Sweet little thing on Monday morning

Monday is always been a hard day for me. Like it or not, no matter how great my weekend was or even suck, Monday would never give me much difference.

I was in Jogja for two days, took care of my client's event. They launched a credit card for young professional in Jogja, well actually they launched its merchants. The card itself has been launched in 2003. However, I've spent my Friday and Saturday there, in supposed-to-be-a-wonderful-place Jogja...damn I missed everything! I took off from Jakarta on Friday at 6.40 pm and arrived back on Saturday at 7.30 pm, short, tiring, and lonely trip.

This morning, after huge debate with myself, whether I should come or not to the office, and apparently my good side won, I went to the office with less energy, tired and still sleepy. Now, I arrive at my desk, I find this cute-pinkish-super-mini-bag on my table... it's written "a small pouch of SOMETHING SWEET".

I: "what the hell is that?"
I: "maybe it's from Evren?"
I: "neah, he wouldn't send thing like this to me!" (no offense yah babe!)
I: "let me just open it and find who was sending it..."

I open it and find a pair of gorgeous earing inside and a little card. On the card, it's written "Good Job" on the outside, inside I see several lines of appreciation on my "Good Job" and effort in handling the Jogja's event... oooowwwwhhhh so sweet!!!

It's Shilla who sent me this sweet little thing on Monday morning and she make my Monday!! Thanks Shill...

Irresistible Loneliness

Being in a business trip is something that I can’t resist. Even if it was only for a day, it felt like hundred days, especially when it had to take my day off. This Saturday, I had to be in Jogja to assist my client to launch one of their card products. I went to Jogja with Garuda on Friday night at 6.40 pm. What I hated the most from this time business trip was that I had to go alone. Well, there were times when I went with other colleagues, but this time I ended up being alone.

I arrived in Soekarno Hatta International airport at 5.30 pm, so I had around an hour to wait for the boarding time. As soon I arrived, I approached to the check in counter; there was a heavy package to be registered in the baggage. Soon I’ve done with it, I looked around to see if there was thing that I could do before entered the gate. I managed to apply the GFF membership that took around 15 minutes. Then, I was free…this time I felt great hunger. I knew that there would be food on the board, but I didn’t mind to have a light snack before the take off. I grabbed myself a three pieces of chicken nugget and a big glass of cola…definitely an ultimate pleasure to eat something I like when I feel hungry. It was 6.15 pm by the time I finished my light meal, so I decided to enter the gate, mine was F4.

The waiting lounge was quite crowded, yet I didn’t find difficulty to find a good seat. I turned on my laptop and started to write something that I haven’t had finished at work. It felt like second when the officer called for boarding. I felt tired already…it’s killing me when I don’t be able to speak to anyone…I like to talk so much. My friends sometimes feel annoyed when I can’t stop talking. Once they challenged me for not talking, it lasted only 26 seconds.

I got (again) wing side; it’s a natural luck that I always get a seat on the wing side. However, I always enjoy it as much as I can, because I like to see how the wing moves and also the view outside. I ended up seating with two men, one was a foreigner and the other one was Indonesian. The middle age Indonesian sat next to me, he wore a nice dark blue suit. Finally, I could talk with someone, with this man. He is around 50 something and is a director of a well known financial institution in Indonesia, he was also on a business trip. He is a nice man with Batak accent, an easygoing person. We exchanged story on why we had t o be in Jogja, about our job and finally exchanged name card. The night trip to Jogja was a rough one, bad weather; rain and bit thunder lights. The landing was also scary, felt like riding on Metromini (public bus) where it always makes sudden breaks, bit bouncing and shaking. The runway in Adi Sucipto – Jogja airport is not smooth and short, it always give a hard time for the pilot to land smoothly. This time, it wasn’t a good landing at all.

After I could manage with my baggage, I went out and looked for the pick up service. I saw a man holding a board with my name on it; soon I approached him in rush. The plane was late for 20 minutes and I wouldn’t make him wait for longer. It was so nice to be finally in Jogja after more that 10 years from the last time I visited Jogja. In 15 minutes I already arrived in Novotel. After I finished with the registration, I finally could see my room, a superior room, a nice and warm room.

