The Vacation that had me going!

I thought back then in Indonesia that spending seven days in Thailand would be too long. But in fact after you actually are there, one whole week was just not enough! There are still a lot of parts of Thailand waiting to explore, offering its spectacular views and uniqueness. Anyway, given the time, I think I have made the most of my one week vacation, though. Here I’d share places that I have been to and that are worthy of a visit.

Arrival at Phuket International Airport

Though we planned on visiting Bangkok, our flight was to Phuket, land of beautiful beaches. First day of the vacation we joined a one-day tour trip to Phi Phi Island. This was the part of the real excitement where you witness the beauty of islands around Phuket. In the tour we got on some sort of ferry boat, we went around islands and Phi Phi was our last stop. My favorite was Khai Island and Maya Bay. 

Khai Island, Heaven on Earth

At Maya Bay, gorgeous, isn't it?!

Khai is a small island surrounded with white sand beach and some areas of reef and coral in certain parts of the island. Here you can snorkel and feed the fish. The snorkeling part is spectacular; swimming with beautiful colorful fish is something you do not want to miss when having vacation to the beach.  And Maya Bay offers something different. It is a small bay, isolated from the ocean by high cliffs at its sides, it is more like a lagoon with soft white sand beach at the dune. You can swim, sun bathe or just walk around the beach.  Surely you HAVE to take thousands of pictures here.

The Grand Palace

As initially planned we visited Bangkok after the fantastic one-day tour at Phuket. It takes fourteen hours from Phuket bus station at Phuket Town to Bangkok. Obviously, Bangkok offers the life of modern urban lifestyle, not so much different from Jakarta though. We spent two days here. We had lunch at the fifth food avenue at MBK centre, one of the popular shopping centers in Bangkok. In the same day we also visited Madam Tussauds wax museum and the Grand Palace. To me, The Grand Palace is the most interesting attraction of all though in Bangkok. The architecture is beautiful, the Buddhism atmosphere is very strong. That is the pride of Thai. Anyway, I am very sorry for the flood that has been hitting Bangkok recently. I saw lots of sacks in front of buildings used to prevent the flood from going in even though the places I visited were no longer in flood. Hope the disaster is over soon.

MBK Center, about to have lunch at the fifth food avenue

waiting for the bus at Rama Bus Station, Rama Road, Bangkok.

Anyway, we went back to Phuket the next following day). At our hotel, some locals said that you didn’t really visit Phuket if you didn’t see Phuket FantaSea show. We certainly were interested. We watched the show for sure. It was like a musical drama and a little bit of circus performance by the elephants and all. It was really entertaining. You got a chance to know Thailand and its people through the show because they tell things about it. They are not far different from us. Well, at least that’s what I got. After all what it’s said is true, we have visited Phuket and we have watched Phuket Fantasea. 

with  a giant elephant, the star of the show at Phuket FantaSea!

Another uniqueness of Phuket is that its acceptance to the different. Ladyboy is another attraction that is a little unfortunate to miss. They are beautiful (though still, they’re fake). But the fun is irresistible. I watched their show in Simon Cabaret where they dance and sing in lip-sync. With all the hype, the glimmering dresses, the dance, and the fun, they certainly make a show. The key to enjoy it is “don’t judge!” just sit back, relax and enjoy the show, and laugh on! 

Simon's Ladyboys, at Phuket Simon Cabaret.

We wrapped up our days by hanging out at Patong beach the day and night before, seeing the lampion ritual and the annually Khai khratong ritual in which you send some offering in a form of a traditional bouquet to the sea. Patong is really crowded but fun though. Then we spent our very last day at Kamala Beach having original Thai tom yam at a restaurant near our hotel. Kamala is a lot quieter than Patong, I recommend the place for staying more than Patong. Anyway, I recommend all those places I just described. Thailand is spectacular! 

So, traveling IS awesome. Besides the hype of the fun, the vacation, you certainly can take something out of the experiences. Traveling allows you to get to know who you are. It is when you are far from home and in a foreign surrounding. You are also exposed to problem because man, traveling does not mean having a vacation without complication and problem. There will always be some unexpected things to happen. They vary from having to sleep at a bus station because you get wrong information, having different opinions from your friend in the group, cultural and language differences with the locals or money problem. The thing is, traveling trains you how to deal with those problems and later allows you to see what kind a person you are and what to fix to make the better out of yourself. Hell, this is my first traveling abroad experience and sure it does not make me an expert but you know, one is all it takes if you care enough to pay a little more attention. I think I made something out of it. I hope I make something out of it.

