Choc Jewels, my Australia most favorited sweet

Autumn is coming to Australia, and it's time to eat more sweets!

An unexpected snorkeling

Snorkeling in Japan was never an expected experience for me. I had been living in the country for four years but it never came to my mind to plan a snorkeling trip. That is why this experience happened unplanned.

It was in Okinawa, the south-most prefecture of Japan; consists of many beautiful islands, which only means beautiful beaches. Okinawa University asked my campus to select 8 people to come and be tutors for 80 high school students, Japanese and foreigners who participated in Asian Youth Exchange Program in Okinawa (AYEPO). The program was held for 23 days, moving from one island to another one. Although it’s a youth conference, discussing about water issue, it’s more like an “Exploring Okinawa” for me.

I have been to Okinawa for a holiday trip before, and I fell in love with the place. I thought AYEPO will be free summer holiday, but no, I was required to actually work. Be a tutor, prepare the kids for presentations, be their ‘big sis’ and meetings with other tutors every night. There was even 2-3 days I was sick and felt like my body was burning because of ‘having fun’ with everyone. Yea, the people, especially the kids were so fun to hang out with! They were sooo excited about everything we did in the program.

One thing they so can’t wait was snorkeling in Tokashiki Island, an island in Okinawa. The program provided us with everything, the mask, fins, everything! Except bathing suit of course :)

The coordinators even let us, tutors to come and join the students. Maybe they were afraid the students will drown themselves or lost their way, although I realize we all were equipped by life jackets :P

For a first timer like me, this was a definite not-to-be-missed chance. I brought my swimming suit and was as excited, or even more, as students in my group when choosing the mask and fins. The instructor explained that we will be paired with one person that will be our ‘buddy’. We had to stick together and not lose any sight of our own buddy.

I forgot who my buddy was, but as a tutor, my job was clear enough: I was everyone’s buddy, I need not to lose a sight of them, 10 students of my group. However when we stepped into the water, everything was reversed. I knew at that moment everyone was my buddy. They needed to take care of me, their tutor. They were the one who must not lose a sight of their ‘big sis’.

“Nuna! There’s a sea snake!!”, Ji Hwan, my student from Korea suddenly shouted from behind. I looked into the water with both excitement and fear, wondering what I would see. There was it. Ji Hwan was right, a black and white sea snake with flat tail like the one in Detective Conan comic book. It swam right across our feet. I told everyone nearby about it with extremely loud, panic, voice: “GUYS!! THERE’S A SEA SNAKE BELOW! BE CAREFUL! IT’S DANGEROUS!!”

image thanks to divegallery

The kids didn’t seem to care. Hmph. They were too excited playing underwater. I would be so excited with my snorkeling debut too if no ‘special’ encounter like this. Oh boy!

When I told them about the snake, instead of swimming away, they sunk their masks into the water and tried to follow the poor snake. I started to feel like a kindergarten teacher, haha.

Based on the comic book (yes, a comic book!) I read, sea snake is the most dangerous and venomous snake underwater. That’s why I panicked like a crazy grandma.

When I was still worrying where the snake had gone, my tutor partner, Genta swam to me and said this in Japanese: “Dissa don’t worry. Sea snake won’t bite if we don’t disturb it”

I started to feel stupid, “I thought it’s attacking people type of snake??”

Genta looked so serious now. “Nope, although it’s venomous, it’s pretty tame to people. That’s why some Okinawans even have it for meal”

What????

At that moment, I imagined that slimy little creature slid inside my tummy. Eww!

I should be more careful looking at my sushi menu from now on.

My Beppu Story: To the Land Unknown

"Jadinya uni mau kemana? Ke Jepang apa Bandung?,"tanya ibuku suatu hari tahun 2006. Topik ini memang sudah jadi perdebatan hangat di rumah. Topik tentang masa depanku, si uni, si kakak paling tua, yang saat itu berumur 16 tahun. Aku harus memilih kemana aku mau melanjutkan studiku selepas masa SMA. Alhamdulillah saah satu uni ternama di Bandung memberikan satu kursinya setelah mengikuti rangkaian tes yang panjang. Di lain sisi, minggu lalu kami baru mendapat telfon dari satu lagi universitas yang aku apply. Mereka bilang aplikasiku diterima dan aku mendapatkan beasiswa uang sekolah selama 4 tahun. Jadi, kalau aku ke uni ini, aku nggak usah bayar uang sekolah, sampai lulus. Wow! Another alhamdulillah!

