JKT-BDO OCT 2012 : Day 2 - Jakarta Raya

Day 2: October 20th 2012

Mission: Tanah Abang & Around Jakarta Raya

While waiting for the last group to reach Jakarta in the evening, the group has decided to pay Pusat Grosir Tanah Abang a visit.

There are many theories of shopping in Tanah Abang including: 

(Warning: Read somewhere in the net but not necessarily true)

1. Tanah Abang is the centre of distribution of clothing. hence, the price is abit lower than others including the infamous Pasar Baru in Bandung

2. Block B shops sell their goods a bit cheaper than Block A

Well, i found No 1 is not entirely true but somehow, after being lost for few times, alone, i do find No 2 is , well, live up to its reputation.

Why?

Block A: New shoplots maybe. More organised and neat

Block B: Typical shoplots in textile centres perhaps

By the way, there's a building named Metro which is also a prt of Pasar Tanah Abang.

Did i go there? Seriously, i have no idea. It is a big place.

We started the day quite early and the idea was to stay in Jakarta city for the weekends and head for Bandung on weekdays to beat the traffic.

This tip is very useful and i personally advise you guys to actually note this...

again, somewhere in the net, Jakarta dwellers will reduce to about 5M people in the weekends compared to 15M during the weekdays. Usually, the city peeps will head to out of Jakarta places for liburan.

This is also backed up by our Supir Pak Dedy.

Early traffic

Jakarta Central.Bulatan Randy (Pangalila) - according to me.
the Red lines mark the busway.

It took us about 45 minutes to reach Tanah Abang from Tebet, Jakarta Selatan.

Our minds were fixed at-kain, kain,kain- for i have plans to sell some of em back in kantor. 

This is where we get off and the entrance is at SLG level.

...and was greeted by:

mau tak gila tengok kain cantek2.

tapi den tak berani [yet] nak pakai kebaya kat belakang yang penuh dengan sulaman tuh.

overall, kain yang cantek2 average harga is RM50 (RP150K). Ada jugak yang cheaper.

but this time, Sulam Timbul (From Bukit Tinggi??) was hot seller.

(TW update: habis dengan budak office je)

One of the main objectives was to but lace, and textile for Yun's wedding.

It was supposed to be cheaper here in Tanah Abang.

and i guess it was indeed. The winning point is always that they have the latest and chic and pretty designs.

aaaa..one of the ready made set on sale and surely, i grabbed one (the above to be exact). Chantek kan?

Hungry? no worries. There's a foodcourt on level 8. This one is way better than the foodcourt in Pasar Baru.

No one will actually bugs you trying to get you to order form them.

Here, as any other foodcourt, we shall order at the counter.

(actually, in Pasar Baru, there are biiiiiiiiiggggggggg reminders to the patrons to order direct at the counter to avoid others to mark-up on top of the actual food price).

well, as usual, food that can be found here are Nasi Timbel, Nasi Uduk, Ayam penyet, Sup Buntut, etc etc. For muslims, please look into the menu carefully as some kiosks maybe selling pork.

There is a shop, i think it was CFC, which has a special menu - Menu Astaga. If not mistaken it was supposed to be super spicy chickens. urrghh...i forgot to try it...heheh

At the end of the day, voila..my 45+10l backpack is full to the brim with?

here it is...

and some other stuffs not pictured here...

anyway. a reminder to all eager shoppers.

see below sample?

i thought i was getting the exact one.

naaayyyy..i got similar. without the bottom flowers..

so, next time, a reminder for me as well, check EACH AND EVERY package. i even got 2 which are stained but luckily managed to get it clean easily.

after some rest at our homestay after nearly 10 hours at Tanah Abang alone, we proceed to pick-up the last group to reach Jakarta Raya.

At Bandara, there was one peculiar man who wanted to get onto our bus.

Luckily, our group is not that huge to not notice this man.

He tried to get onboard by opening the door few times which scared some of us.

We managed to get away safely.

Nevertheless, hopefully the man will be just fine. maybe he just wanted a ride to jakarta city but sorry, u just scared all of us.

anyway, we proceeded with dinner at one of the resto - seafood i guess. When we reached, it was on last orders. Hey, did the resto here actually closed at 9pm?

hmm...anyway, i do notice that it is much easier to get food and resto in Bandung.

