Shocking snatch thieve experience in Jakarta... OMG!!!

On last Friday night, my CEO - Mr C invited me and my other 5 colleagues for a dinner. He drove us to a Chinese restaurant with his Toyota Alphard. The restaurant is located along the main road in Kota, which is a busy area. We saw a number of restaurants, bakery shops, entertainment centres and etc. along the way.

I cropped this picture from Toyota Alphard's brochure

The traffic was quite heavy and all the vehicles were traveling at slow speed. Even the motorcycles got caught in the traffic jam! We were chit-chatting in the car and hoped to get over all the heavy traffics as soon as possible. =/

When we were approaching the main entrance of the restaurant, Mr C slowed down his car. While he was trying to change into the inner lane, we heard 2 loud sounds. "Pong Pooooong!!!" I thought we knocked down a motorcyclist! Even Mr C was shocked and he was wondering if he rammed into someone/ something. 

Two seconds later... YES! Literally 2 seconds!! A pedestrian (a.k.a. the snatch thieve) walked away with our side mirror on the driver's side. My colleague saw him walked to his partner's motorcycle in a slumber manner before ran away.

All of us were in shocked!! Trauma! /(*O*)\ We still can't believe that somebody can just approached a moving vehicle and snatched away the side mirror within seconds!! He must be a highly skilled snatch thieve! He was also very smart to target the expensive model! According to Mr C, his side mirror cost a few thousands RINGGIT and this is not the first time his side mirror got snatched!!! 

See, the side mirror was gone within 2 seconds!!!

Maybe you will be wondering why wouldn't us chase after the thieves? Sigh... Due to the bad traffic condition, there was no chance for an MPV to move fast. So, all we can do was to say 'bye-bye' to the side mirror. =(

With the relatively high crime rate, maybe driving an expensive car in Jakarta is not really a good option. Now, I think it is so much safer to drive around in Kuala Lumpur. Hahaha!

*Cheers* 

Quote of the Day

I came across a meaningful motivational quote by Greg Anderson.

"Let us be about setting high standards for life, love, creativity, and wisdom. If our expectations in these areas are low, we are not likely to experience wellness. Setting high standards makes every day and every decade worth looking forward to" by, Greg Anderson

According to motivationalquotes, he was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1984 and given 30 days to live. But instead of killing him, the cancer motivated him to begin living. He shares the simple yet profound lessons he learned in The 22 Non-Negotiable Laws of Wellness. 

I have not read this book yet but from the online book reviews, it looks like an excellent overall philosophy on how to lead a good life. I will check out this book in the future. =)

*Cheers*

Romantic dinner @ Kampung Daun, Bandung

In Bandung, D brought us to a unique and romantic gallery culture cafe called Kampung Daun. It is a restaurant situated on a hill at the Northern part of Bandung city. The restaurant is surrounded with green and beautiful scenery. This is a famous dating place for couples. =p

When we reached the car park, we had to walk quite a distance into the restaurant along a candle light pathway. =) It got even more romantic that night as it was a cold rainy night. However, too bad, we did not come here with our other halves. LOL! 

We had only one umbrella. So, we had to share it. M and I hugged together, while B was shading us from behind. Pity D and K who shaded themselves with their jackets. We were so cold, yet happy to be there.

This is a unique sign of Kampung Daun at the entrance

A nice waterfall in the middle of Kampung Daun... could be an artificial waterfall. But I like the sound of water flowing down from the rocks

One of the food station, where the chefs were busy cooking for us... =)

M and I posed in our hunt. This is actually a very romantic dinner place for couples... :p

 My dinner - an Indonesian cuisine... I cant remember the name of the dish... was it Nasi Bakwon? Anyway, its rice with some veggie and a pot of hot beef soup. Yumm!!! I enjoyed the hot soup so much!

On the way back, 'Captain Jack Sparrow' and his friend were trying hard to get our attention. Hahaha! Hence, I snapped a picture with them. They are funny!

If you are interested to spend a romantic night with your other half or even your family, why not consider Kampung Daun? On top of that, the prices are quite reasonable and food is not bad. Maybe you can check out their website and photo gallery for more pictures. 

I love the environment of Kampung Daun... =)

Photo credits: B & M

*Cheers*

Strawberry crazee @ Ciwidey, Bandung

On our way came down from the hill top of Kawah Putih (white crater), we passed by a rest stop with lots of small stalls. Some stalls were selling local delicacies, such as Mie Bakso (meat balls noodle), satay and etc., while others are selling strawberries!! There were fresh strawberries in various sizes, strawberry jam, strawberry dodol, and even strawberry pillows!!

Most of the strawberry stalls are selling small/ tiny strawberries, which looked sour to me. However, one of the stalls was selling pretty big and red strawberries!! The strawberry seller allowed me to test the strawberry before making my purchases. It was quite sweet and juicy. I can't resist to grab some for myself! I ended up bought half a kg of strawberries for myself. It costs IDR 22,500 (approximately RM 8) for the yummy strawberries... :)

Initially the strawberries were arranged row-by-row in a proper manner. However, they were messed up after my colleagues and I chose the 'best' strawberries. LOL!

After that, we passed by a lot of strawberry farms. We stopped by at one of the largest farm in Ciwidey, and started our 'strawberry picking' spree. Hahahaa! M and I had a great moment in the farm. We checked out each of the plant for the juicy strawberries, which very often hiding in between the leafy leaves. At times, we found some spoil berries too!

B snapped the overall view of the farm

He also snapped a closer view of the strawberry plants. See the little strawberries tangling on the plant. Aren't they pretty?

