeffry

parijs van java

oleh oleh weekend dari bandung :)

long and winding week

what can be bitterer than sick during your travel? Something very wrong with my stomath during my trip to Newmot Batu Hijau, West Nusa Tenggara, and it takes three painfull days to recover.

when I can manage to let it through I’ve got a bad news that my friend Basuki Rachmat alias Bang Ben was passed away in the morning. Hurried I browse through my pictures folder on my laptop and then I saw him with his innocent smile and comical style.

good bye my friend, we’ll gonna miss you.

but seems like it’s not enough, the day after, again in the morning I received another sms from my high school buddy, and yes, his father was passed away. I felt very sorry that I couldn’t go to his home for takziah.

what a perfect way to start a new day :(


benete
november 10, 2006
joeffry

back to nature

I feel blessed that I have a very wonderful big family, yup big family; I don’t even remember how many cousins that I had.

Three days after Iedul Fitr we went to Curug Cilember (Cilember Waterfall) for camping. Boy, I really miss the close-to-nature journey. And it was so great, full of laughter, amusement and of course foods J, from hotdog to singkong rebus (steamed cassava), fried rice to chicken barbeque, french fries to sambel goreng ati, cappuccino to wedang jahe (hot ginger ale) and last but not least indomie.

We defenitly need to do it more often, I never realize that I miss the smell of bushes so badly. For you out there please take care your environment before it’s to late, or you’ll be sorry someday.

cilember
october 28, 2006
joeffry

Ini Medan Bung !!!

Actually I don’t want to go out of town during this Holy Ramadhan, but what can I say, job is a job, so here I am, in the heart of North Sumatera, Medan.

I was pickup by a friend of mine, Sondy, well actually I never met him before, we just chatted by phone and he is at the same company with me but stationed in Medan, but after several moments we spent together, believe me I consider him as a friend, not just a colleague J

First it’s nice to know that he’s younger than I thought, cause he has a very heavy accent on the phone, plus he said that he already married for the second times, whuuaa when is my turn yah ? he he he. Another thing is he is a Moslem, which is surprised me also, cause his name definitely is not a Moslem name.

So, my story begun when I check in at the hotel, somehow I don’t understand why, the receptionist was very slow and we need to wait excessively long only to get the room key after several hum and tapping on their table.

After shalat, we decided to go to Masjid Raya to break our fasting there, and guys, the scene there was hard to describe. Behind the Masjid Raya there is a big pedestrian walk straight to Istana Maimoon, and during the month of Ramadan, this pedestrian was full of small “tend restaurant” offering thousand kind of foods from Indonesia and Middle East. When I said tend, the roof is really like a tend they’re using during Hajj at Arafah, Saudi Arabia. To saw thousand of peoples with colorful Islamic clothes chatted, laughed and poured looked for food and the air full of shalawat from Masjid’s loudspeaker, boy, it’s a truly spiritual experience for a city guy like me.

For instant I felt something creeps in my heart, I felt Ramadhan … Alhamdulillah ….

So after looked around we decided to order the famous Soup Tulang, and the problem begin. When we want to pay, the price is very expensive, according to Sondy the actual price is more than a half, but what can we say, the waiter insist that it is the correct price. When I saw that Sondy started to get angry, I tried to calm him by saying that we’re still fasting and we must control our temper.

He just looked at me and said, OK, paid the bill and then asked the waiter to leave.

When we break our fasting he become so quite and after finished his meals he said that he will go for a while to do something. After wait for around ten minutes I told to the couple in front of me that my friend was looking for a trouble, just wait for a couple minutes more.

And it’s true, not long after I said that, I heard someone yelled and maybe ten blocks from me there was a bunch of people tried to hold my friend punched the waiter.

Well, actually he already punched the waiter 4 times at his jaw, but not a “deadly” punch. And you know what, Sondy was right, the waiter is not an actual waiter from Soup Tulang restaurant, so he’s acted like calo and mark up the price.

After the situation is under control, I said to him, “Wow, it’s a hard city yah”

And he said, “Yup, definitely, Ini Medan bung”

medan
october 4, 2006
joeffry

meeting, ceminar or pleasure ?

He he he, kali ini saya kembali ke Malaysia, nggak jelas sih buat apa. Pokoknya mayan deh bisa ketemuan sama temen lama disana en nambah temen baru dari perusahan yang baru aku masuki ini.
Acaranya sih seru juga mulai dari meeting, trus besoknya ada ceminar tentang culture and besoknya jalan jalan deh.

traveler’s log

m a r c h 2006

01 : yesterday I went to Batam island and today I crossed the sea straight to Sambu island.

02 : another ferry trip to Tj. Balai Karimun island, visit some customers there.

03 : still in Tj Balai and at night went to the club with my old pal from university.

