The ASEAN Tour: Myanmar

The trip to Yangon was planned at least since end of last year. After pretty much fixing the members of the trip, buying the tickets, booking the hotel and planning for the itinerary, we eventually departed from Changi on early Friday, around the time when the sun rose. After a quick (and expensive!) breakfast at Changi, we took the bus that brought us to the plane we were supposed to board on. There was this surreal experience where the bus actually stopped for a while right when there was another aeroplane waiting on the other end of the runway. It is as if the aeroplane would race towards us the moment our bus crossed the runway!

Anyway, that must be me, in the state of sleep deprived and watching too many movies. There was no collision, of course. We flew and reached Yangon safely. The beauty of Myanmar was, it is one and half hour behind SG time, so we earned extra hours the moment we got there. After changing money (each person can only change SGD 300), we bought the sim cards (and it was quickly concluded that Ooredoo was good and 4G, Telenor was bad and 3G) and went to the city with a minibus that charged us for MMK 16K per one way trip.

Keith, Heng, Uncle Eddie and Joseph at the Yangon International Airport 

Yangon was surprisingly exceeding expectation. I was expecting a city on par with Vientiane or Phnom Penh, but from what we saw throughout our journey to the hotel, it was definitely a much more advanced city as compared with those two. In hindsight, perhaps it was due to the fact that Yangon was a British colony rather than French that it was well taken care of.

After check in, we walked from downtown to the ancient looking train station to try out the circular train. It was cheap, slow and hot, with many vendors climbing on board to sell goods. I originally thought of going one big round, but after sitting there for perhaps around one hour, I couldn't help thinking that it would be a miserable idea, so we alighted at Kamaryut station. I was about to ask around, how to cross to other side of the railway, when I saw virtually every local people just cross it like that. And I was like: "but of course there won't be any overhead bridge! Hello, this is not Singapore! Who cares about safety here?"

Boarding the circular train.

With a help of a nice local who could speak Malay, we took bus #11 (note to Heng: JJ is 22, reversed CC is 11) to Shwedagon. It was a grand pagoda complex. Buddhist believers or not, one could surely sense the serenity by just visiting the temple. However, for those who were not used to it, the temple floor was burning hot!

We went to Myanmar Plaza afterwards to meet our old friend Win, whom had been very kind to help us with the local arrangements. From one host to another, we departed with David Aung Ko Ko for our dinner at Seinn Lann So Pyay Garden, nearby Inya Lake. It was great.

Dinner with our host, David Aung Ko Ko.

Our local driver fetched us on the next morning, bringing us to Kyaithiyo, the Golden Rock Pagoda. It was a long ride, but not without its highlight. Heng actually got excited by the fact that we were crossing the river that flows to Andaman sea. Talk about a historic moment!

Once we reached Mon state, we were transferred to another vehicle. This was where things got interesting. It was a truck and we needed to climb onto a metal platform with staircases to get into the back of the truck. The vehicle had been modified so that it had many rows of seats, with each row catering for six passengers. Once it was fully boarded, off we went to mountaintop. It was like a roller-coaster ride with no seat belt! The road was so narrow that if there was ever a slight mistake, we would have gone. Kudos to the driver, really.

On the truck, waiting for the second half of the roller coaster ride.
Photo by Keith Leong.

Once we were on the top, we visited the (painted) golden rock. Apparently what was so special about it was the rock stayed there, defying gravity and rain throughout the years when it should have slipped and fell down long ago. People prayed and stuck gold leaves there, creating a gold coated layer on the rock.

On our way back to Yangon, we had lunch at Khine Khine Kyaw. The food was alright, but what amazed me was the sweet they called the Myanmar Candy. It tasted like a palm sugar and I had some. This, I believe, had contributed to the laryngitis that I suffered later on. When the evening came, I already had no voice!

Lunch at Khine Khine Kyaw.

We stopped by Bago because Joseph was keen on thanaka powder. It was apparently made of thanaka wood grinded and mixed with water. While waiting for the thanaka wood to be cut into two, we entered the temple of reclining Buddha. There was a charge of 10K MMK per head, so we walked away immediately. When asked where we were from, Keith and I quickly said that we were from Singapore, creating a false cheap tourist impression, haha.

It was already night time when we reached Yangon, so we had a dinner at Café Sule. Once done, we walked to the direction of Sule Pagoda in the city center and went to the Strand Hotel. The thing with TripAdvisor is, most of the information was written and catered for western tourists, so places like Sarkies Bar actually didn't impress us at all. As a result, we walked back right to where we came from and, much to my dismay, there was a roof top bar there! If only I knew it!

At the roof top bar.

On the third day, since we had been waking up so early two days in a row, we decided to take it nice and slow. We had a long walk to Kandawgyi Park, with us most of the time staring at the floor of the wooden bridge to ensure that we didn't step on the plank that broke. From there we went to the zoo.

Lunch time, Win, our generous host, decided to treat us lunch, an offer that we were really grateful of, even though it should be the other way around since there were so many of us. Win did mention that we should meet YKKO noodle shop, but mistake did happen and we ended up sitting inside the same shop but in a different location. My bad, my apology.

At Bogyoke Market.

After lunch, we went to Bogyoke Market to see the famous Myanmar jade. We grabbed some t-shirt there and had Shan coffee. We spent at least two hours there before we boarded our under utilized car to go around and do sightseeing. We checked out the Chinatown and Little India, which happen to be side by side. We also went to some sort of shopping center before had our dinner at 999 Shan Noodle Shop, where Uncle Eddie kept disturbing the waiter for wifi password, haha.

And that was the last of it. We went back hotel, had various types of beer at Keith's room while watching John Carter. The next day, we departed early and flew back to Singapore...

Sule Pagoda.

Tur ASEAN: Myanmar 

Perjalanan ke Myanmar telah direncanakan sejak akhir tahun lalu. Setelah mengumpulkan peserta, membeli tiket, memesan kamar hotel dan merencanakan tempat-tempat tujuan yang akan dikunjungi, saya berangkat bersama rekan-rekan kantor dari Changi di Jumat pagi, saat matahari mulai terbit. Setelah sarapan pagi yang singkat (dan mahal!) di bandara, kita menaiki bis yang membawa kita ke pesawat yang akan kita tumpangi.

Perbedaan waktu antara Myanmar dan Singapura adalah satu setengah jam, jadi jam sembilan pagi di Singapura sama dengan 7.30 pagi di Yangon. Setibanya di bandara, kita menukar uang (satu orang hanya boleh menukar sekitar IDR tiga juta atau sekitar MMK 300 ribu) dan membeli sim card (Ooredoo bagus sinyalnya dan 4G, sedangkan Telenor jelek sinyalnya dan hanya 3G). Setelah itu kita menuju hotel dengan menyewa minibus seharga MMK 16 ribu.

Yangon ternyata jauh melebihi harapan. Saya mengira akan menemukan kota seperti Vientiane atau Phnom Penh, tapi dari apa yang saya lihat sepanjang perjalanan ke hotel, bekas ibu kota Myanmar ini ternyata lebih maju dari ibu kota Laos dan Kamboja. Mungkin saja ini dikarenakan Myanmar adalah bekas jajahan Inggris, bukan Perancis, sehingga terlihat lebih maju.

Di depan stasiun Kamaryut.
Foto oleh Keith Leong.

Setelah tiba di hotel dan bersantap siang, kita berjalan kaki menuju stasiun kereta kuno di tengah kota untuk mencoba kereta api yang melingkar mengelilingi Yangon. Harga tiketnya sangat murah, wajar untuk kereta api yang lambat dan panas serta dipenuhi pedagang asongan yang naik-turun untuk menjajakan dagangannya. Awalnya saya hendak mengelilingi kota, akan tetapi, setelah duduk satu jam lamanya dan melihat pemandangan yang itu-itu saja, saya mulai merasa bahwa ini bukanlah ide yang bagus. Akhirnya kita turut di stasiun Kamaryut. Saya sempat berpikir untuk bertanya bagaimana caranya menyeberang jalan melewati rel kereta, namun saya lihat semua orang menyeberang begitu saja. Saya lantas teringat bahwa ini bukan Singapura. Tentu saja takkan ada jembatan penyeberangan! Pantas saja semua menyeberang seenaknya.

