A journey of Dream: Part 2

… june 2011 one month left before I went back to Bali. I decided this is the time that I have to come back to New York. It was almost summer and the weather was really nice; not too hot nor too cold. Last minute arrangement, I set the date and bought the flight ticket straight away. This time I went there all alone just by myself, so it was a lot easier to organize everything. This trip had a different mission indeed; the main goal wasn’t visit the tourist places but to experience living with the Native American family, observe their everyday life and be the part of it – this was my real dream since I was a kid –. That’s was the main reason I stayed at David DePietto’s family – my colleague – that I mentioned at ‘A journey of Dream: Part 1’ at Old Edgemont, Westchester, Scarsdale NY. A day before leaving, David called and gave me an option whether I need April – his wife – to pick me up at the airport and went back straight to his house and ‘stuck’ with his kids to the rest of the day or I could take taxi and went to Manhattan to his office, put my stuff, going around by myself until 6:00pm then went back to his house together after work. Well, I chose the second option because I thought that I can discover the city a little bit.

central park on summer

one of the potrait of the road in Westchester, Scarsdale

Arrived at LGA (again) at 12:00pm I took a taxi straight to 40^th and Madison Avenue at David’s office to put my stuff. David was still on the meeting so I went out again to the city to visit some places. Btw, a best friend of mine from Miami was also on vacation in NYC so I called him for lunch but unfortunately he wasn’t available so I went to Bryant Park and had my lunch there. It was packed and full. NYC was so totally different now, it’s green and beautiful. Finished my delicious sandwich, I continued my walk to Time Square (again) and I still stunned by the lights and the crowed. Didn’t spend enough time at Central Park on last vacation, I decided came there again to discover more. Walked around to the middle part of the park, I saw a painter who can draw a face picture – so this idea came up to my mind. I pulled out my iPod and ask the painter to draw my best friend’s face for her birthday gift – Audrey’s birthday was a week after my vacation – and the result was excellent. Spent some time there and it’s time to went back to David’s office. It was 6:00pm sharp and David waited me in front of his office building. I was so happy met him since he’s a nice guy and he liked a family of our family already. So we went to Grand Central Station took a train to Scarsdale. Scarsdale is a suburban area which is located around 20 minutes away from Manhattan (it passed Bronxville, Harlem, Bronx, Eastchester, etc). Arrived in Westchester, the feeling was so different. It felt more ‘homey’ and relax, not like Manhattan which is crowded and busy. We walked around 10 minutes from the terminal to get to his house and I was so excited to meet April and the kids again (I met them once when the family visited me in South Beach earlier). And yes indeed, they have waited me since morning. We talked and chat a lot that evening and April made us some dinner. I felt so happy that I can make it there and finally could visit DePietto’s family.

the neighborhood at Westchester

La Crosse - native american origin game

Woke up the next morning, went out to the yard and felt the morning breeze; it was so cool in there. The house with no fence and the mail box in front of it with beautiful green environment; this is exactly what I want to experience. Morning activities were very hectic in the house. The mother was busy taking care the 3 kids which about ready to go to the school - Olivia in the 4^th grade, Sidney in the 2^nd grade and lil’ Jake in the play group. I didn’t see David that time but he showed up from nowhere when the kids ready to leave and gave them good bye kiss one by one (so sweet). I was just sitting on the couch watching TV when April took the kids to school and I found out that David didn’t go to the office that day and just worked from home I guess that just because I was there so he felt bad to leave me. A few minutes later April came back and took me for a walk around the hood to get some coffee at Starbucks. Afterwards she took me to a bigger city called White Plains and we visited the mall there. What did we do? Of course: shopping time J I love shopping very much just so you know (besides taking pictures) Got some nice stuff (includes the ‘Modelo’ t-shirt), we have to go back because it was time to pick up Jake from school. Back home after lunch (we had some sandwiches at the restaurant nearby), they took me to Olivia’s & Sidney’s school for a cultural exchange. (Earlier) they asked me to bring my Balinese costume so I got myself prepared already. At school David just introduce me to everybody that I am a Balinese (everybody = every single person that we met) and we went straight to the class. I was standing in the front wore my Balinese traditional costume and explained about the Balinese culture (the history, the ceremony, the religion, etc) and they looked so amazed by my explanation. David was more excited than I did (because he said he loves Bali so very much). And after we had a 'question – answer' session which was pretty cool too. By far, that was my proudest moment during my stay in USA.