04 : s’pore by (again) ferry. Met Rafiq, friend from Malaysia and for sure my yayang. Dinner in El-sheikh restaurant and then clubbing at zouk.

...

05 : spore’s sushi.

06 : Chinese “rubber ladies” attraction at orchad road spore, can u image how they do it?

07 : shoping at arab street and bought a present for mom’s (thanks to remind me yang, love u)

...

08 : 31 years old, I only have 2 wishes and may Allah granted it. Got 1 card and 2 beautiful gifts from her. Another sushi but this time at Holland Village and got a surprise birthday cake from her. Love u babe … sampe tua. Back to Jakarta and got another present from my beloved mom (love u) and telkomsel, he he he I’m a loyal customer.

... ...

09 : o f f i c e

10 : reunion with my old friends from junior high school at Setiabudi Building and continued till dawn at my home. It’s been for 16 years already, there is a funny story behind the reunion actually.

11 : went to Ciawi to condolence my cousin who passed away yesterday and overnight there.

12 : second times unschedule reunion at Prinandhi’s house

13 : what a bored Monday meeting at the office

14 : take a plane to Makassar, South Sulawesi and continued with small plane to INCO, Sorowako.

15 : I n c o

16 : I n c o

17 : I n c o

18 : back to Jakarta and at night went to yayang’s house to bring her birthday present for Bunda (her lovely mother).

19 : abah’s 40 days passed away ritual

20 : went to Balikpapan, East Kalimantan and than continued with 2 hours driving + 1 hour with ferry + another 4 hours driving to Tanah Merah.

21 : visit Kideco, a never-get-it customer and another 7 hours driving to Tarjun, East Kalimantan

22 : visit Indocement Plan XXII, Tarjun and another deadly-7-hours driving to Satui, South Kalimantan. Booked 2 rooms but 4 of us slept in 1 room cause believe it or not, seems like our hotel is haunted.23 : unpredictable extended meeting at ITP, and the ritual of 7 hours driving comes again.

...

24 : visit Jorong Barutama Greston via Kotabaru and Indominco, place when our car stuck on the mud and need to be pull out by heavy vehicle. Went to Pelaihari city to entertain one of our customers there. This place is well known as a muslim area, as a matter a fact, in South Kalimantan is almost impossible to found a café or places which sell a beer, but he managed to show us where. And its quite surprising us when we found out that the café is beside the police office, it’s funny how the law works in my country. Late at night we drove to Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan.

25 : back to Jakarta and … got news and it’s complicated to comprehend :( , but at least I still saw a shed of light on the horizon and I hope it’s not a fatamorgana. I do really hope.

26 : went to Ciawi with my mom and visit relative’s in Bogor. 15 months anniversary?

27 : flew to Lombok Island via Djogjakarta. Overnight at Senggigi Beach Hotel.

28 : took a fast ferry to Maluk, Sumbawa Island.

...

29 : deadly meeting with peoples from Newmont Batu Hijau.

30 : went back to Lombok, but this time we stayed at Novotel Coralia, Kuta Beach, Lombok. It’s supposed to be a what-a-beautiful hotel, but I’m not in the mood. I don’t even bothered to swim, only tried to keep alive and finished my book.

...

31 : went back to Jakarta, hugged my mom so tightly and … what a bloody tiring journey.

joeffry
- here there and everywhere -

in and out

This is one of my unforgettable journeys; the story began when I was decided to visit my yayang before visiting my clients in Tj. Balai Karimun; this was my 1^st pass through Spore custom during this journey. Since it was the longest period we hadn’t seen each other we spent most of the time chatting and having several deep discussion.

Oh boy, time was ran so fast; 5 happy days past very quickly and I had to go back to reality that I had a work to do :(. For this Karimun’s stuff, this time I was accompanied by one of our best agent. We were supposed to meet at Sekupang Harbour to catch ferry to Tj. Balai at 11.00 but he cannot make it, so at the end we had to take the 12.45 ferry. This was the 1^st lateness.

At night we met DQ, my S’porean friend Dick Tan and also my new customer Mr. Yap-whatever. He’s very talkative person; he dominated the conversation throughout dinner, and it was annoying me a lot cause every word that comes from his mouth was all about sex, sex and sex. In the beginning was funny, but after a while it make me sick. I really don’t understand how he can humiliate himself like that. For me, I never ever put a respect to a man who thinks that a woman is only some kind a toy to play with. I think he just exaggerated the stories, cause [sorry] he’s faraway from good-looking and rich, in fact he looks like [sorry again] a slant-dead-man-walking.

Thank God, at the last minute we got a valuable info from him regarding new big project in Tj. Balai, including the contact person in Spore, so we managed to meet this man on Friday in his S’pore office.