Road not taken! urbanpackrat.com

My journey of self discovery through going to places has just been started though. I make up my mind. I have tons of plans of having this traveling kind of thing. I’m gonna work and save my ass up and travel. Traveling with a companion will be great, alone won’t be a problem either to me. Next route of my traveling will be Yogyakarta, Mount Bromo, Malang, Bali, and Lombok. I’m open to any one of you who wants to join me. It’s not gonna be very soon but maybe one year from now.  A man needs to make a living, right!?

Getting through the Days SANELY

Supposedly I felt this particular feeling my friend told me about, that you know, you feel a very massive relief, like a giant stone has been removed from your chest and you are overly in bliss. Yet I feel nothing, I have no idea where this numbness comes from. The euphoria of the fact that I finished my college study did not strike me that hard. Well, that doesn’t mean that I am not happy though, I am. It’s just that THE feeling is sort of overrated. Or maybe it’s going to be a totally different case when I actually graduated one year ago.  Anyway I’m so grateful for what I get right now  that I could finish what I had started and to my parents, my mother mostly, who had paid for the tuition, I could say that I had done THE responsibility right. And the result is not that bad either. That is what matters. Am I right? 

Anyway, my graduation ceremony is one month ahead and the classes that I have been teaching in are in break so I have so much time for myself, doing nothing mostly though. You know how boring it is not to have lots of things to do right, as if your whole life seems so pointless.  When you see there’s not much going on with your life yet the world around you revolving very fast, seemingly leaving you at the other side, that’s just as depressing as you drunkenly lose your house over a casino gambling. Duh, exaggeration alert! I don’t like being that depressed, no it IS not me. Now I’d just like to think that being happy is a matter of choice, you know. It’s that you would either let yourself rot, loath yourself, and just wait for something to happen or you try to make THAT thing happen. And damn, I choose the last one. So I’d like to share what I have chosen, what I have been doing during this where-the-hell–would-I-take-my-life-to moment. 

Not that surprising, I swim. As you probably can see on my profile that explains “you will occasionally see me swimming”, so yeah I swim, A LOT.   

I know, right? but damn, it's not me!

There are a lot of good things you can get out of swimming you know. Let me begin with my personal opinion about it. Well, I always feel refreshed when my skin touches the water and good about myself afterwards. I feel like I’m in control, in check of my breath, my body movement, my speed while exercising, because honestly I am not really good at other sports.  And I feel healthy and good about my shape. Alright, alright I don’t have that much of a swimmer killer body shape, but yeah you’ve got to see my chest and shoulder. Hahaha. One more thing though, based on the article that I read the other day, I forgot the title and the writer, swimming is found very useful in muscle recovery due to injury. It helps relax your muscle. Swimming is also one of the sports that can maintain body endurance a bit longer with a very least injury risk. It also has minimum risk of conflict, you know, because unlike soccer, you go solo when you swim. So, bottom line in my personal opinion, swimming is damn good. It works for me.  

By the way I swim here, at Gelanggang Kolam Renang Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, my campus, just in case you care to join. 

Besides swimming I also allow myself with some fun, honking playing my guitar. Yep, I just bought myself a guitar. 

And yeah, I like singing alright. I go karaoke now and then with my friends. It’s not that I’m confident with my voice. It’s just one of my ways of releasing stress, channeling the energy, blowing off some steam. It hit me the other day that why not play a guitar and sing along, or more like make noise with it lol. I’m still working on with some of my favorite songs though. Phew… it’s not as easy as it seems, really. 

Well, anyway, let me tell you one little secret, I was actually in a band back then in high school. Not really a band though, it’s just us singing with the 'equipments'. I actually was a vocalist so I held nothing but a microphone. So blame it to that thing if I’m still learning how to play this only one music instrument now.  Either way, I enjoy it, seriously. Now I can play two or three songs and soon another, and another, and another. Yeah it’s fun, man. Really. 

  

Well, well, that has been my life being currently away from college yet still vaguely close to a serious job. I swim, play a guitar, and I read also by the way, and WATCH. Have you read my previous post??? It tells the whole thing about it! Ooh once again though, don’t wait up something to happen to you, you ought to go out there, do everything you have been meaning to do, and choose to be happy!

Life of the Lifeless

This whole mini thesis thing has got me to the forced hiatus of keeping this blog posted. I mean that is the obvious reason why my life has become a little bit out of the order. To keep my sanity I let myself stumble into these good shows. I mean TV is the most therapeutic cure for the stress, I gotta admit though sometimes it provides nothing but bunch of craps. But FYI I don’t get stuck with craps, so I bought myself bags of potato chips, cans of soda, sit my ass down on my black floppy couch and watched. And you’re told that I’m a generous man so here I am sharing what it is that gets me through the lifelessness, lol. 

