Fireworks Display at VivoCity

On Friday night, 30 November 2007, we went to VivoCity to watch the fireworks display at the Sky Park, located at the rooftop of the huge shopping mall.

Sitex 2007 Is Now On

One of the biggest IT and digital exhibitions in Singapore, SITEX 2007, is now happening at the Hall 5 and Hall 6 of Singapore Expo, now until 2 December 2007. The event is organised by the Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SiTF) and managed by Singex Exhibitions. It is an annual exhibition event which has been held since 1988.

The organiser promised that this year's SITEX will not only be bigger, but it will also feature new themed segments such as New Technology, Smart Home, IT & New Media Education, Automobile Electronics, and IT for Kids. They also have partnered with Cash Converters and Clean Solutions for a recycling initiative where consumers can can trade in unwanted electronic gadgets or items at the Cash Converters booth for cash, or dispose of them using recycling bins situated near the entrances. This is a good time for you to dispose all your spoiled or unwanted electronic items.

Currently I don't have any IT or electronic items to buy, so I'm not too sure whether I'm going to pay a visit to the event. Well, actually my wife has been asking for a new laptop but I'm not too sure whether it's now a good time to buy... we'll see. :) :)

Mari Kita Flag Saja Blognya

Sebagai bangsa Indonesia, apa reaksi Anda ketika pertama kali membuka blog ini?

Marah? Kesal? Malu? Pengen ngamuk?

Tenang… tenang…  Mari kita menenangkan diri, dinginkan kepala. Blog tersebut di-host di Blogspot, dan Google menyediakan fasilitas "Flag Blog" yang akan memberikan notifikasi kepada Blogger mengenai objectionable content di blog tersebut.

Daripada "menyerang" pemilik blog tersebut dengan komentar, apalagi sampai menebar perang di dunia maya, lebih baik kita flag blog tersebut agar segera ditutup oleh Blogger/Google. Bukankah kita adalah bangsa yang cinta damai?

PS. Link didapat dari Andry.

Magnet Multiply

Sedikit iseng, karena melihat banyak blogger yang sekarang lebih suka update situs Multiply-nya dibandingkan situs blog “utama”-nya (baik yang di-hosting di Blogspot, Wordpress ataupun hosting sendiri), sekitar sebulan yang lalu saya coba lempar pertanyaan ini: kenapa banyak yang suka pindah rumah ke MP? Ternyata, saya mendapatkan jawaban yang cukup beragam. Berikut rangkumannya.

Bagi beberapa pengguna Multiply seperti Teh Coni, Jeng Epha, Mbak Ati dan Jeng Hera, nge-blog di Multiply lebih seru karena lebih rame, respon-nya (dalam bentuk komentar) lebih cepat datang, dan minjem istilah-nya jeng Epha: “kayak ceting”. Padahal mereka juga sebenarnya mempunyai situs blog juga (kebanyakan di Blogspot kecuali Teh Coni yang di-hosting sendiri menggunakan Wordpress). Bahkan Mbak Hany-pun, yang notabene adalah salah satu blogger senior Indonesia di Singapura, “menuduh” kalo rekan-rekannya udah males komen di blog-nya yang sudah banyak hit-nya itu.

Terlepas dari diskusi mengenai pentingnya komentar dalam nge-blog, kenapa di Multiply bisa lebih rame? Seperti yang dibilang oleh Richoz dan Wisnu, di Multiply ada fitur “My Multiply” yang membantu para MP-ers untuk keep track postingan dari kontak-kontak Multiply mereka. Menurut Richoz, fitur tersebut mirip RSS reader, tapi lebih spesifik, khusus untuk kontak di MP. Ah ya, satu lagi, di Multiply ada sistem “pertemanan” atau kontak seperti di Friendster, membuat jalinan komunitas terasa lebih “dekat” dibandingkan sistem blog biasa yang hanya mengandalkan “saling isi komentar” dan komunitas blog/aggregator.

Kalo menurut Teh Wiwie yang ngaku-nya “gaptek abis”, nge-MP itu benar-benar dimanjain, serba gampang. Dan mengingat komunitas Multiply dan komunitas blogger secara umum itu berbeda (walaupun banyak orangnya yang sama), banyak juga blogger yang me-maintain kedua situsnya: situs blog dan situs Multiply-nya. Ambar adalah salah satunya, dan beliau sangat menghargai dan memanfaatkan fasilitas cross-posting Multiply ke blog-blog yang berbasis Blogger, sehingga pada saat yang bersamaan, beliau bisa update situs Multiply dan Blogspot-nya sekaligus.