Dengan bantuan penduduk lokal yang kebetulan bisa berbahasa Melayu, kita akhirnya menaiki bis no. 11 ke Shwedagon (catatan: dalam tulisan Burma, JJ = 22, sedangkan CC terbalik adalah 11). Tempat yang kita kunjungi ini adalah kompleks pagoda. Suasananya terasa tenang dan sakral, tapi lantainya, karena kita tidak diperbolehkan memakai sandal, luar biasa panas!

Di Pagoda Shwedagon.
Foto oleh Keith Leong.

Dari Shwedagon, kita bertolak ke Myanmar Plaza untuk bertemu Win, kolega kita dulu. Setelah itu kita dijamu lagi oleh tuan rumah lain yang juga pernah menjadi rekan kerja kita, David Aung Ko Ko. Kita akhirnya makan malam di Taman Seinn Lann So Pyay di samping Danau Inya.

Keesokan harinya, supir kita datang menjemput di pagi buta, membawa kita ke Kyaithiyo yang juga dikenal sebagai Pagoda Batu Emas. Perjalanannya cukup panjang, sekitar empat jam, tapi Heng sangat bersemangat karena kita akan melewati sungai yang mengalir ke Laut Andaman. Baginya, ini adalah sebuah momen bersejarah!

Setelah tiba di negara bagian bernama Mon, kita pindah ke kendaraan lainnya. Ini sebuah pengalaman yang menarik, sebab kendaraan yang kita tumpangi ini adalah sebuah truk dan kita duduk di baknya yang sudah dimodifikasi menjadi deretan tempat duduk. Setelah penuh, kita pun menuju puncak gunung. Jalannya bukan saja panjang, menanjak dan berkelok-kelok, tapi juga sempit! Kalau terjadi sedikit kesalahan saja, maka truknya pasti masuk jurang.

Pagoda Batu Emas, Kyaithiyo.

Setelah tiba di puncak, kita mengunjungi batu (yang dicat) emas. Ternyata yang istimewa dari batu tersebut adalah posisinya yang menantang gravitasi dan tidak tergelincir karena hujan. Banyak yang berdoa dan menempelkan lempengan daun emas ke satu sisi batu sehingga menciptakan lapisan emas tersendiri.

Dalam perjalanan pulang ke Yangon, kita singgah di Khine Khine Kyaw untuk makan siang. Masakannya lumayan enak, tapi yang menarik perhatian saya adalah manisan yang mereka sebut sebagai permen Myanmar. Rasanya seperti gula kelapa dan setelah saya makan dua biji, suara saya pun hilang!

Mencari thanaka di Bago.

Kita mampir di Bago karena Joseph berminat untuk membeli thanaka. Tepung kuning kecoklatan ini terbuat dari kayu thanaka yang diparut dan dicampur dengan air sebelum dipakaikan di wajah. Sambil menunggu kayunya dipotong, kita masuk ke kuil Buddha tidur. Setelah melihat harga masuknya, kita pun dengan cepat melangkah keluar. Ketika ditanya berasal dari mana, Keith (orang Malaysia) dan saya menjawab bahwa kita datang Singapura untuk memberikan kesan bahwa turis dari negara ini memang pelit, haha.

Ketika kita tiba di Yangon, hari sudah malam, jadi kita pun bersantap malam di Café Sule. Sesudah itu, kita berjalan ke arah Pagoda Sule di pusat kota dan menuju Strand Hotel. Menurut TripAdvisor, Sarkies Bar adalah tempat bergaya kolonial yang santai untuk minum, tapi setelah kita hampiri, teman-teman merasa bar tersebut lebih cocok untuk bule. Setelah bertanya tentang keberadaan bar di atap gedung, kita akhirnya kembali ke titik awal kita karena lokasinya hanya di seberang hotel tempat kita menginap.

Hari ketiga dimulai dengan jalan pagi di Taman Kandawgyi. Karena jembatan kayunya yang retak dan terlihat rapuh, kita jadi lebih sibuk memperhatikan langkah kita daripada pemandangan di sekitar. Setelah itu, kita pergi ke kebun binatang yang terletak di sebelahnya.

Keith menyusuri jembatan kayu di Taman Kandawgyi.

Menjelang makan siang, Win, tuan rumah kita yang baik hati, menjamu kita makan siang di toko mie YKKO (sebenarnya dari segi jumlah orang yang lima banding satu, harusnya kita yang traktir. Agak tidak tega rasanya melihat dia mengeluarkan setumpuk uang lusuh untuk membayar makan siang). Akan tetapi toko mie YKKO ternyata ada di banyak lokasi sehingga sempat terjadi kesalahpahaman. Kita duduk di toko yang sama tapi berbeda lokasi!

Seusai bersantap, kita menuju Pasar Bogyoke untuk melihat giok Myanmar yang termashyur. Di sana kita membeli beberapa kaos dan menikmati kopi Shan, lalu keliling kota sejenak melewati Pecinan dan Kampung India yang ternyata bersebelahan satu sama lain. Kita juga sempat mampir ke semacam pusat perbelanjaan sebelum makan malam di toko mie 999 Shan. Perjalanan pun berakhir di situ. Malamnya harinya, kita minum bir di kamar sambil menonton John Carter, kemudian berangkat ke bandara di pagi berikutnya...

Bersama Win di Myanmar Plaza.

That 20-Year-Old Manga

Manga, the equivalent of comics books in western world, is part of Japan's culture. I remember visiting Akihabara and was amazed by the collection of manga there: a whole building, basement included, full of mangas. It's big in Japan, alright, but the imported culture is thriving in Indonesia, too!

As far as I can remember, it was all started with Candy Candy. Remember that cheerful blonde girl that fell in love for the first time with Anthony? I let you in for a little secret: I actually collected the whole series, haha. That manga was then followed by Doraemon and Tekken Chinmi. From that point onwards, manga was unstoppable, flooding in and claiming it's rightful place in our daily life. It quickly replaced American and European comics, then pushed Hong Kong manhua to the brink of extinction.

There were a lot of good stuff back then, ranging from Ranma 1/2, Dr. Slump and Crayon Shin Chan for comedy genre, Break Shot for sport, Detective Conan for mystery, Sailor Moon for the girls, Captain Kid for seafaring adventure (and it was my personal favorite), Hokuto no Ken for martial arts, etc. The biggest of them all then was, of course, Dragon Ball by Akira Toriyama. Do take note that I only named a few that I read. There were plenty more that I didn't read but were popular among friends, such as Slam Dunk. We were a very well-read generation, weren't we? The internet hadn't arrived yet, so reading was what we did.

All good things must come to an end, though. Personally, the end of Dragon Ball Z felt like the end of an era. At that time, Ranma 1/2 and Hokuto no Ken had ended as well and I was also graduating from college. In a way, it was a time to move on, time to grow up like any other ordinary adult. Life could have been boring, eh? Lucky for me, it was during this period that I started reading One Piece. I think it was my younger brother who influenced me, because he was already a fan then. I hesitated for the longest time, because the drawings looked weird, hence how good could the story be? But the moment I picked it up, the rest was history.

With main characters such as Luffy and his nakama, One Piece was hilariously funny. However, One Piece would have been just another manga if that was the only good thing about it. No, the biggest draw was the relationship among the Straw Hat pirate crews. Eiichiro Oda was a genius when it came to such epic scenes. It was first seen in Arlong Park arc, when the upset and desperate Nami pleaded for help. Luffy, who was uncharacteristically quiet, symbolically responded by placing his straw hat on her, then he was on his way to fight Arlong.

