This conversation took place when I was in Geelong, Australia on my way to Vish's house
Vish : Why the f$3K you coming to my shit house man?… you should have get yourself to stay in hotel or something, its way much better
Me : Huh? Shit house? Why do you say that?
Vish : Seriously man.. its a shit hole, even I dont like to stay there
Me : For you everything is shit man.. It's up for me to decided if your place is really a shit hole lile you claimed.
Vish : Yea. yea.. right… right… (his fav tagline)
I was thinking how bad could it be?…
The House…..
My room for the next 3 days…
The bathroom… like a hotel huh?
The living room… just give me this and I can live there hahhaa
The kitchen….
I call this "The Pinky Room" … no guys allowed in here.
Seeing all this I don't understand why he calls his home a shitty place.
Vish,
I know you are reading this… you have too..I'm not giving you any choice hahaha. You have a wonderful parents who provided you all these without you asking man.. consider yourself lucky. Without you asking them.. they gave you a awesome bathtub for you to shower
When I asked my old man can I have a bathtub for our new apartment 8 years ago..he said " Sure..why not?" and he gave me this…
With much envy, I'm gonna warn you.. the next time I hear from someone you call your house a shitty place, you will be staying in your granma's house the next time you come down to KL. You dig me bro? 
Its way too early for me to be here. This is my first trip to Europe and without going to the hotel to rest and freshen up, I decide to go straight to Amsterdam as soon as I touched down in Schiphol. What was I thinking? Adventure? Yeah sort of..
Amsterdam Centraal station is really huge..
Before I came to Europe, I had made some plans with Chris, a collegue of mine from the US IT Team. My morning schedule in Amsterdam was pretty much boring , didn't visit anything till I meet up with Chris around 2pm (his flight came in later). Together we come up with places to visit while we were in Amsterdam:
1. Coffee Shop (if you get my drift! it's not your ordinary coffee shop!)
2. Sex Museum
3. Red Light District
4. Madame Tussaud's
5. The Dam
6. Canal Ride
7. Heineken Factory
8. Diamond Factory
9. Van Gogh Museum (Chris's Idea, i'm not much of an art-y person)
My first problem once i arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station was the luggage's locker room. It only accepts credit cards and I didn't have one !! I had to practically ask someone to swipe their card and paid them back in cash. Why cant they just use coins or notes instead??
After the luggage ordeal, I decided to just walk around in Amsterdam.. It was a beautiful day there.. clear skies, cold yet sunny.. There are many types of people from all around the world.. Tourist are flocking to this city like ants in a cave filled with sugar! Japanese, Chinese, Canadian, French, Eutophians - it could have easily be a United Colors of Benetton advertisement !!
It's pretty much easy to find what you want to see.. use the old skool technique.. just follow the crowd! I did that and I managed to find the places I wanted to go except for the Diamond and Heineken factory…
The Dam
Madame Tussaud's, classy but expensive so I skipped it.. 
Flower Market
Look what I found !!!!!!
Most tourists were taking pictures of this instead of buying the fries. The fries company should charge people for taking picture of their van instead of buying their fries!
I actually thought this place had some mushroom which can perform some magic!!! but when I went in, well my whole idea was crushed!
In the end I ended up at the red light district.. it's actually quite close to the Amsterdam Centraal Station… Did see few doors/ windows opened with girls standing behind em.. If you see that girl, you will be suprised! it's like they were born out of PhotoShop CS3!! and she was jumping up and down.. her boobs almost popping out from her bra! well she would have to do more than that to turn me on hahahaha…
At 1:30pm I was back at the station waiting for Chris.. waiting and waiting till 3pm.. he didnt show up or reply any of my smses. So I decided to go visit the places that i wanted to go.. Again.. I started to walk.. first stop Sex Museum of course. Remember - this is not a place that will turn you on before you pay a visit to the red light district!
Its home to an extensive collection of erotic pictures, paintings, objects, recordings, and sculptures. This is where you will learn the truth about your ancestors who claim they were goody 2 shoes during their days… yeah right !! Seriously there are loads of pornographic photo's back from the old days very old days
At least you know there is a place to sit when your feet hurts… and that's not a place for a guy like me.
Once I was done with that i revisited certain places like The Dam Square… flower market… and I still couldnt find the factories… so my next stop is the Coffee Shop… One of many things on my to-do before I kick the bucket..
The place is quite dodgy though.. loads of people in there.. but very quiet.. Most people were either staring at the TV or the wall. I was given a menu card with funny names in it… a bit scary though since this will be my first and last time. I just asked them something for beginners and they gave me one which cost 4.50 Euros.
Then I started smoking… smoke and smoke along with my coke… and nothing happened!! Seriously I didnt feel anything at all… so whats the whole hu-ha about weed anyway?…sigh waste money only
Right after my big disappointment, I went back to train station and caught the next train to Delft. It was almost 6pm .. I think.
