Bali Short Getaway

Two girls, beach, and the sky

Just spent the last four days in Bali. It's not school holidays yet but since the girls just finished their three-day final exam, I think we needed to skip a little bit from this hectic Jakarta.

Bali Botanical Garden at Bedugul

Bali will always be one of our best holiday destination. Lots of different activities to do. You have so many options. You just choose the suitable one for you. One thing that amazed us is Bali's traffic jam. It's getting really worst. If in the old days we could visit several tourist spots in one day but now maximum two destinations per day are already the best thing we can do.

GWK is still fascinating

We're grateful that we stayed at Kuta Regency Villa. This villa is my girls' favorite since it has a private pool for every villa. Najla as a swimmer addict was very happy and seemed to just stay there forever lol.

Kecak Dance at Uluwatu is still the best

The villa's location is quite strategic. It takes only 15 minutes to go to and from the airport. Moreover Kuta beach and all the shops are within walking distance. We can have a walk  and enjoy one peaceful morning at the beach everyday. Such a beautiful life.

A cozy cafe nearby our villa

A New Apple Slicer

A friend who just returned from a business trip in Singapore brought me this apple slicer from Ikea. A store which always makes its customers happy, especially me. Just heard the rumours that soon, by the end of this month, Ikea will be open here, at Alam Sutera, Tangerang. Hope that's true. Can't hardly wait.

Back to this cute-greeny apple slicer, I love it.  I am not really into vegetables therefore I am not a vegetarian but more on fruitarian. In order to balance my food, I try to consume as many fruits as possible. And this apple slicer is quite useful for us. Now every time we want to eat apple, just get this slicer and tada...the apple is ready within seconds, haha...thanks a lot dear Rina :)

Stalking Indonesia

Title: Stalking Indonesia

Author: Margareta Astaman

Publisher: Kompas

Publication date: January 2014

200 pages 

I always enjoy Margareta Astaman a.k.a Margie's writing. She has her unique yet witty way to deliver everything even the most serious issue. I knew her work when I happened to read her first book After Orchard, a very informative story about being a college student in Singapore and all other interesting stuff that I never heard before that finally changed my mind towards Singapore.

In her latest book, Margie told us about her travelling experiences. Don't worry, this is not the kind of guidance book about where to go or which places to visit. This is a personal journal of a travelling junkie who loved to visit lots of different places in Indonesia from the most common one like Bali until Lajukang Island, a small island in Makassar. At every place she visited, it's always something to ponder. 

As a real stalker (that's how Margie labels herself), she observed everything thoroughly. Some of her writings make me dying to visit the places while others force me to directly delete them from my traveling destination list..haha..Margie could be a bit extreme sometime in describing how awful a place is.

At the end, this book puts me into a mixed of feeling: proud to be Indonesian with its amazingly beautiful places and at the same time also so very sad to notice that government seem not really care about those tourist spots. Actually it's still same old boring issue such as the transportation, accommodation, maintenance of the places, lack of promotion and also the problem from local tourist attitude who usually cause many destruction to some tourist spot. 

An alternative traveling book. Fun and inspiring.  

Anak-anak Revolusi: Buku 2

Author: Budiman Sudjatmiko

Publisher: Gramedia

Publication date: April 2014

594 pages

I am not really into politics. Although I always keep myself updated with some political news but it's all only for the sake of  knowing what's going on in our beloved country and also other parts of the globe. But the latest issues on presidential election is absolutely not my things, in fact I feel fed up looking  at the black campaign over other president candidates, the unfair coalition, the conspiracy and the like. 

The reason why I continue reading the sequel of Budiman Sudjatmiko's memoir is to know what exactly happened on President Soeharto's  last days before he was toppled down. As usual this book took me on another interesting life story. The life of a rebel, an activist, a convict (3,5 years in jail), an overseas student, the process until becoming a parliament members, the inspiring meeting with some Latin America presidents, attending Obama's inauguration, assisting and supporting victims of land conflict, and most important part: romance, fall in love, broken heart, yes ...an activist is also an ordinary human being who might be having galau moments, then getting married, and ...other bits and pieces, the struggle is still going on since life goes on, people move on. All in all life is all risks, take the risk than you'll learn about life. 

This Buku 2 is also as enjoyable as Buku 1 and tell you what the book is not finished yet, it has another sequel. Well...it's worth the wait since there are not many books in Indonesia that telling the activist life as detailed as this one. Inspriring.

A Little Girl in a Blue Hat

Zea and and her classmates have a routine activity called home-visit. It's a visit to one of their classmates' home. They do lots of different things there such as studying, playing, enjoying break and lunch and of course having fun together. They also will have a kind of souvenir to bring home. Usually it is a handmade craft. Just a simple craft but as they make it themselves, it leaves them with a huge pride.

A couple days ago Zea went home with a very happy face. She said she just made a super-cute hat. She hurriedly opened her backpack and showed me the hat. Yep..it's quite cute baby however I think she put too many ornaments on the hat (okay, this is too serious comment for a six-year-old girl therefore I keep this comment by heart..lol). Until to date the blue hat is still claimed as her favorite hair accessory. It's still there on her head day and night. Enjoy the hat sweety!!!     

Our Weekend Perfect Company

Tired and bored with mass-product-jam that spreads all around Jakarta market, out of the blue I just missed Oma Anna handmade organic jam. The product is unique with its special taste, organic fruit and no preservative. I ordered it online via its website and the next day the jam arrived. Well...I guess we just found the right company for our weekend. Happy weekend everyone!!!