Last December, I was given the chance to travel to Lombok and the Gili Islands for a few days by BlackBerry Indonesia. I, Nicholas Saputra, Artasya Sudirman, and Kristupa Saragih visited a few (beautiful) places in the archipelago in the “Journey with Bold” programme. The travelogue will be released hopefully soon (so, stay tuned). As for now, do enjoy some snapshots I took with my phone and my friend’s camera. For more photos, you can go to this site and witness the journey. You can also watch the “teaser” here.

watch?v=y_OdV83Du0E

Perang Topat – An annual event in Lombok to celebrate diversity
Tanjung Aan, Kuta, Lombok
Being taught how to make gerabah handcrafts by local craftswomen
View from my room in our private villa
Dining at Square, Senggigi
Sunny days, orange and pineapple juice

Last month, I had the privilege to be one of the 17 delegates from Indonesia who could go to One Young World Summit 2011 in Zurich, Switzerland. I was sponsored by EuroRSCG Indonesia.

During the event, I met heaps of inspiring young (and a bit older) people. Counsellors, speakers, and delegates were gave so much knowledge and experience in only 3 days. One of the counsellors that caught my attention was Wael Ghonim, a ‘cyber’ activist that mobilized Egyptian youth during the January 25 revolution.

Wael Ghonim mobilized Egyptian youth through Facebook, under the page name: “We are all Khaled Said”, to campaign against police brutality. He was captured by the police for 12 days, but then freed, and was chosen by Egyptian youth to represent them.

You can read his profiles on TIME and BBC.

Aside from Wael Ghonim, there were many more inspiring people attending the event, including the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Norway, Jamie Oliver, Muhammad Yunus, and plenty others. Our own Sherina Munaf even performed a song she wrote especially for OYW, Sing Your Mind, and received a standing ovation at the closing ceremony.

I’m so sorry for the short post — but will let you know more about it soon! ‘Til my next post! Happy Sunday :-)

I traveled out of the city for a conference sometime ago for approximately 5 days. Everything I had to bring (including business attire) fitted in a small luggage and a small backpack. My friend brought two big luggages, one travel bag, and one carry-on women handbag. I can never travel like that. :p

I usually travel alone – yes, just like Ryan Bingham on “Up In The Air”. Here are some basic tips from me – especially if you are going to travel alone for the first time.

1. Travel light - Yes, it is one of the most important things. If you want to have a fun trip, do not bring too many items (especially clothes). You won’t suffer wearing the same jeans, shoes, and jackets/coats everyday. It would be difficult to travel on your own if you bring so many luggages. Only bring what you can bring while traveling a far distance on foot. Before I pack, I always go to this website: The Universal Packing List.
2. Research - Read a lot about the place you are going. Almost everything can be found on the Internet. You can also buy books about those places. Before I travel somewhere, I usually read about it on a number of websites. Here are my favourite websites: WikiTravel, TripAdvisor, and VirtualTourist. Also check about the public transportation and its costs.
3. Re-check your documents - Read again! Do the names on your passport and ticket match? Do you need a visa to visit the place? If you do, have you applied? How long is the visa application process? Make copies of them and put these copies in all bags you bring.
4. Prepare your cash - Some people choose to exchange their money abroad. Truth to be told, Rupiah is not that “internationally renowned”. It is never listed, therefore it can be assumed, people don’t ask for Rupiah and it makes Rupiah depreciated. We might lose much by exchanging our cash abroad. So, exchange your cash here (and not in the airport though)! I recommend Dua Sisi Money Changer (they have branches in Grand Indonesia, Senayan City, Plaza Senayan). They are very helpful, offer good rates, and sometimes have the currency others don’t. My family relative recommended Bali Inter, but they once sold CHF on IDR 10,000/CHF and wanted to buy my CHF for only IDR 8,000/CHF. What a rip off. Good thing Dua Sisi saved the day by buying my CHF at IDR 10,000/CHF.
5. Prepare your cards, too - Your ATM card is probably accepted overseas. BCA is a part of the Cirrus and Maestro network, Mandiri is a part of Visa, and so on. Check your bank’s website to know how much will it cost to withdraw your money abroad (for emergency situations). However, I was advised that using credit card overseas is better than using debit card – because credit cards have fraud insurance. I once withdrew my cash using my Mandiri ATM card in London. I withdrew GBP 30. When I already arrived in Jakarta, I received a message (Mobile Banking), saying there is a debit transaction worth a few million Rupiahs for around 3 times. Apparently someone “recorded” my card details and used them to shop in Tesco, London. I lost my entire savings worth more than IDR 8,000,000. I then contacted Bank Mandiri in Jakarta and claimed, because I still had my card with me in Jakarta and had proofs that I was not in London; so then Bank Mandiri accepted my claim and returned my cash.

