emesdea's world

The magical landscape with its natural beauty and bright blue sky.

Some wanderers enthuse to explore more and more of its wonders. In their wandering, they find a serene beach with three shades colors of water. They spend their day to relax, bask and enjoy seeing fabulous creatures underwater. In other time, the wanderers go to nearest hills and listen to the wind and rustling leaves. Nature speaks soft and tender, they have to close their eyes to understand the meaning. *** The land has some hidden treasures. Every wanderer must have a good will to find it. There is a river with hot and cold water flows from the upstream to downstream. Its water is from two different water springs. The rich water gives sensation to every wanderer. You may dip yourself in the river, and feel the magic. Every time you move your body, you will feel the hot and cold water splashing onto your body. Another gem is hidden in the valley and located in the middle of the mountain. If a wanderer wants to find this gem, they have to spend hours to climb up-hills. But it will pay off, wonderful sights will mesmerize the tiring wanderer. *** Not only does it has enticing and beautiful nature, the land also has  a rich culture. Some wanderers are in awe when they have a chance to visit an ancient village. The building structure and the ambiance bring them to another era. Every traditional woven that the village has  will tell you a story. A story about deep culture, friendship, pride, love and hope. The indigenous people of this enchanted land are very charming. Their beautiful eyes are almond-shaped, their smiles are bright. They have a genuine heart and very humble. Give them a wave, a smile, and a greeting whenever you see them, and you will feel at home.  *** There is a land in the east that has been mesmerizing many people since long long time ago. To keep it enchanting for hundred years to come, only simple things needed. Every wanderer who comes to the land needs to respect the nature, the culture, and the people. Give it love and it loves you back. That magnificent land is FLORES. Notes: 1. Some of the photos are courtesy of my travel-mates: Oom Marcus, Rifky, and Mas Ungaran, a.k.a Ariev Rahman 2. I do miss all of them. The adventures, the chit chats, the laughter, and the blissfulness we had together 3. Last but not least, Ipink, you are truly be missed. I am so lucky to have a chance to traveling with you and the awesome wanderers.

Big Ben

Many many many museums have free admission. Yessss it’s free. Not only is the free admission, the collections are also superb. British Museum has mummies. How cool is that? Mummies are the real things. And I saw it with my own eyes without costing me any money. Coooolll… You can explore and see other collections like the famous Horse from a long time ago, the history of Gods and Goddess and many exceptional things that broaden your knowledge.  Natural History Museum has dinosaurs. Oh yeah baby, those giant dinosaurs’ bones, you can see it in one of its sections. Victoria and Albert Museum is full of dresses, painting, statues and furniture collections from hundred to thousand years ago. And I got the chance to enjoy Lockwood Kipling exhibition. It blew my mind...

British Museum

The real Mummy!!!!

Natural History Museum

And Dino says hello....

Victoria and Albert Museum

3.       “Mind the gap, between the train and the platform”

You will hear this famous line every time  you use tube in  London and its area. Another country has a subway or MRT. London has underground stations commonly called as Tube Station. It’s so famous that you can buy T-shirt with the logo of the tube and the ‘Mind the Gap’ line. There are old tube stations (more than decade I guess) and quite new stations which bigger, brighter design. The biggest tube station is King’s Cross and St Pancras. You can change lines from there and also take picture on 93/4 platform like you see in Harry Potter movies.

The busy schedules of King's Cross Station

4.       Are they street musicians, seriously? Not the famous singers??

When you use the tube and move from one line to another, it’s very likely your ear will hear something nice and lovely. The street musicians are that serious to do their business. The good quality of sound system (I’m very curious what brand they use), the songs they choose (popular ones obviously), and their talents playing the instruments and hit the notes with their beautiful voices. It’s so mesmerizing to have eargasm in such common places. Not only in a tube station, they usually do their magic in open space like at Trafalgar Square or in front of Harrods.

5.       It’s 6 PM? Yes, they are close….

Never before, I was rejected in store/shop because it closed at 6 PM. Usually in Indonesia, I still do shopping until 8 PM, even sometimes many department stores hold midnight shopping. When I was hanging around Trafalgar Square, I entered the nearest Boots and suddenly the Supervisor scolded me and said that the store will close in 5 minutes. It meant, I only had 5 minutes to shop. Oh my….

Once I was in Oxford, I entered the shop at 5.30 PM and they were prepared to close the shop. I did ask them why they close so early, and how different it is with Indonesia. The answer was, it’s solely because in Indonesia or other countries, the owners have employees whereas in UK they don’t have any and they should take care of the store on their own. Second reason was they’re going to have fun at the pub or dinner with the family. Oh, well.

Empty road of Oxford

6.       Primark!!!

Hahaha, for those who haven’t got the idea what the Primark is, beware. You may spend lots of your money in this place. No, it’s not a casino or famous boutique. Instead, it is a famously-cheap-department-store. You can buy many many things with cheap price. I even don’t use word ‘affordable’ because many of the products are cheap enough. You want to give keepsakes for your relatives and your friends? Grab a cute bag, or purse for only 9 pounds. Or maybe you can bring home two-pound fragrances. Run out of shirts and jacket? Buy one for only 15 pounds. The real deal, right….

7.       Want to go to movies? Go to Vue.

Yes, that’s right. There are so many theaters in London yet they show plays, not movies. The Vue itself is not as big as what we have in Indonesia (Jakarta in particularly). In tube stations, you might see many ads of famous plays like Wicked, Dream Girls and Kite Runner. Too bad I didn’t have enough time to enjoy the plays and the Vue.

