31 Januari 2008

SingMaThai DAY 3 (21 January): KL – Phuket

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Our flight is 1.40 PM at noon, but we have to come early to airport to avoid any unpredictable things that could happen. We spare 2 hours before, we must arrived at airport. Like yesterday, we start our day by breakfast at Petaling Street, but this time we have porridge. Hot and delicious. After, we took 1 taxi RM 15 to KL Sentral to continue with Skybus to LCCT. Our luggage is only 2 bag and 2 handcarry, very little, so 1 taxi is enough. Other luggage we left at our hotel. This time we took Skybus instead of Aerobus. Because Skybus will definitely run on schedule, while Aerobus runs when passenger full. Arrived at airport about 11.00, check-in etc, 11.30 we prepare to have breakfast at Asia Kitchen just in the front side of the Terminal, next to McDonald. Here, the Nasi Lemak Spesial and the Chicken Rice was not so bad, but price little bit high.

Flight was 1 hours to Phuket, but since Phuket time is one hour less than Malaysia, we arrived at 1.40 Thailand time. There, already wait for us Mr. Mai, an independent driver with his own car who specialized himself to serve the tourist. We booked him by internet, with his wife Nuch.

That evening, he took us sightseeing around Phuket. The plan was South Phuket today, and North of Phuket the day after tomorrow, while headed to airport, back to KL. First, he took us to Phuket city, the highland (small hill) where you can see almost the whole Phuket from here. Next, is Cashew Nut factory to buy some snack. You can try before you buy. We bought dried small crab which the shell can be eaten. One pack THB 90, we bought 4. Dad bought sweet cashew nut 2 pack @ THB 180.

Next, Mr. Mai took us to see Wat Chalong Temple. It’s a complex of 4 or 5 temples big and small. What interesting about the Thai temple is that the yellow color really shining like gold. Here, we took some coconuts to ease our thirst.

From there we headed to Phromthep Cape, the very south of the Phuket Island, located between Nai Harn beach and Rawai beach. The view is great from up here, and the Sun Set should be perfect. But we cannot stay until sun set, there’s one other place to go (View Point), and above all, we have to arrived at Patong before 7 to book a ticket for Phi Phi island tour for tomorrow.

View Point also great. You can see Karon beach, Kata beach and Kata Noi Beach at once. After, we went to Patong beach were our place to stay located not far from. Sunset also great at Patong beach, but unfortunately, we can only view it from the van because need to catch Phi Phi island booking at 7.

Booking for Phi Phi island tour you must know the trick. This is a valuable lesson we learn from others. Lucky us who live in the era of internet. Booking from internet will cost you THB 3300. From agent, written in the brochure is THB 2,800. They will give you ‘special’ discount, you pay only THB 2,000. Waaa sounds cheaper right. No. Can be cheaper. From what we read from internet, the price is THB 1,200 but that was sometimes last year. We asked for THB 1,200 per person, just a try. Surprisingly, they offered THB 1,500. We dealt at THB 7,000 for 5 persons, i.e. THB 1,400 per person. Everybody happy.

Arrive at Lamai Apartment at nearly 7 o’clock. Yes, we’re staying at an apartment instead of hotel, due to high season (January is high season in Phuket, best weather, and in contrary, in Europe and US, now is the winter, which many of European/US come to Asia). We pay Mr. Mai THB 1,800 for the service (from 2 PM to almost 8 PM). All hungry, so we rushing for dinner. About 20 minutes walk direction to Patong beach. We ate at place call Sopita, in front is restaurant, back is a hotel. Who knows what date is this??? Nobody but mom said, “your wedding day, last year”… YEEEE Mom got doorprize, a kiss from daughter-in-law… Yup, today is our 1 st anniversary, and we celebrate it in a exotic night at Phuket island. Who would think of. Too bad is not just the two of us alone ;_)

REVIEWS and COMMENTS

HOTEL CHINA TOWN INN (2)
Thanks to them to allowed us to left our luggage on their place. Total 3 luggage, which 2 of them were quite big. “Can we left some of our luggage while we away, we’ll be back at 26?” The answer was convincing, “Off course, sure.” We choosing the right place to stay and to keep our luggage :_) Last year, while staying here also left some of our luggage to them. Safe and Trusted.

