Kampung Sawah - Soreang

Some people might ask, “Why do you have to go that far to find something to eat?” the answer is simple, when it comes to foods and restaurant; we will go to China even. Yes last weekend we went to Bandung to visit my parents in law. At the same time, it was my sister in law’s birthday; hence for the birthday brunch we decided to go to Kampung Sawah which is located somewhere before Soreang, it takes about 1 until 2 hours of driving from Bandung city. Yet the trip was paid off, as soon as we arrived there we were greeted by the vast rice paddy field and a traditional Sundanese restaurant. The view was great; Next to the restaurant was a water park and swimming pool compound. At the middle of the restaurant you could see a fish pond where the owner of the restaurant farms his fish.


After finding our seat, we ordered the menu and this time we felt like having a fried chicken, satay udang, fried calamari, and cah kangkung for our lunch and of course some drinks. While waiting for the foods to arrive, we opened the birthday cake and made a small birthday bash for my sister in law.

Apparently it did not take a long time for the food to arrive, yet another thumbs up for the service in the restaurant.
Afterwards, there was only small noises of nyam, hmmm, huhaah, due to the deliciousness and spicy of the foods. Another good stuff is the playing area for the kids, starting from Ayunan, Perosotan, Jungkat Jungkit, etc. and also other necessary facilities, such as musholla and a clean toilet.
After spending 2.5 hours of eating and relaxing there, we went back to my parents in law house with the feeling of satisfaction, full, and relaxed.



How to get there:
From Bandung city, find a way to Kopo area, through the Jalan Sayati, and go straight until Soreang, make a left turn at the Soreang/Banjaran intersection. It is only 15 – 20 km from Jalan Sayati until Kampung Sawah location, which is 30 minutes to 1 hour of driving depending from the traffic
The price is cheap, yet the foods were great. It is recommended for a family lunch trip, if you were looking for something different.

Taman Menteng - Barry oh Barry..

A nice way to spend your Sunday afternoon is by wandering around the Jakarta city with your family since you don’t get that opportunity a lot in the city, especially on weekdays. It seems that Jakarta offers a different joy and fun during weekend, one of them is the less traffic at Jalan Sudirman and M. Thamrin. I took the courtesy of having my family, my Mom and little sister to visit one of the cool places to hang out in Jakarta, it is called Taman Menteng. We departed from our house at 3 p.m. and we arrived there at 3.30 pm.

The place is famous with its two glass-buildings and surrounding greenery and also its football/basketball court. But nowadays Taman Menteng is even more famous with the controversial Little Barack Obama statue, which they called it the Barry statue.


Well, the reason of being controversial is because some people in Jakarta believe that there are other significant person or hero from Jakarta that deserves a spot or place in the park such as Muhammad Husni Thamrin, Benyamin Sueb, etc., So, why it has to be Barry (little Barack)? Is it just because he went to the elementary school in Menteng area, near the park itself, and now that he has become the president of USA? During the first week of its installment people kept discussing and opposing it, even some are willing to take it doen from the park. Nevertheless, we were lucky enough to see the statue before something bad happened to it.
Aside from the controversial statue, the park was crowded with teenagers and lovers who seemed to be in their own world. Hehehe..
We spent the rest of the afternoon by taking pictures and wander around the park.

Too bad the park is less maintained because you could see garbage, trash and some writings on the wall. Plus it was raining at that time; hence you could see some of the spots in the park are flooded by water, even the parking spot is a bit drained by water. Why do some people just could not appreciate art and maintain the park for our own amusement? Sometimes I feel pity to those kinds of people.

After spending an hour of enjoying the view in Taman Menteng, we went back to our car and headed straight to Plaza Senayan for some late lunch there. Now here is one place of a high maintenance building.



The route is going to Jalan Sudirman, until you find the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia where you could see the flushing fountain and also the Selamat Datang statue. Afterwards you take the right turn going to Kuningan or Menteng area, passing the Hotel Nikko entrance and just follow the road until you find the second intersection, make a right turn and then you will see the Taman Menteng on your left side. Or if you are from Kuningan area, just follow Jalan Rasuna Said going to Menteng, you will find the park on your right side.

