Krucils at Ambar-Mela's Farewell in Harbourfront

30 July 2006: The next day, Ambar-Mela's family is departing for Batam. Many Indonesian families went to Harbourfront Centre to send their regards and say goodbye.

Here you will find mostly the photos of all the lovely and adorable "krucils" who were happily playing around the Harbourfront Centre area while waiting for Tante Mela's ferry to depart. Unfortunately, Inka and Irza did not join the fun and share the great time together. :(

Some of the images (the 640x360 px size ones) were being captured from moving video, therefore apologise for the bad focus and low resolution of the images.

Please contact my wife for other pictures. *terutama foto-foto para Ibu-Ibu yang selalu asyik bergosip dan always having a great time* :) :)

Ambar-Mela's Farewell Party at Braddell

29 July 2006: Still on the same day (night, actually), after attending the NDP Preview 2006 at the National Stadium, we immediately went to Braddell to attend the farewell party for Ambar-Mela's family, who's migrating to Batam the next day. The party was hosted by Iwan-Hany's family.

We reached Braddell at around 9pm plus, and luckily still had some food left, including the very famous Braddell satay (thanks Mbak Han). Iif, who also attended the NDP preview and came a bit later, missed the satay, unfortunately.

Apologise for the bad quality of the photos, my handycam is not really reliable for night-shot photos.

NDP Preview 2006 at National Stadium

29 July 2006: The whole family, except Irza, attending the National Day Parade Preview at the National Stadium, Kallang, Singapore.

Birthday Party

24 July 2006: An unplanned birthday party, one day after the D-day itself.

Was not planning in celebrating my own birthday, however the kids seems to be disappointed that there was no party being conducted. So, we had an unplanned birthday celebration one day after the day of the birthday itself.

Buying a tiramisu ice cream cake from Swensens at West Mall, Bukit Batok on my way back from work, and had a small celebration with the whole family. And I could see how happy Inka and Irza were...

Indonesians' Neutrality

I read, with interests, Fatih Syuhud's article regarding how Indonesians view and comment on international political issues. He's comparing Indonesians with Indians, which he claimed are more "neutral" and can see from many more different views in commenting on such issues.

As an example, with regards to the Israel's attacks to Lebanon, Fatih thinks that most Indonesians are more divided in their opinions with regards to the attack, and the division is interestingly based on the line of religion, whereby most Indonesian Muslims condemn and disagree with the attacks, while most Indonesian non-Muslims tend to think that Israel has the right to defend themselves by launching the attacks.

I'm not too sure, but I don't think that I see the same situation, especially within the Indonesian community here in Singapore. Here, quite a lot of my non-Muslim friends also disagree with Israel's attacks to Lebanon. We see it more as an attack to a sovereign country, causing a lot of civilians become victims of the attack. Regardless of what is the religion of the victims, such an attack is despicable.

I guess Fatih might have seen the "division" after reading Patung's comment on one of his posts, and based on the articles he has written, I can see that Patung's anti-Islam level is a bit high. However, kindly reminded that not all our non-Muslim friends are like him, and it's not fair to generalise and think that all our non-Muslim friends share the same views with him.

What I can see, most of Indonesians, both Muslims and non-Muslims, do not tolerate violence and terrorism. We can see that a lot (if not almost all) Muslims in Indonesia condemned all the terror attacks conducted by Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group, and we also can see that a lot of non-Muslims in Indonesia disagree with the US's invasion to Iraq. So I don't think it's just a matter of in the line of religion.

We have to admit, there are some Muslims in Indonesia, who are too fanatic and dislike non-Muslims and religions other than Islam, and there are also some non-Muslims in Indonesia who are also too fanatic and dislike Muslims and Islam. Those are the people we have to worry, since they are the most definite danger to the racial and religious harmony in Indonesia.

[Indonesian version]

BTPS Fun Day and Open House

Pada hari Sabtu, 22 Juli 2006 yang lalu, Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS), sekolahnya Inka, menyelenggarakan acara Fun Day dan Open House. Acara ini terbuka bukan hanya untuk seluruh murid BTPS dan keluarganya, tapi juga untuk masyarakat umum, terutama para orang tua yang berminat menyekolahkan anak mereka disana, agar mereka bisa secara lebih dekat mengetahui dan mengenal seluruh fasilitas yang disediakan oleh sekolah itu.

Acara "Fun Day"-nya sendiri benar-benar "fun" karena memang dibuat "dari murid untuk murid". Hampir kebanyakan stand tempat permainan dan penjualan yang ada dijaga oleh para murid BTPS sendiri, dan setiap kelas punya stand sendiri-sendiri. Saya sendiri jarang melihat para guru yang ikut menjaga stand, jadi para murid-murid itu memang sudah mandiri dan dilatih untuk melakukan segala sesuatunya sendiri.

Kita bisa membeli kupon-kupon yang dijual oleh para guru tersebut, untuk membeli barang yang dijual, atau mengikuti permainan yang diadakan di stand-stand tersebut. Permainan yang disediakan bermacam-macam, ada permainan lempar bola, main golf mini, dan lain-lain. Dan anak-anak (ataupun orang tua) yang bermain di arena permainan tersebut bisa mendapatkan hadiah yang bermacam-macam, tergantung keberhasilan dan tipe permainan yang dimainkan.

Selain itu juga ada MC yang bertugas untuk menghibur para pengunjung dengan memutar lagu-lagu, sekaligus mengadakan perlombaan tebak judul lagu. Lagu yang diputar bermacam-macam, mulai dari lagu Mandarin, Inggris, India, sampai lagu Indonesia yang "Benci Tapi Rindu"-pun ikut diputar. :)

Setelah anak-anak puas bermain disana, kita menyempatkan diri untuk makan di kantin sekolah, yang menyediakan hampir segala jenis makanan ala Singapura dengan harga yang cukup murah, walaupun memang porsi-nya disesuaikan untuk porsi anak-anak. :)

Foto-fotonya bisa dilihat disini.

