On Tipping

Tipping adalah salah satu hal paling aneh dan ruwet terutama saat sedang traveling. Pada dasarnya, saya orangnya cukup generous dan nggak tegaan, jadi saya suka nggak enak sendiri kalau nggak memberi tip untuk orang-orang yang sudah membantu saya dengan servisnya (misalnya: tukang ojek, supir taksi, porter hotel, pelayan restoran).

Di Indonesia sendiri, aturan tentang tipping ini tidak terlalu rumit. Kita bisa memberikan berapapun yang kita mau, sesuai dengan keinginan kita, tanpa perlu merasa takut kurang atau salah. Rata-rata orang sudah cukup bersyukur menerima uang tambahan, berapapun jumlahnya. Misalnya, argo taksi Rp 17,500, dan kita membulatkannya menjadi Rp 20,000; supir taksi sudah menganggapnya sebagai tip yang memadai.

Begitu pula dengan pelayan restoran. Karena service charge saat ini sudah masuk ke dalam bon di hampir semua restoran, maka kita bahkan tidak perlu meninggalkan tip lagi, kecuali mungkin kalau kita menganggap service si pelayan benar-benar luar biasa dan layak mendapatkan tambahan tersendiri.

Di negara-negara di Asia, budaya tipping rata-rata mirip dengan di negara kita. Bahkan di Singapura misalnya, supir taksi tidak mengharapkan tip dan biasanya sudah menyiapkan uang kecil untuk kembalian, sampai ke sen-sen nya. Supir Uber pun biasanya tidak terlalu mengharapkan tip.

Masalah tipping menjadi ruwet ketika kita traveling ke negara-negara Barat, khususnya Amerika Serikat. Di Amerika, tipping wajib hukumnya, dan mereka memiliki aturan-aturan tersendiri yang agak membingungkan, khususnya di restoran. Biasanya, bon yang kita terima belum memasukkan service charge di dalamnya, tapi di bagian bawah, tercantum "saran" untuk memberikan besaran tip sesuai total tagihan, biasanya kisarannya antara 18-22% dari total tagihan. Jadi si restoran sudah "berbaik hati" menghitungkan tip untuk kita sesuai dengan total tagihan dan standar persentase yang mereka gunakan.

Misalnya di contoh tagihan di atas, total yang harus saya bayar adalah USD 57.59 termasuk pajak, lalu restoran memberikan saran berapa jumlah tip yang seharusnya saya kasih, dalam kisaran 18% sampai 25%, Saya bebas memberikan berapapun, tapi diharapkan agar jumlah yang saya berikan masih masuk ke dalam range yang tercantum di dalam bon.

Bagaimana kalau tip yang saya berikan kurang? Atau, bagaimana kalau di dalam bon tidak tercantum jumlah tip yang disarankan? Nah, ini memang tergantung restorannya masing-masing sih. Kebanyakan restoran biasanya let go saja meski mungkin sambil ngedumel, atau pelayannya mendadak jutek sama kita. Tapi... beberapa restoran (terutama restoran Cina!) pelayannya suka nekat minta kita untuk menambah tip, dengan alasan belum mencapai jumlah minimun 18%. Lebih trickynya, kadang di restoran Cina tip tidak dicantumkan sama sekali, sehingga kita harus mengira-ngira atau menghitung-hitung sendiri. Nyebelin banget!

Yang lebih susah lagi tentu kalau kita makan beramai-ramai. Pembagian tip ini menjadi satu sesi rumit tersendiri yang biasanya saya sih sudah hopeless dan hanya terima jadi saja hasil hitung-hitungan dari teman semeja saya. Di Amerika, rata-rata orang hidup cashless, jadi ke mana-mana membayar dengan kartu debit atau kredit. Dalam satu meja yang sama, kebanyakan restoran bisa menerima sampai 10 kartu yang berbeda, dan bill nya displit sesuai dengan pesanan masing-masing. Hanya saja, tip tetap disatukan, sehingga biasanya masing-masing orang akan chip in dari kartunya sendiri. Nah, karena saya hanya menggunakan cash selama di Amerika, biasanya tip saya akan terpisah dalam bentuk cash, sementara yang lain-lain disatukan di dalam kartu debit/kredit mereka masing-masing. Tambah ruwet saja deh!

Yang paling gampang memang makan di fast food restaurant saja, bebas tip dan nggak perlu pusing membagi-bagi bill :D

Ada New York Hari Ini

New York City, kota yang selalu membuat saya melankoli. Entah ada apa dengan kota ini, yang sudah memikat saya sejak saya hanya bisa mengaguminya lewat layar kaca dan lembaran buku cerita. Mimpi saya untuk bisa menginjakkan kaki di sana terwujud pertama kalinya di penghujung tahun 1999, dan serasa mendapat durian runtuh saat bisa mengalami pergantian milenium di kota yang tak pernah tidur itu.

New York City seolah selalu menggoda saya dengan kehadirannya yang nun jauh di sana. Dalam benak, saya bisa membayangkan dengan mudah suasanya yang seperti terasa akrab di hati. Setiap musim terasa cocok saja berpadu dengan jalan-jalannya, dengan taman besar di tengah kota, dengan deretan toko dan bangunan tua, bahkan dengan jubelan penduduknya yang tak kunjung berkurang. Buat saya, New York adalah kota yang membuat rindu - meski saya tidak pernah tinggal di sana, bahkan hanya pernah berkunjung singkat sekali-sekali saja. Saya jatuh cinta pada New York seperti kepada seseorang yang belum saya kenal, namun sudah terasa layaknya sahabat sendiri.

