“What to do in Singapore if you don’t feel like shopping?”

A weekend getaway in Singapore

Everybody knows that Singapore is a heaven for a shopaholic. But, when you don’t feel like shopping, you might be wondering what to do in such a small city with all the big shopping malls around?

If you want to have a nice and relaxing weekend in Singapore, perhaps you can follow my route. Hehehe.. This is what I did last weekend in Singapore. Quite relaxing and I managed not to buy any clothes and bags! Yiipppeee… Give me some applause, please! :D

On Friday night, I had dinner at The Ivory, a very nice Indian Restaurant located in Clarke Quay. The restaurant is quite fancy and the food is amazing. Highly recommended for those who love Indian food. I don’t have any complains at all on the food and they have several selections for vegetarians too, which is just perfect! ☺

Feels like burning some fat after dinner? Clubbing is the answer! Shwita, Budi, Andreas and the gang wanted to try a new club called “The Rouge”. So, all of us went there. The Rouge is located in the Emerald Hill, Orchard Road. The place itself has two different rooms. The first one is sort of a lounge, with some jazz music. I didn’t go in to this part of the club, though… but the music sounded really nice from outside.
My friends and I were all gathered on the second floor, which was the club. When I got there, they played RnB music. I loved it! There were two dancers dancing on the stage as well.

Surprisingly, this is not an ordinary club. They have a live band that plays… rock music! Oh noooooo… I don’t like rock music! I love Coldplay though, but not heavy rock music. So, when the DJ stopped spinning and the live band started playing.. uhm.. it made me come to think that probably this wasn’t the right place for me. Hehe… Well, don’t take me wrong, the band was really good. They played very well, seriously. I had to admit. I enjoyed some of the songs they played, but not when they started to play the heavy ones.


For those who love RnB music, try to visit a new club called “Butter Factory”. Ikhsan and his friends took me there. I looooveeeee this club sooo much! Butter Factory is located in Robertson Quay, near Gallery Hotel. The interior design is interesting. It has a funky-Japanese-cartoon characters-kinda style. I was very impressed by it. Too bad I didn’t bring a camera! Lots of cartoon characters decorate the ceilings on the first floor. Loved ‘em. Very creative, indeed.

The second floor of Butter Factory is also nicely decorated by colorful walls (of course with cartoon figures everywhere). So damn nice! The music was good as well. The DJ played good RnB music. And not to mention the crowd. Oohh.. it’s so happening! It seemed that everybody was very into the music and enjoying the vibe of the club. Love it. I had so much fun there. I think it’s the coolest club I’ve ever been, by far ☺.

If you want to have a lazy Saturday, recovering from the crazy Friday night, you can choose one of the cafes in Esplanade. For me, since I woke up quite late, I’d rather go to the bookstore. Went to Borders and bought some books there. I could spend hours in this place and felt like buying everything! Hahaha.. (the problem is: when will I read all of them?)

Oyeah, forgot to tell you that I tried some Indian vegetarian meals in a restaurant located in Little India, called Raj Restaurant. It's a vegetarian restaurant and apparently it's quite famous among Indian community in Singapore. Almost all of their guests are Indians! Oh, the food is amazing too.. if you're a vegetarian like me, you should try to find this place. You'll love it :)

Saturday night wasn’t complete without clubbing (again?!). Hehehe.. There are many clubs in Singapore. My suggestions: Attica, Ministry of Sound, Velvet, Zouk, Asia Bar.

Attica in Clarke Quay is my favorite. I love the place and the crowd ☺. Ministry of Sound is nice as the club is huge. They have several rooms with different type of music. It’s always happening there.

Zouk was the icon of Singapore for nightlife. But now its era is almost gone, I think. (considering MOS is around plus there are new clubs in Vivo City called Dragon Fly and St James Park). The crowd in Zouk is younger than in Velvet. So, if you don’t want to be surrounded with bunch of college students, I suggested that you go to Velvet instead.

Velvet is nice and fancy. You won’t see youngsters here (below 20 years old). I used to love the music here but somehow when we were there on Saturday, the DJ wasn’t satisfying.

Asia Bar has the most stunning view as it’s located on the top of a hotel. It has a fancy interior design as well. Nice place. But I didn’t go to Asia Bar on this trip. I heard that it wasn’t as happening as it used to. Ahhh.. that’s too bad. But it’s always like that in this kind of business, isn’t it? When new clubs open, then people started to go and check the new places.. and forget the old ones. C’est la vie..

What to do on Sunday? Well, if you tired of Orchard Road, you can always try to visit Vivo City, the newest mall in Singapore. But hey, oyeah, I forgot… no shopping this time! You can go to Sentosa Island, like what we did, tried the cable car, ludge and sky car. It was fun. Then, took a bit of a walk in Vivo City.