Well, let me get you to this hilarious show. Anyone who watches Modern Family has to agree with me that the show can make you laugh like crazies. And I did, I didn’t know what other tenant at my lodge thought when they heard me all alone laughing like crazy. Duh, who cares!

So the show goes around the families of Pritchett and Dunphy. So Jay Pritchett, who is re-married to a Columbian widow with one son, Manny Delgado, Gloria Delgado, has two children Claire and Mitchell. Claire is married to Phil Dunphy and has three children, Haley, Alex, and Luke. And Mitchell lives with his boyfriend Cameron Tucker and adopts a daughter from Vietnam, Lily. Each episode of the series goes around the comical events, family problem and trivialities of the daily basis. They do not seem to try to act funny yet the effort shows otherwise. Each of the characters shows their own strength and ridiculousness. 

Here is the reason why you’d like the shows: simply hilarious.

Here’s the reason you might not like it: NONE.

While I watched Modern Family I was also enjoying this action series, Hawaii Five-O. It’s the remake of the 60s Hawaii Five-O except that there is one hot female cast join the tough and go-strike task force named Five-O and maybe the story line. I honestly have limited research on how the 60s version went but I’m quite confident that I could give some good reasons why you’d like to watch this present version of the series. So, it’s about a long shot investigation of Commander Steven McGarrett over his parents’ deaths. 

In the pilot episode it’s told that Steve‘s father is amid the home invasion and threatened to be killed by some violent gang in exchange with the freedom of some perpetrator Steve holds into custody. He cannot make it, his father dies and the perpetrator finds his way out. Later he learns that the affair has something to do with his father’s investigation about his mother’s car accident that goes way beyond a mere accident. The all lead he has is a tool box full of postcards and photographs and the documents of investigation his father leaves in his garage of their house in Hawaii. With the help, as in the resources and full immunity, of the Governor he starts the investigation to hunt down the man who kills his parents as well as to fight for the justice in his childhood homeland, Hawaii. Later join the force, Detective Danny Williams, ex-cop Chin Ho Kelly and his cousin, the hot female character I talked earlier, Kono. 

     

Here is the reason why you’d like the series: it’s all about action and explosion. Car chase, martial arts, gun fire and all are the must-requirements in every episode (the fights and murders would be an understatement). Besides, it’s set in Hawaii, man! Exotic beaches with girls in bikinis running around, DUH!? And Kono is a surfer. Occasionally she poses the role as a surfer, riding those big waves of Hawaii on a surfing board. Man, she’s hot. And for girls, I think (since I’m secured enough to spill it out that I can appreciate other men’s attraction) Steve and Danny are another attraction to the show, they look nice. Oh yeah BRAH, I’m that shallow!

The next series is White Collar. Just like any other US action drama series, it’s a crime-themed series. It follows the story of the white collar crime detective of the FBI, agent Peter Burke and a flamboyant ex-con artist-soon-be-FBI consultant, Neal Caffrey.  

The pilot episode sets the scenes in which Neal is a prisoner with four months to go for his freedom after being booked in by Peter who’s been chasing him for years. But something goes out of the schedule when Neal gets a visit from his girlfriend Kate. The rendezvous gets Neal broken hearted and yet he senses something wrong with the breakup. Afterwards, with his skills as a con artist he escapes from the prison and tries to find Kate to get the answers to her disappearance, which he can’t, and the entire attempt only leads him to another question. 

For the second time, Peter manages to catch Neal, only this time they arrange a deal. The deal is to let Neal free under Peter’s custody with the tracking bracelet put on Neal’s ankle to keep him in guard and track down his every whereabouts. In returns Neal becomes a consultant for the FBI to hunt down the white collar criminals and at the same time he continues to find Kate and seeks the answers to what is really happening behind his girlfriend’s disappearance that seems far beyond a breakup. Join the team inside the FBI agent Diana Berrigan and Clinton Jones, as for Peter himself he is helped big time by his amazingly supportive wife Elizabeth. Neal on the other hand is propped by his eccentric fellow con artist Mozzie. In one or two episodes the teams from these two corners work together to fight crimes! The show is classically fabulous. Yeah that’s strange that sentence just struck me! Anyway, it’s worth awhile.   

Alright, in the process of writing this posting by the way, I run into the fifth season of 30Rock. Oh I just realized how I’ve missed the ‘lemons’. The show sure, still has it. And really want to talk about the show. But wait, yeah I think I already do that. Then let’s just talk about Castle. Yep crime is still the most popular theme for US TV series. This show is one of a bunch that is considered good. It tells the story of a beautiful NYPD detective, Kate Beckette and a popular mystery writer, Richard Castle.  