Bonus(es):

It’s difficult to find instant noodles, however it’s super easy to find chips

Based on my amateur observation on some convenient stores, I might have the assumption that they love chips than instant noodles. There are so many varieties of chips crackers. It’s like Lays or Chitatos in Indonesia but they taste better. Love the chips but sadly enough to know that it was kind of difficult to find good instant noodles. My stomach loves instant noodles more than chips.

Shop-till-you-drop in Bicester Village

It may locate outside London and take approximately 90 minutes – 2 hours to go there, but it doesn’t stop many tourists to come here. Lines of branded shops await you once you get there. Do you love Longchamp, Furla, or maybe want to add your collection from Hermes or just grab cute bags from Cath Kidston? Go ahead, enjoy your time and spend your money wisely in those shops.

You can also ask for tax refund, just don’t forget to prepare your credit card to fill the information in the form.

Bicester Village

You don’t have much money but you want to enjoy some luxuries? (it’s so me!) Go to its toilet. It smells good, very clean and they also provide branded body lotion for you to use. Well, not as luxury as toilet in Harrods that gives you a chance to splash your body with Channel no 5 and other branded perfume, but it’s all worth trying on. Or you can just relax and sit around the area and enjoy the view of tourists that go back and forth from one shop to another.


Well, it’s really a good experience for me to enjoy and feel about London and other cities in the UK. For those who had been there, I believe you have different opinions but that’s okay. Every person has their perspective about anything, right?

Last but not least, I will always miss London and want to go back there again and again and again.

Hi, happy New Year 2017.
A new year has come. A new day has begun.

So, what am I doing right now? Writing down new resolutions? Beeeuhhh, based on my previous experiences, any resolutions that I'd ever made never lasted long.
Think out loud about my resolutions, it comes up that I never put 'my passion, my willingness, my desire' to live up those I made before. And it took only a few months after January, all the resolutions become mainly dreams and wishful thinking.

I prefer to do different approach this year.
I have written down what I want to do, where I would go, things I want to accomplish in 2017 in December 2016. The lists may look the same. But the main different is I put my attitude in every single thing I want to do and would go. I put my pray and my will, my guts and my passion, my desire in every list.

Not waiting for 2017 to come, I have tried to start doing my list since Christmas. It is me and only me who become my main hindrance, major obstacle that would put me away from my resolutions and my dreams.

So, change my attitude and do actions. Small actions, precisely. I believe all will come into places.
Just wish me luck.

Yihaaaaa....

Four years ago this month, I had a blast experience traveling to Hawaii. Yesssss, Hawaii baby. Never in my wildest dream that I dreamt of Hawaii. I just saw movies about this island, Pearl Harbor for instance, or some Hawaii Five-O. I never put Hawaii as place I want to visit.

So, why did I go there? That's because I got the opportunity from my office to attend centennial celebration of my company in Hawaii. Well, honestly, it's not an easy road to get there.

First, I had to apply for American Visa. Though Hawaii is located far away from the US, it's still one of its states.

Secondly, we had to transit in Seoul for almost a day before catching our flight to Honolulu. It's winter, folks! It meant I packed my winter clothes and also brought clothes for the tropical island. Packing for two different weather was both confusing and tiring experience.

But, all was paid off after we arrived in Seoul. Due our flight to Honolulu was at night, we took a day tour in Seoul. Oh yeah, we visited certain interesting places in Seoul. I know, I know, it was four years ago, I forgot names of places we'd visited. Sorry.

How about I give you some photos?

Hangul Founder, taken from the car.

First place we visited. I forgot the temple's name. It was so cold and I started to shiver.

Some people prayed by circling this pagoda

The tour guide said that if you want to have a child, you can tap and stroke this statue. The shape looks like man genital.

Inside the Museum National of Korea. Please bear with my pose.

I forgot where exactly this place was. But I remember, the tour guide once said that usually this place was used as a summer palace.

Please bear with me once again.

The throne always has this picture in the background. Mountain, sun and the moon.

We were lucky enough to see the procession of guards' exchange. Well, they're not the real guards as the palace was not used as palace anymore and no royal families lived there.

Another throne with the typical background.

Cheonggyecheon Stream

The stream was so clean and it's so good to bask and enjoy the day by just sitting there.

Finally, we were off to the airport and took our flight to Honolulu, Hawaii.

Honolulu airport was like well, Cengkareng airport, but with the bigger size.

Finally arrived in Honolulu. Hmmm yeah, they gave us flower necklace.

The traffic.

To enjoy the day before the convention, we took a trip to Pearl Harbor. The ticket included the bus ride free for two days.

Memorial wall inside the battleship Missouri Memorial.

The oil still comes out of this tank from decades ago up until now. The locals believe that it was the tears of the dead soldiers.

Errr.. I saw a strange young man whose body was covered with tattoes. I just can't resist myself to take picture with him. And he was so sweet...

Shops on the street near our hotel in Waikiki.

You can hop on and hop off using this bus.

One afternoon, we were waiting for our bus with some other tourists. When the bus arrived, other tourists complained to the bus driver because the bus was late and we had to wait for an uncertainty of time. And did you believe what the bus driver said? He gave them his hand and gave the sign with pointed thumb and little finger while his other fingers bend inwards. That was the sign of Hang Loose, means that you need to chill out. Relax...
And he said with a very relaxed gesture,"Hang loose man. This is Hawaii. You need to relax..."
I can feel him and couldn't hide my smile when I saw the tourists were so perplexed with his response.

The view from our hotel room.

There are still so many memories and stories from this journey. I will tell you some other time, okay.