Where shall we go for dinner? It’s a classic question. One of my fave restaurants in Singapore is IndoChine. But this time, Shwita threw an idea to dine at Minoti, an Italian restaurant in City Hall. So, five of us were there, enjoying the good Italian food while having a lil bit of chat about everything (about work mostly… booooo!!!)

Not far from the restaurant, there was a HUGE Christmas tree. No wonder almost everyone who passed by, grabbed their digital camera/camera phone to take picture. First I didn’t know what the hell were those guys doing.. taking pictures of buildings or what?
After we finished dinner and went outside the restaurant, then I knew what the fuzz was all about. Hehehe..

Singapore in Christmastime is nice and full of Xmas lights. You’d love walking in Orchard Road during this special season of the year. Xmas decoration everywhere and the lightings are just beautiful. You’ll see people taking pictures along the Orchard Road, posing in front of a big fairy-tale-kind of looking book, or in front of big gold oak tree, or gold Xmas tree with lots of branches full of imitated money. Maybe you think it’s weird, but.. uhm… I guess Asian people in general are really bad with pictures! We just loooovee to take pictures everywhere and everytime! Hahaha.. (especially some pictures maniac like me and some of my girlfriends!) :P

After dinner, if you still have the energy to chill out with friends, you can go to Chijmes. It’s just across Menoti. I also love this place as it has lots of restaurants and bars and the vibe is just so relaxing and romantic (especially in the evening). You can sit outside, in the garden. The place is perfect for a garden party/cocktail party/wedding party (Shwita broad the latter option. Hahaha!) I could picture people walking around the garden, greet each other while having a wine or cocktail glass on their hands. Ah, so nice! :D We had drinks and sat outside at a café called Le Baroque. Aaron joined the gals. Hehehe…

So, that was my relaxing weekend in Singapore. It felt very nice as it was completely a short-getaway, no working stuff whatsoever (normally I go to Singapore for business trips). Many thanks to my friends who always entertain me every time I go to Singapore (Shwita, Budi, Ikhsan, Aaron, the newly wed: Georgine, Bejo) Hehehe.. Love ya, guys! :* :*
C ya around! Smooches! xxx

DreAmS

What is dream?

For me, dream has two meanings: a series of scenes that I “experience” when I sleep and things that I want to experience or achieve in a real life.

This time I will only discuss the latter definition of dream.

Some people live in their dreams for too long and don’t realize that they’ve gone too far. It’s like living in their own world. They become unrealistic and “unreachable”.

On the contrary, there are people who afraid to have dreams. I talked to several people who don’t know what they want in life nor what they want to achieve. They simply live their life day by day without knowing where it leads them. Well, it’s true that most of the time we don’t know what will happen to us, but for me, having an objective is important as it avoids me from feeling completely lost. At least I know where I’m heading to… and for sure there will be unexpected things coming along the way-- favorable and unfavorable ones – but that will be another task to take care of.

I realize that I have many dreams. There are just so many of them. And sometimes it makes me feel as if I’m living in two worlds at the same time. How can I manage my life to make those dreams come true? I realize that life is short. Thus, I really have to manage my life and time smartly.

Some of my dreams have come true (thanked God!). That’s where I allow the two worlds to draw near. Actually, there is a bridge that links what I do with what I would love to do. And then, slowly, my dreams take over my everyday life and I realize that I’m ready for the things I always wanted.

To make my dreams come true, I notice that all I needed is a little daring and faith. And the two worlds can become one. (sometimes I still need to remind myself about this, especially whenever I feel down)

So, let’s not be afraid of having dreams. Dreams motivate us to grow. But, always try not to dream too much without doing anything real. Let’s try to build the bridge that links the two worlds together. Pieces by pieces, step by step… as this bridge will eventually brings us to our dream world, in real.

And I still need that bridge to take me to the dreams that haven’t come true… yet.

I’m working on it.

This post is dedicated to a dear friend of mine…

Which one is more miserable: being with someone that you don’t love or being with no one?

My answer is: being with no one.

I’d rather being single than being with someone that I’m not fully in love with. I can imagine that it will be such a torture every time I have to see the person or spend the time together, yet on the other hand my heart isn’t fully there…

Therefore, I feel sorry for you, my dear friend…

You said it yourself that you’re not in love with your partner. You’re not even sure whether you want to spend the rest of your life with the person. I can understand that you don’t want to hurt the person, but… since I’m your best friend, I’d love to remind you… please don’t hurt yourself… don’t force to love your partner if you can’t.