I noticed a funny sign on the train
What does it mean? You can dig your nose in this coach? or keep quiet? hahaha.. whatever it was.. it kept me wondering all the way to Delft…
I know I have been missing for quite sometime. Life have alwayz been hectic with work for me nowadays. I work hard and I play hard too. Last month 2 months ago, I was on my first maiden trip to Europe!.. sort of vacation and work trip for me.
Amanda was very sweet enough to send me 2 books about Holland..
The first book "Culture Smart! Netherlands" was given to me on her last trip to KL. "How To Survive Holland" followed after new year… the book title sounds very scary though..
It's very exciting before I depart from KL.. but at the same time I felt a bit like errmm scared?..no ..not the right word… "the fear of making myself look like a fool" not in the new continent but to my teammates in Delft. They have been in the company for like donkey years.. at the amount of experience in the company they have is wayyyyyy more than what I have here… Now I wish Amanda had given me a book " How to Survive IT Team in Delft"
Let's forward to my Itenary…
MH 16 08FEB KL-AMSTERDAM 2345 / #0555 -ARRIVED ON 09FEB
MH 17 17FEB AMSTERDAM-KL 1200 / #0645 -ARRIVED ON 18FEB
My flight trip was good.. after 8 years now only I'm getting a 747-400 flight. Since I'm smart I have asked for the seat neat the emergency exit so that I can have more leg space. No matter how smart someone can be, there are dumb moments as well, I forgot to ask for the aisle or the middle seat which in return I got the window seat where I have to put up with the bulging thingy from the door.
See what I meant?.. not a big mistake though. Just put my leg on top of that thingy solves the problem. 13 hours flight.. 4 movies and 5 hours nap brought me to Schiphol Amsterdam airport…
The first thing I look for at the airport is the smoking room.. cant be found since it's smoke-free airport now. How can they do this where marijuana is legal in that country ? Sigh… disappointed with that I look for my other stuff
My first coke after 13 hours.. (MAS flight doesnt serve Coke.. only Pepsi )… bummer !!
By the time I collected my checked-in luggage it was only 6:30am.. I guess that it is wayy to early for me to go Amsterdam so decided to hang around in the airport area for little longer. Nothing much to do though.. was just sitting down… reading the final pages of the book Amanda gave me.. and few smokes outside the airport. I was even smoking without lighthing up my cigarette.. it was really freezing. I think the temperature was somewhat 5 degrees? Out of 10 shots of photo's outside the airport .. only one turned up good.. my hands cant stand the weather….
I'm not complaining about the weather.. it was really nice to be somewhere cold for the first time in life… maybe it's just a matter of getting used to it. I'm sure I won't be able to get adjusted with the temperature since I'm only going to be around for a week.
Well… I'm not going to crap bout the weather much here.. or what else I did at the airport. Around 9 ish I decided to take a train to Amsterdam. Tell you Malaysian's out there… their train system much better than our's… always been on time whenever I'm taking one.. the rest of the time I don't know la… but compared to the Putra LRT management that you can get in KL.. NS train management are way much better
Next station Amsterdam Centraal !!!!!!
I decided to have a pet after the following conversation 3 weeks ago
Me : (Staring at the ceiling in my room)… "Babe, how come the cicak (lizard) so black one?"
Wifey : (spontaneously.. without even looking at me)"… because it's staying in the same room as you, must be same kaler ma.."
Since then I decided to make it as my pet and I named it "Saripah", after a dear friend of ours ;p.
Saripah (the cicak) really does't need any attention at all, easy to maintain as she prefers to hunt for her own food - She's the predator !!!!In the day she roams out from my room and will get back to her port when I'm home…
Last week after coming back from dinner with the 'person' Saripah..
Me : Baby, how come I didnt see Saripah for few days d?
Wifey : Maybe she chill out somewherefuther, boring ma here.. she will come back later..
After few minutes while I was taking my shower I discovered that Saripah has been squashed to death under the pail … Sigh…There goes my Saripah ..
Trip to Jakarta, Indonesia Part I
0 Comments Published by Hubbykinz February 6th, 2008 in Travel Logs.
MH711 11DEC KL-Jakarta 0910-1010 Economy-Confirmed
MH722 12DEC Jakarta-KL 1820-2120 Economy-Confirmed
That's the Jakarta trip that my office sent me to. Was there to visit one of our offices which is located in smack in the middle of Jakarta. I started my trip by waking up at 5am and manage to get the cab I've booked for at 6am and left to KL Sentral. I have checked-in at the counter just to grab my boarding pass. Didnt check-in my baggage since that the ONLY lugagge I have. What the heck .. only for a day trip.. just packed a pair of clothes AND my underwear !… and from KL Sentral I took the KLIA Express train to KLIA ( Kuala Lumpur International Airport).
200,000 bucks short to become a millionaire ..damn..