AIRASIA
No additional comment. Everything smooth and OK. Where else can you find air ticket only RM RM 252.76 per person, or equals to IDR 730,000 only flying you from KL to Phuket !!!

Mr. MAI (and Mrs. NUCH)
Big guy with black glasses. But very friendly and informative. You can book him through his wife (Mrs. Nuch) e-mail at hknuch@hotmail.com or kunthipc@thaimail.com. Usually, she will reply you on 3 – 5 days, but she definitely will reply. The rate was THB 1,500 – THB 1,800 depends on the destination. She offer us, if sightseeing only, THB 1,500 (half day) and pick up at airport right away to hotel THB 1,000. So, we took pick up at airport but not right away to hotel, after sightseeing then to hotel. We ask how much we need to pay, Mr. Mai said, he don’t know about charging client, it’s depend on us and his wife (through e-mail), so we paid him THB 1,800 (almost six hours from 2 PM to almost 8 PM). He has two vans, which one of them he drove himself. Also can be reach at phone number +66841134809.

LAMAI APARTMENT
Rooms are still new, reception said it just renovated on Oct 2007. Clean and Tidy. Air-con, phone, TV, DVD player and hot water evthing's running well. All staff speaks English well and very helpful. 5 of us book only 2 rooms they gave us extra bed, towel and pillow WITHOUT extra charge, in-fact, they worried about us felling un-comfort 3 persons staying in a room for 2. The only thing is that you have to bring your own drinks as they don't have any drinks on compliment. Though, you can ask for hot water for coffee etc, they would not charge you. The staircase is pretty hard to climb but still OK. One more thing, this place is about 20 minutes more to Patong beach by walk. Quite far from the heart of city, but in contrary, you get the nice and quiet sleep at night. Will definitely stay here if back to Phuket.

Booking service was very helpful and trusted. If not get booking in one place, they will suggest you to another place. The instruction was easy to follow and the payment confirmation was all clear. You can book through www.sawadee.com. More info in www.phuket dir.com/lamaiapartment, or e-mail at lamaiapartment@hotmail.com. Rate for standard room is THB 1000.

SingMaThai DAY 2: KL

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At 7 AM, KL is still a bit dark when we took our breakfast. Chow Mien or Kwetiaw (Fried Noodle or Kwetiaw) with some pork, chicken and fish nuggets to start a day.

Today, we’re going to see the most Malaysian proud, the Petronas Twin Towers. From Petaling Street, we took a 10 minutes walk to Pasar Seni Monorail Station, to took Monorail to Suria KLCC, the shopping mall, just below Twin Towers. Ticket is RM 1.6 per person. The train not so long to come. Just about few minutes to reach Suria KLCC. From there right away headed to the ticket counter to get the free ticket to the level 41 of the Twin Towers. They giving 1000 tickets each day starting 9 PM, it’s a free tickets, but you have to queue from before 9, otherwise, you won’t get the ticket, or, if you lucky enough, you probably get the tickets for 5 or 6 o’clock (latest). We queue from about 8.30 and get tickets for 10.30 at about 9.45, so still have time to took photos from in front of the building. 10.30, first they show us a brief about the Petronas and the building for about 5 minutes with 3D images. Then with a very fast elevator, they lift us to the level 41. Not much to see up there. 15 minutes time they gave is more than enough to took some photos and videos. Really, not much. Only, come this far to Malaysia don’t come here is like don’t come to Malaysia at all. After, we took a walk at Suria KLCC mall and at back side there’s a park. Took some photos there also. Then we decide to go back China Town to have lunch because we promise dad to eat at Yong To Fu, because, otherwise, if we don’t took it today, we won’t have another chance.