Stay true to yourself.
I’m sure that you actually know the answer of all these puzzles.
You’re just afraid to admit it.
You’re just afraid to say NO to someone who is so fragile
You’re afraid because your partner has become so dependent on you
In which, you told me, it’s quite troublesome in the end

Since you often asked me: “What should I do?”
As your best friend, I would say: just be honest. If you feel the “relationship” isn’t right for you, just cut it off. Before you’re carried away and put yourself in a deeper hole, in which it’ll be difficult to escape…

Some people feel uncomfortable to be single
Some people try to feel secured by having a girlfriend/boyfriend
But… why do we have to feel unsecured of being alone?
Why do we need other person to feel complete and content?
Does it mean that we’re not even close to ourselves?
Does it mean that we’re not even feel comfortable to spend the time only with ourselves?

I was afraid to be alone once
But years ago, a conversation with a good friend of mine made me realized that I don’t need to be afraid of that (thanks to Nugi! ☺)
As long as I stay close to myself, I can enjoy any situation, with or without a partner by my side ☺

My dear friend,
Probably you’re afraid of being “alone”
I know it’s uneasy and that’s normal
One time, you told me that people needed to express their passions
Which is true
But, don’t you think it’s better to save your passions and express it to someone who you’re fully attracted and in love with?

Can’t you think that pretending to love someone is worse than telling the truth?

I hope you find a clarity, dear
And have the guts to fight for your own feelings
Sacrifice isn’t always a good thing
You call it a compromise, but you know it by heart that it’s a sacrifice
Can you stand to sacrifice your happiness for the rest of your life?
While for the past few months you’ve been already complaining about your current situation, all these dilemmas and confusions?

Please don’t hurt yourself
I know it takes time to collect all the small pieces of courage together,
that are now still scattered on each corner of your heart
But, when the time comes… be brave
As everyone has to fight for their own battle ;)
And I’ll be here for you
To cheer you up and witness your bravery
When you win the battle that has been disrupting your heart
All these months

Take care and be true to yourself, my dear friend
I'd love to see real happiness in your eyes...

MiRaCLeS

Do you believe in miracles?
I do.

I notice that some people don’t believe in miracles, but that’s ok. I will not try to persuade anyone to change his/her perception. It’s his/her call.

Why am I discussing about miracles now? I don’t know. I’m just sitting here @ my bedroom and thinking about how funny my life is. Hehehe.. and suddenly I remember that sometimes-weird things happened. Unexplainable ones…

There was a time when I was actively involved in two charity clubs. Ramadhan season was the busiest season for me, even though I’m not a Moslem. Every week at least there were two orphanages that we visited (one orphanage for each charity club). One time, we were planning to take numbers of orphans to break the fast at a fast food restaurant. Everything was settled: the venue, numbers of children, the meals, etc. Everything, except the transportation. We were preparing this from weeks ahead, but at that time we had difficulties in finding public transportation to rent. Every single day I received such hopeless reports from my colleagues.

Damn! What should we do? We already tried everything, but the result was zero. One day before the D-day, I was sitting alone in my office feeling hopeless. Didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know to whom I should ask for a favor anymore. Didn’t have any idea how would we solve this issue.

But, suddenly, my phone rang. A woman’s voice greeted me and said, “Hello, is this Nila? I heard that your charity club is having an event tomorrow. I’m just wondering whether I could contribute something”.

Then I said, “Oh yeah.. sure. Anything will do. But, honestly, we still don’t have any transportation to take the orphans to the venue and take them back to their orphanage…”

The woman on the other line said, “Ahh.. what a coincidence! I own a transportation company. I have some busses that you can use. How many busses do you need?”

I said, “One or two busses should be enough, depends on the seats. How much should we pay for one bus? And do you also provide a driver?”

She said, “Ohhh Nila.. don’t worry. I’ll give it for free. Just tell me how many busses do you need? I will also provide the drivers. You can use the busses as long as you want. The drivers will take those kids to the venue, wait there and then take them back to their place”.

…

Speechless. I couldn’t believe what I just heard.
She offered me everything for free. I didn’t even know her and I had no idea how she knew my mobile number. Perhaps she got my number from our website, but hey… what a coincidence that she called up just at the right time!

I was stunned. Still speechless after hang up the phone and felt so relieved at the same time. The phone call was the answer of my prayer. I thanked God for that… big time.

The next day, there were two busses parking in front of our meeting place, complete with the drivers, ready to serve us.

And I stood there. Amazed. Felt blessed and couldn’t stop thinking how lucky we were!
At that time, I realized that God would always help us, thus, we shouldn’t worry about anything.

This story also reminded me of a phrase, “Don’t be afraid of tomorrow. God is already there”.

I always remember this phrase whenever I feel worried, nervous, or afraid of something. It convinces me that everything is going to be just fine… ☺ Even in the most difficult situation, He would be there to help us.