If a picture painted a thousand words, that was when Eiichiro Oda did it brilliantly. No words required, yet as a reader, one couldn't help feeling how heroic that particular scene was. It was the first, but definitely not the last. Oda would do it again later in a more powerful scene about nakama when Nico Robin was captured during the Enies Lobby arc. With his crews standing on his side, Luffy nonchalantly asked Sogeking to shoot down the World Government flag, showing how far he was willing to go for his nakama. It was the best and most memorable scene ever.

And One Piece is just full of such moments. When the Straw Hat had their last ride on Going Merry, you could feel how sad the inevitable farewell was. When Ace died, you could sense it was a very painful loss for Luffy. When Whitebeard was defeated, it was a defeat worthy of his title as one of the Four Emperors and you'd have nothing but respect for the man.

It's been 20 years since Luffy began his incredible journey. I remember first reading it at home in Pontianak, and I'm still reading it, but at my own home in Singapore now. In this ever-changing world, One Piece constantly provides us the laughter we don't know we need. It keeps our hearts beating fast, subconsciously touched and motivated by their nakama bond and boundless optimism, no matter how dire the situation is. Up until know, nobody knows what One Piece actually is, but for me, the greatest pirate treasure everybody was looking for is the joy it brings and inspires me for the past 20 years... 

The Straw Hat Pirates - Happy Meal version.

Komik Jepang Yang Sudah Dua Puluh Tahun Itu...

Manga adalah bagian dari budaya Jepang. Saya ingat akan kunjungan saya ke Akihabara dan terpukau dengan koleksi manga di sana: satu gedung, termasuk lantai bawah tanah, penuh dengan komik. Manga benar-benar heboh di Jepang, tapi budaya impor ini juga berjaya di Indonesia!

Sejauh saya bisa mengingat, manga di Indonesia bermula dari Candy Candy. Anda ingat tentang gadis pirang nan riang yang jatuh cinta dengan Anthony? Saya bocorkan rahasia kecil untuk anda: saya dulu pernah memiliki koleksi lengkap serial ini, haha. Setelah Candy Candy, Doraemon dan Kungfu Boy pun menyusul. Semenjak itu, invasi manga pun tidak terbendung lagi. Komik Amerika dan Eropa dengan cepat dilibasnya, lalu komik Hong Kong pun perlahan-lahan kalah pamornya. 

Banyak manga bagus ketika itu, mulai dari Ranma 1/2, Dr. Slump dan Crayon Shin Chan dari kategori komedi, Break Shot untuk kategori olahraga, Conan untuk serial detektif, Sailor Moon untuk para anak gadis, Kapten Kid untuk kategori petualangan (dan merupakan komik favorit saya), Tinju Bintang Utara untuk kategori bela diri dan masih banyak lagi. Yang termashyur waktu itu tentu saja Dragon Ball, karangan Akira Toriyama. Judul-judul di atas hanya sedikit dari apa yang beredar di saat itu. Masih ada lagi yang lain, yang tidak saya baca, tapi populer di kalangan teman-teman, misalnya Slam Dunk. Sebagai generasi yang tumbuh di masa sebelum internet, kita sungguh banyak membaca!

Akan tetapi semua hal yang baik harus berakhir. Secara pribadi, saya sering merasa bahwa tamatnya Dragon Ball Z adalah akhir dari sebuah era. Saat itu, Ranma 1/2 dan Tinju Bintang Utara pun sudah berakhir. Saya sendiri juga sudah hampir lulus kuliah, jadi memang terasa seperti sudah saatnya memasuki jenjang kehidupan berikutnya, tumbuh dewasa seperti layaknya seorang pria. Kedengarannya suram dan membosankan, ya? Saya beruntung karena di saat itulah saya menemukan One Piece. Adalah adik saya, yang sudah menggemari One Piece ketika itu, yang mempengaruhi saya untuk mulai membaca. Saya sempat ragu karena gambarnya yang aneh, jadi saya berpikir, akan sebagus apa ceritanya? Namun begitu saya mulai membacanya, sejak itu pula saya selalu mencari edisi berikutnya.  

Dengan karakter seperti Luffy dan para nakama-nya, One Piece benar-benar kocak. Kendati begitu, kalau hanya sekadar lucu, maka One Piece tidak ubahnya seperti komik-komik biasa. Apa yang membuatnya menarik adalah hubungan erat antara Luffy dan teman-temannya. Sang pengarang, Eiichiro Oda, adalah seorang jenius dalam menulis dan menggambar adegan yang menggugah. Saya ingat betul ketika Nami yang sedih dan putus asa meminta bantuan Luffy. Sang Kapten tidak mengucapkan apa-apa dan hanya memberikan topi jeraminya kepada Nami, lantas beranjak ke kediaman Arlong. 

Jika sebuah lukisan menggambarkan ribuan kata, maka karya Eiichiro Oda itu benar-benar luar biasa. Meski tanpa dialog, pembaca bisa merasakan inspirasi kepahlawanan dari adegan tersebut. Oda kembali mengulang adegan yang serupa ketika Nico Robin ditangkap dan dibawa ke Enies Lobby sehingga Luffy dan kawan-kawan pun menyerbu ke sana untuk menyelamatkannya. Berangkat secara terpisah, masing-masing menemukan jalannya dan bergabung dengan Luffy di atas atap. Ketika ia ditantang untuk menyelamatkan Nico Robin, Luffy tanpa emosi menyuruh Sogeking menembak dan membakar bendera lawan. Dengan ciri khasnya Luffy menunjukkan bahwa dia tidak pernah segan untuk menyelamatkan nakama-nya. 

Dan One Piece penuh dengan adegan mengharukan seperti itu. Ketika mereka bertualang bersama Going Merry untuk terakhir kalinya, anda bisa merasakan betapa sedihnya mereka saat berpisah dengan kapal pertama mereka. Tatkala Ace meninggal, anda bisa turut merasakan kepedihan Luffy yang sulit menerima kenyataan ini. Ketika Whitebeard dikalahkan, itu adalah kekalahan yang seagung namanya sebagai salah satu dari Empat Kaisar sehingga semua pun kagum dan menghormatinya. 

Sudah 20 tahun berlalu sejak Luffy berlayar menuju Grand Line. Saya ingat saat saya pertama kali membacanya di rumah orang tua saya di Pontianak dan sekarang saya masih mengikutinya, kini di rumah saya sendiri di Singapura. Di dunia yang senantiasa berubah, One Piece secara konsisten membuat kita tergerak dan juga termotivasi oleh optimisme dan kerelaan mereka untuk berkorban satu sama lain. Sampai sekarang, tidak ada yang tahu apa sebenarnya One Piece, tapi bagi saya pribadi, harta bajak laut yang diburu semua orang ini adalah suka-cita dari sebuah cerita yang menginspirasi saya selama 20 tahun terakhir ini...

Luffy dan kawan-kawan, hadiah dari McDonald's.

The Indian Cuisines

For food lovers, the beauty of staying in Singapore is to have all sorts of cuisines from various cultures in one city. Coming from Indonesia, I was already quite familiar with some local delicacies such as Chinese or Malay food. What unique for me was the Indian cuisines, because I never tried it before in my country.

I remember vaguely that the first time I ever tried Indian food was in Tampines, when I was working there. I think it was nasi briyani. The portion was big, with a lot of small plastic cups containing curry, from the plain one, the diluted one to the thick one. Afterwards we often had supper nearby Geylang Serai, where we would have roti prata. Up until then, I thought Indian food tasted alright. Edible, but not exactly fantastic.

With Angela, Sudarpo and Suresh.