Entrance fee is only Rp 3,000 for car parking

Anyer early 2010; Quality Time

It was quite at the last moment actually, when my big family decided to have a getaway trip at New Year holiday. Within a week, we arrange the whole thing starting from accommodation, transportation, food and activity. I have been assigned to arrange the accommodation, you can imagined how hard it would be to get room during the high season like Christmas and New Year Eve, so having my friend’s-friend connection I was lucky enough to have one huge house at Anyer as a place to stay for the whole family. It is called Pantai Dwi Nusa and located just 1 km after Pasar Anyer. The house is huge, I mean like very huge. It has 4 rooms and each room has 2 king size bed. Unfortunately we could not swim and play at the beach because of the condition of the beach (no sands only coral or rocks) itself but it compensated with a nice swimming pool and we kind of felt like the place was only for us, because there are no others tenants at that time. We stayed from 2 – 3 January 2010 hence people were on their way back to Jakarta after spending New Years Eve while we are just about to start the holiday.
We arrived at the house on 2 p.m and headed straight to the nearest so-called beach while the ladies were preparing for the lunch.

There are 4 families at that time, and each of us brought our own preference food. My wife has prepared the Balado Telur while my brothers and sister brought some Mie Goreng, Ayam Goreng and Kering Tempe. Prior on having my lunch, I was shocked by my baby girl’s condition. She is just recovering from her illness (fever) and when we arrived at our bedroom, she was crying and screaming out loud, kind of felt like she was being possessed by ‘something’. I and my wife were so scared and panicked because she kept crying for another 15 – 20 minutes but luckily after continuously reading some Holy Quran (Ayat Kursi Al Fatihah, etc.) she was slowly relaxed and went straight to bed after my wife breastfed her. Alhamdulillah.
I came to my parents’ room after that and told them what has just happened. They told me to be careful next time, especially at the beach and always say Assalamu ‘alaikum when we are about to enter a room, and of course to always pray to Allah under any circumstances.
We spent the rest of the afternoon by swimming, I have the courtesy to teach my little sister on swimming, well I am not actually a good swimmer but at least I could manage not to get drowned at the swimming pool. It is divided into 3 areas: children, not so deep and deep area. After we finished swimming, we went along the beach line and admired on the scenery. Some serious photo session were involved at that time because the view was just exquisite.




At night, we prepared the barbeque stuff: grilled fish, chicken and sausages were served on the table and the whole families were entertained by the behavior of their respective children who were just 2 – 4 years old and also by the recording video that my brother took during swimming, totally hilarious. Later that night at 10 p.m, we headed to sleep and woke up early in the morning to have another round of swimming. This is when I felt the intimacy between our families become stronger and better because everyone was swimming at that time, even my Mom and Dad. It was priceless to see the whole family gather at the swimming pool together and just enjoying the togetherness. Again my little sister asked me to teach her on swimming, well I would not mind to do that. And after spending 2 hours of swimming lesson, and some serious sore on her thigh, she finally succeeds to swim without my guidance.
After having our lunch, we prepared our self to head back to Jakarta. The driving took about 2 hours because the traffic was not that heavy only few toll road maintenance at the Jakarta – Merak toll road. In the end, it was definitely a good way to start our new year: to spend a big quality time with our lovely big family!

How to get there:
Pantai Dwi Nusa: Take the inner city road or the JORR and then take The Jakarta – Merak toll road that head to the Merak port. Exit at the Cilegon Barat and just follow the road until Pasar Anyer. After 1 km, you will find big houses and a hotel at your right side, just in front of the Koramil office.
The cost to stay at the house varies from 1.750.000 – 2.250.000 rupiah, depends on how many room on the house. We took the 4 bedroom that cost us 2.250.000 rupiah. Toll fee is 27.000 rupiah for exit at Cilegon Barat while the inner city toll road will cost you 7.500 – 10.000 rupiah

Road Trip to Padang: More than a week of amusements and a week before the tragedy

Day 1: The journey begins
This year holiday of the Idul Fitri 1430 H, September 2009, has been wonderful to me. My wife’s family decided to go on a road trip to their hometown in Padang, West Sumatera. It was such an offer which I am happy to oblige. Actually, it was the first time for me going to Padang but the second time going to Sumatera Island. The first one was way back in college, 7 years ago, with my fellow college friends from Petroleum Engineering Department, class of 99, Institut Teknologi Bandung. We went on a Field Trip to one of the oil field in Prabumulih, South Sumatera which is operated by P. T. Ekspan, now has become P.T. Medco Energi.

This year is different though, aside from the fact that I am already married now and have one beautiful baby girl, I got the chance to visit Padang city which I’ve heard that it has many spectacular view and scenery. We will get to that point later on.
The journey began from my house in Pondok Pinang at 8 p.m. after we broke our fasting during Ramadhan month. We arrived at the Pelabuhan Merak at 11 p.m. and went straight to Pelabuhan Bakaheuni in Bandar Lampung by using a Ferri boat.