flew 5 hours away to go to white castle

sharing balinese culture

Finished school, me, David & Olivia continued to the La Crosse game (a team sport of Native American origin played using a small rubber ball and a long-handled stick called a crosse) because that afternoon Olivia had a game against the other team. What surprised me the most; David was the coach of the team. Really? I didn’t know that he could play. Anyway he played good though…. I had some fun by just watching the game itself – even though I really didn’t understand how its work. At dawn, we came back and it was dinner time… They asked me what kind of food that I want to eat that night. They seemed really shocked when they hear the words that came out from my mouth: WHITE CASTLE… lol Epic Fail!!! They explained to me that the WORST burger in USA, tasted bad and unhealthy. I just smile with no comment but stick with my choice… I knew this burger when I watched a movie called Harold & Kumar: go to the White Castle. I tried to find one in Miami but the result was nil. So that evening we went to White Castle which took some time to get there. Arrived there, the place was ghetto and looked dangerous. David stand beside me and just ordered 10 burgers for himself. I mean excuse me??? 10 burgers just for yourself??? He must be kidding! He laughed at me and explained to me about the small portion of the burger. Well, I ordered 5 for myself then. Got full with my burgers, I have nothing to say but thank you that he took me there (even the taste was really bad)…. Shake Shack & Five Guys were still my top favorite burgers! It was Friday and the kids were not going to school the next day so we spent some time together before went to bed….

…to be continued…. day 3 & day 4 will be continued in the next writing!

A journey of Dream: Part 1

::: people talk” if you are going to USA it ain’t complete if you’re not visiting New York City – The city that never sleeps”.  That’s what I always keep in my mind when I knew that I had a chance to work in Miami, FL. I promised myself I have to step my feet in the big apple no matter what it takes. Working my ass off for almost 6 months, finally vacation time and the day that I wait came. January 2011 – it’s winter cold. Heard on the news that there was snow storm in NYC; it didn’t scare me but excite me. It was a jackpot since I haven’t seen snow in my life yet. Everybody said that we are nuts but who really cares?

Early morning, I and two friends who joined me for this vacation were waiting in front of our apartment waited for our transfer to the airport – of course we were using the local connection; thanks to Steven who drove a long way from Pembroke Pines to MIA – as we had a morning flight. The flight was short and smooth, only 4 hours and we landed at LGA – La Guardia International Airport. The sky was clear that morning but everything was white covered by snow. We were shivering since it was really cold – no wander considering we are coming from tropical country. The ride from LGA to Manhattan seemed very short since we enjoyed the surroundings a lot. When entered Manhattan we were stoned seeing all these crazy tall sky scrapers, the lights and the crowed; it was surreal. Still couldn’t believe that finally we were there at NYC. It’s just simply a-m-a-z-i-n-g!!!!

David - my 'sahabat' from NYC

time square - the city of lights

I have colleagues – American family – who live in Westchester, Scarsdale which about 20 minutes away from Grand Central Station by subway. He was waiting in the hotel lobby when we were checking in. Just FYI we stayed in Pennsylvania Hotel in the center of Manhattan in front of Madison Square Garden – home base of New York Nicks [perfect]. After checked in, David [my colleague] took us to Brooklyn Bridge and walked along to the end. The view is stunning; you could see the Hudson River under you. Afterwards we went to the famous Chinatown to buy some – fake – stuff for us. Then we had a delicious lunch there. We also visited the ground zero – WTC where that miserable 9/11 tragedy happened back then. They recovered, that’s a good thing. The day got darker and we decided we went back to the hotel. Before leaving us, David gave us some suggestion and information how to discover the town since he couldn’t accompany us the next day. After showered and took some rest, we went out again to the Time Square – it was a short walk around 9 blocks from our hotel. We stopped at Hard Rock and bought some souvenirs [of course as always] and to Planet Hollywood as well. Arrived at the Time Square – with lots of shopping bags – we were speechless. Amazed by the lights and the crowed; by everything we couldn’t even say a word. I swear to God, I never seen so many lights like this in my entire life. It was like a dream, I used to watch it on the TV and at that time I was living my moment. Btw, the weather was really cold that night so we didn’t stay that long and went back to the hotel right away.

