20 Years Later

If it was up to me, I wasn't even sure if we'd ever have any reunion after the one I did in 2014. For some strange reason, I was reluctant and wasn't convinced that we should have another one. Not even the Gembala Baik reunion managed to trigger my competitive feeling to do something bigger and better. But few months after theirs, I was included in the reunion committee chat group by my friend Rudy. That's how it all started.

There were already Denny, Endrico, Aripin and Rudi (do take note that there were Rudy and Rudi) in the group. They were very excited about the reunion and had a lot of ideas, but the execution was rather vague. It was the inclusion of Yuliana that eventually got us on the right track. She was good and very determined, but never forced her way through. She playfully suggested things that got us going instead. When Anni and Susan came on board to reprise their original roles as the treasurer and her faithful helper (they were also the committee members of the previous reunion), the team was complete. As for me, I played only very limited roles this round and whatever I did, it was because largely due to the encouragement of Endrico.

The teachers and the committee members of the reunion.
Photo by Denny Wu. 

Fast forward to July, two days before the big day, I crossed to Batam and made my way to Pontianak. I already had a long list of plan arranged nicely, but much to my surprise, I was told at the check-in counter that the flight had been cancelled and there wouldn't be any Citilink flights from Batam to Pontianak for the rest of the month. I was so stunned that my only reaction was to laugh so hard about it. In a blink of an eye, I was totally screwed. Then I asked around and paid premium for the next available flight that was departing at 5.30pm on the following day.

A day later, Surianto and Andiyanto came from Batam, too. Despite the story that I'd shared, they'd yet to learn that they were going to suffer the same fate. It was only when I asked them casually during our lunch about the flight they were going to take that they realised about the doomed Citilink flight. Then we began our longest wait at the airport, searching for the faintest chance that we'd be flying to Pontianak. When I went for check-in, Andiyanto was still negotiating Saturday's flight with our ticketing agent. The funny part was, when I came back from check-in, he already held the boarding pass for the same flight. Money did wonders in Indonesia!

The long wait for tickets at Batam's Hang Nadim airport. 

With Surianto sacrificing himself by taking the Saturday's flight (and he didn't make it in the end), Andiyanto and I went off to Pontianak with Endrico. We dropped by at the housewarming party organized by Eday's Mum. It was like we were young again, just a bunch of high school students hanging out, albeit 20 years after the original timeline, haha.

Thus began our two wild nights. From there, we went for supper at Melda and we eventually had our last stop for the night at Avara Hotel for drinks and a soccer match (where Brazil lost the match). Hardy, the last to arrived that night, joined us as well. It was a good hangout, just us old friends, reminiscing the past and talking about life in present days. We parted ways around 3am and after the short crazy ride we had to where Muliady was staying, I continued the journey home with Eday, Harry and Parno. And it wouldn't be a ride with Parno if it went smoothly! We heard a weird engine sound suddenly and Parno stopped his car to check. But after seeing Parno literally massaging the tubes and machine in his attempt to investigate, Eday decided that he was one hopeless engineer and got us to completely ignore Parno by posing together for a picture instead. The picture was brilliant and iconic!

Harry, Anthony and Eday, with Parno at the back with his car.
Photo by Eday. 

Later on that day, when morning came, I ran some errands with a little help from Harry and after that, the committee members gathered for the first time at Kapuas Palace Hotel to prepare everything. Aripin and his team did a good job with all the settings. Susan, Anni and the rest helped out with the financial stuff and t-shirt distribution. Yuliana did the rundown briefing and I did some IT setup involving Apple TV, MacBook and iPhone for slides and video calls. 

Then the reunion began! The crowd began to build up and it was heartwarming to see old friends started coming to the event and taking pictures on stage. At 3.5 hours, it was like the longest school recess ever! The had around four stalls of traditional snacks, including Aming Coffee, and they made it look more like the good old days. I made it my job to mingle around with as many people as I could, saying hi and cracking few jokes so that it won't be an aloof and awkward gathering. By the end of the session, I was bloody exhausted. The heat and humidity clearly didn't help!

Mingling with the crowd.
Photo owned by Muliady The. 

But it was a humbling experience to see how things come together. There were only twenty of us when the event started at 3pm. Then, as the day got darker, many more would come until there were like almost 200 of us! Our teachers, the living testament of our illustrious past, started appearing as well. Then of course there was this nostalgia when I saw some of the popular students gathered together. It was like school days again, except we were 20 years older than before.

We also replicated few things from that part of our lives, from ringing the bell to notify the crowd to come into the ballroom, hitting the desk as the signal to stand up and pay respect to our teachers and so forth. Shortly after that, the committee came up to be interviewed by the MC and we explained what we actually did in organising the event. Then came the first section of the show where I made a couple of live video calls to Susanti, Iwan, Wiwi and Variana. Out of the four, only Susanti picked up and faced the crowd. It was an impromptu call, but she was well-dressed (the beauty of Indonesian ladies, they always dress nicely in every occasion) and very interactive. Kudos to Susanti for her all-out participation!

Dinner was the next programme, followed by not only one, but two performances from the daughter of the belly dancer of our generation, Lianna. There was also games such as transporting the marbles using the spoon in mouth and popping balloons using crotch. I did one game, too, the school exam where students had to choose the correct answer from multiple choices. I was told later on that those who scored a full hundred mark actually cheated by striking the correct answers as I was announcing them, haha. Oh, there was also Jony Wong and Yuliana singing Nostalgia SMA, the same song that we performed during graduation party two decades ago. It was great!

The alumni of '98.

Then came my favorite part of the show. Yuliana did the most beautiful rendition of the appreciation that I wrote for the teachers. Accompanied with the instrumental version of Here, There and Everywhere from the Beatles, she did it perfectly. Her expression, her body language, her crystal clear pronunciation, her intonation and the pause she did to convey the emotion, they were all brilliant. Sitting at the side of the stage, I was overwhelmed as I watched her. I got this mental image of school days replaying in my head and it was as if I finally got chance to say thanks for those who did their best for that part of my life. I loved it and I'm glad I did ask her to do that.

