Souvlaki Kebabs

Date: Monday, 25 August 2008
Location: Souvlaki Kebabs, High Street, Christchurch

This kebab restaurant is located on High Street mall, a street in the Christchurch city center which is closed for traffic and only for pedestrians, with shops lining both sides of the street. This is one of only a few restaurants in Christchurch serving halal food, run by a father and a son of Moroccan descent.

The small restaurant is located at the entrance of High Street on the left side, nearest to Cathedral Square. It is just a 5-minute walk from the Christchurch Cathedral.

Christchurch Day 2: APNIC 26 Meeting Started

Date: Monday, 25 August 2008
Location: Christchurch Convention Centre, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Christchurch Town Hall

The APNIC 26 meeting kicked in yesterday, although the official opening ceremony is only today. The main issue being discussed in this meeting is the depletion of the IPv4 addresses and the slow implementation of IPv6 addresses by the major ISPs in Asia Pacific region.

The event is conducted at the Christchurch Convention Centre, which is directly connected to the Christchurch Town Hall and the Crowne Plaza Hotel, where the buffet lunch is served at the Victoria Cafe there.

I met some new friends from my home country, Indonesia, on that day, and suprisingly, some of them are bloggers, Multipliers, to be exact. :) They are Christian and Don who work for two different internet service providers in Indonesia, as well as Andy and Yudha, from the Indonesian ISP association. We also met Angga, an Indonesian who has lived in Christchurch for 21 years with his family.

Pictures labelled 1xxx are taken at the Christchurch Convention Centre, pictures labelled 2xxx are taken at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and Victoria Square, while pictures labelled 3xxx are taken at the Christchurch Town Hall.

Update at 4pm NZT (GMT+1200):

Related links:

Day 3 - APNIC Conference
APNIC 26 Day 1 @ Christchurch.NZ

Christchurch Tramway

Date: Sunday, 24 August 2008
Location: Along the tramway route, Christchurch city centre

This is another prime attraction in Christchurch. The Christchurch tramway plies along the 2.5 km circling route around Christchurch's best attractions, including Cathedral Square, Arts Centre and Canterbury Museum. The drivers also act as a tour guide and explain all the tourist attractions along the way.

The ticket prices are $14 for adults, and $4 for children. Children under 5 years old can travel for free. However, I purchased the combo tickets for the tram and the Gondola, for $30 (adult). I planned to take the gondola on Thursday, together with my Indonesian friends and a Mongolian friend here.

Cathedral Square, Christchurch

Date: Sunday, 24 August 2008
Location: Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand

Cathedral Square is one of the most visited tourist attractions in Christchurch. Its main attraction is the Christchurch Cathedral. It's free to enter the cathedral, although you still need to pay ($5 for adult) to climb the cathedral's tower.

Nearby, you can also visit the Christchurch and Canterbury Visitors' Centre and the nearby Southern Encounter Aquarium and Kiwi House, or board the historic Christchurch tram from the Cathedral Square tram stop. The fee for the tram is $14 for a two-day unlimited ride. You can also take the free yellow City Shuttle bus around the city centre from a nearby bus stop.

From Singapore to Christchurch

Date: 23-24 August 2008
Location: SQ297 flight from Singapore Changi Airport to Christchurch International Airport

The Singapore airlines flight, which was scheduled to depart at 19:50hrs Singapore time, was delayed for about 40 minutes because it had to wait for some transit passangers from London whose flight was late in reaching Singapore.

The plane landed safely at Christchurch International Airport at around 10:00hrs local time, or around 06:00hrs Singapore time.

For some reasons, I was unable to sleep throughout the flight journey so I killed the time by watching two movies from the movie on-demand inflight entertainment. This caused a jet-lag issue although the time difference with Singapore is not much, only 4 hours. :(

Christchurch airport is a small but modern and clean airport. Going through immigration and customs was a breeze. I used the Super Shuttle service to get from the airport to the hotel.