I needed to meet few people before I could rest. My client from Jogja branch office needed to get the package that I brought from Jakarta. It felt like a short meeting, yet it was already 10.30 pm when we finished the meeting. Finally, I was free, yet alone. I decided to take a bath to relax myself. I turned on the hot water to fill the bath tube. I poured in the bath foam to the hot water, it was in mint flavor. I soon got inside the bath tube and laid down…so relaxing! In half an hour I finished my bath and hurried to sleep. Evren called to check how I feel; it was so nice to hear him before going to bed.

The next morning, in the hotel restaurant, where I wrote the story, on the corner of the restaurant with my laptop and a glass of coffee, I started my busy day. I ate quite a lot that morning; I always have great appetite in the morning. After I finished my breakfast, I had to meet my client to give a quick brief on the event, as he would be the spokesperson. Almost an hour we talked. Inside my heart, I thanked him because with him I was able to talk. During the day, I met lot of people that I could talk to, the media, my client and other people. I even didn’t realize that it was only 1.5 hours before my departing time. The event was a success, even though Jogja was wet all day by heavy rain.

After sending several documents and had a quick chat with Evren, I hurried myself to go to the airport. I said to myself “It must be a long journey again, since there will be no one to talk to…phuii…” I bought few traditional foods in airport for office and home. As I went out from the store, I saw someone I knew before. Lucky me, it wasn’t only one but two person that I knew them in Aceh. I thanked God that He answered my worry… It was 6.20 pm as we took off. Even I and two other friends sat on different seat; I managed to talk with someone else, the man who sat next to me that was my friends’ client. I landed in Jakarta safely…well, travel alone wasn’t bad at all, except the reality that I might have to shut up.

Your love...

Am I acting to much?
Am I being insensitive?

Have I lost interest in you?
Have I ever asked you too much?


Is it me that who can't understand you?
Is it me that who start to push you aside?

Do I really want to do it with you?
Do I really think that you are the one?

Should I always be the one who sacrifice?
Should I be more patient and think that everything will be ok?

or

Should I just swallow all these questions and forget about how should I answer them?
What I know that you love me and wouldn't do anything that makes me feel unhappy, down or betrayed. Once you said,

"You are my pearl, my treasure...
What I want to give to you is not sadness but pleasure
If I make you sad please forgive me, I'm thankful for the love you give me...
Your smile and happy voice are what get me going,
Inside my heart there's a deep longing... to see you, to feel you, to touch you
If I can't make it clear enough it's my fault
A little smile I just thought is what I want to send to you
To make you day brighter, to make your worries lighter...
Love you and miss you in every way..."

Your love is sweet, yet painful...
Your love is addictive, yet agonizing...

Am I just stupid to let myself be blinded by love?
But people say Love Is Blind...oh confusing!

I want to have my own...

I, Dilla & Yasmin

Being innocent, young and ignorant is the thing that I'd love to be... Well, I've been in that situation and I was once like that. Yes, when I was little… Oh how much I miss it, the time when you don’t care for the others except your own happiness.

Look at the baby and toddler whenever they ask for something, tears is their great weapon. They can look to your eyes with such begging look, an innocent look that you don’t dare to refuse their requests. They are allowed to do stupidest, craziest, most unbelievable things and whenever any adult complains, other adults think that he/she is child hater or child neglect (this is the worst!).


Last Sunday, I finally could spend my day off with my two favorite nieces, Dilla – 5 years old and Yasmin – 3 years old. They are so lovely, hyperactive, curious, and sometimes annoying. Once I and Dilla were in the car waiting for her mom and next to our car parked a Mercedes Benz – CLK Class, the owners were entering the car. Dilla paid attention to them and said to me, “Tante (aunty), that car is so lovely, why the owners are ugly?” I was so surprised, didn’t expect a rude statement would come from her little mouth. Then, I couldn’t stop laughing as I heard her explanation. Apparently, she used to watch “sinetron” where in most scene; a beautiful person always gets a lovely vehicle and the other way around… tolerable ignorance!! Some other time on Lebaran day, (where most people and of course, maids/domestic servants visit their hometown) I asked her where her mom went (her mom was on leave with her husband for couple days), then surprisingly she answered, “She went ‘mudik’ with HER HUSBAND to Jogja,” instead of saying “my mom went with my dad to Jogja”. She framed it, as her mom is third person and also as a maid… so funny, purely innocence.