Wow, Yong To Fu seems to be favorite of the people. When we arrive there (at the traditional market at the back of our hotel), the place already full and we have to queue for our food. Yong To Fu is one of the traditional Chinese food, contain of many kind of tofu, original and fried, fish ball, pork meatball, bitter melon etc with pig-bone-essence soup. DELICIOUS. With a crowded, noisy (people’s shouting in Chinese), and a bit dirty surrounding, just bring out the best taste of the original Yong To Fu. YUMMY.

Stomach full, we continue our journey: Batu Cave. Actually, we don’t know how to reach there. But after questioning several people, hotel reception, bus conductor woman, bus waiter and some guy in the street, now we know. Very easy actually, just wait behind the Central Market near trees and Bangkok Bank, “awak tengok tak pokok tu, d’kat Bangkok Bank” said the last guy we asked. We took the longer way, whereas we can just walk from backside of the Petaling Street, hehe, next time better :_)

Bus no 11 took us right until the destination with only RM 2 per person. Batu Cave is a mountain of rock, which staircase built on it to reach to the cave, where Hindu people come and worship the god. There are more than 250 staircase to climb, and all of us (include 2 moms) reached up to the top. At the top there are stalactites that formed the cave from many years. The cave is quite big, with the end of the cave there’s a hole upside. That’s were the worship took place. Right next the staircase, they built an almost-as-high-as-the-staircase image of Hindu’s god (sorry I don’t know which one, perhaps Brahma, since Vishnu supposed to have more than just two hands). Hindu people and tourist mixed together in this place. But can be easily different, since the Hindu must not ware shoes or sandal while climb the stair and at the cave, also some colored their head with yellow after shaved all the hair. Some brings flowers, even bring image of I don’t know what it called, just like Reog in Ponorogo. Some even kneel while climbing the stairs. Perhaps, the more obstacle you took while climbing the stairs, the more reward (‘pahala’) you get. The place is worth to visit.

From there, we headed back to China Town. But since the day still young (5 o’clock is still sunny in Malaysia) and the bus happen to cross in front of Merdeka Square, we though it’s good to stop by for a while for some photos. Merdeka square (Dataran Merdeka) is one of the Malaysian famous icon. In fact, long time ago, before they built Twin Towers, this building was the most famous one, was once the symbol of Malaysia. Very hot sunshine that afternoon, very good for photos, but not good for moms and Natz :_) Me and dad enthusiast to took photos, the cloud and everything was fine.

From there, we took taxi to our hotel, RM 10 for 1 taxi 5 persons. Some taxi driver refused us because overloaded, and worst, we bargain for only RM 5, “kenapa begitu murah…” said one of the taxi driver ha ha.

Headed back to Hotel, took shower and ready for dinner. That night, we try for other route that lead us to Hindu Temple. Not very far from there, there’s restaurant at the road side (‘pinggir jalan’) that offer Chinese food. Their special is Fish head, so we order one. Wa, very delicious indeed. Spicy and a bit salty. Also the fish was fresh and big too. Enough for everybody :_)

This is the end of day two. Tonight, we have to pack our bag to our next destination: PHUKET.

29 Januari 2008

SingMaThai 19 – 27 Jan 2008 __ Day 1: JKT – KL

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The name of the trip is SingMaThai, Singapore – Malaysia – Thailand. It was a request trip by my dad. Famous among the traveler, particularly the mainland Chinese. The writing will be divided into 7 parts. Day 1: JKT – KL, Day 2: KL, Day 3 (21 January): KL – Phuket, Day 4: Phi Phi Island, Day 5: Phuket – KL, Day 6: KL – Singapore, Day 7,8,9: Singapore – KL – Genting – KL – JKT. The writing will include comments and reviews on whatever accommodation, hotels we stayed,, airflight we use, tour we’ve taken, place we ate, etc. ENJOY.

DAY 1: JKT – KL

ALL set. Today has come. The day that we’ve planned about a year ago. Somewhere in February 2007 when we just got back from our 1 st honeymoon (Bangkok, Pattaya and KL, Genting) and shared our story with mom and dad, they seemed very enthusiast. My dad said, and also I’ve heard from my fellows from China, this SingMaThai, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand is famous holiday destination among the mainland Chinese. So, when they said OK to go by early next year, we start to search for cheap airflight and hotels and learn with full enthusiasm about what place to go, and things to do.