T3 Changi Airport

Date: Saturday, 23 August 2008
Location: Terminal 3, Changi Airport, Singapore

After Irza's birthday party event yesterday, we went to Changi airport since I needed to catch the evening's flight to Christchurch.

This new terminal is quite impressive with its nice and unique roof design. The gate A20 where the aircraft was being docked is quite far from the departure hall, and I didn't know that I actually could use a Skytrain shuttle to reach the gate within a minute, while it would take up to 10 minutes by walking through the travellators.

Thanks...

On behalf of Irza and the whole family, I would like to thank everyone who came to Irza's birthday party yesterday. I would let my wife to upload all the pictures of the birthday party event, but in the meantime, the pictures can be found on these sites:

Ultah Irza (thanks to tante Hera)
Ultah Irza (thanks to tante Ati)
@Bukit Batok (thanks to tante Wati)

Right now, I'm already arrived at Christchurch after a long 10 hour flight from Singapore. It's quite cold here (around 10 degree Celcius) and it's raining non-stop since this morning when I arrived, although that doesn't stop me for touring the city today.

The city centre is quite compact, and is quite easily explorable by foot, the tram and the free City Shuttle bus service. Luckily I stayed in a bed and breakfast hotel which provides free wireless Internet service, therefore, more pictures will be posted on the photo section, stay tuned. :)

Bedok Jetty at East Coast Park

Date: Saturday, 16 August 2008
Location: Bedok Jetty, East Coast Park, Singapore.

On that Saturday evening, I went cycling with Inka and Irza at our favourite cycling place, East Coast Park. This time, we went eastward from Raintree Cove where we rented our bicycles, passing the Island Resort, the cable-ski park lagoon and the East Coast Lagoon Food Village, and we found this long jetty towards the sea.

This long jetty is called Bedok Jetty. We can cycle right up to the end of the jetty, which is located on the sea. This jetty is packed with anglers who tried their luck in catching the fish using their fishing equipments.

Es Teler 77

Date: Saturday, 16 August 2008
Location: Es Teler 77, Far East Plaza

This Es Teler 77 outlet is located on the 5th floor of Far East Plaza shopping mall, located along Scotts Road just beside the Grand Hyatt Hotel and opposite the DFS Galleria Scottswalk.

We usually go there if we are craving for authentic Indonesian food such as mie ayam (chicken noodle) and nasi goreng (fried rice). Of course, you can't miss the es teler (ice mixed fruit) as well, but at that time, we didn't order it. Inka is a big fan of its fried rice, while Irza is a big fan of the chicken noodle.

Tim Navigasi.Net Meluncurkan Peta GPS Indonesia Baru

Originally posted here.

Tim mappers Navigasi.Net yang dikomandoi oleh seorang GPS-geek Indonesia, Buyung Akram, meluncurkan peta GPS wilayah Indonesia yang baru, tepat pada hari ulang tahun kemerdekaan republik Indonesia, 17 Agustus 2008 kemarin. Dan peta baru yang cukup comprehensive dan menjangkau hampir seluruh wilayah Indonesia ini tersedia secara gratis (free) bagi seluruh pengguna GPS di Indonesia.

Berikut adalah komentar dari RC, seorang GPS-geek luar negeri yang juga membuat peta GPS gratis untuk daerah Selandia Baru, mengenai peta baru tersebut, di forum Malsingmaps:

This map is awesome - covers most of the major islands and very detailed at city level.
I managed to download this early this morning at 0900 hrs (GMT+12) when most of Indonesia was asleep. Later on today, it seems that that site has crashed!
Be patient and try again another time.
Thanks to the guys at Navigasi - sorry couldn’t log into your site to thank you properly!

Saya sendiri mengalami kesulitan ketika mencoba men-download file peta yang tersedia gratis tersebut. Kelihatannya server navigasi.net kewalahan menerima request dari banyak pengguna GPS di Indonesia yang ingin mengunduh file tersebut. Saya sendiri baru bisa men-download-nya dari situs mirror alternatif yang disediakan.

