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Makassar International Writers Festival 2013
It was unforgettable moment for me, to be able to witness more 700 young people of Makassar, gathered in Fort Rotterdam and enjoy, really enjoying, poetry reading at the closing ceremony of Makassar International Writers Festival (MIWF) 2013 @makassarwriters. I said to Josephine Chia, fellow speaker & writer from Singapore, “Josephine, this is big.” Josephine was like, yeah it’s great. “No, no, Josephine. This is HUGE. This is AMAZING.” Most Indonesian people enjoy music concerts. But they have yet to embrace literary events. Maybe because those kind of events are simply nowhere to be seen. So, I salute the hardworking team and the initiator of MIWF 2013, mbak Lily Yulianti…
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Birthday in Istanbul
“I strongly suggest you to postpone your trip to Istanbul!” My heart sank. I got a warning message from my good friend in Istanbul, just a week before my scheduled trip to spend my birthday there. There’s a protest-gone-wrong in Taksim Square, and things didn’t look good. But of course, if you tell me I can’t, I will prove it otherwise. So, I told my friend, unless the airport’s close, the world’s end, or something like that, I will still stick with my plan. Besides, I know how things can easily getting exaggerated. My last trip to Bahrain and Egypt shows that everything’s perfectly ok there, despite the media or…
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From the First ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar & Exposition Brunei
This is my second time visiting Brunei. The last time was to speak at Think Big Innovate 2012. And few days ago I’m back to Brunei to speak about entrepreneurship to ASEAN young entrepreneurs on the first ASEAN Youth Entrepreneurs Seminar and Exposition. I thought this time I’m going to focus on one message: about being perfect. I always say that I’m an imperfectionist. I start small and quick, far from perfect, because I believe perfection is a journey. So, this ‘lean startup’ spirit is the one that I want to spread in the forum. Speaking with me was Muzamir Mustafa and Azura Liyana, both entrepreneurs from Malaysia. From the…
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ASEAN Blogger Festival Indonesia 2013
It was such a great opportunity for me to be able to join the ASEAN Blogger Festival (ABFI) 2013 in Solo, Indonesia. I was fortunate to attend such event in Kuala Lumpur and Bali, few years back, so I can be able to say that now I’m part of the ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Community, with friends all over ASEAN countries. To me, ASEAN community is not started in 2015, it’s already happen now. This year, #ABFI2013 has a new theme “Re-inventing the Spirit of Cultural Heritage in Southeast Asia“. In this 4 days event, attended by more than 300 participants all over Indonesia and other ASEAN countries,…
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Backpacking Trip to Egypt – Behind the Scene Photos
My backpacking trip to Egypt has so much stories that I can’t contain in one blog post. So, I thought, I want to share some of the ‘behind the scene’ photos of my trip thru Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Alexandria, all taken with iPhone. Enjoy!
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Backpacking Trip to Egypt
When you travel, you experience, in a very practical way, the art of rebirth. -Paulo Coelho, The Pilgrimage I woke up this morning to the scent of Lotus flower and I thought I was still in Egypt. I bought Lotus perfume at Khan El-Khalili Market, from a persistent seller who start the conversation by showing his family pictures. I love the lingering soft scents and my memory immediately pulled back to Egypt, the um ad-Dunya (Mother of the world). Nobody took me seriously when I said I’m going to go for a backpacking trip to Egypt. My friend Matthew thought I will go backpacking in high heels (Of course not!…
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The Power of Being Quiet
On my Discover Bahrain trip, I was one of 20 delegates from 20 different countries around the world. So it was a very dynamic group. As soon as we met as a group, it is clear that I become more quiet. In contrary to my usually cheerful & chatty blog posts and tweets, it has been my nature to be more quiet as soon as the group is growing more than 5 people. I prefer observing with my own thoughts. Dr Hala, one of Discover Bahrain committee said, “Indonesians are quiet!” – and it got me thinking. At first, I thought, Indonesian are more quiet because they think they can’t…
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Discover Bahrain: The Land of Dreams
Like a soulmate, it’s so easy to fall in love with Bahrain. I never thought my 12 days trip to Bahrain would left me with, not only high quality networks, but also a lot of insights, true friendship and deep thoughtful memories. At first, I didn’t know much about Bahrain. The only thing I know, Bahrain is one of Gulf countries. And like most countries in Middle East, I expect Bahrain to be as ‘strict’ in Islamic rules especially for women. This is considered my first visit to Gulf country, and everybody has been telling me, Bahrain is the best introduction to The Gulf. Amina picked me up at the…
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What I’ve Learned from Henry Ford
There is one rule for the industrialist and that is: make the best quality of goods possible at the lowest cost possible, paying the highest wages possible -Henry Ford I have the priviledge to travel 10,000 miles away from Jakarta to Detroit, Michigan, to attend North American International Auto Show (NAIAS), courtesy of Ford. I went there with 3 of my friends from Indonesia (and the only team from SouthEast Asia) @dondihananto @rezaprabowo @amirK and more than 100 bloggers from all over the world. It was a fabulous event, and my first visit to USA. So, you can imagine my excitement! Before I go to NAIAS, I thought I’m only going to…
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Autumn in London
The first thing I notice when I arrive in Heathrow was that they don’t have a free wifi access. My friend sending me information on how I’m going to get to my hotel via Whatsapp, and I can’t get the message. I don’t know how, but I got his last message, “Don’t pay for anything.” So, I immediately assumed someone has been waiting for me outside. An awkward 20 something South Asian man standing holding my name in his hand. I nod to him to give him sign that it’s my name and we walk. Next step, I expect him to help me with my huge 20 kg luggage. He…