[English version]

BTPS Fun Day and Open House

On Saturday, 22nd of July 2006, Bukit Timah Primary School, Inka's school, is conducting a Fun Day and Open House event. The event was open not only to its pupils, but also to the public, especially those parents who are considering sending their children there for school, so they can find out more about the school's facilities in details.

The "Fun Day" event itself is really fun, because it's really a "from pupils for pupils" event. All the stands are manned by the pupils themselves, and each class have its own stand. I really don't see any teachers helping them to man the stands. So it looks like the pupils have been trained to do everything by themselves.

We can purchase some coupons sold by the teachers, and use the coupons to pay for the purchases we make at the stands, or to play many games provided by the stands. Some of the games provided including "throw the ball" game and mini golf, and they also provide us with some gifts for the players.

Inka and Irza were having a great time there. We also spent some time to have early lunch in the school's cafeteria, which provides quite a lot of Singaporean food with incredibly low fares, before going back home.

More pictures during the event can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Delifrance Bugis Junction

22 July 2006: Having tea-time at Delifrance cafe, Parco Bugis Junction, Singapore.

Singapore Art Museum

22 July 2006: I took Irza to the Singapore Art Museum, located along Bras Basah Road, not far from City Hall MRT station.

Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take pictures inside the gallery, so we can only take pictures at the lobby as well as outside the building within the complex.

BTPS Fun Day and Open House

22 July 2006: Bukit Timah Primary School (BTPS) Fun Day and Open House.

BTPS, Inka's school, is conducting a Fun Day and Open House event, located at the school's premises along Lorong Kismis, off Toh Tuck Road, around Bukit Timah area.

Calling all Indonesian Cooks: Recipes in English Please

On my article about good Indonesian food in Singapore, I was mentioning about some weblogs containing Indonesian food recipes, such as Inong's Dapur Bunda and Nisi's Food Corner. One of the visitors from Germany, Angelica, added comments saying that it was too bad that those recipes are written in Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian language), instead of English. She and her husband really love Indonesian food, however it's quite difficult for them to find cookbooks or recipes of Indonesian food in English.

I also noticed that most (if not all) of other blogs containing Indonesian food recipes, which I subscribe through Bloglines, are in Bahasa Indonesia. Those include Dhonatneth's Kitchen (which now has been renamed to Dhonatneth's Apa Kabar) and Dapur Wati, on top of the two I have mentioned earlier (Dapur Bunda and Nisi's Food Corner).

So, Inong, Nisi, Dhona, Wati and many other Indonesian bloggers who are also great cooks, are you ready to take up this challenge? :) When will you write good Indonesian food recipes in English? :) :)

Kunjungan ke Cashew Heights

Pada hari Minggu, tanggal 16 Juli 2006 yang lalu, saya membawa Inka dan Irza untuk berkunjung ke rumah baru-nya Aunty Natalia dan Uncle Eric di Cashew Heights, di daerah Bukit Panjang, Singapura. Mereka baru saja pindah dari Choa Chu Kang ke Bukit Panjang bulan Mei lalu, jadi ini adalah pertama kalinya kita berkunjung ke rumah baru mereka. Cashew Heights ini cuma sekitar 10 menit perjalanan mobil dari rumah kita. Aunty Natalia dan Uncle Eric sendiri adalah teman kerja saya dulu.

Kita sampai di rumah mereka sekitar jam 16:10 sore, dan rumahnya ternyata besar sekali. Ruang tengahnya juga cukup besar untuk anak-anak bermain dan berlari-lari. Inka dan Irza langsung bermain bersama Nigel, putra sulungnya Aunty Natalia dan Uncle Eric. Sementara Ernest (biasa dipanggil Ernie), adiknya Nigel, menyusul kemudian setelah bangun dari tidur siangnya. Disana banyak sekali mainan, semuanya milik Nigel dan Ernie, untuk mereka bermain bersama.

Semua anak-anak tersebut kemudian memakai baju renang mereka, dan pergi ke kolam renang yang berada di tengah-tengah kompleks apartemen. Kolam renangnya besar, dengan kolam renang kecil untuk anak-anak yang dilengkapi dengan luncuran. Inka dan Irza senang sekali berenang dan menggunakan luncuran itu. Mereka juga bermain dengan Ernie dengan mainan-mainan khusus untuk berenang, sedangkan Nigel lebih memilih untuk melatih kemampuan renangnya di kolam renang yang lebih besar.

Setelah puas berenang, semuanya kemudian kembali ke rumah Aunty Natalia, dan mandi. Setelah selesai mandi dan berganti pakaian, mereka kemudian pergi ke ruang makan, dimana Aunty Natalia telah menyiapkan makan malam yang sedap untuk semuanya: chicken wings barbeque dengan breadsticks. Aunty Natalia juga memesan pizza dari Canadian 2-in-1 Pizza. Semuanya makan dengan lahap, terutama Inka yang menghabiskan lebih dari 5 (lima) potong chicken wings.

Setelah makan malam, mereka kembali ke ruang tengah dan masih bermain sekitar 30 menit, hingga akhirnya tidak terasa sudah jam 20:30 malam, dan mereka pun pamit untuk pulang kembali ke rumah.

Foto-fotonya bisa dilihat disini.

[English version]

Photos of the Week - 3

Pictures of Inka and Irza at Marina Square and Chinatown Point.

Rude Taxi Driver

Well, I don't say that all taxi drivers in Singapore are rude. However, I would say that about 60%-70% of those rude motorists I usually find on Singapore roads are taxi drivers. What I mean by rude here is that they have lack of consideration to other motorists while driving.

Some of such inconsiderate driving acts include reckless driving, sudden stop to pick up or drop off passengers, and cutting other car's lanes. They also tend to drive above the maximum speed limit on all types of road, be it expressways or normal roads. They always want to get to their destinations at the soonest time possible, since it seems that every second wasted on the roads means lesser income for them... not too sure whether it's true or not, perhaps anyone can clarify? :)

One example of such inconsiderate acts: On 14th of July 2006, about a week ago, at around 9:30am in the morning, I was driving to my office at Science Park. Along South Buona Vista Road, just after the Buona Vista flyover and before the junction to Science Park Drive, the first and second lane from the left are merging into one. As you might have known, the rule for merging line in Singapore is that cars on each line have the right of way on a round-robin fashion.