That impression changed after I met Suresh, an Indian friend from Chennai. He was the one that showed me how good Indian food could be. For example, just when I thought I'd known all types of roti prata, he introduced to me another variant called kotthu prata. I wasn't sure if it was even in the menu, but he ordered and got it served on the table! It was like fried carrot cake, Indian style!

But of course Indian food is more than only roti prata. The real deal is much, much better. The key thing with Indian culinary is the spice they use. I think, to certain extent, we do use this particular ingredient in Chinese cooking, but the Indian culinary really makes good use of it and bring it to an entirely different level. As a result, Indian food tends to have a strong flavor and very rich taste. Do take note that spice is not chilli. The difference is something like this: with chilli, I immediately feel the hot and burning sensation, but with spice, I'll sweat gradually as I eat. 

Talk about the varieties, nasi briyani is the rather well-known one to the non-Indian. My personal choice is mutton briyani, simply because I like mutton. However, there are more to explore during lunch time. Around office area, my favorite joint is Shree Ganga, thanks to the boneless fish they serve. When I have time to go there and eat, I'll go for the plain rice with spinach, boiled egg with curry and the boneless fish. There are powder and oil on the table where we get our cutlery and my friend Aru once taught me that I should mix them together with the rice. I still haven't figured out what those are, actually, but they go well with the rice!

Top row: dosai, chicken lollipop and briyani.
Bottom row, from left: mutton masala, paneer 65, fried fish, ghee rice, palak paneer and prawn masala.
Photo by Muliady The

For the best and proper Indian meal, I still prefer Anjappar, the restaurant introduced by Suresh. Normally I'll start with chicken lollipop (chicken winglet partly wrapped with aluminium foil as a handle) and paneer 65 (fried tofu-like cheese), then proceed with dum briyani (can't really tell what the difference is when compared with other variants of briyani), ghee rice (a very fragrant and tasty basmati rice cooked with ghee), garlic naan (the oven-baked flatbread), prawn and mutton masala (another type of curry from the mixture of spices), palak paneer (minced spinach with paneer), and gulab jamun (it's like donut soaked in sugar water) as dessert and sweet lassi (a glass of diluted yogurt) as a closure. 

Overall, thanks to the use of spice, Indian food is not for everybody. Some, like an Australian acquaintance that I knew and had the Indian food together with Suresh and I before, struggled with food (in his case, he suddenly developed an uncontrollable runny nose problem). However, I strongly suggest you to give it a try. It's different than Chinese food, alright, but it's a good difference that you will appreciate.

From left: Edmund, Joseph, Boon, Muru, Anthony and Hock Siong at Kebabs & Curries
Photo by Hock Siong

Masakan India

Bagi pencinta makanan, keuntungan dari tinggal di Singapura adalah berlimpahnya aneka ragam makanan dari berbagai budaya. Karena saya berasal dari Indonesia, makanan Chinese dan Melayu yang saya temukan di sini tidak lagi asing bagi saya.  Makanan lokal yang unik bagi saya adalah masakan India, karena saya tidak pernah mencicipinya selama berada di Indonesia.

Seingat saya, pertama kali saya mencoba makanan India adalah saat saya berada di kawasan Tampines, tempat kerja saya 11 tahun yang lalu. Kalau tidak salah, yang saya coba adalah nasi briyani. Porsinya banyak dan dilengkapi beberapa plastik kecil yang berisi kari, mulai dari yang bening kekuningan, encer, sampai yang kental. Setelah itu, sewaktu masih tinggal bersama teman-teman sesama bujangan, kita sering makan tengah malam di Geylang Serai, menikmati roti prata sambil berbincang. Saat itu saya berpikir, makanan Indian tergolong lumayan. Bisa dimakan, tetapi biasa-biasa saja.

Kesan ini berubah setelah saya bertemu Suresh, teman Indian yang berasal dari Chennai. Dia membuka wawasan saya tentang makanan India. Sebagai contoh, ketika saya merasa sudah mengenal berbagai tipe roti prata, Suresh memperkenalkan saya jenis lain yang disebut sebagai kotthu prata. Sepertinya saya tidak pernah melihat yang satu ini di menu, tapi dia bisa memesannya dalam bahasa Tamil dan kotthu prata pun terhidang di meja. Bentuknya seperti kue lobak goreng gaya India. 

Akan tetapi tentu saja makanan India lebih dari sekedar roti prata. Menu yang merupakan santap siang dan malam tentu jauh lebih enak. Kunci masakan India adalah rempah-rempah yang digunakannya. Saya rasa masakan Chinese juga menggunakan rempah-rempah, tapi kuliner Indian sepenuhnya mengandalkan bahan masakan ini sehingga aromanya lebih kuat dan kaya akan rasa. Oh ya, perlu diketahui bahwa rempah-rempah itu tidak berarti cabe. Bagi saya, perbedaannya seperti ini: kalau cabe, saya bisa langsung merasakan pedasnya, sedangkan kalau rempah-rempah, semakin saya makan, semakin saya akan berkeringat.

Ikan tanpa tulang, bayam dan telur rebus kari dari Shree Ganga.

Bicara tentang ragam masakan Indian, nasi briyani adalah salah satu jenis yang paling dikenal oleh orang non-Indian. Secara pribadi, saya suka briyani daging domba karena saya memang suka daging domba. Kendati begitu, masih banyak lagi menu yang bisa dipilih untuk makan siang. Di dekat kantor, favorit saya adalah rumah makan Shree Ganga karena ikan tanpa tulangnya yang lezat. Bilamana saya mampir di sana, biasanya saya akan pesan nasi putih, bayam kuah kari encer, telur rebus kari dan ikan tanpa tulang. Di atas meja tempat sendok dan garpu juga disajikan semacam minyak dan tepung. Teman saya Aru mengajarkan saya untuk mencampurkan dua bahan ini dengan nasi. Saya tidak tahu tepung dan minyak apa itu sebenarnya, tapi rasanya cocok dengan nasi!

Untuk makan malam ala India, pilihan saya adalah restoran Anjappar yang direkomendasikan oleh Suresh kepada saya. Biasanya saya akan mulai dengan ayam lolipop (semacam sayap ayam yang dibungkus sedikit dengan kertas aluminium sebagai gagang pegangan) dan paneer 65 (tahu keju goreng), lalu lanjut dengan dum briyani (terus-terang saya tidak tahu apa bedanya dengan briyani lain), nasi ghee (nasi dari beras basmati yang wangi dan gurih karena dimasak dengan ghee), naan bawang (roti datar yang dipanggang), udang dan daging domba dengan kuah kari masala (kombinasi rempah-rempah), palak paneer (bayam cincang yang dimasak dengan paneer) serta gulab jamun (mirip donat yang direndam dengan air gula) sebagai pencuci mulut dan lassi manis (yogurt cair) sebagai penutup. 

Sebagai kesimpulan, karena banyaknya penggunaan rempah-rempah, masakan Indian mungkin tidak cocok untuk setiap orang. Beberapa orang yang saya temui, misalnya orang Australia yang bersantap siang bersama saya dan Suresh dulu, berjuang menghabiskan makanannya (orang Australia ini tiba-tiba ingusan karena tajamnya aroma rempah-rempah). Meski begitu, saya sarankan anda mencobanya. Rasanya berbeda dengan masakan Chinese atau Melayu, tapi itu adalah perbedaan yang baik dan anda akan menghargainya bila anda menyukainya.

Dari kiri: Anthony, Muliady, Taty, Eday dan Surianto di Anjappar.

Myanmar, A Land Like No Other

Myanmar that I visited a couple of times many years ago might be very different with Myanmar today. It was an era when the country was still under military junta. It was the time when the price of a regular mobile phone reach one thousand USD per piece. It was also the time when my phone automatically switched off when the plane landed in the Golden Land. There was no signal and it remained like that until I left Myanmar. Nevertheless, even though I was isolated when I was there, I was never lonely because I had many Burmese friends who were friendly and helpful.