Liberty statue - liberty island

The next morning, I woke up very early because one of my friends screamed very loud. I looked at the watch and it was still at 6am; wtf I’m on vacation, I don’t want to wake this early. She jumped on me and asked me to look outside at the window. Oh my God, it was snowing outside, and then three of us screamed in excitement. With only a map and guts, that morning we decided to discover the town by ourselves instead of join the city tour that offered by the agent – we thought that by finding everything by our own will be more interesting – so we moved on to the subway and our first destination was Liberty Statue. Confused to take which train on the subway, the local people there were really helpful and showed us which train we should take and which station we should stop. Stopped at the last station at the South Ferry we directly headed to the harbor and bought the Ferry ticket to Ellis Island – Liberty Island. Being on the ferry for 20 minutes while enjoyed the view of Manhattan from the river finally we reached the Liberty Island and we went straight to Liberty Statue and took – a lot of – pictures of ourselves. We had fun, no question about it. It was a dream came true. After walked around and enjoyed the moments, we continued our trip to Madame Tussaud. It’s a place for the wax statue which imitating the celebrities, superhero or even politicians [they looked like real, I mean r.e.a.l].  What did we do there? Of course took another pictures – we love taking pictures – LMFAO Asian! Btw, we got a discount for the entrance ticket here (thanks to David). It took almost 1,5 hours to finish the tour in there. Then, we looked at the map which place we should visit next??? Nothing else but the Central Park; it was just another 10 – 15 blocks away from Madame Tussaud, so we decided to walk instead. What I always see on TV or magazine the central park is always green, but definitely not that day; it was all white – so romantic. Many people came there took their kids and pets (mostly dog) just for walk and some of them did a snow slide as well. It reminded us to a scene on Home Alone movie where the kid met the pigeon lady at the central park. We just walked on the east side part since the day was getting darker and we went home. On the way home we found H&M store – my favorite clothing store – and of course we stopped and shopped and we ended our day with a happy feeling. 

central park covered in white

Dylan's candy bar - finest desserst spot in NYC

Day three, our last day and the snowstorm was getting worse. It was scarring tho…. But who cares, we went straight to the Empire State Building; one of the tallest building in the world. We joined the complete tour of Empire includes a visual ride and go to the top of the building. We went up to 127 floors; the snow was crazy big. At normal time, this is the place where you can see all part of Manhattan yet that morning we can’t see anything (I mean nothing at all), it was so windy and cold. Less than 5 minutes we finally went down again. Back straight to the hotel considering we haven’t pack yet. We had an evening flight so we had enough time. Have no clue that the weather won’t get any better, one of my friends ask the hotel concierge about the traffic and the flight status. We shocked when the concierge said that it took 4 hours to get to the airport and we start to get heart attack. Wtf, it was 13:00pm already and we get started and ready to go… In a few seconds I realized and ask my friend which airport did he ask to the concierge? And he said John F. Kennedy airport… Excuse me??? We flew from LGA instead of JFK!!!!! Of course it took 4 hours! Hahaha. Well plan changed, I called David and he took us for a ride to Grand Central Station; indeed the hugest terminal I’ve ever seen in my life. Then afterwards he took us to Dylan’s Candy Bar – a heaven for those who loves sweet, candy, chocolate and etc… I love that place, you could find any candy that you want. I love M&M’s and I bought a bunch of them J Lastly before went to the airport David took us to Serendipity – one of the most reviewed dessert restaurant in New York. That place was amazing, and the banana split was magnificent! We loved it so very much to the top. There couldn’t thing any better to end our vacation in NYC. Back to the airport we flew by Continental Air to Miami, FL safe and sound. I said to myself I have to come back next time because David asked me to stay with his family J

PS: When arrived in Miami, our local connection – this time Osmar & Nunez – waited us at the airport and ready to take us home. Thanks for everything guys….

Hiking to Mt. Batur

One of my goal in year 2011 was hiking and climbing and be in the top of the mountain.  I’ve been hiking once when I was in the 10^th grade – like 11 years ago – yes it was a long time ago. I was so fat back then thus I had some problem to climb up; not like now I have beautiful abs [lol, I wish]. Being in the nature, blend and be the part of it is an interesting thing to do. You will appreciate your environment and this earth more hopefully not like the Mayan prophecy that the world will ends in 2012.