Before we head back to our bunk, we stopped by Monas and i am quite impressed by the view.

There were patrol cars around and according to our supir, sometimes, there are demonstrations here and also at the Bulatan Randy (ehem) as per above pictures.

hence, there were on standby in case those get worse.

Istana President

All in all, 2nd day experience do enlighten my view of liburan or weekend.
we can just hang out pretty much anywhere permitted.
It does not mean that we need to be at pay-to-use areas just to have a chat.
i wouldn't know where and what for you, but for me..
we have many parks, lakes around.
Bulatan Randy (refer above roundabout) can be accessed and people can hangout on the curb at night.
but i don't think ours are accessible.

there's always the first to everything.
why don't we give it a try (grin)

JKT-BDO OCT 2012 : Day 1 -Jakarta Raya

For the second time, i was about to set foot in Indonesian Soil on Oct 19th 2012.

i took the Airbus from KL Sentral to LCCT which cost me RM8.00/way.

Boleh, kene tanya concierge kat mana stesen .yela before this i naik kat depan entrance..rupanya kalau siang ambil kat bawah nu haaa..

Don't ask me why. I simply love Bandung..Jakarta? not so but we have decided to land in JKT so we could say "been there already whaaattt"..hahahahhaha 

There were 13 of us in 4 different flight sechedule.

Mine was on Oct 19th, 3pm++ via LCCT (Air asia kot). The delay was only for about 15 minutes in boarding hall but darn.., i spent about 30 in the belly of the big bird.

Good. Time to catch-up with some sleep since i was alone (by preference) and i didn't get much sleep the night before.

TA-DAAAAA....the airport or Bandara in indonesian language.

Rupanya, Leena & mom and Mr VJ waited for me..they reached at 9am local time and manage to jalan2 a bit...then we waited for another 1hour for Cik Sal..spending time at the shop selling prepaid card or kartu panggilan  convenience store, basically ukur the Bandara which contain JCO donut shop and some cafes as well. However, how did i not go up one level to towards the departure hall?

They had nicer cafes and starbuck up there...

this i only realised upon departing from the same airport on Oct 24th...demmmm..

by the way, i have made the same mistake...again..i bought the simpati prepaid card in the airpirt vicinity and costed me RP50K with RP2500 credit.

It will only cost about RP15K outside...

demm...but at least i don't have to buy some more for my Dec 2012 Bandung trip.

This Bandara for Air asia is at Terminal 3 which also caters for Pilgrims of Hajj. T3 was only alive during this time but after Air asia and some other domestics flights were re-based here, it has been breathing steadily since then..

We left the airport after Sal has landed and started enjoying the night view of Jakarta Raya.

This is the Anggrek Mall which claims to be the largest LED illuminated facade in the world.

I couldn't argue with that. we had none in Malaysia (penting ke pun??)

tapi cantek uolsss....gambar pun bley tukar2 tau..

After dinner by the roadside, we hopped into one of the local convenience store.Circle-K which can be found all over Jakarta, if not the whole Indonesia.

Voila! Heaven for me! Varieties of Nescafe...darn i forgot to snap the counter which holds the caramel, vanilla, mocha sauce which shall complement your hot coffee of your choice..in good condition. I think, it will not last long back in our beloved soil..the bottles that is...hahahahha...

But, my problem while in Indonesia is, the Nescafe didn't meet my daily caffeine requirement which is a no-no for  me laaaa...nasib baik den bawak Nescafe Gold 3-in-1 from home..phewww...

Bottled Frappuccino by Starbuck.

My first sight of em.

(Oct 31st - a friend confirmed that these can be found in Cold Storage Wangsamaju)

But, again, to my disappointment, i didn't try even one...sad..

and check out these super cute cereals packed in plastic containers..

 Selepas berpeleseran di Circle-K for 1 hour, we decided to head to the homestay which is located in Tebet Barat Dalam, Jakarta Selatan.

There was a moderate sized mall nearby. Or was it a 7-eleven supermart?

anyway, i've noticed (but didn't go) that there are 2 massage centres nearby..

again, why didn't i???