My car was on the second lane from the left, and on the most left lane, there was another car and a TransCab taxi tailgating it. Based on the current position of all the three vehicles, whereby my car is in between the two vehicle even though it's on the other merging lane, I should have the right of way right after the other car, before the taxi. But guess what... the taxi kept on tailgating the car in front of it, and the driver never had any intention to give way even though I had the right of way at that time. So no choice, I had to slow down and give way, since I don't want to risk my car to be involved in an accident. No wonder why most of all accidents in Singapore usually involves taxis...

That's not the only incident I have experienced involving taxi drivers while driving here. Well, I really hope that the taxi companies will be more selective in hiring their drivers.

Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre

Hari Sabtu kemarin (15 Juli 2006), saya pergi bersama Inka dan Irza ke Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre untuk sarapan pagi di restoran McDonalds yang terletak di kompleks perbelanjaan itu. Sebenarnya Bukit Batok West ini bukan sebuah pusat perbelanjaan, tapi sebuah kompleks gedung-gedung HDB (perumnas-nya Singapura) yang dilengkapi dengan toko-toko, pasar "basah" (wet market) dan pusat makan (hawker centre). Pokoknya bener-bener daerah heartlander, beda dengan banyak pusat perbelanjaan yang mewah di seputar Orchard.

Kompleks perbelanjaan ini terletak di sekitar Bukit Batok West, dekat persimpangan antara Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 dan Bukit Batok Street 11. Restoran McDonalds-nya sendiri terletak di blok 152, menghadap jalan West Ave 6. Disitu juga banyak berjejer toko-toko yang menyediakan barang-barang kebutuhan sehari-hari, dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah dibandingkan di mall-mall. Jadi tidak heran kalau kebanyakan orang Singapura kelas menengah ke bawah suka berbelanja di tempat seperti ini. Juga ada sebuah tempat pusat makan yang terletak di blok 155, menyajikan menu-menu khas Singapura. Tempatnya penuh dengan orang-orang pagi itu, walaupun sedang hujan.

Di McDonalds, Inka memesan hotcakes sedangkan Irza memesan big breakfast favoritnya. Saya menggunakan kupon yang saya dapatkan dari koran Strait Times, jadi kita bisa dapet satu menu breakfast gratis untuk setiap menu breakfast meal yang kita pesan. Lumayan.. :) Yah, demikianlah salah satu cara buat kita-kita yang di Singapura bisa menghemat... (kiasu tea euy... hahaha). Setelah selesai sarapan, kita pergi ke playground yang berada dekat food court, di sebelah blok 164. Inka dan Irza pun bermain disana dengan gembira. Foto-fotonya bisa dilihat disini.

Seperti yang Pak Nur telah bahas di blog-nya (BTW, Pak Nur sekarang kemana ya, kok blog-nya udah ngga pernah di-update? Masih hiatus, atau sudah retired?), sangat mudah sekali menemukan playground di hampir setiap sudut heartlands-nya Singapura. Playground ada di hampir setiap sudut kompleks perumahan HDB, dan pasti ada di setiap kompleks apartemen dan kondo. Ini adalah salah satu usaha pemerintah Singapura untuk memberikan fasilitas gratis bagi generasi muda untuk bermain dan belajar. Kapan ya, pemerintah Indonesia juga akan melakukan hal yang sama? :)

[English version]

Cashew Heights

16 July 2006: Inka and Irza visited Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric's new house at Cashew Heights, Bukit Panjang, Singapore. Inka and Irza were having a great time swimming, playing and having dinner with Nigel and Ernest (Ernie), Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric's two sons.

Visiting Aunty Natalia's Family at Cashew Heights

Last Sunday (16 July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to visit Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric's new apartment at Cashew Heights, around Bukit Panjang, Singapore. They just moved from Choa Chu Kang to Bukit Panjang last May, so this would be the first time we visited their new apartment. It's just about 10 minutes drive from where we live currently. Aunty Natalia and Uncle Eric are both my ex-colleagues in the present company I'm currently working for.

We reached their place at around 4:10pm, and was surprised to see the size of the apartment. It's very big, with quite a sizeable living room for the children to play. Inka and Irza immediately joined Nigel to play together, while Ernest (Ernie), Nigel's younger brother, joined shortly after he woke up from his nap. There were quite a lot of toys, all belong to Nigel and Ernie, accompanying them while they were having time playing together.

All the kids then put on their swimming gears, and headed on to the swimming pool within the apartment complex. It's quite a big swimming pool, with a smaller kids pool with quite a big slide. Inka and Irza were having the great time using the slides. They were also playing with Ernie, using all the swimming toys Ernie and Nigel have, while Nigel chose to use the bigger swimming pool for him to improve his swimming skills.

All of them then went back to the apartment and had shower. After changing their clothes, they proceeded to the dining room and we had dinner together at the dining table. Aunty Natalia prepared a very nice barbequed chicken wings for the kids, served with breadsticks. On top of that, she also ordered some pizzas from Canadian 2-in-1 Pizza. All the kids enjoyed their dinner very much, especially Inka who finished about five pieces of the chicken wings.

After dinner, they went back to the spacious living room and continue playing. They still played for around half an hour, before leaving their place at around 8:30pm to go back to our home. They were really having a great time, and we'll surely come back again some time later. :)

More pictures can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Singapore Youth Festival

15 July 2006: Singapore Youth Festival 2006 celebration, at the Civic Plaza, Ngee Ann City, Orchard Road, Singapore

ZingDo

ZingDo restaurant is one of only a few halal Korean restaurants in Singapore. This chain of restaurants is managed by Zingrill, together with Seoul Garden and Breeks Cafe. Usually the ZingDo restaurant we visit regularly is the one at Ngee Ann City, which is on the same roof as the Breeks Cafe there, which is on the 5th floor, just opposite Seoul Garden. Now, ZingDo has opened a new outlet at Jurong Entertainment Centre, just opposite Jurong East MRT station, and it's not quite far from where we live here in Singapore. So, last week, 11th of July 2006, exactly, I and my wife went there for lunch.