Strolling around Yangon, the ex-capital city of Myanmar, was like seeing Jakarta in 1980 with many old buildings and old cars on the road. Some cars had left steering wheel and some cars had right steering wheel. You can imagine how difficult it was for the right steering wheel drivers to turn left or take over the car in front because in Myanmar, drivers drove on the right hand side of the road. However it seemed like they already got used to it so they could drive smoothly. Government did not allow motorcycle to operate in Yangon therefore bus became their main public transportation. Sometimes we could see people in their sarong chasing the bus.

The sight in Yangon.

With pagoda at the back.

Most of the men in Myanmar wore sarong in their daily lives, while the women were wearing the long skirt. The ladies also liked to put thanaka in their faces. Thanaka was a yellowish white cosmetic paste made from ground bark. It could give cooling sensation and protect skin from sunburn. The way they put thanaka was quite unique: they made a circular patch on each cheek and nose. Those who saw it for the first time might be wondering what they put on their face.

A girl with thanaka.

Visiting Yangon will not be complete without visiting the Shwedagon Pagoda, the highest gold plated stupa (99 metres tall) located in Singuttara Hills, on the west of Kandawgyi lake. Shwedagon Pagoda is the most sacred Buddhist site for Burmese as it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present Kalpa. It consists of hundreds colourful temples, stupas and statues that reflect the architectural era spanning almost 2500 years. The biggest stupa is covered with hundred of gold plates and the top of the stupa is encrusted by thousand of diamonds. When the night came, the Pagoda lights up beautifully.

The majestic Shwedagon at night.

Inside the Shwedagon complex.

As a form of respect at this religious site, we must take off the shoes and walk barefoot inside the pagoda. It is also not recommended to wear shorts or mini skirt. We can take the picture inside the complex but must be mindful not to disturb local people who come to pray and meditate.

For those who like shopping, Bogyoke Market is the place you must go. It is the biggest traditional market in the center of Yangon. They sell a lot of souvenirs such as beautiful stones, wood carving and clothing. It is better to go with local friends for shopping as the shops usually charge higher price for tourist. We can also find food vendors in Bogyoke Market. Try Myanmar's traditional soup, mohinga, while you're there. This rice noodle and fish soup from Myanmar is considered to be the national dish of the country.

Bogyoke Market.

Mohinga.

It has been 6 years since my last visit to Myanmar. If I have a chance to go there again, I want to visit Bagan, an ancient city located in Mandalay and, of course, a visit to Yangon again. With the recent development in Myanmar, I may find many new things there. One thing for sure, as the mobile phone is common these days, I can keep in touch with my kids all the time now.

The Nice Surprises

First of all, let's have a disclaimer that I'm not under duress and forced to write something nice here, haha. It's just something that I'd been quietly observing this and I actually found it amusing. You know how we, as human beings, tend to take things for granted after a while? In my case, I'd known my other half for easily one third of my life, long before I called her my wife. Funny that just when I thought I already knew her well, she continued to surprise me still.

Evelyn Nuryani is the personification of everything good in my world. From the first few encounters that we had, I immediately learnt that she's smart, kind, humble, and caring. On top of that, she's beautiful, of course, or else I wouldn't be bothered to pursue any further, haha. As I got to know her better, I noticed that, just like me, she's also into writing and traveling. Her writing about her adventure in New Zealand was published in a magazine before. Let's see if she'll release it here one day.

At the Gateway of India, when she was traveling the region.

But there were nice surprises that I figured out only recently. The privilege of being married, perhaps. The first one was nasi goreng cekur. I first had it in Bandung when we had a morning walk in Dago and the breakfast sent us to hospital, haha. It was not the fault of the Sundanese style of fried rice that we got food poisoning, but it was more of the poor standard of food hygiene. Anyway, after learning that I actually liked it, she surprised me one day by serving it on our dining table. I had no idea if she just learnt it or she could do it all this while, but being a big fan of fried rice, I was delighted. This one was like a least known type of fried rice and here was my wife, the expert in cooking it. God does show mercy to a fried rice lover, doesn't He?

Another thing that I'm grateful for is her effort in taking the best pictures of our lovely children. I complained from time to time as it could be quite annoying that we suddenly stopped for a while just because she thought the particular spot would make a great photo for the kids, but by the end of the day, that was just me and I was actually glad that she did it. When I looked back, I realized that she did a good job in preserving those beautiful moments. The kids will be thankful for what their mother did when they grow up one day.

Linda in her photo session with Mum.

Next, there were her newfound hobbies that I found intriguing. She was into making necklace and other accessories made of beads. It was self-taught, with Linda sometimes joining her Mum, dragging me along to hold the other end of the string. The results often found buyers via Carousell. Apart from that, she also picked up balloon craft where she would shaped it into something else, the most complicated one being a troll so far. She must have been quite good that she was asked to help out by the community centre, prior to the mid-autumn festival!

Proud of her, really. To think that she used to be a career woman that traveled around the region, but had been taking a backseat to become a full time mother and housewife since few years ago. It was a sacrifice to do so, fully knowing that it was a 24 hours job that came with no tea break but a disrupted sleeping hours. Only God knows how she could adjust.

She's been a great wife and a very dedicated Mum, but she doesn't stop there. You know the saying, when life gives you lemons... well, she'll make the best out of that fruit, may be ice lemon tea for the hot weather or may be something else. I don't know. If there's anything I learn from this experience, I know I'll be amused and smiling again...

The accessories.

Kejutan Yang Menyenangkan

Pertama-tama, saya perlu menyatakan bahwa saya tidak dalam keadaan tertekan oleh pihak mana pun sehingga terpaksa menulis sesuatu yang baik di sini, haha. Justru sebaliknya, ini adalah sesuatu yang saya amati secara diam-diam dan saya sungguh salut dengan apa yang saya lihat. Anda tentunya tahu bahwa sebagai manusia, terkadang kita cenderung terima bersih dan menganggap segala sesuatu yang terjadi itu sudah sepantasnya begitu. Dalam hal ini, saya sudah mengenal pasangannya selama satu pertiga dari hidup saya, jauh sebelum saya memanggilnya dengan sebutan istri. Akan tetapi, ketika saya merasa sudah begitu mengenalnya, dia masih saja memberikan kejutan-kejutan terbaik buat saya.

Evelyn Nuryani adalah perwujudan dari segala hal yang baik dalam hidup saya. Dari beberapa pertemuan pertama kita, saya segera melihat bahwa dia ini pintar, baik, sederhana dan perhatian. Tidak hanya itu, dia juga cantik, makanya terus saya kejar, haha. Ketika saya kian mengenalnya, saya jadi tahu bahwa seperti saya, dia pun senang menulis dan jalan-jalan. Tulisan tentang petualangannya ke New Zealand bahkan pernah dimuat di majalah Femina. Suatu hari nanti mungkin kita akan membacanya di sini juga.

Nasi goreng cekur.

Meski saya tahu kelebihannya, namun tetap saja ada beberapa hal menarik yang saya temukan hanya setelah kita menikah. Yang pertama adalah nasi goreng cekur. Saya pertama mencobanya ketika kita berjalan pagi di Dago, Bandung, dan sarapan pagi itu membuat kita berdua berakhir di rumah sakit, haha. Kendati begitu, ini bukan salah nasi goreng khas Sunda yang kita santap, melainkan karena kualitas makanan yang kurang bersih.

Setelah menyadari bahwa saya menikmati masakan ini, suatu hari saya tiba-tiba menemukan nasi goreng cekur tersaji di meja makan. Saya tidak apakah dia baru mempelajarinya atau memang bisa sedari dulu, tapi sebagai penggemar nasi goreng, saya gembira karena bisa mencicipinya lagi. Nasi goreng cekur ini bagaikan menu langka bagi orang yang berasal dari Pontianak dan istri saya ternyata ahlinya. Tuhan sungguh bermurah hati bagi pencinta nasi goreng!