Impian terbesar saya adalah mengenal sudut-sudut kota ini, lekuk-lekuknya yang tersembunyi, dan menghirup udaranya yang mengandung berbagai macam aroma. Saya terjerat bahkan tanpa tahu apa sebabnya.

Bulan lalu, saya berkesempatan kembali ke sana, meski hanya untuk beberapa hari. Degup jantung saya tidak mau diajak bekerja sama, sudah seperti mau ketemu mantan pacar saja :) Tujuan utama saya memang bekerja, tapi tak ayal saya menyusun rencana untuk menyusuri beberapa bagian kota.

Saya langsung terkesima dengan dengungan manusia dan tingkah polahnya. Bunyi sirene mobil polisi bukan hal yang aneh, bahkan di tengah malam sekalipun. Saya membuka jendela kamar hotel semalaman, menikmati suasana tengah kota yang penuh teriakan, klakson mobil dan suara mesin seolah mereka adalah hal-hal paling merdu di telinga saya.

Menyusuri jalan kota yang dihimpit oleh gedung tinggi raksasa menimbulkan perasaan yang aneh - seperti menjadi manusia terkecil di dunia, tapi sekaligus menjadi bagian dari kota yang sibuk ini. Saya merasa gampang saja berbaur dengan manusia aneka rupa, karena memang segala jenis orang ada di New York, yang sering disebut sebagai melting pot segala bangsa.

Central Park, dengan segala pesonanya, masih memikat saya, kali ini dengan suasana musim panas yang ceria. Pasangan-pasangan yang berdayung di danau, anak-anak berkejaran di antara gelembung sabun raksasa, bahkan sekumpulan orang yang semangat beryoga di tengah hari bolong, adalah beberapa pemandangan biasa yang dijumpai di taman kota tersebut. Mungkin ratusan kisah berakar di sana, dan butuh lebih dari sekadar satu buah postingan blog untuk menceritakannya.

Salah satu hal paling berkesan bagi saya adalah menapaki Brooklyn Bridge, jembatan legendaris yang menghubungkan daerah Manhattan yang dipenuhi gedung pencakar langit dengan segala kemegahannya, dengan Brooklyn yang dijejeri gedung-gedung apartemen brownstone tua yang terlihat hangat dan nyaman. Jembatan sepanjang 1,8 km ini selalu dipenuhi oleh ratusan orang yang menyeberang setiap harinya dari kedua sisi kota tersebut. Ada yang naik sepeda, ada yang berjalan santai, ada yang sambil lari, ada yang membawa stroller, ada yang berfoto-foto di sepanjang jembatan, ada yang berjualan magnet dan kartu pos, ada yang menggantungkan gembok cinta di pagar besi yang berjajar, pokoknya segala jenis orang ada di sana.

Brooklyn Bridge adalah titik strategis untuk mengagumi keindahan New York dari berbagai sisi. Dan suasana menjelang matahari terbenam adalah saat terbaik untuk menikmatinya. Semburat cahaya matahari yang terpantul di antara gedung pencakar langit, berpadu dengan riak air Sungai Hudson, mampu membuat siapapun berhenti sejenak, memandang keindahan tersebut dari kisi-kisi jeruji besi jembatan Brooklyn.

Dan meskipun Rangga tidak ada di sana - saya tidak keberatan. Karena New York saja, sudah cukup bagi saya :)

Brooklyn Bridge, June 2016

DC in a Glimpse

I was lucky enough to be sent by my office for another training and conference in Washington, DC. Aside from the very tight and hectic schedule, I still enjoyed the trip (even though the exhaustion keeps on bugging me up to today). I wanted to share some of the places and experience in more details, but for the entree, let me share some of the glimpses and highlights of the life in the US capital.

1. Pedestrian is the King!
Yes, not like in some other cities in the world *cough, Jakarta, cough* - DC is actually pretty nice with their pedestrians. Even though there are no traffic lights, as long as there's a zebra cross and pedestrians crossing the street, then all drivers must stop their cars and let the pedestrians cross. Several times I forgot about this and stopped at the side of the street when I saw a car approaching, but then the car itself stopped immediately and let me passed. How very nice, I wonder when will Jakarta implements the same policy? *in my dream*

2. Local Food? What Local Food?
It's easy to find good food in DC - lots of great restaurants are located in this city - including in my hotel area (Calvert Street and Adams Morgan). Various cuisines from all over the world are served in the restaurants, from Italian, Lebanese, Japanese, Chinese, Indian, French, Mediteranian, etc etc. But when you try to find a restaurant that served  local cuisine, then you will have to try harder. Nobody could really recommend a good place, let alone mention the type of local cuisines they have. In the end, you will have to be satisfied with sandwich, burger, or salad. True story.

3. Going the Metro Way
DC is one of the cities in the US that has a good public transportation system. The residents rely more on the Metro, or subway, to go everywhere in the city. The system is simple enough, and even for a disoriented person like me, who can't read map and doesn't know where the North is, the Metro can be navigated pretty easily. You can go almost anywhere by Metro. And even though there's no Metro station near your destination, at least you can continue by bus, since the bus route is complemented the Metro.