After that, we took the pictures together with the teachers. The event was finally closed with all of us singing Kemesraan, the national anthem for school graduation. It was six and a half hours of togetherness and the moment it was over, I thanked God that we did it. I couldn't help feeling that it was a very important milestone of my life. We were not so young anymore, but yet we were still in our prime. 10 years down the road, I'm not sure if everything is still going to be the same, so the reunion was the right time and right place to be. I was very lucky to be part of it...

As part of the crowd!

Epilogue:

It didn't end there, actually. After the reunion, we went to Bakmie Tunggu for supper. It really lived up to its name. Bakmie Tunggu means wait for the noodles and we waited for an hour for our meal. We went to Lenda's house afterwards, hanging out until it was time for Eday to go to the airport at 4.30am. We were very tired, but it was like hours before we went our separate ways again, so it was worth it.

There was this hilarious moment when Tuty tried to trick some of us with her black magic trick. She claimed that she could show them the tuyul, a tiny evil spirit that is capable of stealing money. In order to see tuyul, they had to follow her instructions. I wasn't there, but it seemed like the light was off and they turned on candles instead. Each of them held an upside-down bowl to cover the candle. As a result, it created a black stain without them knowing it, especially when they was asked to close their eyes. Tuty then instructed them to rub the inside of the bowl and then rub their own face immediately. Eday quickly realised that something wasn't quite right, so he stopped practicing the instructions. As Tuty forced his hands down into the bowl, she began laughing uncontrollably herself when she saw Budiman's face turning black. Apparently Budiman was curious as he still couldn't see the tuyul, so he went on to rub some more burning stain on his face. The whole scam was eventually botched and Budiman ended up as the butt of the joke for the rest of the night, although he did crack some good jokes at the expense of Tuty's phobia of chicken feather. 

It was a great way to end the whole journey, really. It didn't start out really well for me, but I couldn't and wouldn't ask for more. All in all, it was the best reunion ever! Very memorable!

Tuty, on the left, looking worried after pulling her prank. 

20 Tahun Kemudian

Jika semuanya tergantung saya, mungkin tidak akan pernah ada reuni 20 tahun setelah kita lulus SMA. Setelah reuni yang saya gagas di tahun 2014, entah kenapa saya merasa enggan dan tidak yakin bahwa kita harus mengadakan reuni lagi. Bahkan reuni sekolah Gembala Baik yang diadakan berdekatan dengan perayaan Imlek di tahun ini pun tidak memicu sisi kompetitif saya untuk mengorganisir reuni yang lebih besar dari apa yang telah mereka adakan. Kendati begitu, beberapa bulan setelah reuni Gembala Baik, saya dimasukkan ke grup panitia reuni oleh teman saya Rudy Santyoso. Dari sinilah semuanya bermula. 

Denny, Endrico, Aripin dan Rudi (rekan-rekan panitia ini ada yang bernama Rudy dan Rudi) sudah berada di grup ketika saya bergabung. Mereka sangat bersemangat dan memiliki banyak ide, tapi pelaksanaannya tidak terlalu fokus. Setelah Yuliana Rahayu diikutsertakan, barulah hasilnya mulai terlihat. Dia memiliki keahlian dan kesungguhan dalam mengerjakan semua ini, tapi tidak pernah terkesan memaksakan kehendak. Justru sebaliknya, dia sering bercanda sambil menyelipkan idenya sehingga mudah diterima. Ketika Anni dan Susan turut berpartisipasi sebagai bendahara dan asistennya, tim panitia akhirnya lengkap. Saya sendiri terus-terang hanya memiliki sedikit peran dan apa yang saya kerjakan adalah berkat dorongan dari Endrico.

Para panitia saat acara berlangsung. 

Memasuki bulan Juli, dua hari sebelum hari-H, saya menyeberang ke Batam untuk berangkat ke Pontianak. Saya sudah memiliki banyak rencana, tapi tidak pernah saya bayangkan bahwa saya akan mendapat kabar kalau penerbangan saya bukan cuma dibatalkan, tapi juga tidak akan ada rute Citilink dari Batam ke Pontianak selama bulan Juli. Ini kabar yang sangat mengejutkan dan saya sungguh terperangah sehingga satu-satunya reaksi saya hanyalah tertawa. Dalam sekejap mata, rencana saya kacau-balau. Kemudian saya bertanya ke sana kemari dan akhirnya membayar tiket seharga 1,6 juta rupiah untuk penerbangan esok sore.

Hari berikutnya, Surianto dan Andiyanto pun tiba di Batam. Meski saya sudah bercerita sebelumnya di grup alumni, mereka sepertinya belum menyadari bahwa mereka juga akan bernasib sama. Ketika kita makan siang bersama, barulah mereka tahu bahwa penerbangan mereka sudah dibatalkan. Kita lantas bergegas ke bandara dan menanti, berharap mendapatkan tiket di saat-saat terakhir. Ketika saya masuk untuk check-in, Andiyanto masih bernegosiasi dengan calo tiket untuk penerbangan hari Sabtu, tapi begitu saya keluar, dia susah memegang boarding pass untuk penerbangan yang sama dengan saya. Uang bisa berbuat banyak keajaiban di Indonesia!

Berdesak-desakan di mobil Parno. 

Karena Surianto bersedia mengambil penerbangan hari Sabtu (yang lantas dipindahkan lagi ke jam sore dan membuatnya gagal untuk ikut reuni), Andiyanto dan saya berangkat ke Pontianak bersama Endrico. Begitu mendarat, kita langsung menuju ke rumah Eday untuk menghadiri pesta peresmian rumahnya. Saat berkumpul rasanya seperti kembali menjadi anak sekolah lagi, meski kenyataannya sudah 20 tahun berlalu!
 