Last but not least… Have fun! What’s your traveling tip? 

A couple of months ago I visited such a beautiful city in France, Nice, a few days before I had to deliver a talk at Geneva. Nice is located on the Mediterranean coast, along with Cannes and Monaco – to name a few. I backpacked around the city (I left my luggage in Geneva) and stayed in a youth hostel, Villa Saint Exupery (very recommended!). 

Promenade des Anglais from Colline du Chateau
Theatre National de Nice
On a cruise to Monaco with Trans Cote D’azur
Le Port
A cup of latte while waiting for the cruise to start
A scoop of Nutella ice cream at Fenocchio (best ice cream I’ve tried so far!) 
Velobleu bike could be rented at almost every corner in the city
The ‘tag’ on my bed – I slept on the top of a bunk bed, with other 4 girls in the room (from the UK, South Africa, and also Australia!)
Nice Jazz Festival poster 

I spent the weekend working and resting at the same time, but I am glad I managed to spare some time to try out my new ice cream maker! Today was my first attempt and I made Milo ice cream. Not bad. :D

I am a sucker for ice creams, yes. :] What’s your favourite ice cream flavour or ice cream shop?

Last June, I was invited by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) to speak on behalf of Asian youth on the youth panel “Global Youth: Leading Change”, at the 100th Session of the International Labour Conference, Geneva, Switzerland. I shared the stage with prominent young leaders from other continents, including Monique Coleman, the first UN Youth Champion (who is also an actress! Disney Channel lovers must be familiar with her). It was such an honour for me to be able to speak at Palais des Nations. Here’s a video highlight of the session.

However, I managed to secure some time to travel around. Switzerland is a country with the highest living cost in the world, so I decided I should get out of the country to avoid losing a fortune just by traveling around Geneva. So, I booked a flight with a low-cost carrier EasyJet to visit Nice, France, for a few days. :p Well, Nice would be another story, but here’s some pictures from Geneva, Switzerland. :)

See the full gallery on Posterous

I took a picture with a miniature of Borobudur Temple made of metal (I don’t know which kind – but looks like silver) given by the late Abdurrachman Wahid to the ILO. I also put a picture of the Geneva scenery seen from ILO’s office, as well as the Jet D’eau, Geneva’s most famous landmark.

I had so much fun in Geneva! Thanks to ILO Jakarta – especially Mr. Peter van Rooij (Director of ILO Jakarta) & Mr. Tendy Gunawan – for giving me such great opportunity; also to Mrs. Clare Schenker who assisted me (a lot!) in arranging my trip. Last but not least, thank you my cousin Didiet Maulana for Ikat Indonesia‘s tenun ikat blazer I wore at the conference, and to Diana Rikasari who gave me one of her UP collections, the gorgeous Anjani Black wedges.

What city would you like to visit if you only had 6 months left in your life? :)

*) Ayo ke Bali!

Liburan!

Suddenly want to go to Bali again. Ada tawaran buat jalan-jalan ke Green Canyon besok, tapi belum tau juga, karena lagi nabung buat beli a Macbook :) I am so lost without it and I just can’t be attached to the computer 24/7. I need to have a portable one.

Jadi, liburan tahun lalu gue ke Bali bareng temen-temen. Sama sekolah sih sebenernya, sebelumnya mampir di Bandung sama Jogja dulu. Pas di Bali, tiap malem deh diabisin buat hura-hura di Kuta. Yaaaah, namanya juga anak SMA :p Setelah temen-temen gue balik, gue stay sama beberapa teman. Kita nginep di Wantilan, resort punya tantenya Nadia. Enak banget tempatnya, bikin nggak mau pulang :) Tapi lama-lama gue sama Nadia kebosenan juga gara-gara nggak bawa laptop buat internetan, dulu belum jaman handphone ber-WiFi, tiap hari isinya cuma berenang. Back to my roots!

Bali emang sempurna banget deh buat liburan! Costnya emang lebih mahal dari Jakarta sih, but I don’t really care, it’s all worth it. It was my first time in Bali, tapi seruuu banget! Gue mau ngomongin makanan aaah…

Malem pertama di Kuta, kita makan di Kuta Food Festival (atau apalah namanya, sederetan Hard Rock dan Circle K Kuta Beach). Ada counter seafood gitu. Puas banget makannya! Berlima makan puas-puasin “cuma” abis 200 ribu! Jadi satu orang sekitar 40 ribu, itu udah termasuk segala macem seafood, dari ikan, cumi, kepiting, udang… Sampe sayurannya sekalian! Minumnya juga pake nambah. Abis makan di sana, anak-anak pada beli rokok di Circle K terus stargazing aja kita di Pantai Kuta dan foto-foto.