4. Not a Shopping Destination
If you want to do serious shopping, then DC is not the place. There are not many hip branded stores here, even when we looked for an Apple store, there's only one in the area. I also looked for a basketball shoes- a new and a bit rare brand- and can't find it in most of the sport stores. It's very different than New York, when I transited in the city, I can almost immediately spot the basketball shoes in the nearest shop. But don't worry - DC is great in terms of souvenir shops (almost every tourist spot has its own souvenir shop- and they are all great!!), museum stores (love, love this part of museum trip LOL) and secondhand bookstores (I should really write a separate post on this topic). So.. for me, DC is great, because it can fulfill almost all of my yearnings (vintage thingy, cute trinkets, unique souvenirs, and of course, books!!) - and I'm not a big branded person myself, so all's well.

5. Freebies
DC offers lots of free things to do, all the Smithsonian Museums in the National Mall area are admission-free. The zoo is also free. The memorials, parks and statues are free. And even some historical places, like Capitol Building or Library of Congress - offers free tour for the tourist. Really, the only thing that you should be aware is the souvenir shops :)

6. Overpriced 
Although DC offers lots of free things to do, unfortunately the living cost in the city is very high. I stayed in Mariot Wardman Park Hotel for the conference. It's a very expensive hotel (more than USD 300 per night), but with very minimum facilities. I mean, they don't even provide hotel slippers, or free wifi in the room, or even a mailing service (instead of having someone to deliver my package, I have to go to tha mailing room and search my package there). It's expensive, overpriced, unreasonable, but it's DC.

7. Stiff!
I worked mostly with government offices in the US, and in most of my meetings, there's noone who offered me drinks, or something to eat, or any kind of pleasantness. It's so different than if we have a meeting in Indonesian government offices. There's most likely hot tea, or some snacks, or even lunch box. But in DC, you will have to bring your own stuff. Even in lunch time, you have to buy your own lunch. So there you go, be nice with Indonesian officials :) You know there are worse people to work with on the other side of the world :)

I'll write more about Washington, DC in my next posts. Crossing fingers there won't be more writing slump :)

Sing It Singapore!

Another family holiday, this time was a crowded one. The main objective was to make the kids happy, so the destinations - Singapore and Johor - were chosen just to fulfill that goal. Here are some recollections, recommendations, and reminiscence from the memorable holiday :)

1. Peninsula Hotel

- is where we stayed during the short trip. Not too expensive like the hotels in Orchard Road, but still it's pretty decent for kids and the location is also very good. Not far from City Hall station, there is Watson just next door and 7-11 across the street. Recommended! Ow, and the best thing is there's no Indonesians staying at this hotel so you can talk freely in Bahasa Indonesia without worrying somebody will eavesdrop :D

2. Legoland Malaysia

Look at the background! Those two little devils were having a grand time :D

We chartered a bus from Singapore because our group was quite big (17 people). The traveling time was not so bad, about an hour from Singapore to Johor Baru. But the process of getting off the bus to go through Immigration check points (one in Singapore and one in Malaysia) was pretty exhausting, especially for the kids. Finally we made it to Legoland, and since it was a weekday, the place was not too crowded. We almost successfully riding all the rides :)

It's true, though, that Legoland is more suitable for kids below 10 years old. The rides are quite slow and children friendly. They even have two roller coasters, one is for younger kids (like Alap-alap in Dufan). Yofel was pretty excited. Too bad the 4D theater didn't function well, the scent and moving functions didn't work, although the kids related well with the Chima story (you only understand this if your kids play Lego, trust me).

Another cool ride is the Dino Island, but it's not eligible for kids whose heights are below 120 cm. It's like Niagara-gara in Dufan, but instead of Indians and cowboys, there are dinosaurs made from Lego. Too bad Yofel can't ride it.

One of Yofel's favorite rides is the Junior Driving School. Here, kids pretended to enter the driving school, and learn to ride a car (again, made from Lego, very cute). At the end of the ride, they are allowed to have a driving license (although you'll have to pay R35 for this haha).

Before getting the license. Watch out Pak Polisi!

 At the end of the day, we gave the kids a chance to shop for their favorite Lego. My tip is to prepare extra money to buy Lego in one of the shops, because it's worth it, the price is cheaper up to IDR 200k.

We got back to Singapore by our bus, and again, had to pass through the Immigration checkpoints. This time it's more challenging because the kids were already really tired and cranky. My suggestion, if you have extra money and extra time, it's better to spend one night in the Legoland Hotel, and you can also try the waterpark.

Dino from Lego!

3. Dinosaurs Dawn to Extinction (and Annie Leibovitz Exhibition!)

Which one should I choose? :D

The next day, our group split up and we took Yofel to ArtScience Museum in Marina Bay Sands. The building has very cool design, modern and sleek with spacious rooms for the exhibitions. Dinosaurs Dawn to Extinction was almost over, we were lucky it's still there when we visited the museum. The good news was, there's an exhibition of Annie Leibovitz at the 3rd floor and the combo ticket price was quite cheap, so my sister and I decided we will stop by the Annie Leibovitz exhibition after done with the Dino.

But first thing first: Yofel was soooo excited and happy with the dino exhibition. It showed the most wonderful things: real fossils, edutainment related to dinosaurs, replicas of jungle and even the almost real fighting scenes between the fierce dinos.

Cool replicas!

 The audio, video, even 3D demos were very descriptive and interesting. For kids like Yofel, there were some cool games and activities that suitable for children and toddlers. I wish this kind exhibition will visit Jakarta in the future!

Next, my sister and I went to the 3rd floor to see the Annie Leibovitz photo exhibition. I love the spacious, light gallery where the exhibition was held, and I love how the gallery arranged Annie's photos chronologically. My most favorite is of course the Leonardo DiCaprio's one :D

We're not supposed to take picture here *ssshhhh*

4. The Sound of Music

We were very lucky we could watch Sound of Music the musical in Marina Bay Sands Mastercard Theater. This was actually the first time I took Yofel to a musical so I was pretty nervous. Will he make a scene? Will he be bored?