Dan dua malam yang liar pun bermula. Dari rumah Eday, kita pergi ke Melda untuk bersantap malam. Setelah itu, kita berkumpul di Avara Hotel untuk minum dan menyaksikan pertandingan sepak bola (Brazil kalah di hari itu). Hardy yang datang paling belakangan di hari tersebut juga menjumpai kita di sana. Para teman lama berkumpul, mengenang masa lalu dan berbincang tentang masa kini kira-kira sampai jam 3 pagi. Kita semua lalu berdesak-desakan di mobil Parno yang bergerak mundur dan berbelok ke jalan tempat rumah mertua Muliady berada. Dari situ kita berpisah jalur dan saya ikut pulang bersama Eday dan Harry di mobil yang dikendarai oleh Parno. Bukan perjalanan bersama Parno namanya jika berlangsung dengan mulus. Tiba-tiba saja terdengar suara aneh dari arah kap mesin dan Parno pun menghentikan mobilnya untuk memeriksa. Sesudah melihat cara Parno yang hanya menyentuh dan menekan aki, tutup radiator dan selang di mesin, Eday dengan sigap menyadari bahwa Parno adalah teknisi gagal yang tidak ada harapan. Dia lantas membiarkannya dan malah mengajak kita berfoto dengan latar belakang bambu runcing dan Parno. Ide yang spontan, kocak dan jenius!

Keesokan paginya, saya mengerjakan bagian saya sebagai panitia dan lantas berkumpul dengan rekan-rekan lain untuk pertama kalinya di Kapuas Palace. Aripin dan timnya telah berada di sana untuk mengerjakan dekor dan sebagainya. Susan, Anni dan yang lain membahas masalah dana yang terkumpul dan pembagian kaos. Yuliana menjelaskan pada kita tentang rangkaian acara dan saya memasang perlengkapan komputer yang mencakup Apple TV, MacBook dan iPhone untuk tampilan foto dan panggilan lewat video.

Teman-teman berpose di atas panggung. 

Tepat pada jam 3 sore, reuni pun dimulai! Perlahan-lahan para tamu pun bermunculan. Senang rasanya melihat wajah-wajah yang sudah lama tidak terlihat ini memenuhi ruangan terbuka dan dan berpose bersama di atas panggung. Dengan durasi selama 3,5 jam dan makanan tradisional (dan juga Kopi Aming) yang dipajang di empat kios kecil, suasananya yang riuh mirip dengan jam istirahat sekolah terpanjang yang pernah terjadi. Saya tergerak untuk menghampiri semua teman lama untuk menyapa dan bercanda dengan mereka supaya suasana lebih akrab dan tidak canggung. Ketika sesi ini berakhir, saya bukan main lelahnya. Cuaca Pontianak yang panas dan lembab sama sekali tidak mendukung!

Kendati begitu, saya sangat tersentuh saat mengamati bagaimana suasana kian menghangat. Pada awalnya hanya ada sekitar 20 orang termasuk panitia, namun lambat-laun jumlah peserta kian bertambah sampai kira-kira ada 200 orang banyaknya. Setelah itu para guru dan kepala sekolah, orang-orang yang mendidik dan menjadi saksi sejarah akan gegap-gempitanya masa lalu kita di sekolah, pun tiba. Perasaan nostalgia semakin membumbung tinggi sewaktu saya melihat mereka yang dulunya populer di sekolah. Rasanya seperti kembali lagi ke masa lalu, namun dalam wujud fisik yang lebih tua 20 tahun dari sebelumnya, haha.

Susanti tampil di acara reuni. 

Kita juga meminjam beberapa kebiasaan dari masa sekolah, misalnya lonceng bel sekolah yang menandakan mulainya acara di aula, tepukan di meja yang mengisyaratkan kita untuk berdiri dan memberikan salam hormat pada guru-guru, serta hal-hal kecil lainnya. Kemudian para panitia muncul di depan untuk diwawancarai oleh pembawa acara dan pada kesempatan tersebut kita silih berganti bercerita tentang bagaimana kita bekerja sama dalam menyiapkan ajang reuni ini. Setelah itu acara pun dimulai dengan melakukan panggilan video ke teman-teman yang berada di luar kota. Susanti, Iwan, Wiwi dan Variana pun dihubungi, namun hanya Susanti yang menjawab dan berhadapan langsung para hadirin. Panggilan tersebut dilakukan secara mendadak dan tanpa pemberitahuan apa pun sebelumnya, namun sebagai ibu-ibu yang selalu berdandan, Susanti bukan saja sangat interaktif, tapi juga tampak rapi di hadapan ratusan penonton. Salut untuk Susanti yang tampil bersemangat secara spontan.

Acara berikutnya adalah makan malam yang dilanjutkan dengan dua tarian oleh putri penari perut generasi kita, Lianna. Setelah itu ada berbagai permainan seperti memindahkan kelereng dengan sendok (dimenangkan oleh Imelda dan Hendri) dan juga memecahkan balon dengan cara dijepit dengan selangkangan (dimenangkan oleh Andry dan satu orang lagi). Saya juga menyumbangkan satu permainan yang menyerupai ujian sekolah berbentuk 20 soal pilihan berganda. Setelah reuni saya diberitahukan bahwa mereka yang berhasil mendapat nilai 100 sebenarnya baru mulai mengisi kertas mereka saat jawaban dibacakan, haha. Oh, selain itu, ada juga pertunjukan dari Jony Wong dan Yuliana yang berduet lagu Nostalgia SMA, lagu yang juga kita nyanyikan saat pesta perpisahan di sekolah dua dekade yang lalu.

Teng Lai dan Janti bertukar kelereng. 

Selanjutnya Yuliana membacakan apresiasi yang saya tulis untuk para guru. Dengan latar lagu Here, There and Everywhere dari the Beatles, acara ini dibawakannya dengan baik sekali. Ekspresinya, lafalnya yang jelas, intonasi dan caranya berhenti berucap dan tersenyum sejenak untuk memberikan penekanan pada emosi yang tertuang dalam kalimat, sangat luar biasa. Saya yang saat itu duduk di samping panggung merasa terharu. Di benak saya berputar kembali masa-masa sekolah dan apa yang dilakukannya seolah-olah memberikan kesempatan bagi saya untuk mengucapkan terima kasih pada mereka yang berjasa pada saya dulu. Singkat kata, saya sangat menyukai penampilannya.

