London tak seramah dulu...

Dua minggu lagi saya ke London. Sudah ngg keitung saya mengunjungi kota ini. Ketika menginjakkan kaki pertama kali 5 tahun lalu saya pergi sendirian. Naik bis Nat Express dari Startford-on-Avon dengan tujuan Sweden Embassy. Boro2 tau' lokasinya, semua masih bayangan semata. Sengaja saya beli peta gede untuk membantu navigasi.

Kesan pertama London adalah : wih gede ya *ndeso tenan wis* Tapi satu hal yang membuat saya senang adalah kota ini guampang banget ditelusuri. Tube stasiun dimana-mana, bis asal lompat, jalan juga enak. Yang mungkin agak membingungkan, saya malah jarang banget ketemu bule. Kota ini menjadi kota internasional, terdiri dari berbagai ras dan kebangsaan. Banyak banget orang Caribbeans dan juga dari etnis India. Juga dari berbagai agama. Islam, Kristen, Katolik, Budha, Hindu, Yahudi semua tumplek blek disini. Ingatan saya melayang pada novel Brick Lane karya Monica Ali. Sebuah potret kontemporary London dengan konflik budaya yang kental

Hari ini ada kabar tentang penemuan 2 bom mobil disana. Di daerah West End (antara Piccadilly Circus dan Trafalgar Square) yang biasanya saya lewatin jalan kaki. Entahlah saya jadi miris. Jadi inget dua tahun lalu tentang bom 7 Juli di Tube stasiun dan bis. Jadi inget ancaman teror di Heathrow menyusul kemudian.

Bicara tentang homegrown terorisme (teroris yang berasal dari Inggris) saya jadi inget ketika ngekos di Perry Bar Birmingham. Daerah itu adalah daerah muslim yang kebanyakan dari Pakistan dan India. Ada dua masjid yang dalam jarak jelajah sepuluh menit. Satu masjid bahkan diberi nama Saddam Hussein -yang kemudian dirubah ketika perang antara US-Iraq berkecamuk.

Saya mendengar, saya melihat dan saya menyaksikan bagaimana homegrown terorisme tumbuh. Anak2 muda yang frustasi karena tidak mendapatkan pekerjaan, tidak bisa sekolah di Universitas karena mahal (free school cuma sampe sma). Mereka teralienasi dan tercabik dari society. Hasilnya adalah wujud keputusasaan, kehampaan yang kemudian disalahgunakan menjadi martyr agama.

Saya masih ragu untuk jalan2 lagi ke London...


Photo:
Ketika menikmati pesta kembang api di bibir sungai Thames, saya menjenguk Tower of London sejenak. Tahun 2004 kalau ngg salah.

The worst and the goods about iPhone

Another 2.5 days to wait iPhone. The review of David Pouge from NY Times :

...As it turns out, much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones.

These are compilation based from CNet TV today :

Five Worst Things about iPhone
1.The price. It's quite expensive for typically new product compare with iPod or other smart phone.
2. Battery . You cannot take the battery out like the normal smartphone. Instead you've got to buy new one for replacement if your guarantee year is over.
3. Two years contract. Yups it's quite common now to lock the consumer up 1 year.
4. Small capacity : only available 4GB and 8GB.
5. No 3G : it will takes ages to browse

Five Reasons to buy iPhone
1. It's soooo pretty.
2. No button, just your fingers touching the screen
3. Basically it's an iPod.
4. Wi fi ...hmmm you can surfing while waiting someone in coffe shop
5. Third party applications (Safari allow to browse more app)

Anyway, I tried open TV ads on the Apple site using Safari. It crashed several times. I thought Safari not ready enough embedded into this 'cute' phone or I am not ready to get one. Gosh...still not convinced me at all. See people start quequing in NY Apple Store here

Back to Basic

click pictures to see bigger

Experiments with colour and shape in photography is totally new for me. My background education as Civil Engineer but then I found my self exploring more about architecture. I loves drawing when I was kid, but did not recognize my talent until too late. Back in University in Jogja, I managed to close with students and lectures of Architecture. They taught me about concept, shadow and lines. That's also help me to understand drawing on construction site when I was working for projects.

So now I am learning the basic principles of drawing : shapes and colours. While in Shanghai a new pocket camera along old Nikon with me. It was capable enough to taking snap photos without worry of technical bits. Release my fear as I used to do. Yups..lift the burden of my mind about camera. I am using now as a tool to draw rather then just to record the moment.