The restaurant is located on the first floor of the building, which also houses the Jurong Cineplex. The outlet here adopts the fast food style of food ordering, so we need to order the food at the counter and make the payment first. Then, we look for an empty table and wait for the food to be served there.

I ordered the beef bulgogi set (left picture), the Korean-style minced beef steak, which is my favourite. My wife ordered the chicken bulgogi set (right below picture), similar steak but made of minced chicken. Both foods are served on hot plates, and when the food came, the meat was served raw. So we need to cook the meat, as well as the vegetables, on the hot plate, mix them with the sauce paste provided on the table, before we eat them.

How's the taste? Amazing! Very delicious. The meat absorbs the sauce quite well, and it's delicious up until the last bite. I also tried my wife's chicken bulgogi and it's just as nice! The bulgogi set is served with a bowl of rice, and a bowl of kimchi soup, which is also delicious. Just be careful, the soup is full of chilli seeds, so it's a bit hot.

The price is also reasonable for Singapore standard. The chicken bulgogi set will cost you about $7.90, while the beef bulgogi set is only $1 more expensive. Other than that, they also serve Korean Rib-Eye Steak at $15.90 per set meal. You can browse through the menu and the price here.

[Indonesian version]

Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre

Yesterday (Saturday, 15 July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre to have breakfast at the McDonalds restaurant within the shopping complex. This is actually not a shopping mall, but a row of HDB shopping blocks which we usually find at most Singapore's heartlands. Such shopping complex is usually also equipped with a hawker centre and a wet market.

This shopping complex is located around Bukit Batok West, near the junction of Bukit Batok West Avenue 6 and Bukit Batok Street 11. The McDonalds restaurant is located in Block 152, facing the West Ave 6. There are row of shops selling many products, which usually are cheaper than those in most air-conditioned shopping malls. Such these places are where most Singaporeans do their shopping. There's also a food court (hawker centre) at block 155, serving the usual Singapore cuisines. At that time, the place was packed even though it was a bit raining.

At McDonalds, Inka ordered the hotcakes while Irza ordered his favourite big breakfast. I used the coupons I got from Strait Times, entitled us with a free breakfast (hotcakes or egg McMuffin) for every breakfast meal ordered. Not bad! :) After breakfast, we went to a playground near the food court, next to block 164, and Inka and Irza were having a great time playing there. More pictures can be found here.

As what muhnur has pointed out (in bahasa Indonesia), it's quite easy to find playgrounds around Singapore's heartlands. You can find a playground at almost every corner of Singapore's HDB blocks, and most (if not all) of all private apartments and condominiums are surely equipped with one. This is one of Singapore's effort to provide free facilities for its young generation to play and learn. Wish Indonesia could do the same as well...

[Indonesian version]

ZingDo

Hmm... ternyata saya udah keduluan sama istri saya untuk review restoran ZingDo ini. Tapi ngga apa-apa lah. :) Berikut adalah review versi saya. :)

Bagi yang belum tau, restoran ZingDo ini adalah restoran makanan Korea yang halal di Singapura. Restoran ini dikelola oleh Zingrill, bersama-sama dengan Seoul Garden dan Breeks Cafe. Biasanya kita makan di ZingDo Ngee Ann City, Orchard, yang satu restoran sama Breeks, seberangnya Seoul Garden, di lantai lima. Nah, ZingDo ini buka cabang baru di Jurong Entertainment Centre, Jurong East, yang lebih dekat dari rumah. Jadi minggu lalu, tepatnya tanggal 11 Juli 2006 yang lalu, saya dan istri nyobain makan siang disana. Kebetulan saya lagi kesana jemput istri yang habis belanja di supermarket NTUC Fairprice di sebelah.

Restoran ini terletak di lantai satu gedung yang juga dilengkapi dengan bioskop itu. Berbeda dengan outlet Ngee Ann City dimana kita duduk dan pesan, makan lalu bayar belakangan, kalau di outlet ini lebih mirip ke fastfood, kita datang ke counter untuk memesan makanan, terus bayar, ambil minuman terus baru duduk. Baru nanti makanannya diantar ke meja.

Saya pesan beef bulgogi set (gambar kiri), steak daging giling khas Korea favorit saya. Sementara istri memesan chicken bulgogi set (gambar kanan bawah), mirip dengan makanan yang saya pesan tapi versi ayamnya. Kedua makanan tersebut disajikan diatas hot plate, dan pada saat makanan tersebut diantar ke meja, dagingnya masih mentah. Jadi kita harus masak dulu dagingnya (dan juga sayurannya) sampai matang, campur dengan bumbu yang disediakan terpisah di meja, baru disantap.

Rasanya? Luar biasa! Enak sekali. Bumbunya terasa meresap di daging dan rasanya nikmat sampai gigitan daging terakhir. Saya juga sempat mencoba chicken bulgogi-nya istri dan juga enak. Bulgogi set tersebut disajikan dengan satu mangkuk nasi, dan satu mangkuk sup kimchi yang rasanya juga enak, walaupun banyak biji cabe-nya, jadi bagi Anda yang kurang suka cabe, jangan terlalu banyak minum sup-nya.

Harganya juga lumayan murah untuk ukuran restoran Korea di Singapura, harga set chicken bulgogi adalah $7.90, sedangkan yang beef $1 lebih mahal. Selain itu, mereka juga menyediakan Korean Rib-Eye Steak dengan harga $15.90 (untuk set). Daftar menu dan harganya bisa dilihat disini.

[English version]

Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre

15 July 2006: We went to Bukit Batok West to have breakfast at the McDonalds at Blk 152 Bukit Batok St 11. After which, Inka and Irza were having a great time playing at the playground next to Blk 164.