Hal lain yang saya syukuri adalah upayanya dalam memotret anak-anak. Terkadang saya mengeluh sebab perjalanan kami sering mendadak terhenti hanya karena dia menemukan tempat yang cocok bagi anak-anak untuk berfoto, namun saya sadari itu adalah respon sesaat. Pada akhirnya saya senang dia melakukannya, sebab berkat tindakannya, kenangan masa kecil anak-anak jadi tersimpan dengan baik. Suatu hari nanti, anak-anak akan berterima kasih atas apa yang telah dikerjakan oleh ibunya.

Balon untuk festival kue bulan.

Selanjutnya, ada beberapa hobi baru yang saya rasa menarik. Belakangan ini, istri saya sering membuat kalung dan aksesoris dari bahan mote dan manik. Dia belajar sendiri, kadang ditemani oleh Linda yang juga berminat, namun sering menyeret saya untuk turut serta dan memegangi ujung benang untuknya. Hasil buatannya ini kadang menemukan pembeli di Carousell. Selain itu, dia juga menekuni seni merangkai balon, dimana balon-balon dibentuk menjadi boneka anjing atau, yang paling rumit sampai sejauh ini, boneka troll. Sepertinya dia cukup berbakat karena dia bahkan dimintai bantuannya untuk persiapan festival kue bulan baru-baru ini.

Terus-terang saya bangga padanya, terutama bila saya ingat kembali bahwa dia dulunya adalah seorang wanita karir yang sering dinas ke mancanegara, namun memutuskan untuk menjadi ibu rumah tangga sejak beberapa tahun silam. Saya rasa ini adalah sebuah pengorbanan karena ibu rumah tangga itu pekerjaan yang selain tanpa jedah juga seringkali terganggu tidurnya. Hanya Tuhan yang tahu bagaimana dia bisa menyesuaikan diri terhadap perubahan yang drastis ini.

Singkat kata, dia adalah seorang istri dan ibu yang luar biasa, tapi dia tidak berhenti sampai di situ. Anda tahu pepatah, ketika hidup memberikannya lemon, mungkin istri saya akan membuat es teh lemon atau sesuatu yang lain. Saya tidak tahu, tapi jika ada yang saya pelajari dari pengalaman ini, saya yakin saya akan kagum dan tersenyum lagi karenanya...

Wonderful Indonesia: Bali

I visited Bali only three times and all happened during the same period of my life, which was the time when I was working in Jakarta. Never go back since then, so it's been more than ten years since I last visited Bali. I don't think the atmosphere will change that much, though. Bali will still be the part of Indonesia that doesn't feel like anywhere else in Indonesia, thanks to the heavy Hindu influence. With Bali, it's like going overseas but still using rupiah.

Anyway, let's start with the last visit first, because it was the least memorable one. The third trip was accidental, as I booked what was supposed to be Rp. 0 return tickets only to find out that I was actually paying the full price. It was the time when AirAsia's online booking system was new to me and I was told that the tickets were free, so I kept clicking next and entered my credit card details. Much to my surprise, it was never transacted with zero value. Apparently it should have been showing Rp. 0 since the very beginning of the booking, not at the end of it. So there I was, stranded in Bali alone, haha. The only thing I remember was walking from Legian to Ngurah Rai International Airport. It was doable.

Sudarman (middle) and Hartono (right), somewhere in Java.

The first trip, on the other hand, was pretty cool. We drove all the way from Jakarta to Bali and back. Amazing experience, although I was kicked out from driver's seat after five minutes for driving too slow. It was during this trip that I really got the idea, how big Indonesia actually was. I was with Kalbe colleagues and it took us more than 24 hours to drive from Jakarta to Banyuwangi alone via the South Coast Road of Java. It was the eve of Eid al-Ftr 2004 and we reached Blitar the next morning, just nice for our driver and technician, Hartono and Pak Doel, to pray on their celebration day. From there, we headed to Jember for lunch and went to Banyuwangi, the easternmost part of Java, for the ferry crossing to Gilimanuk.

And I saw Bali for the first time as we landed. It was different, like stepping into unknown territory that wasn't Indonesia. Pura, the Balinese Hindu temple, was abundant and could be found everywhere. There were also statues of the fat and fearsome looking door guards called Dvarapala scattered around the island. As we approached Legian area, I noticed that there were flowers all over the pavement. It was unusual and somewhat mystical, but the holiday mood was stronger than ever so I decided just to enjoy it!

Hanging out at Graha Wisnu Kencana.

During our stay in Bali, we went to Uluwatu temple, a beautiful seaside temple with monkeys running rampant and trying to steal our stuff. Not very far from Uluwatu, there was Graha Wisnu Kencana, a very grand garden with the statues of Vishnu and his pet, Garuda. Then of course there was a visit to Tanah Lot, another temple by the seaside, next to the roaring waves. Talked about waves, next destination was Kuta. While I'm never a big fan of beaches, I think Kuta was still one of the coolest beaches I'd ever been. Afterwards, we stopped by Ubud, the place famous for its terraced paddy fields. If you think greeneries can't be interesting, you clearly haven't seen Ubud yet! Then, finally, it was time for the last tourist spot of the trip, Pura Besakih. It was a colossal temple built on the slopes of Mount Agung. Just like any other temples in general, those who wore shorts were required to wear sarong before entering. An impressive temple aside, it was quite peculiar that the surrounding area had a lot of street vendors selling a phallic shaped wooden art craft.

We crossed back to Java after few days in Bali, but five months later, I went back again to the Paradise Island, this time with my schoolmates. I repeated the previous routines, such as taking a stroll in Kuta, a visit to Uluwatu, Tanah Lot and GWK, but what made it different this round was the physical activities. We went for rafting where we rowed the oars for fun (that was an honest assessment, because it was the guide-cum-captain that made the difference and steered us to the correct path) before we went all the way down as we passed through a waterfall. It was not very high, but enough to let us feel the effect of the world turning upside down! Then there was parasailing in Nusa Dua, too, the first time for me to feel how it was like to be flying. While the start was awful as I disliked the idea of not having my feet on the ground, it was amazing to glide in the air. For an indoor person who does his best by not doing any outdoor activities at all, I found it amusing that I actually liked parasailing. When the night came, we went to a club in Seminyak for a drink or two.

Second visit in 2005. Showering after rafting.
Photo by: Ardian

Looking back, Bali is really a holiday destination like no other. As charming as Phuket or Boracay is, it's only in Bali that you'll get the mountain, the sea, the greeneries, the food and the culture. It's like the whole island of fun, regardless which part of Bali that you go. Just in case you are wondering why I haven't been to Bali again after more than one decade, that's because I used to think that I'd been there and there are still a lot of places in the world that I haven't visited, but now that I have daughters, I definitely will go back to Bali again. The kids need to know how beautiful their country is...

From left: Jimmy, Anthony and Ardian, strolling in Kuta.
Photo by: Endrico.

Indonesia Yang Menakjubkan: Bali

Selama ini saya hanya mengunjungi Bali sebanyak tiga kali dan semua kunjungan tersebut terjadi dalam periode yang sama dalam hidup saya, ketika saya bekerja di Jakarta. Saya tidak pernah kembali lagi setelah itu dan sudah lebih dari 10 tahun lamanya sejak saya terakhir menginjakkan kaki di Bali. Akan tetapi saya yakin suasana di Bali tetap sama. Bali tetap merupakan bagian dari Indonesia yang tidak terasa seperti Indonesia, terutama karena budaya Hindunya yang kental. Bali itu bagaikan keluar negeri tetapi masih menggunakan rupiah.