On the next day, we supposed to have a meeting at 9.30 O’clock but this was before my glasses frame’s got broken. Considering we were in Tj. Balai Karimun, it’s a miracle that I could manage to get the replacement at the nearest optics. Unfortunately, we were too late for the meeting, so this was the 2^nd lateness.
On the next following day we missed the 13.30 O’clock ferry to Spore, consequently we must take the 15.30 ferry, and it was the 3^rd lateness and also the 2^nd times pass through Spore Custom.

Luckily on board we meet one of seven (can u imagine s e v e n) customers that I should met, so at least we could save the time for tomorrow.

At night I went to my yayang’s apart and then she asked me to accompany her to (again) Prata House. Actually she was facing her final exam so she also brought her books and paper to read and that night I was exhausted and at the end fall asleep pillowed by arm on the table. Hmmm when I woke up, she stared at me -at my forehead to be precisely- and then gave an amusing expression, just a few second then she burst up in to laughter. I don’t know how long I’ve been sleeping, but seemed like enough time to leave a red sign on my forehead. Thanks babe, for you laugh and love :)

The day after I finished my works, we decided to eat at Amirah’s Café, a Middle East must-try restaurant in Arab Street, and most importantly its halal. You can find the same story with different perspective here …

On the next day, I woke up early in the morning to catch the bus to KL. This was my first time to go to Malaysia and I was very excited. After several hours finally I arrived at Puduraya Bus Station and my friends Rafiq and Rudi were already there to pick me up. At that night we + Tashya (their flatmate) + Syahrul went to Malaca to eat at Portuguesse Restaurant. Hmmm they do have an amazing oyster. yuummy. We also managed to go to a café, they played a good music there. So we decided to stayed there and enjoy the chill of the night. It was almost dawn and we saw 4 times car accident when finally safely arrived to apartment.

It’s very hard to open my eyes the next morning, or afternoon exactly, but I don’t want to spend my time in the apartment cause I only have 1 day to spend in Malaysia. First we went to the airport, why airport?. Cause Tashya is a stewardess and that afternoon she had a flight to Jakarta and forgot her passport, so we brought it to her,since it’s on the same way to Putra Jaya (the place we’ll going to see) anyway.

After take a pictures several times and had luch (nasi kandang), we (this time was only me and Rafiq cause Rudi had something to do) went to Genting Highland. It was raining all the time and again we saw 2 car accidents on the way there. I starts to believe that Kualalumpur is the accident city.

It’s almost 8 O’clock when we decided to go back to KL, btw my bro and his friend were in town so we managed to have a dinner together, Rudi and Tashya also joined with us. It’s fun to meet him so faraway from home, and at the end I can persuaded him to continue his trip to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

My bus to S’pore arrived around 6.30 (it’s the 3^rd pass through Spore custom) and I took a taxi to yayang’s apartment to return her backpack which I borrowed for this KL’s trip.

At noon we took a lunch at Prata restaurant and then we were separate, she was going to her campus and I must going back to batam to catch the latest flight to Jakarta. Unfortunatelly that was not my destiny said, I miss the flight (it’s the 4^thlateness) and after several discussion with my girl, I decided to go back to Spore to catch the morning flight to Jakarta. So it’s the 4^th times I pass through Spore custom.

What a journey…

Spore, Tj Balai, KL
11-21 Nov 05
Joeffry
-thanks babe, for ur effort-

stay the same

I never like the idea of traveling during the month of Ramadhan, but I cannot avoid that, so here I am in the city called Soroako, South Sulawesi to visit INCO, the biggest nickel mining company in Indonesia. It’s been a long time I never been there, nothing’s changed except there was an always delay direct private plane to be here now.

I stayed in the hotel or-whatever-it-called-was. Sure they provided a big screen TV plus a DVD player, but with the electricity which droped every half hour so in a flash you will forget the idea to watch it. Hmmm there’s also an aparatus [I learn this vocab from my girl] but with no telephone line, and oh I forget, there’s a hot-cold water facility in the bathroom but yeah again you’re right, it does’nt work.

Thanks God they still can serve an early-in-the-morning breakfast for my sahur otherwise I’ll be in a deep deep trouble.

The situation was getting worst, look what they've done to me and my director. The suit is definitely for a giant, I feel like an astronaut on the way to the Mars :).

After an intensive meeting and to and fro checking their conveyor belts condition under the sting of the sun, we went to Lake Matano and take some pictures to killed a time waiting for Maghrib [in my home town it was called ‘ngabuburit’].



But we enjoyed it, and overall the city was OK. Anyway it’s always fun to saw again the city you’d seen long time ago, and just like Arnold said “I’ll be buk”

soroako
oct 19, 2005
joeffry