The theater itself is amazing- it's large with live music performance below the stage. The acoustic quality is marvelous and the stage design is beautiful. The performance is wonderful, too. Although coming from Broadway, the theater gave opportunity to Singaporean to also perform. So from the 7 Von Trapp's kids, there's one Singaporean :)

Yofel unexpectedly loved the performance. He sat in the children special stool provided by the theater and enjoyed the musical scenes, especially the Do Re Mi one :) But he was a bit confused because there were some scenes different from the movie. And Yofel got bored during the conversation scenes, especially that involved only the grown ups. He fell asleep after the intermission, but I'm so proud of him for accompanying me in this amazing musical :)

yaaawnnn XD

the gank...

5. Fullerton Walk

Singapore is crazy about running (like Jakarta) and now there are lots and lots of running track. Too bad I didn't bring my running shoes, but one evening we decided to walk from our hotel to the Fullerton area, passing by the running track (and many runners!) to the Merlion. The atmosphere was so nice, and the view was beautiful.

Next time I visit Singapore, running shoes are in my packing list :)

Singapore Fling

My mom is one of the most impulsive persons I've ever known. So I wasn't that surprised when last month she suddenly asked me to join her for a short trip to Singapore, with my sister and sister in law. My father finally joined us too in last minute.

The trip didn't have any specific reasons, other than Mom wanted to spend some time with us, girls only (this was before my father's sudden decision to join us, haha). So we decided to visit some nice culinary destinations that we've never had a chance to visit every time we came with the kids.

There are three places that I would love to recommend:

1. Tiong Bahru Bakery 
Actually, this place has several branches, including one in Orchard area. That's why the concierge in our hotel was confused when we asked him the way to Tiong Bahru, the original location of the bakery. But we wanted to feel the atmosphere besides eating the food, so we decided to just go to Tiong Bahru. We took a bus and it stopped not far from the bakery. The bakery was small and it was Sunday when we went there, so it was pretty crowded. Fortunately we got a table near the windows when we arrived. The bakery is owned by a French couple, so the menu has lots of variety, and authentic taste, too. We ordered chocolate almond croissant, apple crumble, bacon bagel and some pie with cheese (I forgot the French name, sorry!). The price is quite high, maybe because the target market of the bakery is the expatriates living in Singapore (so many bules when we were there, most of them are young couples with small kids). But the coffee and tea are great, and the food is very very delicious, so it's all worth it. It feels like you found a little piece of Paris in the middle of Singapore old town district.

http://www.tiongbahrubakery.com/
#01-07, 56 Eng Hoon St, Singapore 160056 ‎
6220 3430

The Almond Croissant and Bacon Bagel are superb!

Make sure you go to the original location.

2. Song Fa Bakut Teh
I am not a fan of bakut teh, for me the taste is too strong and even a bit like medicine. But my sister said that there's one place in Clarke Quay that has the best bakut teh ever. It even doesn't really taste of bakut teh! So we decided to give it a try and having lunch there. It's located just across The Central, the big mall above the Clarke Quay MRT station. The place is so crowded we even had to wait to be seated. The atmosphere is pretty nice, the interior is designed like an old Chinese restaurant. We ordered pork ribs bakut teh, fish soup, cakueh and vegetables. And my sister was totally right! The bakut teh didn't taste like strong medicine, but more like pork rib soup :) I enjoyed it so much, even the price was okay (we actually spent more for our breakfast in Tiong Bahru than our lunch here). My only complaint is the tea. The Chinese tea was not that good, lukewarm and didn't have strong taste. Not at all like any old Chinese restaurant!

http://www.songfa.com.sg
17 New Bridge Road #01-01
Singapore 059386
Business Hours:
11.00am - 9.45pm
Last Order: 9:30pm Please call to check on availability
(Closed on Monday)
Tel: +65 6438 2858 

From the upfront.

Those pork ribs are heavenly!

3. Tim Ho Wan
We heard about this place because people said that this is the hottest spot to eat dim sum in Singapore now. It's gained an entry in Michelin guide and originally came from Hongkong. In Singapore, it's located in Plaza Singapura, not far from Orchard Road. But since the waiting line is usually very long, we decided to come on Monday (with hope that people are too busy going to work and don't have time to eat dim sum in the morning), and we came very early, before the restaurant was open :) But guess what? There were actually people already waited in the line! And the thing is, because we were still waiting for my mom and dad to join us in the restaurant, we were not allowed to go inside! The rule is to wait until all members of your group are coming. Fortunately, we didn't have to wait for too long. And we ordered so much food because we were very very hungry XD The must try of this place is Baked Bun with BBQ Pork. It's like puffy milk bread, with juicy bbq pork inside. It's so delicious I felt guilty to eat it! Other menu that are also worth to try: vermicelli roll with pig's liver, steamed pork dumpling with shrimp, and pan fried carrot cake. My mouth is now watery just thinking about them XD The price was okay, but a bit expensive compares to dim sum in Jakarta. We spent around SGD 70 for 5 people.

http://www.timhowan.com

68 Orchard Road #01-29A Plaza Singapura
Singapore 238839
Tel: (65) 6251 2000
Opening Hours:
10.00am – 10.00pm (Monday  – Friday) Last Order @ 0930pm. 09.00am – 10.00pm (Saturday, Sunday and Public Holiday)  Last Order @ 0930pm.