Namun, universitas yang kedua ini lokasinya di Jepang. Yep, negara asalnya tokoh favoritku, Doraemon. Dan rumor mengatakan biaya hidup di Jepang itu super mahal! Malah yang termahal dibanding US, UK atau Australia. Hmm, walaupun uang sekolah gratis, kalau biaya hidup tetap selangit, kasian mama papa dong, pikirku saat itu. Ditambah lagi, teman-teman SMA yang mulai meracuni untuk pergi ke Bandung bersama-sama mereka. Gini deh kalau sekolah di SMA yang gemar bedol desa ke kota kembang itu. Aku pun berfikir lagi, aku mau kemana ya?

Lagi bimbang-bimbangnya menimbang keputusan, tiba-tiba suatu sore telefon rumah berdering. Ternyata dari kakak kelas Indonesia yang belajar di universitas Jepang tersebut. Wow! Aku ditelfon langsung! Jadilah aku pakai kesempatan ini untuk bertanya panjang lebar. Gimana kuliahnya? Tempatnya asik nggak? Dan yang paling penting biaya hidupnya gimana? Mahal nggak kak? Nah, pas pertanyaan ini ditanyakan, aku inget banget dia jawabnya begini: "Beppu tuh biayanya hidupnya relatif murah, jangan bayangin kota besar kaya Tokyo atau Osaka. Dia tuh desa kecil gitu, jadi biaya hidupnya nggak tinggi. Kamu juga bisa baito, atau kerja part time kok!"

"Kerja ?!" Aku yang dari kecil mendambakan kera part time sebagai barista starbucks pun langsung bermimpi. Asik juga kali kuliah sambil part time, bisa dapat uang jajan sendiri. Lagipula si kakak ini bilang biaya hdup di Beppu nggak semahal Tokyo, soalnya Beppu itu desa kecil. Wait, wait? Apa? Desa kecil? Beppu yah tadi namanya? Kok aku belum pernah denger? Deket mana sih? Kok di atlas nggak ada?

"Iya, Beppu inaka, pedesaan banget! Kalau di peta ada di deket Fukuoka. Jadi nanti dari Jakarta, kamu naik pesawat ke bandara Fukuoka, baru dari situ naik bus, 2 jam ke Beppu", kata si kakak mendeskripsikan kota kecil yang akan jadi rumahku 4 tahun ke depan. Yep, setelah telfon dari sang kakak kelas, aku pun langsung memutuskan untuk kuliah di Jepang dan mengepak koper untuk ke Beppu, kota kecil yang sampai detik itu tidak saya ketahui lokasinya. This is indeed a journey to the land unknown.      

My Beppu Story: Beppu, the unique city

Beppu (別府) adalah sebuah kota di prefektur Oita, Pulau Kyushu, Jepang, yang terkenal dengan hot springs atau pemandian air panasnya. Nama Beppu sendiri terdiri dari 2 huruf kanji 別 (baca: betsu, artinya "berbeda") dan 府 (baca: fu, artinya "kota").
Yes, kota ini literally berarti kota yang berbeda, atau bahasa kerennya kota yang unik. Setelah empat tahun berkesempatan tinggal dan belajar di sana, saya akhirnya mengerti bahwa Beppu benar-benar kota yang unik. These are some teasers why

NUMBER One Beppu mempunyai 9 geothermal hot spots, atau mata air panas yang biasa disebut 地獄 (baca: jigoku, artinya "neraka"). Yep, saking panasnya mata air tersebut, orang-orang disekitar menyebutnya neraka. Ada yang warnanya biru kaya air laut, atau disebut umi jigoku (sea hell). Ada juga yang warna airnya merah seperti darah, namanya chi no ike jigoku, dan they make very good tourism objects! Selain neraka, Beppu juga terkenal dengan pemandian air panas atau 温泉 (baca: onsen) nya.