This plan started when I found out that my co-workers love doing adventure. The idea just popped up in my mind and ask them to climb one of the ‘active’ mountains in Bali. Surprisingly, they were really excited about this plan; the news spread very quickly and even some colleagues from other departments proposed to join this trip. Not only that, my bosses also wanted to join with us. Amazing!

We had the plan, we had the itinerary, and we had the member… Now a big question mark appears in my forehead??? How do we arrange for the working schedule??? – considering half of the member are from the same department – if we arrange the schedule as it is, nobody will come to work “which is impossible” >> but we sorted it out; by sacrificing two of our friends couldn’t join L

Well on the d-day we were gather in our work place; did some preparation before going to the slope. It was 01:00am when we left from Seminyak heading to Mount Batur – the name of the mountain – and it took almost 2 hours to get there. It was 10 of us and we drove 2 cars. We arrived at the slope of the mountain around 03:00am and we started stretching and did the warming up. 2 local guides were accompanying us on this trip – which is we didn’t really need them since some of my colleague already know the track. By 03:15am we started to walk, the first 1 hour was fine and fun. We chat, sing and walked together. Then the track was getting more slippery, harder, and stiffer. That was the challenge but I like that. It was so cool and lot of fun J

beautiful sunrise from the top of Mt. Batur

After a long walk, finally we reached the top of the mountain by 05:00am. Took almost 2 hours to get there; I can’t barely breathing. Hahaha, I need more work out and I knew it! But whatever, we were on the top now and other thing didn’t really matter at this point. It was still dark at that time and we waited for 30 minutes until the sunrise came up! And when it getting clearer, that was the best feeling ever; I feel like I was on the top of the world with the cloud just right under me. The hard work was paid by the beautiful view and the fresh morning breeze. We were there for a while enjoying a glass of hot coffee and a cigarette. All the stress, traffic, daily routines were suddenly forgotten. At this point we were just wanted to enjoy the moment to the most.

By 07:00am the sun was getting hotter burn our skin and we decided to climb down. It was a lot easier to climb down but what you need was a strong knee and leg. We were racing to get back to the slope and indeed took only 1,5 hours to get back. We were all tired but all happy. We drove back to Seminyak and stopped for breakfast before. And now we are planning to climb the next mountain but still confuse which one we should go first…. Whether Besakih, Batukaru or Abang…. Well, let’s just vote then!!!

I'm in MIAMI b***h

:::having a different mindset with the common Asian peeps, my white friends always said that I’m not Asian which is I have no problem with that at all… Am not saying that I don’t like being Asian but it’s just the matter of how you wanna live your life; and I wanna live my life freely and being an open minded person and see the world with a different perspective. That’s probably one of the reason I could settle in Miami since the first minute I step my feet in the state of sunshine!

Arrived in South Beach, I was expecting to see tall sky scrapers, busy road with people running around like crazy like what I always watch in the movie but it’s not…. There are art decos building and the peeps are very friendly and chillax indeed, no wonder since it’s a one of the most favorite tourist destination in the world, thus they kinda laid back! Surprisingly, there are loads of mix race i.e. Spanish, Latino, Asian, and European.  They all are very nice to me and I felt really welcome.

South beach sunrise at Ocean Drive

Day by day, weeks after weeks, I made a lot of friends there, I mean real good friends. They helped me a lot, showed me around and took me out almost every single night Idk it’s a good thing or not lol… When my other Asian friends only know Ocean Drive or Lincoln Road, I already know Key West, The Everglades or even the Ghetto-est places in Miami. I rarely went on a bus or taxi since my ‘local’ friends always take me around with their car J  that great isn’t it?