So many things that they did create big laugh… what unbelievable creatures children are! If I acted as innocent and ignorant as they do, I probably got lots of enemy and big punch all over my face and body. Well, I’m glad I’ve live the moments like they do now… that’s what makes me lot richer in character. I really enjoy the moments I spend with Dilla and Yasmin, bring back my child side. Makes me thinking it would be nice to have my own… Mmmmmhhh could you guess what I want?

"Ci vediamo NB!"

It's always wonderful to have you here,
even though it was only for a short visit
Your companion is the thing that I cherish,
coz you ease my lonely days

Wish you to come back soon and
spend time again in March

See you NB!

The story of Dugemers

"Happy Valentine dearest Evren!"

"This song represents words that I wanted to say to you...
You make me feel comfortable and complete.

Seni seviyorum Evren askim!"


I don't wanna go another day, so I'm telling you exactly what is on my mind
Seems like everybody's breakin' up, they're throwin' their love away
But I know I got a good thing right here, that's why I say...

Nobody gon love me better, I'ma stickwitu forever
Nobody gon take me higher, I'ma stickwitu
You know how to appreciate me, I'ma stickwitu, my baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way, I'ma stickwitu

Through everything goin on we're right here holdin on to one another
The reason why I love you, ya charm and personality, I love your sensitivity
Hmm let me take a second, cuz I'll be your love & essence

Only, wanna hear your voice speak, when I feel your body heat, love every minute of it.
You're like the fresh air, when it feels like no one cares that's why I say...

And now, ain't nothin else I could need
And I'm, singin 'cuz you're still so into me
I got you, we'll be making love endlessly
I'm with you, baby you're with me

So don't you worry about people hanging around, they ain't bringing us down
Baby talk to me 'cuz all I'm here to say is I'll be right here for forever and a day

You're a shelter in the storm, I'm right here
Keepin' me away from harm, I'm never gonna leave you
You're a song with beautiful words, I'm your song something that I never heard

You know how to appreciate me, I'ma stickwitu, my baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way, I'ma stickwitu...


Lyric by: Pussycat Dolls - Stickwitu

Narcist Bandit's Lovely Bear

Narcist Bandit came to visit Jakarta since Feb, 6. I spent almost every night with him, chatting, having dinner, shopping, etc. Tonight is his last day before he flies back to Bali tomorrow evening. We met in usual place, PIM 2. We had dinner, great chat and we ended it with a big glass of Irish coffee and a slice of Goldmine cheesecake...we ate from the same glass and plate. Lovely...

Then, we exchanged gift to celebrate valentine's day. He gave me this cute lovely bear with little card written: " Thanks for being my bestfriend! May love always showering on you!"... oooowwwwhhhhh, so sweet!!

I would like to thank him for all his attention and being so wonderful in the moment like this. The moment where any couple would spend it together. My cutie pie Evren is far away and what Narcist Bandit did, eased my worries and loneliness, but still can't ease my longing to Evren...




Happy valentine NB! I love you...

Great Food in Kampong Vietnam

Teet teeeet…incoming sms.
Ri: “I just arrived.”

I hurry myself, shut down my mac and take my bag. “Have a nice weekend!” I greet my entire office mates that are still stuck in front of computer. After giving a hurry-up sign to Shilla, I go out to meet Ri. Ri shouts when I open the door asking where Shilla and Alit are. I answer that Shilla will come out in the minute, but Alit unfortunately can’t join this time. There’s a slight of disappointment in her face, but she understands that Alit has to be in another place for “Arisan”. It’s unacceptable that we had miscommunication on the schedule causing Alit absence in our pig out session.

Less than five minutes, Shilla enters the car. This time, our pig out session is missing one of the piglets. But anyway, show must go on, our tummies are singing the symphony of hunger now, need to be responded wisely…hehehe… Take off from the office exactly at 6.30 pm, heading Jl. Wijaya and to find “Lang Viet”, a Vietnamese restaurant that was recommended by Thang. He said it’s the best Vietnamese restaurant in town, the real Vietnamese food.