Setelah itu, kita pun berfoto bersama guru-guru. Reuni akhirnya ditutup dengan lagu Kemesraan yang dinyanyikan bersama-sama. Setelah 6,5 jam yang penuh dengan kebersamaan berakhir, saya bersyukur bahwa kita mengadakannya. Tiba-tiba ada kesan dimana saya baru saja melewati satu tonggak bersejarah dalam hidup saya dan itu besar artinya untuk saya. Kita tidak lagi semuda dulu, tapi kita justru sedang berada dalam kondisi prima. 10 tahun kemudian, semuanya tidak akan pernah sama lagi, jadi reuni pada malam itu adalah tempat dan waktu yang benar-benar tepat bagi kita semua. Saya merasa beruntung bisa menjadi bagian dari reuni ini...

Di Bakmie Tunggu. 

Epilog:

Ketika reuni berakhir, kita tidak bubar begitu saja, melainkan berkumpul lagi untuk makan malam di Bakmie Tunggu. Nama Bakmie Tunggu bukanlah lelucon. Kita benar-benar harus menunggu satu jam lamanya sebelum pesanan kita datang. Sehabis makan, kita menuju ke rumah Lenda dan berkumpul di sana sampai tiba saatnya bagi Eday untuk berangkat ke bandara jam 4.30 pagi. Saat itu kita sudah sangat lelah, tapi beberapa jam terakhir sebelum kita semua berpisah lagi terasa sangat berarti.

Ada cerita lucu sewaktu kita berada di sana. Tuty berkata bahwa dia bisa memanggil tuyul bagi mereka yang berminat melihat makhluk halus ini. Meski saya tidak ikut serta, dari cerita berulang-ulang yang saya dengar ketika kita bercanda, sepertinya mereka mematikan lampu dan menyalakan lilin. Masing-masing orang memegang mangkok yang dibalikkan sehingga menutupi lilin. Perlahan-lahan mangkok pun menghitam, tapi mereka mungkin tidak menyadarinya karena mereka diminta untuk menutup mata. Tuty lantas meminta mereka untuk memegang dasar mangkok dan mengusap wajah. Eday jadi curiga, jadi dia tidak benar-benar melaksanakan instruksi ini. Tuty menyadari hal ini dan mulai menekan tangan Eday ke mangkok, namun dia jadi terpingkal-pingkal sendiri setelah melihat wajah Budiman yang menghitam. Ternyata Budiman sangat penasaran karena tuyul belum terlihat, jadi dia melakukan ritual berulang kali. Akhirnya tipuan Tuty pun terbongkar dan Budiman menjadi korban. Budiman yang tahu bahwa Tuty memiliki fobia terhadap bulu ayam pun melakukan gertak sambal sehingga Tuty jadi cemas sendiri.

Acara tengah malam itu menjadi penutup dari kisah reuni 20 tahun. Pengalaman ini tidak dimulai dengan lancar bagi saya, tapi semuanya berakhir dengan baik. Secara keseluruhan, reuni ini sungguh luar biasa. Sangat berkesan!

Kumpul-kumpul di rumah Lenda. 

Roadblog202

Just a disclaimer here, no, I'm not changing the name. It's just, for some strange reason, the 202nd article feels like a milestone. It's been a long away since our first blog post. We've even surpassed the number 101 twice with this one! Hence, for this occasion, I'd like to look back and reminisce for a while.

If you check out the origin of the writing, it was meant to be a tryout and getting back in the game again. I couldn't even get Roadblog as the original name was already taken, so I added the suffix 101 to indicate the beginner level instead. I was taking it lightly, just for the fun of it.

By the way, for those who fail to understand last part of the previous statement, I'd like convince you that writing is fun and everybody can write. Just be true to yourself. So why Roadblog101 again? It's because we, the commoners, have stories to tell.

Long time ago, when I was deep in thoughts as a struggling writer in Jakarta.

That's how the slogan was born. After doing all the stuff by myself throughout the first month, I thought perhaps I should apply the Beatles' way where each member actually contributed something. There were people saying, "perhaps you should be more focused on only one thing," but why stopped at one thing and limited ourselves at that? That's why Roadblog101 were written by many people about many things, ranging from travel, food, music, hobby, mystery, general stuff to life itself. 

Alvin was the first to join and then my wife, Nuryani, participated as well. There were quite a number of people that came along since then: Brick, Eveleen, Parno, Budiman, Steva and Hendra. The names I mentioned earlier were the inductees of Roadblog101 Hall of Fame, something that I made up to to honor those that had contributed more than one blog post, haha. Having said that, of course there were one-hit wonders such as Endrico, James and Henky.

The Roadbloggers!

Roadblog101 itself had grown up quite a fair bit since the day it was unveiled. Eday was kind enough to lend his talent and came up with the logo. Apart from having a proper roadblog101.com, it is now found on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest (I also tried tumblr, but it didn't work out), so follow at least one to ensure that you got the latest update. Do take note as well that some photos are only available on Instagram, haha.

Now, let's talk about the fun part of it. The idea of writing is to honestly expressing yourself. I love that and the blog is the right medium for me now, because I can just get the thoughts out of my head quickly and move on to other stuff. At the same time, just like how I learn from fellow Roadbloggers and other sources, I hope my writing benefits the readers, too. 

When I said readers, I meant the world. Yes, because it's online, Roadblog101 is read by people from around the world. I have this habit of checking out the statistics since I started this. The top three are often Singapore, Indonesia and the US. But there were times when other countries topped the bill, too. Australia was number one when Kathryn Bonella shared my review about her book. The Philippines went wild when Filipino Fiesta, a restaurant in Singapore, shared the article with the same name. I also couldn't help noticing that Henky's only article was often pinned by others on Pinterest (I think the same article is also responsible for bringing in readers from Peru). Alvin's Keadilan Bagi Keluarga is often searched via Google and easily one of the blog posts that has the most readers (it is trailing behind behind an article about Limin and the other one called From Ahok). Then there are regular readers from non-English speaking countries such as France and Ukraine. I am often puzzled by this strange fact, but I sincerely thank you all for staying with Roadblog101 for the past one and a half year.

It's been a great ride, but no, we're not done yet! There are a lot more that I believe we'll be writing about. Feel free to join us, too! I'll see you when it's time to do the recap again. Perhaps we'll call it Roadblog303 or Roadblog404, haha.

The statistics, right before Roadblog202.