No reservation so make sure you come early!

The super duper delicious bbq pork bun!

One Fine Day

Minggu lalu, tanggal 9 Oktober, Yofel ulang tahun ke-4. Bener-bener ya. time really flies! Kebetulan pas ulang tahun itu Yofel lagi libur mid term. Jadi, instead of ngerayain di sekolah, akhirnya gue memutuskan untuk cuti dan bawa Yofel ke... Dufan! :)

Masuk di dunia fantasi, dunia ajaib yang mempesona *nyanyi*

Sejujurnya, yang semangat ke Dufan bukan hanya Yofel, tapi gue juga! Hahaha...kayaknya udah lebih dari 10 tahun gue nggak menyambangi theme park ini... Padahal kemarin-kemarin ini udah sempet ke Universal Studios Singapore, Trans Studio Bandung, malahan ke Six Flags juga pas dulu di Belanda. Tapi Dufan? Malah ditelantarkan ;p

Jadi, hari Rabu itu, gue bertiga Yofel dan Ncus (Rayo nggak bisa ikut karena cutinya udah abis, hiks) menyambangi Dufan. Meski di websitenya ditulis Dufan buka jam 11 siang di weekdays, ternyata pas kita nyampe sana jam 10.30, gerbangnya udah dibuka kok. Tiket per orang (termasuk anak di atas 100 cm) IDR 150k. Not bad lah!

Kesan pertama pas masuk? Sepiiiii :D Inilah enaknya dateng di hari biasa. Nggak perlu ngantri sana-sini, tiketnya pun lebih murah 100 ribu dibanding weekend/hari libur. Memang sih ada beberapa rombongan (antara lain anak-anak SMA dari Bandung, terus ada juga rombongan karyawan Alfamart), tapi overall masih termasuk sepi dan bebas antri.

Saking sepinya, pas naik beberapa wahana, dan Yofel pingin ngulang sekali lagi, kita nggak perlu turun karena nggak ada antrian orang sama sekali :D Terus asiknya lagi, kita bisa minta petugasnya untuk nambah putaran.. Waktu naik Alap-alap (roller coaster mini) sama Yofel, petugasnya nambah putaran sampai 6 kali...Trus waktu gue naik Halilintar, yang biasanya cuman 1 putaran, dikasih 2 putaran dalam sekali naik. Seru bangettt!!!

Dufan sekarang tentu udah beda sama Dufan jaman baheula yang terakhir kali gue datengin. Banyak permainan baru seperti Tornado, Hysteria atau pertunjukan spesial efek Treasure Land yang lumayan keren ternyata. Tapi kangen juga sama beberapa wahana, kayak Balada Kera, yang udah nggak ada dan diganti sama pertunjukan yang lebih canggih. Perbedaan lainnya, sekarang hampir di semua wahana besar, disediakan studio foto tempat kita bisa mencetak foto-foto candid yang diambil otomatis pas kita lagi naik wahana. Tipsnya, jangan terlalu cepat puas dan langsung impulsif kepingin beli fotonya, apalagi kalau dateng di hari biasa yang sepi, karena kita bisa naik 1 wahana berulang-ulang dan memilih foto yang paling keren :) Lumayan soalnya harganya, IDR 35k per foto.

Jadiii, selama di sana, mainan apa yang sudah bisa dinaikin oleh Yofel?

1. Turangga-rangga, komidi putar yang klasik banget, khas Dufan karena merupakan wahana pertama yang kita lihat setelah masuk gerbang Dufan. Sebenernya wahana ini standar banget, dan kalo antriannya panjang gue juga mikir-mikir mau naik ini..Tapi karena sepi, hayuklah kita pemanasan naik kuda. Yang perlu diperhatiin, putarannya ternyata lumayan kencang kalo dibandingin dengan komidi putar di mall-mall, dan kudanya lumayan tinggi, tanpa pengaman. Jadi harus hati-hati kalau bawa anak kecil.

Pemanasan dulu!

2. Bianglala, ferris wheel raksasa yang seru karena bisa dipakai sebagai ajang lihat-lihat wahana lain dari atas, sambil merencanakan mau naik apa saja setelah ini. Kekurangan Dufan adalah signage yang masih kurang, peta yang sebenernya ada tapi nggak dibagikan kecuali dia minta, sehingga agak susah mengira-ngira rute dan arah menuju wahana yang mau kita naiki. Bianglala lumayan bisa menjangkau pemandangan Dufan yang luas.

3. Alap-alap, roller coaster mini untuk anak-anak dengan tinggi di atas 100 cm. Nggak nyangka, ternyata ini menjadi wahana favorit Yofel! Kita naik Alap-alap sampai 3 kali, dan yang terakhir sampai 6 putaran, dan Yofel masih mau lagi. Heuheuheuuuu he really has my genes!

Yofel's favorite ride :)

4. Gajah Bledug, satu lagi yang cocok buat anak-anak. Sebenernya mainan model begini udah banyak banget di playground mall, tapi main di tempat terbuka kayak gini masih tetep seru. Yofel naik sampe 2 kali :)

5. Poci-poci, semacam naik cangkir yang diputer-puter. Seru juga meski agak memusingkan. Kita naik 2 kali karena sepi banget nggak ada yang ngantri ;p Yang perlu diperhatiin, nggak ada pintu di wahana ini, bentuknya kayak cangkir tapi ada sisi yang terbuka, jadi anak-anak harus dipegang erat-erat, apalagi ternyata puterannya lumayan kenceng!