I would start with the pilot when I talk about a series because I think it’s the point through which you’d know where the show is going, is it going to be somewhere or just another “pfft, it’s not gonna make it!” kind, you know? So yeah let’s talk about the pilot episode of Castle. Well, I think you may a bit wonder why a popular narcissus mystery writer would wind up catching bad guys with a rigorous and devoted detective of NYPD. Yep, the novel the writer writes is the connection. Well, it seems that one of Castle’s readers really wants to make something real out of the novels. He, the fan, imitates the killing procedure or ritual I might say as what Castle has written in the novel. Kate realizes soon enough that she needs the expertise of the mastermind of such killing procedure, or wait, the one who inspires the mastermind. And just like that they end up working together to catch the perpetrator. 

Having the idea that the two of them have the sparks glimmering around them, Castle assures the irritated Kate to let him join in the team in her several cases to observe how she works, telling Kate that she’s his new muse. Of course with the help of his popularity Castle can make his way in. Together they catch killers and start having up-and-down feeling for each other. With his witty, imaginative and fun attitude, Castle brings life and usefulness to Kate’s team in every case they work on, making them so fun to solve. Join with the team Detective Javier Esposito, Detective Kevin Ryan and their boss Captain Montgomery and a lab tech Lanie Parish. At home Castle is supported by his lovely teenage daughter Alexis and his mother Martha Rogers. Each episode tells about lots of different murders and motives and means and yet the story has also a long shot plot in which Kate is actually investigating her mother’s murder back then when she is a teenager. And it’s the reason why she becomes a cop in the first place. And I gotta say the show is also the one you don’t want to miss out whenever you have time to get cozy on your couch. 

Well, as fun as it is for me, I think I really need to stop writing. phew.. I can see it on your face. But ooh, before I go, gonna be quick. Here are some other shows that I also want you to watch but I can't review. 

Weeds

United States of Tara

and Cougar Town

well, my final remark: watch them all!!!

             

New Days Begin!

Let’s say that the beginning of this year was a way far from what I imagined. I definitely had plan, good plans. Resolution, as what is commonly known. But how can I say, you definitely can’t predict what tomorrow will bring to you. At exactly the beginning of those days after I had my shitty holiday, New Year holiday, I learned that I just lost my job over some stupid new regulation my office issued (let’s just drop it, too crappy). It’s out of the blue. We just never saw it coming. Slap! On your miserable face, man!  I did take it quite hard, because clearly it got me back to the old days where I need to ask for my regular allowances from the old folk. Well, anyway since I grew up in the culture where it doesn’t matter how much you hurt you just happen to be grateful that nothing else hurt you even worse, I just need to look at the bright side. That it’s the time for me to get back to my research paper. Unbelievable!

I meant, that’s it, I needed to get away from all of this, right fucking now. I was not a spontaneous person before. Not a chance in hell. I needed plans, assurance. I needed to calculate everything. But this was just too overwhelming and I was sure as hell allowed to take a leave. So I decided (spontaneously) to go here;

I need a place where screams do not cause a commotion and are not interpreted as a warning of danger, or a sign of troubles. There I got it, trying all those games that got me scream till my throat sore and shook my tummy up till I wanted to throw up. You saw the world turned upside down (literally), yet you got through it and you got through it all just fine. All you have to do is let it out, that made me a little bit better. Same thing works for the (temporary) real screwed-up state of mind. You don’t need to pay someone with Freudian bullshit, patronizing, sitting and talking to you in a room on a floppy couch, telling that you have to simply work on your anger management or mild depression, which in fact you just need to loosen up a little bit, to have fun to recover. Scream helps!

I spent two days in Jakarta, long enough to make me fall in love with the city. Pretty lame, huh?! When everyone begins to hate the mess, I just begin to know it and even love it. Here is the thing, I mean, almost every big city in this world is a two-faced bitch. In one hand, she shows the beautiful alluring face where you can see future, hope and, wealth she might offer. On the other, she shows the ugly one where you can’t see anything but the fucked-ups! Living there can be a proof if you’re strong enough to work your ass up there. This was like a booster for me, a reminder that I have purpose, I still have dreams, and I still have a lot of options and I’m young and free.  

   

By that I get to realize, firstly, I need to finish my research paper to get my butt out of the university. And it tells me that bitching on it won’t help me get any of that at all. It won’t finish itself. Then I started to write again. I guess what they say is true after all, that you’ve got to look at the bright side. Thinking, well, at least my other hand didn’t get cut, (trying to be metaphorical).