How happy these kids...

click here to see album of The Other Side of Shanghai

D200 on Nikkor 10.5mm Fisheye. 1/60 sec at f/4.0, ISO 400, RAW

We lost in the center of Shanghai in the way back from Yu Garden. It came up as a bless. We were watching a diffrent life, different side of the city. We saw dark corner of houses, hanging clothes and outdoor kitchen on 2nd floor. Love it!

These kids were playing at the fabrics market. All shops here selling button, fabrics, belt and any tit bits of sewing and embroidery. The three were happy playing inside the mall, as there were few open space for playground.

No shark fin please...

Urusan makan di Shanghai agak tricky. Kalau mau eksperiment mulai dari katak, ular hingga kaki burung. Seperti halnya negara Asia, makan di China adalah bentuk komunitas. Anggota keluarga/kawan/bisnis duduk bersama dengan berbagai masakan didepan. Sharing istilahnya. Masing-masing berhak mendapatkan bagian.
Restaurant di Shanghai mempunyai ruang2 tersendiri. Mau yang gede cukup untuk 20 orang atau cukup untuk keluarga kecil dua generasi. Jadi restaurant selayaknya rumah dengan banyak diningroom. Sekali lagi beda dengan restaurant Barat yang tanpa sekat dan lebih personal. Makan di Asia tidak mengenal hirarki atau urutan seperti apetiser, main course, side course, dan desert. Hanya karena menyesuaikan dengan tata cara makan Barat akhirnya urutan itu mulai diperkenalkan.

Bagi orang China, makan adalah bagian dari ritual dan penyembuhan. Makanan dari bahan yang asing dipercaya mengandung unsur penyembuhan dan mitologis. Termasuk shark fin atau sirip ikan hiu.
Bagi mereka shark fin adalah wujud prosperity atau membawa faktor keberuntungan. Biasanya dihidangkan dalam wedding banquet sebagai wujud awal hidup baru. Sayangnya makin banyak orang mengkonsumsi makin banyak nelayan memburu ikan hiu. Perburuan itu sungguh sangat kejam. Begitu ikan hiu tertangkap, siripnya dipotong lantas dilepas kembali. Lantas bagaimana ia melanjutkan hidup, berenang-pun ngg mampu. Seperti mengamputasi kaki seseorang dan melemparkannya di jalan.


Sudah menjadi komitmen kami untuk tidak menyentuh makanan yang mengandung unsur alam yang dilindungi. Seperti sarang burung walet, kuda laut, ular de el el. Saya selalu menekankan itu sebelum memesan makanan. Biarpun ditraktir saya selalu bilang, "NO SHARK FIN PLEASE," sambil menjelaskan alasan saya.

Apakah saya pernah makan shark fin soup ? Ya pasti pernah. Dulu sebelum saya tahu betapa sungguh tersiksa-nya ikan hiu yang hanya diambil siripnya untuk saya makan di meja ini. Seperti gambar semangkuk sup disamping. Isinya : shark fin, kaki bebek, seafood lain. Memang mengundang, tapi percayalah satu bisa membantu seribu ikan hiu diluar sana. Termasuk yang diburu di perairan Indonesia.

Global kampanye tentang ini bisa dilihat di Wild Life dengan selebritis China seperti Jackie Chan dan pebasket Yao Ming.

Stasiun kereta kok bulet...

Emang berada di negeri ini menantang segala kemampuan survival. Dari hal sepele seperti pesan makanan atau naik taksi menjadi moment menarik. Termasuk juga dengan naik kereta.
Hari Minggu lalu berombongan kami ke Hanzhou sekitar 2 jam naik kereta dari Shanghai. Untung banget salah satu anggota jalan adalah native Chinese, jadi urusan pesan memesan tiket cukup didelegasikannya. Sebenarnya rencana semula adalah hari Sabtu, berhubung dah ketinggalan kereta terpaksa ganti esoknya. Beli tiket di loket enggak ada dalam bahasa Inggris. Jadi enaknya minta dibuatkan kartu tulisan chinese berisi tujuan dan hari. Lengkap dengan one way atau return ticket. Anehnya untuk return ticket, loketnya ternyata beda plus harus ngisi form.