Entering Jl. Wijaya, we get bit lost, since we have no idea where the place is. Shilla refuses to call up Thang to ask the exact place. So, three adventurous piglets with singing tummies search in any way to find the place. Shilla orders us to enter Grand Wijaya, she’s sure that Lang Viet locates there. After a single round and quick stop in ATM, Ri decides to call David (Ri’s husband) and asks him to google the place. We finally get the number and we drive out from Grand Wijaya. It’s quite funny that we have to come back to Grand Wijaya, since the Lang Viet receptionist directs us the place and apparently Shilla’s right! Lang Viet is next to Texas fast food restaurant, in the same row of Wijaya 21. Damn, we missed it! I said, “to find good thing, needs a long road.” We’re all laughing at our stupidness.

We park the car opposite to the restaurant, we are lucky enough to find near park place. Grand Wijaya is pack tonight; most cars are parked in this row, since Wijaya 21 is the biggest attraction here. From the park place, we can see Lang Viet signboard, oval greenish sign with quite low luminance that placed above the entrance door. Shilla said that we’re not stupid enough to miss the place, since the sign is not clear.

We enter the place, two-waitress stand behind the door. One of them opens the door and both welcome us. No other customer inside, the place is not big, but not small either, it’s around 15 m sq. We take the table near the glass drawer that decorates with small statues of typical Vietnamese figures. The table and the chair are comfortable; there are around seven tables of four more inside this room. The room is neat, warm and peaceful, bamboo leafs and couple fake trees calm the room. The cashier table locates in the right side of the entrance door, followed by dine tables in the middle and the kitchen in the back of the room. There’s stair to other floor, next to the stair I can see a direction said galley at the 3rd floor. “Lovely place,” I said.

I’m distracted when the waitress comes and gives us two menus, one for beverage and the other for food. The menus are cute and are formed like big leaf written Lang Viet in the first page. We read thru the pages, start from beverage menu. I order “ca phe sua nong” (hot Vietnamese coffee with condensed milk) and mineral water. Ri gets herself a glass of ginger tea and Shilla orders the same like I do. We have difficulty to decide what we want to eat and after 15 minutes, we finally can decide something. We order “tu quy” (four kinds of Vietnamese roll), “banh mi ga” (roasted chicken with French baguette) and “banh xeo” (crepes a la Saigon) as starters. “Pho bo” (rice noodle beef soup – typical north Vietnam) is ordered as our main course. The prices are also quite cheap, it starts from IDR 10.000 to 20.000 for beverages and IDR 30.000 to 60.000 for food.


The drinks come in around 5 minutes and starters in 10 minutes. We are amazed with the presentation; several leaves are placed as garnish… nice and tempting! We are very hungry and start to try on the starters. We start on “tu quy”, there are four kinds of roll with two pieces each and each roll was cut in two, they’re served in fried and in steam, three sauces are served with them. They taste really good, very appetizing. A couple of mom and daughter come in and seat next to our table. Eventually, Lang Viet is only start crowd after 8.00 pm. We continue and try “banh mi ga”, it taste even better. Fresh ingredients of slices of roasted chicken, tomatoes, carrot, and cucumber with mayonnaise are filled inside the baguette… great combination and very tasty! The last starter is “Bahn xeo”, a yellow half round crepe with slices of shitake mushroom, bean sprouts with sour sweet sauce (taste like “cakwe” sauce) apparently, it’s not as good as the others, but it’s good to try it. Even though I’m almost full, I won’t miss “pho bo”, actually this is not the first time I try “pho bo”. I’ve tried it in Vietophia and Pho 24 in Kebayoran area and it taste good in both restaurants. This time, apparently Lang Viet “pho bo” taste the same like the one in Vietphia and Pho 24, but I think the one in Vietophia taste bit better. I can’t manage to finish the ”pho bo”, I’m too full!! I lean on the chair and slurped “ca phe sua nong”… ouch, very nice! I watch Shilla and Ri spooned their last “pho bo”, they look satisfy like I do.


To finish our pig out session, Shilla and Ri order two kinds of “che” (pudding), lotus seeds with taro and mung beans with tapioca seeds, both are served hot in small bowls. They are hot, but nice and I like the “che” with lotus seeds and taro… it’s more like soup than pudding… sweet, but not too sweet and there’s a relieved feeling when I eat it. The lotus seeds give different taste and I like it a lot. We are all full and very pleased tonight, the food is great, the atmosphere is superb and friendly service, the last but not least, the price fit us, IDR 351.500 only… cool!!