Yang bikin gue agak bingung, udah sampe Bali masih aja pada seneng makan McDonald’s, hihihi. Mungkin itu yang paling “jelas” kali yah, soalnya di Bali banyak sajian ‘ber’-darah, babi dan anjing, dan kita yang Muslim nggak mungkin mengkonsumsi itu. As you guessed, McD’s-nya lebih mahal dari McD’s Jakarta. Tapi yah… McD’s is a guilty pleasure for almost all of us right?

Apalagi ya makanan yang gue nikmati di Bali? Kita nggak pergi ke banyak tempat, soalnya di Wantilan disediain makanan yang sedap-sedap banget. Patungan beli bahan, dan dimasakin pasta, mi goreng (plus sayuran… mantap!), sampai opor ayam.

Di malam sebelum hari terakhir kita di Bali, gue misah dari “roommates” gue untuk pergi sama salah satu temen gue yang juga tinggal di Sanur, beberapa ratus meter dari tempat gue tidur. Kita ditemenin tantenya ke Dreamland. Sunset di sana! Oke banget deh! :D Abis liat sunset, kita makan seafood di Pantai Jimbaran. Seru banget, soalnya bisa stargazing, liat pesawat take off karena deket banget sama Ngurah Rai, menghadap ke laut juga, sambil ngiri liat orang-orang pacaran yang ditemenin “pengamen” nyanyi lagu I’m Yours! Aaaaah gilaaa… Mau lagi gue.

Tapi, penemuan yang paling oke, adalah waktu kita main-main ke Pasar Sukowati. Gara-gara ada banyak banget yang nitip oleh-oleh, kita pun bolak-balik Pasar Sukowati. Gue nggak belanja banyak-banyak banget, akhirnya gue jalan-jalan keliling-keliling. Di satu sudut Pasar Sukowati, deket ATM BRI, ada bau-bau sedap gitu. Langsung aja deh gue ikuti… Ternyata ada yang jualan sate!

Pas gue tanya sate apakah itu, rupanya itu adalah sate ikan. Kayak otak-otak gitu rasanya, tapi dijadiin sate, dan itu super enak! Sepiring cuma 7 ribu, bisa pake kecap doang, bisa ditambahin nasi. Di sekitar situ emang banyak yang jualan nasi goreng, dan temen-temen gue beli makanan lain, gue nggak mempan sama makanan lain! Tiap ke Sukowati, gue makan sate ikan itu, Halal loh :)

And you know what, on our last day, kita bela-belain ke Sukowati buat beli 50 tusuk sate ikan untuk dibawa pulang ke Jakarta! Bayangin aja sekotak ikan ditaro di kolong kursi pesawat kecil milik penerbangan AirAsia! Yang di Jakarta juga pada “tersihir” sama keenakan satenya :D

Can’t wait to taste it again!

Apa makanan favorit lo yang cuma ada di tempat liburan? Care to share? :)

Another round of traveling to London with the Global Changemakers! I am so grateful that I got the chance to have a go again, and terribly sorry if there are some people who think that I am showing off by posting this. No, I’m not. I just want to share the experience to you folks… therefore people will be reminded with what Walt Disney said, If you can dream it – then you can do it. Just Google about something that you really want to do, you’ll find something great, and go for it. Nothing is impossible, trust me.

Learning the hard way!

There were 21 of us, 20 people from the G20 countries + 1 from Thailand as ASEAN’s representative. This event is related to the G20 Leaders Summit, maybe you had watched about it on TV. I met some of the same people from the last event in Guildford including the British Council team (both from UK and Switzerland, plus 2 new members: Paola and Fran), Scott (UK) and Sofia (Canada). I also met new people of course, and all of them were wonderful.