Roadblog202

Sebagai klarifikasi atas judul di atas, kita tidak berganti nama, hehe. Hanya saja artikel ke-202 ini terasa seperti sebuah peristiwa penting. Rasanya sudah lama sekali terhitung sejak semua ini dimulai. Kita bahkan sudah melampaui angka 101 sebanyak dua kali dengan artikel yang satu ini. Oleh karena itu, untuk kesempatan ini, saya ingin berhenti sejenak dan mengenang kembali perjalanan Roadblog101. 

Jika anda baca bagian asal-usul Roadblog101, anda akan lihat bahwa ini semua berawal dari percobaan saya untuk kembali menulis setelah berhenti selama empat tahun. Saat itu saya bahkan tidak bisa menggunakan nama Roadblog karena sudah dipakai oleh orang lain, jadi saya tambahkan akhiran 101 untuk menandakan bahwa ini adalah level pemula. Saya tidak ingin sesuatu yang terlalu serius dan hanya ingin sekedar bersenang-senang. 

Oh ya, jika anda tidak mengerti bagian terakhir dari kalimat di atas, saya ingin meyakinkan anda bahwa menulis itu menyenangkan dan setiap orang bisa menulis. Anda hanya perlu jujur menuliskan apa yang anda pikirkan. Itu saja kuncinya. Jadi kenapa saya memulai Roadblog101? Itu karena kita sebagai orang biasa juga memiliki cerita untuk dibagikan.

The Beatles Fab Four Taxi Tour, artikel pertama di Roadblog101.

Dari sinilah slogan we, the commoners, have stories to tell bermula. Setelah mengerjakan semuanya sendiri di bulan pertama, saya lantas berpikir bahwa mungkin saya harus mencoba cara the Beatles dimana setiap orang memainkan perannya. Ya, saya juga menerima masukan bahwa sebaiknya saya lebih fokus pada satu hal, namun saya rasa tidak seharusnya saya membatasi kreativitas yang ada. Inilah sebabnya kenapa Roadblog101 ditulis oleh berbagai orang tentang berbagai hal, mulai dari liburan, makanan, musik, hobi, misteri sampai pada tentang kehidupan itu sendiri. 

Alvin adalah penulis yang pertama bergabung dan setelah itu istri saya, Nuryani, juga ikut serta. Setelah itu datanglah Brick, Eveleen, Parno, Budiman, Steva dan Hendra. Nama-nama tersebut adalah mereka yang sudah mendapatkan predikat Roadblogger, sesuatu yang saya anugerahkan bagi mereka yang sudah menulis lebih dari satu karya, haha. Berbicara tentang topik ini, tentu saja ada yang hanya menulis satu karya sampai sejauh ini, misalnya Endrico, James dan Henky. 

Roadblog101 sendiri sudah tumbuh dan berkembang di usianya yang hampir menjelang dua tahun ini. Teman saya Eday berbaik hati untuk meluangkan waktunya dan menciptakan logo Roadblog101. Selain memiliki nama situs roadblog101.com, sekarang Roadblog101 juga bisa ditemukan di Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest (saya juga mencoba tumblr, tapi tidak berhasil), jadi ikutilah salah satu media di atas sehingga anda selalu mendapatkan info terbaru. Oh ya, perlu saya beritahukan juga bahwa terkadang beberapa foto hanya beredar secara eksklusif di akun Instagram, haha.

Selanjutnya mari kita bicarakan bagian yang menyenangkan dari menjadi seorang Roadblogger. Inti dari menulis adalah mengekspresikan diri dengan jujur. Saya menyukai kebebasan ini dan blog adalah media yang cocok untuk saya, sebab saya bisa menuangkan pikiran secara ringkas dan berpindah ke topik lainnya setelah selesai. Pada saat yang sama, seperti halnya saya belajar dari sesama penulis dan sumber bacaan lainnya, saya juga berharap bahwa tulisan saya bermanfaat bagi pembaca.

Negara-negara pembaca Roadblog101 yang berada dalam 10 peringkat teratas sejauh ini.

Ketika saya mengatakan pembaca, maksud saya adalah seluruh dunia. Ya, karena keberadaannya di internet, Roadblog101 dibaca orang-orang dari berbagai penjuru dunia. Yang termasuk tiga besar biasanya adalah Singapura, Indonesia dan Amerika Serikat, namun adalah kalanya negara lain menduduki posisi puncak juga. Australia menjadi nomor satu ketika Kathryn Bonella membagikan tulisan saya tentang bukunya. Filipina pun berbondong-bondong membaca tatkala Filipino Fiesta, sebuah restoran di Singapura, membagikan artikel yang berjudul sama. Kejutan menyenangkan lainnya, saya perhatikan bahwa tulisan satu-satunya dari Henky adalah artikel Roadblog101 yang paling sering disimpan oleh para pengguna Pinterest (saya rasa artikel yang sama juga menarik perhatian para pembaca dari Peru yang sering muncul belakangan ini). Keadilan Bagi Keluarga dari Alvin juga paling sering dicari lewat Google dan saat ini berada di posisi ketiga artikel yang paling sering dibaca (artikelnya bersaing ketat dengan artikel tentang Limin, sedangkan yang berada di peringkat pertama adalah artikel bertajuk Dari Ahok). Kemudian ada lagi para pembaca dari negara-negara yang tidak berbahasa Inggris, misalnya Perancis dan Ukraina. Saya terkadang merasa bingung dengan hal ini, namun saya dengan tulus mengucapkan terima kasih kepada mereka yang sudah setia bersama Roadblog101 selama satu setengah tahun terakhir ini.

Roadblog101 adalah sebuah petualangan yang luar biasa, namun kita masih jauh dari selesai. Masih banyak yang akan kita tulis. Anda bahkan bisa turut bergabung bila anda berminat. Dan saya akan kembali lagi untuk menulis tentang perjalanan kita, mungkin di artikel yang nantinya diberi judul Roadblog303 atau Roadblog404, haha.

