Behind The Screen: "The Beauty of Dieng Plateau"

I'd love to share some beautiful pictures of Dieng Plateau, Central Java. The landscape is very breathtaking. Worth to visit! Seriously.

If you want to see more of these beautiful scenery, don't miss "Melancong Yuk" on Saturday, 9 February 2007 at 6.30am WIB on SCTV ;)









Beautiful, aren't they? Those pictures were taken on top of Sikunir Mountain, one of the mountains in Dieng Plateau. We had to wake up at 4am to go there, climbed the mountain (it took about 30 minutes to go up there. I must say, it wasn't easy to get up there!) and dealt with the cold (around 10 degrees Celcius -- it's cold for an Indonesian girl who's used to the warm temperature in Jakarta) :P hehehe..

In Dieng Plateau, apart from enjoying the stunning scenery, one can visit the oldest Hindhus temples in Central Java. There are Bima Temple, Arjuna Temple, etc. Indonesians are very superstitious, so it is advisable to behave politely and not saying bad words in this area. Guess what, our car's break was broken after visiting these temples! And also, on the way from Wonosobo to Yogya, the radiator's temperature was heated, so we had to stay for a while in the middle of nowhere until it's cooling down. You can call it a misfortune, but a lot of Indonesians believe in superstitious things. (there's other story about this, but i'll tell you later if I have time... hehehe.. will update this post soon, I have to run now! :P)

Anyway, the trip to Dieng Plateau was nice. I really enjoyed it. The fresh air, the landscape, the historical places, everything comes in a nice package! Bring your winter jacket if you don't want to be freezing cold up there yah! ^-^

Behind The Screen of “Melancong Yuk”: Malaysia Episodes :)

“Malaysia… Is it Really Trully Asia?"

You can answer the question on the title after reading this post and after watching the show. This time, the crew members -- Anca (producer), Bambang Triyono (cameraman) and myself (host) – went to Malaysia to witness the opening of Floral Festival 2007, one of the programs of Visit Malaysia 2007. The Malaysia Tourism Board invited SCTV, two other TV stations and 7 printed media from Indonesia to go there. I was surprised to see that the government actually invited more than 190 journalists from all over the world to promote the country. Wow. Was wondering, would my country spend that amount of budget to promote our tourism? Hmm.. I doubt it.

Wanna read my comments on the five days trip in Malaysia? Read here
to understand what we've been through during the filming.

With all the hassle, as a host of a traveling program, I still had to be able to smile in front of the camera, even though I felt disappointed with the conditions there. As a team, we – producer, cameraman and host – had to think hard on angles as we had to bring the audience to see some interesting places in Malaysia, even with lots of limitations due to all the restrictions from the places, tour guide and the board. Below are some pictures and brief stories that I’d love to share with you.

Cocoa Boutique. For chocolate lovers, you should come here! This boutique is the biggest chocolate shop in Malaysia and it has hundreds of chocolate’s varieties. My favorite is durian flavor! The best part is that you can taste all the chocolates for free. Awesome, huh?!






Little India. I really enjoyed myself when filming in Little India. Probably because we were all sick and tired with the restrictions for the past 3 days, we decided to do something funny and stupid. Watch the show yourself. Hopefully you’ll like it ;).
When filming here, we drew so many attentions from people, who were mostly Indian! It really felt like I was in India…


Putrajaya. It’s a central government district. The whole area is so clean and quiet. Lots of big and nice buildings, mostly built by Malaysian architects. The pink mosque is unique as it’s built on top of a lake, so the temperature inside the mosque is cool. It doesn’t even need an air con. I got a chance to take the “dondang sayang” boat ride around the lake, of course after trying to convince the PR staff that the whole purpose was to promote Malaysia (firstly they didn’t allow us to tape anything while taking the boat ride and asked for a letter from the tourism board -- which we didn’t have one).


Batu Caves Temple. It’s highly recommended to go there. I was stunned as soon as I got there. Seeing steep cliffs and a temple inside a cave were just amazing. There were 276 steps to get into the temple, so make sure u wear comfortable shoes/sandals! ☺ It’s really worth to go to this place, especially during the Thaipussam celebration (the first day of an Indian year). I explained more about this celebration and the temple in the show. Watch the show to get more explanation and see how beautiful the place is.