This is what we did in London:

• Working, working, working… We had to decide what we think the world leaders have to do to tackle the global financial crisis. We thought about it from every aspects, including environmental and social. We also worked with UK Youth to exchange knowledge about what is really happening in our countries. I could proudly say that Indonesia is holding up relatively well, the inflation pressure was reduced, and our economic growth still recorded a surplus. Most of the working sessions took place in InnovationArts, a very innovative place to work!
• Roundtable discussion with Katherine Garrett-Cox, Simon Taylor, and Diana Wais at The Economist with Matthew Bishop as the moderator!
• Some of us met the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP at Downing Street No. 11. Too bad I wasn’t one of them. :(
• Met UK Prime Minister, Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, and President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa of Mexico at Downing Street No. 10. It was a real quick meeting, but I was still speechless.
• Conversation with Cherie Booth, or famously known as Cherie Blair. Yes, she was UK’s ‘first lady’ but she prefers to be called with her maiden name. She’s a leading specialist in human rights law issues.
• Went to The Bank of England. Yes, it’s pretty much the same with other museums in the UK. Real fun, free, and you don’t want to get out of there.
• Reception at the House of Lords, hosted by the Lord Speaker, Rt Hon Baroness Hayman. We met David Miliband to give our version of communique. FYI, the G20 always produces communiques, you can read all of them here.
• Plenary session with Rt Hon John McFall MP, Chair of UK Treasury Committee.
• Went to Zuhal Amadeus Sultan‘s recital. She is a Global Changemaker from Iraq and she’s organizing the first orchestra in Iraq, called National Youth Orchestra of Iraq. Check out Zuhal’s page to know more about it. She was really an inspiration.

Copyright © 2009 Chris Tribble/www.ctribble.co.uk.

I couldn’t even believe I was there! The main idea of this event was actually to let us meet our leaders. Unfortunately, only Leticia (Mexico) and Scott (UK) who got the chance to meet their leaders. I don’t want to miss the chance, really. So, I contacted Mr Herry who works in KBRI - I met him on January – and told him that I’d like to meet Mr President. He said that Mr President had a very tight schedule and well, I understood. But he offered another thing, which was having lunch with The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Hassan Wirajuda; Indonesian Ambassador for UK, Mr Yuri Thamrin; and also my idol… Mr Dino Patti Djalal! I said yes.

And guess what, I really got the chance to meet Mr President! I shook hands with him. It was thrilling, and exciting, at the same time! I didn’t regret running around the underground stations, walking near the demonstrators, waiting for hours at the hotel corridors… I finally met him. Other people said that it was impossible to meet him in London, but this is an evidence that,

Impossible is something
that’s impossible.

It’s never too late to pursue your dreams. Write what you want on a piece of paper, or in your mind. And, go for it.

PS: Pay attention to my outfit. Yes, I am, Indonesian. And lovin’ it!

Most of you have probably heard that I went to the UK. Not to meet Thom Yorke (although I’d be smiling like Joker all the time if I had the chance to bump into him around Trafalgar Square), I attended the Global Changemakers Guildford Forum 2009 instead. I might say that I was so lucky to get that opportunity. I’d like to thank my mum and dad, my family & friends, The British Council UK and Indonesia–especially Mr Fajar Anugerah who took a good care of me during my stay in London & Manchester, Astrid Wulandari (who let me know about this event), The Gibbons, The Pettits, The Nugrohos (who let me slept over at their place). It was a lifechanging experience.

I was there for two weeks. So how was London? It was real cold. Around 1 to 7 Celcius degrees. It was killing me on the first days, but it got better.

GCGF 2009
was held at Horsley Park, Surrey. There should have been 60 participants from 37 countries but the two of us couldn’t make it there, so there were only 58. I met a lot of people, more like a family than just friends. They peeled something that covered me for years, they helped me rediscovered myself. At first, it was really hard not to speak Indonesian at all. But then again, it was a learning process.

The facilitators were John Martin and Linda Gaskill who also helped for the Road to Davos 2008 (last year’s similar event). They gave a lot of knowledge and insight for us to do our projects when we got home. Yes, I forgot to mention that we were supposed to be doing something in our countries. We needed to design a Community Action Project (CAP) and submit it to Gaby, the CAP manager, on the last day of the forum.

The activities were awesome! They helped us to discover the guidelines of working in a team, they put us in a situation “If you were in the same elevator with Bill Gates and he asked about what your activities, how would you respond in less than 27 seconds?”, there were also a reception in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office where people were invited to meet us, they wanted us to discover our weaknesses and things we’d like to know through a workshop called “The Marketplace”, and many more. Basically, they want us to build our own network and do something great in our countries.

On the last day, we had to present our CAP. I presented that I wanted to make a youth conference in Jakarta on July 2010 (PS. I’ll tell you about it later!). They said that my presentation was great, so I was relieved. After the presentations, we had to vote for “The Davos 6″. So, among the 58 of us, there’ll be 6 people who’ll go to the World Economic Forum to represent the Global Changemakers. I didn’t get that chance. It was okay though. I don’t it really matters, what matter was, I met a lot of new friends from all around the world, and had the chance to tell them that Batik is really from Indonesia and there were some good impacts from the Tsunami disaster: RI and GAM reunited as one province, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam.