The Unforgettable New Zealand (Part 3): From Lake Wanaka to Frans Jozef Glacier

Do you ever watch one of the most popular movie of all time, the Lords of the Rings (LOTR)? The movie was made in many places all over New Zealand. And here we were standing in front of Lake Wanaka facing The Southern Alps, doubled as The Misty Mountains that surrounded Rivendell in The LOTR movie. The backdrop that was used when the great eagle, Gwaihir, rescued Gandalf from the tower of Orthanc. It felt awesome!

Lake Wanaka and a tree.

 

The Wanaka town has a friendly ambience with plenty of cafes, restaurants, bars and shops. The town is not as crowded as Queenstown so if you need a more peaceful place to relax, stay in Wanaka is a good option. At the west park of Lake Wanaka, there is Mount Aspiring National Park, a wonderful mixture of forest, high mountain and beautiful valley. It is a hiker's paradise. If you stay overnight in Wanaka, you can go hiking or biking to the Blue Pools or Rob Roy Glacier. Unfortunately we just stayed for 1-2 hours in Wanaka before we continued driving to West Coast, hence we didn't do hiking or biking. After taking our lunch, we spent sometimes to take pictures and enjoyed the scenery beside the lake.

We took some pictures of Lake Wanaka with the mountain and the tree that is located beside the Lake. We never heard about Wanaka Tree when we visited Lake Wanaka 8 years ago. I just heard about That Wanaka Tree, the most photographed tree in New Zealand, last year when I joined Instagram. Type hashtag #thatwanakatree and you will find thousands of amazing pictures of the crack willow tree beside Lake Wanaka taken especially during sunrise or sunset. I check again my old picture just in case I took the picture of That Wanaka Tree accidentally, but I guess the one in my picture is not that famous tree, so I should have called it #notthatwanakatree.

In front of Lake Wanaka.

That Wanaka Tree by Stoked for Saturday (trover.com).

The beautiful garden beside Lake Wanaka.

The snowfall started when we left Lake Wanaka and headed to the West by passing Haast Pass, a mountain pass at an elevation of 564m above sea level. It's one of the most beautiful alpine scenic routes in New Zealand. The drive passes through a spectacular view and offers various landscapes of rainforest, wetlands, lakes and rivers. However, it is also quite dangerous due to heavy wind and some sharp curves along the way. The condition was more challenging when we passed by because there was heavy snowfall and the road was full of snow and very slippery. We even stopped and stood at the roadside for a while because we were worried about the road condition. And we were not the only one who stopped. There were other cars who were doing the same.

The snowy and slippery road of Haast Pass.

The problem was we did not have any snow chains with us. Snow chains or tires chains can provide maximum traction when driving through snow or ice. But even if we have snow chains, we did not know how to put them on the car tires. We never thought we would face this problem. We were stuck in the middle of the mountain road while the time passed by. For sure we could not wait until the evening came as it would be even more challenging to drive in the night. Finally my friend Dewi had a great idea. She drove behind the caravan that had snow chains. The caravan swept aside the snow in front of us so our car could pass the street without heavy snow. She maintained the distance with the caravan, not too close but also not too far.

That caravan!

As we drove slowly, we saw many big trees on our left and right sides. Not sure what the name was, but they looked like pine trees. After ages of driving, we finally reached Fox Glacier Township. We took a long breath when we arrived there. We finally passed the most difficult road safely. Thank God.

We've booked a hostel room in Fox Glacier Township. It was a small hostel but nice. The most important thing was, the hotel had a room heater. We needed it badly after facing a cold weather and snow the whole day. We had a very good rest before continuing our journey on the following day to Franz Josef Glacier.

We woke up early in the morning to go directly to the tour company who would guide us to Franz Josef Glacier. They provided us special gears to climb up the glacier, including the jacket and the boots. When we went there in 2010, we still could walk to the first ice fall of the glacier. However, since April 2012, it seems like we need to take the helicopter instead.

The guided walk to Franz Josef Glacier was tough. Half way to the first ice fall, I almost fainted. Perhaps it was due to lack of exercise. I just felt dizzy and breathless as I climbed. Come to think of it, I really salute the tour leader of our group, a young woman, who did the climbing almost every day. She was very fit. I eventually reached the first ice fall of the glacier and, yeah, I did it! I am glad I did it when I was still young and single. I am not sure if I still have energy to do it again now, after having two kids.

   

Climbing Franz Josef Glacier.

Up there, it was the most awesome glacier experience we ever had! Exploring the ice formation, feeling the ice and snow. We were freezing but very excited as well. It's a one in a lifetime experience. If you have a chance to visit the South Island of New Zealand, don't miss it!

The passage of Franz Josef Glacier. 

When we came down from the glacier, our tour guide explained that Franz Joseph Glacier has a cyclic pattern of advance and retreat, driven by differences between the volume of meltwater at the foot of the glacier and volume of snow fall. Since 2008 Franz Joseph Glacier is in the period of retreat and the length keep decreasing. We waited for few minutes to see whether there are any changes in the landscape but nothing happened. 

We came back to Fox Glacier township in the afternoon. Feeling tired after glacier climbing, I actually just wanted to go back to our hostel and took a rest, but my friend wanted to visit Lake Matheson that is located just 6km west of the Fox Glacier town. So we drove our car, following the signboard till we arrived at the cafe right at the beginning of the trail. We saw a group of cows before we walked through the native rainforest, passing the bridge and reaching the Jetty View Point. 

Lake Matheson is one of the most photographed lake in New Zealand because of its mirror reflection of Mount Cook and Mount Tasman on a calm, clear day. The landscape frequently appears on the postcards, chocolate boxes and calendars. It was unfortunate that when we were there, it was cloudy and rainy. We could barely see the reflection of the mountains on the lake. Once again we learnt that weather and lightning are very important for good photos. You need to have a bright sunny day and clear sky to produce a good photo of Lake Matheson as you see it on the postcard. The weather can make a huge difference. Just see these below photos.

Lake Matheson on a cloudy day.

Lake Matheson on a clear day (from newzealand.com).

Due to the weather, we decided to return to the car park after we reached Jetty Point. It was a tiring but fun day. We dozed off quickly as it was time to recharge our energy and get ready for another journey to the west. Next: the final leg of our New Zealand road trip!