NUMBER Two Beppu, terkenal dengan populasi kakek nenek nya yang banyak. Well, karena Beppu bukanlah kota besar yang bising dan pemandangannya bagus banget, banyak penduduk Jepang yang menghabiskan masa tua nya disini. Mereka sering bilang kalau Beppu itu "inaka" atau pedesaan, padahal to be honest, pertama kali saya dateng ke Jepang, saya terkagum-kagum dengan pintu otomatis yang ada di semua supermarket di Beppu. Kalau pedesaannya aja kaya gini, gimana kota besarnya??

NUMBER Three Selain being populous with many elderly people, Beppu juga kaya akan International students, karena salah satu universitas terbesarnya adalah Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, dimana saya belajar selama 4 tahun untuk mendapatkan Bachelor's degree. Nah, uni saya ini mahasiswanya ada sekitar 5000-an, 50% orang Jepang dan 50% lagi international students dari 82 negara. Dan para international students ini tinggal dan bekerja part time di Beppu. Jadi kebayang kan betapa multiculturalnya jalanan-jalanan di Beppu? :)

Suasana kota yang bersih dan pemandangan yang apik plus populasi manusia yang beragam membuat Beppu pantas dijuluki the unique city. Tapiii, masih banyak lagi cerita tentang si unique city ini. Lewat "My Beppu Story" saya akan merefresh cerita ajaib, lucu dan menegangkan yang saya alami di kota onsen ini.

Stay tuned!

Spontaneously Singapore! Part 2

My 2nd day in Singapore was another spontaneous journey! We didnt plan anything except meeting my Indonesian friend who currently resides and studies there. So I got half of the day with mom following "The Four Winds" (the old Singapore word refers to The Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian influence to the country) and the other half with my lovely friend walking (yes, literally walking and killing my feet) around the central.

So, these are 10 Unplanned Things to do in Singapore through my poladroids camera :P

1. Catch the first wind: The Malay

When you travel with my mom, get ready to have the Mosque tour. Yes, she loves mosques and so do I. So we started the day with dhuha prayer in Sultan Mosque, Kampong Glam.

2. Race for the 2nd wind: The Chinese

This is where to SHOP. If you are looking for the souvenirs, here is the cheapest place you can find in this merlion planet. Random things: I drank 2 cans of A&W root beer here not because it was really hot but because it's cheap and um... the shopping nuance made me wanna spend even the single cents i had :P

3. Hunt the 3rd wind: The Indian

I wanted to go inside! But i had to pay SGD 6 to enter and take pictures, so I just stole the pic from outside. Indian temple never fail to amaze me, and this one I found was so beautiful and mystical. Heaven!

4. Hot day choice: ICE CREAM

I LOVE MAGNUM. However, in Indonesia we dont have Magnum Gold. So when I saw this in Singapore, I just grabbed it. But people, it's expensive :(

5. Local Time!

Yes, exactly! When mom and I dont know where to go, it's time to grab a local and kindly beg him to bring you INSIDE those buildings behind! Including the Marina Bay Sands, the one of largest shopping malls in Singapore. However, always remember that a local will make you WALK. Thanks to Mr. Prima Aulia Gusta, my dearie high school mate, my feet are dead and my shoes are in the trash bin :P

But I love the walk!

6. River tour

Fellow Indonesians, who reside in Jakarta should take this 30 mins boat tour. Because it will end up making us demand the same one for Ciliwung River. Geesh, it was a dirty and smelly river before, with trash and people swimming. Just like our beloved river in Jakarta. It took Singapore 10 years to make it tour-able like now. So yes, 10 years from now on, can we have our "Ciliwung River Tour" dear governor?

7. Must-visit Photo Spot

Thanks to my friend, I gained enough courage to take this picture. It is located in front of the extremely high-class hotel, Fullerton, and recognized as one of the icon of Singapore river. During the previous boat tour, when the guide explained about this spot everyone looked and took picture of the statue. Thus, taking picture with this 5 naked boys (who were jumping into the river, showing us how was the river in the old days) will certainly make me the center of attention. Hahaha.