The homestay actually belongs to..Puan Es or something, the sister of Pak Zainal, owner of Samiaji homestay in Bandung. 

Cool. There's wi-fi, air-cond in each room, ready hot & cold drink water and breakfast of ayam kampung.

yes, the next day, we had chicken soup+rice and fried mee for breakfast.

So not my taste. But it was ok to fill-in empty stomach.

No chilli kan..so..faham2 je la..yang penting , Nescafe ku ada...

Jakarta's hot.Humid. Dusty. so, water heater not really a necessity. For me laaa...

Luckily, the traffic for that night was okay with minimum macet.

maybe dah malam kot...

The homestay is actually a 3 storey house with about 12 rooms.

There's a washing machine s well at the top floor.

and this scary tangga..

It actually leads to another room beside mine but the entrance is via this stair which is only reachable via 2nd floor. hmmm...on the right hand side, is the glass window of my room.

yes, we locked those away...ngeeeeeeeee

Our Supir or driver , Pak Dedy, went to pick-up the 3rd group of the day of my nieces, nephew and sista.

and the group is getting bigger. and louder...

Luckily, our Supir Pak Dedy is very understanding. Having stayed in Jakarta for more than 10 years and currently resides in Bandung, he knows both city in and out.

so, he was the perfect supir for us and was also highly recommended by our dear cousin.

So, in case you're looking for a good, reliable, friendly, happy supir, Pak Dedy is the best so far.

and one hell of a driver as well.

i know. i sat at the front seat of our 14-seater minibus throughout the journey.

His contact: 

Facebook

email : Dedy Supriady [dedydtrans@yahoo.co.id]

i don't know if this would help you but try mentioning my name [Nana] or Atun [my cousin]

maybe, just maybe, you'll get a good price.

end of Day 1..good night sleep. for tomorrow's Day 2 bargain hunting...

MUET & Birthday

Sangat penat dari trip JKT-BDO-JKT. Tapi seblom itu.

.i've been meaning to update on my birthday thingy and MUET.

Oct 15th.

Speaking test MUET kat SMK Subang Utama., Subang Jaya. Nasib baik aku check slip exam balik. Mati2 aku ingat exam kat SMK Sek17 subang jaya!!

well mcm biasa 7.30am meant 8.30am! sampai2 je yg lain2 nampaklah mcm budak2

demmm..anyway aku mmg nervous.lama x exam kot.

tp yg sengal nye pagi2 lg dh nampak muka ini..

boley? 

Tapi yang aku kesalkan, apsal puan2 penjaga perlu garang tak tentu pasal dan treat kami mcm budak2?

contoh?

Kalau ye pun nak soh orang off HP, takyah la bagi arahan "tolong bungkus HP masing2 dengan suratkhabar dan letak dalam neh ye. sila offkan HP sekarang". dengan nada mcm mak tiri.

tak bley cakap elok2? orang dengar gak kot...

so citernye, aku group ke 3 and my groupies semua lah muda2 termasuk aku okayyy..hahah

tajuk? something like " what is the best solution for parents when it comes to chidlcare?"

1. Get a maid

2. One parent resigns

3. Employer to provide childcare centre at workplace

4. work from home

obviously, budak2 tuh baru je habis sekolah atau tengah dalam uni stage. so, reality has not bite yet.

I was candidate C and i got point no 3 to speak of during 2-minutes individual session and to discuss with group in the next 10 minutes discussions.

At the end of the discussion, the group shall reach a conclusion. Candidate A, a TESL-ian, who needs to get Band 4 to continue her degree in TESL, was adamant to stick with her No.1 point. No 2 & No 4 were straightaway agreeable with me.

obviously, after i presented the reality which do bite, they agree with Point no 3 as the most suitable solution.

Persuasive me?

After brunch with Pojik, whom group didn't reach any conclusion, i went to office for my 1/2 day balance. It was my birthday okayyy. I was quite ready for the flour & eggs throwing session but alas, the kids didn't have enough courage kot..hahah (mau kena marah dengan superbisa ini)

After much straightforward hinting, i finally got my birthday gift from my team. Thank you Anas, Zita, Hana, Shafi, Wan & Helmi. you guys are the best. (kot2 terpaksa?)