B was showing off his good photography skills here. There were an unripe strawberry, a ripe strawberry and a pretty strawberry flower. Hahaha!

M and I picked a small basket of strawberries (of course we had to pay for that). We picked mostly the baby strawberries as almost all the beautiful big berries were picked by the early birds. We were told that if we arrive at 9am on a weekday, we will have a higher chance to pick the pretty berries.

These strawberries became my lunch for the past 3 days (Monday to Wednesday). Hahaha! I thought maybe its time for me to diet after eating so much over the last one week. =p 

I will definitely travel here again in the future. I love the greens and cooling weather.

Photo credits: BWK

*Cheers*

The beautiful white crater lake (Kawah Putih) @ Bandung

Even though many of us known Bandung as food and shopping paradise, it is also a nice tourism spot! D drove us to Kawah Putih (or white crater), which is located on the top of Mount Patuha in South Bandung. When we arrived at the entrance, we paid IDR 45,000 (approximately RM 16) per person to drive up the hill. Besides self-driving up the hill, other tourists also can opt to travel by shuttle bus.

When we got down from the car, I immediately felt the cold wind blew towards me! Goodness! I was wearing a 3-quarter pants instead of long jeans! I was freezing cold. I quickly wore my jacket and grabbed my shawl from my backpack. *Phew* At least I got myself a little bit warmer. 

Before reaching the crater lake, we had to walk down a long staircase. Along the way, I smelt very strong sulfur. That's why, I wrapped my nose with my shawl too! I looked exactly like a ninja. LOL!

When I walked nearer to the crater lake, I saw the beautiful greenish-white lake and a mountain behind the lake. D told me that the lake contains sulfur, which turned the lake into greenish-white. He also told me and M that the sulfur water is good for skin! So, 3 of us walked into the warm-water lake and hoped for smoother skin. Hahaha!

From left: D, B, me and M. All of us were having great time there... :)

M and I snapped a photo on the rock. This photo showed very clearly that I was still suffering from my recent sunburn... =(

The sulfur is poisonous to our body. Therefore, we were advised not to stay near the crater lake for too long. Hence, we left the place after finished snapping our pictures. When we traveled down hill, we saw a look-up point. We can't resist to get down from the car and snapped some pictures with the beautiful scenery.

These 2 Bandung posts are just part of the places we traveled. I will post more in the future. =)

Photo credits: BWK

*Cheers*

Exploration outside Jakarta city @ Bandung

I traveled to Bandung town with another 4 of my colleagues over the weekend. Our Indonesian colleague, D was kind enough to drive us to this food and shopping paradise. We departed from our apartment early in the morning and the journey took us about 3 hours. 

Along the journey, we saw all sorts of trees, estates, paddy fields, and also the buffaloes who are working on the paddy field. I think this is even more interesting than traveling along our North-South Expressway from Kuala Lumpur to Penang. :p Probably this is my first time traveling out of Jakarta's golden triangle, that's why everything else looks so interesting to me.

The first thing we did when we arrived Bandung was to hunt for our breakfast. D recommended us nasi kuning. It is yellow rice with some beef floss, beans, crackers, and sambal chili. This is similar to the nasi kuning in-flight meal that we usually order from Air Asia. However, the difference was we ate this along the roadside! Basically, we sat on a bangku (stool) and ate our breakfast along a main road. On top of that, this is so much yummier and cheaper than the in-flight meal. I should have snap a photo of it. Hahah!

After that, D drove us around the city, which is surrounded with dozens of factory outlets. Oh my goodness! We had to control ourselves in order not to overspent! He brought us to one of the famous factory outlet called Rumah Mode.

He was jokingly telling us that he needs to hide away his ATM card and credit cards. Or else, he will be 'donating' all his money to Rumah Mode. Hahaha! My other 3 colleagues really had a great time shopping in this outlet, while I came out empty handed. =( The reason why I didn't grab anything for myself was because most of the female clothing are in bigger sizes/ European sizes.

During lunch, we discovered a very unique washbasin! I love the design of this washbasin. Check out the tortoises. Aren't they cute? The interesting part was I couldn't figure out how to turn on the water tap at first. Three of us, me, my colleague, M, and another restaurant customer were trying to figure it out. We pressed the tortoise head, pulled its tail and legs. We even tried if that is an automatic tap by moving our hands below the tortoise mouth!! But, none of the above ways work! HOW TO TURN ON THE WATER?!?!

In the end, I saw the round switch on the right-hand side of the washbasin. I pressed it and still got no water running out from the tap. Then, I turned the switch clockwise. Voiilaaa!!! The cute tortoise finally puke out some water for me to wash hands. Hahaha! This is so interesting!! 3 of us laughed. XD

I wish I can have this cool designed washbasin at home too!! =)

Photo credits: BWK

*Cheers*

How to diet when you are surrounded with all sorts of food? XD

Ever since I came over for this assignment in Jakarta, I have never skip my breakfast, lunch and dinner. On top of that, I eat tit-bits during tea time too! I just cant resist the biscuits, candies and chocolates lying on my table. Stop buying them? No way... Hahaha! =p

For these two days, it is even better! Some of my colleagues bought us some local delicacies - prunes layer cake, Medan layer cake and bika amboi (ginger cake). OMG... There's so many cakes to be consumed for these 2 days!! We got to eat them for breakfast, tea and supper. Or else, the cakes will not be fresh any more. 

My colleague snapped me holding the pretty basket of prunes layer cake =)

Now, I am stuffed with cakes... I need to go to the gym and burn some calories!!

*Cheers*