But I did anyway, and Mr. Gusta :p took a great picture, thanks da boy!

So all of those attention-seeker, try this one in Singapore!

8. Must-visit Icon

The doorman of Raffles Hotel.

Raffles Hotel itself is an iconic hotel of Singapore. Michael Jackson was once stayed there during his visit to Singapore. Its doorman, the big indian guy, is a very iconic man indeed. His face is even there, on the fridge-magnets, sold in a shop in Chinatown. Taking picture with him is listed as one of 20 unique thing to do in Singapore. Well, that left me with another 19 things! :)

9. Must-eat cuisine: CHILI CRAB

All seafood lovers, I STRONGLY recommend you to try this Singaporean cuisine in the street vendor. Not in the big and expensive seafood restaurant. The one i went was right in front of my hotel in Orchard Road and the waiter have the nicest smile ever! That will surely make the night.

Try it! But remember, the street vendor one :)

10. JUMP SHOT

I always do a jump shot. So in Singapore, I picked The Esplanade (the durian-shaped building) to be the background. JUMP!

Credit goes to my amazing photographer, Mr. Prima Aulia Gusta

Makasih ya dabooyyy :)

That was my 2nd day in Singapore. My friend dragged me to many places which made my shoes gave up. I wore my friend's slipper and let him walk barefeet until we find the slipper shop. However, it was a veeeeeery nice unplanned day.

I ended up with lots of pictures taken and stories to be told

Thank you Singapore, see you soon lah :*

Spontaneously Singapore!

Part One: The Unplanned Sentosa

Yes, I did a spontaneous trip to Singapore with my mom last week. She came to my room and asked me to book air ticket. I was very surprised why so sudden, but I logged in to airasia.com and luckily found cheap tickets for both of us. Everything is unplanned. Everything is spontaneous. We tried to book a hotel the day before our flight, but there was technical problem so our booking was cancelled. That makes me and mom looked for the “Hotel Reservation” sign the first thing we arrived.

These 2 homeless ladies finally found a great and not so expensive hotel in Orchard road. However after we put our luggage inside the room, we asked ourselves, what do we wanna do today? It was 2 pm and we didn’t know where to go. Great. I expected mom who’ve been here before to be my tour guide, because I know nothing about this Merlion City. Then mom’s spontaneous brain worked. She went to the tour desk in the lobby and asked about the 1 day tour to Sentosa Island. We planned to go around the city today and go to Sentosa Island. However, the tour lady answered, “The bus to Sentosa will depart in 15 minutes. How about you go now and go to city tomorrow?”

What? Wowow. Plan changed? Just like that?? I looked at mom and she nodded. “Okay, we’ll take it!”

So here we are, on the spontaneous bus ride with our funny tour guide, Mr. Chin. He was wearing pink shirt, as pink as the dolphin we are about to see in Sentosa Island. The tour is charged for SGD 86 per person. It is included the cable ride to the island from Mount Faber Station. It is nice for us, who didn’t know where to go to sit on a tour and let the guide bring us everywhere :P

Here are the places we went during our trip in Sentosa:

1. Underwater World

I love aquarium, and here we can touch big manta rays and sharks. So I was dying with happiness. Here’s also we can watch the pink dolphin attraction. It’s short, only 15 minutes. Because Mr. Chin said many people protested the aquarium staffs gave pressure to the dolphin if the show takes longer time. Yeah, remind me of the Cove.

2. Butterfly Park and Insect Kingdom Museum

One thing I adore from this attraction is how they organize the exhibit. They have outdoor park and indoor museum with collection of butterflies from around the world. It is clean and creatively arranged. Also, the museum is air conditioned! So after a sunny trip in the park, the museum is surely a must-go destination.

3. 4D Movie: Pirates

One thing to say about this: My little brothers will love it SO MUCH.

4. Museum of Singapore

I love museum. This is a wax museum where they explain the mix-culture of Singapore. “The Four Winds” show at the entrance explained how Singapore became a country of Chinese, Malay, Indian and Eurasian. After a visit to this museum, I dream of making one in Indonesia. An Image of Indonesia, a museum of 300 ethnicities.