Powerbank 11200maH tuuu....(banyak membantu during my JKT trip)

Risik2 depa beli kat Lowyat for udner RM200. What a bargain...

Neh plak treat dari Hazreen , Ila and last minute joined by Anas & Helmi secara FOC ..Nijah bole plak bz...

siul nye banyak lilin kat kek..'

location: Karaoke Songbox Subang Parade.

Lagu wajib neh. agak2 lagu apa?

Hadiah budak2 neh plak...wa  muka aku buruk ke noooookkkk...

dan yg paling mengejutkan, tudung tuh...

Alice & Susan bagi...bila aku buka je kotak, aku nampak tudung...rajin depa neh pi carik...pastuh nampak tag..AJ...pe lagi,,,,Adijuma la....perghhh RM40++ tuh...Datin Norjuma punya tudung bawal okayyy....

papepun, tq so much guys and gurls.

Oh and to a certain mR Jay Bond, monetary gift already converted to self-learning book. How to be a good leader. best baca. bole apply kat budak2 neh,..miahahah...

and to DH, thank you for sponsoring my JKT trip expenses...trip BDO bole sponsor lagi?

So, MUET Reading, Listening and Writing will be on November 11th plak.

Doakan aku pass cantek.

Next post: Jakarta 2013.

Eminent 0812

Friday. October 12th.

As usual, our beloved Alumni's president will ring with last minute notification of anything and everything.

This time, dinner at PERMATA Bangi to celebrate current form 5 students of Sekolah Menengah Sains Selangor. Lucky me, i do have one recently bought jubah dress from my neighbour..ahaks..

This batch named themselves as Eminent. Mind you, not all batches will have such names to identify themselves. For example, yours truly. we simply name our batach as SMSS94.

Lack of creativity? or simply malas nak change the norms..

Hence, the dinner's theme was Malam Semarak Kasih Selaut Budi..

aku selamba je posted earlier in my FB "Malam Semarak Budi". clever me!

macam biasa. camwhoring everywhere.

meja kami neh meja VIP. Duduk siap dengan parents, kakak to students

tapi...sila buat mcm rumah sendiri..potpetpotpet...

Nampak tak presiden yang garang dan datang lambat?

Pojik memang tak suka pix neh tapi aku suka!

Zulia yang SINGLE & AVAILABLE cuba untuk tersenyum manis tapi aku tak tergoda hokayyy..

maybe ada orang lain? ehem.

Soon, budak2 ini akan lalui SPM (Good luck!) and pastuh melalak menangis sebab nak berpisah..

Bayangkan...budak yg masuk time form 4 pun bole terasa kehilangan..apatah lagi yang duduk SMSS dari Form 1..memang sadis..we could see each other again for sure, but surely, some we may not see again, and if we do, the situation will be different..

For what it's worth, adik2, this friendship will last and holds a special place in your heart..

sama mcm yang kami lalui sekarang..

contoh? tengokla..it's hard to say no to Pojik for his last minute request..

classmate aku for 3 years tu.

Pojik sebenornya dah malu. sebab parents budak2 tuh dah pelik.

"Macam neh ke anak aku bila dah jadi alumni?"

tak gitu Remy?

Haaaa..neh contemporary nasyid group..ala adik2..jangan la expect pitching betul segala...but this is better than the first pop group..

ni pulak Cik Intan. Ms Eminent of the night.

They have few categories of Best Dressed but this one, i guess everyone likes her till she got a standing ovation..

time aku dulu dek, kamim yang rendang2 neh kena uluk bak kata orang sabah..

kena usik bak kata orang switzerland..

hahh..tuptup malam neh ko menang..maybe budak2 skang dah x tgk paras rupa sgt kot..

oh you simply have superb personality..

papepun, all the best. ingat, it's a cruel world out here.

Kami nak pose jugak.

Pojik pandai cover dengan frame tuh kan,...

tak aci dol..

Dinner finito at around 12 midnight..so rempit balik la...

Hazreen nak balik rumah lagi...hahah

ok....number kat bawah takde kaitan dengan dinner..

tp ini nombor aku renew passport.