The traffic of going in to the boat was not too heavy because it was not the peak timing of “mudik” yet. We arrived at the Pelabuhan Bakaheuni at dawn, and went straight to the Jalur Lintas Timur to proceed with our journey.

Day 2: Long way to go
It took about 36 to 40 hours of driving from Lampung to Padang passing Palembang in South Sumatera, Jambi, and straight to Solok, that is where my parents-in-law hometown, so we occasional change the driver’s seat position. It was the first time for me driving in Sumatera and what an experience it was. During the Jalur Lintas Timur, cars were moving so fast at high speed unlike in Jakarta where traffic hinders them in doing so. We took some time to rest during the way and spend the night somewhere in Jambi.



Day 3: Home at last
After a long and tiring yet exciting road trip we successfully arrived in Solok at 6 p.m. just in time to break our fasting. Solok is a relatively small city but I found a big and strong atmosphere of Islamic tradition and activity. Perhaps it was because my mother-in-law’s house is located just across a mosque. We were so tired at that time hence we spent the rest of the night trying to get some sleep and rest.

Day 4: A quick visit to Padang
Early in the morning we went to the nearest rice paddy field in Solok, not only to look at the beautiful scenery but also to donate some money to the needy in the area. Well it was actually my brother-in-law who donated the money, I and my wife had done it back in our house, and we called this Zakat Fitrah and Zakat Maal.




Not long after that we went to Padang; the duration from Solok to Padang is about two hours passing the Gunung Talang. After we arrived in Padang, my father-in-law took us to his hometown in the city to visit his parents’ cemetery. Afterwards, we made a small trip around the city while making our way back home to Solok. We arrived in Solok at night and spend some big-family time in one of our relative’s house. It was Malam Takbiran actually, yet the atmosphere is quite simple because we did not hear any fireworks only the sound of Takbir to pray our Allah SWT.

Day 5: Idul Fitri @ Solok
After one month of trying to get hold of our passion and fasting, the day of victory has finally arrived, Idul Fitri 1430H, a time to reflect our self and praying to be a better person in the future. Early in the morning we went to the mosque for our Shalat Ied ceremony and not long afterwards comes the time of asking forgiveness to our family and also visiting our relatives. Thus the whole day was spent in doing this activity.








Day 6: The Beauty of Sikuai Island
Whoo Hoo.. the next morning we prepared our self to go to the Sikuai island. We arrived at the port in Padang at 9.30 a.m. and make our way to the island by using a Ferri for about 1 – 2 hours. We took the one day tour package that cost us 250,000/person. The idea is to spend the day in the island and we will be picked up back at 4 p.m.




As soon as we arrived in the island, we were amazed on how beautiful the island is. White sands and coconut trees are everywhere. And if you look at the water you could see small fish along with the coral and reefs below. So the next thing that I did was to get the swimming googles and spend 2 hours of snorkeling at the heat of the sun, it was 1 p.m at that time. Luckily it was not raining and the weather was just perfect.





My baby girl took her first step lesson there with her mom while I was busy snorkeling. After some times, I asked my wife to join me snorkeling and it was her first time, so she was excited as well and really keen of doing that again sometimes.




Time passes real fast if you were doing something that you like because it turns out that it was already 4 p.m hence we rushed back to the boat to leave the Sikuai Island yet the beauty lingers forever.




Day 7: Istana Pagaruyung, Danau Singkarak and Bukit Tinggi
The next day, we leave early in the morning from Solok to go to Istana Pagaruyung and Bukit Tinggi. We passed the big and famous Danau Singkarak on our way there. There are 3 big lakes in West Sumatera, Danau Singkarak, Danau Maninjau, and Danau Kembar (Di Atas dan Di Bawah). My wife told me that each lake has a different fish inside, but they are all delicious.
We arrived at the Istana Pagaruyung at 2 p.m. This palace was burnt by fire not long ago therefore the reconstruction is still in progress at that time. At the entrance of the palace you will see a videotape of recording during the fire tragedy which is quite sad when you look at it. We got around the palace and guided by one of our relatives who is one of the employee in the reconstruction committee.




It is quite a huge palace and mostly made from wood, which has a unique sign or “ukiran” on it.
After spending one hour there, we went to Bukit Tinggi to spend a night there. Bukit Tinggi is famous of its cool weather, just like in Puncak area in Bogor, and also of its Jam Gadang which is located at the heart of the City. At night, we went to the Jam Gadang and luckily it was still during the festive season of Idul Fitri, hence there were fireworks everywhere. Although the sound was noisy but my dearest baby girl still managed to fell asleep, perhaps she was just too tired.