Kami berhasil dapet tiket kereta cepat 1st class dalam outbound (Shanghai-Hangzhou) tapi dapet kereta lambat 1st class untuk inbound. Ini karena hari Minggu, penuh banget dengan penumpang yang piknik. Berangkat 1030 dan pulang 1808. Jadi emang ngg nginep.

Yang bikin kagum adalah stasiun keretanya. Untuk jurusan Hangzhou stasiunnya adalah di South Railway Stasiun. Perlu diketahui ada 4 stasiun kereta di Shanghai, termasuk Metro atau kereta dalam kota. Yang ini wah....grandeur deh. Bener-bener gres, anyar tenan.....
Cuman kawan saya komplain soal kenapa stasiun kereta kok bulet. Dimana-mana mah stasiun emang kotak dengan platform yang sempit. Ini saking lebarnya mobil 4 bisa saling lewat.

Strukturnya dari baja, cantik sebenarnya. Saya sih bisa lihat kenapa bulet. Because bulet adalah simbol kesinambungan dalam mitologi China. Bulet juga sebuah journey yang tanpa awal dan tanpa henti. Dan stasiun adalah wujud journey yang tidak akan ada habisnya. Halah...


Harga tiket untuk kereta cepat RMB 70. Sedang yang kereta lelet seharga RMB 40. Nah berapa sih kecepatan maksimalnya? percaya atau tidak kereta ini bisa nyampe 200km/jam. Cuman karena ada beberapa pekerjaan konstruksi selama perjalanan, kereta cuma bisa nyampe 180km/jam. Speed kereta jelas terlihat di papan elektronik.

Kereta-nya juga super gres. Biasanya saya ngecek dari kondisi toilet dan tempat duduk. Dan hasilnya hmm bersih kinclong. Ada layar TV-nya lagi. Wush...lagi-lagi nostalgia naik kereta terbayang.....*plethaks...ngalamun doang*
Cuman butuh 1.5 jam ke Hangzhou, tapi sekitar 4 jam untuk balik. Why? karena kereta lelet tadi bener-bener lelet. Musti stop beberapa kali menyilakan kereta lain lewat. Jadi lain kali kalo mau naik kereta pesen dulu 2-3 hari biar ngg keabisan. Bisa lewat travel agent, hotel atau datang sendiri. Ngg susah sebenarnya. Cuman siap2 mangkel...

A midnight at the highest building in Shanghai

Jin Mao is the undoubtedly the highest commercial building in Pudong area, and the fifth highest in the world. It's also landmark of Shanghai along with Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The two are sort of manifesto of China to the world that they can conquer the world.

Monday night we had session of dinner in the mall opposite the TV Tower called Super Brand Mall (aaah....see how imaginative the Chinese is). Then walked about 10 minutes down to Jin Mao. City of Shanghai pretty much never had sleep. Tourist were everywhere, snapping camera to the building or just having self photo done.


Enter the building we ended up had to go to 56th floor which a lobby of Grand Hyatt Hotel. Then move to another lift to 58th to make reservation. And wait for another 15minutes or so on the magnificent view of the floor up to the sky. It's bit kind of de-ja-vu because remind me of the Star Wars : Return of the Jedi. Funny as since arrived here we had Star Wars movie all night in Telly. The void has rounded walls of hundreds compartments. The light created a superb glow exactly like the scene when Luke faced his long gone father, the Darth Vader.

Then we manage to go up at 87th on the place called Cloud 9. It's a bar basically, we couldn't get to the Observation Deck because already late night. Yes we arrived to see the night view of Pudong. I'll tell you that the view was amazing, apart from columns inside that blocked my sight. I had to curse my self because left my camera, these pictures produced with a pocket camera.

The price here were cheaper than go to Oriental Pearl TV Tower. It cost RMB 120 + 15% tax for minimun charge compare to RMB 250. Not bad ....

Address :
Jin Mao Tower, 88 Century Boulevard, Pudong, Shanghai, 200121
Hours: Monday-Thursday: 6:00 pm to 1:00 am
Friday: 6:00 pm to 2:00 am Saturday: 11:00 am to 2:00 am
Sunday: 11:00 am to 1:00 am

The Bund ....the magnet of the city

The Bund or Waitan is the part of the Shanghai that everybody flocked in. There is fantastic view along Huangpu River to Pudong area- a new industrial area build in past 10 years. You will see that on Waitan were mainly old building which British and French built during the foreign’s concessions. Most of building now are the finest artifact of magnificent architecture, such as Peace Hotel.