5. Sky ride to the venue of Songs of the Sea

This is the best part. We took a sky ride (air floating chairs like the one in ski arena) to the beach. Because on the beach that night, we will watch a show called Songs of The Sea. It is a musical laser/fireworks show whom everyone should not miss.

The best part is, because we were early, we got the best seat on the front! Yeah!

That was the unplanned Sentosa trip which was closed with a Indian-dinner in Mustafa street, Little India, Singapore. We didn’t plan the trip today but it ended up as a tiring but amazingly fun journey! With mom, the spontaneously Singapore will still continue J

Stick around!

Singing in Taronga Zoo

(This post is all written in English, due to the nationalities of the starred people :P)

"We got our backyard like Taronga Zoo..", a sequence of Bliss n Eso's Down by the River was playing on my ear. It was my 4th day in Australia, and I was on the ferry with my friend, Tim, going to Taronga Zoo. Tim intendedly shuffle his iPod to that song, just to show me that particular part. The song was about Australia, and it got me thinking, from all places in Aussie, this zoo I'm going is inserted. How great is it actually that Bliss n Eso put it into their song?

Before this trip, I knew nothing about it, except the fact that the zoo is located in different island. So we had to take a ferry from Sydney's Darling Harbour, which departs every 30 minutes, and yes, me and Tim missed it for 3 times.

Then, filled by curiosity, I rushed my dear friend to the gate. Apparently there are two ways to enter, either by bus or by cable rail (what they called by "Sky Safari"). Fortunately, we missed the bus, because i was busy taking pictures in front of the ferry. So we were down to one option which changed my life, the cable rail.

The cable rail or "Kereta Gantung" in Indonesian, brought us up to the upper entrance gate, which located up in the "mountain". You can walk up there actually from the lower entrance gate, but we were lazy and we wanted to see the zoo from above, that's what a Sky Safari is for yeah?

I saw exhibits of elephant, gorilla and others from the cable rail, while locating the places we wanted to go. While doing that, I looked to my back and realized, there was a beautiful scenery of Sydney as the background of our cable ride. So I came up with and idea.

"Tim, how about we record a video of us singing Hey Soul Sister inside the cable rail???"

Tim agreed, but he said we would do it later, after we finish the sightseeing. Okay, so we'll record it when we're going down.

Then, long story short, after we finished walking around, taking pictures and petting wallabies, we got on the cable rail for the 2nd time, but this time, we're going down. So yes, we sat down, with Sydney Opera House and Harbor Bridge as the background, we set our camera. Then we clicked record.

"Hey ey! Hey ey ey ey ey, Hey ey ey ey ey!"

"Your lipstick stains, on the front lobe of my left side brains...."

That was it. We were singing the whole verse of "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, out loud. We finished the whole song when out cable rail reached the ground.

However, this is when the story got more interesting.

When we got out, one zoo officer (a big guy with Taronga Zoo jacket and a walkie talkie) asked us.

"Were you guys singing?"

OOOPSS! He heard us! Did we sing too loud?

I did my worried look to Tim, and he just replied with a big grin. Damn you.

"Yea", Tim answered.

"What's the title?", asked the big guy again.

O-oh! Are we in trouble? (My hand started sweating)

"H-Hey Soul Sister", I answered.

Just when I thought he'll let us go, he asked another question, "How is it???"

I, who didnt understand what he meant, was about to answer: yea it's a good song, but then Tim's words changed my life.

"Dissa, you'll do it", he said with commanding eyes.

EH?

Do what?

Sing it?

Noooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!

But I sang it anyway.

Just when I started to open my mouth, that big guy (who I wish I know the name) took out his walkie talkie and put it in front of my face. Whoaa!

I finished one verse for him and he looked happy and clapped, hahaha.

I felt so like killing Tim right now because he also clapped. Geesh, man! I needed you to sing with me! Because apparently when I sang the screen of the walkie talkie said "Sky Safari Taronga Zoo". Let's just hope my voice is not actually heard all over the cable rail route, or the worst, the whole zoo. Because I'm sure people will think there was a chimpanzee singing :P