Tentu saja, karena pertanyaan itu saya lempar di situs Multiply saya, kebanyakan jawaban saya dapatkan dari pengguna setia Multiply, sehingga terasa kesan subyektifitas-nya. Apalagi, beberapa pengguna Multiply seperti Wisnu, Ria dan Laila adalah pengguna setia Multiply yang (kayaknya) tidak menggunakan platform blog lain selain Multiply (please correct me if I’m wrong). Nah, bagaimana feedback dari rekan-rekan yang masih setia dengan platform blog utamanya?

Yanti, salah seorang blogger senior Indonesia yang terkenal dengan situs Celoteh Jalan Kenangan-nya, tetap setia dengan blog-nya dan belum mau pindah. Beliau berpendapat bahwa blog dengan domain sendiri itu lebih umum dan mudah di-customize. Yang komen bisa siapa aja, dan nggak harus daftar dulu, walaupun memang tetap ada resiko kena comment spam. Sedangkan mengenai keep track postingan dari blogger lain, Yanti tetap mengandalkan RSS reader, yang meskipun tidak integrated seperti “My Multiply”, tapi lebih bersifat umum (general).

Dian, salah seorang blogger senior Indonesia yang sekarang bermukim di Amerika Serikat, malahan bilang kalau beliau buka account Multiply karena dipaksa teman. Beliau malah sekarang resmi memindahkan blog-nya ke wordpress.com, dan bukan ke Multiply. Hal yang sama juga dirasakan oleh Jeng Endang dan Mei Che, yang merasa kalau bikin account Multiply itu adalah “terpaksa”.

Bagaimana dengan Anda?

Ketika Multiply Down...

Ini adalah pesan error-nya:

---cut---

Multiply is down and it's our fault.

But don't be angry. We're only doing this to make things better for you. Honest.

We're going to be adding more hardware, to better serve you, in the near future.

This outage is the first step in that process.
Your patience, as always, is appreciated.
---cut---

Cukup berterus terang, tapi terasa sincere, ya? Salut deh. :)

Palawan Beach, Sentosa

Date: Saturday, 24 November 2007
Location: Palawan Beach, Sentosa, Singapore

On Saturday, 24 November 2007, after attending Marsya's birthday party and the kids' piano lesson at Suntec City, we headed to Palawan beach at Sentosa for a short picnic. Inka and Irza were having a great time playing at the beach.

Budget Airline Segera Terbangi Jalur Singapura-KL

Kabar baik untuk para budget traveller, budget airline akan segera diberikan "jatah" untuk menerbangi salah satu jalur penerbangan termahal di Asia: Singapura ke Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia dan sebaliknya. Di tahap awal implementasi kebijakan ini mulai tanggal 1 Februari 2008, jatah untuk budget airline ini akan dibatasi dulu, maksimal empat penerbangan per hari-nya, dua penerbangan untuk budget airline Singapura dan dua penerbangan untuk budget airline Malaysia. Namun, setelah bulan Desember 2008, tidak akan ada lagi pembatasan, mengingat mulai bulan tersebut, jalur penerbangan antar ibukota ASEAN akan dibuka dan tidak akan lagi dibatasi.

Hingga saat ini, jalur penerbangan Singapura-Kuala Lumpur dimonopoli oleh maskapai penerbangan nasional Singapura dan Malaysia, Singapore Airlines dan Malaysia Airlines. Karena monopoli tersebut, harga tiket Singapura-Kuala Lumpur tidak pernah murah, minimum sekitar S$400 pulang pergi, padahal penerbangan jarak pendek ini hanya memakan waktu sekitar 50 menit. Bandingkan dengan harga tiket Singapura-Jakarta yang bisa turun drastis ke sekitar S$200 pulang pergi. Dengan masuknya budget airlines di jalur ini, diharapkan kompetisi akan meningkat dan harga tiket akan menurun.

Saya memperkirakan AirAsia, budget airline terkemuka di Malaysia, akan mendapatkan jatah dua penerbangan tersebut, sedangkan dari Singapura, mungkin Tiger Airways atau JetStar yang akan menerbangi jalur ini.

