Surprise trip

Since there's not that much work at work, I've decided to travel yet again.

I'm leaving Melbourne in two days. How exciting is that?

Going back to Jakarta, will apply for a Chinese visa, yet again, and will be flying to China the coming Sunday. Hopefully it won't be that cold. I heard it goes down to ten degrees below zero. I'm not really scared of that, just afraid that mom can't stand the cold.

I almost had a problem with Singapore Airlines again.

Here's the scoop.

I tried to get a ticket as I knew it's going to be hard to get since it was sort of last minute. Checked their website and it said a seat was available.

Not a problem, I think, but being a lazy person to fill in forms online, I decided to call SIA and wanted to book on the phone.

Had to wait aroudn fifteen minutes on the phone.

Not a problem, it was at work anyway. So after fifteen minutes I spoke to one of the customer service representatives. Goes something like this.

SIA Rep: Hi, how can I help you today?

Me: I'd like to book a return ticket from Melbourne to Jakarta with a stop over in Singapore on the way back.

SIA Rep: certainly, when do you want to fly out to Jakarta?

Me: 12th or 13th of December if possible

SIA Rep: please wait while I check if any seats are available

Me: thanks

SIA Rep: I'm sorry sir, those dates are not available, is there any other dates you'd prefer?

Me: around that date, but it should be after the 13th

SIA Rep: Let me check again... (and after a few seconds pause) I'm sorry sir, the 14th, 15th and 16th is full. In fact, the whole month of December is booked out

At this point, I was thinking to myself, how can that be possible that there's no single seat left for the entire month? That could be true but I refused to believe that.

Me: but the website told me that a seat is still available on the 15th

SIA Rep: then I would recommend you to buy your ticket from the website

Me: OK, thanks a lot

Then I hang up and (sot of) ran as fast as I could to my desk, re-log in to my KrisFlyer account and filled in those online forms I filled in earlier hoping that the same seat was still available.

It was!!!

I was relieved.

So I'll be home in two days and hopefully visa application isn't troublesome.

Tell you all about it later.

goodbye dad

I'm glad we spent your last days together. Even though it's not literally your last, but I was glad we spoke on the phone yesterday. I'm glad I still had the chance to go with you on those trips to Manado and Singapore.

I wish that China trip didn't have to be cancelled.

I wish I could have been there today... this morning...

And I wish I could see you smile one last time.

back from the july trip

As usual, a late entry blog post from me.

I'm now back from my July trip. Click on the links below for photos.

Manado was great. Should've went snorkeling or diving but didn't have the time (or license). Bunaken is so awesome under that surface. Other than that, food was great. Tried having banana fritters with chilli, unusual but nice nevertheless. Seafood was great, I still remember the texture of that coconut crab meat in my mouth. Didn't remember who ordered it ('cos it was supposedly near extinction) because I thought they brought those two out just for show. My highlight: the suckling pig. The skin was so very crispy. Don't say yuck before you try it.

Tana Toraja was cool too. It was cloudy when we were there, so it was just a tad disappointing for my photography purposes. Had a taste of the local culture, mostly the traditional tongkonan house and the burial grounds (and walls).

Jakarta... well it's still Jakarta. I just found out that if you don't want to get caught in traffic, it is now possible to pay for police escort for around one million rupiahs. You'd get two policemen escorting your vehicle on the front and the back on their motorcycles and sirens. Cool huh? Didn't do that much in Jakarta except for eating (food is still the best here) and catching up with old friends (which is also long overdue now). Still didn't get to catch up with some other ones, I'm so sorry as I can't go out as easily as I used to as my Indonesian driver's license is now expired and the only car in the house is used by mom. Will upload all the the polaroids of people I took in Jakarta soon-ish.

I also went to this place just outside of Jakarta, in a small town called Cisarua, called Curug 7. It's a bit like a national park where you get to see a butterfly conservation area and a waterfall. It's quite a long walk and along the way we met two couples doing their pre-wedding photo sessions.

Singapore has got a new mall now on Orchard Rd called Ion Orchard. Went there twice just for quick looks. I thought it wasn't that special but I saw a clothing shop I've never seen before called Callate la Boca. Was going to buy a tee but none of the sizes fit. Bought a small pin instead. The fried prawn noodle in Wisma Atria's Food Republic really amazed me. Will go back for that again.

Can't wait 'till November. Bangkok I'm coming!!!