Civilians Become Victims of Israel's Brutal Attacks to Lebanon

Quoted from Channel NewsAsia:

"Twenty-eight Lebanese civilians, including 10 children, were killed in dozens of Israeli air strikes across the country on Thursday after Hezbollah militants seized two soldiers and killed eight."

On the same report, it mentioned:

"A Shiite Muslim sheikh, his wife and eight children were killed when an Israeli missile struck their home in the village of Dweir, near the main central town of Nabatiyeh, police said.

And:

"Another family of seven, including a 10-month-old baby, was killed in the village of Baflay, near the coastal city of Tyre, police said."

I still don't understand, why Israel has to kill a lot of innocent civilians, including children, only because they want to save two of their soldiers which are being captured by Hezbollah militants. Why they have to bomb the Beirut international airport? Why they have to sacrifice the life of a lot of Lebanese civilians, including children?

Why all countries around the world did not immediately condemn the attack? When North Korea did a "show-off" with its missiles, most of all countries around the world immediately condemned the move. When terrorists strike Mumbai's rapid transportation with several blasts to its trains, all countries immediately condemned the attack. Why up to the moment, it's quite difficult for most countries around the world to condemn the Israel's attack? Why so far, only Indonesia condemned the attack, while the Philippines only issued Lebanon travel ban for its citizens? And why the UN Security Council finds it difficult to come out with a resolution to condemn the attack?

I really hope that the international community can immediately look into this matter. This matter is obviously more serious than the North Korea issue. North Korea only performed a show-off, while in this case, a lot of civilians, including children, has been killed by the brutal attacks. I also really hope that the international community can do the necessary to stop Israel's attacks, so there's no further innocent people become victims.

[Indonesian version]

Singapura: Surga untuk Penggemar Makanan Indonesia

Sejak istri saya bergabung dengan milis indosing-mums (ISM), milis untuk komunitas para perempuan Indonesia di Singapura, beliau jadi makin banyak berkenalan dengan banyak orang Indonesia di Singapura, dan tidaklah mengherankan jika kebanyakan para anggota komunitas tersebut adalah juru masak yang ahli. Makanya, saya berani bilang bahwa tidaklah sulit untuk mencari makanan Indonesia yang enak di Singapura.

Ada dua alasan. Yang pertama, sekarang telah banyak tempat makan yang menyajikan masakan Indonesia yang enak dan murah di Singapura. Beberapa tahun yang lalu, kita harus mengeluarkan banyak uang yang bisa menipiskan dompet untuk bisa menikmati makanan Indonesia di restoran terkenal kelas atas seperti Sanur, Tambuah Mas, Desa Kartika ataupun House of Sundanese Food. Sekarang, telah banyak menjamur tempat makan kelas menengah yang menyajikan makanan Indonesia yang murah dan enak, seperti Es Teler 77, Ayam Penyet Ria, Kantin Aneka dan Ayam Bakar Ojolali. Restoran-restoran kelas menengah tersebut juga menyediakan makanan Indonesia seperti ayam bakar, ayam goreng, gado-gado, empek-empek, batagor dan masakan Indonesia lainnya, dengan harga yang jauh lebih murah dibandingkan di restoran-restoran kelas atas tadi.

Apa alasan keduanya? :) Banyak teman-teman Indonesia kita di Singapura, yang juga ahli masak. :) Jadi, sudah bukan hal yang aneh lagi melihat istri saya memesan makanan tertentu dari teman-temannya (tergantung specialty-nya), makanan yang mungkin jarang bisa ditemukan di tempat makan di Singapura. Dapur Bunda-nya Inong, adalah salah satunya. Lokasinya yang cukup dekat dari rumah (cuma sekitar 10 menit) memudahkan kita untuk memesan makanan, dan saya tinggal datang ke lobby apartemennya untuk mengambil makanannya, sekalian melakukan pembayarannya. Beberapa jenis makanan yang pernah kita pesan dari Dapur Bunda adalah Strawberry Tiramisu Cake dan Martabak Coklat Keju.

Beberapa hari yang lalu, istri saya juga memesan chilli crab dari salah seorang temannya, Nisi, dan saya berani bilang kalau ini adalah salah satu chilli crab terenak yang pernah saya coba. Rasanya jauh lebih nikmat dibandingkan chilli crab yang biasa kita beli dari Al-Ameen. Istri saya tinggal kontak lewat Yahoo! Messenger untuk memesan chilli crab itu, dan saya tinggal mampir sebentar ke tempatnya di sekitar West Coast untuk mengambil makanannya, sekaligus melakukan pembayarannya.

Selain itu, Alhamdulillah, saya juga sudah sempat mencoba Tongseng Mela Kumis-nya Mela, dan tentu saja sate Braddell-nya Hany, yang hingga saat ini masih merupakan sate terbaik di Singapura. :) Jika Anda memperhatikan, hampir semua ahli juru masaknya adalah teman-teman istri saya di ISM, jadi hanya sekedar saran untuk teman-teman pria saya: jika Anda sekarang tinggal di Singapura bersama istri (dan anak) Anda, pastikan istri Anda untuk bergabung ke ISM!

Yang paling asyik, kadang-kadang kita bisa menikmati makanan itu dengan gratis. Benar! Biasanya kesempatan itu datang pada saat gathering komunitas ISM, seperti ini contohnya, biasanya kita akan "dimanjakan" dengan begitu banyak makanan yang disediakan disana. Kadang-kadang, saya dan istri saya juga mendapatkan undangan dari salah seorang teman istri saya (yang juga kadang-kadang adalah teman blogger kita juga), untuk datang ke rumahnya dan mencoba specialty-nya.