6. Burung tempur, sejenis Gajah Bledug tapi dengan wahana berbentuk burung tempur, bisa disetir ke kiri/kanan jadi kesannya lebih seru. Lagi-lagi kita naik 2 kali :)

7. Ubanga-banga, bom-bom car untuk anak-anak. Lagi-lagi, kalau antrian panjang, mendingan nggak usah naik ini karena sudah banyak di mall. Tapi karena waktu itu sepi, akhirnya Yofel naik juga sekali.

8. Rajawali Condor, mainan yang intinya kita naik ke wahana pesawat berbentuk rajawali dan diputer-puter sampai atas. Gue agak ngeri Yofel pusing tapi ternyata dia enjoy. Satu pesawat sebenarnya untuk 1 orang, tapi kalau untuk anak kecil lebih baik berdua dengan orang dewasa, takutnya pas lagi di atas dia berdiri karena memang nggak ada seatbeltnya.

9. Pontang-pontang, entah kenapa dulu gue taunya Pontang-panting :) Mainan seperti kursi yang dilempar ke sana-sini dengan kecepatan tinggi. Satu kursi bisa buat berdua, tapi hati-hati karena pengamannya nggak menutup rapat, jadi kalau anak kecil bisa merosot ke bawahnya.

Agak tegang di Pontang Pontang

10. Treasure Land, pertunjukan special effect yang masih termasuk baru. Di hari biasa, ada dua kali pertunjukan, jam 1500 dan 1700. Ceritanya seru, dengan spesial effect api, air dan cahaya yang keren juga. Pas buat anak-anak. Setelah selesai pertunjukan, bisa foto bareng dengan pemainnya :) Lama pertunjukan sekitar 45 menit.

11. Rumah Jahil: alias rumah kaca, Yofel seneng banget di sini karena baru pertama kalinya dia masuk ke wahana model begini. Waktu masuk kedua kalinya, Yofel coba cari jalan sendiri dan berhasil :)

Nyasar di Rumah Jahil

12. Rumah miring, ini wahana super old school karena dulu favorit gue pas masih kecil! Ajaibnya, interior rumah miring ini belum berubah. Yofel seneng banget disini dan emang buat anak kecil wahana ini termasuk seru :)

13. Bumper boat, semacam boat yang bisa ditabrak-tabrakin ala bom-bom car. Mainan ini kayaknya juga agak baru karena jaman dulu seinget gue nggak ada. Untuk naik ini, kita perlu bayar tambahan IDR 25k untuk satu boat.

Driving Bumper Boat

14. Perang Bintang, ini satu-satunya wahana yang pas masuk ke dalamnya Yofel sempet takut, karena lorong tempat ngantrinya gelap dan misterius. Apalagi pas kita di sana nggak ada orang! Tapi setelah naik ke keretanya, Yofel seneng kok. Mainannya kayak tembak-tembakan laser interaktif gitu, jadi kita dikasih target sambil jalan keretanya, terus berusaha nembak target-target itu. Tiap orang dapet satu tembakan.

15. Istana Boneka, of course ini wajib hukumnya. Meski sebenernya basi banget, keretanya pelan, dan boneka-bonekanya itu-itu aja dari jaman dulu, tapi wahana ini lumayan banget buat ngadem karena ber AC. Plus, Yofel bisa dikenalin sama berbagai tempat di dunia.

He's having fun :) at Istana Boneka

Selain itu, gue sendiri sempet naik Halilintar, Kora-Kora, dan Tornado (first experience nih), yang semuanya seru!!

Tapi ada juga kerugian dateng di hari biasa. Saking sepinya, kita nggak bisa naik wahana Piring Ombang Ambing (Yofel penasaran berat), karena minimal harus dinaiki oleh 8 orang untuk alasan keseimbangan. Dan setelah nunggu-nunggu hampir setengah jam, baru kekumpul 4 orang. Gagal deh :(

Menunggu Ombang-Ambing

Kerugian lain, kadang Dufan melakukan maintenance permainan dan wahananya yang paling populer di hari biasa, untuk mencegah kerusakan di saat hari libur. Waktu kita ke sana, wahana Hysteria lagi diperbaiki dan ditutup sepanjang hari. Sayang banget padahal gue penasaran pingin naik :)

Anyway, we had lots and lots of fun that day, and we hope we could be back again soon!

Happy birthday Yofel :)

Coming Soon - Ice Age :)

Singapore Philatelic Museum

Saat berkunjung ke Singapura bulan lalu untuk tugas kantor (of course! huhu), gue menginap di Peninsula Hotel, di dekat City Hall. Gue selalu bertekad, di setiap traveling yang berhubungan dengan kerjaan, gue harus menyempatkan diri untuk setidaknya mengunjungi satu tempat yang tidak ada hubungannya dengan pekerjaan :)

Gue langsung mengubek-ngubek peta Singapura sambil mengira-ngira kapan bisa kabur dari si bos (yap, traveling sama bos lebih menantang lagi karena harus tau banget kapan waktunya melipir). Akhirnya kesempatan itu datang saat ada jeda waktu di siang hari, sebelum kembali ada acara sore harinya. Dengan alasan mau cari oleh-oleh buat Yofel (yang memang beneran gue lakukan sih), akhirnya gue pun berhasil kabur.