The Singapore Delights

Back in the 90s, when I first visited Singapore, I stayed in Chinatown area. I saw the fried noodles at one of the stalls when I was exploring the People's Park Centre. Out of curiosity, I asked if it was sweet or salty. Much to my surprise, the stall keeper made a caustic remark that there was no such thing as sweet fried noodles. I was taken aback by the hostile response, especially when I was pretty sure such meal existed in my hometown.

Years later, when I traveled Malaysia, I began to realize that Singapore cuisines are closer to Malaysia's than ours. Having said that, some of the dishes aren't found in Indonesia or at least I never saw them then, when I was staying in Pontianak and Jakarta. It dawned on me that it went both ways, hence the unforgettable answer I got for asking about the fried noodles.

That doesn't mean the food in Singapore is bad. They are just different, but they're alright. After living here for more than a decade, I grow to like some of the food here and I often come back for more. Here are some reference of the cuisines that, I think, were rarely seen in Indonesia, but are available abundantly in Singapore. They've been tested and verified by your fellow Indonesian to ensure that they are suitable for our liking, readers. Haha!

A plate of mui fan.

The first on my list, one that means a lot to me, is mui fan. For your information, mui fan is a plate of rice flooded with sticky soup and it has vegetables, seafood, meat and egg. It looks like nasi chap chay in Indonesia, but I think mui fan is more refined and I like it better. I had this regularly when I came to Singapore back in 2006. Life was hard then and mui fan was a godsend for the following reason: it was very affordable and it came with a generous portion, too! I still have this for dinner from time to time and it goes well with belacan (shrimp paste).

Just in case you don't prefer rice but would like to have something similar, hor fun is the next best thing. It took me some time to appreciate this mui fan lookalike as it came in many forms, for example san lou hor fun, but I eventually settled with beef hor fun. It's one of my menus during lunch time these days! By the way, hor fun means flat rice noodles, so imagine the rice in mui fan being replaced with hor fun and that's roughly how it looks like. 

A bowl of lor mee.

Anyway, before you start questioning why I seem to be very fond of food that has thick gravy, I promise that this will be the last one for this blog post. It's a bowl of noodles called lor mee. Please be warned that it's a very messy affair and it will leave a stain on your clothes if you are not careful with it, but it's definitely worth the effort. The taste is rich and it comes with a lot of fried porky stuff you'll love.

Another favorite suitable for quick lunch is duck rice (normally I go for it after haircut as there's a good stall named Yu Kee in Bugis). Duck meat is surely different than chicken, but once you get past the acquired taste, it is actually quite delicious! The stall that sells duck rice usually sells another delicacy called kway cap, too. It is basically hor fun served with pork intestines. For those who came from Pontianak, you may recognize it as kwe kia theng. While the names may be different, but the taste is almost identical.

Duck rice.

Before we leave the Chinese flavored cuisines, let me introduce you to something that is rather unusual: a fusion called marmite chicken rice. I never knew it, too, until my friend Keenan introduced it to me. I only found it at Lucky Cafe so far. The chicken is crispy, it has a sweet and unique taste thanks to the use of marmite. Never had anything like this before in Indonesia! I also can't explain to you what marmite is, so you may want to google it instead, haha.

Now, as a melting pot, Singapore is not only about Chinese culture. They are cuisines from other cultures as well. If I were to go for Malay food, I'll have either nasi lemak or black pepper chicken rice. During my first year in Singapore, I used to alternate between this and mui fan as both were available in Kembangan. The black pepper chicken rice is chicken cutlet with black pepper sauce poured on top of it. The rice is rather special and I think it's the same as Hainanese rice. As for nasi lemak, it's like a mild version of nasi uduk. It has peanuts, anchovies, chili sauce and then assorted meats that you can choose, from fried fish, fried chicken and, if you buy it from a non-halal stall, you'll get sliced pork, ngo hiang or sausage, too.

The non-halal nasi lemak. 

Then there's some good stuff from Indian culture. The famous one is, of course, nasi briyani. The rice, called basmati, is rather unique, it has an elongated shape, totally different than what we normally consume. Briyani has a lot of varieties, from chicken, mutton to something called dum briyani. Mutton is my favorite because mutton is good, haha. The less known menu but also equally good is the Indian curry rice. I only found this at the Golden Shoe Hawker Centre. The presentation was awful, but it was delicious. Again, it was served with mutton, together cabbage, tofu and egg. I'll have to check if the stall is still open at the interim hawker centre next to Telok Ayer MRT station.

So there you go, some options that you can choose if you visit Singapore. It's just a tip of the iceberg because there are still a lot of cuisines that I haven't mentioned here. Perhaps I'll go for another round of such post in the future. Happy trying and... keep eating.

Mutton briyani. 

Nikmatnya Makanan Di Singapura 

Di tahun 90an, ketika saya pertama kali berkunjung ke Singapura, saya tinggal di kawasan Chinatown. Saat saya menelusuri pusat perbelanjaan People's Park Centre, saya melihat mie goreng yang dijual di salah satu kedai makanan. Karena terlihat enak, maka saya pun mampir dan bertanya, apakah ini manis atau asin rasanya. Di luar dugaan, penjual mie itu dengan ketus berujar bahwa tidak ada yang namanya mie goreng manis. Saya merasa terkejut dengan respon seperti itu, sebab saya tahu pasti bahwa mie goreng manis dijual di kampung halaman saya. 

Bertahun-tahun kemudian, ketika saya mulai mengunjungi berbagai tempat di Malaysia, barulah saya ketahui bahwa makanan di Singapura lebih mirip dengan makanan di Malaysia daripada Indonesia. Tidak sedikit makanan di Singapura yang tidak pernah saya jumpai di Indonesia, di kala saya masih tinggal di Pontianak dan Jakarta. Lantas terpikir oleh saya bahwa hal serupa juga terjadi di Singapura. Ini menjelaskan kenapa si penjaga kedai itu ketus jawabannya. 