I met a lot of best friends. Mintwab, Elsabe, Charlie, Sarah, Esnatt, Chiara, … I miss them all. :(

A Bit of Traveling

I didn’t have much time to travel around the UK. I had like two or three days to see things in London and used the tube more frequently than I ever used TransJakarta! I visited British Museum, National History Museum, Science Museum and Sherlock Holmes Museum. The museums were just awesome. The interior design, architecture, things inside the museums are very interesting. The best thing from them was, they are all free! No admission fee needed, but there were donation boxes. I saw couples everywhere around the museums, make my longing for the bf grows much much worse. I also visited football stadiums, including Stamford Bridge (where I saw John Obi Mikel!) and Emirates (a few hours before the Arsenal-West Ham match started!). I ate fish and chips also, the traditional food from the UK. I tasted the traditional and the ‘fast food’ one. I went to the very famous Madame Tussaud’s (luckily I “met” Obama and Warhol! Yippee!). I had a little bit of shopping at Colchester and M&S in London. Not much though, everything was extremely expensive, compared to Indonesian prices, hehehe.

iCoCo & BC International Conference 2009: Community in Action – People and Practice

It was held in Manchester, so I went there by train on Tuesday. It was about community cohesion. I didn’t really understand about it but I had the chance to brainstorm things with new people and tell them that we, young people, are doing something. The things in their mind were that they can never work with young people who (they think) are less responsible and less of a fighter than adults. I told them that we are courageous to do things, sometimes even more than adults do. I also met two kids from the UK Youth Parliament. We had reception and dinner at the Manchester Town Hall and I chatted a lot with people (tried to use the “27 seconds” things. Thank you John & Linda!).

Anyway, before the conference started, I had the chance to visit The Old Trafford Stadium! Everyone was envious. *evil laugh* I hope you all, the MU fans, will get the chance to experience what I did in Manchester. Nevertheless, they are coming here in a few months though. No worries. :)

more pictures later!

alanda, 1.55 am

DAY 1

Faculty of Pharmacy, Padjadjaran Uni
First destination, got here at 11 AM. Not much. We only took some look at the campus’ facilities and got insights about the faculty itself. We prayed here and had our lunch in the bus. The trip to Jogja took quite long. We arrived in Jogja on 11.30 PM and stayed in Brongto Hotel.

DAY 2

Faculty of Engineering, Gadjah Mada Uni

After having breakfast in the hotel by the morning, we departed to UGM and got there on 10 AM. Same with went we went to UNPAD, we took a look at the campus’ facilities and curriculum. We took some photos together too.

Prambanan Temple

I’ve never been to Borobudur and Prambanan, so this is a new experience for me. I was very happy to witness such heritage, with that gigantic size. Indonesia is really, really wonderful. I didn’t get the chance to take in-depth looks to every parts of the temple but I’m still happy I went there. Come visit Prambanan, people! The entrance ticket is very cheap :D

DAY 3

We slept at the bus last night, the trip to Ketapang Harbor took all night long. I didn’t sleep well but it’s okay because I got plenty of (crazy) classmates in the bus. We got there by the dawn, on about 5 AM. After doing the Subuh Prayer and breakfast, we got the chance to witness sunrise. A beautiful one.

We crossed the sea using a ferry ship. This is a new experience too for me and it was awesome! I went to the top of the deck before the ship sailed. The view was very beautiful. I wanna cross the ocean using a ferry ship again some time!

Tanah Lot Temple
Tanah Lot is a famous object in Bali, you can read more about it on Wikipedia. It was beautiful. I drank the famous pure water too, I dunno what do they call it :D Here are some pictures.

After that, we checked into the hotel. We stayed at Sari Nikita Hotel, in Denpasar. The kids were very bored so most of my schoolmates left the hotel. Some of us went to ATM or restaurants in Denpasar but the rest went to Kuta Beach, including me. I went there with my roommates and we joined the boys. The boys rent an angkot to take us to Kuta Beach, which was really cool!

Adam accompanied me in Kuta Beach and he asked me to visit our friends: Sisil, Echa and Chu, who are going to dine in Kuta Seaside Food Central. Adam left and I dined with them. The four of us ordered six kinds of food (!): kepiting, kakap, udang, cumi, kerang and kangkung. Everything was incredibly delicious! I felt ecstatic, and so did my friends. Echa even ordered FOUR portions of rice!

We met our friends in front of Hard Rock Cafe and went back to hotel (using the same angkot) at around 10-11 PM.