It’s quite absurd for me when you clearly see that the other part divided by a huge river there are many new building. The most striking feature are The Oriental Pearl TV Tower –350m height. It has two round globes called space module with three-column supported it. I was there to looking up my self. I had to admit that even I don’t like the structure but seemed suit to Shanghai’s environment. Also quite absurd for me to had the ticket up to building which got rocket price. It will about 250 RMB to reach the second space module. I thought that was ridiculous price.

Not far from the Bund, there is East Nanjing Road which the mall and shooping area. I was there at Friday afternoon to witness Shanghainese spend the day there. Sitting, chatting, or just admiring stuff that looked expensive which they can not afford to buy.




Walking in Nanjing Rd was quite enjoyable apart from street seller. I would call they are annoyance because they were persistently offering fake Gucci or fake Rolex. Hey...I don't need that! They'll give you picture or simply a business card. All the bargaining was virtually on streets. Every 10 steps I’m guarantee that one or two turned up and follow you to offer these ‘bargain product’. We come up with the idea about make a T-shirt with letter : PLEASE NO BAGS, NO WATCH, NO SHOES!

Cycle....all along Shanghai

First impression of Shanghai was traffic. There are plenty of cyclist around the streets. Most of them are quite old cycle, may be more than 5 years old. I can see the rusty bar, cranky wheels and ripped saddle.

I was surprised about not many people in Shanghai own motorcycles as what I saw in Vietnam. In the morning bustle, Hanoi’s street was packed with moped vehicle. But in here, yes I saw few of them, not so many. There are few theories about it. First, the public transport quite reliable. The city bus and Metro (sub-way) are connected to many public places. Second reason that in Shanghai the city concept of urban planning were mixed between commercial and residential.

You will see many houses and shops are integrated. Since most people in the city relay on small scale business rather than industrial stage in urban, so people progression not so far away. People only travel when it’s weekend or public holiday. In daily basis they might uses taxi and bus, while train mainly for long distance journey.

Cycle is the only answer for cheap and easy transport for Shanghainese. That’s also explain the reason number three that money is talking here. China is the emerging economic super power but there are big gap between the top and the grass root people. You must not surprise that see beggars on the street or more people do some odd jobs. They can be looked really wealthy but these people only ask tourist for money. Not to the local.


Money also the main reason China became open to the Western’s investment. There are lots of McDonald here, more than I can found in Indonesia. In the East Nanjing Road itself there are four McDonald. Some well known franchise such as Starbuck or Costa were spreading all the places. Including hotel’s chains.

Shanghai Taxi : survival for english speaker

Shanghai stop raining. I decided to go to the main place, The Bund or Waitan as local would called. I have been notice that I need a card to show where I am going on the back of hotel's address. It's essential since not many people in China had good literacy in Latin alphabet and English. So you have to ask Shanghainese to write down in Chinese to explain where you want to go. Alternatively you show the place on the map. Usually the taxi driver had a map ready on his car, but there are plenty free map that you can grab in the airport. Other tactic is you pronouns the words. They will figure it out anyway.

Taxi here were cheap, about 11 RMB for start meter. Easy to find, just need to flag down anywhere on the street. I was able to get in the front of hotel in Hoangqiau not far from the domestic airport. Average it will cost around 25-40 RMB depends for the traffic. Shanghai had the reputation of traffic jam quite often.

Things that I noticed about taxi is rarely they had AC. They will open the windows to get fresh air, but quite clean and tidy. Minimalist I will say. No safety belt for passenger, then prepare for the joyride.


There was a plastic wall divided the driver and passenger. It’s looked like a cubical protection. You still can see him though, as the plastic made for see through and had a aluminium bar to hold it. Most of the taxi will understand what you asking for. The ‘tarzan language’ always useful here. I wish to learn Mandarin next time.

Nyebrang dari Singapura menuju Johor Bahru

Ada beberapa alternatif nyebrang dari Singapura ke JB, salah satunya dengan bis. Nyebrang dengan bis selain murah juga tersedia kapan saja (termasuk malem sebelum midnight). Dibandingkan dengan bayar taksi gelap yang bisa makan ongkos berlipat-lipat. Agaknya ngebis adalah lebih mudah dan terjangkau. Semua bis ini berakhir di Larkin JB Bus Station. Sedang taxi mungkin lebih enak jika kita berombongan dan bawa banyak barang. Keahlian menawar menjadi syarat utama untuk ambil taksi ini.