Ucapan selamat dan terima kasih untuk team Navigasi juga datang bertubi-tubi dari banyak pengguna GPS di Indonesia, melalui milis id-gps, yang kebanyakan memuji semangat dari tim map-developers Navigasi yang bertekad untuk menjadikan peta Indonesia tersebut tersedia secara gratis untuk digunakan oleh semua orang.

Bagi rekan-rekan yang berada di Singapura dan kesulitan mengunduh peta tersebut dari server Navigasi, bisa klik disini untuk download dari server lokal di Singapura. Ada dua versi, versi GMAPSUPP yang bisa langsung di-save ke perangkat GPS berbasis Garmin, dan versi MapSource yang bisa dibuka dengan menggunakan perangkat lunak MapSource dari Garmin. Menurut Pak Buyung di milis id-gps, peta ini boleh didistribusikan dengan bebas selama tidak dijual dan tidak dirubah atau diutak-atik.

Benar-benar merupakan kado terindah bagi Indonesia dalam rangka perayaan hari ulang tahun kemerdekaan kita. Merdeka!

Siam Kitchen

Date: Saturday, 2 August 2008
Location: Siam Kitchen, Bugis Junction, Singapore

Siam Kitchen is our family's favourite Thai restaurant, providing quite a wide range of Thai cuisines.

My wife's (and also my) favourite menu is the BBQ platter, containing grilled prawn, squid and meat with a special sauce, while the kids' favourite is the crispy soft-shell crab with mayonnaise sauce.

It has many outlets around Singapore, and the outlet we often visit is the one at the second floor of Bugis Junction, just above the Bugis MRT station.

It is one of only a few Thai restaurants in Singapore which obtains halal certification from MUIS.

e!Hub @ Downtown East

Date: Saturday, 9 August 2008.
Location: e!Hub @ Downtown East, Pasir Ris, Singapore

It has been quite some time since I visited Downtown East in Pasir Ris, and was surprised when I went there again with Inka last Saturday, after dropping off my wife and Irza at the Singapore Expo for them to watch the High School Musical: The Ice Tour.

There's a new shopping mall called e!Hub @ Downtown East, featuring some leisure activities such as bowling at Orchid Bowl, watching movies at Cathay Cineplex, karaokeing at K-Box, and many more. There's also eXplorerkid indoor family park for the kids, and also an indoor ferris wheel similar to the one at First World Plaza, Genting Highlands, Malaysia and Bandung Supermal, Bandung, Indonesia.

How I envy those who live on the east side of Singapore. Looks like they are more accessible to many attractions and leisure activities compared to us on the west side of the island.

Irza's Jam Session with Kemejas

Date: Sunday, 10 August 2008
Location: Boon Studio, Potong Pasir, Singapore

To practice for his upcoming concert at his music school next month, Irza had a very fruitful jam session with my friends from Kemejas band today. Thanks to om Renatha (bass, guitar), om Audi (bass, guitar, keyboard), om eRBe (lead guitar) and tante Fika (vocal) for helping Irza in practicing his drum. :)

Other than Won't Go Home Without You (Maroon 5), which is the song Irza will be performing during his concert next month, we're also covering some other songs, such as Smooth (Santana), Carnival (The Cardigans) and Sweet Child O'Mine (Guns N' Roses). Other than the Maroon 5 song, the other songs were not actually planned and Irza haven't practiced them yet but fortunately he can follow and cover them quite nicely... :) Unfortunately, we didn't manage to cover Cokelat's Bendera, which was requested by tante Fika, since Irza really was not prepared to play that song.

Irza was really having a great time. He was a bit disappointed when the two hour period was over and is looking forward to the next planned jam session next week. :) Hopefully, at that time, om Sandy and tante Detta also can join us. :)

Again, thanks friends for your time and effort in having the jam session with Irza and helping him to practice. :)

Esplanade during NDP Preview

Date: Saturday, 2 August 2008
Location: Esplanade, Singapore

We didn't get tickets for the NDP events this year, but it doesn't stop us from going to the Esplanade area and watch the fireworks. :)

We reached there quite late so we missed quite a lot of the NDP attractions during the preview.