Ada beberapa tempat menarik yang sebenarnya bisa dikunjungi di daerah hotel. Yang pertama dan paling menggiurkan buat gue adalah Bras Basah, kompleks penjualan second hand books yang harganya murah meriah. Tapi tentunya mampir ke sana nggak cukup hanya 2 jam saja, jadi dengan sangat terpaksa option ini pun harus dicoret. Pilihan lain adalah Mint Toy Museum, museum mainan yang kelihatannya menarik banget. Tapi berhubung jarak dengan hotel masih agak jauh dan kemungkinan menghabiskan waktu di perjalanan, pilihan ini juga dicoret. Maka tersisalah pilihan terakhir, yaitu Singapore Philatelic Museum, yang kalau melihat dari peta sih, sepertinya nggak jauh dari hotel.

Singapore Philatelic Museum

Ternyata setelah pusing mengira-ngira arah, gue baru sadar kalau museum ini letaknya persis di belakang hotel, bahkan kelihatan dari jendela kamar gue. Zzzzz.... Dasar tukang nyasar dan langganan disoriented nih!

Museum ini terletak di daerah yang memang masih dipadati oleh bangunan bergaya kolonial Inggris, terlihat juga dari tampak depan bangunan dengan bata merah dan atap putih yang khas jaman dulu. Banner dan poster warna-warni menambah keceriaan museum ini. Lebih tampak seperti sekolah anak TK daripada bangunan museum sebenarnya. Masuk ke dalam suasananya pun menyenangkan, cerah dan bersih. Meski bangunannya kuno, tidak ada kesan angker sama sekali. (Jadi inget beberapa museum di Jakarta yang agak menyeramkan suasananya, huhu)

Tiket masuknya hanya $6 saja untuk dewasa, dan gue langsung masuk ke ruangan depan, tempat berlangsungnya pameran kompetisi stamp collection antar sekolah di Singapura. Yang menang memang keren-keren banget koleksinya.

Stamp collecting competition

 Dari sana, gue berlanjut ke ruangan display. Museum filateli ini dibagi dalam 4 ruangan utama yang menempati lantai dasar dan lantai atas bangunan. Orange Room merupakan ruangan tempat kita diperkenalkan dengan asal mula prangko, Purple Room menjabarkan tentang langkah-langkah pembuatan prangko dalam detail yang menarik, Room of Rarities menyimpan koleksi prangko langka museum ini, dan Heritage Room menyinggung sejarah Singapura secara general.

Purple Room, warnanya eye catching banget!

 Selain itu, ada juga Children's Gallery yang sering menampilkan eksibisi khusus anak-anak. Waktu gue ke sana, eksibisinya adalah tentang permainan Ular Tangga (Snakes & Ladders) yang diselenggarakan dalam rangka merayakan tahun ular.

Snakes & Ladders - I wish Yofel was here!

Terakhir sebelum pulang, gue mampir ke souvenir shop (of course!!) untuk membeli beberapa postcard termasuk vintage Singapore. Gong-nya tentu saja ketika gue menemukan koleksi prangko dinosaurus yang dijual dengan harga $3. Uhuhuhu unyu banget! One day kalau Yofel udah gede, rencananya koleksi ini mau dihibahkan buat dia aja :)

Dino stamp

Overall Singapore Philatelic Museum sangat menarik untuk dikunjungi. Kesederhanaan konsepnya didukung oleh fasilitas yang keren, menarik, dan ramah untuk anak-anak, sehingga tema prangko yang bisa dibilang sudah ketinggalan jaman, masih bisa tetap dinikmati oleh anak-anak masa kini (yang lebih familiar mengirim email daripada postcard!) tanpa berkesan membosankan.

Dan untuk kesekian kalinya, tentu saja gue masih berharap Indonesia akan punya lebih banyak museum keren seperti ini lagi! Bisa kok! :)

Singapore Philatelic Museum
23 B Coleman Street, Singapore
www.spm.org.sg

Notes from Balimoon

A few months ago, one of my aunts who has been working in Pertamina for more than twenty years announced to us that she will be retiring soon. And to celebrate the moment, she wanted to take us all (yep, the big family!) to Bali for a short holiday. We called the vacation our Balimoon :)

So here are some notes, recommendations and snapshots from those short memorable days (we wished we would have more surprising free vacays like this in the future, tee hee!).

Flight
We took Garuda flight, it's as smooth as usual, right on time. And we were really grateful not to take Lion air this time, because during our stay in Bali, Lion Air had some incident and had to be landing on water! How dreadful.

Welcome to Bali, Krucils!

Hotel
Courtesy of Pertamina (well not really, they only gave discount actually, not free rooms hehe), we stayed in The Patra Jasa Hotel, located in Tuban area, just next to the airport. The hotel has an old-school ambiance, and it's quite refreshing after stayed in many modern-minimalist hotels recently. The rooms are located in cottages, with cute little balconies outside. It is quite a long way from lobby to the rooms, but luckily the hotel provided mini cart with drivers that can take us around. My most favorite part of the hotel is the pool. It is really large, with enough space for the kiddie pool, and there is a special part for playing water polo and even water football :) The best part of the pool is the bar!! It has this terrific happy hour program - buy 2 drinks, get 1 free! And because there were not too many people in the hotel, the bartender even let us get the happy hour spree even if it's not the time yet :) And if we got bored, we just went out to the beach at the back of the hotel. The beach was not too crowded and it's quite clean, but it had lots of sharp corals, so we had to be careful especially when playing in the water.

Great pool!

Happy Hour, Happy Me!

Food Galore
On the first day, after checking in to the hotel,   we went to Naughty Nuri's in Batubelig, Seminyak for lunch. The place is great! I really love their unique decor, with many many pig statues and pictures. Really cute! The food was good, I tried their famous pork ribs, really delicious and crunchy. And the salad was great too! What I like about Nuri's (and other restaurants/cafes in Bali) is they have this cool Book Swap section in the area. So if you happened to have any books that you would like to swap, you can just leave them there and take the books that were in the shelves.