Saya akan mulai dulu dengan kunjungan terakhir saya, karena itu yang paling miskin kenangan. Sesungguhnya perjalanan tersebut adalah ketidaksengajaan, sebab saya membayar harga penuh untuk tiket yang seharusnya nol rupiah. Saat itu baru ada yang namanya situs AirAsia dan saya dengar ada promosi tiket gratis, jadi saya coba sampai tiket terbeli. Setelah itu saya baru tahu, kalau memang sedang promosi, harganya sudah ditulis Rp. 0 dari sejak awal, bukannya sesudah transaksi terjadi. Akhirnya saya terdampar di Bali seorang diri, hehe. Satu-satunya yang saya ingat dari petualangan tersebut adalah saat saya mencoba berjalan kaki dari Legian ke bandara Ngurah Rai. Ternyata tidak terlalu jauh. 

Ardian di bandara Ngurah Rai.

Perjalanan pertama lebih banyak cerita. Kita menempuh jalan darat dari Jakarta ke Bali, melintasi jalur Pantai Selatan Jawa dan melewati berbagai kota. Saya berangkat sehari sebelum Idul Fitri bersama teman-teman Kalbe dan kita menghabiskan lebih dari 24 jam untuk mencapai Banyuwangi. Kita tiba di Blitar keesokan paginya, pas bagi supir dan teknisi, Hartono dan Pak Doel, untuk bersholat. Dari Blitar, kita singgah di Jember untuk makan siang dan menuju Banyuwangi, kota paling timur di Pulau Jawa, untuk menyeberang ke Gilimanuk.

Pak Doel turun dari feri begitu kita tiba di Gilimanuk.

Dan saya melihat Bali untuk pertama kalinya saat feri berlabuh. Bali sungguh berbeda, terasa seperti melangkah ke kawasan yang asing. Pura bisa ditemukan di mana saja, demikian juga halnya dengan patung seram Dwarapala. Tatkala kita sampai di Legian, saya melihat banyak bunga sesajen di trotoar yang memberikan kesan mistis. Kendati begitu, suasana Bali yang santai membuat kita rileks dan menikmati liburan.

Dari kiri, Sudarman, Pak Chandra, Pak Doel dan Hartono di Kuta.

Selama di Bali, kita mengunjungi Uluwatu, pura di atas tebing di tepi laut yang diramaikan oleh monyet-monyet yang tampaknya sudah biasa menjambret turis. Tidak jauh dari Uluwatu, ada yang namanya Graha Wisnu Kencana, taman yang luar biasa megah dan memiliki patung raksasa Wisnu dan tunggangannya, Garuda. Tanah Lot, pura di tepi laut dengan ombak bergelora, juga termasuk dalam daftar tujuan. Bicara tentang laut, kita juga mampir di Kuta. Walaupun saya tidak pernah menyukai pantai, saya tetap berpikir bahwa Kuta adalah salah satu pantai terbaik yang pernah saya kunjungi. Selanjutnya, kita juga singgah di Ubud yang terkenal dengan sawah berbentuk teras. Jika pernah anda berpikir bahwa hijaunya alam tidak menarik, tampaknya anda belum pernah melihat Ubud. Terakhir, kita menuju ke Pura Besakih, bangunan kolosal di kaki Gunung Agung. Seperti pura yang lain, turis yang bercelana pendek wajib memakai sarung. Oh, kalau saya tidak salah ingat, banyak toko seni di daerah sekitar situ yang menjual ukiran kayu berbentuk kemaluan pria.

Kent August, rekan di Kalbe, mengagumi oleh-olehnya dari Bali.

Kita menyeberang kembali ke Jawa setelah beberapa hari di Bali. Akan tetapi, beberapa bulan kemudian, saya kembali lagi ke Pulau Dewata, kali ini bersama teman-teman sekolah. Beberapa rutinitas sebelumnya terulang lagi, misalnya kunjungan ke Kuta, Uluwatu, Tanah Lot dan GWK. Yang sedikit berbeda kali ini adalah aktivitasnya. Kita mencoba arung jeram dan sibuk mendayung (walau sebenarnya yang berperan penting adalah pemandu kita yang mengendalikan arah) sebelumnya akhirnya terbanting ke aliran sungai yang tenang setelah perahu karet kita melewati air terjun. Kalau ada yang mau tahu seperti apa rasanya, itu bagaikan dunia berjungkir balik! Selanjutnya kita juga melakukan parasailing di Nusa Dua. Saya tidak suka perasaan saat kaki tidak menjejak tanah, tetapi begitu mengudara, rasanya menakjubkan. Ketika malam tiba, kita mengunjungi klub dan minum satu atau dua gelas.

Jimmy dan Endrico, menantang ombak demi foto di Tanah Lot.
Foto: Ardian

Kalau saya bandingkan, Bali adalah tujuan wisata yang tiada duanya. Sebagai contoh, Phuket dan Boracay memang menarik, tapi hanya Bali yang memiliki perpaduan gunung, laut, hijaunya alam, makanan enak dan budaya memikat. Kalau anda penasaran kenapa saya tidak pernah ke Bali lagi sejak dua belas tahun yang lalu, itu karena saya sering berpikir bahwa saya sudah pernah ke sana dan masih banyak lagi tempat di dunia yang belum saya kunjungi. Namun saya memiliki dua orang putri sekarang, jadi saya pasti akan ke Bali lagi bersama mereka. Anak-anak perlu mengetahui, bahwa negara mereka luar biasa indahnya...

Dari kiri: Jimmy, Anthony, Endrico dan Ardian.

Book Review: Losing The Signal

This book was exactly about what the tagline said: the extraordinary rise and the spectacular fall of BlackBerry. The first half brought us back to the good old days where pager still existed and mobile phone was at its infancy stage. Like every greatest story ever told, it also started with a struggling but promising protagonist. In this is case, it was Research In Motion, better known as RIM, a company led by co-CEO Mike Lazaridis, a tech wizard, and Jim Balsillie, a formidable salesman (he loves Sun Tzu's Art of War).

While RIM had its first big break with a two-way pager, it didn't stop there. They brought it to the next level with an idea that was so revolutionary at that time: bringing email to a mobile device. That's when the first BlackBerry was born. The original BlackBerry did just email and it did it very well.

BlackBerry immediately changed the working culture and blurred the line of work-life balance. The book did a good job in giving us the insight into how significant the impact was. If you ever noticed how some people usually looked down to glance at the phone during the meeting, well, that's all started from that very moment when BlackBerry was introduced to the corporate world. For better or worse, BlackBerry was the first to efficiently and effectively enable people to read and reply email on the go.

Just in case you are wondering how it was like back then, when people started to become BlackBerry addicts, the book did provide us with the background. It was a 2G era, when MENS (Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia, Siemens) ruled the world. On the other end of the spectrum was Palm, a personal digital assistant. The most eye-catching phone in those days, if it was ever really a cool gadget at all, was Nokia's 9000 Communicator, which was neither a computer it was trying to be nor a proper phone for it was just too bulky.

BlackBerry was everything those phones were not. When it became a full-fledged phone, BlackBerry had the best QWERTY keyboard, the unmatched email features and, later on, an instant messenger application called BBM. There was this irresistible blinking red light, too, a little something that got your heart beating while you were trying your best not to check it out when you were doing something else. The ultimate temptation! In short, it was suffice to say that the rest of the competitors were light years away from BlackBerry.

I especially like the part where the book devoted a few pages to tell the readers a little known fact about how BlackBerry helped to save the day during the September 11 attacks. Most of the phones were not functioning at that time, but not BlackBerry. It allowed people to continue communicating because it ran on a separate network. This information feels like a distant memory now, but if you ever configured an old BlackBerry, you'd know what this was all about.

The Passport and Losing the Signal.