Mbak

Dalam dua minggu terakhir ini, sudah tiga kali saya disapa "mbak" oleh tiga orang kontak MP saya yang berbeda, baik di kolom komentar di situs MP saya maupun ketika menjawab komentar saya di situs MP mereka. :)

Memang sih saya tidak memajang foto saya di profil MP saya. Instead, saya pasang foto anak2 saya.

Kira2 kenapa ya? :) Apakah karena kebanyakan pengguna MP Indonesia di Singapura adalah wanita?

Apakah mas Wawan, mas Dasuki atau mas Yuwono pernah mengalami hal yang sama? :)

-ip-
*posting sambil nunggu antrian kasir yg panjang di Giant IMM*

Prihatin

Saya turut prihatin setelah mendengar (red: membaca) kabar bahwa salah satu artikel dari teman saya, yang juga merupakan salah satu kontributor Planet Singapura, dibajak mentah-mentah oleh wartawan sebuah surat kabar terkemuka di Indonesia. Apalagi setelah mengetahui bahwa wartawan tersebut mendapatkan artikel tersebut melalui Planet Singapura, blog agregator yang saya kelola.

Turut prihatin karena media Planet Singapura tersebut digunakan oleh pihak yang tidak bertanggung jawab untuk meng-copy paste sebuah artikel, lalu dipajang mentah-mentah di surat kabar tersebut, tanpa seijin pemilik artikel, dan tanpa ada proses editing lebih lanjut. Walaupun, di lain pihak, saya pun mulai menyadari power (kekuatan) dari blog aggregator ini.

Walhasil, saya pun sekarang jadi lebih berhati-hati untuk memasukkan sebuah blog ke daftar sindikasi Planet Singapura. Paling tidak, saya sekarang akan selalu memberi tahu pemilik blog bahwa blognya saya masukkan ke daftar sindikasi Planet Singapura. Dan sesuai dengan disclaimer policy Planet Singapura, bagi rekan-rekan blogger Indonesia di Singapura yang keberatan blog-nya saya sindikasikan di Planet Singapura, silahkan kontak saya. Upon request, saya akan langsung menghapus blog-nya dari daftar sindikasi, no question asked.

Hmm… kayaknya kampanye “Jangan Asal Copy Paste“-nya Pak JaF harus mulai digalakkan lagi, nih. Tidak hanya untuk para blogger, tapi juga untuk para wartawan. Apalagi wartawan yang tidak bisa membedakan antara milis dengan agregator blog.

Pambudi, Ilma and Nadia's Birthday Bash

Date: Sunday, 3 August 2008
Location: Pizza Hut, Bukit Timah Plaza, Singapore

Pambudi and Dini's family, our former neighbours at Signature Park who have since moved to Beijing, China last year, is in town on their way from their holiday in Indonesia back to Beijing.

During their stay here, they have been to our apartment amid their busy schedule, and they even managed to conduct a party to celebrate the birthday of Pambudi and his two daughters, Ilma and Nadia, which falls on the very same day (31 July 2008).

The birthday bash is conducted on Sunday (3 August 2008) at the Pizza Hut outlet in Bukit Timah Plaza. Ilma is inviting her former classmates from the Raffles Girls' Primary School. We also met tante Fitri who came with Ivan and Rayna, and also om Agung and tante Devi who came with Hanif and Hakim.

Pambudi without his magic show is equivalent to soup without salt, and for this time round, his magic show is featuring Adrian, the youngest magician and Nadia, the youngest female magician.

Happy and hilarious ("heboh" in bahasa Indonesia). Those are my two simple words when describing Pambudi and Dini's family.

They will be leaving Singapore and back to Beijing on Tuesday. And again, we will miss them. Dearly.