Mari kita lihat nanti, sampai sejauh mana harga tiket pesawat Singapura-Kuala Lumpur bisa turun. Saya memperkirakan harganya tetap tidak akan bisa menyaingi harga tiket coach (bus) dari Singapura ke Kuala Lumpur, yang harganya untuk one-way hanya sekitar S$20 untuk bus AC biasa, dan S$50 untuk bus SVIP yang lebih mewah dan nyaman. Dengan adanya jalan tol Utara-Selatan di Malaysia, perjalanan bus dari Singapura ke Kuala Lumpur hanya memakan waktu 4-5 jam saja. Sehingga, perbedaan antara naik bus dengan naik pesawat sebenarnya tidak terlalu jauh, apalagi kalau dihitung waktu kita untuk check-in di bandara dan menunggu keberangkatan pesawat. Satu lagi, bandara internasional Kuala Lumpur (KLIA) juga terletak cukup jauh dari pusat bandar KL, sekitar 1 jam naik taksi dan mungkin lebih kalau naik bus. Jadi mungkin, bagi para backpacker, perjalanan dengan menggunakan bus masih lebih diminati.

Picture courtesy of Wikipedia.

Syukuran Khitanan Amjad at Tiong Bahru

Date: Sunday, 25 November 2007
Location: Function hall at Boon Tiong Road, Tiong Bahru, Singapore

Today afternoon, we went to Tiong Bahru to attend "syukuran" event for Amjad's circumcision/khitan. Amjad is the eldest son of Lia and Jalil.

Inka and Irza were having a great time playing with their friends, not only their Indonesian friends but also their Singaporean new friends as well.. not too sure who they are, perhaps Amjad's cousins? :) :)

Marsya's Birthday Party

Date: Saturday, 24 November 2007
Location: Emil and Nonong's residence, Sengkang, Singapore

On a good Saturday afternoon, we went to Sengkang to attend Marsya's birthday party. Marsya is the first daughter of our college friend Nonong and Emil.

The theme for the birthday cake is Powerpuff Girls. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of all the foods, but they are all great. The host served fried chicken, nasi kuning (this is Inka's favourite), mee goreng, mie bakso, and last but not least, Nonong's rujak aceh.

Update on 25 December 2007, 10:15pm SGT: Other pictures can also be found here, thanks to om Judhi Prasetyo.

Amazing Race Asia 2 Has Started

I watched the premiere of The Amazing Race Asia 2 on AXN Asia last night. It is the second season of The Amazing Race Asia series, one of my favourite shows, after its first season last year. This season, the race started in Singapore, specifically near the Raffles Landing Site where I and my kids just visited last week (although of course the actual shooting of the show was some time back), and their first destination was the Merlion statue at Mount Faber. Believe me, I didn't know that there's another Merlion statue in Mount Faber, until I watched the show. I thought Merlion statues in Singapore can only be found in Merlion Park and Sentosa. :)

Similar to last season, there are ten teams competing for one hunder thousand dollar. There is one contestant from Singapore, Adrian, who is hearing-impaired, making him the first hearing-impaired contestant in the Amazing Race history. There's one team representing Indonesia, actress Kinaryosih and her partner Brett, and they can reach the pit stop at the fourth place in the first leg of the race. Not bad. :)

So, from next week onwards, I will have to mark this important time of the week: Thursday at 9pm (Singapore time), for me to watch The Amazing Race Asia 2. Oh, and don't forget also that every Wednesday at 11pm (Singapore time), Channel 5 is also showing the latest season of the Amazing Race.

Pictures courtesy of AXN Asia website.

E-mail Irza dan Inka

Sudah cukup lama, mungkin beberapa bulan yang lalu, saya membuatkan e-mail account untuk Irza dan Inka. Dan pada waktu itu saya juga mengajarkan mereka cara menggunakan e-mail, baik mengirim maupun membaca. Tidak susah-susah, pake Yahoo saja.

Waktu itu juga saya sempet mengajari mereka untuk mengirimkan e-mail ke tante-nya yang ada di Indonesia. Dan ternyata e-mailnya dibalas, wah senangnya mereka. :) Sayang, Aki dan Ene-nya tidak menggunakan e-mail karena memang tidak pernah menggunakan komputer.