Then came the second half of the story, when Steve Jobs stepped onto the stage to introduce iPhone. BlackBerry had been able to navigate its way to the top in the existing ecosystem, but what Steve did was entirely unprecedented. It was a thing only Steve Jobs could foresee and do: he fitted a Mac, including a full Safari browser, into a phone and let it loose. Given the fact that it sounds normal these days, I like the way the book reminded me again that there was no such thing called data plan in the past. Customers soon complained furiously, indirectly changing how things worked. In other words, by introducing iPhone, Steve brilliantly disrupted the whole ecosystem where BlackBerry was built upon. As if that wasn't damning enough, Steve gave the world the first extensive collection of apps, something that BlackBerry was sorely lacking. All of a sudden, BlackBerry looked outdated. 

After watching Steve Jobs from afar, Google immediately changed its game plan (it originally wanted to release a BlackBerry lookalike), but BlackBerry was slow to adapt. When it was supposed to come up with an iPhone killer, its first foray to touchscreen device, BlackBerry Storm, was disastrous. From then on, it was one wrong move after another, including the PlayBook debacle. To make the matter worse, the introduction of Android gave the defeated competitors a second chance to come back (although it was Samsung that won the race).

It was dreadful to read about how Blackberry was beaten from left and right. It was also busy being self-destructive internally. Eventually, not even the arrival of the badly delayed BlackBerry 10 was enough to recover its damaged reputation. Once the undisputed king of smartphones, BlackBerry was now just a fraction of what it used to be. The story ended with the exit of Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie.

It was a good book and an unbelievably easy reading, really. No heavy finance or IT jargon, so it was like reading a novel. It was a wonderful story about how BlackBerry singlehandedly changed the world. It also told us about the same company that failed to evolve and was eventually left behind by the fast paced technology it helped creating. For that reason alone, even though if you are never a BlackBerry fan, it's still a book worth reading.

PS: but I'm a fan, though, and this article was written using DTEK60, a BlackBerry phone.

Review Buku: Losing The Signal

Kisah dalam buku ini persis seperti bunyi slogannya: sukses dan jatuhnya BlackBerry. Bagian pertama dari buku ini membawa kita kembali ke hari-hari dimana pager masih dipakai dan bermulanya zaman telepon genggam. Seperti kisah sukses lainnya, tokoh utama cerita ini adalah perusahaan yang baru berdiri dan masih tertatih-tatih, tapi memiliki potensi. Namanya adalah Research In Motion, yang lebih dikenal luas sebagai RIM. Perusahaan ini dipimpin oleh dua CEO, Mike Lazaridis dan Jim Balsillie. Yang pertama memiliki latar belakang teknologi, yang satunya lagi adalah salesman handal yang menganut paham seni berperang Sun Tzu.

Diawali dengan sukses pager dua arah yang unik pada zamannya, RIM lantas mengukir namanya dalam sejarah dengan terobosan berikutnya: menciptakan perangkat khusus untuk menerima dan mengirim email di mana saja dan kapan saja. Perangkat itu kemudian diberi nama BlackBerry.

BlackBerry dengan cepat mengubah budaya kerja dunia perkantoran. Buku ini memberikan gambaran yang jelas tentang bagaimana dampak sesungguhnya pada saat itu. Sekarang, jika anda sering melihat orang menunduk untuk mengecek telepon genggam pada saat rapat, kebiasaan itu bermula dari diperkenalkannya BlackBerry pada para eksekutif. Baik atau buruk, BlackBerry adalah perangkat pertama yang memungkinkan penggunanya untuk membaca dan membalas email secara efisien dan efektif.

Buku ini juga menjelaskan perkembangan teknologi zaman tersebut. Saat itu adalah era teknologi 2G dan Motorola, Ericsson, Nokia serta Siemens masih merajalela. Di sisi lain, bagi yang pernah mendengar tentang PDA, ada yang namanya Palm. Untuk kategori telepon genggam, yang paling menarik perhatian di kala itu adalah Nokia 9000 Communicator yang sebenarnya terlalu besar untuk ukuran telepon genggam tetapi tidak cukup canggih untuk dianggap sebagai komputer.

BlackBerry berbeda dengan semua telepon yang beredar saat itu. Keyboard QWERTY terbaik, fitur email tiada tanding, aplikasi chatting gratis dan kedap-kedip lampu LED merah yang membuat kita penasaran adalah kelebihan BlackBerry yang tidak tersaingi oleh telepon lain.

Saya suka bagian dimana buku ini mengisahkan tentang peran BlackBerry sewaktu serangan teroris terjadi di New York pada tanggal 11 September. Di saat semua jaringan komunikasi telepon mati total, hanya BlackBerry yang tetap berfungsi dan memungkinkan banyak orang untuk berkomunikasi. Ini bisa terjadi karena BlackBerry memiliki jaringan yang berbeda. Bagi yang pernah mengutak-atik konfigurasi BlackBerry model lama, mungkin anda masih ingat tentang hal ini.

Suatu ketika bersama BlackBerry.
Foto: Endrico Richard.

Bagian kedua dalam buku ini dimulai dengan munculnya iPhone yang diperkenalkan oleh Steve Jobs. Sampai sejauh ini, BlackBerry berhasil mencapai puncak karena jeli dalam memanfaatkan teknologi komunikasi yang ada, tapi apa yang Steve lakukan dengan iPhone adalah terobosan yang tidak pernah terjadi sebelumnya. Kejeniusan Steve dalam melihat ke depan tidak bisa diabaikan di sini: pada prinsipnya, iPhone bagaikan Mac dalam ukuran telepon, lengkap dengan kemampuan penuh untuk mengakses internet. Walau ini terdengar biasa sekarang, mari ingat lagi bahwa 10 tahun silam, tidak ada yang namanya data plan. Para pengguna iPhone memborbardir Telkom karena buruknya jaringan data dan akhirnya secara tidak langsung memaksa Telkom untuk mengubah infrastrukturnya. Dengan kata lain, ketika ia memperkenalkan iPhone pada dunia, Steve Jobs mengobrak-abrik landasan yang sudah dibangun BlackBerry selama ini. BlackBerry semakin terpuruk ketika Steve meresmikan app store, sesuatu yang tidak pernah menjadi prioritas BlackBerry selama ini. Dalam sekejap mata, BlackBerry terlihat ketinggalan zaman.

Google lekas mengubah rencananya setelah menyaksikan Steve Jobs dan iPhone, tetapi BlackBerry terlalu lamban untuk bertindak. Ketika BlackBerry Storm dirilis untuk menandingi iPhone, produk ini gagal total karena software-nya bermasalah. Setelah itu BlackBerry terus salah melangkah. Masuknya Android ke dalam kancah persaingan kian memperburuk situasi karena dengan adanya Android, Motorola dan kompetitor lainnya pun bangkit lagi (meskipun Samsung yang akhirnya keluar sebagai pemenang).

BlackBerry dihajar dari kiri dan kanan serta digerogoti masalah internal. Bahkan dirilisnya BlackBerry 10 pun tidak mampu membawa BlackBerry untuk bersaing, apalagi kembali ke masa jayanya. Mike dan Jim akhirnya berhenti dari jabatan CEO. Cerita pun berakhir di situ.

Secara keseluruhan, buku ini menarik dan gampang untuk dibaca. Buku ini tidak menggunakan istilah-istilah IT yang rumit. Secara garis besar, buku ini mengisahkan tentang bagaimana BlackBerry mengubah dunia, tetapi gagal beradaptasi sehingga tertinggal jauh dari teknologi yang turut diciptakan olehnya. Untuk pengalaman berharga ini, walau anda bukan penggemar BlackBerry, anda perlu membaca buku ini.

PS: artikel ini ditulis dengan DTEK60, sebuah telepon BlackBerry, oleh penggemar BlackBerry.