Jadi... siapa yang bilang kalau tinggal di Singapura itu membosankan? :) :)

[English version]

Indo-Sing Gathering at Ayam Bakar Ojolali Restaurant

Last Sunday (10th of July 2006), I took Inka and Irza to the Indo-Sing gathering cum lunch at Ayam Bakar Ojolali restaurant, located on the 3rd floor of Lucky Plaza, Orchard Road, Singapore. We reached the restaurant at around 1:30pm, about half an hour behind schedule. We were greeted by Uncle Sigit and family (Aunty Narind and Max), Uncle Ikhsan, Uncle Willy and Uncle Emir Faisal. Aunty Ekky and her daughter Theresa followed shortly after.

Inka and Irza were having a great time playing with Max, Uncle Sigit’s son. They were also enjoying their fried chicken and rice for their lunch. They also ordered their favourite drink, milo dinosaurs, which is – surprisingly – sold there.

More pictures during the gathering can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Singapore: A Heaven for Indonesian Food Lovers

Since my wife joined the indosing-mums (ISM) mailing list, which belongs to the Indonesian female community in Singapore, she has made a lot of new friends here in Singapore. And not surprisingly, most of the members of the community are great cooks. Therefore, I would say it’s actually quite easy to find good Indonesian food here in Singapore.

There are two reasons. One, there are now numerous middle-class restaurants serving good Indonesian foods here in Singapore. Several years ago, we would need to fork out quite a lot of money to enjoy Indonesian food at those high-class restaurants, such as Sanur, Tambuah Mas, Desa Kartika or House of Sundanese Food. Now, there are plenty of middle-class restaurants serving Indonesian food, such as Es Teler 77, Ayam Penyet Ria, Kantin Aneka and Ayam Bakar Ojolali. Those restaurants also serve good Indonesian food such as ayam bakar (grilled chicken), ayam goreng (fried chicken), gado-gado, empek-empek, batagor and many other native Indonesian foods, at a friction of the cost of those high-class restaurants.

What’s the second reason? Well, there are quite a lot of our Indonesian friends, who are also great cooks. :) So it’s quite common to see my wife contacting some of her friends to order certain type of food, which might be difficult to find elsewhere in Singapore. Inong’s Dapur Bunda, is one example. Its close proximity to our house (only 10 minutes drive) makes it quite convenient for us to order some food from her and I just needed to go to the lobby of her apartment to pick up the food and make the payment. Some of the foods we’ve ordered from Dapur Bunda include the Strawberry Tiramisu Cake and the Chocolate and Cheese Martabak.

Yesterday, my wife also ordered chilli crab from Nisi, one of her friends, and I dare to say that this is the best chilli crab I have tasted so far. It’s much better compared to the usual chilli crab we usually bought from Al-Ameen Eating House. It’s also very convenient, my wife just needed to contact her through Yahoo! Messenger to order the crab, and then during lunch time, I dropped by to her place around West Coast to pick up the food and make the payment.

Other than that, fortunately, I also had the chance to taste Mela’s Tongseng Mela Kumis, and of course Hany’s Braddell Satay, which is reputably still the best Indonesian satay in town. If you notice, all of the cooks are my wife’s friends from the ISM community, so some words of advice to my fellow Indonesians men: if you are currently living in Singapore, and you’re married, ensure that your wife joins the ISM community!

And the best of all, sometimes we can enjoy the food for free. Really! Sometimes when the ISM community gathers, like this one, for example, we would be spoiled with lots of variety of food during the gathering. Sometimes, my wife and I would also got some invitations from some of her friends (which sometimes turn out to be some of my blogger friends as well) to visit their home and try their specialties.

So, who said that living in Singapore is boring? :)

[Indonesian version]

Great News from Switzerland

What a great news I received from Switzerland, my fellow blogger friends who lived there: Tata and Wati have just been blessed with the birth of their newborn girl: Nadia Aulia Yusuf. She was born on the 3^rd of July, 2006, 21:03hrs CET, at the La Tour Hospital, Meyrin, Geneva.

On behalf of my family, I would like to congratulate Tata and Wati for the birth of their second daughter. Best regards and congratulations also from Inka and Irza to Kakak Annisa for having a younger sister now.

More information can be found here.

[Indonesian version]

Gathering Indo-Sing di Restoran Ayam Bakar Ojolali

Hari Minggu (10 Juli 2006) kemarin, saya dan anak-anak ikutan acara gathering Indo-Sing sekalian makan siang di restoran Ayam Bakar Ojolali, yang terletak di lantai tiga Lucky Plaza, Singapura. Kita sampai ke restoran tersebut sekitar jam 1:30pm, sekitar setengah jam terlambat dari jadwal. Disana sudah ada Sigit Sukrisno Aji dan keluarga (Narind dan Max), Kang Muda Ikhsan, Willy Widiatmoko dan Emir Faisal. Mbak Ekky dan putrinya, Theresa, menyusul tidak lama setelah kita sampai. Sayangnya Ichan, yang sebenarnya salah satu penggagas acara ini, malah tidak bisa datang, karena ada last minute change, katanya. *huu, penonton kecewaa* :D :D

Walaupun peserta gathering ini tidak sebanyak peserta gathering sebelumnya di Kantin Aneka, tapi hal ini tidak mengurangi keasyikan kita untuk ngobrolin segala macam, termasuk aktifitas waktu senggang Kang Muda Ikhsan yang menarik: nyupir pesawat. :) Max, putranya Sigit, juga begitu senang bisa bermain dengan Inka dan Irza. Mungkin karena biasa di rumah sepi sendirian, musti banyak diajak keluar jalan-jalan tuh Git. :)

Menu yang disediakan cukup beragam, dan semuanya khas masakan Indonesia. Untuk Inka dan Irza, saya pesankan ayam goreng khas Ojolali, sedangkan saya sendiri memesan gado-gado. Kebetulan juga minuman favorit Inka dan Irza, milo dinosaurs, juga disediakan disana.

Foto-fotonya bisa dilihat disini.

[English version]

Indo-Sing Gathering, Ayam Bakar Ojolali Restaurant

Inka and Irza seen with Max, Uncle Sigit's son. Inka, as usual, didn't want her pictures to be taken. :)

Sunday, 9 July 2006: Indo-Sing Gathering, at Ayam Bakar Ojolali Restaurant, 3rd floor of Lucky Plaza, Orchard Road, Singapore.