Sudah cukup lama juga mereka tidak pernah membuka emailnya lagi, hingga saat ini pas lagi di kantor, mendadak saya terima dua e-mail dari Irza. :)  Seperti biasa, isinya cuma one-liner dan kolom subject-nya selalu kosong, lupa diisi. :)

---cut---
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:55:38 -0800 (PST)
From: Irza Ahsan Pramana
To: indra
Cc: inkashafa

hi inka hi papa
---cut---

---cut---
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:56:53 -0800 (PST)
From: Irza Ahsan Pramana
To: indra

i love you papa
---cut---

Bagi rekan-rekan, baik om, tante maupun teman-teman Irza dan Inka yang mau mengirimkan e-mail ke mereka, silahkan kirim ke irzaahsan at yahoo dot com dot sg dan ke inkashafa at yahoo dot com dot sg. Saat ini, Irza yang kebetulan lagi rajin cek dan kirim e-mail, walaupun saya tidak bisa janji kalo besok dia masih akan tetep rajin. :) Apalagi komputer di rumah cuma satu, dan suka rebutan sama kakak dan mama-nya. :) Jadi harap maklum kalo e-mailnya dibales lamaaa banget, atau malahan ngga dibales sama sekali. :) :)

Boat Quay

Date: Saturday, 17 November 2007
Location: around Boat Quay, South Bridge Road, Singapore

On a pleasant Saturday (17/11) afternoon, while waiting for my wife to shop at her favourite beads shop along Carpenter Street, I took Inka and Irza for a short walk around Boat Quay. The weather was very pleasant that afternoon, it was cloudy but not raining, so the weather was not very hot as what it usually is.

From the junction of South Bridge Road and Carpenter Street, we walked towards the Singapore river and crossed the Elgin bridge. We then walked through the promenade along Singapore River towards Raffles Landing Site, located on the other side of the river from Boat Quay and the CBD, just beside the Asian Civilisation Museum.

Inka and Irza were having a great time walking along the promenade, watching the bumboats passing by and also taking pictures in front of the Raffles statue there.

Lunch at Long John Silver's

Date: Sunday, 18 November 2007
Location: Long John Silver's, Far East Plaza, Scotts Road, Singapore.

After attending the PPIS Kindergarten's Graduation and Concert at Bukit Merah, we went to Far East Plaza for lunch at Long John Silver's there.

Actually we intended to have lunch at KFC as per the kids' requests, however the place is full so we went to Long John Silver's instead. Inka and Irza were having a great time having lunch with Abhy and Kanaya.

PPIS Kindergarten's Year End Graduation Ceremony and Concert 2007

Date: Sunday, 18 November 2007
Location: The auditorium of Spring Singapore building, Bukit Merah Central, Singapore.

Today, we attended the PPIS Kindergarten's Year End Graduation Ceremony and Concert 2007, at the auditorium of Spring Singapore building, Bukit Merah Central. PPIS Kindergarten is a kindergarten where Irza is enrolled in the past couple of years, and it's managed by the Young Women Muslim Association. One of its centres is located in Bukit Batok, only 5 minutes drive away from our current residence.

Abhy, the son of Iko and Hera, one of our neighbours, is also enrolled on the same school. This year is their last year in the school, since starting next year, both of them will start studying in a primary school, which is also near our residence, Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS). BTPS is also the school where Inka is studying at the moment.

Irza and Abhy were being dropped off at their school at 8am in the morning, since they were taking the school bus from their school to the venue in Bukit Merah Central. We (myself, my wife and Inka) went together with Iko, Hera and Kanaya, and we reached Bukit Merah Central at around 9:20am, 10 minutes ahead of the schedule. This is for us to get the best seats, especially for me and Iko to put our tripods for our cameras. :)

Other pictures can also be found here.

OMG, my Facebook network is getting bigger...

... even when I really don't have much time to log on and try (let alone "use") all the applications I've installed.

Right now, I'm satisfied in checking on the status of all my friends. You know, there's even an RSS feed for your friend's status update in Facebook. Renatha even added the RSS feed of his Facebook friends' status update on his blogroll.

Let's see what are they doing at the moment... :) :)

Facebook, anyone? :) :)

Indra Pramana's Friends' Facebook Status Updates

Renatha Dharma is not buying that durian tastes like chicken; it's BETTER than chicken! [ADDED] Something lah yao.
Handoko Setyawan is now telling IP to try durian :) .. trust me it taste like chicken ..
Adhitya Wisesa is not having a good day.
Detta Paramaditha is just want to be with you... :)
Yolanda Tarunai is in no mood at all.
Ivan Lanin is twittering: On C#. Finally.
Sandy Poerwadie is packing.
Wati Yusuf is curious...
Meutia Chaerani is happy to be 54 kg. Her weight reduction project by breastfeeding is on target.
Nisa Kasim is off for a solo backpacking trip to cambodia .. tata!!!
Himawan Nugroho is inside Cisco Building C - San Jose.
Denie Nataprawira is reading HAMUKTI PALAPA.
Erikani Faceku is with the family.
Andri Setiawan is at work.
Indi Soemardjan is hardly working or working hard?
Ira Widayanti is BWLAHHHWAHAHHAHHAHA... @_@.
Judhi Prasetyo is going to bed.
Elsy Siscasari is pengen liburan lagi tapi miskin mode on :(.
Indo-Sing Moderator is immortal. He has inside him blood of kings.