Initial plan was only Malaysia and Singapore for the whole 9 days (both of us + mom and dad) then mom and dad extend to Bangkok, Pattaya for another 5 days. AirAsia ticket for JKT – KL – JKT already on hand, because of the very cheap price (fare = 0), we bought total 5 tickets, additional for Natz’ mom. After further discussion, we felt that 9 days could be too long for only Malaysia and Sing. Somewhere in September 2007, we decided to add another place to go and lucky to get the cheap price for the airflight too. We’re going to exotic PHUKET and extension to the famous PHI PHI ISLAND. ALL set. Tickets in hand, hotels booked, Travel Itinerary prepared, Budget set, Ready to go.

19 January 2008. Having breakfast at Mutiara Lounge (Terminal 2E Soekarno Hatta airport) to start our journey. 08.30 the flight, arrived in KL at 11.30 (1 hour ahead than WIB). Arrived at LCCT (Low Cost Carrier Terminal – for Air Asia), we took the Aerobus to KL Sentral instead of Skybus which belongs to AirAsia. With RM 1 cheaper than Skybus (Skybus RM 9), we loose more time since Aerobus turned out to wait until the bus full before going. Unlike Skybus which has scheduled time. From KL Sentral, we took 2 taxies to Petaling Street (China Town) cost us RM 10 per taxi.

At Petaling Street, we already have booked rooms at China Town Inn (2), 2 rooms. After rest for a while, we going out for lunch between Petaling Street and Pasar Seni Monorail Station. Shin Kee Beef Noodle Specialist. This one we’ve wanted to eat since last year’s visit but haven’t got a chance. The place is always full and close very early at 2.30 PM.

That evening, we headed to Sunway Lagoon by public bus from Petaling Street. Many public bus headed to Sunway Lagoon from there, you just need to pay attention to the ‘kondektur’ when he shout “Sunway, Sunway!!” Although nothing special there, every tours from Indonesia offer their participant to this place (on their itinerary), so we thought that we should come also. Only a shopping mall and a vacation playground like Dufan/Ancol. Last year, Natz bought a tiny hot pen and a cute bag at Parkson, but this year, nothing seems worth to buy. Dad only bought Nescafe from the lower ground Giant hypermarket.

At night, we have dinner in front of Petaling street. There, a lot of Chinese Food and all looks delicious. That night we have Chinese style grilled duck, chicken and pork as the main course. After dinner, the whole family walk by the Petaling Street. At night, the street was different, the seller all over the place and in the middle of street. So, at night, no vehicle allowed in this street. Bought some souvenirs for friends back home. Before rest, we walk to Puduraya Bus Station to bought Bus Tickets to Singapore for 23 Jan 11.59 PM. Today pretty tired, but happy, our vacation starts smoothly and can’t wait to experience tomorrow.

REVIEWS and COMMENTS

AIRASIA
Love this flight. Last year also use this flight. Not to mentioned Bali in 2006. Everywhere we go by our own (not business trip from company), we MUST use this flight. Low price, with service I consider OK, booking is easy, and if you diligent enough to checked the web periodically, you might surprise to get very cheap price, even fare = 0 !!!

You may not believe, but we actually get the tickets at the price lower than trip to Surabaya or Semarang for example. Can you believe, we got the ticket for only IDR 529,000 per person for return trip? The fare was 0. That’s the cheapest price ever !!! And flight from KL to Phuket only RM 252.76 per person, or equals to IDR 730,000 only !!!

I don’t mind not getting any food and drink on their compliment. Usually, we bought our own drinks and snacks. The only thing is, you have to sneak and hide from the stewardess and make sure they don’t see you eat or drink. However, I haven’t see or heard anybody get warning so far.