Day 8: Danau Maninjau and Kelok Ampe-Ampe
The next morning we went to a market near Jam Gadang to buy some souvenirs, and at noon we went back to Solok but this time we took a different route to pass the Kelok 44 (Kelok Ampe-Ampe) and go to Danau Maninjau to have dinner there.



Although I consider myself as a good driver but after seeing the Kelok Ampe-Ampe I just let my father-in-law who does the driving, they called it Kelok Ampe-Ampe simply because there are 44 U-turn from top of the mountain going down to the lake. It was a crazy street, and it takes more than skills to pass it. You might need many prayers and luck on it. Luckily there were not many trucks or cars at that time, so we finally arrived at the lake-front restaurant who serves great foods and have our dinner there.






At 8 p.m. we went back to Padang to visit one of our relatives and spend the night there. Yes, we went again through the Kelok Ampe-Ampe and yes it was not me who drove the car. Unfortunately due to the heavy traffic from Bukit Tinggi to Padang we ended up at 3 a.m at our relative’s house, normally it only takes 3 – 4 hours of driving.

Day 9: Crusing around Padang
Next morning, we cruised around Padang to buy some souvenirs and traditional food such as Kerupuk Sanjay, and we stopped by at one of the most delicious Ice Durian in the city, I forgot what it is called, something like Durian Gantung restaurant?? Anyway it was one perfect way to feast you thirst during the middle of the day. We arrived at Solok at 2 p.m, took same rest and prepare our self for our journey back to Jakarta
At 10 p.m we start our road trip to Jakarta and again luckily the traffic was not too heavy.

Day 10 – 12
After spending 2 days at the road trip and one night staying at Palembang, we finally managed to get back to Jakarta in a safe condition. This holiday trip surely was filled with amusement and excitement and I would not mind going back there again sometimes and repeat the whole thing. But one week after we arrived in Jakarta, I’ve seen the news on TV that there was a big earthquake and landslide that hit Padang city and surrounding. Thousands were dead plus hundreds are perhaps still missing at the landslide or building rumbles. Hundreds or thousands of houses and building were destroyed due to the magnitude of the earthquake. I could not imagine what would be the catastrophic situation at that time. Some parts of the house that belongs to one of our relatives in Padang, the one that we spent the night, was destroyed and fortunately they were alright and also our relatives in Solok. Nevertheless, my biggest and sincere condolences go for all the victim of the earthquake and natural tragedy in Padang. Hopefully, in a period of time you would all be strong and even better. Amien…

Java R&W team Away Day @ Bandung (Dec 2008)

Three years has finally come for me to join the last team away day with my department which is Java Reservoir and Wells. This time, I am one of the event committee whose job description is to manage almost the whole thing from accommodation, activity, safety concern and also leisure time. After hard discussion with the rest of the committee member, finally we have come to an agreement to spend our team away day at Bandung for 2 days-1 night activity. As for accommodation, we choose the Beverly Hills town House which is located at Cisitu area. The place is wonderful where there are around 10 – 20 townhouses which could occupy 4 – 6 person each. We arrived there at 10 a.m. and went straight to a short team meeting for one and a half hour to discuss our achievement in 2008 and our plan for 2009.
Afterwards, we went to the Bumi Sangkuriang area for lunch and then followed by games and outbound activity such as Flying Fox, Balance Stick, Japanese Samurai and also Crazy Doughnut.



Personally I had a huge fun and “excitement” on the latter game, where our team became literally crazy due to our in-capability of moving that doughnut to other place using a long stick after several attempts.





And after us finally able to move it, we were just so desperate enough to know that there was not only one doughnut but four of them. But hey, it is supposed to be a Team activity right? Hence with our new spirit and strategy we were able to move all of them and managed to be the number two spot during the day.
At 5 p.m. we went back to our townhouse to clean our self and get ready for a nice dinner at Sierra restaurant. The menu is okay but the ambience and the view were superb. It was a clear night sky at that time thus we were able to see the city lights from Bandung city, accompanied by a wonderful slow music.



In the morning, we were divided into two groups, Shopping group and Adventure group. The idea is to spend the rest of the morning and be back at the townhouse at 11 a.m.



So here we are the Adventure group getting ready for the Offroad activity and then followed by Paint Ball activity at Cikole area near Lembang. The former was the first one for me; it was fun and exciting actually, where we go on a modified-Land Rover to a very muddy and tranquil street in middle of the the forest on our way to the Paint Ball arena in Cikole. For sure, paint ball game is one way of having fun, especially in the middle of the forest. It felt like you actually went to a war with the entire wardrobe minus the real bullet.



