The Crater is not Tangkuban perahu

a trip up the hill is just what i needed.

some say i've been goofing around, but i'll say i've spending my time wisely. :P.
And also i've made this trip up the hill as one of my wish list before i say goodbye to Bandung (not that i know when this will happen :P). you can find the post here.

The road was not too bad. although there was NO signs on where to go about Kawah Putih. Fortunate for me, i got myself a rental car with a driver that knows directions. So the journey begins.

The trip took us about 2,5 - 3 hours from Bandung. This mostly depends on the traffic since you would have no choice cause you would have to pass through a road that is narrow, hectic and filled with angkot and beloved indo bikers (this would translate into simplified example of Jakarta's traffic).

The topography is mostly like driving to Puncak - heaps of twist and turns - but with more rice fields scenery instead of tea plantation. The view changed from lines of houses into rice fields and a group of trees (which name i dont know but it has skinnly thin sort-of-peeling trunk) and my driver told us we were close when see this trees.

A gate and a line of so-called transporting vehicle took us to the crater and the view was what the French would call c'est manifique!

The day ends with a nice lunch at Sindang Reret - sundanese.

Enjoy the picts peeps!!!













the company.



this should be enough for now.. :D

Old Melbourne Gaol

a tour that cost me $30 AUD on Friday 08-08-08. Lasted 50 minutes plus 20 minutes of photo session. really this is the shortest photo session time ever. seriuosly how can anyone get anything decent in 20 minutes? Ha ha ha.. this may just be my excuse for the lame picts i've taken. :).



overall, this was all a unique experience and kinda creepy coz Nunik saw a couple of "residents" at the jail - at the stairs and in one of the dark room. I salute my tour guide, it was full on 50 minutes storytelling, he must have been doing this for ages to be able to memorize and tell it like that. although the exercise he put us through going up and down the Gaol (again read it as "Jail") reminds me that i need to exercise.

This jail was designed to fit 180 convicts but was once filled with over 200 convicts. A 3 storey building . The largest cell size is probably about 3x3 m square - as big as my room now - they fit around 6 probably 10 convicts at once. You can find a blanket, bed matrass and a bucket for each of your "natural" needs euuuhhhh. The small cells is just as wide as my hand streching out. yikes.

It's amazing how people thought of a mechanism of torture to sculpt people's attitude in the search for a better community and safety for all. And capital punishment was considered the way to go back then, Australia for one has abolished capital punishment, Indonesia havent. But maybe when looking at those brute terrorist exists in the present day, capital punishment sounds just about right for them. As you can see below, they even have a replica of the hanging equipment used to hand Ned Kelly - the "so-called Oz robin hood" (Nunik, 2008). I didnt register myself into the ghost hut tour, simply coz im too lame to do it and seriously ghost? indonesia have more creepy ones i should say. He he he not that i can see them and i AM grateful that i cant.

So here you go blokes.. pictures...

Notice the Sheriff badge..

In a Ned Kelly mask..

a peak at the cells..



Hanging Equipment

The Whipping Facility and its tools


Ned Kelly mask, armour and revolver



Other torture instruments

Finally, the mediocre photo of the Hallway...

Jessup Moot Court Winner

Hard work paid off, we won the battle. ladies and gentlemen, i can now proudly pronounce that i have participated in the Jessup Moot Court competition in Monash Uni and WON. yeehaaa...
my international law and policy unit gave me an opportunity to try out for this year's jessup moot competition. the memorial submission will be counted in my second assignment mark and then we had to do the verbal presentation after all exams are over. the result of the verbal will not be accounted into our mark but there are prize money for the winner, ehm.. for me. This all happened in H2.22 Monash Caulfiled Campus, Saturday June 21, 2008.

i would also like to give my appreciation for alamo and mita for their help in making it all happen. Couldnt have done it without their help.

just look at my face, this was taken after my speech, which explains the blur effect from my still-trembling hands, thus i feel the need to take a pic after my speech. i look disoriented dont you think?

Just a little background for those who is not familiar with Moot Court competition, so it is pretty much like a debate but in a court setting, kinda similar to ally mcbeal and boston legal where there are 2 sides, one respondent and one applicant -my team was the applicant, a.k.a The Winner *cheeky mode on* - and we would act as so called lawyer and would have to defend our case pleadings and hope that the ICJ (international court of justice) rule in our favor. as in a debate we also have adjudicator, but in moot it's called judges. I went as first speaker for the applicant. can you believe it? i was never a first speaker, yet i won this one as a first speaker. really need to consider a carrier as first speaker.

below is the judges, andrew from Monash uni and Jadranka from Melbourne uni Law School. pretty scary eh.. but they are really nice (hahahaha i probably wont say this if i had lost).


too bad no one was able to take pictures during the speech, since everyone was pretty much caught up with preparation and rebuttals. but these are some picts i manage to capture on recess.