Before we go out from Lang Viet, we go to 3rd floor, curious to see the gallery. Apparently, Lang Viet is two floors restaurant, there’s dine table in 2nd floor, but no one there, only couple workers on the kitchen. The toilet also locates in 2nd floor, one room toilet; neat and clean. The gallery is small, contains with typical Vietnamese products, crafts, paintings, statues, etc. The prices are also affordable, starting from IDR 50.000 to 1 mio. I ask to the lady in the gallery about the ownership of the restaurant. She said that Lang Viet belongs to Vietnamese couple who lives in Indonesia for more than 20 years and they are already get Indonesian citizenship… mmmhh so it’s really Vietnamese food, since it comes from Vietnamese hand.


Lang Viet not only serves real and good Vietnamese food, but the owner has successfully transferred the Vietnamese atmosphere. Lang Viet itself means Kampong Vietnam, well like the name, the place is representative and fits the idea. Wish to come back there for lunch…


Lang Viet
Grand Wijaya
Tel. 720 6774
Open daily 10 am – 10 pm, close Monday

Piglets in Action

Food is always a tempting object for me. Eating is not only for the sake of keeping the body in function, more than that, it’s an awesome stress killer. Stress is hell and good food means heaven on earth… it’s never too much, it’s never enough, and it’s so addictive! The only thing that I regret is my little tummy, it so not fits my humongous appetite. For me, good food has to come in good package; wonderful presentation, pleasurable atmosphere, and right choice of beverage, will never quench my appetite… One thing to add that good companion is always gives me an optimal pleasure.

Speaking of good companion, my three girlfriends in the office have the same humongous appetite, and to accommodate our interest, starting 5 months ago we officially conduct a pig out session. At first, the piglets were only me, Shilla and Alit, but on the second round, we welcomed a new piglet, Riri. Alit and me have the same problem, little tummy, but Shilla and Ri are truly big eaters. Shilla is the piglet queen, has humongous appetite and very reliable tummy. Ri comes in second place, followed by Alit, and me in the last place.

The pig out system is simple; each piglet takes turns to treat other piglets. The host has the prerogative in choosing the pig out destination, but most of the time, the destination is chosen by voting. We aim to try as many kind of food, as long it doesn’t cost more than IDR 350.000 per session. Many times the bill exceeds the limit and when it happens, we split the rest amount.

Even tough we are so picky and have high taste, so far, we are still satisfied with the result; we’ve tried Italian, Peranakan, American, Chinese, and of course Indonesian food. The latest pig out was in December 2006, where we went to Dapur Baba Elite, serving superb Peranakan food with impressive presentation. The old Chinese interior with optimal lighting enriches the atmosphere, creates different sensation in dining… what an excellent combination! Anyway, I can’t wait for the next pig out session that will be conducted next week on Friday, February 9. I feel hungry already. I want foooooooooood…………….

Why we don't learn? - Flood paralyze Jakarta

It's 7:01 pm and I'm still in the office... Why?

Most of the main streets in Jakarta are flooded and the roads to my home are blocked.
I hate it!!!! Why…why… why… Coz we don’t learn!

Since Wednesday night until this morning Jakarta and other surrounding areas are showered by heavy rain. Less than 2 hours, water engulfed nearly every main street in Jakarta, Sudirman and Thamrin streets get the worst impact. Many workers have to roll out their pants, carried bag and shoes while crossing the streets. Several can’t even make it to arrive in the office and have to struggle to go back home. Motorcycles, cars, busses, and other kinds of vehicle get the destructive effect.

I’m getting tired to live this moment every year. Is there anything that we can do to reduce the floods impact?


Picture taken by: Wahyu Setiawan/Tempo

Cheap Dinner

Having a cheap dinner is part of our life here in Bali. And one of our favorite place to have it is at Poppies. Poppies is a name of a lane in Kuta. You will find so many foreigner (especially Australian surfer) there. And Poppies is a famous place for backpackers, because there's so many cheap hotel there with price for one night start from 50,000IDR!

There's hundreds of resturant at the Poppies and last night me and my friend have our dinner at Warung Wulan located in Poppies lane 1 (Benesari Street). Warung Wulan is our favorite place to have pizza with very cheap price. A 30cm round wooden fire pizza worth only 27,000IDR. It's very cheap! And it goes well with a bottle of beer (12,000IDR).

So whenever you go to Bali, don't forget to have dinner at Poppies.