Nuri's, for Naughty and Nice!

Pig!

Heavenly!

Book Swap, anyone?

For dinner, we went to Warung Made, still in Seminyak. Well, one thing about Warung Made, their food is actually so-so, except for the pork (especially for the pork satay! One of the best). But since we had all-pork lunch earlier, we decided to eat porkless for dinner. We had this package of nasi campur Bali, with chicken satay and vegetable springroll. It was okay. I would say that you can skip Warung Made for the food, but it is still a good place to hang out, listening to the life music, joining other weekly activities, from dance to jazz music to traditional gamelan and other art stuff. And they have pretty cool stores too in the restaurant, including ethnic clothing stores and Periplus Bookstore.

The next day, after a crazy morning in Tanjung Benoa (where some of us went parasailing and  the others rode a boat to Pulau Penyu), we had a nice lunch in Bebek Bengil Nusa Dua. This place is quite new, located in The Bay, Nusa Dua. It is spacious and good for group lunch/dinner, and if you bring many kids, they can play around in the back garden which is facing the ocean. We ordered Crispy Duck package, really crunchy and tasty as usual, although the package was slightly more expensive than the one in Bebek Bengil Jakarta. But the surprise arrived in the form of tiramisu. It was super duper delicious!!! Do try it if you stop by Bebek Bengil :)

Delicious crispy duck

For dinner we went to Jimbaran. Unfortunately it was raining, so we had to eat inside the restaurant. To tell you the truth, I don't even remember the name of the restaurant. But the food was so-so, not too fresh, maybe it's because we ordered another group menu. Luckily the rain stopped after we finished the dinner, so we had time to watch a traditional dancing performance in the stage outside, just by the beach. It was great, especially when I looked at the kids' faces while watching the performance. Priceless! :)

Balinese dance performance.....

.....and the audience :)

On the last day, we had free time. Some went to the malls, some were looking for oleh-oleh, and some were swimming and playing at the beach. I swam with Yofel and played at the beach, and because we still had free time, decided to meet Mia, a fellow book blogger, to have lunch together. Mia (with her boyfriend Janner) took us to Biku, a cool place in Seminyak (I think Seminyak is the new Legian now!). Their food was not bad, but not that special either. But the price is reasonable (around 50k for Indonesian dishes), and I love the place so much! It was decorated in ethnic theme, and there is a secondhand book shop, Ganesha, that sells books, knick-knacks, and postcards. Most of the guests were foreigners, though. Probably the place is not too popular for local tourists. Thanks Mia for taking us there!

2nd hand bookstore at Biku

Babi kecap, enak lho!

Thanks Mia!

Souvenirs & Chill Out Places
We tried two different places for souvenirs: Agung and Krisna. The prices were not too different, but I still prefer Krisna. It has more options, and it takes credit or debit cards for payment. Agung is smaller, with limited options and some clothes were not in good quality. So Krisna is still our recommendation, although Rayo lost his Blackberry here :( Well it's a bit careless actually because he left it for just a moment in a chair, but when we went back there, it's already gone (of course!). How many honest people are left in this world, I wonder?

For chilling out, I truly recommended WooBar in W Retreat & Spa, Seminyak. The atmosphere was so cozy, with lots of big sofas, sofabeds, and even beds! Perfect for chillin, reading a book while sipping a glass of martini or just a bottle of cold beer. Well, that's the dream. But since we brought many kids, we just played by the beach and ordered some snacks (their mini pizza and samosa are great!). The beach was very clean and not crowded. And it's free, too! But if you want to plunge into the pool, you have to pay IDR 300k if you're not the resort's guest. Well, we had to skip that one and be content with the beach! I wish I could go back to this place again someday, just to chill with a good book!

Chillin out

the 300k pool :p

Yofel, loves to play at the beach so much!

On the second day, we went to Tanjung Benoa to do some water sports. I would very much like to go parasailing or banana boating. But we decided to take the little kids to Pulau Penyu. We rented a boat from the water sports people (the one we went to is called Kanaka Ocean, and it had quite reasonable price and interesting package). We rode the glass bottom boat, feeding the fish in the middle of our way with some bread, and took pictures with the giant turtle and snake in the island. To tell you the truth, I didn't recommend Pulau Penyu that much. It's too touristy, crowded, and the animals were not treated really well. I took a pity for the giant turtle, and they even taped the snake's mouth! But there was not much to do for little kids in Tanjung Benoa, because they were not allowed to go in banana boat or jetski or other adrenaline rising activities, so Pulau Penyu was the only option.

Feeding the fish

Glass bottom boat

Giant turtle, pukpuk

Unexpected Moments
Of course, in every vacation, there will always be unexpected surprises, bad or good. Besides Rayo lost his Blackberry, we also had a rough time just before the holiday ended, when Yofel vomiting several times, and complained that his stomach hurt. Because it happened just before we left, we decided to just wait until we get home before taking him to the doctor. Luckily, we had the large Boeing plane and Yofel was asleep during the flight.  We took him to the doctor the next morning and he's well again now. Apparently, he didn't eat well during our trip, so he had ulcer problems. Poor Yofel! That's why you need to be less picky with your food, dear!

All in all this was a very memorable holiday, and we thanked our Tante Elly so much for this wonderful trip. We wish you the best in your future plans...and we hope that one day we could be just as generous as you are! :)