Indo-Sing Photographers' Lighting Workshop

Last Saturday, I and Irza went to Indo-Sing Photographers' lighting workshop. This event is hosted by Andre, one of the active members of the mailing list. The workshop itself is conducted by eRBe.

As some of us might have known, my presence there was just a "penggembira" :), since I don't consider myself as an avid photographer. I believe I was the only one who came to the event with a pocket camera. :) :)

That's why, while the others were busy attending to the workshop and trying all the various lightings to take pictures of the models (who are actually Andre's friends who volunteered to become the models for this workshop event), I chose to bring Irza and his friends (Wawan and Ahmad Dasuki's kids) outdoor and create our own photo sessions. :)

We went around the swimming pool area, as well as to the water fountain area and the BBQ pit area and I took their pictures while they were happily playing and running around. The result? Beautiful Wina and Marsya, as well as handsome Rafli and Rifqi, together with Irza, really look great in front of the camera. And the most important thing, they were really having fun! :) :)

More pictures can be found here.

Related links:

• IndoSing Photographer Lighting workshop - 26 April 2008
• Andre's photo results
• Ahmad Dasuki's photo results

Sedap Corner, Bukit Batok

This hainanese chicken rice stall is located inside the S11 Food Court in block 640 Bukit Batok Central, not far from Bukit Batok bus interchange and the MRT station. It has a halal certification from MUIS.

When I went there yesterday afternoon for lunch, this stall has the longest queue compared to other stalls in the vicinity. However, surprisingly the service is quite fast and efficient, and despite the long queue, I didn't have to wait for long to get my chicken rice set.

The price is also, surprisingly, reasonable. Normal chicken rice dish will cost you only $2.50 to $3.00, while more "complete" set with egg, tofu and gizzard like what I had yesterday only cost me $4.00.

Apologise for the lack and the low quality of the pictures, I took them using my mobile phone.

Quicklink: Another Jakarta-Bandung Travelogue by Rush Murad

(Pictures taken from the article)

Being involved in a accident last year -- while the car he was taking had the brakes failed when cruising down the steep slope of Mount Tangkuban Perahu -- does not prevent Rush Murad, a Malaysian traveler and blogger, from again choosing Jakarta and -- especially -- Bandung, for his holiday destinations. He revisited both cities recently and again, he wrote a nice travelogue about his journey, in Malay. The travelogue can be found here.

Again, thanks for writing such a nice travelogue and helping to promote our country's (and especially, my home town's) tourist attractions.

Kedai Kue-Kue

This small shop is selling traditional Indonesian snacks. It's located at the basement of Bugis Junction, next to Delifrance, below the escalator. The outlet also have some tables for dine-in guests. I remember they also have another outlet in Great World City, but I'm not too sure whether the outlet still there or not.

Some people said that the ketoprak is quite nice. I tried the ketroprak when I went there couple of weeks ago. It is nice, although you still can't compare with those which we usually buy from tukang ketoprak street vendors in Jakarta.

More pictures (not many) can be found here.

Freedom of Speech in Indonesia

Treespotter wrote:

Indonesia has one of the most liberal press law in the world (which not without problems in itself, but we’ll get there later). We’re no longer live in opaque Soehartoesque police state and people are free to write whatever they want. For any of you with any experience whatsoever of the press life 20 years ago, then you’d know that life is a whole world of difference these days where freedom of opinion is concerned.

Agree with him. Compared to Malaysia and Singapore, the Indonesian government is more relaxed in giving its press, be it mainstream press of citizenship journalism (e.g. bloggers), more freedom to express their views and opinions. The Pesta Blogger 2007 event, which is supported by the Indonesian government with its declaration of Indonesia's National Blogger Day, is a great example.

The onus is now with us to ensure that we make use of this "freedom" responsibly.

Singapore DUCKtours

This article is originally posted on ABN's Asia Travel Blog here.

Singapore DUCKtours is a combined city and harbour tour in Singapore, using a refurbished ex-military amphibious vehicle they call as "duck" which can travel on both land and water. The one-hour tour comprises of 40 minutes water tour around Singapore's Marina Bay area and 20 minutes land tour around Singapore's civic district. The water tour in the Marina Bay area will show you places around the Singapore Flyer, Benjamin Sheares bridge, the floating platform, Esplanade and the Merlion, while the land tour in the civic district area will show you places around City Hall and the Padang.

The tour departs from Suntec City on an hourly basis between 10am to 7pm, subject to weather conditions. The price is $33 for adult and $17 for child, quite expensive since it's catered more for tourists. To purchase the tickets, we can approach the ticketing counter, which is located at the Suntec City Mall, near the Convention Centre area. We can use major credit cards for payment.

We will board the duck on an open area just next to the ticketing counter. There is a tour guide who accompanies all the guests throughout the journey and give running commentaries with regards to all the tourist attractions along the way. The best photo stop would be the Merlion, where the duck boat will have a brief stop to allow all guests to take pictures of the Merlion from both sides of the boat.

Note: More pictures can be found here.

J.Co Donuts & Coffee Opens in Singapore

J.Co Donuts & Coffee, a leading doughnut retailer chain in Indonesia, has opened its outlet in Singapore. Very popular among Indonesians, it's very common to see long queues in almost all J.Co outlets in Indonesia. This very first outlet in Singapore -- which I hope will not be the only one -- is situated on the basement floor of Raffles City shopping centre, which is located just above the City Hall MRT station.

I and my family was walking around the shopping mall yesterday (8/4) when we saw the new outlet, which was still closed at that time. We were very pleasantly surprised since we have never seen a J.Co outlet outside Indonesia. According to jeng Epha who visited the outlet earlier today, the outlet has just opened today (Saturday, 9 February 2008). I believe this should be a very good and pleasant news for Indonesians in Singapore, since this means that we don't have to go back to Jakarta or go to Batam to get J.Co donuts.

According to Devi while responding to Bonnie's question, J.Co has also opened two new outlets in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Specifically, those two outlets are located in Pavilion Kuala Lumpur at Bukit Bintang and Sunway Pyramid near Sunway Lagoon. So I believe this would be a great news for Indonesians currently living in Malaysia, especially Kuala Lumpur, as well. :)