Ingat, nak renew passport, kena bawak :

Gambar x 2

Isi borang

Duit RM100 for 2 years or RM300 for 5 years.\

Kaw2 aku kena dengan ngan Leena bila aku cakap tak payah..hahaha

basically aku budget nak isi sana je..ambik pix skali..

kalau kat Plaza Glomac tuh, semua ada. sample isi borang pun ada..

tanya je Leng Chai yang ambil pix aku mcm akt bawah..leng kan?

aku sukaaaaa!!!!!!

Bowling & Mee Ketam

*CSI12 in the background*

Plan to Nuang was cancelled. Oh no..the rest of the pack actually did go..i didn't. 

Maybe it was due to the fact that it was gonna be a night trekking.

Adam was not that eager to go was another factor.

Overall, there was no push..tak beriya sangat aku nye.

Makanya, bermain bowling la aku.

The annual Bowling tournament was organised by Alumni of SMSS.

Each batch was supposed to send their reps.

So did we batch of 94. tapi sadisnya..most of us busy tek...

Jadinya, aku, pojik, asoi dan hazreen je la...

(Most left: Put, tunggu hari je..takpe, nanti dah siap beranak kita menyelimkan diri ye)
Kanan sekali: tak kenal.

and , yours truly, top #3 female bowler okayyyyyy

Yang Neh plak tuh Piala Pusingan tourny dari bertahun2 kurun lamanya..

agak2, Pojik menang apa? (Hint: bowling pin senget. nasibla takde longkang kat situ)

Okay. Daiso and Bolwing was saturday.

Tiba2 mendapat kol dari ayahanda. soh pi rumah.

aku kan anak yang baik ^_^

so, pegila lunch umah ayahanda. nasi panas & ikan masin memang terbaek...

oh..konpius ek? menu kat bawah bukan menu kat rumah ayahanda aku...hahahah

ini menu kat Kedai makan tuh..Mee Ketam kat Seksyen 7 Shah Alam BELAKANG UNISEL or dekat HAKIM LAMA. Bukan HAKIM BARU area Pak Li Kopitiam tuh tau..

so, it was me, Oya, Adam and Ais je pegi ..Pipah balik sebab ada group assignment. 

Baik kan mak buah bawak anak2 buah pegi berjalan2..

My thought of the food?

Mee Kari Ketam : tak rasa Ketam pun kuahnya..still Mee Kari..ketam tuh accessories je..

Yang Kiri tuh Ketam bercili. aku suka sebab pedas.

Yang Kanan tuh Sup Ketam. YUCK big time. bagi aku la kan...ntah.tak sedap.

ce gi rasa dulu la..baru tau..yg penting, aku tak suka,

hence, walaupun tak kemas rumah, weekend aku tetap productive sebab tak habiskan masa tengok tv je.

Menjalinkan kemesraan adalah penting. Jangan tikam belakang. Berdosa.

Aku buat takpe..hahaha

Being normal: We're only human

Fuhhh...1 hour in Daiso store boleh menyebabkan aku kurang duit RM70. Walaupun yeay to myself sebab beli yang perlu sahaja (errr...yes, perlu), tolong jangan amalkan. I thank Zulia of SMSS for the strength to say "let's go". I am telling you, Daiso is not easy to part with.

Sama jugak online shopping. pergh..pantang tengok Groupon, confirm browse walaupun tak beli..

Sekarang aku berjaya jugak untuk berpegang teguh kepada Keperluan vs Kemahuan punya cakap. almost all the time..sometimes, i just let it be..haha..once in a while kena la babe..

Kadang2 shopping theraphy bagus untuk kita lepaskan pent-up emotions.
Hence the recent purchase of some new stuffs for the wardrobe plus i need some new clothing items to  match my new .....appearance kan..

Well, since menulis pasal appearance neh, i had a very good, or rather painful, lesson of my life recently.
Appearance really can fool anyone. Be it for good or bad.
Being the subject of a gossip, or secara kasarnya fitnah, is never good. Lagi2 bila tau rootcause nya disebabkan oleh suatu situasi yang sangat unfair dimana we're never given the chance to explain ourself.
Dan yang membawa cerita adalah mereka-mereka yang projected appearance yang sangat bagus or pardon my interpretation, sangat islamik. I don't wish them bad but i just hope they will change for better.