Pantai apa dan apa, dan dimana...

Oke, ternyata tebakan sebelumnya gampang banget terjawab. Beberapa rekan bisa jawab karena tahu kita baru ke Bali awal tahun ini, jadi sekarang saya mau ngeluarin foto yang agak jadul. Lihat di foto sebelah, Inka masih imut banget dan Irza pun belum lahir pada waktu itu.

Foto itu dibuat di sebuah viewpoint dengan latar belakang dua pantai yang berdekatan (bisa keliatan di belakang). Pertanyaannya: apa nama kedua pantai tersebut, dan di daerah dan negara mana? :)

Mudah-mudahan foto ini lebih susah ditebak... *berharap*

Di pantai mana?

Bikin tebakan lagi ah, untuk mengalihkan perhatian dari gosip sang ratu heboh disini... :P :P

Pertanyaannya cukup mudah, di foto sebelah ini, Inka dan Irza lagi jalan-jalan di pantai, walaupun tidak berenang karena ombak disana tinggi banget, belum lagi angin yang kencang dan pantai yang agak kotor waktu itu. *lumayan kan clue-nya* :) :) Pantai apa dan dimana? :)

Serius?

Dian, salah satu celebrity blogger Indonesia yang sekarang tinggal nun jauh di Amerika Serikat sana, menuliskan analisa tentang beberapa (yang sebenarnya cukup banyak sih, 25) rekan bloggernya, dan kebetulan nama saya termasuk dalam list. Jadi merasa "honoured" juga karena nama saya kesebut oleh beliau, celebrity blogger gitu loh. :) :) Berikut analisa beliau tentang saya.

17. indra pr. serius. itu kesan pertama gue. dari photonya maupun dari gaya tulisannya. bapak dua bocah, tinggal di singapore dan sedang sering buka bersama. *ehem dan ternyata dia tinggal di condo yg dulu aku tinggali di singapore*

Dan sedikit tambahan ditulis di komentarnya:

indra, iya lho hihihihi....serius dalam menulis, serius dalam berphoto hhahaha becanda. eh ada yg ketinggalan sebenarnya, sering membawa inka and irza jalan2x....

Hmm...

"sedang sering buka bersama", waktu itu saya emang lagi getol-getolnya upload foto acara buka puasa bersama ke situs Multiply saya. :) "sering membawa inka and irza jalan2x", tentu saja soalnya bawa anak-anak jalan adalah salah satu hobi saya. :) Tapi... "serius, dari photonya maupun dari gaya tulisannya", masak sih?

Apakah memang saya tipe orang yang serius ya? Hehehe... *ngga nyadar* :) :)

BBQ at Signature Park

On Thursday, 8 November 2007, during Deepavali holiday, my wife hosted a potluck BBQ party for some of her friends with the family. The event is conducted at a BBQ pit within our apartment's complex.

Some of the food being served include chicken, mutton and prawn satays, chicken wings, squid fillets, chicken and fish balls, chicken sausages, my wife's homemade bruschetta, cheese cakes and many more.

Inka and Irza had the chance to swim at the swimming pool just next to the BBQ pit with Abhy and Kanaya, and also with Amjad and Sheerin, before playing with the rest of the kids, such as Nadira and Adam, Titis and Baghas.

I also managed to play pool with Jalil, Iko, Girang and Bagus at the games room which I also have booked for the event, while my wife, as usual, chitchatted and had a great time with all her "super heboh" friends...

If you noticed, almost all of the people in the pictures, including the kids, wore blue. That was the "so called" dress code. :) :)

Mak's Place Hawkerant

Last Sunday night (4 November 2007), we went to Tanjong Katong Complex in Geylang, not far from Paya Lebar MRT station, to buy Inka's traditional Malay dress (baju kurung) for her school's event. After which, we went to Mak's Place Hawkerant for dinner.

Thanks to Teh Ellen for guiding us to go there over the phone. The "hawkerant" (restaurant with hawker's cheaper price, as they claimed) is located along Changi Road, not far from Kembangan MRT station.