Everything is possible. So, don’t lose faith. Miracles do exist, even in this insane world ☺. At least that’s what I think. The story above is only one simple true story that happened in my life. There are many more… and still more to come ☺

as time goes by
I never known why I'm here

just remembering when I slept with cold
without any expectation for gold

I just need a friend
who talk to me without bluff

honest
passion
cheerful and peace

friend
is more valuable than anything
including you are
my friend, my nice one

by Totot, an old friend of mine :)

ConveyinG The RighT SiGnaLs

This time I wanna share something about conveying the right signals to other people. Do you guys notice that sometimes we convey wrong signals to other people and at the end those people get totally wrong ideas on what we want or how we feel?

I do that sometimes as well. For example, I was bored as hell in the middle of a conversation with someone but I still put a smile on my face. I acted as if I was interested to what he said, in which wasn’t true. I wasn’t even listening! It’s called pseudo-listening. And it’s not a good thing because the other person will think that we understand the topic and interested in it. It will make him talk even more about the boring topic. Oh no!!! Of course it will be the last thing on earth that we wish for at that very moment, aight? :p

I still remember one day I had drinks with my new friend. It was 5.30pm and we had nice conversations until we were hungry and wanted to grab something to eat. Then we went to a nice restaurant and had dinner there. Again, we discussed about everything, from books to philosophical stuffs. Quite a serious conversation actually, but it was nice. When I looked at my watch, it was midnight already! Wow, time flies and I had an appointment with my friends to go clubbing. Hehehe.. He wanted to join us as he claimed that he also loved to party.

But then, you know what… it turned out to be a disaster, because even in the club, he was still insisting to discuss about books and those serious stuffs! Topics that I didn’t want to discuss in a CLUB! Can you imagine, at 3am in the morning he was still trying to impress me with his intelligence, while what I wanted to do at that time was dancing with my friends?? Especially when the DJ was playing my favorite tracks! Oh my goodness… it was terrible! And I couldn’t say anything because I didn’t want to hurt him. So, I could only stand there, trying to listen to him and nodding once in a while, acting as if he was discussing something that could draw my interests.

Wrong decision!

I wouldn’t suggest you to do the same as it would only torture you. Well, sometimes I left him alone with my friend, while I went to see my other friends who were standing at the other side of the club. I did that couple of times, but he just couldn’t read between the lines. Yup. Sometimes people aren’t sensitive and cannot read between the lines. In that case, we should tell them bluntly on how we feel and don’t give wrong body language. Pseudo-listening isn’t recommended.

Last night my friend told me that he lost interest on his girlfriend. Yet, the funny thing is that his girlfriend had no idea whatsoever on what he felt. She was still feeling head over heals toward their relationship. *Some people just cannot read between the lines*
But, perhaps, could it also be because of he didn’t convey the right signal to his girlfriend? It’s possible.

He didn’t want to hurt her. That was the reason. That’s why he gave “wrong” signals to his girlfriend, acted as if he was still into her. No wonder his girlfriend got a totally wrong idea on how he felt toward her. Ooopsssieee..
Terrible. Indeed. I felt sorry for his girlfriend, and him.

So, I told him that he should be honest to his girlfriend. Of course it might hurt her, but it would happen eventually, sooner or later. The sooner the better. “And stop conveying the wrong signal to your girlfriend”, I said. Because it would hurt her even more when she found out that everything was fake.

From our conversation last night, I realized how important it is to deliver the right signal to other people. It’s better to say what we want and express what we think clearly. It’s ok to be straight-forward. As direct as as the Dutch. Hehehe.. I prefer that way. Especially knowing that some people just are not sensitive and have difficulties in reading between the lines.

We don’t want my friend’s experience happens in our life, do we? ;)

So, I try to keep this sentence in mind: “If I don’t convey the right signals, the right body language, the right message to other people, then I’ll be in trouble”. Ouch! Dangerous!

BaLi, LomBoK and GiLi TraWanGaN - SuMMer HoLiDaY 2006

Hey guys, I'd love to share some pictures of my summer holiday (yeah right, it's always summer here in Indonesia!) in Bali, Lombok and Gili Trawangan. I guess the pictures speak for themselves! ;)

If you haven't been to Lombok and Gili Trawangan island, you should try to visit these islands! Breathtaking views, untouched beauty... virgin beaches with white sands and mountains as the background of the whole picture... mmmmm.. imagine yourself being there! Definitely the perfect places to lay back and relax. Enjoy summer time, everyone... let's get some tanned! ;)


top: Dreamland, Bali


top: Senggigi Beach, Lombok




top: Mount Agung and the sunset view from Lombok


top: The boat that took me to Gili Trawangan from Lombok (it took 1.5 hours from the Senggigi Beach). So, this was the view when I just arrived in Gili Trawangan island. Beautiful. Definitely.


top: My favorite picture so far. Gili Trawangan.


top: Gili Trawangan's kids chilling out


top: The sunset and the rain next to it. Gili Trawangan. Amazing!


top: Gili Trawangan


top: It's me! hehehe.. *narcist* Last day in Gili Trawangan

with love,