Berikut adalah moda angkutan yang lazim saya pakai :

Bis

1. SBS Transit No 170
Mangkal di Queen St Bus Station atau bus stop sepanjang Rochor Canal Rd (deket Sim Lim Square) . Bayar dengan kartu EZ-Link yakni dengan kartu transport yang ditap di mesin ketika naik dan turun. Ongkosnya S$1.60 dari pukul 5.20am-12.10am.

Bus-nya selalu ada tiap 10-15 menit, jadi jangan kuatir kehabisan. Untuk Bus SBS setelah sampe imigrasi checkpoint di Woodland, turun sambil ngetap kartu. Lantas pergi ke imigrasi kontrol. Setelah beres, turun tangga menuju stasiun bis. Naik lagi menuju imigrasi Malaysia yang jaraknya ngg ada 500m. Ngg perlu pakai bis yang sama seperti kita naik, pokoknya asal No 170. Setelah lewat imigrasi Malaysia, lagi2 nyari bis SBS dan akan diantar sampai Larkin/City Centre.

Ada dua tipe SBS yakni yang plat biru dan plat merah. Yang plat biru akan melewati Kranji MRT, sedang yang merah akan melewati Kranji dan Queen St. Perkiraan tempuh jika imigrasi lancar 30-40menit.

2. Singapore-Johor Express Coach
Bisnya agak tua, warna putih dengan tulisan merah. Mangkal di Queen St di Singapura. Udah ada sejak 6.30am-11.30pm dengan ongkos agak mahal dikit dari SBS yakni S$2.40. Beli tiketnya di terminal bis dan nantinya diberi tiket. Simpan tiket itu, jangan sampai hilang. Karena akan dipakai untuk naik turun bis melewati dua imigrasi. Caranya sama seperti SBS, jadi ngg perlu naik dengan bis yang sama. Frekuensi bis juga hampir tiap 10 menit.



3. Causeway Link (CW1 dan CW2)
Bus-nya warna kuning cerah, masih baru. Beroperasi dari Kranji MRT, sebelah luar untuk CW1, sedang yang CW2 mangkal di Queen St. Taripnya :
Imigrasi JB $0.8, nyampe kota Raya JB $1, Terminal Larkin $1.30. Kalau dengan CW2 yang langsung akan lebih mahal yakni $3. Beli tiket on spot, dengan cara mirip bus2 yang udah diatas. Tarip berlaku sama jika beli di Malaysia.

Taxi
Dari Queen St biasanya ada taksi gelap dari Malaysia. Tandanya : mobil biasa dengan plat JB. Kalau bisa nawar usahakan jangan lebih dari $40 (Kota Raya) atau $50 (Bandara Senai). Jadi bisa sharing dengan kawan sejalan. Lebih cepat menuju JB, disarankan bagi yang buru2 ngejar pesawat atau kereta.Taxi akan melalui pintu imigrasi khusus mobil pribadi dan kontrol paspornya lebih instan.

Untuk taxi Singapura hanya boleh beroperasi sampai pintu imigrasi, setelah itu ambil taksi Malaysia. Ini agak beresiko terutama harga bisa melonjak naik melihat faktor kebutuhan. Untuk taxi limusine bisa dipesandari bandara Senai. tapi jatuhnya mahal sekali, yakni RM150. Tapi ditanggung wus wus wus...bablas sampe Singapura dengan cepat. Perkiraan waktu tempuh <30menit.

Equipment List Everest Trekking April 2007

see complete photos at Picasweb Album

Below are files contains things that you need to carry for the Everest Trekking. As all of these based from my eqiupment, sometime you will find that few of them not available in Indonesia. Before set off to Nepal, we had conversation through email about what to carry and not to carry. The problem we faced :

1. Limited of flight baggage. On domestic flight allow to carry 20kg, while international will be about the same. We managed to get compensation of 2.5kg on outbound flight (Sing-Bangkok-Kathmandu), but had to promise to reduce on the inbound flight.

2. Some of the equipment only available in the shop that provide winter/cold outdoor sport. It must be difficult to find one in Indonesia.

Items that have to chase around :

• long john
• down sleeping bag (this is esential)
• good walking boots and healthy socks
• medicine for high altitute

Please download the files here (some in Bahasa Indonesia).