Kabar Gembira dari Switzerland

Kabar gembira. :)

Telah lahir, putri kedua dari pasangan Tata dan Wati, rekan blogger kita yang bermukim di Geneva, Switzerland. Nadia Aulia Yusuf, lahir pada hari Senin, 3 Juli 2006, jam 21:03 CET (waktu Switzerland) di Rumah Sakit La Tour, Meyrin, Geneva, dengan berat 3,08 kg dan tinggi 47 cm.

Atas nama pribadi dan keluarga, saya mengucapkan selamat dan turut berbahagia kepada Tata dan Wati atas kelahiran putri kedua mereka. Dan ucapan selamat juga dari Inka dan Irza untuk Kakak Annisa atas kelahiran adik kecilnya. Bilang sama Papa dan Mama, jangan menyerah untuk terus berusaha mendapatkan adik laki-laki untuk Annisa. :) :)

Informasi lebih lengkap bisa didapat disini.

[English version]

FeedWordPress and Recent Comments

Planet Indra Migration to FeedWordPress

After I tried to install FeedWordPress for Planet Singapura and satisfied with its features and flexibility, I decided to also migrate Planet Indra to use FeedWordPress as well. I am still keeping the old Planet Indra, which uses Gregarius, on another URL: http://ip.sg.or.id/gregarius/, while the new Planet Indra, which uses FeedWordPress, will use the current Planet Indra URL: http://planet.indra.sg.or.id/.

For me, there are more advantages of using FeedWordPress compared to using Gregarius, however the most advantages are:

• FeedWordPress provides RSS feed for the aggregate blog, while Gregarius doesn't provide it. So now, Planet Indra has its own RSS feed, which is located at http://planet.indra.sg.or.id/?feed=rss2.
• Since FeedWordPress is still running on a Wordpress blog, we can use our favourite Wordpress themes for the aggregate blog. As for Gregarius, the choice of themes is limited.

Unfortunately, the Blue Horizon theme which I'm using for Planet Indra still have its own limitation. I might want to change it to another theme later if I have the time.

"Recent Comments" Feature for Minda Indra and Rumah Indra

I also have recently added the "Recent Comments" feature for Minda Indra, my Wordpress-based blog. This feature is being added on the right sidebar and is showing all the recent comments of all the articles on the blog.

This feature uses a Wordpress plugin called Simple Recent Comments, written by Raoul. The installation is quite easy and straightforward, I only need to download the plugin, which is actually a single .php file which was zipped. And then, I need to unzip the file and copy the unzipped .php file to the wp-contents/plugins directory of our Wordpress. I then activated the plugin on my Dashboard > Plugins and put the template tag into my sidebar, which is the sidebar.php file. And voila, the "Recent Comments" feature will then show up on the sidebar. Very practical.

I also added the same feature on Rumah Indra. Since it's a Blogger-based blog, I followed this instruction to add the feature. Different from the Wordpress plugin, which is quite easy to install, this method requires some modification to the Blogger template which is quite troublesome and need to be done carefully. And the result can be found on the right sidebar of Rumah Indra. Over time, I might also install the same feature on this blog (Info) and The Journey of Inka and Irza as well.

Unfortunately, I can see that the order of the comments is not right, so the latest or recent comments might not appear on top, which is supposed to be the case. Until now, I still do not know how to fix this problem. Anyone knows? :)

[Indonesian version]

Kuala Lumpur Trip

On 24-25 June 2006, I and Irza went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for a short sightseeing during the weekend. My company was organising a weekend trip to Kuala Lumpur using bus/coach, so I and Irza went along together with my colleagues from the office, while Inka stayed at home with her mother.


On Saturday morning, 24 June 2006, we left home at around 6:30am because we needed to reach the office by 7am. Note that in Singapore, sunrise is at 7am, so 6:30am is still considered dark here in Singapore (equivalent to 5:30am in Jakarta). The super-VIP coach bus, with Singapore registered number PZ 1257 T, left my office at Science Park at around 7:15am and hit the Ayer Rajah Expressway (AYE) towards Tuas checkpoint, which is Singapore's gateway to Malaysia on the west side of the island. The queue on the bus lane was quite long (despite that we have reached the checkpoint quite early), and the bus only left Tuas around 8am.

The bus then cross the Tuas Second Link bridge before hitting the North-South Expressway towards Kuala Lumpur. Bus made a brief stop at Yong Peng, to allow those people who haven't had any breakfast that morning, to have some light breakfast. More pictures during the bus journey from Singapore to Yong Peng can be found here, while pictures in Yong Peng can be found here.

From Yong Peng, the bus continue its journey towards Ayer Keroh area, Malacca, and stopped at Restoran Lee, a halal Chinese restaurant. We reached the restaurant at around 12 noon, just in time for lunch. We had a nice lunch there, which cost was absorbed by the tour company since it's part of the tour. The Chinese food was delicious, and the pictures can be found here.

After lunch, we continue our journey to Kuala Lumpur. We reached Kuala Lumpur at around 2pm, and we went to the hotel to check-in. We stayed at the Istana Hotel, a nice five-star hotel around Bukit Bintang area, specifically along Jalan Raja Chulan, not too far from the Raja Chulan monorail station. I and Irza got a room on the fifth floor, with a view towards the monorail track along Jalan Sultan Ismail. Irza was really excited with the view, since he could see the monorail moving on its track. More pictures at the hotel room can be found here.

We had time for our own after checking-in, because the city tour would only start the next morning. After taking a short break in the hotel room, we then started our journey in Kuala Lumpur. Our first destination was the Berjaya Times Square, a shopping mall which is located along Jalan Imbi, which is not far from the hotel, only two monorail stations away. So, from outside the hotel, we crossed the Jalan Raja Chulan towards the monorail station, and from there, we took the monorail to Imbi station, which is located in front of and directly connected to Berjaya Times Square. Irza wouldn't need to purchase any tickets for the monorail, only adults are required to purchase tickets. The system is similar to Singapore's old farecard system before migrating to the new EZ-Link system. While passing the gate when entering the station, we would need to insert the ticket, and take it back. Once we reach the destination, we need to insert the ticket again while passing the gate upon exiting.