CHINA TOWN INN (2)
This hotel is RUKO looks from outside, but nice and tidy inside. Located right next to Swiss-Inn in the centre of Petaling Street.This one is new compare to China Town Inn (1). Natz stayed here several times and together, this is the second time. Some rooms are quite smoky-smell and unfortunately you have small change to switch to another room due to full-booked. Better you make reservation before showing up (www.hotelchinatown2.com) and be there not to far from the time you mentioned, other wise the room will be given to others. The room was small, but it has cable-TV (limited channel), telephone, air-conditioner, and hot water all running well.

Location also OK. Cheap price but low quality product all over the place, bags, T shirts, watches, shoes which mostly come from China. Chinese foods also famous in this place, like Chicken rice, Beef Noodle, Chasiew, Grilled Pork and Yong To Fu. Not very far is the Puduraya Station Bus, only 10 minutes by walk. All Buses available there, especially for out of town like Genting and even Singapore. Not far from Puduraya (near Ancasa Hotel), there’s nasil lemak (Malaysian local food) that become favorite of dad, only 1 ringgit per wrap. Bus stops also near, in front of Petaling Street (between Petaling Street and Wisma Fui Chiu), there’s bus stop called Kota Raya, not very far, there’s Pasar Seni and Central Market (in front of Pasar Seni) which you can take bus (no 11) to Batu Cave. Pasar Seni Monorail Station which you can take monorail to Suria KLCC to see Petronas Twin Towers.

With standard room rate RM 89 and RM 99 for deluxe, it's a place worth to stay.

18 Januari 2008

TIPUS

Tahun 2008 awal ini, gue jadi sering banget mondar mandir bolak balik ke rumah sakit. Pertengahan Mei tahun lalu, gue kena tipus dan sempet opname 2 malam di RS PIK. Total absen kantor 2 minggu lebih, ganti dokter sampai 2 kali, terakhir sama dr. Sonya yang minta opname, dan beberapa kali check lab (lupa berapa kali saking banyaknya).

Saat itu positif tipus, dokter udah confirm bahwa bener kena tipus. Dan yang namanya orang kena tipus itu, walahualam susah banget harus jaga makannya. Denger denger sih harus makan extra bersih dan ngga boleh keras, asem dan pedes selama, wuih.. 1 tahun.. Gue ngga. Begitu sembuh dan masuk kantor, gue langsung ke kebiasaan lama. Pagi mi / nasi uduk abang abang, siang kantin carefour Puri atau kantin RCTI atau tempat lain yang murah meriah, yang tau sendiri kebersihannya sudah tentu tidak terjamin. Makan pedes adalah favorite gue, semua serba pedes, kalau kurang pedes, gue ngga selera hehe, di rumah aja selalu masak dengan cabe rawit.

Belum genap setahun tipus gue sembuh, terbaringlah gue lagi, dengan penyakit yang sama :_(
Tapi kali ini gue ngga mau di opname, ngga ah, enakan juga dirumah. Parahnya lagi, minggu depan (Sabtu ini deng, 19 Jan 2008 ini), gue bersama Nat dan rombongan Papa Mama dan Mama mertua berangkat ke Malaysia, Singapore dan Phi Phi Island. Gimana dong. Ngga ada cara lain, gue harus sembuh sebelum itu. Apa yang gue lakukan? Istirahat, udah dari minggu lalu gue ngga masuk kantor, cuma masuk hari Kamis ½ hari dan Jumat. Jaga makan. Ngga ada makanan lain selain bubur dan hanya bubur. Dengan ayam rebus. Cemilannya roti marie sesuai pesenan dokter. Tiap hari gue harus ke dokter untuk disuntik entah apa. So, tiap hari bolak balik RS PIK Senen – Jumat (14 – 18 Jan 2008) untuk sebuah suntikan, soalnya gue kan ngga mau opname. Kalau gue diopname, nanti Papa Mama pikir apa, takutnya dicancel lagi the whole trip minggu depan :_(
Jadi, gue harus sembuh sebelum itu. Perkara disana harus jaga makan, ya memang harus hehe.