Unfortunately, our team lost to the other team, perhaps due to the excitement of making many strategies but some of them did not happen at the actual execution.
On our way back to the townhouse we choose to go at the main road not the Offroad anymore because it was already 11.30 a.m. and yes we were already late. So at 1 p.m. we left the townhouse for lunch at the Arisan café which is nice actually, the food is great (supported by our huge hunger at that time) and the restaurant is simple yet classy.
Having our stomach filled with nice foods, our group went back to Jakarta, exhausted and excited. Well, once again Bandung has never disappointed me.

How to get there:
Bandung: from Jakarta, take the Jakarta Cipularang (Purbaleunyi) toll road, exit at Pasteur for an easier access to the main city, but could be very heavy traffic especially at weekend, and long holiday. You could take an alternative route, exit at Buah Batu toll gate. Toll fee for Jakarta – Bandung is around 50,000 rupiah and normally the duration of going there is 2 – 2.5 hours, it depends on the traffic at the toll road. Sometimes it could get you up to 3 – 4 hours during heavy traffic.
The price for each of the Beverly Hills townhouse is ranging from 700,000 to 1,500,000/night and the outdoor activity (Offroad and Paintball comes as one package) is around 150,000 to 300,000 rupiah/person

Tantre and The Brondonx (Oct - Nov 2008)

“Okay boys, I’ll see you tomorrow at 6.30 a.m at Ragunan sport center!” Tantre said. She is the leader of our group called Tantre and The Brondonx. There are 10 of us in the group. Tantre stands for Tante, an Indonesian word describing a classy and dignified mid-aged woman and simply because she is the eldest among us. The rest of us were boys and girls from 23 – 28 years old.



This group was created in order to join a sporty and healthy competition within our office which is called Run-A-Muck. This is a one month program where we got to be very healthy and sporty and competing with 10 – 15 other groups. Therefore during that one specific month, Tantre and The Brondonx has made some what so-called sporty event every week such as jogging around at the office park during lunch break wearing nothing but a short pants, jump suit and T-shirt while spreading away some flyers containing healthy way of living to the passerby.






Not only that, we also went to Monas on a lovely Sunday morning and luckily there were some kind of a sport event being there at the same time which is the-10,000-foot step for a stronger bone held by one of the dairy products producer specialized in Milk for the stronger bone.





After walking for almost an hour from Djakarta Theater to Monas, the distance is only 500m, (too much photo session involved during the walk), we spent the rest of the morning eating Ketupat/Lontong Sayur, Nasi Goreng and Bubur Ayam at the food stall around Monas area. It was a perfect way to end the day.





On the last week of the month, as she said before, we were supposed to gather at Ragunan sport center at 6.30 a.m, all of us managed to get there around 7-ish in the morning. Of all my 28 years of living in Jakarta, this is the very first time I visited Ragunan Sport Center, turns out that it was not bad at all, you will find jogging track which is like the one in Gelora Senayan, plus there is a football field, swimming pool, badminton and volley ball court and many others.



Luckily the jogging track was not too crowded at that time only some local athlete who were doing a routine in the jogging track. Thus we spent an hour of exercising and jogging plus another one and a half hour of photo session. Hehe..
This is another reason why our group, Tantre and The Brondonx, was selected as the Best Group of the Year, it is simply because we were very consistent and cooperative doing some sports and photo session.





As a reward, each of us was awarded an IPOD by the committee and a fancy dinner plus Karaoke as a special treat from our beloved Tantre. Sadly, now Tantre and The Brondonx has been separated by work condition, I have moved to a different company and some others as well, even there is one of us who is working at East Kalimantan but we believe that the sporty and cooperative spirit will remain strong deep within ourself.






How to get there:
Monas: just take the the Busway from Blok-M to Kota, stop at Monas, or if you want to walk, you can park your car at the Djakarta Theather and walk or ride your bike to Monas for about half an hour. It is a good way to spend your Sunday morning especially when there is a car-free day which is usually held on the last week of the month. You could call the Traffic Management Centre (TMC) for the exact date of the car-free day.
Ragunan Sport Center: take the Busway from Kuningan to Ragunan, stop at the Ragunan Busway Terminal and walk to the Sport Center which is only 400 m from the terminal. Or you can always take your car with you, go to the Departemen Pertanian intersection at Jl. TB Simatupang, turn right if you were coming from Pondok Indah, go straight until you find the entrance to the Ragunan zoo, do not enter the zoo, make a left turn at the corner of the entrance, or you could simply ask the street vendor for direction.