Merdeka Square is very beautiful at night. The lights create a romantic kinda feeling. I love it. We made a funny scene here. I did a crazy thing and even the cameraman couldn't stand not to laugh when filming (I don't know if the editor decided to put this scene on the show as the camera was shaking. Hihihi.. I think, they will still put it on the show :D)

Genting Highlands are also a tourist destination. It’s a fun place where we can take different rides indoor and if the weather is nice, you can take a roller coaster and other heart pumping outdoor activities as well. The temperature is pretty cold there. So, don’t forget to bring a jacket or sweater otherwise you’ll be freezing cold! Hehhee.. Oyeah, I also tried the wall-climbing here. It was so scary at first, knowing that it's the tallest indoor wall-climbing in Southeast Asia. But, after I stepped my feet on the wall, it wasn't that difficult. Thanks to my gym instructor who used to make my days at the gym were miserable. Hahaha!


As for shopping, apart from KLCC and other big shopping malls in the city, one can go to Petaling Street or Central Market to buy some souvehttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifnirs. Don’t forget to bargain yah! ☺ And.. for nightlife, Jalan P. Ramlee is the place to go. This street is so happening, there are several clubs, lounges, bars and cafes. It’s really packed during the weekend. Lots of young and trendy people walk around the street, trying to get in to the hottest club/bar in town. Are you a party animal? You should check this street out when you’re in KL! ;)

Want to see other interesting places in Kuala Lumpur? Watch “Melancong Yuk”, Malaysia episodes on Saturday, 3rd Feb and Sunday, 4th Feb at 6.30am WIB on SCTV.
It will be two different episodes, highlighting different places of KL city and its surrounding areas. Make sure you wake up early this weekend to watch the show! ;)

If you live abroad, you can see the shows at http://www.liputan6.com/.

"Melancong Yuk!"

What is "Melancong Yuk!" ??

It is a traveling program in SCTV, one of TV channels in Indonesia, produces by Liputan 6 team. SCTV started airing this program in mid 2006, every Sunday at 6.30am. For the past 6 months, they have been visiting many places in Indonesia, highlighting interesting places in the country that are worth to visit for those who want to spend their holidays.

Last month, SCTV appointed me to be their new presenter for this program. So, starting from January 2007, I'll be hosting it. Yiipppeee.. Am sooo happy as I always wonder how it feels like to be a host for a traveling program, since I LOVE traveling so much. :D And, now.. I have the opportunity to be one. Oh, ain’t it cool?


Apparently, being a TV presenter isn’t as easy as I thought. Four days of shooting in Sukabumi – Pelabuhan Ratu – Ujung Genteng were so colorful and full of unexpected things. I had to walk for miles in a slippery and stony path, observed the nature around me then explained it to the camera [read: audience] that always ready capturing the moment; swam in an icy water under a waterfall and waited there for a while until the cameraman finished taking different angles of the waterfall (damn it was freezing cold!); woke up at 5.30am and be ready to take some shots or continue our journey (note: wake up early isn’t my thing at all!); sat quietly at the back of a military truck that brought us to Pangumbahan Beach in the middle of a stormy night to find giant turtles that were laying their eggs; almost carried away by the current when I had to learn surfing; and many many more…

Apart from that, speaking in front of the camera itself is another interesting subject. For this program, I asked SCTV that I wanted to write my own script. But then, writing and speaking are two different things. I had to repeat what I said for a couple of times as they needed two versions, at least, for each scene. Sometimes the director said, “Cut! Retake”, when I slipped my tongue or lost my words (yeah, it happened many times! Hehehe…). Plus, while thinking on what to say, I had to be aware of my body language, be expressive, spoke clearly, and adjusted the facial expressions depending on each situation. Ckckck… (oh, now I have a different opinion towards movie stars! :P)

However, I had lots of fun and learned a lot from those four-days trip. It was definitely a whole new experience for me. And I guess, the whole crew (Mas Gunawan as the Executive Producer, Mas Iwan Gunawan as the program director, Bondan as the cameraman, Vino as the audioman and Mas Ahong as the driver who took us everywhere) also enjoyed the fun, especially when seeing me falling down into a giant turtle’s hole when it was just finished laying its eggs!!! Hahaha!!! What an incident! Fortunately, the giant turtle already covered its eggs with earth, so there were safe ☺. But it was me who left in shocked! And instead helping, everyone just couldn’t stop laughing. Gosh… I bet it was funny as hell :))

On top of that, I think I’m so lucky to be able to have two of my dream jobs at the same time. A PR consultant in a reputable PR consultancy, a profession that I always wanted since high school, and a presenter for a traveling program, a profession that I’ve been dreaming of, especially every time I watch the Travel and Living Journal, my fave TV channel. Hehehe..