Let me introduce you to the team. Here are Pete and Jakub (the second speaker) - the Boyz -

and these are the Gals - Majella, G! (First speaker) and Sarah (the third speaker)-

and here's a pict of everybody, the winning team, our lecturer Alice de Jonge (in the red robe) and the respondent (the other team)
cant believe i can actually be happy after spending a saturday at uni, one of the best days of my staying in Melbourne. Even more so, i went all night long and didnt get back till 6am the next morning. so what happened was after the whole thing was over, we all went to tabaret across uni and grab some beers, had dinner at thai safron (my first real meal of the day) and went to jakub's luxurious apartment (in st kilda, looking at the st kilda marina) cause he wanted to drop his car and change clothes and then we all cruise to richmond and went bar-hopping.

Gosh, it was my first experince in a real OZ bar, no asian around, amazing. The first bar was called 'Post Office'. Loaded with tall people which makes me feel like a midget. The place was not too big, rather small i may say. The second one was Public house, still small, lots of broken glasses, no bogans yet. And finally, the last bar, Swan hotel. this is where i can see various socio-economic condition in OZ. the carpet was sticky, a bit smelly, bad acoustics used by the live band. The highlight of my night was when a guy - a drunk guy - asked me to dance. of course i said no, but since we were standing on the dance floor and he was dancing, he brushed my but. im like WTF? and no i didnt brush his but back, i stepped aside and let him slide. dont want to mess with a drunk guy, mainly a bogan.

Just when i thought the night was over, i was wrong. After the swan, Jell asked me to hang out at Damien's place and help him finish his red wine since he's going abroad soon. He got a really nice apartment, spacious and heaps of wine although he doesnt have the view of st kilda marina. Stayed there till 5.30 and went back home. I was going to take the first train home, but Jell wont let me, she was going to pay for the taxi. I didnt let her, we ended up sharing a cab. She said that if they are your friends, a true OZ, they wont let you go back home alone on that train. If they did, they are not your friend.

Some of the boys i hang out with always put forward the "equality" principle when it comes to taking a girl home. They would argue that you wanted emancipation and equal rights therefore you should not expect boys to take you home to your doorsteps. After yesterday, i can say that argument is just mere excuse for their laziness. Nothing to do with equal rights. At least a good friend, a gentlemen, would make sure that you get home safely.

I cant believe how i happy i am, i even dance when i walk. This is a good thing.

Phillip the Penguin

hehehe..

another outing with monash international student service unit. phillip island .. ladies n gentlemen..

after surviving through hell week.. i finally get to go out and enjoy the scenery..
went to Koala Conservation Park though i didnt get to take a picture with the koala.. and Cowes.. "the downtown", The nobbies and penguin parade.

i didnt get a enough time to stay at these places, but the penguin parade was really cute eventhough i cant take pictures and again hold them heheheh :D

enjoy the pic.. i cant really articulate that many words at the moment, but they say that picture paints a thousand word.

SNOW!!!!!

another day to celebrate one of the greatest day in my life.

i took a trip to Mount Baw Baw, 3-hours drive from melbourne, to see snow. the night before on a cafe near Melbourne Uni, i was told by the owner that there's nothing to see there. No snow, no skiing, felt kinda dissapointed but still up for the trip.




on the contrary.. it was worth it.. tons of snow, cool skiing ground and even snow storms. jeezz.. cant hope for more. it was the perfect day to hang out in the snow hehe... Cut decided to come to melbourne in a heart beat and was lucky enough to get a place.



so the drive there felt long mainly because the night before we hung out till late and went to bed late while we had to wake up early to be at Robert Blackwood hall at 7pm. but once i saw the snow, man... it was like im in wonderland. finally, after years of wondering when will i see snow... my time has come to feel it hehehe..

got my self walking boots, pants, and a jacket to keep me from the cold and a toboggan (one of those small slide). and i was ready to go. didnt try skiing though, saving that for another time, because of the possible injuries that might occur if i try to do it.




i dont even know how to describe how i felt anymore.. it was exquisite, exciting, fun and joyful. to be able to have so much fun with my best friends and to come home with such awesome picture (courtesy of kincling and ario) and ended with a lovely dinner of pepper and salt BBQ pork spare ribs at chinese caulfield.

definitely the highlight of my stay here in melbourne so far.