Akan tetapi ini tidak lantas berarti bahwa makanan di Singapura tidak enak rasanya. Masakan di Singapura memang berbeda, tapi beberapa di antaranya cukup menarik dan lezat rasanya. Setelah tinggal di sini lebih dari sepuluh tahun lamanya, saya menyukai beberapa jenis masakan di sini. Berikut ini adalah referensi berbagai masakan yang mungkin jarang dilihat di Indonesia, tapi tersedia di mana-mana di Singapura. Masakan-masakan ini sudah diuji dan diverifikasi dengan lidah Indonesia sehingga bisa dipastikan bahwa semuanya cocok untuk selera Nusantara, haha. 

Yang berada di tingkat teratas dalam daftar saya adalah makanan yang memiliki makna tersendiri bagi saya: mui fan. Sebagai informasi, mui fan adalah sepiring nasi yang dibanjiri dengan kuah kental yang dimasak dengan sayur, udang, sotong, daging dan telur. Tampilannya mirip seperti nasi chap chay di Indonesia, tapi saya rasa mui fan lebih enak. Hampir setiap hari saya memesan menu ini ketika saya mulai mencoba untuk menetap Singapura di tahun 2006. Ketika itu hidup sangat sulit dan mui fan tak ubahnya seperti berkah dari Tuhan karena sangat terjangkau harganya dan besar pula porsinya. Sampai hari ini saya masih memesan mui fan sebagai makan malam dan biasanya saya nikmati dengan terasi.

Hor fun sapi. 

Bila anda tidak ingin makan nasi tapi mau mencicipi masakan yang kurang-lebih sama, anda bisa memilih hor fun. Saya sendiri membutuhkan waktu beberapa lama untuk menyukai masakan yang mirip mui fan ini karena banyaknya versi masakan berbasis hor fun, misalnya san lou hor fun, namun saya akhirnya menemukan apa yang cocok untuk saya: hor fun sapi. Belakangan ini saya sering menyantap yang satu ini pas jam makan siang. Oh ya, hor fun itu terbuat dari beras, mirip kwetiau namun lebih besar bentuknya. Bayangkan nasi di mui fan diganti dengan hor fun dan kira-kira seperti itulah masakannya.

Dan... sebelum anda mulai bertanya-tanya kenapa sepertinya saya menyukai masakan dengan kuah yang kental, saya berjanji bahwa ini adalah menu terakhir yang serupa. Namanya lor mee. Perlu diperhatikan bahwa makanan ini hendaknya disantap dengan perlahan dan hati-hati, sebab cipratan kuahnya bisa meninggalkan noda di baju anda. Meskipun demikian, upaya anda dijamin tidak akan sia-sia. Rasa masakan ini begitu mantap dan juga disertai beraneka gorengan mengandung babi yang pasti akan anda nikmati.

Kway cap. 

Favorit lainnya yang cocok untuk makan siang yang singkat dan buru-buru adalah nasi bebek (saya biasanya mampir ke kedai Yu Kee di Bugis setelah selesai gunting rambut). Daging bebek berbeda tekstur dan aromanya dengan daging ayam, tapi kalau anda bisa menikmatinya, rasanya cukup enak. Kedai yang menjual nasi bebek biasanya juga juga menjual makanan lain yang bernama kway cap. Makanan ini pada dasarnya adalah hor fun yang disajikan bersama organ babi. Bagi yang berasal dari Pontianak, anda mungkin mengenalnya sebagai kwe kia theng. Walau namanya berbeda, rasanya hampir sama. 

Sebelum kita meninggalkan masakan Cina, saya ingin perkenalkan sesuatu yang tidak lazim ditemukan: nasi ayam marmite. Saya juga tidak pernah mendengarkan tentang menu ini sebelumnya sampai saya makan bersama kolega saya Keenan. Sejauh ini saya hanya menemukan makan ini di Lucky Cafe, tidak jauh dari Raffles Place. Ayamnya digoreng hingga garing. Selain manis, ada suatu rasa yang tidak bisa saya jelaskan di sini, tapi saya yakin itu karena penggunaan marmite. Jika anda mau tahu marmite itu apa, saya rasa anda perlu cari sendiri di internet karena saya juga tidak bisa mendeskripsikannya dengan baik, haha.

Nasi ayam marmite. 

Karena posisinya sebagai titik pertemuan aneka budaya, Singapura tidak hanya sebatas makan Cina, namun juga disemarakkan oleh masakan dari budaya lain. Jika saya lagi ingin makan masakan Melayu, saya biasanya memilih nasi lemak atau nasi ayam saus lada hitam. Di tahun pertama saya di Singapura, saya sering silih berganti menu antara nasi ayam saus lada hitam dan mui fan karena keduanya tersedia di Kembangan. Sesuai dengan namanya, nasi ayam saus lada hitam adalah nasi dan irisan daging ayam yang disiram dengan saus lada hitam. Nasinya juga terasa mirip dengan nasi Hainan. Kalau nasi lemak lebih cenderung mirip dengan nasi uduk. Nasi lemak biasanya dihidangkan dengan kacang, ikan teri dan sambal serta aneka daging, mulai dari ikan goreng, ayam goreng serta beragam jenis daging babi olahan seperti ngo hiang dan sosis jika anda membelinya dari kedai non-halal.  

Kemudian ada juga berbagai masakan India. Yang terkenal tentu saja nasi briyani. Mereka menggunakan beras basmati yang panjang dan berbeda dengan beras yang biasa kita makan. Briyani juga memiliki berbagai variasi, mulai dari rasa ayam, kambing serta sajian yang disebut dum briyani. Saya suka briyani kambing karena saya suka daging kambing, haha. Menu lainnya yang mungkin jarang diketahui orang adalah nasi kari India. Sejauh ini saya hanya menemukannya di pujasera Golden Shoe. Meski tampaknya berantakan, rasanya sungguh sedap. Nasi ini juga disajikan beserta daging kambing dan juga lauk lainnya seperti kubis, tahu dan telur. Saya harus mencari tahu apakah kedai ini masih buka di pujasera sementara yang terletak di samping stasiun MRT Telok Ayer.

Nasi kari India. 

Jika anda mengunjungi Singapura, kini anda memiliki beberapa pilihan yang bisa anda coba. Seleksi di atas hanyalah sedikit dari banyak makanan enak yang ditawarkan di Singapura. Mungkin saya akan menulis topik yang serupa lagi di kemudian hari. Selamat mencoba!