The ticket for one way costs RM 35 (non-strop express train) and my first question to the lady at the counter is " Will it be cheaper if I buy two-ways? " El cheapo !!! No difference in price ..two-ways will come up to RM70. Something tells me just get the two-way tix. The only down side of buying two way is I cant lose the tix!!
This was my first time using the KLIA Express Train service and it the journey was good. Unlike some trains I can't hear any noises resulting from the train movements at all. There is a cool function that I dig about the train which I think it's a bit worth for using the tax-payers money. Tried to take a video of it but I was late. Maybe I'll get a shot of it the next trip.. I was in KLIA in exactly 28 minutes. It was like somewhat around 7am. My next pit stop is to McDonalds. Then I proceed to the Satelitte Building around 7:45am. Decided to check around the Duty Free shop's for things to buy on my way back (Wifey requested me to get for her a perfume). To cut the long story short here is what happened in between my supposed to be departure time and the time I reached Soeharno-Hatta Airport, Jakarta Indonesia at 1pm ( Indonesia's time).
Their airport reminded of me the old Bayan Lepas International Airport in Penang.. I said the old.. which was back 15-20 years ago. Not sure how it looks like now. So from the Airport I need to get to the office.. and with the advice which I got from of the General Manager Jason Sukarno before I left for Jakarta. I remembered his wise words "Only get the taxi from company called " Silver Bird, it's a blue color taxi". The moment I stepped out from the airport..there are so many bird types of taxi counter !!! Blue Bird, Green Bird, Yellow Bird , kukubird.. you name it .. they have em' all. So travellers, additional advice from me, once you are out from the airport infront of you on from left to righst there would be many taxi counters.. it is not the outside of the aiport yet!!!. Walk to the left all the way out and you can see one miserable small counter with many blue color taxi says Silver Bird . The charges are according to meter and on top of that there will be an airport surcharge of Rp 8,000 ….and I ride in style.. C Class Mercedes Benz taxi all the way to my office hehe not bad for a start in Jakarta.
So here the things… all these while since many Indonesians flocking our country like flies, I was having this image of Indonesia being something like poor country.. no job oppurtunities, economy not good..bla bla bla.. I think the image in my head is something like Bangladesh that I have seen in news. Well … here's the truth. THEY ARE NOT POOR !!!. All the way from the airport to Jakarta, from what I can see they are very much developed country almost like ours…and if you are visiting Jakarta.. it's not cheap you know.. very expensive if you want to shop for souveniers or stuffs. It's the most upscale part in whole Indonesia. This is when I was thinking they should have opened an office in Bali instead of Jakarta hehhee.
By the time I reached the office is almost 4pm.. wasted almost a day in KL!! and it's like a punishment for me… need to get things done as soon as possible coz changing flight would cost me and the most important an extra night means and extra underwear and i only brought one !!!. As soon as I reached the office I was introduced to all the staff's there… Tita, Chen Chen, Toro by Jason himself and without wasting much time I went down to business… I was slugging in the office till almost 8pm accompined by Tita and Chen Chen. Then later Tita and Chen Chen being kind enough to offer me a ride to the hotel and took me out for dinner as well. First..checked-in to the hotel and tita drove us to the ermm Golden triangle area of Jakarta?. The brought me to a fast food outlet for mee bakso. Apparently is popular in Indonesia.. but with funny name of course.
"Malang" hehehhe
Mee tetek ????
Bakwan Malang Super Komplit
Iga (beef rib) Soup
From left Chen Chen and Tita
On the way back noticed a common thing that I see in KLCC Park every weekend… a group of Indonesians squatting down chit chatting… this also happens outside Jakarta shopping complexes hehehe. Maybe it's like their nature thingy to do so..huh? and being in Indoensia is not much difference being in KL.. all of em look alike ..be it Malaysians or Indonesians .. I cant even tell the differences anymore by just looking at them here in KL.
The hotel I was staying is Sahid Jaya Hotel…15 minutes walk away from the office.. The Hotel was a nice and pleasent place to stay…. and massage in the hotel cost about Rp 140,000 not sure if it's included the famous batin massage or not hahahaah. I got the pricing from the brochure in the room..seriously…even wifey told me not to be noty noty in Jakarta hehehe. I was very tired but on the way back from dinner I saw very de nice building beside my hotel and it only looks nice with lights turned on. I walked out ..walked for 5 minutes and took some picca of the building. It's a penthouse apartment I think it's called.. Da Vinci Penthouse Tower
Nice huh? The structure is very detailed.. I think this is the best constructed building in Jakarta ..or maybe even in Indonesia !!
Went back to the room ..took a hot damn hot shower and I was watching TV… after a while the TV was watching me ….
To be continued…
P/S:- Been very busy since my office has been sending me to few locations.. even this post has been in my draft for almost 2 months d. Will try to update more soon. Till then stay tuned :p