In this case, i don't bother to explain myself to certain sides. They're not worth the attention.
However, i did clear the air with some of them whom i think are important people in certain aspects of my life.

After some intelligent (eceh) conversation and reference to dear hubby whom is by the way, loves to experiment with people management matters, i have decided to step-up to my reputation and responsibility. Along with it, some peeps may not like this but hey, that's life (working life that is).

I also made some reference to articles on the net (yes, i do read non-FB related posts), i came across below points on " How to Be a Good Supervisor: 10 Tips for Being a Better Boss"
I do hope i, at the least, scored 5. Tho i may fumble, i know, but by criticising me behind my back, it won't help at all. My team should also understand that i have expectation to meet and i am not perfect. So do they.
Nevertheless, let's accept that being human, we make mistakes. we have our own preferences. own friends. own life.

1. Make Expectations Clear
It's right there in the title, "boss." You're supposed to tell people what to do. All too often, though, people in management positions forget to make expectations clear, so make sure your employees or supervisees know exactly what you want from them on every project.

2. Make Expectations Reasonable 

With budget cuts sweeping the nation, more and more people are shouldering extra responsibilities. From volunteers at non profits to high level employees at large corporations, we're all working extra hard. In this climate, it's important to keep reasonable expectations. Don't give people tasks that are doomed to failure. If your company or department is suffering from budget cuts or employee losses, productivity may dip, so it's important not to blame employees for things they're not responsible for.

3. Correct Mistakes When someone makes a mistake, let them know. This gives them an opportunity to correct it rather than making the same mistake. Correcting mistakes does not mean you're being a bully. Rather, it means you're giving people a chance to succeed.

4. Communicate When you're in a position of power that allows you to see the big picture, it can be easy to forget that not everyone has the benefit of your bird's eye view. Communicate frequently with people you supervise about future plans, projects, and goals. Make sure to communicate both the positive and negative. Too often, bosses get caught up in criticizing rather than praising, so avoid this common mistake.

5. Treat Employees Like People You shouldn't be overly involved in your employees' personal lives in most cases, but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea to invest in them as people. Make small talk and convey a sense of genuine care for them as people. Remembering birthdays, offering condolences when someone dies, and creating a team environment can lead to a substantially better working environment.

6. Criticize Constructively Criticism can be beneficial to a person's job performance, but not if they feel like they're being torn down as a human being. Rather than questioning a person's dedication or competence, give specific instructions about what they can do differently. Don't engage in blaming or name calling.

7. Offer Praise Perhaps the most important thing a good boss does is to offer praise when someone does something right. Aim to praise everyone at least twice as often as you criticize them. Even employees who are slacking off or not performing well can benefit from regular praise. When people feel good about themselves they tend to do better.

8. Accept Criticism
Perhaps the most critical difference between good bosses and great ones is that great bosses are willing to accept constructive criticism. Ask your employees what you can do to be a better supervisor, and be willing to listen to their concerns.

9. Don't Engage in Office Gossip Every office has its own politics, with in groups, out groups, and cliques. Don't get embroiled in these cliques or your own job performance, as well as your ability to manage, will suffer. Treat each employee equally, and don't judge performance based upon how much you or someone else likes a particular employee.

10. Don't Be a Pushover It's true that some of the worst bosses are just blatantly mean, but being a pushover can be equally problematic. If you're afraid of confrontation, your employees don't have a chance to get meaningful feedback and improve at their jobs. Work to straddle the line between being a pushover and a bully, and instead be assertive but kind. Your employees will be grateful for your combination of assertiveness and friendliness.

Emo sajork

woooaaahh...lama gila tak update. meaning, lama gila aku tak meluahkan rasa nada-nada cinta kat sini.

Maybe sebab tuh la aku rasa pent-up emotion (emo !!!) banyak sgt..

membuak2..hambek kau..keluar kat TP haa...tatau TP tuh apa?

Tangkuban Perahu okayy..jangan tak tau..baru je safe for public last week after few weeks of closure ..

maybe aku continue je kat sini. writing that is. and loads of photo yang aku suka (pedulik apa aku kalau ko tak suka).