Just another cloudy day, not yet a storm

It has been scientifically proven that the effect of global warming leads to chaotic seasonal and climatic alteration. In Indonesia, rainy season now becomes more disastrous, instead of being beneficial for agriculture as it used to be. People are worried to see the sky becoming dark; It’s not only just cloudy, but it seems like a big storm is on the way to come creating such heavy rain. Apparently, flooding occurs almost everywhere. People suffer from such disaster that wipes out their housing and precious belongings...Well, Mother nature has her own way to balance the chaotic system, which is created by us, and given to us in return.

Brebes, the city of shallot

Recently, I took a trip to Brebes, a small little town of Jawa Tengah. Just try to know more about the town, as I used to pass by this place before.

Brebes is well-known because of its main local product, salted duck eggs. There are two types of salted duck egg based on the yolk: one is with yellow color, another is with orange or reddish color. Depending on the nutrition intake, ducks that are fed with shrimps will lay eggs with orange to reddish yolk, while the ones fed with grain will produce light yellowy yolk. Of course, in term of the price, a yellow yolky egg is cheaper than the orange one. A boiled salted duck egg from either types usually has an oily creamy yolk. I like taking it with porridge for a nutritious breakfast.

Another thing about Brebes is that this area predominantly grows shallots as its main commodity of agriculture. Shallot field covers most area along the side of the main road. Shallot market, shallot storage houses, and shallot drying activity are common things to see here. For this reason, Brebes is also well-known as the city of shallot.

New Year Dinning

Thanks to Jeanette's mum for cooking such delicacy foods: lamb soup, couscous, eaten with merguez sausages. Thinking about that makes me mouth-watery already...mmm......!!! should ask the soup recipe, what herbs to use, and how to make the lamb so tender!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008

May this New Year lead to a better life and a successful career

Flooding...flooding...flooding...

"Mum, flooding out side!"... said the boy who sat behind me on the bus.
Flooding in Ngawi, East Java

Semarang, a place to visit and to eat

An old picture

The 23rd – 25th generation, just above mine!

Tourism impact in Bali: Local vs. international visitors

Bali is such an exotic paradise to the eyes of the world. Lots of visitors from Australia, America, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, and many other countries, come to Bali for their holiday, honeymoon, business, or even for the international class conference.

As majority of Balinese people earns for living in tourism sector, I notice that there’s an interesting phenomenon in the behaviour among locals especially the ones who are mainly involved in tourism industries. For those who work in a highly competitive touristy place, they tend to prioritize their service to tourists who can pay more to them. So, they always tend to be “nicer” to tourists who hold yen or dollar in their hands. Local visitors seem to be the second class guests that deserve secondary services.

My friend who’s a Singaporean told me that when she was in Bali, her friend and she had queued for a table for a half hour in a very popular restaurant in Seminyak. But the staff let the other caucasian guests to come in without having to queue first. She could not understand why the queuing system was so crap, or was it because that she looks like a local, thus she didn’t deserved to be prioritized for the table. Well, from what she told me, I myself was not really sure, either the staff was a bit picky for the dollar holder guests, or could be that those groups might have booked the table before they came.

Another “interesting” thing that you might find out is the price deviation within a place for dinning. In a certain touristy area, a restaurant might provide different price lists for the same menu. They have an image that Japanese guests generally have more financial ability to spend their money for food. Thus, menus written in Japanese usually follow the standard of yen price, which appears to be the most expensive one compared to menu price written in other currencies. But yes, you’ll be surprised that they do have menu written in different languages with prices that have been “adapted”.Well, certainly it’s more beneficial for the local as they get cheaper prices, but, of course with the standard “local” service which is totally different from the “international” one in term of their hospitality.

Well, what I’ve exposed here doesn’t intend to discredit the popular image of the great hospitality of local Balinese. As a matter of fact, Balinese people naturally are very friendly. This you still can see in the remote area in Bali where local villagers are really willing to talk and curious to make friend with you, no matter you are dollar holders, caucasians, locals, or whatever your performance and background are.

Again, what I’m trying to point out here is not about a racial issue, but simply showing the impact of tourism among locals, especially the doers of tourism industries which seems to have a behavioral alteration of their attitude. Interesting phenomenon, isn’t it!

Astrology Revised: New Zodiac Sign

The new zodiac sign, Ophiuchus-the serpent bearer, is incorporated due to "precession", the corrected position of the sun within constellation boundaries. So...just recheck your zodiac sign again. (Ref: The real solar zodiac)
Aries (19 April - 13 May)
Taurus (14 May - 19 June)
Gemini (20 June - 20 July)
Cancer (21 July - 9 August)
Leo (10 August - 15 September)
Virgo (16 September - 30 October)
Libra (31 October - 22 November)
Scorpio (23 November - 29 November)
*Ophiucus (30 November - 17 December)*
Sagittarius (18 December - 18 January)
Capricorn (19 January - 15 February)
Aquarius (16 February - 11 March)
Pisces (12 March - 18 April)

Ref: Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer

Special thanks to Bihlie for the critical comment

What a big day today

Early morning I’ve already got a call from my friend telling me that Arief, a friend at JCU, got married here in Tuban. Most of my Indonesian JCU friends came there to attend the weeding. Nice reunion, I think! But, I can’t attend it as I had to go to Surabaya under my boss’s instruction.

My boss and I were at the same car to Surabaya. Hmm… I worried too much if it’d be an awkward situation like running out of topic of conversation. Apparently, my boss was very talk-active. I felt comfortable to have conversation with him. We talked more about human behaviour, a very interesting topic that challenged my own knowledge and interpretation. Good talk good time, indeed.

At night, I met my old friends in an unpredictable situation. Thirteen years ago, we still played music together. Then I just met them again on the wedding hall. Thanks to their smart performance on the stage. Otherwise, I won’t be so sure if I could recognize them. What has happened today, to me, did not always come all the time. It did make me excited and surprised. Well, I’m thankful on that… and I’m looking forward to having another day like this again ;-)