Berjaya Times Square is a big shopping mall, which is equipped with two indoor theme parks, one for children and another one for adults. It's similar to Bandung Super Mall, but in a much bigger scale. Last time we also had visited this mall couple of times when we visited Kuala Lumpur. However, Irza (and also Inka, last time) didn't like the environment inside the theme park, which can be very noisy, especially when the roller coaster is running. I know that Irza won't be comfortable there, so I decided to take Irza to Mines Wonderland instead, a small evening theme park which is located around Serdang, south of Kuala Lumpur.

We took the monorail from Imbi station to KL Sentral station, which is the biggest interchange station in Kuala Lumpur. The KL Sentral monorail station is located outside the main KL Sentral building, so we needed to walk through a market alley, similar to Bugis Village in Singapore. Inside the main KL Sentral building, we looked for the ticket counter for the KTM Commuter train to Serdang. Different from the monorail, for this commuter train, Irza needed to pay the child fare.

After buying the tickets, we went straight to the gate towards the KTM Commuter train platform. After checking the map displayed, we found out that to go to Serdang, we needed to go to platform 6 to catch the next train to Seremban. Once we reached the platform, there's a plasma TV display showing that the next train would arrive at 17:24hrs. It turned out to be that the train only arrived at around 17:35hrs, more than 10 minutes behind its schedule.

The train was very very crowded. I immediately put all my wallets and mobile phone inside my bag, since KL public transport system is very infamous for the pickpocketing activities. Luckily, someone gave her seat for Irza so he could sit down during the trip.

The train journey from KL Sentral to Serdang took about 20 minutes, passing through Mid Valley station, which is located just in front of the Mid Valley Mega Mall, a famous mega shopping mall around the area. Serdang station itself is a small and open-air station, very much looks like those small stations we can find along Jakarta-Cikampek train line in Indonesia. After exiting the station, we took the overhead bridge crossing the Sungai Besi Highway, towards the water taxi stop which is located opposite the station. We then took the water taxi, through a small lake and into a canal which goes straight to the Mines Shopping Fair, a Venetian-themed shopping mall with a big canal equipped with boats inside the mall. More pictures during our journey from the hotel to the shopping mall (the monorail, KTM Commuter train and water taxi rides) can be found here.

The entrance of Mines Wonderland is located just beside the shopping mall. The admission tickets were very expensive, RM 32 (around S$13 or 80,000 Indonesian rupiah) for adult, and RM 21 (around $9 or 52,000 rupiah) for child. Wow! But since we're there already, we decided to give it a try. Fortunately, I can save around RM5 by showing a 10% discount coupon from one of the Mines Wonderland brochures we got from the hotel, so I only needed to pay RM 48 (instead of RM 53) for one adult and one child.

Mines Wonderland itself is a simple and small theme park, much smaller than Jakarta's Dunia Fantasi in Ancol, or Kuala Lumpur's Genting Theme Park in Genting. However, it doesn't stop Irza from having a great time and enjoying all the attractions. We tried the Unity Train, Road Tram and the Vintage Car, circling around the park. We could even see the white tiger inside a mini zoo found along the Unity Train track. Irza also tried the small roller coaster there, and we also watched the Musical Fountain show, a fountain show with light and laser similar to the one in Sentosa. After having a great time there, we went back to the mall to buy back some KFC chicken for our dinner at the hotel. We then took a taxi ride back to the hotel. The taxi fare from Mines Shopping Fair to Kuala Lumpur downtown is RM 30, which is fixed and not using the meter. More pictures at Mines Wonderland can be found here.

The next morning, after having breakfast at the hotel, we started our city tour around Kuala Lumpur by visiting a chocolate factory around Jalan Imbi area, not far from the hotel. Here, we could sample some chocolates and listened to their presentation on how the chocolate was being made. Unfortunately, the chocolates are quite expensive, so I only bought one box of chocolate for Irza to bring home. More pictures can be found here.

From there, the bus took us to Istana Negara (the Palace), which is the official residence of the King of Malaysia, the Yang Dipertuan Agong. Of course, we could not enter inside the palace complex, so we only took pictures in front of the gate. The pictures can be found here.


We then continued our journey to the National Monument (Tugu Negara). which is located inside the Lake Gardens (Taman Tasik Perdana), not far from the Parliament Building. The monument was erected to commemorate the Malaysian soldiers who gave up their lives during the Japanese occupation between 1942-1945. One of the monuments depicts 7 Malaysian soldiers symbolising the seven quality of leaderships, surrounded by a small pond with dancing fountains. Irza was having a great time there. More pictures can be found here.

The bus then took us to some other historical buildings around Kuala Lumpur, such as the old railway station, the Merdeka square and the Sultan Abdul Samad building, although we only passed them through inside the bus, and did not get off the bus to take more pictures. The bus then continued the journey to the Mid Valley Megamall, and after some rounds around Bangsar because the driver missed a turn, we reached Mid Valley Megamall at around 11am.

We are given about 3 hours, until 2pm, for us to spend some time in the big shopping mall for shopping and lunch. I decided to bring Irza to the MegaKidz in the third floor. MegaKidz is a big indoor playground site with slides and steps to climb, similar to eXplorerKID at Downtown East in Singapore. Irza was having a great time there. We also had our lunch at the Food Junction, a food court on the same floor as MegaKidz.

After finishing our lunch, we went to the basement floor to buy some doughnuts from Dunkin Donuts, which we cannot find in Singapore, and also some breads from Bread Talk, which is surprisingly halal in Malaysia. We then go back to the bus, and continue our journey back to Singapore.

All the pictures during our trip to Kuala Lumpur above can be found here.

[Indonesian version]