Yang kali ini, spt yang dijelaskan dokter, cuma gejala tipus aja kok. Terlihat dari hasil pemeriksaan lab. Parathipy ada tipe H dan O dengan varian A, B, C. Nah, yang positif di gue itu varian A tipe H. H artinya cuma ada kaki tangannya si virus di badan gue, sedangkan badannya (O), ngga ketemu. Artinya, virusnya belum sempat berkembang. Tapi gue harus waspada, karena kadar Hnya cukup tinggi (1/320). 1/320 artinya si H ditemukan sampai 4 kali sample darah gue diencerkan (1/80; 1/160; 1/240; 1/320). Kalau, A, B dan Cnya ini kata dokter cuma namanya saja, bukan mencerminkan parahan yang mana (kayak hepatitis A, B, C). Dijelaskan dokter, parathipy ini ngga terlalu bahaya, yang bahaya, ya Thipy itu sendiri alias tipus beneran.

Dan ngga cuma itu. Ternyata oh ternyata, asam urat gue juga tinggi banget, 10.4 dari batas maximal normal 8.5. Pasti kegemaran menyantap kambing dan kacang kacangan dan cemilan sebelum tidur nih. Parah. Untung gue bukan penyuka jeroan, kalau iya mungkin lebih tinggi lagi kali. Jadilah, mulai sekarang juga stop semua kacang kacangan, tempe, tahu, buncis, kacang panjang, gado gado, ketoprak, karedok, dan tentu saja, emping (hehe masih ada1/2 bungkus yang belum digoreng di lemari). Untungnya, masih ada untungnya, gue ngga kena demam berdarah yang sekarang ini sedang mewabah.

Di rumah sakit
Ini pengalaman yang memperingatkan. Sungguh bukan pemandangan yang enak dilihat. Orang tua yang napasnya udah ngga teratur, jalan dengan tongkat, bahkan sebagian besar mereka ada di kursi roda. Tapi bukan itu. Liat deh raut mukanya. I don’t see life there. Setelah puluhan tahun meniti hidup, tidak ada kehidupan di wajah mereka, tidak ada kepuasan, kebahagiaan dan keberpasrahan. Bahwa hidup gue sudah baik, ber-isi, dan gue bahagia setelah semua ini. Ngga ada. Semua raut wajah cemberut, bertekuk tekuk dan marah, dan mengatakan “gue masih mau hidup, karena gue belum puas” “gue mau berjalan lagi, karena ada tempat yang mau gue kunjungi” “gue mau bicara lantang, masih banyak yang gue belum ungkapkan” “gue mau mengangkat tangan, karena banyak yang belum gue ulurkan” “gue mau kesempatan kedua, yang mana pada saat itu berakhir, gue mau duduk di kursi roda ini dengan banyak orang, terutama orang orang yang gue sayang mengingat gue, menyapa gue dan mengatakan betapa hidup gue baik dan berkualitas, dan gue bisa pergi dengan tenang; bukan seperti sekarang, yang bahkan bagi orang orang terdekat, gue adalah beban yang ngga lama lagi terlepas dari mereka.”

Gue juga punya keinginan yang sama; dan gue, bersama Nat, masih banyak kesempatan. Kesempatan yang kita sendiri ngga mulai mulai. Ngga, gue bukan takut mati dan ngga masuk surga. Gue lebih takut, ketika hari itu tiba, gue belum pasrah dan masih menyesal. Itulah ketakutan terbesar dalam hidup gue.

