Loksado : South Kalimantan Bamboo Rafting

Ive never ever heard this place before actually stumbling in there. It has very limited entry in Indonesian version of Wikipedia and doesnt even listed in Google Maps. The great experience ive had in this remote place plus the lack of information of it in the internet, give me the urge to create this post. This place is called Loksado and here is the story.

Loksado Bamboo Rafting

 

Loksado is off-the-beaten-path village located in the South Kalimantan province, upper side of beautiful archipelago cum my home country Indonesia.  In the province, there are other spot which gets more touristy spotlight which is Banjarmasin (the big city) and Martapura ( famous for its diamonds) . Not many souls know that in Loksado, you can get the awesome experience of bamboo rafting or as the locals said “Balanting Paring”. Cruising down to the river stream through the thick of Dayak’s forest is something that not to be missed.

Talking About Mobile Networks at ITS Surabaya

Like thousands of us, i had a dream to be a rockstar back in my high school years. With minds infused by MTV Afterskool Rocks, its hard not to imagine how cool it is to create headbanging music, get crazy on stage and embarks on a tour. That dream not turned to be true, however im working in the field of my other passion which is technology. Last monday, i got a chance to experience something which was close to having a band gig. I went back to my almamater and delivered guest lecture on mobile networks.

me doing the speech

 

It all started with my chat with mas Soni, my senior compatriot in campus and also a lecturer now in the almamater. I volunteered to do share some technical insights on telco industry. Good for me, mas Soni took it excitedly and upped the challenge by offering to teach two class in two days. That sounded like a sweet deal.

Indonesia Book Fair 2011

Its a great week in Jakarta if you are bookworms, read-o-philes or simply just want to grab books with discount. Indonesia Book Fair 2011 is happening again starting from last Sunday until today at Istora Senayan. What can i say about this fair ? three words, mind blowing discounts.

Mouth watering book discounts

I come as a man with a mission in this fair, to check out the imported books. Read from twitter that not only local publisher but also foreign ones which took part in this year’s biggest book fair. Thats my catch right there, no way im gonna miss this event.

Pop economics books is my soft spot. Books like Freakonomics series, Gladwell’s paperback, Chris Andersons , Keith Ferrazzi’s and philosophical marketing from Seth Godin. I enjoy reading them untranslated to Bahasa Indonesia because of the obvious reasons, most of the translated one usually lack of context hence weird to read. Not all though, Keith Ferazzi’s Never Eat Alone published by Gagas Media is one good translated books example. Still, i prefer to read in English.

Siem Reap : Motodop, Pub Street dan Amok

Mungkin sedikit yang mengenal kota kecil di Kamboja utara ini, aku juga ketika pertama kali mendengarnya. Yang lebih familiar adalah tempat Lara Croft beraksi di Tomb Raider, Angkor Wat. Yap, kompleks candi terbesar di dunia ini berada di kota Siem Reap dan juga alasan utama ribuan turis yang datang ke kota ini setiap tahun.  Diluar kompleks Angkor, siem reap adalah kota kecil yang sepi dan menawarkan keramahan penduduk etnis Khmer.

Aku tidak akan membahas tentang kompleks angkor wat untuk alasan yang cukup jelas, terlalu masif untuk dicover dalam satu artikel. Akan aku ceritakan di artikel terpisah, sementara itu mari kita nikmati uniknya kota Siem Reap yang tertutupi oleh megahnya Angkor Wat.

Naik motodop mengelilingi Siem Reap

TEDx Bandung 2011

Last weekend Bandung, which famous for its creativity, held one event which gathers creative and inspiring people in one beautiful place. TEDx, community franchise of the well known global creative event TED was held in Paris Van Java last Sunday. Held at the beautiful Saung Angklung Udjo, this TEDx as usual have a list of interesting speakers starting from stand up comedian / tv presenter Pandji Pragiwaksono, activist architect Ridwan Kamil,  illusionist Denny Darko and actor / shadow puppeteer Sudjiwo Tedjo. It was the second TEDx attendance for me, and yet still gives me mind blowing experience.

Read my review of previous TEDx Events, TEDxJakarta.

TEDxBandung 091011 : Counting Forward

Macau, City Of Dreams

Kota mimpi, jujur aku baru tau slogan resmi kota ini ketika sudah berada disana. Mimpi ratusan orang yang datang ke kota ini untuk mengadu nasib dengan berjudi mungkin ya. Kota ini begitu lekat dengan kasino, Macau ada di setiap film hongkong yang berhubungan dengan judi. Sebagai movie freaks, jika India aku relate dengan Amitab Bachan maka Macau definitely will be Chow Yun Fat di film God Of Gambler. Tapi Macau tidak melulu soal judi, dibalik region paling padat di dunia ini (yes, lebih dari Jakarta) terdapat objek bersejarah tersembunyi yang worth to travel for.

Reruntuhan Katedral Saint Paul

DriveBooks Jakarta

Do you have a great weekend ? if you live in the fast lane under Jakarta hot sky, you need to have it to keep you sane for the next weekdays. This weekend i have one, hella good one. I was just waking up in my friend house with some of the ex-college boys after the night United blazed Bolton 5-0 when i checked my twitter, Sunday morning was actually the DriveBooks Jakarta Book Sale. Rushing from Lebak Bulus to Ex Plaza, i was arrived just in time to support their cause by buying bloody cheap english book for donations.

Books ive bought on today's DriveBooks Sale, on the right row

Selamat Idul Fitri 1432 H

Ah another fasting month is already over, me and all the writings in this blog want to say thank you for whoever whose reading this and my apology if there were any offending materials posted.

Nayla and Rais

Happy Eid Mubarak everyone, lets enjoy this festive moments in peace and compassion.

On Travelling Alone

‘the only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes’ - Marcel Proust

For some people, the ideas of going alone (for fun) to a new place is quite ridiculous.   I often got strange looks when i told my friend  how awesome some movie i watched and i went solo for that. Its just a cinema, let alone to the foreign land miles away from home. For some people (or should i say most) travelling alone is too risky, lonesome or my personal favorite : proof that youre a freak who dont have a friend to go to.

I did solo travelling 3 times so far. Start gradually from  Jogjakarta, do some confidence test in Singapore and the last one i brace myself to explore Macau & Hongkong. Not that i dont like to be accompanied with, but i take solo travelling as one of my life challenge. I gain a lot from that, not just the good memories but also learning and improvement , mostly self confidence.

What i will write below is some benefits i got from my lone adventure, hope that this can convince you and everybody to experience it as well . For a start, read this good post on why you should go solo.

Changi Airport super economic hostel a.k.a waiting room

TEDx Jakarta 2011

Have you known TED? not the Mosby one but TED as in Technology, Entertainment and Design. You should click the link on previous sentence if you didnt know what TED im talking about, seriously. Especially if you enjoy watching inspiring people sharing innovative ideas. TED is actually an ideas sharing conference which features people like Bill Gates, Al Gore, Bill Clinton and many other high profile figures giving concise presentation on various topics. It will cost you about 6000 USD for the ticket but afraid not my friend, all the presentation video can be viewed online for free.

Cross gender dance performance by Didik Nini Thowok

Last weekend, i went to TEDx Jakarta 2011 at Jakarta International School (JIS), Pondok Indah. TEDx is a franchise of TED conference which held independently by the local commitee. The event had already generated quite a buzz among Indonesian twitter users since weeks before. The Jakartans enthusiasm for fresh ideas solidly proven when the online registration for TEDx Jakarta opened, only took 30 minutes to fill the participant quota and force TEDx commitee to close the registration form. My decision to register as early as possible turns out to be a good one, a lot of people was as excited as me.