If you drive along Changi Road from east (Bedok) towards west (Geylang), the restaurant is located on the right side of the road, just after you see Kassim mosque and Hotel 81 (Changi) on your left. You can park along Changi Road or in several carparks nearby, although sometimes it's a bit difficult to find a carpark lot during evening peak time.

Inka specially ordered sliced fish porridge while Irza ordered shark fin soup for appetizers. We ordered fried butter squid, hotplate spicy chicken and mixed vegetables (chap chay) for the main dishes, ice milo, ice barley and ice green tea for the drinks, and some ice creams for the kids' desserts.

The service is quite efficient, served by mostly Indian servants, similar to Al-Ameen or Al-Azhar. However, it took quite long for us to wait for the food to be served after ordering, perhaps around 20-30 minutes? Luckily there's a stray cat there which amuse the kids and they kept on following the cat wherever it goes... :)

PS. (for my Indonesian friends): Maklum lah, anak-anak Singapura jarang liat kucing, hehehe... :)

Mudik Lebaran 2007 (8): Second and Third Day in Bandung

On the same day (Monday, 15 October 2007), after attending our big family's Hari Raya Event, we went to Uwa Udjo and Uwa Enong's house, also in Buah Batu area, south east of Bandung.

The next day (Tuesday, 16 October 2007), I took Inka and Irza to one of their favourite places in Bandung, Jalan Ganesha, in front of ITB's main campus. They were having a great time riding horses and taking a horsecart ride. For them, a visit to my hometown is not complete without taking a horse's ride.

On Tuesday late afternoon, we went back to Jakarta.

Mana yang lebih sulit, nyetrika atau belajar jadi CCIE?

Quote dari Himawan, salah seorang CCIE asal Indonesia yang sekarang bekerja di Cisco Systems Singapura:

"Dan ternyata nyetrika itu jauh lebih sulit ketimbang belajar CCIE."

Saya sendiri boro-boro pernah belajar CCIE, merencanakan untuk ambil CCIE aja hanya tinggal rencana, dari dulu... tidak pernah kesampaian. Walaupun demikian, I can't agree more with what he said...

Dari dulu ampe sekarang, ngga pernah kalo yang namanya nyetrika itu bisa bikin pakaian licin. Kalau saya disuruh nyetrika pakaian, hasilnya malah bisa jadi kebalikannya, membuat pakaian semakin kusut.

Berbahagialah bagi mereka yang dikaruniai kemampuan bisa menyetrika pakaian oleh Tuhan Yang Maha Esa...

*Pictures courtesy of Wikipedia and Cisco website.

Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Yesterday, on a nice Saturday morning (3 November 2007), I took Inka and Irza to Bukit Timah Nature Reserve to find a place to play badminton. The nature reserve is located very close to our home, only around 5 minutes drive. The entrance to the nature reserve is on Hindhede Drive, which is located just opposite the Courts store along Upper Bukit Timah Road.

This is not the first time we visited the nature reserve, and myself, Inka and Irza had climbed the hill to the top before, which is reputedly the highest point in Singapore at 164 metres above sea level. However, even though the journey to the top was quite exciting since we needed to pass a shady rainforest, but the view from the top of the hill was disappointing.

So, this time round, we decided not to climb the hill again, and instead we went to the Hindhede Nature Park near the entrance to the nature reserve. The nature park is a hit for Inka and Irza since there's a playground with swings, slides and suspension bridges near the Waringin Hut. The slides are unique since they are both long slides going down to a valley. Inka and Irza are also having a great time with the slinger at the picnic area. We also played badminton at an open space near the picnic area.

We also went to the Lookout Point, which is overlooking the Hindhede Quarry, a massive wall of limestones near a pond. Inka and Irza actually also wanted to go up the hill again but the sun was already going up quite high at that time, so I'll guess we'll have to come back again later...

We used to see quite a lot of monkeys even at the base of the hill near the carpark, but yesterday we didn't see any. I'm not too sure what scares off the monkeys but I saw quite a lot of new house and apartment constructions near the base of the hill and that might contribute to the lesser number of monkeys around the area. Pretty sad...

Mudik Lebaran 2007 (7): Halal Bi Halal Event in Bandung

On Monday, 15 October 2007, we went to the "halal bi halal" or Hari Raya Idul Fitri gathering event of the Surdjo family at Nek Ooh's house in Margahayu Raya, Buah Batu, Bandung.