Dining experience is always excite me, starts from eating Dominican Chimicuri on the street in a black people community at 4:00am [believe me it’s one of the best after Jackie’s – because I get it for free] to the finest 5 stars Restaurants with expensive wines; and yes do NOT forget to tips. Having breakfast at 5:00am was also our new habit. How couldn’t? We always went home from the clubs around that time, but sometime we even finish at 6:30am and went straight to work… lol whatta life! Btw, having brunch at The Setai and The Biltmore were amazing too… But my favorite still La Vacas Gordas!

tickets of performance and events

Watching big and interesting events was also my favorite thing in Sobe – South Beach – watching NBA game at American Airlines Arena; Let’s Go HEAT, watching one of the most famous circus performer Cirque du Soleil, and watching Bruno Mars concert in the Fillmore. Word can’t even explain how happy I was. Art Bassel is also annual event that held in Miami. For me it’s more likely a freak show – or maybe I don’t understand art – but whatever it’s still interesting. But my favorite weekly activity is indoor soccer where I experienced playing with really great France and Columbian players. And don’t forget about the photo shoot session. I had great time being an amateur model without being paid. Hahaha but I took pretty great pics tho… The ‘Tuesday crew’ which consists of bunch of fun peeps from different countries it was because we always have the same day off every week was a truly memorable one. We’ll make it happen again guys.

One thing that I really hate the most of what my friends always do was sunbathing! They always looked for the sun; I mean hello I’m sick of the sun besides I have very dark skin already, I didn’t need to get tanned! They seemed enjoy lying down under the sun for hours, well the beach was nice but not the sun for sure!

praying at the beach

Being away from home didn’t make me forget to do my cultural thing. As a Hindus, we always praying on a special day and since there were no Hindus temple in South Beach we were always went to the Beach.

Well, basically I had wonderful experience there not only as a tourist but also as a local people. It’s just simply priceless. The good thing is I still keep in touch with all of them and some of them already visit me in Bali, my home land. A friend of mine said “don’t feel sad of good bye but feel grateful because we had a chance to know each other and spent amazing time together”…

Thanks a lot guys for the great time you shared with me. I believe we will see each other again in different opportunities and different places! xoxo

A night at Houston, TX

::: June 2010 was the year of blessing for me; I could even say this was the turning point of my life. I had a chance to work in ‘the land of hope’ America, a dream of mine since I was a kid. The story begun when I with another 12 friends from Bali flew for 24 hours flight to Miami, FL through Sin – Doha – Houston by Qatar Airways.  This was my first time on the Airplane which is I kinda’ like it…

Actually the flight was fine until we landed in George Bush International Airport Houston, TX. This is the interesting part; y’all know that to enter USA especially for the first timers are a bit difficult. You have to go to the custom and interviewed by the officer which takes quiet sometime… And the worst part, we were interviewed separately and they didn’t allow us to wait our friend when we finished our part. For Christ sake I was scared to death, I was all alone by myself. Well, I tried to manage myself by asking another officer where the check in counter for my next connecting flight to Miami is. Lucky me, I met 2 of my friends on the baggage counter taking care of their stuff. Hell yeah, I’m not the only one…  Having looked at my watch we just realized that we have only one hour to catch our next flight.

Three of us ran as fast as we can like a serial killer was after us. We ran like for 10 minutes before we reached the gate I tell you what, the airport was huge and when we arrived there we saw the plane flew already with four of our friends were on it; you must be kidding… Que sera sera - whatever will be will be… I get going and tried to change the ticket to the earliest plane on the next day. Success!!! We got the ticket at 7:00am the next morning.



three of us at IAH after realized that we missed the plane



After settled down, we tried to get in touch with other friends who were left behind. We called them but it was busy tone, we texted them but not delivered… sigh! Finally we had discussion whether we stay overnight at the airport or get a hotel outside. Considering we had a very low budget, we decided to stay at the airport that night. After few hours waiting, we got a text message from our friends and the rest of them were together in a hotel at downtown Texas and they also got the same flight like us for the next morning. The day was getting darker, we tried to close our eyes and get some sleep but we couldn’t. Whether it was a jetlag or over excitement to land in Miami the next day imagining the beach with the white sand, the clubs, the party then we just walked around that huge airport waiting the next day to come. Its 4:00am and we were hungry like shit and realized that there was no store open yet! What a bummer… After an hour waiting, one store was open and of course we were the first costumer, thanks God, we ate like we haven’t eaten for a week.



overnight at the airport



Brakfast is done and it's 6:00 am, we met the other friends again at the check in counter and ready to continue our flight to Miami, FL. It was a short one, only 2 hours I believe. Finally we arrived safe and sound in MIA Miami International Airport and saw that our 4 friends were waiting for us at the arrival gate. Hell yeah, here we are in Miami FL and there the journey begins….