This program airs every Saturday and Sunday at 6.30am WIB and I will take turn with a male presenter, Ferly Junandar, to host the show.

And... My first gig will be aired next Sunday, 7 January 2007 at 6.30am WIB on SCTV. Don’t miss it yaaahh!!! (hihi… promosi lhooo!!) ;D

ps: You can also see it on http://www.liputan6.com/

CynicaL ThouGhts AbOuT MeN

I realize that I’m having a difficulty in trusting men. Especially in the last couple of months. A lot of people said that all men are jerks. Before, I wouldn’t take this phrase seriously coz I believe that we shouldn’t make a generalization out of it. But these days, I started to believe that all men are jerks. Even though I wanted so hard to think the opposite.

A conversation with my kindergarten friend had shocked me a month ago. Apparently, many guys around us weren’t as innocence as we thought they were. Living in a big city with having a well-paid job is obviously has its own temptation. Yes. Temptation = Girls. What else?

I think, men just can’t resist the temptation of seeing nice, pretty, sexy girls around them, even though if they already have partners. They’re like animals. They just follow their instincts. Sex, is all they wanted.

What a shame. My friends’ and my own life experiences have taught me that it was difficult to find a loyal man. Someone that is loyal to his/her partner. Even a very nice guy that I’m least expected to be unfaithful is also doing the same thing. And they will do and try EVERYTHING to get you.

A conversation with Olivier through MSN, while I was packing my stuff on my last night in Singapore, provided me with a strong confirmation that all the guys want in this world is freedom. They will run away from you if you try to lock them in your cupboard. Perhaps it’s true that if you love someone you’ve gotta set them free.
But, how free? Isn’t that if we’ve committed to someone we can’t be as free as a bird anymore?

Olivier then shared his friend’s experiences. A couple. Out of the blue, the guy told his girlfriend that he wanted to have sex with other girls. Of course the girl was shocked. But then, eventually, they decided to give freedom to each other, meaning that they can have sex to anyone they want. (Hmm.. it reminded me of a story in Paulo Coelho’s book, titled “The Zahir”)

Anyway, in the end, this couple lives a happy life. Both of them are satisfied with their relationship. I don’t know whether you can call it a healthy one, but at least it works and both of them are very transparent about it. Well, it’s not something new, I know. I’ve heard about these things many times, but it’s just hard to imagine having such a relationship. And perhaps, I just don’t want one. There it goes, another true story that freaks me out about relationship and commitment.

Couple of days ago, another friend told me her story. She had a crush with a guy who lives in a different part of the world. When they finally met after months, she found out that the guy was cheating on her. Of course we can’t blame the guy nor the girl as long distance relationship has always been an issue for thousands of couples in the world. But, she just didn’t expect that a guy that she thought would be the nicest guy on earth could turn out to be just the same as those guys out there: jerks, unfaithful. He even dared to ask the girl to make love with him after telling that he has been seeing (and still) another girl! Gosh! What a story!

On the closing of her email, she wrote me this beautiful paragraph:
"Thank God for showing me this before everything is too late. Before I’m falling into a deeper love hole. Thank God that love isn’t there yet. Thank God that we’ve separated hundreds miles and that what made us apart. Thank God that when I see him now, I can see him from the other side of the fence. Thank God for showing me the light…" :)

I think what she wrote is wonderful. She still could see the positive side of her sadness. And for this, I envy her.

Maybe it’s true that most guys are jerk. So, girls, let’s not give them 100% of our trust or else we’ll be ended up smashed in little pieces. Again, as I said in the beginning of this post, it’s kinda sad to say it coz I really want to believe that not all them are bad/jerks. But hey, THEY ADMIT it themselves. So? Well, I guess, the lesson learnt here is that I just have to be very careful in choosing a guy to be my partner as there are only few of them that can be trusted. *sigh* Ah well… Isn’t our life so colorful and complicated? But, let’s think from this perspective: If it only has one color, then it will be a boring one… :)

“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...