09 Januari 2008

My first CAR and first MOTORBIKE

I bought my first motorbike on February 2002. A brand new light blue first edition Yamaha Jupiter. With loan from my sister (Cece) which I installed monthly with my enough-is-enough KPMG Junior salary. I installed 1 million, sometimes 1.5 a month until it fully settled, IDR 12 million. Off course, it’s non-interest bearing loan, he he. During those times, due to installment and other cost of living (I live separated from my parent – ngekos), I sometimes have to take only “Indomie” or Rp. 1000 bread for stuck my hungry stomach in exchange of dinner. I remember those cloudy days... :_(

My first car has different story. But also, this one is an installment :P this time from my lovely Dad. After I’m not ngekos anymore and live with my big brother (Khioko), I have to travel the longer road to the office due to Khioko’s house is a bit far from my office. Khioko’s house at Citra Garden (Kalideres) and my office is in Sudirman (Wisma GKBI). By bike, everyday must travel through Jl. Daan Mogot which well-known for the traffic jam and bad reputation of the bus’ driver, known as Mikrolet, Kopaja and angkot Tuyul. That’s where my mom, who live separated from us (at Bangka), really worry about me might having an accident. So, my father came all the way to Jakarta, to find me a good second-hand car.
That’s where came my gold Suzuki Baleno year 2000. The price quite high at that time, IDR 86.5 million bought in 2004, around August. Installment was IDR 2.5 million per month by paying their insurance (Prudential). Papa 1.5 million, Mama 1 million a month. Until November 2007, has been fully settled. Now the Prudential being paid by Khioko (1 million), me (1 million) and Cece (half million).

I sold the car in 2006 around November, due to need money for house down payment. Sold at IDR 65 million, go down 20 million more in only 2 years. Quite sad. But what to say, at that time really need money and the market price is around there. Most people asked 61 or 62 million only. I gave this guy (Adri) included 12 CD changer worth IDR 2.5 million and several CDs. Also before sold, I fixed here and there cost me almost 2 million. Not to mention fixing air conditioner 1.3 million more. Also cleaning the mold and other things cost me a few hundreds, which to small to be mentioned.

However, by sold-out the Baleno, didn’t mean I have no car :_) I have this brand new Kijang Inova which belong to my Dad. So this is how it was. When my dad bought this car in early 2006, my Baleno was given to my sister, because, you see, Inova is too big for her, off course. Then, when I sold my Baleno, was around November, and it was near her birthday, so guess what?? Birthday present was a brand new dark grey metallic Toyota Yaris… really groovy huh? So now, after a motorbike and a Baleno on my own (I mean I owned them with my own money, although it was a loan), I now joint my elder brother and sister, using the property of my dad :_) My brother using Isuzu Panther, sister use Toyota Yaris, and me, he he a Kijang Inova. Until my Mom and Dad moving to Jakarta, the Inova is mine :_) off course, except if they’re coming to Jakarta (visit), I gave it back. But now, lucky my brother has himself a Kijang Inova also, so I didn’t have to return the car every time my parent were here :_) Consider my self a lucky son :_)

Back to the story of my bike. So, after a bought the Baleno, where this Jupiter gone? Well, tell you the truth, sometimes I even forget I have this bike. First, it just there at my brother’s house. Then come my friend, Syamsumin (Umin) with his idea. Because he is temporarily stay in Jakarta, he come to lend my bike with payment of IDR 150,000 per month. Ojeg rate he said, off course + taking good care of the bike. After six month, he handed back to me, because he’s gone to Bangka. After that, my brother ‘occupied’ it to one of his employee (salesman). Poor bike. Did not treat right at that time. I’m not sure they ever check the oil or take it to the routine service. Not even wash perhaps. So, after a while, I take it back, and rather handed it to Keni (my step brother), who I believe, will use and take care it more responsible. At that time, Keni just joint an MLM (don’t have to write the name here). He need the bike for mobility and at that time still don’t have enough money to buy one. So I lend him for free in exchange of taking good care of the bike. After a while, Keni bought himself a brand new motorbike, Suzuki something (New Smash if I’m not mistaken), so he kindly return the bike form me.

Not just that, he also do me another favor. He found me a potential buyer for the bike. I forget his name, he’s a friend of Keni. For IDR 4 million, I sold the bike in Jun or July 2007. The bike has been mine for about 5 years, but actually with me only 2 years. After 2004, I really only used it occasionally for, when my car when to workshop several days or when extension of vehicle tax (STNK). I remember the time when I was still routinely take the bike to workshop for maintenance and for wash. Sometimes also I washed it my self. Really love it.